READ THE SOLOMID VERSION FOR NOW, LINK BELOW!

READ THE SOLOMID VERSION FOR NOW, LINK BELOW!

READ THE SOLOMID VERSION FOR NOW, LINK BELOW!

READ THE SOLOMID VERSION FOR NOW, LINK BELOW!

Solomid Version

May 7th, 2011 // I just won my second guide contest, this time at the LeagueDB community!
Thread at LeagueDB

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Check out my blog here:
http://lolinsider.blogspot.com/

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Why play Anivia? Says Elementz (one of the best LoL players, won WCG):
"Anivia moved to tier 1 - Bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word. Okay so Anivia Id say is quite the amazing champion who I also had too low for too long. Her poke, her dps, her utility is all awesome. Theres nothing she cant do well. Hell she can even pull a Jesus and revive herself. Her only problem is her weak early laning phase imo. Its not the strongest but if you can make it through that area with decent farm and keeping up in levels you will good to go crush everyone after that. "

Anivia is more than just a burst/late-game-carry mage. She has a variety of skills that allows her to basically change the game from losing to winning. On top of that, she has one of the best passives in game essentially giving her an extra life, an extra chance to decimate the entire enemy team. Played in the right hands and with the right team, a perfectly played Anivia will leave your opponents in despair.

Her weaknesses are very obvious. She is slow moving and will die easily if not controlled probably. Passive in the hands of a not-so-skilled player is a waste, either way it wont save you. Her laning phrase, before level 6 creep farming is also horrible. With a ridiculously slow attack animation that doesnt do a lot of damage with autoattacks, last hitting with her is difficult. However, she makes up for it with one of the longest autoattack range in game, behind Annie and Caitlyn. I will explain this later.

What is Anivias style? Anivia focuses on passive-aggressive play. Whats passive-aggressive? We are not talking about a negative personality here, but the definition applies. Anivia needs to be subtly attacking until the time comes to go all out and thoroughly destroy the opponent. This takes TONS of patience, experience, and map awareness. Most readers that played with me are usually too aggressive and fall into common pitfalls. Again, I will explain this in later sections.

You must play Anivia with guts, shrewdness, patience, and as cool as the ice she is made of. Unfortunately, you can only truly gain this mentality by playing tons of games with her. This guide will put you on the right track.

You cannot be afraid of dying with Anivia. This means baiting opponents, taunting 2 or 3 enemies to get out of position to kill you but only get to pop your egg. But you almost play with shrewdness, this means dont taunt your opponents at low health when you dont have your egg up. Thats just dumb.

Baiting includes luring enemies to your tower. Also, when you are getting chased by an opponent at low health, dont run super fast, zigzag a bit, let him/her think that you can be killed with a bit more effort, only to be baited into a trap and killed. Furthermore, when you get into a 1v1 situation in early-mid game, you can try to duke it out because most of the time you will greatly out damage your opponent. NEVER DO THIS AGAINST ANYONE WITH SILENCE, ESPECIALLY KASSADIN.

I will explain in detail how to use her skills to the maximum potential. There is a huge difference between a good and bad usage. Sometimes, no one will notice a bad usage except for yourself, which you will after reading this guide

flash frost [Q]

A slow and obvious projectile that consumes a decent amount of mana early on. Any foe that is paying attention to you shouldnt be hit by this if they actually care to dodge. Shooting this at anything above medium range is pointless because most of the time your opponents will juke it. Sometimes shooting it instead of saving it will end up getting you killed in ganks. Patience is a must with this skill. Also, you must, must pay attention to the cooldown and the range. This skill will either save you or get you a kill, pay attention and practice!

One way to land a Flash Frost successfully is predicting your enemys movement. If he/she moves in for the last-hit, predict where he/she will stop and shoot it there. If your enemy gets caught in between minions, shoot it and he/she cant escape because of creep blocking.

Lets take a look at some combos.

flash-flash frost
Usually used in early game or when chasing a dying enemy. Use Flash Frost immediately at the same time you are clicking Flash. This makes you instantly flank or get closer to your enemy, stunning them, and finish them off with Frostbite without them able to move much. Think of it like Ezreals Arcane Shift + Mystic Shot. But the ice ball projectile is much slower. If you Flash, and then slowly aim your Flash Frost, it would be too easy for the enemy to sidestep out of it. In other words, its a more manual version of Ezreals combo.

back shot
A move that requires patience and timing. This is mostly a baiting skill. You are running away from an enemy, while you are running, shoot Flash Frost at the chasing opponent. Enemies cant react fast enough to dodge the stun because they are expecting you to keep running. Especially at low health, not many expect you to shoot, stun and kill them when they are chasing you. A regular version of this is when you move towards your opponent; your opponent backs out; you back out but aim your Flash Frost silently; your opponent saw you backing out and move back in; you shoot your flash frost and land a combo.

An alternative of this wait until enemy chase you at low health (both of you), suddenly turn around, Flash to your enemy, Flash Frost + Frostbite for the kill. Its a gamble because both of you are at critical health, and theres no way, for a normal enemy to react to your gutsy move.

cover shot
This moves make up for your obvious projectile path. just make sure shoot Flash Frost when there are minions in-front of you. this makes the enemy harder to see the projectile. Also can be use terrain and fog as cover. DO NOT DO THIS OFTEN IN LANE. WHEN YOU ARE COVER SHOOTING, YOU ARE DAMAGING THE ENEMY MINIONS, WHICH MAKE YOU PUSH YOUR LANE HARDER. I will talk about laning later.

crystallize [W]

In the hands of noobs, useless; in the hands of pros, game changing.

You dont have to get wall at lvl 10, if you are ganking heavily early or laning against melee heroes, this is useful at lvl 5. Otherwise get as much higher dmg as possible adding other skills. An early Anivia can have zero AP, but with high level attack skills, can still do tons of damage. The early lvl walls are small, which means less effective in blocking your opponents. also, early usage of walls depletes your mana; you want to conserve mana for a good time to strike.

Wall is very hard to place right. Its easy to place if you are stationary. What if you are running and your opponents are right on your tail, only a few pixels away? In this case, you have to have very precise walling. If we freeze time, you need to place it a bit behind yourself, so when the next second comes and the wall erects, you are just in front of it and your opponents is exactly at where your mouse was, therefore blocked. Sounds easy -very, very difficult to master.

usage: (position and patience!)

1. If someone is chasing you or your ally through the middle river, dont wall in the enemys face right away. The enemy can just walk around it easily. Wait until you run to a narrow jungle entrance and then completely seal the passage.
2. walling in a teamfight requires a very high level of analysis and reaction. But its game changing. If you correctly, your enemy team would be divided up and forced to fend for themselves. You are creating chaos in their team: their carries cant walk past walls; their supports cant support their team; their tanks are out of position, while your entire team come from all angles and commence rape. A good wall = ace.
3. wall gives sight. Bigger the wall, bigger the sight range. Place it to sight bush, fog, dragon or baron from a safe distance.
4. wall to force your opponent to escape in one direction, therefore lining up your Flash Frost easily.

there are also some tricks with wall. One of them is use it to interrupt channels, such as Nunu & Willump's ult. Sometimes it can interrupt blue pill. To do this you have to place wall so it bumps the target from his/her original position. The easiest way to do this is to place the wall right on top of your target.

frostbite [E]

Not much strategy here. Just remember to Frostbite mostly when your target is chilled. That doesnt mean you cant Frostbite to finish off a low hp enemy without chill.

To prevent spooking your opponent from flashing away, you can also shoot Frostbite, while its travelling, immediately place Glacial Storm for instant double dmg combo.
glacial storm [R]
quick tap for instant slow. NEVER LEAVE IT ON LONG unless you know what you are doing. Glacial Storm drains mana like crazy. Even quick tap 4 or 5 times early game can deplete most of your mana pool. glacial storm also reduces attack speed in an aoe effect by 20%, be sure to place it against heavy physical teams.

While Glacial Storm drains mana like a *****, it doesnt require much to cast it for 1 second. You can leave it on for a second to instantly slow a group of enemies.

I own mid-lane. I usually can dominate unless vs. characters like Kassadin and Kog'Maw, which then I have to play very carefully (I will explain some tough counters later). Its all about positioning and patience. Anivias Flash Frost is slow-moving and easy to see and avoid. Therefore, you must play smart. Once you reach level 3, with 1 lvl in Flash Frost and 2 lvls in Frostbite, its time to seriously try to consider harassing the enemy, and hopefully bring them down.

Anivia is one of the best mid-laners. But again, although many readers that played with me commented that they were really tough in mid, which I fully I believe, they are too aggressive with the constant attempt to kill me with Flash Frost combo. Remember that Anivia has to play passive-aggressively. A decent opponent can juke the combo easily. They can even Cleanse it and laugh at you. Or worse, turn back and harass you harder, forcing you back or killing you.

Laning is not all about first-blood. To win a lane requires:
-getting kills and not dying more than your opponent
-higher creep kill than your opponent
-first one to take the tower
-ganking side lanes

Therefore, if you waste too much time and mana harassing your opponent, you are not farming as much as you should be. By playing too aggressive, you are also raising your opponents guard and making them very cautious, while lowering your own guard and making you susceptible to ganks. That doesnt mean you dont harass at all. Harass passively using autoattack, remember although your attacks dont do much damage, they have long range and can slowly witter down your opponents health. Use it to your advantage. Also, master last-hitting with Anivia with autoattacks; its very hard to do it accurately. You can use Frostbite to help you last hit, but dont do it too much.

But, when your opponent extends too far and no one seems to be ganking you. KILL HIM! Lead with Flash Frost + Frostbite, remember to move forward, then keep autoattacking until cooldown comes back. If you need to, Flash closer and get a few more attacks off to get the kill. If your opponent doesnt die, time to zone him/her out! Once you are level 6, you already won the lane with two ways to chain your Frostbite combos for ridiculous damage. there are very few ways to stop a level 6 Anivia from lane ownage.

You can also bait with your Rebirth. Higher level players know you have an egg, and they wont tower dive you risking everything. But what if you are not beside your tower but a bit away from it? Then you can lure, make them attempt to kill egg, and pop up and kill them. Or you can wait for your Warwick or Rammus to pop up and counter-gank.

Another scenario would be 2-3 man diving you at tower. Then one of them will definitely forget you have egg, and chain reaction will lead all of them to dive you. This is good, it means you can lure them past your tower, and pick them off. Try to live long enough to get a Flash Frost off and stun one or more players. With the slow and stun, escaping from tower hits is hard. But if they are high level and a tank is tanking the tower while 2 more are whacking your egg, youre dead with no teammates nearby.

I recommend start getting blue golem buff when you are around level 6 or 7 with almost full health and mana and a HP pot. Push your lane all the way to your opponents tower and leave to get the golem. Once you have the golem buff, you are even more unstoppable in mid lane.

For ganking, I dont recommend ganking side-lanes too often. Anivia moves too slow, the trip back and forth the lanes will cost you tons of exp and gold. If you cant get the kill, then you will be very behind in farming. Only do it when you know for sure you can get a kill.

Anivia is very strong in duo-laning with the right partners, but her weakness surfaces for 1v2 or solo top lanes. Anivia is a lot more vulnerable in side lanes. The already difficult farming becomes even more difficult.

For duo lanes, Anivia needs to constantly harass with autoattacks, but stay at a safe distance from ganks or counter-attacks. Use the bush to your advantage. Hide in the bush and wait for enemies to get close enough to start your combo. Also, get Crystallize early around level 4 or 5; it can save you many times or get you kills. One of the best laning partners for Anivia is Taric.With double stuns, heal, and armour aura, Taric/Anivia lane is scary. A double stun early can lead to first-blood easily.

I dont recommend 1v2 lane for Anivia. She is far too fragile and can get easily zoned out. If she cant farm, her game is ruined.

You might have problems with the following opponents.

Kassadin
Kassadin is a pain. The biggest threat is that he can silence you, which basically destroys your harassing power with skills. Plus, his silence is an excellent way to harass you because it can take a chunk of your HP out. Kassadin can also destroy you after level 6, even if you are level 6. My suggestions would be to shut him down before level 6 if you can. And harass him with autoattacks because you outrange his Q. Be careful when you are doing this. After level 6, just play safe and tower hug, or call for ganks.

Pantheon
Pantheon is becoming annoying in mid due to the recent buff. He can now very easily kill you in 1-2 combos, or harass you constantly with spear. You have to play carefully, because your autoattacks can get blocked by his passive shield. But when he is out of position, stun combo him, then back out immediately. After level 6, be careful of his jump. Again, he can kill you easily if you get caught in it, and there is nothing you can do except run.

Vladimir
I talked about how to counter Vlad generally in my blog here: http://lolinsider.blogspot.com/2010/11/ooooh-vlad-you-little-bloodsucker.html

Against Vlad as an Anivia player, you have to make a choice depending on the enemy Vlad's skill level, starter item build, and play style pattern. Generally, I play defensively against a decent skilled Vlad. To harass Vlad is simply not worth it. He can heal back all of the autoattack harass you deal by simply spamming Q on minions (or on you). He can dodge your sure-fire combo by pooling your Frostbite. And he can pretty much kill you at level 6 if you are not careful. Usually a level 6 Vlad, seeing you at low health with no egg, will push to your tower, Ghost, Ignite you and commence his combo for certain death.

But, you can also choose to shut down Vlad before level 6 by playing very aggressively. This is very risky, but as long as you can get him to low health without letting him heal back, you can zone him out and proceed to winning from there. again, it's risky and shouldn't be done if the other team has a jungler. Just focus on last-hitting and positioning.

Any range carries
Against any range carries like Tristana, Ashe, Miss Fortune, you must play safe and avoid getting harassed by autoattacks. Stay out of range; you outrange most of them with your autoattack. Move in once you think you can land some heavy damage without taking a lot yourself. Most of them gets a bit antsy at level 6 and will likely try something on you with their ultimate. keep an open eye when you are being aggressive.

Anivia can initiate a teamfight with a well placed wall Crystallize. By catching an opponent off guard and separating him/her from the rest of the team, your team can rush in and decimate the target in a few seconds. If the other team comes to the rescue, your team will have a huge advantage in terms of positioning and will likely win the teamfight with ease. To do this, you have to be constantly paying attention to the enemy movement and know when one of them is out of position. You have to be in front of your own team. Several situations allow this:

1. Your team is hiding in the bushes. An enemy cluelessly wonders close with only one narrow exit behind him/her. Seal it off with wall and stun.
2. The enemy team is doing Baron/dragon. Wall between them so the opponents are split inside or outside of the dragon/baron pit.
3. In a large open lane when 2 teams (5v5) are in a stalemate, neither charging in, wait for one of them to extend too far, Wall, stun, Glacial Storm and get rest of your team jumping on him/her (Ashes arrow, etc.).

Learning how to teamfight with Anivia is more important than anything else. Anivia can do so much; it almost seems like she is carrying the load of 2 or even 3 champions. In this section, I will provide a detailed checklist of what you should be doing in a teamfight situation. A teamfight situation is anything more than 3v3 in this guide. We also assume no noobs overextend and go in 1v5. will be updated frequently.

1. Check for enemy AOE/suppression initiators.
-if suppression like Warwick's ult, Flash Frost stun to break the channel immediately
-if instant AOE stun like Amumu, try stun him before he casts ult. if you cant, just retreat a bit.
-Special case: Nunu & Willump, Malzahar. Their channel, tested by me, can sometimes be broken with crystalize IF you use it to displace their position (i.e. put it on top of them so they get pushed aside). Very good chance wall can ignore Banshee's Veil. DOES NOT WORK ON WW'S ULT EVEN IF YOU SEPARATE.

2. Check for general position of enemy team
-always look for possibility to separate with wall. your wall has a fixed cooldown around 15 seconds, don't mess up or it's gg!
-if you see someone like Malphite ult half your team, make sure you don't get stunned so you can wall IMMEDIATELY. blocking his team from charging your stunned team. you can also get a kill off the initator.
-pay attention when wall is up again.

3. burst down whoever your team chose to focus
-better not be a tank!
-alternatively, pick a target that's dangerous (e.g. Ryze) and sent him off the battlefield.

4. Check if any of your carries, other than you, are being focused
- Glacial Storm works wonders against that Tryndamere or Master Yi wrecking your team.
-you can choose to not use your stun or use it to save your teammates.
-wall if you have to

5. look for baiting opportunities (ignore this if you get egged immediately)
-at the late stage of the teamfight where half of the people are dead on each team, it's time to put your Rebirth into action!
-bait the few remaining enemies to focus you. don't make it too easy!
-make sure before you go into egg, set wall, stun, or slow to prevent your enemy from running.
-your teammates will finish them off. this works every time.

First you have to know when you can get it. Anivia in early game has one of the most difficult time killing golem. The minimum level to get golem without assists is at level 6, with almost full HP and especially mana. When getting golem, make sure keeping using Flash Frost (make sure it dmgs twice), followed by Frostbite and auto-attack. Do not use Glacial Storm until you ran out of mana for your other skills.

Ok, you have the golem buff. that gets rid of Anivias biggest problem, mana starvation. so what to do with it? Do I stand around casting spells as always and look sexy with my blue circles? NO! HELL NO! I have seen too many Anivia players dont know what to do with their golem buff or not using it at all. The rule of thumb is, if you arent using up a lot of mana during buff time, youre doing it wrong!

Heres what you do with it:

1. Kill everything thats safe. Minion waves (in all lanes), creeps, w.e. spam your ult and Flash Frost (line it up), everything dies in seconds giving you lots of gold and no mana worries. Steal your enemy creeps because you can spam skills killing really fast. But be careful doing this.
2. Zone control (defence). Are there enemies grouped up in mid tower trying to push you? Throw down your Glacial Storm every time they charge in, and Flash Frost into their formation to scare them off. If they think its safe to charge you tower, throw down wall to block their range on tower, then spam Glacial Storm with Flash Frost. make them think that any fool that tower dive = instant death. (This is not true if theres more than one tank, and your not fed)
3. Zone control (offense). Your entire team in mid facing enemys entire team in stalemate, trying to push? Be careful, go in front, throw down Glacial Storm, Flash Frost, push your enemy back to their turret gradually while wiping out every minion wave. Anyone come in? Glacial Storm in their face. Repeat until both teams get anxious and teamfight starts. (Read initiation by Anivia)

Remember: by end of golem buff, ask yourself this question. How much did I farm? How many times did I help my team?

Perhaps the first thing you saw on this guide was the masteries choice. Why flash and ghost? Lets look at other skills first.

1. Flash and Ignite combo

I used to use this combo. This gives you incredible kill power early game through mid game. Most of the time you are on the verge of killing an injured enemy, just when you think you had him, he barely escapes; with ignite, this doesnt happen as often. Furthermore, this combo gives you aggressive early game play-style and opportunities. I have, almost every game, got a mid kill early game by using triple-F combo (read skill usage), chain FB, ignite, and autoattack the dying enemy.

But why not use this combo? Ignite loses its efficiency as game progresses. to put simply, once the enemy team realizes how much of a pain in the *** you are, and focuses their attention on taking you out, you wont have the chance to kill as easily, but you will die much easier. Ignite does not help you here.

2. Clarity
On the second thought, sometimes its useful at crucial times. Its a viable choice, especially for beginners.

3. Teleport
Teleport egg for escape; teleport ward for surprise attack; teleport towers for getting to lane are all interesting gimmicks. Yes, gimmicks, especially teleport egg, because thats all they are in theory. When it comes down to it, they dont work as they sound in practice.

teleport egg can only get you out of sticky situations in certain conditions:
1. you are only chased by one enemy with low dmg that cant break your tiny egg in 4 seconds.
2. no one whos chasing you have CC to interrupt your teleport

teleport ward do gives you surprise ganks. but they have to be in the right place at the right time. even then you are assuming the enemy cant run away, or instead counter-gank your ***.

4. Clairvoyance
this is a support skill. i dont like it on Anivia. plus, you have the wall as sight; wall also has a large cast range for safety. there are also better support characters to get Clairvoyance.

5. Cleanse
Anivia is nuker that means in-and-out, not stay in and get all the CCs on you. its a good skill, but there are better ones to get.

why Flash and Ghost? -Bigfatjiji used the same masteries in WCG. Many other experienced players do the same.
Mobility. Flash is your ultimate clutch spell, while Ghost help you not only escape, but hunt down entire teams to place your wall down. I call it "ghost walling" .your enemies would be like WTF HOW IS THIS GUY CHARGING AT ME SO FAST FROM OUT OF NOWHERE AND KILLED ME, I CANT REACT. Also, these combined with your slow CCs (most of your skills can), you can literally fly away from ganks and no one can escape you.

item paths:

core items: 3

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first start with and two for early game mana and hp worries, following straight into catalyst the protector when you have enough gold. follow by for regular situations, or if you are doing really well and want to risk going full AP. afterwards, choose item based on situation. Afterwards, proceed with completing . Finish up . These three items (any boots) are the basic core items and must be gotten every game.

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1 situational item
[/color]
1. if you are getting lots of gold and no one is opposing a serious threat to you. get
2. if other team stack MR heavy. get
3. if other team stack a bit MR and are AP heavy. get

i really like abyssal scepter for the MR and AP. a great combination.

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archangel's staff

Archangel's Staff is a very useful item. but if you want other items, skip this part and move on to situational first. come back to here after. if you need mana first, get ; if you need more AP first, get . once you have gotten both, build it into archangels staff.

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optional items (after core complete, or before if needed)
depending on the situation, the following items are recommended. Get at least 1 survivability item

(get this before archangel)

+

or

Q: Why not Rylai's Crystal Scepter?
A: Rylai's Crystal Scepter is great on many casters, but not Anivia. To put it simply, the slow is redundant and doesnt well. For survivability, there are other items that do the same or better job.

Q: Why the change from Mercury's Treads back to Sorcerer's Shoes?
A: in this version, I changed Mercury's Treads back to Sorcerer's Shoes. I believe that sorc shoes's early mpen is very useful, plus it is cheaper than merc treads. I don't see the benefit of merc treads unless vs. a heavy CC team. Sorc shoes give you early game power even without any AP bonus, which is very useful.

Q: why not Boots of Swiftness?
A: I am not a fan of this. but since Bigfatjiji used it, he has his reasons and i will test it out later on and get back to you guys.

Q: why get late Archangel's Staff?
A: i have recently decided to add Archangel's Staff in my build. The reason for me to get it around 5th item, not early is because of mostly the mana and AP bonus. As game goes longer, you will have a harder time killing enemies. Therefore, more mana is required than before. Archangel's Staff solves this problem, and compensates with high amount of AP as well.

Q: Rod of Ages that important?
A: get it for the extra health, mana, and AP. its the best option that catalyst of the protector builds into. Its also effective later in game once the bonus stats applied (after 15min).

Q: why not starting with Doran's Ring?
A: Doran's Ring is a pretty decent starter item for casters. but i prefer rushing catalyst the protector for better farming and faster transition into Rod of Ages. If you feel like your opponent in lane is very tough and you need the extra HP and AP, by all means take Doran's Ring

Q: why Frozen Heart?
A: Frozen Heart gives you armor and severely mitigates enemy melee champs threat with reduced attack speed aura; mana; and most importantly, cool down reduction so you can spam your CCs more. Awesome survivability that also increase your dmg/cc potential.

Ok. My views about Mejai's Soulstealer proved to be incorrect. After asking many opinions and trying it out myself, mejai is a very good item to have on Anivia as long as the player who is controlling her is experience -that means regularly high k/d/a and strong positioning knowledge/awareness. So, I put mejai back in my build order once again.

To put is simply, Mejai lets you faceroll easy games and win hard games. Mejai lets you carry your entire team when you get Rabadon's Deathcap. A good Anivia with a good team usually doesn't die often and always get assists if not kills. For its value, Mejai is almost a must have.

Get it after boots and see how it works out for you.

p.s. I used to be satisfied with 7/1-10/1 k/d at mid-late game. With Mejai, I can get this ratio at around 30 minutes. Huge difference.

many players neglect the importance of using Elixir of Brilliance on mages. Thinking that a temporary potion wont help much. Wrong! This little 4-min duration elixir is crucial in owning with Anivia. Why?

1. Gives 20-40 AP based on level. This bonus doubles in effect for the dmg of your Flash Frost (double hit), Frostbite (double dmg once chilled), and ticking Glacial Storm AOE.

2. Huge. Reduce your cooldown reduction by 10%. Stacked with other CDR buffs, you can literally spam your CCs and crazy burst rotations.

3. 250 gold. Come on, its freaking cheap! With Anivias farming, you should have no problems.

when to buy
1. You just finished building an item and have spare gold.
2. You are behind in game in terms of item build, aka not being fed.
3. Honestly, no other reasons not to buy.

Anivia is a godly tier champion when played right WITH THE RIGHT TEAM. Regardless of how many kills you get, you are not Tryndamere or Master Yi; you are a mage limited by your cooldowns, limited in your teamfight abilities. Also you are vulnerable and very hard to kill towers with. K/d/a ratio means nothing, your role in the team does.

Ever been in a situation where you escape with a few kills, but your team gets wiped? I bet sometimes even your other players will praise you for being skilled, not dying when everyone else died. Dont feel too good about yourself. A well played Anivia not only should focus on getting many kills, but have to ensure the TEAM WINS. Ask yourself a few questions:
1. Did I stun an almost dead target to get a kill? Or did I stun the most dangerous enemy team member knowing I cant kill him or her (i.e. the Xin Zhao thats wrecking your team but has like 3k health)?
2. Did I keep up the Glacial Storm so the enemy physical carries all get debuffed?
3. Did I Crystallize to seal off an almost dead target or did I use it to create a better positioning for my team?
4. Did I chase a target all the way across the map to get a kill while my team is getting owned?

In late game where everyone is fed, youre no longer a huge threat in terms of damage especially compared with someone like Veigar or Ryze. But remember you are still extremely deadly with the Crystallize, one of the best skills in game. Use it well or you are not a true Anivia.

cool story that happened to me when i was trying out for some clans.
vent:
recruiter #1: hey there newcomer, i hope you are ready for the try out. basically we are going to do a 1v1 in mid to see how you perform in terms of last-hitting, positioning...etc.
recruiter #2: lol recruiter #1 has like 1600 elo and is teh clan veteran, bro. hes gona tear you a new *******.
me: ...
recruiter #1: its ok newbie dont wry about it. its not about winning or losing. just do your best and if your good we will pass you.
me: ok. [thinking: i gona show these guys regardless of your elo...dont fk with my anivia in mid or you get Frostbite up your ...]
[champion select screen, he chose kogmaw...me going "aw #!@% now i have to try")
me: (clears throat, accidently pressed "shift" button)
recruiter #1: dont get nervous just do your best.
me: ok.
[couple of minutes in, i get first blood]
recruiter #1: nice you caught me off-guard
me: lucky shot.
[10 min in, 2 kills, tower down]
recruiter #1: i think thats enough for today...
recruiter #2: lol you suck.

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I did not use the standard sapphire crystal + 2X hp pots build start. That was meant for long-term strategy where you can rush fast into catalyst and out-level your opponents and gank side-lanes. In this case, 1v1 mid with no side-lines, I go for the following build.

items:
dorans ring + hp potion (back in the days when this is possible)
masteries:
Ignite + Flash


Anivia with this build is almost unstoppable in mid. Dorans early dmg boost + survivability allows you to be super-aggressive. And Ignite is just pure deadly with your burst. if your enemy isnt tower hugging, he is asking to get frosted like a *****. MF, vlad, mordekaiser? GG noobs.

Even though I have hundreds of games with Anivia, I do not consider myself pro in anyway. But, I have never lost to a fellow Anivia in the same game (even they are rare), in terms of skill play and CONSISTENCY (key word). I am always seeking for better players.

Add hypershatter, US server, in game to play and discuss build :)