I Miss Original Ryze

Now before you downvote me, yes, I know old Ryze has every point and click ability and its cancerous. I definitely agree with that and Riot had made an effort to remove this cancerous part.

What I miss is his identity as a mage-tank hybrid. Old Ryze is weak early, got some damage powerspike mid game, and transforms into a semi-tank while still dealing above-average amount of damage. His typical build was and Will of the Ancients (RIP) . Yes, it includes two to three tank items that gives him mana, where his passive allows him to deal more damage without building AP. Mage-tank hybrid is such a unique role that opens up more possibilities for team comps. People can choose a combination of two off-tanks, rather than a tank plus a bruiser/assassin.

No champion today have replaced or replicated old Ryze's identity. Riot doesn't like semi-tank mage and is killing it by forcing people to choose between being a mage or a tank. Vladimir's passive ratios have been changed to make him benefit more from building AP rather than health. achieves this role in a cheap and binary way where his ult either makes him unkillable without even needing to aim, or become absolutely useless with a . Riot knows theres a problem and therefore he's getting a rework. comes closest to it, but still, his W, E and ult forces him to be a CC peeling machine, rather than the caster off-tank old Ryze used to be.

TLDR, Old Ryze is difficult to balance, but semi-tank mages are disappearing in the game. The role offers more diversification for team comps, it will be good if this role can be re-introduced again.