Hello, why did you put "Runic Affinity" instead of "Culinary Master" ?

Hi there,

I like your guide (although I have no time to read it thoroughly atm) and I appreciate the effort you have put in it, especially the layout. It is very clear. However, I cannot upvote it now, as the itemization is, in my opinion, wrong.

First, why are you building Morellonomicon? Yes, it gives cdr and grievous wounds, but what's the point of that? Annie is a burst mage and is supposed to 100-0 the enemy, if she fails to do that, then you did something wrong. Mundo and Vlad cannot heal when stunned and you should do full combo during the stun duration, so what's the point? Even in teamfights I cannot imagine a situation where more than two enemies have enough healing to require grievous wounds (but still, why are you targeting Mundo???). And Rylai's - this item might be actually fairly decent on her, but again, what's the point? Annie is a burst mage, not Vayne-class DPS like Cassio, she does not need to kite; she is not tanky like Seju or Amumu; she does not have passive synergy with this item like Vlad; even Katarina benefits more from Rylai's, because she has four damaging skills, three of which, if played correctly, have no cooldown.

You said that with E, Annie is surprisingly tanky, which is true. However, what happens when your E is down? You are instantly dead and your team no longer profits from your damage. There is no place for late-game defensive item, such as Guardian Angel, which is a must for almost anyone if you want to survive your tank's mistake, your own mistake, Nocturne's spell shield, missed Tibbers, late game Zed and so on. Even if you lose a teamfight, time gained from Guardian Angel can sometimes save the game. And if everyone on your team has GA, who will they focus? That also concerns Abyssal Scepter; if you need to rush Negatron Cloak to defend from LeBlanc or Brand, upgrade it to GA instead. You will be immune to assassins late hands and you should not be standing in the middle of enemy team for Abyssal Scepter passive anyway.

Mobility boots with Alacrity give Annie enough speed to initiate without flash, force a flash if even slightly ahead, reach teamfights on time, catch survivors due to Annie's lack of gapcloser, escape tight situations or, what is actually extremely important, dodge virtually any skillshot. Definitely worth over a tiny bit of magic penetration.

Luden's Echo is not so good after AP changes. Only buy it if you get extremely fed, as nobody will be able to kill you anyway. If the game drags for too long and you are unable to finish, sell it and buy a defensive item.

Oh, and one more thing. If you believe that Katarina matchup equals Yasuo in difficulty, then you probably never played against a skilled Kat. If she knows what she is doing, you will be poked to 50% HP with her superior range Q, then die to a decently executed Lee Sin gank. If she doesn't rush Negatron cloak to virtually negate your poke, then she deserves to lose the lane. If she does, and you stay out of her Q range (which she will use to last hit and farm), then it is a stalemate. If she baits your stun and you fail to 100-0 her, she wins.

As I said, I appreciate the work you put into the guide, but some info is misleading. I am no Annie main, nor do I play her much, but I have enough mid lane experience to know how to itemize her to focus on her greatest asset: utility.

If you want to discuss something with me, contact me in game. I will be happy to help.

Cheers,
Artstein

TL;DR: Items not good. Kat matchup skill based.

Is frost fang sold in midway for support annie guide? Oo

Should I get luden echo or boots first? :/

First of all, thanks for the time and effort you put in, I appreciate it. Secondly, I've changed the builds to be more optimal and more logical, if you will. I removed the 4Fun / Trolly builds because there really was no point in them. Thirdly, thanks again, your constructive criticism is a big help! ^^




Mmm, I'll get around to writing the built-in Mobafire provided matchups soon :(
Anyway, Swain is a difficult matchup indeed. I recommend getting tier 2 boots faster than you normally do to avoid his Nevermove and overall just try to run from his scary bird ***. He's difficult to burst down without help in reality (if you aren't already leagues ahead.) Call for jungler help or play safe and wait for him to make a mistake. Thanks for reading!




Ily2




I'll make sure it gets added soon, thanks!




Glad to hear its still helping :>

Also if you're still accepting games, I've got one from a while ago
http://i.imgur.com/7IObv1r.png

Yo man can you do the match up against Swain? I find it difficult to go against him because of his insane sustain, even if I run morel.

Worst guide name ever.

Build 1: If you're buying ROA buy it first. ROA gives a good laning phase with catalyst and needs time to scale. There's no point in buying it 2nd because nomicon doesn't provide you much until you finish it. I don't see a point in starting boots as well - if you're good enough you'll dodge skill shots with Doran's. The extra 25 movespeed is nothing compared to the benefits doran's ring gives

Build 2: Buying Void Staff 2nd is inefficient if you're even or ahead because enemies won't even have an MR high enough to needing Void over Zhonya's or Dcap. The only scenario it's good at is when you're behind. Buy Zhonya or Dcap second because they provide you with much more burst / protection.

Build 3: Idk about the Dcap rush but don't include ROA if you're ever going to buy it after 1st item. Your sample build doesn't even have full items.

Build 4 & 5: Are these support builds? Tear is for scaling mana champions. Annie doesn't need it. Athene's after RoA is for the extremely mana hungry champs like Anivia and even so most anivia's don't buy both. It's inefficient.

Build 6: You don't need to buy a ward with trinkets as a support. Pots are more important. you should rush sightstone and mobi's and swap out for scanner once you get sightstone. There's no point in upgrading your frostfang if you're gonna sell it for talisman. Run 0/9/21 for masteries

great guide, had a good time reading it and will defo use it

Hi! Glad to know the guide has proved useful to you. Thanks for the suggestion and I'll probably start on that soon :D
Luden's Tempest is a very interesting item. I don't really see Annie as a DPS champion though, the added damage probably won't compare to the damage that Deathfire Grasp ever gave. I don't think I'd replace any items with it atm, but I'll probably check back once I've run a few tests. It seems like it's best used as an early tool - like Statikk Shiv, buy early or don't buy at all. Thanks for the games, I'll add them soon ^^




Thank you very much, glad you liked it :>




Shhhh, there is no war in Ba Sing Se.
Yes, I'm gonna fix that pretty soon. Thanks for the heads up!