I am low challenger of season 4 in NA and I fill during rank. I am making these guides for myself and friends mainly so sorry if you're looking for visuals. She was my most played champion during early season 4. I was top 100 annie during season 4 on lolskill.net.

Published 2/12/15
Updated champion matchups 2/13/15
updated early game chapter 2/14/15
Updated items chapter 2/19/15
Added Righteous Glory 2/22/15
added Leblanc and Lucian matchup, updated sivir matchup and early game chapter 3/21/15
Updated items chapter on Twin Shadows 4/3/15
updated Introduction and Items chapters, removed zekes and frost queen from items, caitlyn and leblanc matchup 8/7/15
Added kog'maw matchup 8/12/15
added some jungler matchups 8/14/15
Updated Blitz matchup 8/18/15
updated Early game chapter 8/19/15
Updated masteries 8/24/15
added malphite jung matchup 8/29/15
Updated Early game chapter on lvl 2 with jungle camp 9/4/15
added soraka matchup 9/5/15
Updated masteries and masteries chapter 9/15/15
updated early game chapter 9/24/15
Added talon & xin matchup 10/2/15
updated when to pick annie and champion synergy chapters 10/6/15
Updated items, items chapter, and timers chapter 10/15/15
added kindred matchup 10/17/15
added tristana and ziggs matchup 11/7/15
Updated introduction, when to pick annie, masteries, items, timers, the lvl 1 before minions spawn, leashing, recall scenarios, early game, mid game, late game, conclusion 1/9/16
reformatted items, skill usage, recall scenarios, early game, mid game, late game chapters; updated items & early game chapters & zed matchup 1/12/16
Updated recall scenarios chapter 1/13/16
updated when to pick annie chapter 1/24/16
Updated minion advantage chapter 2/29/16
updated when to pick annie chapter 4/3/16
Updated early game chapter 4/5/16
updated purchase order 4/17/16
Updated mid game chapter 4/21/16
updated ezreal matchup 5/1/16
Added akali matchup 5/4/16
updated when to pick annie and items chapter, and skill order and purchase order 5/6/16
Updated dragon chapter 5/20/16
updated when to pick annie chapter 6/11/16
Updated masteries and masteries chapter 6/14/16
updated when to pick annie chapter 9/22/16
Updated when to pick annie chapter 10/8/16
updated when to pick annie, leashing, early game, and baron chapter 10/17/16
Updated when to pick annie chapter and masteries 1/19/17
updated everything 2/11/23
Updated runes and runes chapter 2/18/23
updated runes and runes chapter 2/23/23
Updated when to pick annie chapter 3/22/23
updated runes 4/28/23
Updated when to pick annie chapter 9/18/23

As of patch 13.20, Annie is no longer the best support for solo queue and C tier in competitive. Annie has one of the best engage of all supports. She excels in team fight comps and skirmish/pick comps. She won't do well in poke and split comps, as well as vulnerable to early gank pressure junglers. She is weak to poke in lane.

Flash is mandatory. Ignite is generally best. Exhaust can be taken when you are the only engage on the team and they have a hyper carry melee like Riven, since you are the only engage you're probably going to flash ult 2 players which usually does not include riven. Riven then goes onto your backline since your teammates are following up on your engage, that is when you need exhaust as no1 can cc riven.

Predator when you have good solo lanes to gank for. Guardian vs melee support and in general. Glacial Augment vs stand your ground. Arcane Comet and Electrocute are also options.

Start dark seal, sorcs, amp tome, kindlegem.

Only buy a Control Ward for third dragon and after or baron .

Swap Imperial Mandate for Shurelya's Battlesong if enemy has longer range.

Then get Oblivion Orb if they have 2+ champs with healing. If not then Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

You should always time the enemy summoners. Do this with ctrl a then ctrl c after typing the timers and later remind your team with ctrl v. You should always time the enemy summoners. Flash is 5 min, but Ionian Boots of Lucidity reduces flash by 30s, Cosmic Insight reduces flash by 46s, together reduces flash by 69s. Exhaust and Cleanse are 3 min 30s while Ignite and Ghost are 3 minutes. Teleport can be looked at by holding tab and divide their teleport cooldown by 60. Heal is 4 min. Buffs are 5 minutes if you dont have vision of their buffs to make use of riot's buff timers. Dragon and baron are timed by the game scoreboard. inhibitor is 4 min.

Actions per minute; you should try to never stand still. It will warm up your hands if you keep clicking left and right. Also do some wrist exercise so you don't develop anything bad.

Generally you start q since lvl 1 invades can be avoided if everyone uses their trinket. You use Disintegrate to help leash the jungler and to poke the enemy bot lane.

Depending on the champion matchups you will max a certain skill first.

A minor trick of pressure is to have 3 stacks on passive and throw Disintegrate at them and if they stay in an unfavorable position u can activate Molten Shield to make ur Q stun and do a hard trade; if they are in a safe spot then you can just use Disintegrate and hopefully they get scared and burn a defensive spell like Arcane Shift.

Remember to use Molten Shield whenever the enemy autos you, especially Caitlyn.

If you are ganking someone, it is best to stun with Disintegrate since it will follow them if they Flash or any other escape.

Remember to micro your Summon: Tibbers to not only do damage, but to absorb skill shots like Lee Sin q. Do not let Summon: Tibbers die to the enemy carelessly as he gives 50g.

In lane, Pyromania can be used to pressure very well, and should only be used to get a favorable hard trade when your partner is ready to follow up or during ganks. If Summon: Tibbers is not available, you may Flash Incinerate if the opportunity arises.

Wards won't be enough as good jungle players know how to get around them. You need to keep track of junglers by their pathing. First know which side they started by a deep ward or on his teammates leashing. Be careful though, as people can fake leash. Ping on the map which camps the enemy jungler should be at and all laners should play accordingly. If you ping jungler is on opposite side of map while your jungler is on your side, you should trade with the enemy laners. If jungler is on your side, then play safe and do not push lane.

Graves has the best burst to combo with annie's burst and short stun in the early game.

Rumble can follow up from range with his The Equalizer when you engage.

Caitlyn and annie's long auto range makes for some effective zoning early game.

Ezreal and annie can not push early game due to lack of aoe against aoe bot lanes, but when the opportunity arrives they can poke and follow up on each well.

Sivir Boomerang Blade can follow up with annie stun well, just keep track of her cooldown.

Lucian can do a quick follow up for a short or hard trade with annie stun.

Kalista and annie is very good vs braum lanes. Kalista can ult u after u used stun.

Always start Disintegrate since invades can be avoided with trinkets. You should defend a choke point safely. If defending wraith area do not stand in bush. If defending mid lane then have vision of both bushes and no need to have vision of their tower. You should use your trinket ward somewhere generally at 0:35-0:45, unless you see a group of invaders then you ward where you are escaping to. If you ward in front of them they can kill it. A delay invade optimally happens at 1:25, so warding at 0:35-0:45 at a decent spot to see the invade coming will let your team respond accordingly. If an enemy sees you when you are about to ward, its better to back off and ward a spot that they cannot see even though it is not as deep. As blue team against Blitzcrank, someone has to ward the bot tri bush right away which is earlier than 0:35.

This season, junglers can get to scuttle before or right after their full clear so you don't need to leash.

Generally for all lanes, if you have more minions you can go aggressive if your adc follows up and you know where everyone is in the map; but not past the minions if you need your minions to help fight the enemy champs. If there are 10 enemy minions and you have 3 minions just back up all the way to tower as you will get collapsed on by the enemy. Since you will not lose any cs(creep score), you might as well go back to tower anyways. It takes 9 minions as duo lane to get lvl 2 so you should count both minion waves to see if you get lvl 2 first, they get lvl 2 first, or both sides will get lvl 2 at the same time. If they are getting lvl 2 first then you're gonna have to back off far and ping back your partner. If the lane is even then you have to be cautious. Only do short trades when trading or else you take too much minion damage.

You should watch your lane and your teammates to see if they have the factors of getting dived. The most obvious one is low health. Others are no flash, huge incoming minion wave, and champions missing. If you pay attention to other lanes or yourself, you can warn the possible dive and move your jungler, others can roam to help, or get in a spot for a safe teleport, all to turn around the dive. If none of the responses are available then the possible victim must leave. The duo lane should generally be together when the minion wave is at their tower, or else the enemy duo can 2v1 dive the lonely bottom player. Tell that bottom player to leave or call others to turn the dive around.

Towers will prioritize minions toward the bottom of the lane first. During early levels you can auto once on a full hp caster minion. The caster minions near the top of the lane will most likely get hit by your minions which means you need to auto those more than once or not at all.

Generally you recall when your adc is recalling or dead. Best case scenario is you know where everyone is on the map and you can safely push to their tower if you have more minions or freeze when they have a bit more minions. You can recall before a siege minion wave(which spawns after 2 minion waves during early game), so that by the time you go back to lane you won't miss out on too much cs since siege takes a while to be killed by tower as well as enemies can't push that fast.

If you killed your enemy laners and you do not know where every1 is on the map then you should go to your tower and recall. Do not risk getting killed by their jungler or whoever. If you got a successful jungler to gank you then ask him to push with you unless you are all low enough for a triple kill. After recalling, buy while walking to edge of fountain always until 20 minute mark.

Do not go in lane bush. If they are waiting in there, wait for and use the minion wave to help you fight.

Ask your jungler to start top. If your jungler starts top, then you and adc should push lane right away before the minion waves meet. Push in the first 2 waves then play safe unless you have good vision or know where jungler is.

With jungle, you must beware of a lvl 2 gank by the jungler, which means you can't shove for lvl 2. In the level one chapter, your team must put down some vision to learn where the jungler started as well as keeping track of who leashed to know if a lvl 2 gank is possible.

Level one use Disintegrate and auto their adc, unless their support is closer to both you and your adc from which both of you should focus dmg on support. You don't start Incinerate anymore since Pyromania got nerfed and enemy can use trinkets to cover invades. Use a biscuit when you are 3/4hp. Harass enemies and freeze lane.

Get your Pyromania to 3 or 4 stacks before hitting lvl 2 so you can be prepared for a fight. If you got the lvl 2 first with 3 stacks, then you walk at them while Disintegrate one and follow up with Incinerate quickly. It takes 9 minion kills for duo lanes to level, but with a jungle camp a duo lane can become lvl 2 after 3 melee minion and 1 caster minion ; 1 melee minion to 3 caster minion to 1 melee minion . Generally get Incinerate at lvl 2. After lvl 2 you should play passive unless you know where every1 is in the map.

Ward mainly when you push to enemy tower and let ur adc know to back off; you can also fake ward by walking to a spot and pretending to ward.

In lane, Pyromania can be used to pressure very well, and should only be used to get a favorable hard trade when ur adc is ready to follow up or during ganks. If the mid or jungler(who is missing the most) is missing then u should expect a gank and should back off. Watch for top lane teleports as well as you cant all in unless your jungler and top lane is ready to help.

Get all 3 skills lvl 3. If you can buy a Stealth Ward and Vision Ward on your first back then you can get Sweeping Lens. After first back get a Vision Ward and run in jungle near mid lane to ward the river bush near mid towards dragon or to deep ward the enemy jungle that isnt the buff bush. The deep pink ward in jungle will take the most time and highest risk. It is best to ward and roam with jungler. Try to ward the gromp area/ raptor area as that is the easiest after your lane is pushing(preferably under enemy tower), tell ur adc to play back or follow you as you deep ward so he doesn't get 2v1. For warding the raptor make sure u see the camp to see their jungler farming. For warding the gromp you dont need to ward the blue buff bush, just ward over the wall that can see both blue buff and gromp.

If you see their jungler and he can 1v1 you or is not scared then you should just back off and ward a spot where he can't see you place since he is preventing u from deep warding. Generally when ur jungler comes, u let him show first before engaging since u dont want to die in a 2v2 before ur jungler gets to do anything.

As purple team, many blue team players pink their tri bush at bot. It is very risky to take out pinks without your jungler, so instead you can ward these spots to see an incoming gank from the jungle but not from river.

Mid game generally starts when a tower dies or when someone gets lvl 6 as they can tower dive. Always ask for help when warding, never ward by yourself unless you know where everyone is.

You should generally be mid with your bot partner. Just get experience and play safe to wait for next dragon fight. This is why late game counter picks are best.

Always have a Control Ward slot. Only use Control Ward for dragons and barons.

Never get aced as just a siege wave is enough to end the game.

It is ok to lose inhibitor . Just focus on dragons and protecting nexus towers. Always take dragon over baron unless it's cloud. Always take dragon over towers and inhibitors as well. Do not take base towers if dragon or baron is coming up soon as the enemy will generally respawn in time.

Never get aced as just a siege wave is enough to end the game.

It is ok to lose inhibitor . Just focus on dragons and protecting nexus towers. Always take dragon over baron unless it's cloud. Always take dragon over towers and inhibitors as well. Do not take base towers if dragon or baron is coming up soon as the enemy will generally respawn in time.

If you have open nexus(no nexus towers) then sit in base until all inhibits respawn.

Only do dragon when 2 enemies are dead or at base & while your team isn't low, or it is a free dragon. A free dragon is when the enemy team is aced, their teleports are down, completely cleared their vision, they're taking top buff, or recalled to base.

If they have Fiddlesticks, Nunu & Willump, Master Yi, Udyr, Shaco, Elise, Karthus, Lee Sin, and possibly more(not to mention laners helping out), then you need to keep it warded from a specific lvl onward for a possible sneak.

If the enemy starts dragon, poke them until dragon is half hp, then fight. Poking them makes them disoriented to either finish, run, or fight. Dragon does aoe so if you start it, have one person in the pit to tank it away from team.

Always team fight for the third dragon as everyone would be closest in items. As scaling team, you can give the first two if not safe to contest.

Prioritize dragons over everything else.

If you have dragon soul, instead of starting elder dragon camp the enemy jungle and fight. If playing protection composition, backline hits dragon while frontline zones, then get off dragon if they go in.

When securing baron for bait or to take, you want to deep ward and ward surrounding bushes to keep from getting stolen or to get a pick. Do not exclude the tri bush towards top lane.

As red team you want to pink outside the pit and sweep inside the pit.

As blue team you want to pink in the pit near the entrance so that the enemy doesn't kill it over the wall.

Do not stand behind the baron when taking it, since it will do damage to everyone behind it.

As for positioning when taking baron you need to stand outside the pit with your carries. As for ward kills in the pit, support should be the one since support's dmg against baron is least important. When the enemy is in the baron pit, hit the baron to make it hit your enemies. Never use your cc at baron when enemies are around. One person should zone the enemy team if they are coming to stop the baron attempt. Communicate with your team beforehand to finish, run, or turn to fight.

At 20min and onwards you must ward it against sneaks from high objective junglers such as Nunu & Willump, Udyr, Karthus, Fiddlesticks, Master Yi, and possibly more(not to mention laners helping out).

Always take baron over inhibitors.

You should save your Pyromania for the high threats like adc or hypercarry melee like Riven. When disengaging, you should use Incinerate first and save Summon: Tibbers. Use E to charge your passive mainly for quicker stun rotations. If you can stun multiple people then go for that instead, since they then won't be able to peel for their teammates or disrupt your backline.

If enemy team is mostly dive champions, then tell team to peel instead of engage, chase, and flank. Read skill usage would fill the rest. For those high mobility champions it is better to stun with Disintegrate rather than Incinerate.

Her engage is hard to dodge and you can burn their Flash by pressuring well. You will need to learn her ranges and micro Summon: Tibbers if you want to find success with this champion. I've seen my friends and sometimes myself miss Incinerate for overestimating the range or misuse it when we should use Disintegrate against enemies with mobility or Flash.

All questions will be replied by private message. I stream on twitch.tv/bive and offer coaching lessons for all roles for $20/hr. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7dFRuXo72ryvr7KP85HrGg is my youtube.