Ryze needs a rework or changes to his current kit.

Ryze benefits from building AP, Mana, Health, and defense. Ironically, most of his core items build all of these.

I'd say the items themselves are the problem, but ever since Riot introduced Smart-Casting, or whatever the heck they call it now, his burst has become insanely easy. You can actually get it off during that .75 rank 1 Rune Prison. To top it all off, his cool downs are rarely expired. So how do you fight someone who has;

-A Snare (.75-1.75 seconds) -Magic Resist reduction (12-24) -A Nuke that is up 90-100% of the time. -Free cool down reduction on the nuke, which you level up first. -Able to get damage from Mana and Ability Power. -A 80 flat movement speed steroid. -50% damage AoE damage with all his spells. -Free spell vamp. -A passive that keeps his abilities constantly refreshing. Especially after getting Frozen Heart or another CDR item.

The mobility from his ult needs to be reverted to what it was and nerfed. Say 20/40/60 flat movement speed for the duration of his ult. Not a flat 80 at all ranks. Or better yet, just give his ult a passive instead. Ryze gains x amount of % movement speed whenever he hits a target with spells or a basic attack. He loses the bonus while his ult is on cool down.

The magic resist debuff needs to be nerfed at earlier ranks. Similar to how you nerfed Kog'maw's Q. Targets hit have their magic resist reduced by 5/10/15/20/25. There's no reason he should get 12 reduction at rank one.

Give him a new passive instead of his current one. He shouldn't have 100% up-time on his skills and a very short cool down on his burst. Otherwise, his damage needs to be reduced.

There's probably a lot more wrong with him than what I mentioned, but it's what I've noticed that is frustrating about playing against him. Especially the addition of smart cast.