Anivia Build Guide by sZeROskill

Introduction

Hello, my name is sZeRO, and this is my first guide on Mobafire! Well im just going to dive right into the guide, Anivia is an amazingly strong mage who can control the outcome of a game, but underused. She has a wall, two nukes, and a slow which does incredible damage. She can easily beat any champion she is pitted against and has very good sustain in a tough lane because of her passive. Now this isn't necessarily for people new to Anivia (that doesn't mean you cant learn from it). This is for people who understand her abilities and some combos with her and giving them more tips/good builds. Please like if this build helped you with anything at all, I appreciate likes and constructive comments, its easy to make an account and it helps me out a lot. And lastly, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me suggestions for new chapters or to explain more in a chapter, I will read the comments. I can always improve the guide and myself and I know this from my 500+ games with Anivia and I've seen myself evolve plenty.

Build 1 is an expensive build
Build 2 is a Ranked 3s build
Build 3 is a Support build
Build 4 is a low cost build
Build 5 is a build for people new to Anivia

Note: Videos coming very soon so be ready for them when LoL Replay stops crashing my client >.<

If anything is highlighted its important.


^<3 u dunkey
5/28/12-THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READ THIS GUIDE AND GOT IT TO 10,000 VIEWS <3

Anivia: Pros and Cons

Anivia pros: She is a bird High damage throughout the game A lot of CC Strong passive early Has an obstacle (wall) Strong zoning skills She is a pokemon Can change outcomes of games easily Strong mage, can beat most other mages

SPACE

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Anivia cons: Hard to auto attack farm early Hard to master Anivia Hard to do combos quickly Under used Shes slow All burst until level 6 Blue dependent Easily countered with silence

Masteries

Masteries. Huge for Anivias early game, because it basically chooses your play style with her (your runes should match what your masteries do for you). For example, when I play Anivia, I use the the 21/0/9 mastery tree, but another tree you could use is 9/0/21 since she is so mana hungry early. When I play Anivia I spam with my Q and E for good poke damage early, making both these trees viable.

If you are an extremely aggressive Anivia early I recommend 21/0/9. It depends whether you want to be very strong early or mid game (it all ends in the same strength usually) for the mastery tree. The 21/0/9 is very strong because Anivia does amazing damage without AP early, so you would have massive damage before you get your items.

Runes

Alright, runes decide how you play early (like the masteries). If you play with the 21/0/9 mastery tree, I would recommend using these runes:

The goal of these runes is to add to your AP early, and give you some mana regen so you can spam your combo. The magic penetration runes are self explanatory because every champ
starts out with 30 MR level 1



If you use the 9/0/21 mastery tree, I recommend using these runes:
These runes are for Anivia's utility side, giving her health to be able to stay in lane longer and farm, giving her mana regen later on in the game because you probably aren't spamming if you went with these runes and mastery options, and the cooldown reduction for low cooldowns. Like I said earlier, magic penetration runes are self explanatory.



With the 21/0/9 mastery page I would recommend this new set of runes recommended by Arcana3 (tested and worked well)




If none of these rune builds entice you, use any of these runes I have listed, but none other, because they probably wont even help Anivia

greater mark of knowledge

greater glyph of sapience greater glyph of knowledgegreater glyph of replenishment

greater seal of knowledge greater seal of replenishment

Summoner Spells

Ignite

-Helps to fight lifesteal/spellvamp users
-Gives you the edge to kill someone with low HP
-Good to attempt First-Blood

Teleport

-Effective in keeping Anivia alive because her passive and teleport is like having 2 extra lives
-Can assist teammates with teleport ganks
-Gives you the edge on any other mid

Flash

-Good to get in and out of sticky situations
-Use to pick up a kill (Flash+Q+R+W+E)
-All around a good summoner even after the nerf

Ghost

-Anivia is slow so this would help
-Good for baiting and kiting
-Extra mobility to get to other lanes or your own

Surge

-Good for fights early since you lack AP
-Enemies will be mislead about your AP
-Good to attempt First-Blood

Clarity

-Helps with early mana issues
-Helps team by giving mana
-Good to use with ult because it costs so much

Heal

-Good to use with Anivia egg so you're very hard to kill early
-Helps team in fight
-Frowned upon in higher levels

Exhaust

Garrison

Revive

Smite

Cleanse

Promote

Clairvoyance

Skills and sequence

REBIRTH
Upon dieing, Anivia will revert into an egg. If the egg can survive for six seconds, she is gloriously reborn.

Tips:

Use this to bait enemies into tower diving you (obviously only when you think they will die if the dive you) Many people forget about this on Anivia, use that to your advantage in fights. Try to wall yourself off when you get Rebirth so you cant be attacked from melee immediately.

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FLASH FROST
A massive chunk of ice flies toward target location, dealing 60/90/120/150/180(+50% AP) magic damage, slowing movement by 20%, and chilling any enemy it passes through. At the end of its range or if Anivia activates the spell again, the missile detonates, doing 60/90/120/150/180(50% AP) magic damage in a small area and stunning units for .75 seconds.

Tips:

Flash Frost explodes and stuns into a wider radius than it seems, so even if it looks like an enemy is at max range you can still stun them if they're only a small amount out of your skill shot. Its hard to master the speed Flash Frost travels, but when you do try to predict you enemies movement and pattern to stun them whenever they try to farm or fight you.

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CRYSTALLIZE
Anivia summons an impenetrable wall of ice 400/500/600/700/800 units wide, blocking all movement. This wall lasts for 5 seconds before it melts.

Tips:

Crystallize is good to see what enemies are doing, like check a blue buff with it, or checking a bush. Use this to disrupt channel ultimates like Crowstorm or Absolute Zero

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FROSTBITE
Anivia blasts her target with a freezing wind, dealing 55/854/115/145/175(50% of AP) magic damage. If the target is chilled, they take double damage.

Tips:

Frostbite should mostly be used in situations with a combo, but under some circumstances you can use it to trade with an enemy in damage.

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GLACIAL STORM
Toggle: Anivia calls forth a driving rain of ice and hail, dealing 80/120/160(25% of AP) magic damage per second, slowing movement and attack speed by 20% for 1 second seconds, and chilling them.

Tips:

Mainly use Glacial Storm to set up combos and slow enemies. Even though its cool down doesn't seem like a lot, but it can really mess you up in a fight, so be picky when to use it, like get side by side with an enemy and use the edge of it on them so if they keep running forward they have to run through a lot of it

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Anivia's Frostbite is ridiculously strong early, so you should max it first. Basically the skill order I set up at the beginning is the only one you should use.

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Heres a picture of a combo to use (act like im past level 6)


1)The first thing you do is throw your Flash Frost out of the fog of war.
2)You out your Crystallize behind them while they're stunned
3)You throw your Glacial Storm on them and the way you think they're going to run to
4) Frostbite Whenever you can

Items

Im going to set out a few builds to give you ideas of items to use in your situation, but be careful, the situation can change, so try not to rush an item, but more as build a part of it and build something else. (ex. You're rushing a Banshee's Veil you buy a Negatron Cloak then build a little of something else, then finish the Banshee's Veil)

Hard to beat AP:

Hard to beat AD:

You're getting fed:

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If these builds don't fit your game then here is the necessities:

Athene's Holy Grail is a new item that gives Anivia everything everything she could want. This is a must buy, and probably just made Anivia the strongest mid in the game.

These are the items you should always incorporate into your build.
Core: Rabadon's Deathcap Sorcerer's Shoes/ Mercury's Treads Athene's Holy GrailI didn't put Rod of Ages in the core because she doesn't need it to be successful. Only rush Rabadon's Deathcap when you're getting fed, or else buy a Archangel's Staff or a Rod of Ages first. Also, whenever you rush Rabadon's Deathcap buy a piece of it like a Blasting Wand or a Needlessly Large Rod then finish you Sorcerer's Shoes or Mercury's Treads, then finish the Rabadon's Deathcap.

These are items that are a good idea to get in most games
Recommended: Rod of Ages Abyssal Scepter Void Staff Zhounya's Hourglass Archangel's Staff
These are good items to fit in most, a little MR, health, mana, and armor a lot with Magic Penetration are good to have.

These items are viable for your build if any of the items above aren't effective in countering the other team.
Viable: Banshee's Veil Chalice of Harmony Deathfire Grasp(untested) Frozen Heart Guardian Angel(good at trolling other team) Haunting Guise(untested) Lich Bane Mejai's Soulstealer Moonflair Spellblade Morello's Evil Tome(untested) Rylai's Crystal Scepter(a little overkill on the slows with it) Will of the Ancients
Any items other than this you should think very hard about before buying because they probably wont do much or anything for you.


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More items!
Ive had it brought to my attention that i should add Archangel's Staff to a few builds, so here a few paths to take with Archangel's Staff:

Alright so if you are going to use Archangel's Staff the first thing you want to do is buy a Sapphire Crystal (in most cases not all), and on your first back buy the Tear of the Goddess and maybe even some Boots of Speed. Now when you get your Tear of the Goddess you should let it sit there and buy a Catalyst the Protector, then finish your Sorcerer's Shoes or Mercury's Treads. Now is the time to buy that Archangel's Staff, then buy your Rod of Ages. Now you have insane mana so you have a lot of AP. Now is the time to buy your Rabadon's Deathcap. Now is the time to see what situation you're in. Do they have a fed AD carry? If so, buy a Frozen Heart, because it gives you mana AND reduces their attack speed by a total of 40% with your ult on them. If they have a fed AP carry, buy a Banshee's Veil, because more mana is more AP and it gives you MR. Now you have an Archangel's Staff, a Rod of Ages, Sorcerer's Shoes, and a situational item varying from Frozen Heart to Banshee's Veil. So you have four items, what to buy next? Well you have to ask yourself:
Are you carrying?
Are you getting focused?
If you answer YES to both of these, get a Zhonya's Hourglass

Are you not carrying?
Do you need more damage?
If you answer is YES to both of these buy a Void Staff

If you're carrying and NOT getting focused then buy a Void Staff.
In the end, you're going to want to have both of these items, unless one of them is unnecessary, in which case you can replace them with one of the recommended or situational items.

Mid vs. Anivia

To everyone thinking that this list is unfair, and has arguments for a champion post a comment of your reasoning. THIS SECTION IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This was made for examples if Anivia and whatever champion she was versus, who would win because of their abilities (so if the 2 people against eachother had the same skill level with that champ)

AD Carries*
-AD Carries have to stay still to auto attack, setting you up for a combo
-AD Carries (some exceptions) cant burst you, thus making you stronger

Akali
- Akali is easy to beat with an Oracle's Elixir, and even without one you can Flash Frost and Glacial Storm her shroud
- Akali has to jump on top of you to deal a lot of damage, so you can Flash Frost and Glacial Storm her easily, or Crystallize her in
-Easy to beat if Akali doesn't get fed because you're much stronger

Annie*
- Annie is easy to get free combos on her if she doesn't have her Pyromania
- Anivia has a more spammable stun, Flash Frost
- Anivia has more damage the longer the fight it, so Anivia can duel Annie better because of Glacial Storm so if she plays it smart, Anivia will win

Brand*
- Brand is easy to fight as Anivia when you get your boots, because you can dodge his spells and can use Glacial Storm when he starts a combo
-I've noticed that Brand has to stay still to cast his Pillar of Flame for a second, so a well timed Flash Frost can set you up a combo
- Anivia is stronger, faster than Brand, so you can get a lead on him if you play smart

Fiddlesticks*
- Fiddlesticks does most damage from his Drain, so save your Flash Frost to disrupt it.
- Crystallize can disrupt Crowstorm if used on top of Fiddlesticks
- Drain makes Fiddlesticks stay still, so you can set up an easy combo

Fizz
- Fizz is a melee champ, so its easy to deney him farm with you Glacial Storm and Flash Frost
- Anivia has Glacial Storm for constant damage per second while Fizz tries to dodge you skills
- Fizz can only disrupt Anivia with chum in the waters, so Anivia has an advantage

Gragas*
- Gragas has to wait some time after casting Barrel Roll to detonate it, so its easy to do close combat with him, making combos easier
- Gragas doesn't have any crowd control until he gets his Explosive Cask, so you can be aggressive early
- Gragas is a melee champion, so its easy to deny him from farming without using Barrel Roll

Heimerdinger*
- Heimerdinger can only poke you with Hextech Micro-Rockets and CH-1 Concussion Grenade, so if he comes to poke you, you can use Flash Frost on him
- Heimerdinger has good lane sustain, but with a blue buff, Anivia can overwhelm him by pushing hard
- Heimerdinger can be ganked pretty easily with Crowd Controls if he doesn't have his UPGRADE!!!, use this to your advantage

Karma*
-alright, just off the bad i haven't fought Karma mid, i barely ever see her in games, but I played her a lot, so this comparison is my opinions on their skills
- Karma gets stronger the lower health she gets from Inner Flame, but Anivia can do good in-and-out combos, and could probably take out Karma in tow or three combos
- Anivia can do constant Area Of Effect damage to Karma and minions, which makes Karma lose her advantage in a fight to use Soul Shield on a minion to do damage on Anivia

Katarina
- Katarina can't even come close to Anivia's damage in a fight, because Anivia can use Flash Frost on Katarina when she uses Death Lotus, where Katarina gets a lot of her damage from (can also use Crystallize so disrupt it)
- Anivia can out farm Katarina easily with her Glacial Storm
- Katarina can't 1v1 Anivia, so if Anivia wards to see if she is going to get ganked, she should have full lane control

Lux
- Lux can't finish you off when you're on tower with finales funkeln, because of Rebirth
- Lux has strong damage, but doesn't have Crowd Control to stop Glacial Storm

Mordekaiser*
- Mordekaiser is half melee, half ranged, but with all your CC you can block a good amount of his damage from Mace of Spades
- Mordekaiser beats Anivia in farming early, but at level 6 Anivia can farm easily against him and harass him easily
- Mordekaiser can't kill Anivia with Children of the Grave if she has Rebirth
- Mordekaiser has no Crowd Control to stop Glacial Storm

Nidalee*
- Nidalee has no Crowd Control to stop Glacial Storm
- Nidalee AP can only kill you with spear, so if you hide behind creeps you'll win
-Hawks eat Nyan cats

Orianna*
- Orianna can't match Anivia's burst at low levels, and Glacial Storm is better at keeping Orianna low than Command: Shockwave, because that skill is more of an all-in spell
- Orianna is better at last hitting and farming than Anivia before she gets Glacial Storm, but Anivia can farm on par with her easily then

Ryze
-With the new buffs, Ryze is a bit more painful, but Anivia will still do very well against him
- Ryze can't Crowd Control Anivia to stop her Glacial Storm, so she can do equal or outpoke him when Ryze tries to poke with Overload

Swain
- Swain gets out damaged by Anivia when she gets Glacial Storm and cant trade with her well
- Swain cant out farm Anivia with her Glacial Storm without having to use a lot of mana with Ravenous Flock

Twisted Fate*
- Anivia can out burst Twisted Fate more frequently than he can poke her with Wild Cards
- Anivia can push hard with Glacial Storm to make Twisted Fate stay in lane without ganking other lanes, or else he might lose his tower

Viktor
- Viktor can't fight Anivia without his Chaos Storm or else he will die from Glacial Storm
- Viktor isn't the best AP in general (no offense its my opinion that if you're not super pro with him you will get rolled)

Xerath*
- Xerath cant use Locus of Power if you keep pressuring him with Glacial Storm and Flash Frost
- Anivia's Flash Frost is easier to lane on Xerath to stun with than his Mage Chains and Arcanopulse combo

Ziggs
- Ziggs is all skillshots, which means you can dodge all his damage and save yourself and not get poked too much early
- Ziggs is good at insta-killing, but Rebirth will save Anivia
- Anivia can poke and outpoke Ziggs with a Glacial Storm and Frostbite combo

*Depending on skill level

Ahri
- Ahri has high mobility with Spirit Rush, so she can be hard to combo and kill past level 6.
- Ahri has sustain with her passive Essence Theft, so she may not always be low and easy to combo kill at low levels
- Ahri has as much poke as Anivia, and a better escape

Cassiopeia
- Cassiopeia has high mobility with her Noxious Blast and Miasma which makes her harder to hit and/or gank
- Cassiopeia's Petrifying Gaze can instantly stop your combo and turn the fight on you
- Cassiopeia can effect a fight as much as Anivia can

LeBlanc

Malzahar

Morgana

Veiger

Vladimir

Zilean

Galio

Kassadin

Talon*
I don't usually see Talon mid but he can beat her on paper (aka just looking at skills and stats)

Warding

As an AP mid, and a teammate, it is not only your support's job to ward, but also your own.
I made a picture of good areas to ward (sorry if it looks crude im not good at making these)




Blue: means to ward throughout the entire game if it isn't warded already.
Green: means ward early game only
Yellow: means ward mid game only
Red: means ward late game only


Why you ask, do YOU have to ward? The simple answer is it helps you, the team, and you have a lot of gold, so you can spare some to give you vision. Now the blue wards are all game because warding those areas are crucial if you want map awareness. Having the dragon warded is essential, but the ward in the side bushes are for the whole game because it gives you sight on the enemy jungler if he gets off the ramp at his red buff to gank middle, or to give you sight when he goes into your jungle. Now, I only have the bushes EXACTLY IN THE MIDDLE LANE, THE ONES THAT YOU CAN WALK INTO FROM THE MIDDLE LANE early game because using those bushes NEXT TO THOSE I JUST EXPLAINED give you better sight, and you can see the jungler ENTER THOSE BUSHES I JUST EXPLAINED ON. Now i only say ward baron mid-late game is because it doesn't spawn until 15:00, so its a waste of gold for you to ward it (also top should ward that along with you). Also, the offensive jungle wards for mid-late game are to see the enemy team get ready for baron, or getting a blue buff so you can catch them out of position and get a few kills.

Gameplay

Alright so heres a full game with me as Anivia, I thought it had some good combos so i added it to the guide, sry when i fast forward through good parts, and disregard my rage in chat ;)(wasn't having a good day since right before that i fully uploaded another video to put on the guide and it was too long for youtube)I will be adding more videos soon, probably by Monday. Enjoy.

(used LoLReplay to record, then recorded the LoLReplay file with Fraps, then used Windows Movie Maker to edit all the clips together)

LEVELS 1-5

Level 1 you want to be passive unless your enemy charges you (Depending on the champion)
Level 2 is poke time, you want to Flash Frost the enemy while they try to last hit, then use Frostbite and run before they or minions hurt you too much
Level 3 is basically still the same, but now you must be very careful of ganks and remember to conserve Flash as much as possible.
Level 4 alright now you have your Crystallize so you can be a little more aggressive, but remember you need your Glacial Storm to do much, so try to conserve mana
Level 5 now is the time you really need to save mana, mids getting more intense and each of you are trying to get your ultimates just conserve so you can use yours

LEVELS 6-11

Level 6 alright time to shine, if your opponents has a stun or silence (something to disrupt your ult) start off by Flash Frost them, but if they have no CC then you're going to want to Glacial Storm, then Flash Frost, then Crystallize, then Frostbite for a nice combo, usually half the enemies health
Level 7 should be about when blue buff is up, you can solo blue at level 6 with full mana, but you don't have full mana tell someone to help you
Level 8 not much is going on usually, maybe a dragon fight but thats it, remember to harass, farm, and ward up and get more levels
Level 9 once again not much going on but now you must be prepared for dragon fights because they're coming
Level 10 blue buff might be off of you, you should at least have a Catalyst the Protector by this point so mana isn't a big issue, but be prepared for blue
Level 11 Glacial Storm upgraded again be aggressive again, but this time in team-fights, wall of carries, throw Flash Frost in when many enemies are in your Glacial Storm, and ruin someones day

LEVELS 12-18

Level 12 team-fights are everywhere, what you're gonna want to do is stick with a teammate that is beefy and has some good damage to defend you when you get egged
Level 13 this is when I think Anivia is at her highest peak because both Flash Frost and Frostbite are maxed so you can do insane burst damage, enjoy and abuse this
Level 14 Baron could possibly be going down soon, you'll need complete control of blue so get it every time it spawns ASAP
Level 15 game is more intense, possibly inhibitor tower to kill or defend, now you're crucial, focus the most fed person on the enemy team and use your Flash Frost on them mostly, but only use it when your team is in a good position to jump on them or else it would be a waste
Level 16 basically the same as 15 team-fight then make them to your advantage
Level 17 pull out all the stops at this point, because an ace can win or lose the game, just get blue, conserve, and rain hell with your Glacial Storm and nuke combo
Level 18 right now game is going to end soon, so farm, get your items, don't get caught, and try to cover you and your carries in fights

Teamfights

In team-fights is where Anivia is best. Now at low levels you do good damage for your level so focus out carries and Crystallize to initiate fights and Glacial Storm all the time. One situation would be your team is taking dragon, and you think enemies are coming. Put your Crystallize in the bush you think they're coming from, and don't use abilities on dragon. If they do come do your best to zone them by Flash Frost them and doing your combo and walking away with your Glacial Storm still down so you don't get caught. Another situation is you're in river and the enemies want to fight by your blue, in the baron area, so you Crystallize off half of them. Now you Glacial Storm at the half in front of the Crystallize, trapped in front of your team, and you throw your Flash Frost at the half coming in to help, thus giving your team more time to kill the enemy team and win the fight.

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In late game, you will try to do the same thing in fights, but this time you want to defend yourself and fellow carries with your Crystallize and Flash Frost. Say for instance you have a fed Caitlyn on your team, you'll want to Flash Frost anyone who charges/attacks her, because she will do more damage than your Flash Frost will do, and it doesn't give them a kill/killing spree. You can also Crystallize greedy teams that charge one carry and split them in half to turn a team-fight into your favor. Don t forget to throw out those Frostbites like candy on Halloween either ;)

Ranked 3s

I made this chapter because me and my buddy do a lot of 3s, and I find that Anivia is really good because of her Crystallize, to block of a a large area of the jungle when its only level 2 (level 1 as well if you place it correctly), and the fact that Anivia will wreck house on many melee bruisers like Renekton or Jax, which are usually picked as most the team in a 3s team. She can carry well mid/late game if your teammates dont feed so shes good for a strong damage and support role, because Crystallize can save a teammate or split a team to turn the fight in your favor. I will be adding a video to this section so stay tuned :D and leave comments about this section and what you think!

Supporting

I've learned that support Anivia is pretty strong, so heres my thoughts on it. When I play support Anivia I make my lane a kill lane. Its very easy to get a kill at level 2 with a Flash Frost and Frostbite combo because most bot lane AD carries don't have much health, so the combo does about half their health, combined with your AD carries damage can kill someone easily. People don't expect the damage output you can do, and now with Athene's Holy Grail in the game, I would recommend supporting with Anivia is completely viable. Just poke and zone your enemies and you should do fine, but remember to ward early or else you can die easily in a gank.

Final Comments

If you want to use some of my ideas in your own build please give me credit in yours and link mine in it.

space

Like I sad in the intro I would love to see suggestions of what to add to this guide, whether it be a new section, more explanation on a chapter, or anything else. I am going to release this and start working on the reason why Anivia is countered or counters someone mid, so remember to come back and check the guide for new info. Good Luck, -ZeRO If you want to add me on LoL summoner name is: sZeROskill Thanks to JhoiJhoi! Her epic guide can be found here!

Change Log

2/28/12-
Launched guide

2/29/12-
Began revising guide with spell check
Adding coding

3/1/12-
Added pros/cons chapter
Added warding chapter
Added skill coding so it showed the skill next to its name
Upgraded most of guide with coding

3/2/12-
Added Arcana3's recommended rune build

3/5/12-
Started adding more to Mid vs. Anivia