Ryze is getting his second rework in League of Legends and Riot is hoping they got it right this time around. The last Ryze rework turned him from a point-and-click mage into a combo monstrosity. Right after his rework, Ryze was the most powerful champion in the game. He could single-handedly win two-versus-ones or even three-versus-ones, while still having a giant chunk of health remaining.
This time around, they are focusing less on Ryze’s burst and more about his teamfight versatility and speed. Pressing your keyboard keys really quick is still an important Ryze mechanic, so that isn’t changing. Think of it in Overwatch terms: he’s less of a Bastion and more of a Pharrah.
His new passive, “Arcane Mastery,” gives him bonus AP depending on his extra mana and vice versa, though they won’t stack. It’s a lot like Vladimir’s passive but with mana instead of health. His old passive, where he would turn into a spell machine gun, is gone.
“Overload” is his new Q, which shoots out a mystic bolt that charges a Rune. When Ryze casts another spell besides “Overload,” he gains a shield and a movespeed boost. His other spells also reset the cooldown of his Q. It’s a toned-down version of his old passive and Q, where he still gets to use a crazy amount of spells that do high amounts of burst.
“Rune Prison” is still the same root, just with slightly fancier particle effects. His E, “Spell Flux,” got really weird. If an enemy gets hit, they get marked with “Flux.” When you hit a marked enemy with “Overload” the projectile deals more damage and bounces to nearby enemies. An enemy marked with “Flux” also has their “Rune Prison” root duration doubled. When an enemy dies, “Flux” gets applied to all other enemies.
His ultimate is an entirely new mechanic to League of Legends . “Realm Warp” creates a portal a short distance away from Ryze and teleports all allied units within the portal. That means all the minions and champions you have by your side are coming along for the ride. In competitive settings, this will be amazing. Imagine seeing a full team flank the enemy before they even notice what’s happening. In solo-queue, you're most likely just going to get trolled and thrown into the Baron pit.
Ryze is still a combo mage, except now his combos are less reliant on keeping his runes stacked. If Ryze needs to pop off immediately, there’s nothing stopping him but his own mana bar. If you need to wave clear, use E to put “Flux” on the minions, then throw down your Q to get all that gold. Laning against him is going to be like laning against Malzahar: if you don’t want to be marked with “Flux,” you better stay away from the wave.
Overall, Ryze’s kit seems a lot tamer than it once was, but that might be for the best. Riot took away some of his damage and gave him engage potential. Let’s see how having a massive team-wide teleport works out.
Ryze is getting released on the PBE and will come to the main game in patch 6.14.
