League of Legends: How to play Annie

Annie, the Dark Child, is an excellent AP mage that regularly makes a return into the meta. As a midlaner present in nearly every rank, learning Annie’s mechanics proves valuable both for player the champion and against her.

Annie is a rather easy to learn champion for beginners that still heralds a relatively high skill ceiling. If you are new to the midlane and looking to get some experience playing mages, Annie is definitely a viable pick. Though not offering much in the way of complexity, Annie’s kit is still able to execute well in team fights and 1v1s. 

Summoner Spells and Keystones

Flash and Ignite are definitely the most common summoner spells for Annie players to run. In the heat of a team fight or on the brink of a solo kill, either of these spells could be the difference maker. Flash spefically will be important in landing your ult’s aggro on the correct target. Ignite will be especially useful if your spell combo leaves your opponent with only miniscule health.

Electrocute is definitely the Keystone to go for in order to maximize your damage. While your passive will provide another stacking effect, electrocute can provide adaptive damage on a third hit. Taste of Blood, Eyeball Collection, and Relentless Hunter will all work to increase your damage and sustainability in lane. Despite being an AP midlaner, sorcery is only good as a secondary. Manaflow Band and Scortch increases the overall amount of spells you’ll be throwing at your opponents and your damage. 

Utilize your passive

In League of Legends, stuns and crowd control are invaluable. While none of Annie’s spells inherently have stun abilities, Annie’s passive, pyromania, can give this same effect. After every 4 spells, Annie’s next offensive spell will stun any target in range. You should aim to use your W (Incinerate) as this fourth spell, given it has the largest area of effect. 

You should reserve your Q (Disintegrate) for wave clearing in the early game. Your Q scales with you as you upgrade the ability which will make this an incredibly important chunk, poking source of damage in the late game. Given it’s single target range, be sure to select your targets well.

Your best friend Tibbers

Annie’s ultimate is one of the few in the game that summons another monster onto the field. Tibbers scales across his three levels, damage increasing from 150 to 400 AP damage, also providing burn damage. Though Tibbers will pursue the immediate threat, the player can recast the ability to direct Tibbers to a specific target.

Tibbers has a second ‘Engraged’ form wherein the giant bear gains 275% attack speed and 100% movement speed while rapidly decaying. This mode is only procced by one of two things. First is if Annie dies, second is stuns onto enemies. Synergizing Tibbers with your passive stun and the W AoE will provide the most optimal Tibber ults. 

Your goal during team fight should be to look for angles to unleash Tibbers and find multi-man stuns. You should specifically utilize your Q -> W -> Ult combo around neutral objectives and towers, where Tibbers can also tank tower or monster aggro. If things turn for the worse, your only peel ability will be your E (molten shield) which can be used on teammates. 

Itemization

Following in the common themes of many AP Mages in the midlane, your item priorities will not be anything unique. After rushing Sorcerer’s Shoes, you should then go for the classic Luden’s Echo build. An integral mythic item, it’s mythic ability will provide extra magic damage and move speed that will grant you extra peel. This is essential given your only movement ability is your  molten shield and will allow you follow up on damage to a far greater effect. 

Zhonya’s is another great item that will allow Annie to flex into a much better engage threat. Given Annie’s rather ‘squishy’ status, using her passive stun as a primary engage is usually not a great idea. With Zhonya’s, flash into a stunning W and Tibbers ultimate would actually be a decent way to start a fight given your team is not too far behind. Following this, your build can diversify and be tailored into whatever your game decides. Typically, I go for a Rabadon’s Deathcap not just for the AP damage but for the extra magic penetration alotted by Luden’s passive. 

Also read:

• Changes to Sona will be coming later in Summer
• LoL – All the past Mid-Season Invitational Champions
• How to play Aatrox

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Image Credits: Riot Games