u/TaeyeonsHusbando

For context, I'm a mid-Emerald mid laner playing in the competitive scene (scrims, leagues, etc) and I just don't really understand how to maximize the value on this champ. I know his most fundamental skill combos and I think I have solid itemization (which I'll list below for review), but there's more I just don't understand with him. The only thing I think I understand quite well on how to play Ryze is that he's meant to hard shove the lane to keep prio. That's about where my Ryze knowledge ends. First, let's start with the build. Currently I do:

- Sorcs/Steelcaps/Merc Treads (depending on enemy team comp. Also I haven't played him since new boots came in so I haven't tried those yet.)
- RoA (Tear first, though)
- Archangels
- Actualizer if I feel like I can get away with it
- Situational between Rabadon's, Zhonyas, Frozen Heart, Shadowflame, and Void Staff, where I choose based on how much I need to survive vs how much damage I need to put out.

Here's a couple of points that I think I fundamentally misunderstand about how to extract value out of Ryze. If anyone has advice on any of these, I'd greatly appreciate it.

- Fighting feels awful. Because of Ryze's short range, I feel like I can hardly ever participate in a fight. If I'm in range for my spells, it feels like everyone on the enemy team is already in range for theirs, they get on top of me, and I lose a ton of HP just peeling them off before having to go back in and fight again.

- Late game feels extremely volatile. This probably pairs a lot with my previous point, but even though I do insane damage late game, I also feel like I die instantly late game to most champs/comps. Back to the "if I'm in range to cast my spells, I'm in lethal range for the enemy team" concept. Should I be doing like... 2 defensive items just to survive or something?

- What is his niche? While I do enjoy some Ryze and kept him in my competitive pool for a bit, it ended up being hard to justify picking him. I see he's picked a lot in pro play, but I don't really see why. When my team is drafting, I feel like anything I'd pick Ryze for, there's just better picks. So I'm assuming there's some kind of key piece I'm missing here.

Again, any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I recall Riftmaker being an item some Azirs would take from time to time. I saw it somewhat recently (within the last 6 months) of a Korean GM Azir doing all the HP/AP items. I think he did something like (in no particular order):
- Nashor's Tooth
- Liandrys
- Rylais
- Riftmaker
- Bloodletter's Curse

He had 4k HP and did good damage still. Now here's what I'm thinking:
- Omnivamp boots (for 10% omnivamp)
- Nashor's Tooth
- Riftmaker (total of 18% omnivamp now)
- Shadowflame
- (Any 2 of Rabadon's, Zhonyas, Void Staff)

I feel like the amount of damage you lose isn't that much, but you gain 18% omnivamp and could go pretty crazy. Especially since Azir is hard to survive with into some champs/comps. There's a lot of melee champs that gap close pretty easily (Ambessa, Nocturne, Naafiri, Yone, etc) and having a little bit of sustain in those fights could be game-changing I'd imagine.

What do you guys think?

Hey all! I'm a mid-Emerald and I play on a competitive team and Anivia has been probably in my top 5 picks in a team setting and I'm looking for build ideas. I'll tell everyone what I've been doing and see what suggestions are out there.

The Classic Build:
- Tear
- RoA
- Finish Archangels
- (Various choices between Liandrys, Malignance, Zhonyas, Rabadon's, etc)

Verdict: This one feels ok, but I just felt weak all the time so I steered away from it into the next build that I saw someone building in the pro scene.

Mana Poverty Build:
- RoA
- Liandrys
- Zhonyas
- Major AP items (Rabadon's, Void/Crypt, Shadowflame, whichever 2 work best)

Verdict: This one definitely feels super strong, but if I'm using R to clear waves and keep mid prio, I'm having to base like every 4 waves so I feel like I'm never able to help my team in teamfights because I run out of mana so fast. So then I did this build that I saw somewhere.

Current Build:
- RoA
- Malignance
- (Situational between Liandrys, Zhonyas, Rabadons, Shadowflame, Void/Crypt)

Verdict: I've been enjoying this build a lot. I have plenty of mana, I like the faster resets on R, damage feels quite good. My only complaint, if any, is a lack of ability haste, which you can somewhat makeup for with Transcendence and Legend: Haste runes. AH would feel nice since I max wall 2nd, an action that has lead many teams to make mention of because of how oppressive it's felt for them.

Anybody play Anivia in decent-to-high elo competitive teams? If so, what do you build and why? Any thoughts on my current approach to itemization?

Thanks in advance!