There is a big balancing issue about the Ryu, mainly about the heavy scales. For the volcanic dragon, scales means base armor and extra hearts. For the Ryu, it can't fly well while wear heavy armor because of their scales, which is a odd contrast. The only buff is 4 HP, which is not a worthy trade at all, especially considering volcanic dragons can wear armor and have natural armor.
I really like Ryu and I think that they should be buffed a little more to meet the volcanic dragon's scales. If this unbalances it too much, any other debuff would be better. Its a dragon, born from the heavens, it shouldn't die from 2 skeletons because of weak armor or can't leap to the skies because of heavy armor.