Anivia, the Frozen Bird

how i love to play this champion, when things go well, they go REALLY well.
when things go bad, Anivia is the champion that can change everything if played well.
She is however, hard to play, and even harder to master, and ive seen a lot of guides here that have some great ideas, but then miss a lot of other stuff.

this guide is how i play anivia, you can agree or disagree, but it works for me, take it at face value and adjust it to your own playstyle if needed.

Marks

insight marks are a no-brainer, i highly advise you to use these on all AP focused champions, and anivia is no exeption. Therefor, i wont be suggesting any alternatives on these.

Seals

im using the replentishment seals since anivia is obviously very mana dependant and mana intensive. with this setup, you wont be worrying about mana before lvl 6, at wich point youll get your ultimate and no amount of mana regeneration can keep up with that one.

as for alternatives, you can take seals of force (AP per lvl) or focus (cooldown reduction) if you are not too worried about mana. i strongly disaprove of clarity seals, since the higher lvl you get, the less you need the mana regeneration, partly becouse of the items, and partly becouse its easyer for you to get the blue golem buff

Glyphs

Potency is the obvious choice, as a AP burst damage champion, anivia wants as much AP as she can get, and this helps a lot.

alternatives: glyphs of force are a good choice, mainly focusing your strenght from the early game to the mid and late game, i didnt choose them myself becouse i believe that someone who is strong in the early game can make himself strong in the lategame, but thats just personal preference.

glyphs of intellect are also a possibility, but keep in mind that glyphs give you the best value for AP and mana, and since i consider mana glyphs to be only good for about the first 8 lvls or so, and i already have mana regeneration to deal with any mana problems during that time, i do think its better to focus on AP instead of mana.

Quintessences

Potency again, for the same reasons as the glyphs, but in this case, there are a lot of other choices you can consider

insight: i dont think these are useful. the marks+your boots should handle any basic resistance a champion has, and if they really stack resistances in lategame, your better off buying a void staff then to get quintessences for it

Intellect: same story as with the glyphs really. they work, and very well even, but they will get less useful as the game goes on

Force: these i consider just as good as the potency ones, so if you favor lategame, you need these instead

Knowledge: no, just no. same story as the intellect ones, but even less useful since you dont even get a earlygame advantage

Avarice: they are useful, but if your good at last hitting you shouldnt have too much gold problems

Focus: depending on your own personal item setup, and on how much you will get the blue buff, you can get these

Transmutation: these are good. becouse of Anivias insane amounts of AoE damage, it will give you a very nice amount of sustainability even without items. effectivly your trading a bit of offence for a bit of durability if you take these instead of potency

Wisdom: you could get these, lvling up faster means getting your ultimate faster and being stronger generally. ofc, they lose their usefulness as soon as you get to lvl 18, so its a mixed blessing

swiftness: i tried them a while, and found them underwhelming on anivia. Anivia has a burst combo with insane damage and a slow on 2 of her abilities, plus a wall she can put on anywhere. you shouldnt need to chase any opponents becouse they should be dead. i suppose you could use them in order to get away safely from something, but if you get killed, you were in the wrong place to start with imho.

Celerity: same story as the Focus ones really.

im using a fairly standard 9/0/21 build, but i dont take the improved buff duration simply becouse i find that while its good in theory, in practice getting the blue golem buff repeatedly is kinda hard

alternativly its possible to get a 21/0/9 in wich you focus on the AP part of the offence tree (+havoc) and you get the mana bonuses and buff duration in the utility tree

Items, i could probably write for hours about this part and still not be done. i always start with a dorans ring, i like the extras it gives me at earlygame, and as long as you have space in your inventory, its good value for its gold. the other items i usually take are

archangels staff : becouse it gives the most AP in the game when the champion has enough mana, about 2500 or so, and it gives mana and mana regeneration. however, i usually dont build it right away. i take a tear of the goddess and then build other items as needed first. i want the tear fast becouse it helps charging my mana pool early.

Sorceres shoes: a no-brainer really. only in a extreme case should you take the mercury's threads instead, and if you do, a void staff is almost certainly needed.

Rod of the ages: Mana, HP, AP. what more could you want. the passive of the catalys also helps you stay in your lane longer

Rabadons Deathcap: AP, AP, AP, its just that good.


the other items all depend on your preference, and even the order in wich i placed these items is open for change depending on the situation. if you have a huge gold income, a deathcap should come sooner. if your up against somone with high resists, forget this list and get items vs that.

what kind of items someone buys is a mark of a good player, so i cant tell you a item setup that will always work. the above items are in my eyes always good, but not always in that order, and not always before all other items.