League of Legends - Ryze Champion Strategy and Item Build Guide

Widely considered one of the most adept sorcerers on Runeterra, Ryze is an ancient, hard-bitten archmage with an impossibly heavy burden to bear. Armed with immense arcane power and a boundless constitution, he tirelessly hunts for World Runes—fragments of the raw magic that once shaped the world from nothingness. He must retrieve these glyphs before they fall into the wrong hands, for Ryze understands the horrors they could unleash on Runeterra.
Ryze was just a young man when he first learned of the powerful arcane forces that lay hidden across the world. While on a diplomatic mission, Ryze overheard his master, Tyrus, in discussion with another wizened old mage. In hushed tones, they spoke of the potential danger of something called ‘World Runes.’ As Tyrus noticed his pupil, he abruptly ended the conversation, tightly clutching the scroll that never left his side.
Over the following decades, knowledge of the Runes began to spread as more were unearthed. The world’s brightest minds studied the ancient glyphs, attempting to determine the powers they possessed. Few could even begin to understand the importance of their origins, or the sheer power held within them. Some surmised that the Runes were integral to the creation of Runeterra itself. The first use of these mysterious artifacts proved catastrophic, as they reshaped the landscape of entire nations. Mistrust quickly grew as those who knew of the Runes imagined such “Makers’ Might” being used as a weapon.
Ryze and Tyrus traveled between various nations, trying to quell paranoia and encourage restraint, but their missions became increasingly precarious. Relentlessly, they strove to avert multiple disasters, but Ryze could sense his master’s growing desperation.
Tyrus’s worst fears were realized when he and his student were mediating a standoff between two warring nations, not far from Ryze’s boyhood village of Khom. Each army accused the other of plotting to use runic weapons against the other, and each was prepared to do the same in self-defense. As tensions grew out of control, Tyrus could see it was a conflict he could not mediate. With the two sides determined to go to war, he could do nothing but flee with his protégé.
They had escaped halfway across a mountain range before the battle erupted. Ryze suddenly felt the earth fall away beneath him. The ground seemed to retch and squeal, while the sky above them recoiled as if mortally wounded. Tyrus grabbed Ryze and screamed unheard commands, but the words were swallowed by the unnatural silence around them. For the first time, they were witnessing the effects of two World Runes at war.
Seconds later, reality settled. Ryze and Tyrus clambered to the ruins of a nearby peak and looked back upon the valley where the two armies previously stood. Below, they saw insanity—destruction so massive that it defied all physical sense. The armies, the people, the very land itself were gone. An ocean that was previously beyond a day’s journey was now rushing to meet them. Ryze could only fall to his knees and stare into the great hole left in the world. The devastation was complete. Nothing remained. Not even the village he once called home.
Open warfare raged across Runeterra. The first horrors of the Rune Wars sparked fear and aggression among those who now realized the power at their command. Even Ryze felt the urge to join the conflict to prevent further devastation of the kind unleashed on his people. Tyrus was there to stay the hand of his pupil, counseling that the path of vengeance would lead only to more heartache. Ryze was initially vexed by his master’s words, but he soon came to accept Tyrus’s wisdom.
Traveling across the world to meet with those who held the Runes, Tyrus pleaded for sanity. To ensure the future of Runeterra, he asked that every World Rune be locked away beyond the reach of man. Deeply sobered by the imminent threat of annihilation, some agreed to turn over their World Runes to Tyrus, while others refused to cast aside their newfound power and influence.
Tyrus continued his work, attempting to remove all World Runes from the reach of humanity. Yet as hope for Runeterra grew, Tyrus seemed to unravel. Ryze saw his master grow more distant. While Tyrus dealt with the Runes, he began to send his student on missions that seemed to have little importance.
Ryze was on one such menial errand when he received word of a new cataclysm, this time to the southwest of Valoran, in Icathia. The mage rushed to the scene of the devastation, beset with concern for his master and friend, hoping that he had survived. Upon his arrival, Ryze was elated to find that Tyrus was indeed safe. But Ryze’s relief was short-lived. Next to the scroll he had never been allowed to read, sat two World Runes.
The older mage explained that once the World Runes were in play, he had no choice but to use them himself. Ryze was horrified as he realized Tyrus had not just survived the disaster, he had caused it. He continued his bitter tirade, telling his student that humanity was a reckless child, playing with power it did not understand. Tyrus could no longer play the role of diplomat for ignorant power-mongers. He had to stop them.
Though Ryze tried to reason with Tyrus, it was no use. The infinitely wise paragon he’d looked up to since childhood was gone. Before him stood a flawed man, susceptible to the same temptations as the fools he decried. The Runes had corrupted him deeply, and he was sure to use them again and again, taking more of the world away each time.
Ryze had to act, even if it meant destroying his only true friend. He unleashed every ounce of arcane energy he could muster. Tyrus reached for the Runes, determined not to relinquish their power. In grasping for them, the corrupted mage had left himself momentarily defenseless to Ryze’s onslaught. A moment later, Tyrus’s corpse lay smoldering on the floor.
Ryze trembled with emotion as his mind struggled to process what he had done.
As he regained his senses, he found himself alone with the World Runes, their glow inviting him to possess them. Steeling himself, he picked up the strange symbols one by one, and immediately felt them transforming him into something greater, or more terrible, than he could ever otherwise be.
Shuddering, he dropped the Runes and backed away. If these glyphs could corrupt
a mage with the strength and integrity of Tyrus, how was Ryze to handle them?
He then realized that if he walked away, someone else would find the Runes and use them. At that moment, Ryze understood the scale of his task. As long as any World Rune remained in play, the Rune Wars would continue and surely doom all Runeterra.
Unsure what possible next step to take, Ryze saw the scroll Tyrus always carried with him. Tentatively, Ryze unfurled the scroll and was illuminated by a radiant glow. Suddenly, Ryze knew what he must do.
Ever since that day, Ryze has wandered the world, driven by the same unseen beckoning that both guides and terrifies him. He constantly rejects the promise of power within each Rune, choosing instead to bind them in secret locations no one can access. He has spent centuries performing the task, his life abnormally prolonged by the magic he has absorbed carrying out his duty. Even after all this time, Ryze cannot afford to slow. The World Runes have begun to emerge once more, and the world has forgotten the price of wielding them.(Source: http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en)