Counter Guide

How to Beat Ryze

Matchup Guide · Evergreen · 3 Counter Picks

Ryze roots you with a spell you can't dodge, then keeps firing the same skillshot until you're dead.

He's tiring to lane against because there's no single big spell to wait out. His other two abilities reset his Q every time he casts them, so a fight with Ryze is a steady stream of damage, and once he's marked you, his cage turns from a slow into a root. Then there's the portal, which moves his whole team across the map. The answer is range, and he doesn't have much of it. His two targeted spells only reach 615 units, and his ultimate is a two-second channel that plenty of champions can break. If you're deciding whether he's worth a ban, check where he sits on our solo queue tier list this patch.

Matchup Snapshot Ryze, the Rune Mage

Where You Meet HimMid lane

Damage TypeMagic

Why He Is FrustratingA point-and-click root

MobilitySpeed bursts only

Biggest ThreatRune Prison [W]

Hardest CounterAurelion Sol

What a Counter Needs

Damage from further away than his 615-unit targeted spells
A silence or a root to break his portal while he channels it

Patch 26.18 Matchup Data

Who Beats Ryze on Patch 26.18

Best Picks Into Ryze

Aurelion Sol480 games57.7%
Malzahar1,318 games57.6%
Viktor2,199 games56.8%
Annie458 games56.1%
Yone2,237 games55.6%

Picks Ryze Beats

Mel671 games48.4%
Akali1,340 games49.0%
Locke1,243 games49.2%

Win rates are for the champion listed, in the mid lane against Ryze. They come from Nerfplz's own ranked solo queue games on Patch 26.18, Silver and above, 39,276 Ryze games in all. Only matchups that show up in at least 1% of those games are listed.

Ryze Overview

Strengths: What Makes Him Dangerous

His Q never stays down. Casting Rune Prison [W] or Spell Flux [E] resets Overload [Q], so he fires it again and again in a fight.
The root can't be dodged. Rune Prison [W] is targeted, and against anyone marked by Spell Flux [E] it roots instead of slowing.
Realm Warp [R] moves his whole team. Everyone standing near the portal when the channel finishes goes with him (and it reaches a long way).
He fights groups well. Against Fluxed enemies, Overload [Q] bounces to everyone else who's marked.

Weaknesses: Where You Get In

His targeted spells are short. Rune Prison [W] and Spell Flux [E] both reach 615 units, so a champion with more range can trade without being caged.
The portal can be broken. It's a two-second channel, and a silence, root or grounding cancels it.
He has no dash. Beyond a bit of speed from Overload [Q], he's walking everywhere.
His ultimate is on a very long cooldown. Three minutes at rank one (180 seconds), so a wasted portal matters.

Countering Ryze

Any of these will do. You don't need all of them:

Out-range the cage. If you can hit him from beyond 615 units, his root never reaches you.
Break the channel. Save a silence or a root for the moment he opens the portal.
Punish him for walking. Without a dash, a Ryze caught in the open has nowhere to go.

Stuck in the matchup without one? It's still playable.

Playing Into Ryze Without a Counter

Watch for the Flux mark. Once Spell Flux [E] has tagged you, his next Rune Prison [W] roots instead of slowing, so that's the moment to back off (the mark lasts four seconds).

Don't clump with your minions. Overload [Q] bounces between Fluxed targets, and a wave full of marked minions makes his damage spread to you too.

Ping the portal the moment it opens. His team has to gather on him for two seconds, and that's two seconds to hit a group that's standing still.

Best Ryze Counters

Every counter here attacks a different weak spot. Take whichever suits you.

Aurelion Sol Out-Ranges the Cage

Breath of Light [Q] reaches 750 units, and it only gets longer. That's further than Rune Prison [W] or Spell Flux [E], so Aurelion Sol can burn Ryze down while standing where the root can't reach him. Every second the breath stays on a champion also gives him Stardust, which permanently grows his abilities (Ryze is feeding him just by standing in lane).

When Ryze tries to close the gap, Astral Flight [W] carries Aurelion Sol over terrain, and Falling Star [R] stuns anything it lands on for a second (it takes a moment to drop, so aim where he's walking).

Malzahar Shrugs Off the Opener

Void Shift [Passive] gives Malzahar 90% damage reduction and crowd control immunity until he's hit by a champion (minions don't count). Ryze has to spend a spell just to strip it, and if that spell is Rune Prison [W], the root doesn't take.

Call of the Void [Q] silences, and a silence breaks the portal mid-channel. Nether Grasp [R] suppresses Ryze for up to 2.5 seconds as well (he can't cast anything while it lasts).

Viktor Owns the Ground

Ryze has to walk into 615 units to use his best spells, and Gravity Field [W] makes that walk expensive. It slows anyone inside, and after a short stay it stuns them for 1.5 seconds. With no dash, Ryze has to go around it or he's stuck. If he tries to portal out, Arcane Storm [R] disrupts channels as it lands.

Itemizing Against Ryze

His damage is all magic. Mercury's Treads add magic resist and 30% Tenacity, which shortens the Rune Prison [W] root. Banshee's Veil (or Verdant Barrier, the cheaper component) carries a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability, and ideally that's the root. On an AD champion, Maw of Malmortius gives magic resist and a shield when his burst would drop you below 30% health.