Annie Build Guide by BestFeederNK

Introduction

Hi. I'm Best Feeder NK (EUW, not the guy on NA. Apparentely there's someone with the same nick on NA). To be fair I'm neither Challenger, nor Diamond, nor Platin, nor Gold, nor Silver nor Bronze. (Although actually I got ranked in Bronze. Most games were lost due to afks but whatever). I don't like playing ranked games at all because there's no guarantee I can play a position I actually can play and I'll probably end up feeding the enemy team. I currently (at the time of writing) have an 80% win rate as Annie Support.

Most guides are probably written by Gold+ players but they actually didn't help me very well at the level I play. That's why I'm writing this guide.

Pros / Cons

Her best Pro is her stun due to her passive. She also has a shield to help her out in tough situations although you don't want to rely on that shield but rather on your stun. She is somewhat squishy and not very mobile. She can pull off a burst but you shouldn't overestimate it. (As a support you don't have that much AP to just burst an ADC away).

Runes

Runes should give you some basic AP and armor. I mix runes to get a little bit more armor and just a hint of more max mana.

Masteries

Masteries should give you a little bit more survivability and some more gold. I don't put any points into offense.

Summoner Spells

Either go with Flash+Ignite or Flash+Exhaust. Ignite allows you to save kills (but it will give you the kill and not the ADC). Exhaust pins enemies down because it has a huge slow. Exhaust will give the kill to your carry.

Playstyle

Early (Level 1)

Before you go to your lane you should charge up a stun by spamming incinerate a few times at the base (due to the mana regeneration at the base). This stun on level 1 may help you get first blood in some games.
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Laning

Due to spellthief's edge you do a little bit more damage with your auto-attacks. Try to harass the enemy adc (or the enemy support if he's too annoying and squishy and the situation allows you to harass him without risking anything).

Warding

Warding is a big part of your job and it prevents ganks. When I started playing I knew that I was supposed to ward a lot (due to reading guides) but most beginners end up not actually doing it or not doing it right. This is mostly due to getting killed while trying to ward. The problem here is: If you ward a bush where an enemy is waiting for you you will be killed so quickly you just don't want to ward anymore. To prevent this from happening you need to have some sort of map awareness. You always have to keep an eye on the mini map. If you only see two enemies then you have no clue where the other three are and chances are that they are hiding in the bush you're about to ward right now. You also have to keep track of when enemies leave your vision. Because then you know stuff like "Well, he was there 2 seconds ago so he can't possibly be in this bush here because he needs more than 2 seconds to come down here".

Protecting your carry from ganks

This can easily be done by warding. If warding didn't help you can try to stun the incomming jungler and then run for your life (or even kill the jungler if your adc is positioned right and deals enough damage). However: Your stun is not very long (especially early) so only use it as a lost resort.

Getting kills for your ADC

In order to get kills for your ADC you need to develop a sense when to go in for a stun. This may take you lots of games. Also you have to be aware of what your ADC does. If you go in for a stun your ADC better be ready to finish the target off. Due to Annie being somewhat squishy there's a huge chance the enemy ADC will just eat your burst (which drops him to about 60%-55% from 100% life) and then just kill you. Sometimes it is necessary to do a Flash-Stun-Combo. DO NOT engage when your ADC is out of mana and needs mana to deal damage.

General Hints

Don't try to stun a mobile champion with Tibbers. It's very risky. Mobile champions can dash away from tibbers if they see it coming. A lucian for example can dash just at the exact moment to not get stunned by Tibbers and then kick your ***. Other champions can make themselves untargetable or invulnerable. A Vladimir can just sink into his blood pit (sanguine pool) and your Tibber-Stun won't stun him. There are numerous champions where a Tibber-Stun is rather risky. Actually this includes all champions that can suddenly change their position (by jumping or dashing (Lee Sin, Graves, Lucian, Katarina, Akali and many many many more)) or make themselves invunerable (Vladimir and some other champions).

If you are up against an assasin that can jump in and just burst your carry down you can wait for that jump to happen and then immediately throw in a stun. This even counters a fed akali. If you play it right as Annie Support a fed enemy Akali won't just win the game for the enemy. (Also you may want to buy pink wards to counter the shadow pit).

If you see a good opening (e.g. the enemies stand very close to each other and your team is positioned correctly) you can go for a Flash+Tibber-Stun-Incinerate-Fireball-Combo and then let the rest of your team finish them off.

Laning

Laning against an enemy Annie Support is rather fun (assuming your ADC knows how to keep distance from her, otherwise you're screwed). This matchup shouldn't bother you very much.

We all hate this guy. His grab is fast and don't underestimate the damage his grab+ulti does. He has some burst potential there. On the other hand he's also a Little bit tanky so you can't really harass him just with auto-attacks. Focus on the ADC. It's very important to not get grabbed. Dodging his grab on reaction is very very difficult (especially when close to him). Dodging it on anticipation is a little bit easier. The easiest thing however is to stand behind minions. (But be aware that he has a Speed-boost to quickly maneuver into a grabing position).

You won't see this often but it happens. This Fox-like animal is really annoying. You'll see it both as a Support and as an adc. If he's Support pay Attention to WHERE he stealthed. Most teemo supports just stealth in the middle of the lane and wait until someone is low enough and then engage together with the ADC for the kill. Maybe you should buy a pink ward.

You're gonna hate her. Not only has she a root which lasts like double the time your stun lasts but no... she also has a freaking shield to protect from damage and that shield will make your stun useless (you can't stun someone with morgana's shield on). Dodge her dark binding at all times. Try to harass with auto-attacks, play safe and beg for ganks.

Thresh is hard to lane against. He has a grab like blitzcrank. He can engage and position his latern in a way his ADC can easily follow-up. His lantern allows for crazy engages and crazy disengages (he can save teammates through walls). His ult will hurt and slow you. All in all this is going to be a tough lane. Dodge his grab at all times or you're screwed. Take attention to where he places his lantern.

She has a heal and a shield. If you dodge her tornado you'll be fine.

She also has a heal. If you harass their ADC down to 25% health Sona's just gonna heal him up to 100% shortly. Don't underestimate her damage. Once she reaches Level 6 she has an AoE stun that hurts.

A good soraka will read your mind and silence you just in the right moment to ruin your stun-engage. Also she'll heal your harass to her ADC away. Unless you see that you and your ADC are way better than her and her ADC just try to zone them away from farming and play safe.

I never had the pleasure to lane against a Taric. He's got a stun.

Nami is fun to play and fun to play against. She has a skill-shot AoE stun. It will show you an indicator on where the bubble will land so just dodge and you're fine. Also dodge her wave. She has a heal and her abilities give a speed-buff.

I've never laned against a Malphite Support but I have played some games as Support with him. Malphite can poke and slow with his Q. Although Malphite has little mana as a Support he will start with mana regen items and will have mana regen runes equipped to be able to spam those Qs. Once he reaches Level 6 he can do crazy engages with his ult and crazy tower dives with it. My guess would be to try to poke him so his shield doesn't kick in or just completely ignore him and put all the pressure on the enemy ADC.

She has a large range and a good poke with her Q. However, her Q does not come out instantly so there's usually enough time to dodge it. Harass her with auto-attack until she starts to harass you back.

Jinx is really annoying. Dodge her slow at all times or you'll be dead meat soon. Her Speed-buff makes her incredibly dangerous and pay Attention to when she uses her ult.

This is the ADC I hate most to lane against. He has a huge damage output and a dash. He's a tough ADC to go all in against. Play safe.

He has a dash and good poke. However, you can dodge them all. His ult is rather weak.

Be careful that she doesn't land those ice-arrows that slow you down on you. She can kill you with just a few auto-attacks and you'll be stuck due to her slow and can't run away.

Warding

Ward the bush on the left by the river to prevent ganks from the jungler. Against some supports you also have to ward the bushes on the right. If you have enough Money invest 100g in a pink ward and ward the bush right above your tower (some junglers try to sneak in from there). A pink ward is rather safe because neither the enemy Support nor the enemy ADC can see it easily so it usually lasts a very long time. Once you have your sightstone you can switch to sweeping lens to deny vision to the enemy.

Optional Items

Depending on how the game advances you should equip different items. Zhonya's Hourglass is a nice item because it gives you more armor and allows you to go invulnerable after a Flash+Tibber+Stun+Incinerate+Fireball-Combo.

Mikael's Crucible gives you Magic resist and a heal and a stun removal. This item can turn around a fight.

Other Options are: Build more MR, Build more Armor, Build more AP. If the enemy has a fed Fiora it might be a good decision to even build a Frozen Heart.

You can also use different boots. Boots of Mobility for example are cheaper and give you more Speed (but only out of fights). Mercury's makes you less vulnerable to CC. If your Team lacks damage output go for a rabadon. I don't like it when I have to build for damage as a Support but some Teams are just bad or deal no damage so you have to go for some kills to turn the game around.

Annie Tricks

Annie can burst someone down through walls if the situation asks for it:
Flash-Tibber-Stun-Engage (yeah, I could have had Gangplank without giving him a kill if I played it a little bit better):
Use Tibbers to Scout the jungle:
In a serious game you shouldn't go for kills but if your team is already like 20/4 and it starts turning into a "Who can get more kills?" game you can do a lot even as little Annie.