Annie is a simple yet highly effective mage with a lot of burst potential. With her ability to stun enemies with her passive and deal massive damage with her ultimate, she’s a great pick in both solo lanes and as a support in certain situations. Here’s a full guide to help you dominate with Annie.
In summary, Annie is a burst mage with immense potential in both 1v1s and team fights. Her key strength is her ability to control the enemy with her stun and burst them down with her Q-W-R combo. Farm well early, and once you hit level 6, look for opportunities to roam and get involved in skirmishes. With her ability to stun and her high burst damage, Annie is always a threat in the right hands.
1. Runes
Primary: Sorcery- Phase Rush: Gives movement speed after hitting with abilities, useful for kiting or escaping.
- Manaflow Band: Helps with mana sustain throughout the game.
- Transcendence: Provides ability haste as you scale, helping reduce the cooldowns of your abilities.
- Scorch: Extra poke damage for the laning phase.
- Cosmic Insight: Reduces cooldowns on items and summoner spells, allowing you to use your abilities more frequently.
- Magical Footwear: Free boots at 12 minutes, which saves you gold for other items.
2. Starting Items
- Doran's Ring: Provides AP, mana regeneration, and health.
- Health Potion: For sustain during the laning phase.
- Stealth Ward: Vision control is crucial, even for a mid-lane Annie.
3. Core Items
- Luden's Echo: Great for burst damage and helping with mana sustain.
- Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Gives extra health and AP while slowing enemies you hit, which pairs well with Annie's skills for locking enemies down.
- Zhonya's Hourglass: Essential for surviving team fights, especially when you need to go invulnerable after landing your combo.
4. Situational Items
- Liandry's Anguish: Can be a good option if the enemy team has tanky champions, as it provides burn damage over time.
- Morellonomicon: For healing reduction against healing-heavy champions.
- Rabandon's Deathcap: A must-have item for late-game scaling. It exponentially increases your AP, which massively boosts your burst potential.
- Void Staff: To cut through magic resist from the enemy team.
- Banshee's Veil: A good option if you need some protection from enemy AP burst or crowd control.
5. Abilities
- Passive - Pyromania: Annie stores up to two charges of her stun. After casting two spells, her next ability will stun the target for a short duration. This is a key mechanic in Annie’s kit, allowing you to control team fights and control enemy champions.
- Q - Disintegrate: Annie’s primary damage tool. It’s a single-target, low-cooldown nuke that deals magic damage. If you kill a target with Q, the mana cost is refunded, which allows you to poke or last-hit minions without worrying about running out of mana.
- W - Incinerate: Annie releases a cone of fire, dealing magic damage to all enemies in its range. This ability is great for wave-clear and hitting multiple enemies in fights, especially when you have your passive stun ready.
- E - Molten Shield: Provides Annie with a shield and grants her bonus movement speed. This can be used for mobility and protection, especially when diving into fights or escaping after setting up a stun.
- R - Tibbers: Annie summons Tibbers, a massive bear who deals magic damage and attacks nearby enemies. Tibbers can be used to dive into fights, zone enemies, or provide extra damage in team fights. Tibbers also has a passive effect, dealing damage over time and acting as a persistent threat once summoned.
6. Skill Maxing
- Max Q first – This is your main source of damage, and maxing it reduces the cooldown, allowing you to poke more often and farm better.
- Max W second – It has a larger area of effect (AoE) than Q, and it’s great for wave-clear and team fights.
- Max E third – Annie’s shield is useful for utility, but you don’t need to max it early. The movement speed and shield amount are useful in late-game skirmishes.
- Always level R when available – Your ultimate should be taken at level 6, 11, and 16. It’s crucial for executing your combos and dealing burst damage.
7. Playstyle
Early Game (Laning Phase)
- Farm with Q and use it to last-hit minions to build up your passive. Annie is one of the easiest champions to farm with, especially because you can sometimes get your Q mana refunded if you kill minions with it.
- Be aware of your passive. Once you have two Q or W casts, your next ability will stun enemies, so use that to your advantage to harass or secure kills.
- Focus on trading with your opponent when your passive is up and Q is ready to land. After a successful trade or kill, you can return to farming and scaling.
- Keep control of vision and watch out for jungler ganks. Annie is squishy early and needs to play carefully until she gets more items.
Mid Game
- Once you have your R and W, you can start to play aggressively, looking for skirmishes or roams to other lanes. Be sure to use your E for extra shield and mobility during fights.
- Group with your team and use Tibbers to initiate team fights or zone enemies. Annie’s stun (via her passive) is often game-changing, especially when you chain it with your R for instant burst.
- Annie can also roam with her E shield and Q burst damage to help other lanes.
Late Game
- In the late game, Annie becomes a massive threat, especially with her R (Tibbers) and Q-W combo. Focus on picking off squishy targets and using your stun to disable priority enemies.
- Use Tibbers to initiate or follow up with a devastating combo to melt through enemy frontlines or backlines.
- Be careful of your positioning—Annie is squishy, and you can be easily targeted if you’re too close to the enemy. Stay in the backline and use your abilities from a safe distance.
8. Combos
- Basic Combo (for poke or burst):
- Q → W → Auto Attack (If your passive is up, this can stun the enemy and allow for more follow-up damage.)
- Full Combo (for a team fight burst):
- E (to give yourself a shield and movement speed)
- Q (for single-target damage)
- W (to deal AoE damage to enemies around you)
- R (Tibbers) (summon Tibbers to deal additional damage and act as a tanky frontline)
- Use Q-W again as it comes off cooldown, ensuring you use your full combo with maximum damage output.
9. Tips & Tricks
- Play around your passive: Always remember that your next ability after casting two abilities will stun your target. This makes Annie's laning phase deadly, especially when you set up stuns in the middle of trades.
- Positioning is key: Stay safe in the backline during teamfights. Use E for mobility and your Q for poke, but don’t overcommit to fights until you’re sure you can hit your full combo.
- Use Tibbers strategically: Tibbers is a fantastic source of sustained damage and a great zoning tool. When possible, use Tibbers to lock down squishy targets and create chaos in team fights.
- Watch your mana: Annie can quickly burn through mana with her abilities. Make sure you don’t waste your Q unnecessarily, as it’s both your poke and your mana-efficient farming tool.
In summary, Annie is a burst mage with immense potential in both 1v1s and team fights. Her key strength is her ability to control the enemy with her stun and burst them down with her Q-W-R combo. Farm well early, and once you hit level 6, look for opportunities to roam and get involved in skirmishes. With her ability to stun and her high burst damage, Annie is always a threat in the right hands.
