Sion vs Ryze Counter Pick

Ryze needs items; Sion needs a wave. The 61.2% Sion holds across 183 top games logged on patch 16.13.1 is what that difference looks like once it plays out. Ryze starts with 22 armor and 620 health and has to assemble mana, ability power and a stack of components before Arcane Mastery makes his rotation dangerous; Sion arrives with 68 base attack damage and 175 range.

Ryze’s kit is a chain rather than a set of independent spells. Overload resets off his other casts, Spell Flux debuffs the target so Rune Prison roots instead of slows, and dropping any link costs most of the damage, hence the 7 out of 10 complexity rating against Sion’s 5. Roar of the Slayer slows and strips armor, and its shockwave behaves differently when it clips a minion first. Soul Furnace matters more: the shield absorbs one full rotation, and the delayed detonation punishes Ryze for standing at his 550 range while Sion closes from 175.

Late the picture changes. Ryze reaches 2,728 health, a heavy figure for a mage, and Realm Warp turns a lost skirmish into a repositioned team fight. Sion’s own scaling, 2,134 health, 107.4 armor and unlimited Soul Furnace growth from kills, holds up, but magic resist is the item that keeps him relevant against pure magic damage. Profiles: Sion, Ryze.