Hello this will be my first guide on MOBA fire any constructive criticisms are welcomed!!
In this guide I will show you why Anivia is (IMO) one of the strongest AP carries out there. Throughout the guild I will continuously highlight Anivia's ability to adapt in different situations thus giving her the upper hand in any game she is in, while providing example situations to assist the understanding of my reasoning and choices I made. Oh and be prepared to be bombarded with repetitive use of emoticons <3

Feel free to skip this part and just read the tl;dr

TL;DR

If you are playing Anivia as AP carry go get those offensive stuff! Offensive runes, offensive summoner spells, offensive masteries.

If you are playing Anivia as Tank, go get those defensive stuff! Defensive runes, defensive summoner spells, defensive masteries.

The only things they both have in common are FLASH! and RUNIC AFFINITY! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Skill sequencing is another aspect that Anivia players should adapt to. Some of you may have already noticed that I do not level my wall until level 7 and there is a reason for this. The level of which you learn crystallise depends on the type of jungler you get.

[Assuming condition: Before level 6]

Say for example you get an Alistar jungle (An early gank jungler with good cc and okay damage)on your team, you can delay the leveling of crystallise until level 7. This reason behind this is because you will need the damage to compensate the damage output from alister to get that kill.

Now what if you get a weak ganking ability jungler, like Shyvana? This is when you should switch in crystallise earlier than the build I suggested above, IF they decide to gank pre-6. Usually these weak ganking ability champions dish out large amount of damage that putting in one point into crystallise will secure your kill.

[Assuming condition: After level 6]

After level 6, you should put one point into W as soon as possible, this is because they now have a reason to run away from your wall when you put down your ult in front of it rather than just walking left and right juking your flash frosts.

As mentioned before, Anivia is one of the best AP carries out there [IMO] for several different reasons, one of which, we are going to discuss now, is the flexibility of itemisation Anivia posses.

Core items

The reason I list the above items as core is due to Anivia her low movement speed and high mana consumption throughout the whole game. Shoes is a no brainer in helping Anivia to move faster and dodge skill shots while planting her own. Archangels staff aids one of Anivia's biggest weakness - Mana consumption. Finally Death cap is needed because we are playing her as AP carry.

Now there are 3 more item slots you can use to build your own personal Anivia. Personally I usually get (shown above in item build) Void Staff, Warmog's Armor and Athene's Unholy Grail. But you have to keep in mind that Anivia is a very flexible champion and can do well with almost any type of build you throw at her - provided that you don't be dumb dumb and build things like Sword of the Occult. Here I will add some other possible items that are equally as strong on Anivia when compared to the ones I suggested just then.

SPACE

Provides decent sustain with that constant damage on your ult. Your aura will also benefit those who rely heavily on ability power (AP) or spell vamp.

Gives your that extra burst to instantly kill squishies, or take a large chunk of health off high hp off tanks and tanks. Ideal for champions like Vladimir, Dr. Mundo, Olaf and similar champions.

SPACE

SPACE

With the nerf on aura range, this item's main purpose on Anivia is to counter high magic damage composition.

This item increases Aniva's ability power dramatically, giving that frostbite an extra "OMG!! I OWENED YOU FOOL xD" moment. BEWARE! While activating hourglass may save you for 2 seconds, it is important to note that glacial storm will be turned off!

SPACE

SPACE

Take this item to piss the enemy off, as they now require to "kill" you 3 times to actually kill you. The amour and magic resist (Mres) will make you and your egg extremely painful for the other team to kill :)

This item provides early game sustain and pretty good hp and mana after some noticeable amount of time. This item is almost a standard in most guides due to it being a "safe" pick of an item that provides stats that are all useful for anivia. Take this item into your build if you feel that early hp makes you feel more comfortable in lane.

SPACE

Most of the time the other 3 items built in game depends on the enemy team composition and your own team composition. It is essential to incorporate those items that will benefit your own team and weaken the opposition.




Playing tank Anivia clearing means you are trying to absorb their cc and damage, as much as possible. The other 3 items I have chosen to put into my build are Archangel's Staff, Frozen Heart and Shurelya's Battlesong. The aim of this build is to provide enough mana regeneration to support the activation of Glacial Storm, make up for Anivia's slow movement speed to initiate, and an aura item to help win team fights. It should be drilled into your brain by now that (Q.Q), these items are not final and here are some other suggestions.

SPACE

Give you both mana regeneration in the form of an aura and hp. Remember that all the hp you are getting are essentially doubled due to Anivia's broken passive 8] Get this if your team relies on mana!

Burn baby brun disco inferno~~ The passive of sunfire will always be up even when you are in egg form. It provides you with a large chunk of hp and decent armor. Get this item if the enemy team has 3+ melee champion, and most of their damage are ad.

SPACE

SPACE

Because everyone loves GP10 items. This item is similar to frozen heart but a bit more unreliable because Anivia is ranged, so it is hard to get to the heart of their team and activate the aura. However if you feel like you need some extra gold go ahead and build heart of gold :]

The highest Mres in one single item in the game. Better yet it gives the birdy a much needed movement speed boost. Counters heavy AP damage compositions.

SPACE

SPACE

Usually the support will get this item, however just in case they don't you should pick it up. The aura buff is very cost effective in team fights. Its a very nice all around defense item :>

I'm sure most of you know who Froggen is [If you don't have a look here]. He was the one that showed me that Anivia can be played in multiple viable ways. Proving time and time again, almost any build on Anivia is viable if you know what you are doing.

This is your passive, when your hp goes 0, Anivia turns into egg form. In this state Anivia cannot perform anything. However if she does not die within 6 second in this form she get to be revived with the same amount of hp that was left on her egg form. This ability can only occur once every 4 minute and cannot be decreased by CD reduction (CDR).

This passive is essential god mode hack, where you cannot die. You can go into an AP champ duel one vs one knowing that you basically have a extra life to fight the enemy, which you should come out ahead on 90% of the time. Be wary of champions with consistent damage abilities like Karthus, Cassiopia, Ryze, etc. because even though you may have a second life they can dps your life within 6 seconds no problem. (>.<)

You can also use this passive to bait out initiations, for example: You are low on health and so is the enemy, and you have a jugnler eagerly waiting in the bush to kill the enemy. You can purposely miss your flash frost while moving in towards the enemy and make him think he can kill you since you missed your stun, he comes in, anivia turns into egg, jungler kills! :]



This is your first ability, which is assigned to Q on the keyboard. It is a skillshot nuke that can be activated twice.

The first activation shoots out the projectile at a slow pace, which deals damage when it travels through an enemy for 50% of its total potential damage.

The second activation makes the projectile go BOOM! \(O.O)/ which deals the other 50% of the total damage. The diameter of this blast is around about 2 and a half minion side by side. The projctile will detonate at the end of it's course if it wasn't activated a second time.
NOTE: You cannot activate the second part of the spell if Anivia got hard crowd controlled (CC)

This ability has 2 main use. One is to farm easily as you q through the minion wave while having glacial storm underneath. Second is to stun enemies, whether that is to stop enemy channeling abilities, chasing enemies or disengaging from enemies. This is part of your burst combo and has cool down(CD) to notice so use it wisely.




This is your second ability, which is assigned to W on the keyboard. This is a "skillshot" obstacle, that produces a impenetrable wall for both your team and the enemy's team. This is the game breaker skill that Anivia is known for. Crystallize allows Anivia to control the fight to her team favor throughout the entire game. You can completely shut down a path in the jungle or force enemies to funnel through in lane to team fights.

It is critical that you have good positioning to put up the wall you need. To achieve this I have highlighted some of the potential walling opportunities within the jungle, and lane to completely shut off the path. Red lines are places you can wall off with lv 1 crystallize, while blue is max lv crystallize. This is only one side of the map and hence the same can be done on the flip side.


Keep in mind that the point of crystallize it to limit or completely deny the opponent's options. To perform this, it is paramount that you connect your wall with a terrain - this will leave the opponent with only a few options, burn their blink abilities, fight without the number advantage, or retreat by funneling that one small exit. None of the above options are looking bright for the person who is trapped. >:]



Taking down towers are extremely easy with Anivia. Her ult allows her to evaporate minion waves and her wall denies enemies to protect their tower. The methods of walling inhibitor tower and lane towers are different.
NOTE: When you start to push into inhibitor tower you will need to wall one side [connecting the tower to the entrance wall] while putting down ult on the other side of the opening.







This is your single target N.U.K.E. [Sorry I had to put some emphasis there] There is one special condition for it to be your nuke though - that is the person you are targeting must have the chilled debuff on them. To place chilled debuff, you would need to use Flash Frost or Glacial Storm beforehand to do its maximum potential damage. Since this skill is very spammable it is okay to target this abilities to tanks or off tanks most of the time. Off course if the opportunity presents itself please use it on high priorities.





This is Anivia's ultimate zoning ability [see what I did there? :3]. Again this is one of those abilities with multiple uses for you to solve and adapt to many different situations.

• Use it to farm minions waves as mentioned before.
• Use it to siege enemy towers or stop enemy from siege your tower by.
• Use it to disengage or chase someone.
• Use it to harass the enemy.

An easy way to harass the enemy champion during laning phase is to lay glacial storm under the enemy and chuck a frost bite on them when they are slowed so you can gap close.
NOTE: Whenever you get hard CCed your ult will automatically turn off. This includes turning on Zhonya's Hourglass.




Landing flash frost can be a difficult task for new players. So here I would share some tips and tricks to land your flash frost and follow it up with your combos.

When someone comes in to last hit - This technique is very straight forward. Predict where the enemy would stop moving for that auto attack to last hit, shoot your Flash Frost towards that direction

Wait for ensured CC - This technique is also fairly easy to perform. You wait for people like Taric or someone who can for sure land their cc and then you follow it up with yours.

The standard combo - The standard combo is described in many other guides out there on Anivia. This is where you crystallize behind the enemy --> Place glacial storm on top of them --> frost bite for definite damage and finally --> flash frost to their only exit.

Sometimes enemy would try and be smart about it and try juke your flash frost, but you can outsmart them by playing mind games with them. A small trick I like to use is to angle the wall. With an angled wall there as a more obvious way of running away from you, while the other approach moves closer to you. The choice is thus clear for the enemy to move to the easier path out... which plays right into our hand muhahahahahahahahaha!!!! *v* DANCE PUPPET DANCE! Shoot your flash frost in their face to do

I have my own theory for teamfighting, this is especially true for Anivia when I play her. People tend to say "Focus the carry!", "Focus the squishy!", "Take them out at all cost!" I don't believe these sayings are correct. Over the course of playing LoL I developed the rule of 1v2 in team fights - meaning if you are playing a ranged champion, there should only be 2 enemies within your AA range so start dealing damage to the one that has the higher priority out of the two. The priority should be clear, but in case you don't know



The job to make this 1v2 rule happen is made extremely easy with Anivia's kit to zone multiple people at once while dishing out good chunks of damage.

Firstly wait for your tank to initiate or the enemy tank initiates once the team fight starts, place your ult down as soon as possible ideally between the front line of the enemy team and the back line of the enemy team. Start spamming Frostbite on the to the two champs in front of you who has a higher priority, usually this would be the off tank. Start looking for opportunities to place down your wall.

If the fight is coming towards you, make sure you are obeying the rule of 1v2 and retreat to the appropriate distance, you can use Crystallize to help you or use Flash Frost to peel off the back line while doing plenty of damage to high priorities.

If the fight is moving away from you, try to keep 2 enemies within you AA range. To achieve this wall off their retreat path stun them in their track while you continue to demolish their health with Frostbite.

Common mistakes:

A common mistake I see in new Anivia players is that they conserve their mana too much. YOU NEED TO KEEP THAT ULT UP AS LONG AS POSSIBLE! There is no point in conserving mana, its not a bank you don't get interest by leaving mana there. The only time it should be turned off is when the enemy retreated so far that you are standing on the ult or that your team have retreated so far the ult canceled itself. Other then those 2 option DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR ULT. This is your zoning and damaging tool again DO NOT TURN IT OFF!!

Another common mistake I see often is that players blow their entire kit within 1 second not paying any attention to the enemy's champion composition. I mean its alright as long as you are doing damage, but once again you have to consider the enemy's team composition. People who have channeled ults such as Fiddlesticks will require your special attention. Therefore it is essential to save your only hard CC on these type of champions.

One of Anivia's greatest ability is to adapt to the battlefield. Once you master her flexibility in battle, you are almost always guaranteed to come out ahead in any situation. Hopefully I will see Anivia be played more often and have a higher win rate than she current has.

Thanks for reading!

Credits:
To jhoijhoi - For that excellent guide to help me code this, to make it readable rather than just a wall of text :X