Hello summoners! I am from the SG/MY (Garena) Server. I wouldn't say that I am a pro, but I will be sharing my experience with Annie here!

Annie is currently my favorite mid champion, I feel comfortable using her and bursting people down with her spells. Annie has a short spell range and a fairly long auto attack range. She holds a great CC Pyromania which stuns enemies! You can make it an AoE stun with Incinerate or Summon: Tibbers. Usually in the laning phase when I reached 6, I will try to burst the enemy mid down with Summon: Tibbers. When Tibbers is summoned, its literally a guaranteed kill if the enemy is stunned. I will talk more about this later on!

Let's get started with Annie's Pros/Cons :)

PROS

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Ability to have AoE Stuns. Incinerate or Summon: Tibbers to stun a bunch of enemies, then burst down their ADC/APC (if they are stunned)! ALT + Right Click to move Tibbers.

High CC. You have to agree that Annie has a high CC (her passive) that can turn a fight around if used correctly. When Summon: Tibbers is up, use it.

Great Farming Abilities. Annie's Q, Disintegrate is well designed for farming. Every time you killed a creep with Disintegrate, the mana cost is refunded and the cooldown of it reduces. Try to farm with Q more instead of your AA.

Great At Teamfights. Its all because of her high CC. Stun the enemies during the teamfight and you might just win it! Make good use of her passive :)

Long Range AA. You might be thinking, Annie's AA is slow and doesn't deal much damage, why is it a Pros? Because you can poke your enemies whose range is shorter than you, isn't that an advantage?

Ability to Counter AA. How can Annie counter AA? Don't forget your Molten Shield! Its a waste that most people use Molten Shield just to charge up Pyromania. When the enemy ADC is trying to harass/poke you with his/her AA, light up your Molten Shield and they will receive damage!

CONS

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Low Mobility. Its a fact though. Annie doesn't have any dashes, she cannot "fly" around like some other champions. All she have is a passive which stuns enemies, when they are stunned take the chance to flee!

Short Ranged Spells. Annie's spells have a short range which is not very good. But in exchange, she has a high burst that can burst an enemy down in an instant. Always stun first then unleash your combo, to guarantee a kill.

Squishy Champ. That's what most ADC and APC are. Squishy. They need items for more defense, since if they are fed they will be aimed. Tankers are important here, so that Annie could burst enemies down without dying too. This depends on your team though.

Hard to Escape Without Pyromania. Like mentioned above, Annie relies on her passive to escape. Try not to spam all your stuns on creeps when you see the enemy jungler/mid is not dead. If their Top/Bot is not in their respective lanes, leave some charges and then Molten Shield, Q/W when they engage you.

GLYPHS Reason Most people would ask that why I chose AP Glyphs instead of Magic Resist since its quite popular nowadays. I chose AP Glyphs because I felt that as Annie, I need more burst instead of MR. You may take MR Glyphs of course, this is my preferred playing style and you have a different one!

SEALS Reason Armor seals for better sustain, AD champions is really popular now... Many mid laners are AD, and armor to take reduced damage from the ADs in enemy team.

MARKS Reason Magic Penetration is useful to you, as an APC. To have bigger burst, you need Magic Pen too and not purely AP. If you chose AP for Marks, I would recommend you changing it to Magic Pen... but its okay, if you prefer that because its your own style and not following the others!

Recommended

"Eeny, meeny, miny, burn!" Ignite is kind of a popular choice among most mid laners, as it is really useful. You can use it to secure kills in the early games while the enemy is stunned, you quickly ignite and unleash your combo. It is usually a 80% kill secured if use at the right time of course. The healing effect reduction is useful if the enemy team have supports who heals, like: Sona, Soraka (My personal favorite supports <3 haha)

Most common summoner spell in almost all game mode. Flash can be used for escaping from enemies, going across walls and also used offensively (eg. position yourself for the stun, close the gap between you and your target.) It is a must-take-spell for me every game :)

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Great Alternatives

Take this if you are roaming around, or if you have not unlocked Flash yet. Flash would be a better choice for me though. Ghost is more for roaming in my opinion.

Defensive option of Ignite. If you are "1v1-ing" with your enemy's mid laner whose burst can be competed with yours. Most APC bring Ignite so they might not have Barrier to "play" with you :P

Popular choice nowadays for ADC/APC. Not really recommended if you have a healing support, but if you feel insecure you are free to bring it.

Like other champions, we will be maxing Summon: Tibbers first as it is Annie's ulti. At level 6, 11 and 16 you can add a point into your ulti. The 2nd one we would be maxing is Disintegrate, it is your 2nd main skill. Why are we not maxing Incinerate first? Because Incinerate is kinda hard to aim properly and you will be using more of Disintegrate than Incinerate if I'm not wrong... xD. Max Molten Shield last because it can give you enough sustain even if its not maxed yet.


Pre-6:

Disintegrate (With Pyromania), Incinerate (Repeat it twice separately) At the third time of this combo, leave an Ignite behind on him/her!

Post-6:

Summon: Tibbers (With Pyromania), Disintegrate, Incinerate, Ignite, Disintegrate (If its available. If not, throw a few AA then Q)

Flash, Summon: Tibbers (With Pyromania), Disintegrate, Incinerate, Ignite, Disintegrate (If its available. If not, throw a few AA then Q) (For engaging)


EXTRA NOTE:

- It is fine to have Incinerate at Level 1, for early stun if you/your enemy team invades.

- Maxing W before Q can help in 1v2 or more in lane and more damage ( Incinerate deals more damage than Disintegrate)

Starting Items

This item is probably the "standard" starting item for most APC, as it gives a good sustain. Ability Power, Mana Reg, Health, almost all you need during the first few minutes of game.

For better sustain in lane, when you are harassed by the enemy consume a health potion to regain some health before fighting again.

For better dodging of spells if you are vsing people who "throw" abilities. Also to return to lane faster.

Gives both health and mana for better sustain in lane.

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Core Items

The first item you will be building for Annie. Why RoA and not some other AP items? Because RoA gives you Health, Mana and also AP. Getting it early would give it more stacks, resulting more sustain for you!

Speed and Magic Pen. Standard boots for most APC, but if you wish to go defensive you are free to choose Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads depending on the ADC/APC is a bigger threat to you. The enchantment recommended is Enchantment: Homeguard or Enchantment: Alacrity for more speed. Enchantment: Distortion is also fine.

Your main source of AP. The item which almost all APC buy (unless they forgot or something...). It gives you a LARGE amount of AP, also increasing your AP by 30%. And that's real lot. Buy this second or third, depending if you want your boots, or cap first :)

This item gives you Magic Pen as well as some AP. I buy this almost every time I play Annie unless I chose Abyssal Mask instead :P (Can be changed to Abyssal Mask if preferred)

Annie's short range can be combo-ed up with Deathfire Grasp, by leaving your burst on them then burn them with your Deathfire Grasp!

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Situational Items

Like Void Staff, also a good item for APCs. It reduces the Magic Resist of nearby enemies by 20, with a range of 700. It also gives you 45 Magic Resist and 70 AP.

You can engage then quickly Zhonya to avoid being killed after you engaged, or to survive a teamfight, zhonya then wait for your spells to cooldown and you can combo again to escape or kill.

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Defense Options

Gives you an extra life... Many people buy this item for good sustain. It gives you a decent amount of Armor and MR. My preferred defensive item :)

Try to only buy this item if the enemy team APC is too strong for you, because in my own opinion Banshee's Veil is for countering most APC...

Farming is important to everyone in the game (except for supports?) to earn extra gold if you are having hard time killing. Annie is an expert farmer, she can use her Q Disintegrate to get the CS easily. Always aim the creeps with around 1/10 hp left. Her W Incinerate can be used to clear the waves fast.


Click on the Spoiler above and you will see an image of me Disintegrate on a creep with around 1/15 hp. Always aim for creeps with low hp and you are sure that you can kill it with just one Q.

At the start of the game, you would probably be helping your jungler get his/her Red/Blue buff. Give the Red/Blue a few AA until its health is enough for the jungler to solo then leave for your lane. Before you reach 6, focus more on farming than charging at the enemy then turret dive. Don't turret dive before 6. Throw your Disintegrate on the minions until you have Pyromania activated then give your enemy mid a Disintegrate, followed by Incinerate. That's your basic combo for poking/harassing. If you are playing against Fizz for example, he may dodge your stun. If he dodged it, try to throw a Incinerate at him if the range is enough. Avoid getting poked a lot by your enemies, or if your enemy is someone with high burst try not to trade skillshots with him/her.


Mid game is when the roaming starts. Beware of the enemy jungler, and also their top/bot because they might be roaming. Buy some Stealth Wards whenever you have spare gold and ward the side bush by the river. If possible, take the dragon whenever it spawns. This is also when the turrets start getting break.


During the late game is when the teamfight starts happening around. Defending your base is important in this stage of the game if you are losing, or a draw with the enemy team. Remember to summon your Tibbers for engaging (Remember that when you summon, your Pyromania must be up!) then Zhonya's Hourglass if your health bar is low.


Annie can push her lane well, so take to chance to help out other lanes if you pushed mid well enough. Do not leave your lane unattended if you see 1-2 people at your lane trying to push. You can go to other lanes to help your teammates get some kills with your stuns and burst.

Thank you for reading the guide! Hope you like it and somehow find it useful :D
Constructive comments are really appreciated, you are free to suggest more details, items, spells, etc. if you think there is more options to it.
+1 if you enjoyed the guide and think its useful. If not, please let me know why you think its not up to your expectations and I will try my best to amend it, don't be afraid to let me know what's not good. (I may have a lot of grammar errors, just point it out to me :P)

CREDITS:

♥ Banner Image: http://www.lolwp.com
♥ Coding Guide, Templates & Divider: jhoijhoi

SUGGESTED SOMETHING FOR THE GUIDE:

♥ 97BligenN
♥ emoriam
♥ Emikadon

Let me know if I forgotten to credit someone and I will add it in :)

♥ 6th May 2014:
// Included Deathfire Grasp in the "Example Finished Build".

♥ 29th April 2014:
// Reordered the chapters~

♥ 25th April 2014:
// Added new things into the guide (Suggestions by others) :)

♥ 25th April 2014:
// Added Abyssal Mask as a core (To be chosen between Void Staff or Abyssal Mask. W can also be added at Level 1 for invasion. (Suggested)

♥ 24th April 2014:
// Published the guide! Feedbacks are much appreciated :D