Click to open network menu
Join or Log In
Mobafire logo

Join the leading League of Legends community. Create and share Champion Guides and Builds.

Create an MFN Account






Or

MOBAFire's first Mini Guide Contest of Season 14 is here! Create or update guides for the 30 featured champions and compete for up to $200 in prizes! 🏆
Not Updated For Current Season

This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page

x
Anivia Build Guide by 7daysko

Middle [ 11.12 ] Think Beyond One Lifetime (In-Depth Matchups)

Middle [ 11.12 ] Think Beyond One Lifetime (In-Depth Matchups)

Updated on June 9, 2021
10
841
Votes
29
Vote Vote
League of Legends Build Guide Author 7daysko Build Guide By 7daysko 841 29 2,225,839 Views 43 Comments
841 29 2,225,839 Views 43 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author 7daysko Anivia Build Guide By 7daysko Updated on June 9, 2021
x
Did this guide help you? If so please give them a vote or leave a comment. You can even win prizes by doing so!
Vote
Comment

You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.

I liked this Guide
I didn't like this Guide
Commenting is required to vote!
Would you like to add a comment to your vote?

Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.

Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Anivia
    Anivia MID
  • LoL Champion: Anivia
    Anivia's Natural Habitat (ARAM)
  • LoL Champion: Anivia
    Nestling For Your ADC (Support)

Runes: Offensive/Burst/Winlanewingame

1 2
Domination
Electrocute
Cheap Shot
Zombie Ward
Ravenous Hunter

Precision
Presence of Mind
Coup de Grace
Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Teleport

Teleport

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

Hello, fellows. I am 7daysko, and I welcome you to my guide on Anivia. While I've attempted a guide once more in the past, this is my first "true" guide, so please excuse any rookie mistakes. I've been playing League since late 2010 and c̶u̶r̶r̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶a̶m̶ ̶r̶a̶n̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶D̶i̶a̶m̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶V̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶E̶U̶N̶E̶ as of recently, I've had way too many issues with the game's direction to keep playing other than the occasional game with friends once a month. Thankfully patches barely change anything so don't worry, this guide won't be out-of-date anytime soon. If there's a big change or a rework or something to a midlaner, the random game every now and then will be more than enough to update the guide accordingly, and I do intend to keep it up-to-date. If for whatever reason you wake up one day and this guide hasn't been updated for an entire season it's probably over, but you don't need to worry as there are many other great guides from other players to choose from, so do check them out as well! Peace.

With this guide, I aim to help the player grasp Anivia's sometimes complex mechanics, while also recommending a solid build that covers for most of Anivia's problems, essentially turning Anivia into a force to be reckoned with. Whether you're looking to have some fun or trying to climb up the dreaded Ranked ladder, this guide is for you. Below, you'll find all you need to know about Anivia's strengths, weaknesses, match-ups and more!
Back to Top

About Anivia


LORE

"I am the fury of the blizzard, the bite of the wind, and the cold of the ice. I am the Freljord."
-- Anivia

Anivia is a being of the coldest winter, a mystical embodiment of ice magic, and an ancient protector of the Freljord. She commands all the power and fury of the land itself, calling the snow and bitter wind to defend her home from those who would harm it. A benevolent but mysterious creature, Anivia is eternally bound to keep vigil over the Freljord through life, death, and rebirth.

Anivia is as much a part of the Freljord as the never-ending frost. Long before mortals had ever set foot on the land's frigid tundra, she had lived countless lifetimes and died as many deaths. The beginnings and ends of her eternal cycle always heralded great change, from the calming of raging storms to the ebb and flow of ice ages. It is said that when the cryophoenix dies, an era ends; and when she is reborn, a new era begins.

Though Anivia's past lifetimes have faded from her memory, she knows her purpose: she must protect the Freljord at all costs.

When she was last reborn, Anivia witnessed the rise of a mighty and united human tribe. She guarded their lands with pride as they prospered, but such unity could not last forever. The great tribe fractured into three, and after that upheaval, Anivia watched the people of the Freljord become embroiled in battle. As she strove to calm the turmoil tearing her home apart, Anivia began to sense a greater threat: an ancient evil growing deep within the earth. To her horror, she felt the pure magic of the ice itself become blackened and corrupt. Like blood in water, darkness crept into the Freljord. With her destiny so tied to the power of the land, Anivia knew if such evil took root in her home, that same darkness would find its way into her heart. She could no longer remain a mere guardian - the cryophoenix had to act.

Anivia soon discovered an ally in Ashe, the Frost Archer. Ashe too believed in unification as an end to the Freljord's perpetual strife, and Anivia offered the tribal leader her aid. Now, with war on the horizon, Anivia prepares to fight for peace, but she knows the inevitable truth of her destiny. One day, evil will rise from the ice, and she must destroy it - no matter the cost.



Anivia is a late-game burst mage. By playing safe early and eventually outscaling most of her opponents, Anivia has huge carrying potential as she provides her team with heavy damage, an AoE CC and ultimate, and a very helpful engage/disengage tool that can change the tide of every team fight.
Back to Top

Pros / Cons


Pros

+ Incredible Burst
+ Enemies don't expect your damage most of the time, letting their guard down
+ AoE Ulti with a convenient slow debuff
+ Your Crystallize offers unmatched utility, and can change the tide of battle
+ Rebirth fully heals you if ignored by the enemy team, making it a superior Guardian Angel
+ Very fun to play
+ Exceptional at teamfights
+ Can destroy the entire enemy team if not focused hard.
+ Her Crystallize is the best Flash burner in the game!
+ Very low CD on your ulti, unlike most mages.
Cons

+ REALLY vulnerable to CC
- Missing your Flash Frost or misplacing your Glacial Storm punishes you severely.
- Frostbite, your main source of damage, depends heavily on landing your other abilities
- Flash Frost is possibly the slowest skill-shot in the game
- Your ulti can be interrupted by most forms of CC, putting it in full cooldown.
- Weak Early Game; farming can also be challenging.
- Crystallize is very hard to master and, if misplaced, can kill your entire team
- No "real" escape other than Crystallize or using CC on enemies
- Hard to master




In general:
  • Anivia is a burst mage that truly shines in teamfights. Her kit offers amazing crowd control and can turn teamfights around with incredible damage and kiting potential. The nature of her Frostbite, which deals DOUBLE damage to targets recently stunned by Flash Frost or recently damaged by a fully formed Glacial Storm alone, helps you remove carries from the fight in a heartbeat.

  • Unfortunately though, Anivia is fragile and easy to shut down. She is really weak to CC, has no reliable escape, and is severely punished in case she misses any of her abilities. The hardest part of Anivia to master is definetely her Crystallize, which has the potential to make or break a fight. In general, her laning phase isn't optimal against the majority of her match-ups, and if you are not careful, you could fall behind very easily, putting yourself and your team at a disadvantage.
Back to Top

Abilities

Rebirth (Passive)
RANGE: -
COST: No Cost
COOLDOWN: 240
This is Anivia's signature ability. Upon taking lethal damage, Anivia will transform into a targetable egg, regaining all her health, but being unable to move or cast spells. After 6 seconds, Anivia will be reborn with the same amount of HP that her egg had left.

TIPS



Flash Frost (Q)
RANGE: 1100
COST: 80/85/90/95/100
COOLDOWN: 11/10/9/8/7
By far the slowest skill-shot in the game, Flash Frost has two stages. Upon casting, Anivia sends a projectile that passes through minions and champions without being blocked upon initial contact damaging and slowing all enemies hit. Upon recasting, the projectile explodes on a small radius, damaging and stunning all enemies caught in the blast for 1.1-1.5 seconds depending on level. It also applies the chilling debuff on all enemies hit by either the slow or the stun (more on that on the Frostbite section).

TIPS



Crystallize (W)
RANGE: 1000
COST: 70
COOLDOWN: 17
A spell that makes Anivia a very fun champion to play. In theory, Crystallize is Anivia's "escape" spell along with Flash Frost. However, it's so much more than that! Also known as the "Flash Killer", this gem can be used to block an enemy's path, block an ally's path (nothing quite as good as playing with friends), trap enemies in your Glacial Storm and set up an easy stun when used to surprise enemies attempting to dodge Flash Frost.

TIPS



Frostbite (E)
RANGE: 600
COST: 50
COOLDOWN: 4
This is your main trading tool. It is known for giving Anivia the ability to delete champions from the game, given the right circumstances. By circumstances, I mean the fact that Frostbite will only deal double damage if you've either recently stunned an enemy with Flash Frost or if an enemy is standing inside a fully formed Glacial Storm.

TIPS



Glacial Storm (R)
RANGE: 750
COST: 60 + 35/45/55/s
COOLDOWN: 4/3/2
Your comfy ultimate. With a criminally low CD compared to other mid laners and a very helpful AoE damage and slow, this spell is full of utility. Upon casting, a small, well, Glacial Storm starts forming. After 1.5 seconds it reaches maximum size and deals 300% damage to all enemies caught inside, while also applying the chilling debuff to all enemies caught inside. A lot of people (especially in lower elos) tend to underestimate Glacial Storm and stay in it for long periods of time. It never ends well.

TIPS
Back to Top

Runes

SEASON 11


New year, slightly new bird. For the most part, Anivia's runes have generally remained the same for Season 11 but the new item changes paint a different picture that make room for a major "BUT" at the end of that sentence. I've changed around the main runes quite some times over the years, and this time will probably be no different. The item changes in S11 make her much easier to play as a bully on previously annoying matchups (just like the good ol' days), but her powerful late-game is still alive and kicking. The question is (and seeing the downward trend in game-time prevalent in the last few years), is the better option to sacrifice a bit of your late-game damage and comfort for a potential lane domination which can easily snowball into an early win, or to play it safer with an extra poke spam that does scale better but lacks burst or can be dodged? More on that in the "Domination" section down below

As always, check the "Patch Notes" and "Items" sections for general new season Bird changes/thoughts and Items changes respectively and have fun in the rift.




A look at stat-runes and what they mean for Anivia

Each rune page offers 3 small runes that give you extra stats. These are;
  • 10 adaptive force (6 AD or 10 AP), 9% attack speed, or 1-10% cooldown reduction (lv 1-18)
  • 10 adaptive force (6 AD or 10 AP), 5 armor, or 6 magic resist
  • 15-90 health (lv 1-18), 5 armor, or 6 magic resist.

First things first, now that Attack Speed is seperate from Precision, I think Domination and Inspiration are good options. In general, a good setup would be to take 9% attack speed, 10 adaptive force and finally, either armor or magic resist, depending on the enemy team and the enemy midlaner.

The reasoning behind this is that the extra attack speed gives you an easier time farming as well as a bit more AA poke, while the adaptive damage and defense gives you a good bonus in the early game. You can always get more adaptive damage instead of attack speed, but Anivia doesn't really lack damage without it.




SORCERY

Sorcery is a good rune path for Anivia as it offers many benefits similar to those previously found in the Cunning tree.



Arcane Comet: The keystone I take most of the time. Summon Aery helps poke enemies down, but its damage isn't nearly as much as Arcane Comet and Scorch helps make up for the extra poke. Keep in mind that, unlike Summon Aery, Arcane Comet can be dodged. It's almost impossible not to hit a comet since Anivia has a stun and a slow that make sure it hits, but champions like Yasuo or Ekko can just dash away. Arcane Comet is also better for Anivia than Electrocute since you can lower its cooldown with your Glacial Storm instead of waiting for 55 seconds. This is your best option for damage under the Sorcery tree, since Summon Aery doesn't have enough poke damage to give you lane dominance anymore, and its shield bonus has no use for Anivia. Scorch is currently much better if you want poke damage.

Manaflow Band: After its rework, Manaflow Band is actually pretty good for Anivia. You gain mana when poking with any of your abilities and, upon reaching 250 Mana, the rune also restores 1% missing mana every 5 seconds, which is pretty impressive as it will prevent any serious mana problems earlier than usual.


Nullifying Orb: While it seems a little underwhelming at first, this rune is actually a life-saver. It helps you stay safe during your early game (which is invaluable for Anivia) and it gives you a slight advantage for close skirmishes. It doesn't help much later in the game or if you're against a mid-laner like Yasuo or Lucian, but it offers great protection against your opponent (Keep in mind, Zed's passive deals magic damage so it's really useful against him as well).


Transcendence: After the Celerity nerfs and the recent item changes, this is a good situational rune for Anivia. It doesn't really offer as much as Absolute Focus, but it's certainly less situational than that rune. If you believe you can't really stay safe enough to unravel the full potential of Absolute Focus take this, as extra CDR is still of some use due to your Flash Frost and Crystallize.


Gathering Storm: A very strong run, but a very situational keystone as well. It's a gamble; will your game last long enough to make Gathering Storm useful? Keep in mind, it doesn't help your laning phase at all (enables after 10 minutes) and most games end at around 30 mins, which is where the problem lies. This rune starts making a big difference after 30 minutes into the game, so sometimes when you think you'll have trouble in the laning phase, it might be a better idea to opt for Scorch instead.


Scorch: This is basically a nerfed version of Deathfire Touch , the difference being DFT had no cooldown and scaled with AP/AD, making it insanely strong late-game. However, DFT doesn't exist anymore, and after the nerf of Aery, Scorch stands as one of the most useful laning keystones for Anivia in the early game.




So what's better? Scorch or Gathering Storm? Is there any situation where one is more useful than the other?

These two runes are both very strong but for different reasons. In theory, Gathering Storm gives you infinite scaling, which is generally very powerful. However, most games last for about 20-30 minutes. This is before Gathering Storm can become significantly useful (though it still offers a good amount of AP). So basically, Gathering Storm offers huge scaling, especially when combined with Rabadon's Deathcap, but it could also end up slowing down your laning phase.

Scorch on the other hand, gives you some good poke damage for the laning phase, but is nearly useless later in the game as it doesn't scale with anything. In fact, the most damage Scorch can do at level 18 is a mere 30 damage.
In raw damage, Gathering Storm is clearly in all stages of the game from the time it's enabled at 10 minutes. Even when Scorch's now shorter cooldown is taken into account, it's very rare for it to proc more than once in most situations since Anivia mostly specializes in burst damage. On the other hand, the AP you get from GS obviously works forever.

So what does this all mean? Scorch is only useful for an aggressive laning phase. This is because its damage was nerfed while its cooldown was reduced, which means that you have to poke as much as possible to take full advantage of it. Gathering Storm on the other hand takes some strength from your early game and gives you some powerful mid-late game scaling. The champion you're up against plays an important role on what you'd want to pick as well. If the enemy laner has lots of sustain in general, Scorch won't do much for example. In general though, it comes down to one thing. Want your laning phase to be slightly stronger? Scorch. Want to scale better later? GS.



DOMINATION

We will take Domination as a secondary path, as its runes boost your damage and survivability.



Cheap Shot: This rune synergizes perfectly with Anivia's kit and even though it comes with a cooldown, it gives you some room to breathe during the laning phase, as you're more of a threat than before.



Ravenous Hunter: My personal favourite rune from the Domination tree, this synergizes so well with Catalyst of Aeons's unique passive. It heals you for a % of the damage you've dealt, and the healing increases with every unique champion you've killed. Combine that with Rod of Ages and you're looking at some serious sustain. After the rework of Everfrost, it's still a good idea to take Ravenous Hunter if you buy that item, since a bit of healing is better than none at all.




What about Domination as a primary path?

As Anivia has lately seen a good amount of buffs that affect her early game, Electrocute from the Domination tree seems like a great choice to bully or kill your enemy laner and snowball into a very powerful midgame, especially now that Item powerspikes are more oriented towards that point in the game. However, it isn't just Electrocute that has potential to improve the bird, but the entire path. I still feel like Arcane Comet can serve its purpose well, but Electrocute currently sounds more promising, since Glacial Storm and Scorch are both very average for quite some time now, Celerity is bad and Transcendence doesn't benefit Anivia much at all, if at all (especially now that her cooldowns have been reduced across the board). Compare this to Cheap Shot or a great utility rune on the last Domination row (you can still get nice sustain with Ravenous Hunter despite RoA's demise) and you can understand why this may be the new best thing for Anivia.

I should note though, that despite all that, Sorcery is still the safer option when it comes to losing lanes, as it fares much better in the late-game and covers your needs for stats better, so it's definitely not a done deal. For these reasons, I'll be adding a Domination page to the runes, and I encourage you to experiment with it. If it seems like it's the ONLY way to go from now on, it'll replace the current rune page proper, but until then there's nothing wrong with choices.




OTHER VIABLE RUNE PATHS

Some pretty viable paths you can take for extra survivability, utility or even damage.

- Precision is a good secondary rune path mostly because of its mana access with PoM and its damage steroid against low health enemies.


Presence of Mind: This rune is very viable at the moment since, on top of its sustain, it also increases your maximum mana everytime you get a takedown. You can guess why this would go very well with Archangel's Staff and it would also go a long way to help with Anivia's mana issues. Coupled with Manaflow Band, you can boast a large mana pool quite early into the game.


Coup De Grace: With Coup De Grace you deal extra damage when the enemies are below 40%. This counts for all enemies, so if numerous people are below 40% in your Glacial Storm, you'll get a great damage boost.



- The entire Inspiration path is very interesting because of the runes found below. I believe this to be the best alternative for its utility and sustain.


Future's Market: This might not seem like much of an essential, but it allows you to buy key items like Tear of the Goddess and Rod of Ages on an earlier back, which means a lot for your mid-game. It's a lifesaver if you're forced out of lane.


Perfect Timing: You get a free Stopwatch at 10 mins. You can normally get a Stopwatch from the shop with 600 gold so this is extremely useful against champions like Zed (even though you'll probably get it a bit after he hits 6), since you can rush Zhonya's Hourglass much faster than before.


Minion Dematerializer: A very interesting rune. It might seem a bit useless, but it actually helps your wave clear tremendously as you can use the Dematerializers on the caster, melee and cannon minions to gain permanent extra damage against that minion type. It also slightly helps with farming under turret early. The downside to this is that you already have more than enough waveclear with your Glacial Storm for later, so there's not much use for it other than CSing in lane.


Approach Velocity: It's basically a ZZ'Rot, but for movement impaired champions. Gives you a lot of survivability in teamfights and also boosts your dueling potential against enemies caught in the Glacial Storm. This can also work somewhat well with Celerity after its rework.


- Likewise, the Resolve path also has some great runes for survivability when you take it as secondary;

Overgrowth: Though this rune is tank oriented, Anivia can benefit from it since her builds usually consist of 2 HP items. With your fast wave clear and HP from items, you can end up with quite a HP boost in the late-game. If you're going Resolve, now that Bone Plating and Second Wind are in the same tier, Overgrowth is probably the best choice between the other runes on T1 and T3.


Second Wind: This is a very nice rune for all vulnerable scaling champions, since it gives you some much needed sustain in lane. Unfortunately, it is now in the same tree as Bone Plating, so you can't combine the two for maximum lane survivability. It still works great on its own against lane bullies, though.


Bone Plating: A nice anti-poke rune. Early in the game, it can deny a lot of damage or poke, which can help you stay in lane or punish your opponent without risking too much. Bone Plating is very efficient early against champions who rely on several abilities for maximum poke ( Zed is a good example).



Conditioning: Another strong survivability rune. You get a defense boost 10 minutes into the game. This is very useful when you're playing against a team with a lot of assassins, and it also synergizes very well with ZZ'Rot, since it increases your armor and magic resist by 5%. It makes Anivia a much tougher nut overall.
Back to Top

Summoner Spells

IDEAL

These summoner spells are useful against all enemy team comps and offer Anivia great utility throughout the entire game.


GHOST: Ghost is a great spell for mages like Anivia. It gives you the ability to reposition very quickly in a fight, and it helps you survive enemy ganks. Its cooldown is much shorter than Flash as well, so you won't have to rely on that for a quick escape.


TELEPORT: All around, Teleport is a very useful spell for both you and your team. If you're forced out of lane, you can return to base to heal or buy items and then teleport back to your lane, so you won't miss any minions. You can also teleport to an allied ward or tower, to help your team with a teamfight or a gank, quickly outnumbering your opponents. It's a solid choice for Anivia as you're always up against champions with a better roam these days. However, an enormous cooldown and the inability to cancel its channel are serious drawbacks and could lessen your impact in the game.

(STRONGLY RECOMMENDED) FLASH: A spell of unmatched utility, Flash can be used to engage, disengage, and secure objectives. It is essential for Anivia, as it covers her lack of escapes, giving the player some much needed safety. It's also useful for picking off an enemy carry by getting Anivia close enough to perform her combo (use this at your own risk, it doesn't make Flash Frost any faster!).

SITUATIONAL

These spells are also very useful, but they aren't always worth picking up as some of them don't scale that well in the late-game ( Ignite and Barrier) while others are only good in certain situations ( Cleanse).


IGNITE: Ignite has always been a good choice if you're looking to secure early kills. It's also a great pick if the enemy team has a champion that can mitigate a lot of damage through healing, like Vladimir and Maokai, without having to buy Morellonomicon.


BARRIER: A good defensive summoner spell all around. It offers great protection against burst damage, especially from assassins. Keep in mind though, its shield only lasts for 2 seconds, which means the enemy (especially if they're ahead) could ignore you while the shield is up, and finish you off when the effect wears off.


EXHAUST: Very useful against all-in assassins like Zed who won't stand much of a chance against you whenever Exhaust is up. Its movement speed slow can also help you land your Flash Frost with relative ease. However, post-6 you have Glacial Storm to slow enemies with, so Exhaust's slow doesn't really mean much past that point.



CLEANSE: Cleanse is very useful in situations where getting stunned means certain death. When enemy comps rely on chaining CC, this can be a lifesaver.
Back to Top

Items

ITEMS ARE ALL UP TO DATE FOR SEASON 11, CHECK THE 'PATCH NOTES' SECTION FOR GENERAL CHANGES

STARTING ITEMS

These are your item options at the start of every game. Everything else should probably be considered sub-optimal for Anivia

DORAN'S RING: Possibly the best start for Anivia. It provides health, damage, mana regen and a perfect early game passive. It covers a lot of your early game weaknesses and also leaves enough gold for 2 Health Potions.


THE DARK SEAL: A pretty interesting item. It gives you flat mana instead of mana regen, unlike Doran's and it also gives you some extra lane sustain to make up for its lack of health. Worth considering against some tough DoT lanes. This item is inferior to Doran's Ring for Anivia in some ways, but it encourages roaming around the map. If that's what you're going for, you can consider this. With that being said, make sure to pick Teleport as it gives you huge roam potential. Always take this with Refillable Potion for the best sustain during the laning phase.

CORRUPTING POTION: If you fancy yourself a bird alchemist, always start with this. On a serious note though, you can start with this if you are up against an enemy that can control the lane quite easily because it gives you much more breathing room than a more offensive option like Doran's Ring or Dark Seal. On its own, Corrupting Potion gives you great early HP/Mana sustain and some poke potential and since it's refilled everytime you return to base, it eliminates the need for you to keep on buying potions on a constant basis so you're able to stay in lane. Going for a Dark Seal early into the game gives you even more sustain with the addition of some extra AP, so you can apply pressure or roam with as few unecessary backs as possible.



EARLY ITEMS

You should always prioritize these items in a game, as they are either important for finalizing your core or offer good stats/passives.

TEAR OF THE GODDESS: This is a very essential item for Anivia as it refunds some of your mana back, in addition to broadening your mana pool with each spell cast. Since it's an item that takes quite some time to stack, it should be top priority on your first back.


OBLIVION ORB: Now offers healing reduction similar to Morellonomicon which makes it useful even without penetration, but its use-case is now very limited. It's like a more expensive Amplifying Tome but with an extra passive, so you can still fit it somewhere if you have excess gold, though ignoring core for it isn't wise. Even if you don't need Morellonomicon in your final build, you can still keep this temporarily or, of course, keep it as a placeholder for Morello to focus on more urgent items.

BLASTING WAND: A useful item you need to build many of your items. If you feel like you can easily win lane skirmishes, this item gives a nice damage boost to help you drive your enemy out of the lane (you'll most likely able to fight a 2v1 as well if you get chased to your turret by a gank without getting hit). It's a good idea to combine this purchase with Boots if you have the gold for it (1150G), since the extra Movement Speed makes up for your lack of health.

STOPWATCH : Even though it also builds into situational items, Stopwatch is actually extremely useful on its own. You get instant stasis and even though the stopwatch can only be used once per game, it is very useful for 600 gold. It also makes it harder for annoying assassins like Zed to snowball, as Stopwatch counters the engage with his ultimate (just one stasis can make a huge difference in some games).



CONTROL WARD: You want to pick this up as often as possible. You can use this to set-up some easy ganks, defend yourself from enemy ganks, scout an objective for enemy wards etc. It is very useful and it can single-handedly win your lane (and game) if placed strategically.




CORE ITEMS

These are items that synergize perfectly with Anivia and you'll find yourself having these items in almost every game, as their utility is unmatched.

ARCHANGEL'S STAFF: The upgrade to Tear of the Goddess. This is an essential as its passives directly benefit your mana pool and sustain. You are also rewarded with a large amount of Ability Power based on your mana. Anivia needs to be able to sustain her ultimate for as long as possible during teamfights (although people have been playing Anivia more like a burst mage these days so that may be a miss), either to zone enemies out of the fight or to deal damage, and Archangel's Staff is the perfect item for this.



So what's the deal with all these mythic items? Which one is the best and why?

Details on the two I consider superior are right below this footnote, but in short, Mythic items are pretty much reworked versions of items that existed previously, but with a twist. You can only buy one Mythic item, and each one of them gives all your Legendary (full) items a small stat bonus. In the case of Liandry's Torment it's CDR, in the case of Everfrost it's AP, and in the case of Luden's Tempest it's MPene. In that regard, I think Liandry's Torment has the worst passive of the three as CDR doesn't offer you too much. However, it also has the best unique passive when it comes to Anivia's kit, so you can't really go wrong with it in most games. Everfrost is the most balanced out of the three and it allows you to build a bit more versatile, but its DPS isn't as reliable as Liandry's Torment, though the extra survivability more than makes up for it. Finally, Luden's Tempest is your typical burst item, and the only real advantage it offers over Everfrost IMO is its MPene, but I wouldn't really build it unless you need a glass cannon in your team to erase squishy enemies.

So which one do you pick? It really depends on the game and the teams, but in general you'd pick Liandry's Torment for DPS/Tank shredding, Everfrost for HP/burst and Luden's Tempest for more burst. Everfrost does have the unique advantage of a much smoother build path than either of the other mythics, which may translate to a healthier laning phase. Liandry's has a passive that may feel hard to pass on to, especially when it feels like it's been built for the Bird, but it's worth experimenting with Everfrost as Demonic Embrace has a very similar passive and can offer some tick DPS as well.




LIANDRY'S ANGUISH: A very powerful mid/late-game item. It synergizes so well with your Glacial Storm that it'd be a shame not to take advantage of it. Due to its passive, this item works very well against HP focused champions like Vladimir and Cho'Gath. Its new passive buff also increases your damage up to 10% and magic penetration up to 15% for every second in combat, which is perfect for games where fights tend to last longer than usual and when there's not many interruptions on the enemy team so you can keep your ulti on for as long as you want. This passive is generally perfect for Anivia as prolonging fights while dealing insane damage is one of her strong points.

OR...

EVERFROST: Somewhat of a successor to the Hextech GLP-800 which I had mixed feelings for, Everfrost is a nice alternative to your usual Liandry's when you're after some more peel, surprise damage, and slightly tankier Bird. This item can turn Anivia into a successful burst mage while also offering superior build versatility when compared to other Mythic items due to its passive and cost effectiveness. For instance, you can prioritize HP or defensive items, and even things like Mejai's Soulstealer without losing much in terms of stats. Its active also help you engage or disengage, or (slightly less successfully) keep enemies inside your Glacial Storm longer. Everfrost is probably inferior when you're up against tanks or enemies that build a lot of HP in general, as Liandry's Torment is still much better at dealing with those, but it is worth considering nonetheless.



DEMONIC EMBRACE: This is a new addition to the core lineup, and it isn't hard to see why. With Liandry's losing its HP buff in favour of MP (so it's still essential but makes you very squishy), this item offers a nice solution to the problem you're going to be facing after building for mana with the aforementioned 2 core items. Its passive burn also fits great with Anivia's kit and is strong for the same reasons as the Liandry's passive and to top it off you get up to 22.5 armor and magic resist, with 10 of that bonus being free. It's a pretty interesting offense/defense hybrid, and I think it's essential for the current state of the bird, although I can see how you can do without it in some edge cases where you'd build a hardcore defense item.



SITUATIONAL ITEMS

These items are generally strong, but they might not be worth building. Always build the items below depending on the situation you're in.

RABADON'S DEATHCAP: This item doesn't need much of an explanation. It offers a huge damage powerspike since it offers the highest Ability Power in the game. Since items like Archangel's Staff eventually outscale its stats, Rabadon's unique passive also makes sure your total Ability Power is increased by 40%, making it pretty strong in most stages of the game. When snowballed, buying the item third makes you impossible to deal with in 1v1 or even 1v2 situations. However, you're sometimes better off delaying its purchase in favor of items like Demonic Embrace or Morellonomicon, as these items offer great utility for you while Deathcap doesn't.



MORELLONOMICON: After its rework, Morellonomicon is now a somewhat good choice for Anivia. It now offers a lot of AP and HP which makes this item a perfect powerspike item against squishy targets and (mostly) assassins. You still get the Grievous Wounds passive of course, so this is a perfect item against enemies like Vladimir or Soraka as well. In general, Morellonomicon now fits in a couple of Anivia builds, but it no longer offers magic pene, which makes it much less attractive when the enemy has no sustain.

In that case...


VOID STAFF: A really strong item against tanky teams. It ignores quite the amount of the enemy's magic resist. You should always build this if more than 2 people are buying heavy Magic Resist ( Force of Nature, Spirit Visage, Locket of the Iron Solari etc...). Unlike Liandry's, it doesn't come with a neat passive and extra HP, but it makes your damage more consistent and reliable against those targets.



ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS: A good defensive item whose active helps you survive delayed damage effects from champions like Zed, Ziggs, Karthus, Zyra etc. It is also useful for baiting opponents into wasting their spells (or even ultimates) on you, making themselves vulnerable in the process (for example, if Talon uses his ultimate and leap to kill you, going into stasis not only negates all of the damage, but it also puts him inside your team's backline with no way of escaping.) You should always pick this up against Zed and Fizz and Karthus.


BANSHEE'S VEIL: Yet another defensive/damage item hybrid. In addition to its Ability Power and Magic Resist, it also comes with a pretty neat spell shield that recharges every 40 seconds (provided you don't get hit within that timeframe). You should pick this up to counter engages like Unstoppable Force and Enchanted Crystal Arrow or stuns/snares that could get you focused down and killed like Light Binding and Dark Binding



Creating a balanced build for Anivia

I strongly encourage experimentation, and even though Anivia's core mostly revolves around the idea of building mana, there's many items to choose from. While I've voiced my opinion for items like Everfrost, my experience with an item can be different than yours. You might hate Zhonya's Hourglass because stasis leaves you vulnerable to enemy repositioning, for example. You'll never know until you try. That's why I encourage you to experiment with many item combinations, as there's many ways of building Anivia efficiently. Find what item suits your playstyle best. If you lean towards an item more than another, that's perfectly fine!

That being said, you'll want to balance the build accordingly. For example, if you're sacrificing the survivability of Rod of Ages for an early Archangel's Staff rush to get Tear stacked ASAP, you're going to need to make up for your lack of HP/AP with something like Morellonomicon. If going for an offensive but safe build, picking up Banshee's Veil or Zhonya's Hourglass helps you dish out some extra damage while still maintaining a light defense just in case. If you're going for a more support oriented role, picking up a Twin Shadows along with Glacial Augment is a very strong synergy, and so on. Another thing to consider is game stages. You don't want a build that focuses entirely on the early game. You'll powerspike sooner, sure, but you're wasting some of Anivia's potential.

Tl;dr - You should never consider every situation equal. Your damage won't mean much if you don't get the opportunity to deal any of it. Play smart and build depending on the matchup, this is the key to success with Anivia in the current meta. And remember to have fun, because that's what the game is about (I mean, I've tried Anivia ADC and it isn't all that bad honestly).




IN MEMORY OF
Why it had to go I don't know, Riot wouldn't say

ROD OF AGES: This is possibly the best item to have ever been conceived. All the cool kids around the block used to have one, and everything was right with the world. Anivia as well would never leave home without it. Then the kids grew up with their generously short 10-minute patience now feeling like an eternity, so they eventually started wondering: "Hey, look at this sweet and active Everfrost!", "Hey, have you heard of Luden's Tempest?". Slowly but surely, the once loved purple rod had been forgotten behind a pile of stopwatch boxes in the back of some attic, it just didn't sound or look cool anymore. Everything around it had moved on, but it just didn't want to, "I would rather die than turn into Ohmwrecker!", it used to say. And so it did, and so it rests forever here in our hearts.
Back to Top

Playing Anivia

EARLY GAME

The early game or the laning phase is the phase where you focus on farming and gaining small advantages over your lane opponent.

Anivia is one of those champions that struggle a lot in the lane. Anivia requires a large mana pool due to her high mana costs and then nature of her Glacial Storm, This requires you to prioritize mana items like Tear of the Goddess, meaning you won't be doing as much damage early on as mages who prioritize damage due to their kit ( Viktor is a good example). It isn't impossible to get an early 1v1 kill in the lane of course, since your damage output after level 3 completely eclipses that of most mages. However, you should always prioritize farming, as Anivia's core is pretty expensive and you'll want to finish it as soon as possible.

That doesn't mean AFK farming of course. When you're in lane, you should always poke your opponent with your huge AA range whenever the opportunity shows itself. A Q+E combo also works great. For maximum effectiveness, try poking the opponent when they go for a lasthit, as there's a small window where the opponent can't fight back unless they lose the creep to run away or retaliate. I almost always go for a poke when the enemy is busy killing a cannon minion, as it gives lots of gold and many people would rather get poked than lose it. By poking the enemy laner, you are applying important pressure on him, and you might eventually force them out of lane.

If they stay in the lane instead of going back to base, you should then attempt to keep your opponent zoned out constantly. You can achieve this by staying between him and his caster minions. If he gets too close in order to farm or receive the XP, go for the kill. You should always be careful however, as zoning the opponent requires you to over-extend most of the time, making you vulnerable to an enemy gank. Which brings me to my next point, warding.

Warding is very important during the laning phase as it gives you all sorts of advantages. For one, you can defend yourself from a potential gank as a well placed ward will reveal the enemy jungler's whereabouts. In addition, a well placed deep Control Ward can remove pressure from your team,. For example, bot-lane can go for a favorable trade and force the opponents out of lane if your ward spotted the enemy jungler roaming around top-lane. They know that they needn't worry for enemy back-up, allowing them to play more aggressive. Don't forget that tracking the enemy jungler also means you can coordinate with your team to take side-lane turrets or other objectives safely. You should always buy Control Wards when you have spare gold.


MID GAME

In this stage of the game, most players have their ultimates ready and often focus on roaming around the map looking for objectives and picks, as well as teamfights.

During the mid-game, there's a couple things you can do. First, if you've gotten any kind of advantage over the opponent from your laning phase, you should look to share that advantage with your teammates by roaming. Anivia isn't the best roamer in the world, but saying that her ganks are oppressive is an understatement. She has a stun, a slow, a wall and an ability that deals chunks of HP every couple of seconds. If the enemy has pushed an ally to their turret, it's always worth paying their lane a visit for an almost guaranteed kill.

Everytime you roam, you should keep an eye on the enemy mid-laner, as he could follow your roam and potentially outplay you. That's why it's best to push your lane (doesn't take long with Anivia's waveclear) when you're about to roam. That way, the opponent will take some time to follow, as they'll have to clear the minion wave first. If they decide to follow immediately, they will lose gold and XP.

If the enemy is roaming and you're still in the lane, you should always notify your teammates multiple times through pings (fun fact - the question mark ping isn't for being toxic) and through chat. Sometimes, pushing the lane and trying to take the enemy mid-turret down is better than counter-roaming, as the first helps keep the pressure up for the enemy team.
You must evaluate the situation and choose what the best course of action would be. If you have Teleport, you could push the lane and teleport to whichever lane the opponent is roaming to for a counter-gank and a possible surprise attack.


Finally, during the mid-game, you'll succesfully finish your core and start dealing damage effectively. This is where Anivia's teamfight capabilities start to show. Since small fights break out often during this stage of the game (mostly over dragon or turrets, especially now that stacking dragons has a huge impact in the game and turrets give extra gold) and the opponents will mostly try to push an advantage, you should always be aware of the map and give information to your teammates about the enemies' whereabouts. Why is this your job? Because as a mid-laner you should always look out for the rest of the team regardless of what champion you're playing. You should always consider the option that your teammates don't have great map awareness and try to fill that gap for them.

Avoid getting caught at all costs, as your damage is very important for your team in case a fight breaks out. Keep on buying control wards whenever you have space in your invertory. You should also consider switching to Farsight Alteration after 20 mins.


LATE GAME

The final stage of the game. Most players have full builds, and the gold difference doesn't matter anymore. Losing a teamfight here often means losing the game. Not all games reach this stage.

In this stage of the game, you should focus on a couple of things. Once again, vision control is extremely important, especially now that dying can cost you the game. You should always look for opportunities to take objectives and pick enemy champions. Normally you'd have to move as a team, but this is rarely possible in SoloQ or Normals, unless you're a team of 5. That's why you should keep an eye out for your allies and save them whenever possible if they get caught.

And now for the most important part of the late-game, teamfighting. In teamfights the most important thing when playing as Anivia is positioning. You must position yourself in a way where you'll be able to sustain Glacial Storm without being interrupted. While the most important targets are the AD and AP carries, you should never risk your life to get to them, unless you are absolutely sure you'll land the killing blow, your Rebirth is up and your team is there to back you up. That being said, you should never pass a chance where the enemy carry tries to facecheck/walks near a bush you are in. At this point in the game, your full combo can kill them almost instantly, without them ever having the chance to fight back, which in turn gives you a significant advantage.
Also, you should avoid bringing the fight to the enemy team if possible, since you end up being positioned dangerously. If they bring the fight to you however, you should take advantage of the narrow spaces in the jungle, not only to kite more effectively, but to use your AoE to its outmost potential.

If your team happens to lose a teamfight and you're forced to protect your base, you should try to slow the siege asmuch as possible with your Glacial Storm or Crystallize. If the enemy team moves towards Baron instead, you should never contest it alone unless you are playing on the Red side of the map, in which case you can Glacial Storm + Crystallize from behind the pit and hopefully pick up a kill, or the baron himself.

Finally, as a side note, if your team has won a fight, and can close the game, you shouldn't bother with the baron, the dragon, the bot-lane outer turret or any of that. I can't stretch this enough I've won as many games as I've lost due to bad shotcalling. The late-game is all about capitalizing on your enemies' mistakes, and the longer the game gets, the bigger the possibility of your team making a mistake becomes. You should always focus on ending the game as soon as possible.
Back to Top

In-Depth Matchups

CHAMPIONS ARE LISTED ALPHABETICALLY
It should be noted that, in all cases, you are to prioritize farming over kills, unless you are given a kill on a silver platter/are up against a very easy matchup.

Ahri



Lane Difficulty: 5/10
In General: Skill Matchup
Spoiler: Click to view



Akali



Lane Difficulty: 6/10
In General: Favours Her
Spoiler: Click to view



Annie



Lane Difficulty: 6/10
In General: Favours Her Slightly
Spoiler: Click to view



Aurelion Sol



Lane Difficulty: 3/10
In General: Favours You Hard
Spoiler: Click to view



Azir



Lane Difficulty: 4/10~9/10
In General: Heavily Depends on his Skill
Spoiler: Click to view



Brand



Lane Difficulty: 4/10
In General: Favours You
Spoiler: Click to view



Corki



Lane Difficulty: 8/10
In General: Favours Him Hard
Spoiler: Click to view




Heimerdinger



Lane Difficulty: 2/10
In General: Favours You Hard
Spoiler: Click to view



Karthus



Lane Difficulty: 2/10
In General: Favours You Hard
Spoiler: Click to view




Kassadin



Lane Difficulty: 9/10
In General: Favours Him Hard
Spoiler: Click to view



LeBlanc



Lane Difficulty: 7/10
In General: Favours Her
Spoiler: Click to view



Lissandra



Lane Difficulty: 6/10
In General: Skill Matchup
Spoiler: Click to view



Neeko



Lane Difficulty: 4/10
In General: Favours You Slightly
Spoiler: Click to view



Orianna



Lane Difficulty: 6/10
In General: Favours Her Slightly
Spoiler: Click to view



Ryze



Lane Difficulty: 3/10
In General: Favours You
Spoiler: Click to view



Sylas



Lane Difficulty: 6/10
In General: Favours Him Slightly
Spoiler: Click to view



Taliyah



Lane Difficulty: 5/10
In General: Skill Matchup
Spoiler: Click to view



Teemo



Lane Difficulty: 1/10
In General: He Should Have Dodged
Spoiler: Click to view



Twisted Fate



Lane Difficulty: 6/10
In General: Skill Matchup
Spoiler: Click to view



Veigar



Lane Difficulty: 4/10
In General: Favours You Slightly
Spoiler: Click to view



Xerath



Lane Difficulty: 9/10
In General: Favours Him Hard
Spoiler: Click to view



Yasuo



Lane Difficulty: 8/10
In General: Favours Him Hard
Spoiler: Click to view



Zed



Lane Difficulty: 2/10~5/10 (Post 6)
In General: Favours You
Spoiler: Click to view



Ziggs



Lane Difficulty: 5/10
In General: Skill Matchup
Spoiler: Click to view



Zoe



Lane Difficulty: 4/10
In General: Favours You Slightly
Spoiler: Click to view
Back to Top

Conclusion

So that's it. What did you think? Hope you learned something from this guide and had as much fun reading it as I had making it. Feel free to let me know whether you liked it or not, any feedback is appreciated.

If you have any questions, ask away in the comments, and if you liked this guide, make sure to leave a like, it really helps. I'll also be adding more matchups with time.

Most of all, thanks for reading and have fun in the Rift!
Back to Top

Anivia Related Patch Notes

This section is going to include any patches released from July 28th 2018 and on that change Anivia's gameplay in any way, shape, or form.

I will make an effort to include changes that affect Anivia's gameplay directly in some way. Very small buffs on counterpicks will generally not be listed unless I believe they are important enough. Keep in mind that any major champion changes or reworks related to Anivia will still appear in the "In-Depth Matchups" section.

It goes without saying that some older patches in this section are "old", but the changes mentioned in them are still largely up to date, so they can still be used as reference. Older patches eventually get deleted as the changes in them settle into the game (ie there's no reverts).


Patch 11.7
Spoiler: Click to view

Patch 11.3
Spoiler: Click to view

SEASON 11 RUNDOWN
Spoiler: Click to view
Back to Top

Changelog

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017
Download the Porofessor App for Windows
League of Legends Build Guide Author 7daysko
7daysko Anivia Guide
Vote Vote
[ 11.12 ] Think Beyond One Lifetime (In-Depth Matchups)

League of Legends Champions:

Teamfight Tactics Guide