He's unfun to lane into, difficult to match in split pushing later, and retains teamfight potential all at the same time while simultaneously being able to adapt his build without sacrificing anything significant, and flex roles.
Also, no, outranging him is neither counterplay nor is it accurate.That is an attempt at counterpicking, and Ryze's power does not solely lie in harassing the laner. His kit gives him massive control over waves, which a smart player exploits. Which therein lies an issue.
He is a champion that both needs extensive macro skills, and also needs solid micro and mechanics to pilot. Therefore there will always remain a huge disparity in his mains depending on elo, even if everyone who plays him by elo isn't efficient with him. It's also not really a champion people can pick up and perform on consistently. I play against Ryze on here into Gold and they run around spamming spells into the wave or trying to harass. I play into Ryze on Diamond and they still do that, but when they start actually managing the wave instead of focusing on mindless harass, it's going to turn into an annoying game.
Sometimes when you hand players too much power, they don't know what to do. This is also the case for Yasuo, Akali, Irelia, etc.
Too much to manage, but the few players that continue learning it will be a menace.
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. But ya know, riot just gonna insta gib ryze because hes a champion for one patch. When these champs have been terrorizing solo queue for ages. Honorable Mentions: 
