Guide · Mid

Ryze Guide

the Rune Mage

Mage

Tier C Mid

Ryze, the Rune Mage, is a mage champion that is demanding to master. Across our 776 analysed ranked games, Ryze is mostly played in Mid (83% of its games), and more rarely in Top (17%), with a 48.5% win rate in that role: tier C among Mid champions (#37 of 42, ranked by win rate). Ryze's damage is mostly magic (94%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 50.3% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min, 338 games) versus 46.2% in short games (under 25 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Averages measured over 641 Mid games played with Ryze, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Ryze is a mage whose abilities deal extra damage based on his bonus mana. Spell Flux marks targets; Overload bounces between marked enemies, Rune Prison roots them, and Realm Warp transports your allies to a nearby spot.

The basic combo

E › Q › W › Q

When: An enemy is within range.

Spell Flux marks the target and nearby enemies, Overload deals bonus damage to a marked target and bounces, Rune Prison roots them instead of slowing.

The area

E › W › Q

When: Several enemies are grouped.

Flux marks the enemies near the target; Overload bounces toward them, and their damage benefits from the mark.

See all 3 Ryze combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Chain abilities to charge runes: two charged runes give Overload a brief movement speed boost. Mark with Spell Flux before using your other abilities.

Common mistakes

• Casting Rune Prison without a mark: the root depends on Flux.
• Neglecting your mana: your damage depends on it.
• Opening the portal without warning your team.

Riot's official tips for playing Ryze

• Use Overload's passive to optimize for maximum damage or maximum speed.
• Spell Flux's short cooldown allows it to be used to spread Flux to many enemies.
• Ryze can move and cast other spells while Realm Warp is charging without cancelling the portal.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Actualizer, Zhonya's Hourglass, and Rod of Ages (66 games, 56.1% win rate), usually with Chainlaced Crushers (47.5% over 202 games).

Actualizer+Zhonya's Hourglass+Rod of Ages

66 games · 56.1%

Actualizer+Rabadon's Deathcap+Rod of Ages

46 games · 65.2%

Actualizer+Void Staff+Rod of Ages

21 games · 23.8%

Skill order

Max order : Q > E > W46.7% · 75 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q		●		●	●		●		●
W			●											●	●
E	●							●		●		●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 91 games).

Starting items

Doran's RingHealth PotionHealth Potion46.3% · 82 games

First completed items, in order

Rod of Ages›Archangel's Staff›Actualizer

47 games · 44.7%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3790 gold, 83 CS, 4805 XP. At 15 min: 5751 gold, 126 CS, 7350 XP.

Boots

Chainlaced Crushers47.5% · 202 games

Swiftmarch48.5% · 138 games

Crimson Lucidity51.7% · 114 games

Summoner spells

Flash + Ghost49.5% · 457 games

Flash + Teleport44.2% · 156 games

Most-played runes

Deathfire Touch + Resolve

47.9% · 363 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band100%

Celerity82%

Scorch87%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Bone Plating80%

Overgrowth72%

Shards

Attack speed97%

Movement speed65%

Health83%

Stormraider's Surge + Resolve

52.9% · 85 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band100%

Transcendence78%

Gathering Storm72%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Overgrowth93%

Bone Plating84%

Shards

Attack speed98%

Adaptive force85%

Health scaling74%

Deathfire Touch + Precision

49.4% · 81 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band99%

Celerity82%

Scorch84%

Secondary tree · Precision

Legend: Haste98%

Cut Down94%

Shards

Attack speed95%

Movement speed52%

Health82%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Ryze's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team53.1% · 162 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Rod of Ages 52.6% ▲

Actualizer 55.7%

Rabadon's Deathcap 69.0% ▲

Zhonya's Hourglass 52.0% ▼

The item that stands out most is Rabadon's Deathcap: 69.0% win rate, +5 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team45.9% · 183 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Rod of Ages 46.5%

Actualizer 56.5%

Zhonya's Hourglass 58.6% ▲

Frozen Heart 60.0%

Rabadon's Deathcap 76.9%

The item that stands out most is Zhonya's Hourglass: 58.6% win rate, +3 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team47.6% · 296 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Rod of Ages 48.1%

Actualizer 52.1%

Zhonya's Hourglass 55.0%

Rabadon's Deathcap 50.0%

Void Staff 30.8%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Ryze in Mid

Katarina Ryze: 33.3%15 games

Katarina has the edge in 67% of the 15 Mid duels against Ryze. See the Katarina guide.

Syndra Ryze: 46.7%15 games

Syndra has the edge in 53% of the 15 Mid duels against Ryze. See the Syndra guide.

Who Ryze is strong against

Syndra46.7% · 15 games

Katarina33.3% · 15 games

How to play against Ryze

• Ryze is especially dangerous to opponents that are marked with Flux.
• Use Realm Warp's windup time to figure out how to deal with what may be coming out of the portal.
• Crowd controlling Ryze during Realm Warp's windup will cancel the portal.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Ryze's matchups.

Ryze Mid: what our games say

Laning phase against the Mid average

Measured over 91 Ryze games with a timeline; the average covers 72 champions played Mid in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

Best result: medium-length (25 to 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Ryze in another role

Role	Games	Win rate	CS/min	Gold/min	Most-built items
Top	135	46.7 %	8.3	421

Roles where we have at least 40 Ryze games.

Abilities

PassiveArcane Mastery

Ryze's spells deal extra damage based on his Bonus Mana, and he gains a percentage increase to his maximum Mana based on his Ability Power.

QOverload

Passively, Ryze's other basic abilities reset the cooldown of Overload and charge a rune. When Ryze casts Overload with 2 runes charged, he gains a brief burst of Move Speed.

On cast, Ryze throws a charge of pure energy in a line, dealing damage to the first enemy struck. If the target has Flux on it, Overload deals extra damage and bounces to nearby enemies with Flux.

WRune Prison

Ryze traps a target in a cage of runes, damaging them and slowing their movement. If the target has Flux on it, they are instead rooted.

ESpell Flux

Ryze releases an orb of pure magical power that damages an enemy and debuffs all nearby enemies. Ryze's spells have additional effects against the debuffed enemy.

RRealm Warp

Passively, Overload deals even more damage against targets with Flux.

On cast, Ryze creates a portal to a nearby location. After a few seconds, allies standing near the portal are teleported to the target location.

Other Mid champions to know

Most played

Syndra53.0 %Viktor48.9 %Ahri50.4 %Yone49.8 %Locke50.8 %Yasuo48.9 %Zed51.8 %Sylas48.5 %

Strongest (at least 100 games)

Vel'Koz54.3 %Kassadin54.0 %Twisted Fate54.0 %Lux53.0 %Diana52.9 %Katarina52.6 %Anivia52.3 %Aurelion Sol52.1 %

Frequently asked questions

Full Ryze page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides