Anivia Build Guide by Vynertje

Introduction

Hello and welcome everyone to my third guide on mobafire; Anivia - Ice Ice Baby

Anivia

Swain

Anivia

About me: why am I allowed to tell you how to play Anivia?

So I felt like I had to do this. You can skip this if you want, but I just want something to brag about.

These are my stats with Anivia, in both S2 & S3. I am gold rated in both of these seasons. (1513 and 1535 rating) and even hit platinum as of the 25th of April!




If you still feel the need to check on me, you can find my LoLKing profile here:


I also try to stream regularly, check it out :)

Some terms you should know

Experienced players can skip this... obviously. Newer players should read this because I might use some terms you do not understand.

CS: Creep Score, the amount of minions you have farmed. One creep is around 20 gold.

AP: Ability Power -> magic damage

AD: Attack Damage -> physical damage

MR: Magic Resist

CD(R): Cool Down (Reduction)

CC: Crowd Control (Silences, stuns, suppresses et cetera)

AoE: Area of Effect -> Multiple target spells

DPS: Damage per second

Pros / Cons

spaaaaaaace

Pros + Very unique champion + Game changing + Super high AP-ratio's + Amazing late-game scaling + Easy farming with Glacial Storm

space

space

Cons - Hard to master - Game changing, this can backfire - Very mana hungry / blue dependant - Early game can be tough - Slow auto-attack animations / hard last-hitting early game

Runes

I would like to start this chapter by saying that runes all come down to personal preference and play style. I mention one preferred setup, and the other viable runes. The runes I do not mention, are in 99.9999999% of the games not worth your attention.

Runes
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9	Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration 9	Greater Glyph of Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3

This removes one third of the enemy magic resist early game; this is a huge chunk of damage-increase, and should never be left out.

Mana is always a problem on Anivia, and that is why we use mana regeneration seals. Now I use scaling because from level 9 they are better than flat. You only really need the regen from level 6 and on, so flat do not really help as much as you might think you need.

Flat magic resist has been proven to be the best by many pro-players and they really help your early game survivability. You can trade more effectively and more easily win one-versus-one fights, thus I recommend these in your setup.

To keep up some damage early game, we use flat AP quintessence's.This gives you damage and in combination with your other runes this will give you the perfect early-game balance you need.

While I mention to prefer scaling seals, when your goal is to be as aggressive as possible early on (when facing a champion that needs to be beaten BEFORE level 6), flat mana regeneration is the better of the two.

These are especially useful when fighting an AD-mid, because you start with such a painful amount of armor. These will give you the amount of armor that you need to survive that early game.

I mention I prefer flat magic resist instead of these, but when you know you are not facing an AP-mid, it might be more useful to use flat AP.

These are mainly useful when you want to pack as much utility as you possibly can. Since Anivia is painfully slow, these help you catch up, in order to e.g. place a perfect Crystallize.

Masteries

Again for your masteries there are a lot of plausible pages, and I will not go into too much depth, in order to keep this comprehensive. If I would, I had to write this chapter 20 times the current size. Also, the pages I mention, are only examples of what it should look like. There are always some variations possible on this.


My standard page:

Masteries

1/1

3/4

4/4

3/3

1/1

3/3

1/1

4/4

1/1

1/1

1/3

3/3

3/3

1/1

Masteries

1/1

3/4

4/4

1/1

4/4

3/3

3/3

2/2

1/1

1/1

3/3

3/3

1/1

Masteries

1/1

3/4

4/4

3/3

1/1

3/3

1/1

4/4

1/1

4/4

1/3

3/3

1/1

21 9 0

My preferred page when fighting ap-assasins. This page gives you the little bit extra durability, while sacrificing a bit of mana. This is useful when you are countered. You can also use this page, but take points in Hardiness instead of Resistance if you face an ad-bruiser mid.

Summoner Spells

The spells I do not mention in here are considered not-viable: never use them, and by never I mean NEVER.

This is a must-have on Anivia. You are slow as **** and without this, escaping is nearly impossible. This is your only reliable escape-mechanism. This spell is even better because it allows you to jump over your own 'misplaced' Crystallize. (Which I hope never happens!)

Great to finish off low-health enemies, when you have just used your full combo. This is also useful to stop enemies regenerating huge amounts of health (like Dr. Mundo or Swain). Also it adds 5 AP and AD when on cooldown (with your masteries).

Great to get rid of any hard CC. When e.g. Rammus uses his Puncturing Taunt on you, you can just press D or F and walk away instead of being taunted 3 seconds. Especially useful when you play against enemies who rely on stunning you in order to kill. Keep in mind that this does not cancel suppressions.

This is only viable for low-level summoners! Since Anivia is very mana hungry, this can solve your problems. At lower levels you might not get blue or you do not have the correct rune/mastery setup. When you do not have these problems, do not use it because it is trash for you.

Yeah, this can work. Teleport on Anivia might be used when playing versus dominant global activity (Twisted Fate or Shen ultimates). This allows you to keep farming or to quickly jump in fights when necessary. Late game this can be used to split-push while your team baits a baron fight. Only use this when you feel comfortable with using this and do not feel the need for any of these other spells.

Skills & Skill Sequence

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Flash Frost

Passive: Rebirth

Q: Flash Frost

Frostbite

• Use it on enemies going for a last hit, this is usually very predictable (when your minions are low...) and they usually react too late to dodge.
• When playing against a champion with good evasive maneuvers, wait until they have them on cool-down, because otherwise they will dodge and counterattack you. In order to harass, you can always use your ultimate. (Especially important versus Katarina or Fizz)
• When the enemy tries to harass you, throw this in their path and follow up with Frostbite. This makes for extremely effective trading.

W: Crystallize

Anivia

Anivia

• Scout bushes when you fear a gank. Crystallize gives vision of a specific part in the Fog of War
  
• Trap people in specific spots; for example in the baron or dragon pit.
  
• Force people into the direction you want them to by blocking off a specific part, but leaving a gap open.
  
• Block off whole paths in the jungle, in order to stop enemies from escaping
  
• Split the enemy team in two by e.g. closing jungle entrances.

• Allow better sieging / turtling (further explanation in the special chapters)
  

E: Frostbite

Flash Frost

R: Glacial Storm

Frostbite

Main build

Please keep in mind that these items are only a general line to follow. From game to game you will need to change builds, adapting to how fed you and your enemies are. That is why you should read chapter VIII, on all the different optional items and when to use them.

Always buy wards whenever you have any change

Starting Items:


OR



The faery charm start generally allows you to really rush your Tear of the Goddess and get on with stacking as quickly as possible. Also, the early ward and potions allow you for some extra sustain and safety while in lane.

First buy



On your first buy, you should most certainly have your Tear of the Goddess ready and some health. You can stack the tear very easily with your ultimate, which is really awesome. Tear of the Goddess is such an awesome item because it stacks really well (each three seconds you have your ultimate on, you get a stack) and when upgraded, it gives ability power based on your mana - which proves a good motivation to build lots of mana and just have tons of ability power.

End of lane phase



Always make sure to grab Sorcerer's Shoes because this takes a huge bite out of the enemy magic resist. Also, Anivia is painfully slow so this solves a slight bit of your problems. The Rod of Ages should be your first major item, it is a great all-round item because it gives a bit of everything you need. It is also important to get this as quickly as you possibly can, because the earlier you get it, the faster you have the maximum amount of stacks on its passive.

Mid game



In mid game you should go for as much ability power as soon as possible and that is why you get the Rabadon's Deathcap. For any ap-carry this item is a must-buy and this increases your damage greatly. This item is even better when you take into consideration that, if you play her well enough, her main skills have a 1:1 ap ratio. Also, at this point into the game (up and around the 30 minute mark) you should have your tear fully stacked, and ready to upgrade it. Once upgraded, this item gives massive amount of AP and mana, and a cool defensive passive.

End game main items/viable items

For end game there is no general line to build, however, there are a few items I generally choose from.

Standard:

The Zhonya's Hourglass is a great boost for your ability power and adds an astonishing 156 ability power (with rabadon's passive).
The Liandry's Torment is a really awesome item because it does damage based on the enemy (current) health, and since health stacking is the current meta, this is the best way to destroy tanks in season 3. Even better, is that when your enemy's movement is impaired (slowed, stunned, snared etc), they take double damage - this works with your ult slow. So you will be applying double damage stacks all the way.


Also viable items throughout the build:
The Void Staff used to be my way-to-go item all along season two, but since it has been slightly nerfed, I don't really think you really need it, unless the enemy stacks real heavy magic resist. Replace Liandry's with this if you want this item

A Warmog's Armor is cool when you really need to get tanky. Essentially you get twice the 1000 hp because of your Rebirth, so you will become extremely hard to kill. Replace Zhonya's with this if you want this item

The Athene's Unholy Grail is a bit more of a defensive item, it can give you some early game magic resist which helps in a difficult lane. Also, the extra mana regen and cooldown reduction is sweet. Replace Tear with this if you want this

Mercury's Treads can be used when facing heavy cc, just keep in mind that you will end up with very little magic penetration if you don't combine this with a void staff.

Abyssal Scepter is another great tool when facing a difficult lane, for when you think you need to go a bit more defensive. Generally replace Rabadon's with this, but sell it later on when you need deathcap more

Will of the Ancients is cool for any double-ap composition, where both champions benefit from this item. Otherwise, its a bit meh...

About Anivia's mana issues

So I have had some different comments about what people think about extra mana(regen) on Anivia. Let me share you some quotes and explain what I think about them.

IceCreamy wrote:

I don't think Anivia needs mana regen in any way - I play her without Chalice, mana regen runes and mana regen masteries. I do appreciate blue buffs ;)

• You have just died but an even more important fight is coming up... OUCH!
• You are being pressured to the towers and you need to keep killing waves quickly, but you just run out of blue buff and cannot go out because of the enemy dominance... OUCH!
• The enemy sees your buff has ran out and decides to force a baron fight... OUCH!

Archangel's Staff

Athene's Unholy Grail

Rod of Ages

How does stacking of the Tear of the Goddess work?

• You get 3 mana for each spell that you cast, but this has a short cooldown. (so do not use all your skills simultaneously because that does not work)
• You get stacks for every time you leave your ultimate on and the cooldown is reset on your tear.

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER

Anivia is one of the champions with the most rewarding combo's. In this chapter I will explain everything about them, and when to use them.

Pre-6 poke



Try hitting your stun from time to time. Once you have succeeded in hitting it, and you feel you are close enough, throw down Frostbite. This is the most basic play of Anivia.


Pre-6 kill


(optional)

Once you feel your enemy is getting low and still not keeping enough distance to you, you should start making plays. The first step should be to place your wall, just so that there will be one way back that is clearly shorter than the other. Once your enemy clicks back, he will go one clear path along your wall and now you throw your Flash Frost down that path. Usually he will not be able to dodge it, as the only way back is to get closer to you. Finish it off with Frostbite and if needed Ignite.

This tactic works exceptionally well in any allied ganks, when walking back is nowhere near an option.

A short video of this:

After-6 poke

OR

Another fairly basic combo. Here you just throw down Glacial Storm, the slow will allow you to catch up and hit your Frostbite aswell.
You can also do it a bit more stealthy, as Frostbite has a short travel time, you can cast that first and still get the double damage. However, to cast frostbite you usually will need the slow first as it has only very short range. In order to do this, I recommend smart-casting your ultimate.


After-6 kill


(optional)

Not much difference with the pre-6 combo, but the main difference is that you are going to use Glacial Storm in one of the two different ways; you can use it to create a zone where the enemy must want to stay away from, and then throw Flash Frost in the other direction, OR you can use it to make Flash Frost an easier hit.

Gameplay: Laning (farming/trading)

Laning phase is where it all begins. You start off with Boots of Speed and 3x Health Potion, head to your lane (which should be mid lane), cover and pull blue or red buff and start farming. Now this is where it usually goes wrong for Anivia players. Early lane phase can be something very difficult for new players, and that is why I am dedicating this chapter to it.

Anivia

• Have a good look at which enemy minions are being attacked and how fast their health is being drained. Try to get a good view on this and try to calculate half a second ahead when last-hitting. This is because of the slow animations.
• When last hitting under the turret: melee minions take 2 turret hits and 1 auto attack, mage minions 1 turret hit and 2 basic attacks (only one if there are allied minions attacking)
• Once you hit level 6 and get blue (which should usually be around the same time), you can first quickly clear the minion wave and then eventually take (perhaps even enemy-) wraiths or wolves. When using your Glacial Storm, always make sure to try to get the last hits with auto attacks so there is less risk that they are getting killed by your own minions

Anivia

Flash Frost

Frostbite

Brand

Pillar of Flame

Gameplay: Laning (ganking/killing)

Spoiler: Click to view

• Stun one of your enemies, wall in their face, run back. This is when you feel you can easily walk off without getting cc'ed and bursted down.
• Flash out. This is when your enemy gets too close to you and you fear certain death. When doing this, remember to first place your Crystallize in front of you and then flash over. You can also place it behind you if you have enough space.
• Once you feel you are dead for sure, fight! Anivia has a great amount of burst and this can result in a kill.

Gameplay: Sieging/Turtling

So basically sieging and turtling are two very important parts of this game, and can make or break a game. Sieging means pushing all lanes constantly in order to kill turrets, and turtling means constantly unpushing the waves so the enemy cannot kill your towers.

Where Anivia comes in, is the fact that she is one of the best Sieger/turtler in the whole game, since you can have constant AoE damage, with the only restriction being your mana. You can also stop enemies from advancing with strategically placed walls, or zone them from specific parts in order to advance yourself.

The best example I could possibly give, is the following game between two professional teams, CLG.EU and M5.

The turtling part is from 30 to 55 minutes, their sieging starts after this but is somewhat shorter.

At minute 30, CLG.EU is so far behind, but stays in the game by constantly unpushing the waves with Anivia. In the end this will win them the game.

So, to summarize this:

• Keep unpushing waves with your ultimate. If the enemy tries to force the fight on the tower, place a wall to make sure they cannot advance.
• Never go out of your base too far when you are not 100% sure about the enemy location. Stay grouped because otherwise your enemy will force a fight onto them.
• Sometimes you have to let the outer and inner turrets get destroyed, because they might flank you.
• When sieging, you can place your wall next to the enemy tower to prevent them from attacking you while you are taking it down.

Gameplay: Teamfights

Teamfights is where the game will usually be decided, and that is why I have decided to write a chapter on this. I will explain some basics but also some more detailed stuff on Anivia.

First of all,

When and how to initiate a teamfight?

Anivia

Crystallize

Flash Frost

Positioning is key

Anivia

Matchups A-H

The real list should be something like this...





But seriously now,
in this list I hope to give you all possible matchups for Anivia in mid. Please keep in mind that these only tell you how difficult or easy a lane can be. Obviously you are going to have a hard time versus a 2000 elo player, no matter what he plays. But this can help you to give an indication when to pick Anivia or not.

Difficulty: 6

Ahri can be a very tough mid when you let her the initiative. She can easily use Spirit Rush to e.g. dodge walls or possibly other skill shots aimed at her. However, generally she is unable to stop you from farming or harass you out of your lane. The best thing you can do here, is to stay defensive and try to keep poking whenever possible, but never go for an all-out fight. In teamfights you should try to focus others while she is using spirit rush. Once that is on cooldown, you are free to go. (but otherwise you will waste your skills on someone that dodges everything)





Difficulty: 4

I tend to have little trouble with Akali. The catch is to keep the initiative and try to harass as much as possible. Since Akali has to get into close range for last-hits, you should have fairly easy hits on Flash Frost. Also you can make great use of your amazing range on basic attacks. Once she is 6, make sure to always have your Flash Frost ready to use, since when she bumps onto you, you can counterattack with a good stun. So only use Frostbite and Glacial Storm to harass with.





Difficulty: 5

Annie is not such a hard matchup, but a very dangerous one. The catch is that when she gets the initiative on you, she can egg you within half a second (QWER -> dead). You can easily beat her if you keep poking her constantly so she cannot take that initiative. A huge addition to this lane can be Mercury's Treads to counter her stun (she needs it for any kill)




Difficulty: 3

I never have had ANY problems with Brand in lane, and I really mean never! While his burst and range are great, he is extremely squishy and vulnerable to poking and pushing since he is a pretty bad farmer and has little sustain. Remember that once he hits you with one of his spells, you should back off very quickly because once he gets a second skill onto you, you are stunned and he can easily burst you into egg. In late game you beat him just as well, he cannot burst you after you get into egg form.




Difficulty: 7

Cassiopeia is possibly a very dangerous target. Her harass is outstanding and has huge sustained damage. Early game all you can do is hang back and hope to farm well, because in 1v1 she beats you, even with egg on. Late game you can make a comeback, where she is very squishy and has fairly limited range on her ultimate. Try to abuse this range to win fights.




Difficulty: 9

I feel like Diana is the hardest matchup I have had yet. The thing is that she has such huge burst, mobility and still good sustain. Do not try to fight her at any cost after level 6, because you have literally 0(zero) chance of winning that. Late game you can make a comeback, but you will need to build to survive her burst. Try not to let her roam by pushing the waves with your ultimate.




Difficulty: 5

I decided to add Evelynn since she is recently seen a lot mid, and this is a bit complicated: early game you beat her without any problems, but her roaming can give you and your team a very hard time. A side problem is that you cannot follow her everywhere because you need the mana too badly. The best thing is to warn your team of this and when you see her leave, take all the farm you possibly can away from her by pushing the wave into the tower.




Difficulty: 8

Fizz is the second hard counter to Anivia, with Diana. He too is very mobile, has high burst and is not too squishy. Same rules apply with him as with Diana: Try to poke a bit with basic attacks and build to sustain that burst. Try to out farm him and make sure he cannot roam too much by pushing the wave with your ultimate.




Difficulty: 6

Galio is more annoying than really strong. Galio is in fact an early/mid-game champion so if you again build to survive his ultimate and then get enough damage to even kill him, its okay. Important thing in this matchup is Mercury's Treads, since his ultimate deals damage after the FULL 2 seconds, so you can get taunted without taking any damage in the end. Try to keep at least equal in farm (he farms like a beast...) and you are settled for late game!




Difficulty: 4/5

I have never really played against Heimerdinger in a game, but I can imagine that you can do fairly decent with enough sustain (buy Will of the Ancients in this matchup) by just healing his poke and killing his turrets. Make sure to place your ultimate on his turrets to get rid of them very easily. Also, keep the cooldown of these turrets in mind: if he has just placed both, you have around 20 seconds cooldown on them.

Matchups I-Q

Difficulty: 4

Karthus will never be a problem for an Anivia player because you just have too much burst, while still keeping up in sustained damage. In lane you can just go for any all-out fight because you should have more damage in early game.
Late game you can still burst him very easily because he needs to come close to you for maximum damage output (good use of Crystallize helps a lot here) and that is where you can beat him.




Difficulty: 7

Katarina can be one of the most annoying champions to play against as Anivia. While you have good crowd-control, you can never be certain that it will hit to interrupt her ultimate. Furthermore she can be very dominant in lane, and that can be really hard.
Your best shot is to hang back and try to follow her when she roams. Exhaust is a good pick for you and your team if you have only very little CC. Use it on her ultimate to shut her down.




Difficulty: 6

Kassadin is considered to be an anti-mage and that is why he can be dangerous for you. Important to this is to never let him get dominant in lane, so try to zone or even kill him before he gets level 6.
Important in this lane, is to buy Mercury's Treads so his silence is not worth as much to you. When he tries to burst you, react with your full combo and you should be okay. Make sure to ward both sides of the river to counter his roaming.




Difficulty: 5

A Kennen - Anivia matchup can easily work both ways, but I feel like Anivia has the edge here. While his all-out damage and poke are better than yours, you with a few good executed combo's you can start dominating your lane very easily.
Very important is to always stay behind your minions and to back off when you have stacks, because otherwise you can let him engage onto you easily.




Difficulty: 7

While LeBlanc 'officially' counters Anivia, I feel like she does not have to be such a problem when you build to counter her. Your build should include an Abyssal Scepter and Mercury's Treads and when you do, you should be fine for a while.
In lane you can hang back and farm with your ultimate, but again ward both sides of the river to counter her ganks.




Difficulty: 6

Lux can be terribly annoying because of her range. She can just hang back and annoy you with her way better range. Early game you stand little chance versus this, BUT you can easily outfarm her (lux is a weak farmer) and while roaming you can usually be more effective than she is because of Crystallize. Also in late game you are usually capable of beating her, so just be careful in lane-phase.




Difficulty: 6

To be completely honest I have never played against this dude with Anivia, but I can feel he can be very annoying. One thing that I am sure of, is that you can completely shut him down with purchase of a Quicksilver Sash.




Difficulty: 7

Mordekaiser already starts with being a total pain-in-the-neck at level 3, because he just pushes so awfully. When he gets any spellvamp he will become practically unkillable for you alone.
There is, however, one thing that can work very well in your advantage. Since he is completely stuck in melee range AND pushing that hard, ganks from your jungler are usually great for you because he just dies.




Difficulty: 6

I feel like Morgana is not such a great counter on Anivia. While she can survive your stun with her Black Shield, it has too long cooldown to keep her safe at all times. She only gets really annoying when she can hit her Dark Binding, so keeping good vision on her and yourself (warding helps!) should free you of any troubles.
The danger with the Morgana matchup is when she starts roaming. You must perserve some mana to be ready to follow, because her CC is just astonishing when she can get it onto any of your allies and will usually end up in a death or two... or three...




Difficulty: 7

Orianna is my preferred pick when playing against Anivia. This is because she can just be so dominant in lane when she gets level 2. She can zone you away from CS by just strategically placing her ball near you, and when she hits it, the poke is just amazing.
Again, I feel like a few good ganks can completely shut her down and when you get a bit ahead, you should not have too much trouble in bringing your lane home.
Also, when her Command: Attack is on cooldown, you can have a few seconds to counter all her attacks because she really needs that skill for anything.

Matchups R-Z

Work in progress... zzz lazy

To conclude

Thank you for reading my guide! :D
If you did skip some parts, go back and read them!

Again, please leave a comment about what you have just read :) Comments are more useful than votes.

Changelog

1st of August 2012: guide release
2nd of August 2012: wrote a few parts I hadn't finished yet.
27th of September 2012: Reworking some major parts of the guide: will be finished by the end of this momth
16th of March 2013: Skipped a few minor reworks out here. As of now, I finally took the time to rewrite big parts of this guide, and add in new masteries/items.