Is Ryze OP? (An In depth look at Ryze)

In League of Legends Ryze is a versatile mage designed to deal quick burst damage, with an ability to control the map as well Ryze can win very many matchups in the mid and top lane but is Ryze inherently overpowered? Lets take a look at his kit first which can be seen here

So the first thing to note is that Ryze has a low skill floor and a high skill cap, his overall winrate is pretty low as lower elo players can not properly utilize his entire kit to full effectiveness, a similar trend can be seen with Tahm Kench in terms of win rate both of these champions have an overall win rate of about 45% but are very viable picks. this is due in part to how their ultimates do not directly interact with the damage aspect of the game. However at the highest level of play these ultimates can force and start fights and pressure objectives like early towers or dragons.

A few things to note about Ryze's kit

• his E resets his Q
• It also gives him AOE waveclear that he can also use to harass enemies in lane
• if Ryze absorbs two runes generated by his E with his Q he will get a shield and movespeed buff
• If Ryze absorbs at least one Rune generated by his E with his Q then the ability will get %bonus damage based on the rank of his E

This means that players that can't utilize his E are missing out on most of the power in Ryze's kit, if you mess up a skill rotation you can be absolutely screwed in a fight. However in his current state he technically has the ability to beat out pretty much any mid laner 1v1 in lane. One thing to note is that players need not build full damage on Ryze, he can safely opt into a more defensive item like RoA early and even a Banshees Veil - meaning that even though he has to get close, if he knows what he's doing going into the mid game you will have to burn a lot of damage onto him to properly nuke him down, especially if he's ahead. Note that because of his ultimate, he doesn't absolutely need to beat his lane opponent 1v1 either.

People in the Masters / Challenger ladder can use his kit fully effectively, turning Ryze into a lane bully champion with a lot of roam potential and ability to force objectives with some co-ordination. In the right hands he is very very good. He isn't as easy to gank as you might think either, a lot of CC is situational in this game nowadays, meaning if he dodges skillshots with his speed boost you can be in for trouble. Not only that but if you need to flash for a gank just to pressure him then players will be able to properly punish the jungler or laner for using their flash.

In my opinion this champion is very good if you're really good at him, much like Gangplank! He's a contested pick in competitive and the highest elos and may be deserving of some nerfs however most of the community wont and shouldn't get into playing Ryze as the game knowledge and mechanics aren't there as a foundation to use this great champion.

TL;DR If you're looking to climb in ranked, Ryze is not the champion for you unless you're really really good at him - meaning that, in my opinion, he isn't an OP pick.