PRE-GAMERunes Summoner Spells

ANNIEAbilities Skill Sequence Items Pros / Cons

GAMEPLAYCombos Early Game Mid Game Teamfights

PROS + High Base Damage + Amazing Burst Potential + Rarely Banned + Low Cooldown Spells + Easy to play + Not difficult to master + Lots of hard CC potential + Can delete enemy ADC's

CONS - Immobile Champion - Easy to camp Annie in lane - Short / Mid Range Mage - Predictable - Relies heavily on Flash - It's easy to camp Annie in lane - No escape other than flash - Can be difficult in higher elo

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Dark Harvest: Damaging a champion below 50% of their maximum health deals 20-60 (based on level) (+ 5 per Soul) (+ 25% bonus AD) (+ 15% AP) bonus Adaptive damage and reaps 1 Soul. This cannot happen again for 45 seconds, resetting to 1.5 seconds on champion takedown. I prefer to take this over Electrocute because it scales better into mid/late game and suits my game-style better, it also has unlimited growth potential. Electrocute will add to your overall burst though, particularly in the early game. You should definitely try both and make a choice as to which one suits you better.

Cheap Shot: Deal bonus true damage to enemy champions with impaired movement or actions. This is a decent Rune to take on Annie since her entire kit revolves around stunning (impairing) an enemy or multiple enemies movement. It adds a small amount of true damage burst which can help to secure a kill when you all-in or are simply trading. You would not take any other rune here other than Cheap Shot

Eyeball Collection: Collect eyeballs for champion takedowns. Gain permanent AD or AP, adaptive for each eyeball plus bonus upon collection completion. This allows you to increase your ability power in the early to mid game which will help to set you up nicely for late game, should you get there. Annie can easily and effectively roam and stack the takedowns required. You need not consider Ghost Poro or Zombie Ward here because Eyeball Collection is by far the superior choice.

Ravenous Hunter: Unique takedowns grant permanent healing from ability damage. This rune will give you some sustain throughout laning phase and throughout the game, even in team-fights. In theory the movement speed gained from Relentless Hunter can help you to rotate and gank other lanes more quickly (and I am usually a BIG fan of movement speed on Annie) but the sustain from Ravenous Hunter is far superior and more useful on in my opinion, in this instance.

Transcendence: Gain 10% cooldown reduction at level 10. Each percent of CDR exceeding the CDR limit is converted to an adaptive bonus of 1.2 Attack Damage or 2 Ability Power. This rune is simply amazing on works really well on Annie. Having extra cooldown reduction is great as it will allow you to cycle your spells sooner and also have Summon: Tibbers around more often. If you happen to exceed the CDR limit (perhaps with blue buff) the extra CDR will be converted to Ability Power.

Gathering Storm: Every 10 Minutes gain AP or AD, adaptive. As the game progresses you will gain some extra AP to help burst down carries in skirmishes and team fights. I recommend taking this rune but if you prefer to roam more efficiently it's possible to pick Waterwalking instead. Your third option here is Scorch which will add a little bit of bonus magic damage on your next hit every 10 seconds. If you are going to roam a lot, you could swap this rune out for Waterwalking.

Unsealed Spellbook Keystone:

Unsealed Spellbook: While out of combat, you can swap one of your equipped summoner spells to a new, single-use summoner spell. After using the single-use summoner spell, your original summoner spell will swap back in. Your first swap becomes available at the 6 minute mark, with an initial 240 second cooldown. Each unique summoner spell selected reduces the swap cooldown by 20 seconds, down to a minimum of 120 second cooldown. You must swap to 3 different summoner spells before returning to one you've already used. I like to start with Ignite as this gives you extra lane pressure, especially if I think that my Jungler is strong enough to help me secure an early kill. Once the ability to swap summoner spells becomes available I generally tend to take first Teleport and look for a pushed bot lane / top lane to TP gank, assuming the lane has not been decided already.

Perfect Timing: Start the game with a Commencing Stopwatch that transforms into a Stopwatch at 10 minutes. Stopwatch has a one time use Stasis effect. This free Stopwatch contributes only 250 gold towards upgraded items and sells for 20 gold. It reduces the cooldown of Guardian Angel, Gargoyle Stoneplate, and Zhonya's Hourglass by 15%. I prefer to take Perfect Timing here because waiting 10 minutes as Annie for Magical Footwear can sometimes put you in compromising positions if you need early boots in order to help you dodge skill-shots etc.., remember you cannot buy Boots if you have taken Magical Footwear.

Biscuit Delivery: Biscuit Delivery: Gain a Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will every 2 mins, until 6 min. Biscuits restore 10% of your missing health and mana. Consuming or selling a Biscuit permanently increases your mana cap by 50.

Cosmic Insight: +5% CDR | +5% Max CDR | +5% Summoner Spell CDR | +5% Item CDR. Cooldwon Reduction is always a plus on any champion. I really like to make sure I have Flash and Summon: Tibbers around as much as possible which makes this rune a solid choice.

Celerity: All movement speed bonuses are 7% more effective on you and you gain 1% movement speed. Taking this rune can give you the ability to roam and rotate more efficiently. It is a really good option for giving you an extra boost in speed to move around the map to gank and help with objectives.

Waterwalking: Gain 25 Movement Speed and an adaptive bonus of up to 18 attack damage or 30 ability power (based on level) when in the river.

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Flash is an absolute MUST HAVE spell on Annie. Without it you are extremely predictable and lack any real engage potential. Remember, Annie has very low mobility and it's very likely that you will need Flash to escape from ganks in the early game. It's an important spell for late game engages and team fights as it enables you to get to the enemy teams back-line.

Ignite offers extra lane pressure. I take ignite 90% of the time. It's also a great spell to take against self healing champions. You will want to take Ignite in most games.

Ghost will offer you some extra mobility, escape potential and engage. remember, as Annie you are a very immobile champion.

Teleport can be used if you want to pressure other lanes, especially bot lane where you can literally one shot the enemy ADC with Summon: Tibbers. Just remind your bot lane to ward in the brushes.

Cleanse can be worth taking if you are playing against an enemy that has hard CC. Be careful if they have multiple champions with CC though because even if you Cleanse one ability, you can still be hit by the others. (Note: Cleanse will NOT work against Malzahar ultimate, Warwick ultimate, Skarner ultimate, Tahm Kench Devour or Urgot Fear Beyond Death due to them being 'suppression's')

Exhaust can be a go-to item for playing against AD Assassins such as Zed or Talon. It's not a favorite of mine but definitely an option.

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Doran's Ring is a solid choice to start with in general and I take it first in 90% of my Annie games. It gives you some ability power, health and some useful mana regeneration.

Boots will help you to dodge skill-shots and make it a bit easier to position in the early laning phase. Consider starting Boots against enemies with ranged skill-shots like Lux, Syndra, Morgana, Nidalee etc... It's not really an ideal starting item, however it is always an option.

Dark Seal can be taken if you are confident that you 'will win' the lane and want to start snowballing quickly. Only take this as your starting item if you are sure that the enemy laner is not going to get a kill on you.

Cloth Armor can be purchased first if you are playing against an AD champion. It's a part of the Seeker's Armguard which means you will be able to pick it up faster. Remember, you do not need to finish Seeker's Armguard into a Zhonya's Hourglass right away. I do not necessarily recommend this as a starting item but it can certainly be worth considering.

Sorcerer's Shoes: Standard boots pick, you just cant go wrong with having the extra damage notably if the enemy team has stacked magic resist. You can consider these your go-to boots and simply default pick them in any game. For sure though, try out the Ionian Boots of Lucidity if you prefer the extra cooldown on your summoner spells. To be honest, both are great choices.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity: Give you some CDR, movement speed and some extra cooldown on your summoner spells, including Flash. It can be very useful to have your Flash up more often when playing Annie due to her predictability, immobility and lack of any real engage. Choose yourself whether having the summoner spell CDR will over the course of a game allow you to dish out more damage to the enemy team than having the extra penetration from Sorcerer's Shoes.

Mercury's Treads: These are an option if the enemy team consists of multiple AP Champions, especially if they have lots of hard CC. They increase your movement speed and reduce CC effects (Stuns, Roots, etc..)

Plated Steelcaps: will be helpful if you are playing with a difficult AD matchup or if the enemy team is heavy on attack damage. They become even more viable if the enemy team has multiple auto attack champions. You will lack some damage by not having Sorcerer's Shoes but the extra defensive stats in the right game can go a long way to helping you survive after using your burst combo to blow up an enemy carry, particularly as a game progresses.

Luden's Tempest gives you a decent increase in Ability Power which will give you some extra damage and burst. It's passive 'Echo' will help you to wave clear and also grants you a little extra movement speed. You also get a decent amount of mana from it too, a healthy amount of +600 Mana. Mythic Passive: Empowers your other Legendary items with +5 Magic Penetration.

Hextech Rocketbelt Great item for extra engage/disengage due to it's 'Active - Supersonic' which will cause you to dash in a target direction, unleashing an arc of magic missiles that deal magic damage to enemies & then you gain a burst of movement speed towards enemy champions for a short time. Excellent item to wave clear with! Hextech Rocketbelt will give you a decent amount of Ability Power, some extra health that will help with survivability and you will also gain +15 Ability Haste. Mythic Passive: Empowers your other Legendary items with +5 Magic Penetration.

Liandry's Torment can be taken if the enemy team consists of high health tanks. However, it deals Damage Over Time which can be difficult for Annie to take advantage of and is best suited to champions that deal DOT such as Cassiopeia, Brand, Zyra etc... Annie is most useful being played as a 'Burst' caster, therefore there are other items that can be better chosen over this - EG: Deathcap / Void staff.. Mythic Passive: Empowers your other Legendary items with +5 Ability Haste.

Void Staff gives your some extra Ability Power and a big chunk of Magic Penetration. It's always great to have the extra Magic Penetration as it will help with your overall burst and enable you to continue 100-0 enemy carries into the late game. A must have item really, even if the enemy is not 'stacking' Magic Resist.

Morellonomicon is a perfect item to help you shut down 'healing champions' such as Swain Dr. Mundo, Maokai, Soraka, Garen, Vladimir etc.. It also gives you some flat magic penetration from it's Oblivion Orb component which will help you to delete squishy targets!

Rabadon's Deathcap When you just need some more raw ability power and aren't worried about defensive stats, this is a great item. It will give you +120 Ability Power and increases your total AP by +35% Ability Power which is an amazing increase to your burst potential.

Zhonya's Hourglass has a great 'Active - Stasis' where you become invulnerable and untargetable for 2.5 seconds which can save you countless times throughout a game. It allows you to Flash deep into the enemy backline and ulti/zhonya combo. A great item to rush if you are struggling against a Zed or Talon etc.. due to it's active and the armor it offers. You also receive 10 ability haste from this item.

Banshee's Veil Gives you +65 Ability Power, +45 Magic Resist and +10 Ability Haste. It's passive grants a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. It refreshes after no damage is taken from enemy champions for 40 seconds. It is an excellent item for when you're matched against an AP heavy team.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter I love this item. Lots of health, some extra Ability Power and a useful slow. It also works with Tibbers which can be handy for making an escape or keeping up with an enemy. See video below.

Spellbinder In my opinion, this item is 'not' a great choice on Annie and I do not recommend purchasing it. I've simply included it here for the few that might want to try it. It gives some flat AP and a 10% movement speed increase so it will give you some extra damage, burst and the ability to roam more efficiently. Remember, Annie is a very immobile champion and she benefits greatly by any additional movement speed. You will gain a charge on this item every time an ally or enemy uses an ability up to 100 charges which can then be activated to gain an additional '1-100' movement speed boost & ability power increase for 4 seconds.

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Generally you should put your first point into (Q) Disintegrate. This enables you to last hit minions with Disintegrate and have your mana refunded and cooldown halved for each one.

If your team are going for an invade, you can put your first point in (W) Incinerate and charge at least x2 stacks on your stun at the fountain. You can charge the other stacks on your way to the invade if need be.

I like to get an early point in (E) Molten Shield but this is not necessary. It can be helpful for quicker stacking of your stun or reducing some damage from champions that can harass you a lot in lane. Another option when leveling your abilities is: Q,W,Q,W,Q,R,E (You are not taking E until level 7 and this will give you some extra damage / wave clear)

I like to have x3 Stacks on my stun ready... Then if I want to stun an enemy, I cast (Q) Disintegrate and before it lands on the enemy, activate your (E) Molten Shield to get the 4th stack and stun them. However, keep in mind that if an enemy is stunned for almost the entire duration of your (E) Molten Shield then you are not taking advantage of its damage reduction.

Pyromania: After casting four abilities, Annie's next damaging ability will stun enemies that it damages for 1.25/1.5/1.75 seconds. It is an on-cast effect. Spell shields such as Banshee's Veil will block the stun. The stun will not be consumed if the target of Disintegrate becomes untargetable or if the projectile is destroyed by Wind Wall Pyromania is a very strong passive as it allows you to regularly have an AOE stun at your disposal.

Disintegrate: Annie hurls a Mana infused fireball, dealing damage and refunding the Mana cost if it destroys the target. Deals 80/115/150/185/220 (+80% Ability Power) magic damage. Mana cost and half the cooldown are refunded if Disintegrate kills the target. It applies spell effects as a single target ability and it will be blocked by spell shields such as Banshee's Veil. It is considered to be a projectile for Unbreakable and Wind Wall Disintegrate is your bread and butter ability for farming in lane. This is also the ability that you will max first. It makes farming as Annie much easier because it refunds the 100% of the mana cost and 50% of the CD if you kill a low health minion (or any other unit) with it. This means you don't have to rely on last hitting by auto attacks only and you should not struggle with mana usage in lane either.

Incinerate: Annie casts a blazing cone of fire, dealing damage to all enemies in the area. Casts a cone of fire dealing 70/115/160/205/250 (+85% Ability Power) magic damage to all enemies in the area. Incinerate applies spell effects as an area of effect (AOE) ability. It can be blocked by spell shields such as Banshee's Veil. Due to it being an AoE ability it can be used to stun multiple enemies at once. As soon as you get a couple of items and a few points into Incinerate it can help you to easily and quickly clear minion waves.

Molten Shield: Annie grants herself or an ally a shield for 3 seconds and increases movement speed 'decaying' over 1.5 seconds. While the shield holds, enemies who attack it take extra magic damage. Tibbers always gains the benefits of the shield, regardless of the target. Self cast: Alt + E It is a self/ally targeted buff and it does not deal damage against towers and their attacks. Attacks that miss against the shield will NOT cause the shield to deal damage. Molten Shield is a very strong ability and it helps to make Annie or the ally shield wearer and Tibbers a bit tankier in fights. The fact that it damages anyone that auto attacks the shiled wearer or Tibbers while it is activated is just icing on the cake. You can sometimes use it for the movement speed boost to escape an enemy or to catch up with one. It can also be used to activate a stun from your Disintegrate if for example an enemy champion uses Flash while it is traveling towards them, assuming you were on 3 stacks of Pyromania

Summon: Tibbers: Annie wills her bear Tibbers to life, dealing damage to units in the area. Tibbers can attack and also burns enemies that stand near him. If you activate Molten Shield while Tibbers has been summoned it will also activate on him for it's duration. Tibbers Enrages when: Summoned, Annie uses Pyromania on an enemy Champion and when Annie dies. When enraged Tibbers ignores unit collision and gains 275% bonus Attack Speed and 100% bonus Movement Speed which decays over 3 seconds. Summon: Tibbers applies spell effects as an area of effect (AOE) ability. It can be blocked by spell shields such as Banshee's Veil. Rylai's Crystal Scepter will apply a 20% sow for 1 second. This is one of my favorite ultimate's in league of legends. It comes with a nasty AoE stun and tonnes of AoE damage. It is pretty easy to predict though so often it's better to lead your stun with Pyromania and then use Summon: Tibbers afterwards so that you can guarantee that it hits. There is nothing more painful than an enemy using Flash and escaping your ultimate. You can move Summon: Tibbers around and have him attack a specific champion, tank towers/objectives and block skill shots

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SINGLE TARGET:

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Q (stun) + R + W + E + Q This combo works well for single targets and assumes that you have a stun ready. It can be super risky to lead the combo with (R) due to (silly as it seems) the chance of it missing, especially playing against mobile champs like Zed, Yasuo, Ahri, LeBlanc or any other champion that still has their Flash. Leading this 'single target combo' with (Q) will ensure you stun the champion and can deal the most damage! You should use your AA too, between the spells (when they are on Cooldown)

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Q + E (stun) + R + W + Q This combo is for a single target and assumes you have (x3 stacks) on your passive. For this combo to work, you need to cast your (Q) and while it's traveling to your enemy press (E) to activate your stun on them. This combo can be useful to try catch an enemy off guard as they are not expecting you to stun them.

MULTIPLE TARGETS:

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R (stun) + Q + W + E + Q This is your main combo for blowing up multiple targets and assumes that you have a stun ready. You are leading with your ultimate (R) to stun multiple enemies and following up with the rest of your abilities. It is fine to have (E) Molten Shield activated before you engage. This combo combines with your Flash can enable you to reach the enemy backline and delete squishy targets almost instantly. Don't forget to use your AA or reposition during cooldowns.

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W (stun) + R + Q + E + Q This combo works well for multiple targets and assumes that you have a stun ready. You are leading with your (W) to stun multiple enemies and following up with the rest of your abilities. Don't forget to use your AA or reposition during cooldowns. NOTES: The reason for casting (Q) before (W) is because it has a lower cooldown and you will have it available quicker if you use it first. Don't forget to use your Auto Attacks or reposition when your abilities are on cooldown. It is fine to have (E) Molten Shield activated before you engage. Be careful if starting any combo with your ultimate (R) as their is an increased risk of missing the target.

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Level 1: Typically at level 1, you will have started (Q) Disintegrate. This will make it much easier for you to farm as you can cast Disintegrate on minions and as long as it dies the mana it cost will be refunded. However, before you get to lane you should pick a position in your jungle and cover a buff/watch for enemy invades. Don't just sit here and alt+tab or AFK to use the toilet, you need to be alert and react if the enemy team arrives. If the enemy team has invaded you will need to coordinate with the rest of your team regarding how you are going to counter it.

If your team wants to invade the enemies at Level 1, you should now start with your (W) Incinerate and charge up at least two of your passive stacks before leaving the fountain. You need to be quick! You can charge the next stacks en route to the invade. use your stun Pyromania as an AOE stun during the invade.

Farming is your number 1 goal from levels 1-6. FARM FARM FARM !!!! Remember that you are a very immobile champion with no escape (apart from Flash) so you need to be very careful not to overextend, no matter how confident you are feeling. Be sure to ward a lot !!

Try to be aware of your jungler to see if you can help to secure an enemy jungle objective or possible assist in a first blood at the enemy red/blue buff.

Level 6+: Continue farming as much as you possibly can but by this stage you should have some items. By this point you should have Boots and should be looking to roam around the map to apply some pressure. If you are able to 100-0 the enemy mid-laner by all means do this, but I generally prefer to roam and secure kills in other lanes, particularly bottom. It's good practice to use Annie at this point in the game to help your other lanes get ahead. Between your stun and your burst, roaming can be very effective to securing kills when you gank other lanes. Be sure to place wards !

You don't always have to get a kill for a gank to be successful. Simply applying pressure on an enemy lane can be enough, it can make them think twice about going all-in on your teammates when your missing (as you could be near their lane). Obviously blowing a summoners like Flash or Heal is a successful gank too.

Mid Game: So you've made it to mid game as Annie, now what do you do? At this point in the game, players will begin to roam and group up for ambushes, ganks or to secure and objective ( Towers, Dragon, Rift Herald etc..) Large scale Team-fights and smaller skirmishes will begin to occur. Victory or Loss of these fights at this stage can sway the outcome of the game. Vision control is an crucial part of mid-game and this can definitely turn games to your advantage or destroy a well earned lead. A well placed ward can help you to get picks on the enemy team. You will want to try to keep wards in key areas on the map and at key objectives, keep farming all the time and roam as much as you can. Do your best to 'never' get caught alone. In the skirmishes and team-fights you will want to focus as many of the enemy with Tibbers as possible but put the 'HIGHEST' priority on the enemy squishes: AP Carry - AD Carry etc..

Flash is extremely strong in team fights, it allows you to reach right into their back-line and Summon: Tibbers onto the enemy carries.

You will want to have your stun ready or at least just one stack off being ready (you can use Molten Shield to ready up your stun) and you can either initiate on the enemy carries and have your team come in to finish them off or you can wait for your team to initiate the fight and you can enter at a more suitable time.

You will want to try to CC as many people with your stun as possible and at the same time burst down an enemy carry from 100-0. Try to wait for an opportunity when the enemy team/carries group together so you can deal as much damage as possible in one go.

It might be a wise initiation to lead with Incinerate and then Summon: Tibbers to ensure you don't miss hitting them with Summon: Tibbers






TIP 1: If you are at 3 stacks when you use Disintegrate, if you activate Molten Shield while it’s traveling you can surprise stun an enemy. This also works with Incinerate
TIP 2: Last hit with Disintegrate instead of auto attacks as this will give you infinite mana & high probability of successfully last hitting the minion.
TIP 3: Annie has a decent auto attack, don't forget to use it a lot in lane.
TIP 4: Don't forget that you can move Summon: Tibbers around and have him attack a specific champion, tank towers/objectives and block skill shots.
TIP 5: Disintegrate will be blocked by Wind Wall, however Incinerate will not be blocked by it.
TIP 6: Due to her burst, Annie is extremely good at deleting assassins EG: Zed, Talon, LeBlanc etc... She is also a monster at deleting ADC's.

Hextech Rocketbelt can be a great item for extra initiation in team fights as with every other stage in the game. Don't forget you can also use it to escape. Check the video below.




As you can see in the clip below, had I pushed up further I most likely would have lost my Flash at the minimum and possibly given up first blood.






What is lane freezing?
A frozen lane is basically a lane where the creeps site for battle does not move.

Why would I want a frozen lane?
You want to set up easier ganks for your jungler.
You do not want to push out too far from your tower, therefore keeping safer from enemy ganks.
You want to deny your opponent Experience and CS

Where is the best place to freeze a lane?
Ideally you will want to freeze your lane close to your tower but not at the point where the enemy minions are being attacked by it.

How can I freeze a lane?
You need to make it where the enemy minions will always beat your minions. You will only last hit minions at the very last possible second. Once all of your minions die, you will need to tank the enemy wave near your tower until your new wave of minions arrive. You can draw them towards river and then back to the lane.

Now that the enemy minions have the numbers advantage, continue to only last-hit them at the very last second.

My enemy has frozen the lane, how can I unfreeze it?
Push harder! Ward both river brushes and push as much as you can. Ideally you will have knowledge of where the enemy jungler is (or at least have flash) at the time you are pushing because you will be overextended and susceptible to being ganked.



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Well that's it for my guide to Annie. I hope you have found it an interesting read and that it might help you to improve. If not that, at least some food for thought, so to speak.

Annie is one of my favourite champions and I hope you enjoy playing her as much as I do.

It's not all about winning/losing guys, at least we get to play the game!


Thanks for stopping by,
FalleN3



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