Build Guide by Sapient

Introduction

This build is focused on maximizing Anivia's amazing support abilities not her basic spell damage. In order to position yourself to best stun enemies, cut off enemies from their teammates, and rescue your own teammates, you will inevitably get hit so the goal with this build is to keep you effective but also have a high survival rate.

Pros / Cons

Pros:

• Anivia's unique ability to place Crystallize walls that disrupt the movements of the enemy team can be used in a wide variety of offensive and defensive situations and is a lot of fun to play around with.
  
• Her stun Flash Frost has a very long range that can go through minions, also securing kills and/or escapes for your team.
  
• Very easy to farm with her ultimate ability Glacial Storm
  
• Arguably the best passive ability in the game, Rebirth
  
• Surprisingly large amount of damage with Frostbite if you managed to connect with one of her other spells first.

• Making Flash Frost stop right on top of the enemy (to stun them) takes a bit of practice and it can be dodged if the enemy is anticipating it.
  
• You often must get very close to the melee range in team fights to secure optimum placement of your Crystalize walls and your Glacial Storm.
  
• Anivia dies easily when surrounded on both sides and must be extra careful of ambushes on the back side

Items

Most of the items should be self-explanatory. Your cooldown reduction will be maxed at 40% to make sure you can throw walls and stuns as often as possible.

The boots of mobility may seem like an odd choice, but with the combination of your wall and your Flash summoner spell, you should be able to get enough time out of combat to activate their higher movement speed and escape more rapidly. Also, when Teleport is on cooldown the added mobility will help you to get where you are most needed as quickly as possible.

Alternative Items:


If the enemy team doesn't have a lot of magic users and you don't feel the need to add magic resistance, then don't bother purchasing Force of Nature or Banshee's Veil. Instead, build that negatron cloak into an Abyssal Scepter. Finally, for added spell damage build a death cap if the game is still going.

replaces
replaces

Farming

At mid to high levels, Anivia's farming ability is simply amazing. If your Teleport spell is not on cooldown, don't be afraid to melt waves of minions all at once with her ultimate Glacial Storm. Wait until the minion wave stops moving so you can be sure that all of them are inside the spell's substantial radius. If there are any hardy cannon minions, hit them with an additional Frostbite spell while the ultimate is still active. To conserve mana, be sure to disengage the ultimate by pressing R once it is no longer needed. Once you run out of mana you can recall back to base, make your purchases, then teleport back to resume farming. You will be able to outfarm almost anyone at this rate.

Creeping / Jungling

I added this section just to say do not go into the jungle with Anivia (regarless of what the in-game Tip says). If you chase people into the jungle while multiple enemies are MIA, you will very likely get ambushed and die. Anivia works best as a support mage when she is in the lane with a clear view of where the combatants are. If they manage to surround her then she is usually dead. Besides, your cooldown reduction is already maxed at 40%, so let someone else take that Blue Golem buff.

If you are encountering an enemy team that hides a lot and stays out of the lanes, then encourage your teammates to place sight wards in their most likely hiding spots (when they are not there of course). Then you can attack them head-on and at full potential.

Summoner Spells

Flash

Flash is, quite simply, your getaway spell. Thanks to the masteries in this build it will have the lowest possible cooldown.

The reason I am recommending Flash over Ghost is because when you need to get away you need to get away not just quickly but immediately and then throw your wall down before they can knock you in the air, stun you, suppress you, or even leap to you to close the distance. If you use Ghost and the enemies see that you are starting to get away, they are very likely to do something to catch up with you or stop you in your tracks. Flash makes that less likely to occur and forces them to deliberately re-target you. If you are close to a wall, even better. You can even make a Crystallize wall and flash over it to make sure you don't accidentally place the wall in the wrong spot.


Teleport

If you take the middle lane as Anivia (as you should) there often won't be anyone to watch the lane when you need to leave it. Taking the Teleport summoner spell allows you to shop, heal, recharge that exhausted mana pool, and then get back to your lane before the middle turret takes any damage. That gives you a crucial advantage over your opponent if they have to leave the lane longer than you do. It's also great for farming unattended lanes and protecting undefended turrets.

As a side note, I read in another guide that you can teleport in Egg form, but in my experience it breaks the spell as soon as you turn into an egg. So... that information, apparently, was wrong. Still it's a great spell and a must-have for Anivia! I would only consider giving this up if you are not taking the middle lane. Still, if you are about to get ganked and your Flash spell is on cooldown, or you just don't think the Crystallize wall is going to work for whatever reason, you can try to teleport away before they kill you. Occasionally it does get you away before they get your health all the way down, and unlike recalling it's not interrupted by attacks.

A Word About Stats

Finally, I would like to point out that the ultimate goal of any build should be to help your team win, whatever that entails. If you choose to play Anivia as a Support Mage you will not have the highest kill count on your team; if maximizing kills is your goal check another guide.

However there are some things that the stats don't measure. For example, the game does not track how many times you save your teammates from certain death, but it is very rewarding and helpful when you do so. The game also doesn't track how many times you pushed a lane solo all the way up to the enemy base and made them waste valuable time and attention trying in vain to catch you while your teammates dominate the other lanes thanks to your distraction.

With all that being said, there are some stats that will be very good if you follow this guide successfully:

• Your number of deaths will be very low, probably the lowest of both teams.
  
• Your number of minions killed will be very high, probably the highest of both teams.
  
• Your overall Win percentage (the ultimate measure of success) will be high because you are supporting the team effectively.