It doesn't need to be. Once I got Rabadon's straight after Boots of Speed, Kage's Lucky Pick and Catalyst the Protector. Who says you need to follow exact item build order...

No.... dude... Rabadon's.... SO LATE... huuuugh!!! No!!!

Thanks for comments :)

Belmyne, you're right, I should remove that since only reason I listed "mana hungry" is valid for all chars with mana XD

About Haunting Guise, it gives you nice HP, AP and 20 flat MR penetration so I don't think its a waste of money. If at least 4 of your opponents are low MR champs (70-).

Btw, I'm revising guide in a week and a half after returning from vacation, and I think I'll write a guide for Leona since I'm playing with her alot :) It will be similar format to this.

Wow, really nice guide , gj !
Although I don't think Annie is Mana hungry, and isn't Haunting Guise a waste of money? ):
But it works for you, i can see . 17/4 , man you're good. When playing Annie, I always end up with a lot of assists but almost zero kills xD

A nice guide for one of the best char there is :)
I often focus on flat M.Pen too, and I'm happy I see someone who thinks the same as me :P
+1

Great items and guide! Keep it going!

To pro i went 8-0-4 1st time annie. +1 from me. But only thing is i would get a dorans ring 1st

Normally i get about 3 dorans rings for survivability and rush a death cap by 20mins(need farms at mid). An AD carry like ashe won't usually get mres so soon, most likely they'll be more focused on getting their IE and PD combo. You have 29 magic pen with shoes (+15% of theirs from mastery) and most squishies have a base mres of 30-40 so that shouldn't be an issue. I like to get a voidstaff right after deathcpa though, since it'll be mid game and tanks are actually tanky.

Death o death, thanks :)

Purpleges, you're right about getting Rabadon's, but imo it's better to amplify your spells by removing their MR out of play than getting fast Rabadon's (note that I didn't say "rush it") and having your target's MR reduce its effectivenes. You probably could get Rabadon's before Rod of Ages but you need Catalyst of Protector for survivability. Keep in mind that a mindset of most AD carries apart from pros (at least whom I met) is "I don't want items that will help me survive because I won't have enough damage".

I played against lot of AP carries which got fast Rabadon's and I just got some more MR and I was fine. With MR penetration you can force mid game situation (apart from HP) by penetrating MR they get to counter you.

Imo, you get your deathcap fairly late. Annie is best in early and mid game and the deathcap will only make it so much better. Her late game is pretty good after her buff, but it's all about the early-mid game domination with her insane burst.

nice guide ^^ have already missed a nice Annie guide ^_^ keep the good work up. :)