Outside of ulti which you kinda need to feed a couple matches to get a hang of, given it's really not a good spell for solo play due to its long cast time, rather short distance of teleport (at least until the second level up), and the fact it can be so easily interrupted (you can not longer cast it and wait for it to finish while Zhonya'ed for cheese escape, too).
The rest of his kit is fine.
- First thing to remember, your W and E will reset Q's CD every time you cast them. So your combos will always be alternating W and E to ensure you can chain as many Qs as possible. QWQEQ is probably your go-to combo in this regard, for reference.
- Your E will have extremely short CD once you max it and stack some CDR. In continuation of the point above, you can pretty much chain combo with just QEQE... once its CD is short enough via leveling and stacking CDR as well.
- E is also your most important spell, you will want to remember its additional effects when chained with other things by heart.
- E -> E on the same target means the E will spread to nearby units, and will continue to spread through other near-by previously E-marked units until there is none; and the marks will spread damage from Ryze's Q and E (if Q'ed the mark will be consumed upon spread, if E'ed the mark will be renewed together with more spread). And if the target dies to ANY of Ryze's ability when marked by E (INCLUDING the E you're just throwing out), the E will also spread to nearby units. This is incredibly important, because this allows Ryze to clear massive waves in an instant, by throwing E on E-marked units or killing E-marked units with your other spells to spread it further and further and then finish everything in 1 hit of say, Q. You can also use E -> E -> Q for teamfights to hit everybody but you will have to wait for CD, but unfortunately this is one of the few only ways Ryze can join teamfights (he sucks in teamfights, because his Q can only hit what's in front of Ryze, making him reliant on good position or E spread to do teamfights).
- E -> W is pretty simple, it just means your W will have a longer root.
- E -> Q is also rather simple, it just means your Q will do more damage.
- There is another aspect to Q's damage where if you do chain EWQ or EEQ combo within 4 seconds, then the Q will have another bonus damage.
- Use both Transcendence and Cosmic Insight for Runes, and focus on stacking CDR, Mana, and AP, the 3 core stats Ryze uses.
- You will also need Manaflow Band (rune), and rush Tear of the Goddess as well as either Lost Chapter or Catalyst for your early game mana, otherwise you will be incredibly starved on your mana. Your current core items should include Archangel's Staff, Zhonya's Hourglass, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, and Luden's Echo.
- You should learn E first, and try to use it to help last hitting. Maxing E early is also desired for much lower CD for spamming, but you don't want to rush too too much given your Q also needs damage. The typical route is putting 3 points in E, and 3 points in Q, before going back to maxing E (and you put either 1 point in W either in level 2 or 3 and max it last).
- Also remember, your R only has 2 points, while Q has 6.
- Ryze's early game is also very rough given his pitiful early damage in both his spells and AA, as well as his huge mana cost. But it gets better as you start rolling. By late game he can mow down almost any minion wave in instants and out duel most champs in 1v1 by machine-gunning his opponents with spell barrage.
