Welcome all you readers to my first ever guide on this site. Yes this guide is meant for lols but can catch your opponents off guard if they don't expect it. Now if you're playing on a team of you, Ashe, Caitlyn, Tristana, and Master (right click and backdoor) Yi, they might just get a few and if you choose to go AD then your entire team basically gets shut down. This guide is for new players who want to surprise other newer players with something unsuspecting as well as expert players who are looking for some fun. Since I am writing this with catering more towards the newer players there will be some tips that experienced players might just want to skip over.

This is a very mindgame oriented build. If you're doing well, you can trick them by starting AP then getting AD items or vice versa. Or go hybrid and mess with them even more.

Just remember, this is still a video game and the point of video games is to have fun and enjoy yourself. I find this build to be really fun and makes LoL a more interesting game which satisfies the goal of gaming. If you do not find this fun then please don't downvote for nothing, especially if you didn't even bother trying it.

P.S. I'm going to call this an AD build guide because that is the reason why I wrote it. However I am going to include some options about going hybrid but it might not give you as desired of an effect as pure AD. If you clicked this guide just looking for AD ideas then feel free to totally ignore the hybrid section.

So why would you want and not want to go AD Anivia?

Pros

-600 base range
This is nothing to ignore. Her auto-attacks have almost as much base range as Caitlyn and out-ranges Tristana early game. The only reason why this build is even semi-viable is because she has 600 range. If she had anything less this would be less effective but normal Anivias would have a lot of trouble last hitting normally early game due to her really low health.

-Great CC
Hey look a group of enemies! What do you do? Fire off your Q right in the middle of them and detonate it of course! Anivia has a great stun in her Q, sure its for 1 second but think first. She can stun multiple enemies at once, she has some leeway in when she stuns and it doesn't disappear if it hits a minion. Especially in team fights, if you fire off a good Q, yea it won't do any real damage to enemies late-game, but if you stun more than 1 enemy then that can really turn the entire battle to your favor. Make good use of her Q.

-Has ways to escape
Now you may be wondering: Wait, Anivia has no escape moves! That is true for the most part. However she has her W. If you're being chased and they aren't like 5 pixels behind you, just drop a W and bam! they have to take a longer route to get to you. Oh they are trying to come through the jungle? W the opening and you make a safe escape. Also if its mid-game and they are trying to chase you, just drop your R. It may not do much damage without a but it slows their move and attack speed which makes it easier for you to run away. Also if you think they will still catch up, the decreased move speed should give you enough room to drop a W to block them.

-Mana is not a problem
You will still be using mana, but since you are not as dependent on it, you don't need the Golem buff as much (though if you have it, it is great in team fights and pushing because your opponents will think twice before engaging into your R) so you are free to give it to another AP carry who might need it more. Also creep farming is much easier without mana because the only skills that do any sort of AoE damage is her Q and her R. Her Q is better used to stun enemy champions with a semi long CD and her R drains mana really fast. This way, by mid-game, you will have no problem with creep farming and still have mana for team fights.


Cons

-No real burst damage
As an AP carry Anivia should be used for bursting down enemies. The usual standard is something along the lines of R>>W>>Q>>E which deals huge burst damage and offers DoT through her R. With this build she will basically only be using her auto-attack for damage and her AS doesn't scale as well as other AD carries so do not expect to go in, drop a few skills and come out with a kill.

-She is still really squishy
It doesn't matter what kind of build you are doing, unless you want to go Tank Anivia, she WILL be soft and squishy. Now her skills and high auto-attack damage might defer some people from attacking you and since you are going to be staying further back with your 600 range, it does offer less people targeting you. However if the other team tries to focus you down, you will still go down. Yes you have that egg but if you get ganked and no one is in position to help you...

Last hitting is still a pain early game
For any of you who have playing Anivia at all knows that her auto-attack is slow to start and the projectile travels extremely slowly. This means you have to target a minion earlier than with other AD carries. Later on when you can easily 2 shot minions with your auto-attack, this isn't as big of a problem and early game you can still use your R to farm even though it does burn some mana. However the damage difference between going AP and AD with R at lv 6 isn't that big unless you get fed from lv 1-5 and somehow manage to get a by lv 6.

(will add more as I think of them or if people tell me)

Now for Runes.

Reds

Suggested:
More AD=easier last hitting=more money which AD carries need

Alternative(s):
This way your magic spells do a little more damage but they aren't for damage. However it can throw your opponent off. If you plan on going hybrid this might be a better choice but it really is up to you. Even if you do decide to go hybrid, regardless of AP or AD focused, it is probably going to be better to get the armor pen than magic pen. There are ways around both such as and so really it falls on your own personal choice. Since this is an AD focused guide I'm sticking with my suggested armor pen runes.

Who wouldn't want more attack speed? And attack speed is something Anivia lacks compared to other AD carries so this helps remedy it. However, early game harassment might not be as effective because although you attack faster, each attack doesn't hit as hard and might not intimidate your opponent as much. Though they do make last hitting easier because of more attacks per second.

Greater Mark of Desolation Armor pen runes are not used as much these days but they can still be a viable choice, especially if the enemy had really naturally tanky champions like Taric, Urgot or Shyvana.

Blues

Suggested:
Why would you want this instead of something more magic based? Well the reason is the fact that, like what I said before, Anivia suffers from lower AS so this helps fix that a little. You should not have any mana problems so as a result you don't need to have mana Runes to help make early game more manageable. This is better for Anivia in the long run.

Alternative(s):
Now this gives you some magic pen, same reasons as using Marks. If there were armor pen runes they would be here as well but since they don't exist... we'll settle for these instead.

This gives you some CDR for higher levels where being able to stun and wall more often is a good thing. But remember abilities are NOT your main focus. Sometimes some CDR is good but more often than not, just getting a Golem buff is more than enough for all your CDR needs.

Yellows

Suggested:
Since Anivia has no mana problems with a tear and the fact that she is not supposed to be spamming her abilities, she can use flat armor yellows which gives a bit of tankiness early on in lane.

Alternative(s):
This adds some attack damage which can be nice but with a as well as a and a fully powered you won't be starved for attack damage at all.

This also adds attack but like I said, you don't need it. Attack is much easier to come by than attack speed in my personal opinion. Because Anivia does not have anything to boost her attack speed, it would be better to get items for damage and use runes to get a little more speed.

Quints

Suggested:
With 3 of these and flat AD reds, your early game attacks hurt a lot more and combined with a or two you can easily make opposing squishy champions need to run home earlier or use up a health potion.

Alternative(s):
Magic pen, same as stated above. Not as suggested but can work sometimes.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation Armor pen quints are viable against a heavy armor team as always.

More attack speed for Anivia=good. If you feel that you have enough armor pen or if you know you will get a or an early then the Quint slots can be used for yet more attack speed.

Move speed quints are also a viable choice due to Anivia's really low base speed and her horrid AA animation but generally it is better to have damage over the movement, especially if you start boots.

For spells you have quite a pallet to choose from. I will go over each of the spells with analysis on why or why not you should choose them.

Top Choices

Flash is a nice place to start because you can use it both offensively as well as defensively. For offense, you Flash in, drop the R and Q and W and hammer away with your auto-attacks. For defense, Flashing away gives you more room to wall your opponents as well as flash under a turret if you see a skillshot heading your way so if you turn into an egg it does so near the turret which makes it harder for them to kill you.

Removing CC is a definite plus to any carry. Though if they have 1 CC, then don't bother with this at all because it wastes a slot and you can get one of the better spells instead. Also removing Exhaust and Ignite is also a great bonus to have. Sometimes cleansing an Ignite can save your life or your egg.

Heal is good for trying to heal bait in lane. Also it goes well with your passive if they still dive you anyways. Also it deals with Ignite semi-decently and should be considered.



Good Choices

Ghost is another nice spell for chase or be chased situations. As you can see, this build works around Anivia's softness and slowness with speed from other sources.

Exhaust is good for weakening melee DPS champs as well as keep people in your R longer which means more time to auto-attack and throw up a Q or a W. It can also be used to give yourself some distance between yourself and a chasing champion.

Ignite is good for finishing off running champs early game as well as reducing healing. However for Anivia, that means you have to get semi-close to your opponent which is not really something you want to be doing. However, if you see that your opponent is running with low health and you are at a decent level Ignite will get you a kill that otherwise might have eluded you.

Teleport lets you move between lanes easier and lets you pop in on a turret thats about to die or teleport from your base to theirs to finish the job. Teleport is a nice skill to have all around.

This might have some uses but the AP early on does not help you at all and while the attack speed does help a good bit. However, this should more be used to more jokes because surge doesn't really scale too well into late-game.

DO NOT TAKE

You don't need mana. Period. Sure you can use it to restore your teammate's mana but that is a role for a support, not a AD DPS to do. This would be nice for newer players who have trouble managing their mana but with this AD build you have no need for mana and should never have to go home because you ran out.

Getting this spell means you plan on dying. Now why would you want to die? Exactly. Avoid this like the plague.

What are you? A jungler? No. If you need damage, get which at least does true damage as well as reduces healing effects. By the time you need the Golem buff, you'll deal enough damage to take it out easy.


Unless you want to run some kind of push comp, there is no reason to take promote.

Vision is nice and all but you can easily use wards for that and no, wards do not slow down this build unless you ward every jungle monster, dragon, baron and every turret. Leave this for the support to get.

I go 15/4/11 due to the fact that the 6 armor pen doesn't really do too much for the 3 points invested as well as the extra damage at low hp. At least not until you get a ton of damage which is kind of late for the increase to begin with. So those points are better used elsewhere like for more flat armor and flat movespeed.

For skills you want to get up your Q and W as fast as possible. Your Q, while it isn't supposed to do damage, still helps if you stun and do decent damage at the same time. W is where it's at! higher W = wider wall which in turn = longer run away distance for your opponents and longer chase time as well. Getting that 1 in E helps scare your opponents a little more but is ignored for the most part.

Though W costs a good amount of mana and while your focus is your auto-attack, if you don't have enough mana for a wall then it might just cost you your life. So that's why you get start out with Q then get W and level them equally after that. Remember that 6,11,16 are exceptions where you get your ultimate leveled up.

Here comes the fun part: Items!

Core

These 3 items will form the core of any and all variations of this build.


It adds 100 much needed health to Anivia and gives a nice attack bonus as well as some lifesteal. Always get one or two of these during your first recall to base if you can afford it.


This will be your main shoe for most games. Because there might be people who didn't read anything above I will write it again here: Anivia has really bad attack speed so anything helps her.


While its true that mana is not a problem, being able to have a larger mana pool which can be used to threaten enemies with your R is a good thing. Also this adds damage based on your mana which is also a good thing. Always get this after getting your

You should pick one of these up for the sustain in lane. Even though it got nerfed, it might not be as important to have in lane. However, if you feel like you need a bit more sustain there is no reason not to get one of these. Build it into a Bloodthirster later and not a Lantern because while the lantern is good early it delays your BF Sword.

Alternative shoes
Even though Anivia is a bird, she is still a female and wouldn't leave home without a few pairs of shoes. Here we discuss some of the other possible shoes for her.

This gives some magic pen which can make your spells hurt more in addition to your damaging auto-attacks. Unless you know they won't have much magic resist, don't go for it. However if you see most of them will end up with ~30 then by all means get these. It will make them think twice before trying to engage you.

Anivia is slow. That's a fact. These help remedy that and allows for roaming. It also helps you run from crafty people who think they can turret dive you, kill you, kill your egg and get out safely.

Merc treads are a must if you see 3+ CC on the other team. Reducing the duration can and most likely will save your life. Also if you feel like CC from the other team is going to be a big problem then take as well.

Starting items

+ 3x This generally is the better choice of starting items. The movespeed helps you get away from ganks and move around for last hitting. Also you have 3 health potions which is more hp for you in lane.


It isn't a good idea to start with this even if you have a sustain lane simply because of Anivia's 300 move speed. However, if you want it is a viable choice. Boots are better because of the sustain but the damage is nice for last hitting because of Anivia's animation.

After you finish your core items its time for Luxury items!



Let us review each of them one by one.

This is an ok item to get. It gives much wanted attack speed, a huge damage boost and it has a killer passive. If you see the opponents have some armor but not a lot, like under 100, then get this. Generally this would be an item that you get later.

This should be what you get after your because it adds a huge damage boost when fully charged and it also gives a nice lifesteal boost. This would be in core but there are times where you should not get this ASAP so its in luxury instead. Also you only lose half of your stacks when you die now.

What else do I need to stay about this item? 80 damage, a crit chance and boosting your crit damage? While Anivia is not a critical damage oriented AD, it still helps to have the chance to do extra damage. However for Anivia it is a really BAD idea to try and rush this usually. So unless you think you can do some terrible terrible damage with it, DO NOT RUSH.

This is another item that really should be in core but isn't. Yes it offers move speed and attack speed. However if you don't have the damage to back it up, it doesn't do as much as it can. It is better to get a damage boosting item like or first before getting this to maximize the impact.

This is a really nice item to get on Anivia. It gives some tank stats as well as another life. This gives good synergy with her passive and makes it even harder to kill you.

This is good if they have suppression abilities such as Warwick or Urgot. Also good if they have higher magic damage such as a double AP comp.

This is generally good late game for the % armor pen with the 10% from the mastery tree. This should be enough to get you through the game.

Now sometimes the flow of a game might force you to give up an attacking item slot for something else. 1 item slot less of damage is better than dying to the same thing over and over again. Here I'm going to put items which vary from game to game and explain some instances where this applies. There is no real theme to this section as each game is different.

This might just save your life because of the passive. Also it gives a nice health and magic resist bonus. This makes Anivia that much harder to kill and gives more resistance against AP carries. If your team accidentally fed an AP carry this would be a nice item to get.

A Frozen Mallet is really a coin toss in my honest opinion. You have enough CC with your R and Q and W that the slow doesn't help much. However it does grant a nice health bonus, some attack damage and the slow is good for newer players who are not quite up to par with their Q and W aiming yet.

Getting this with a is a great combination to stopping most AD carries in their tracks. As such both these items will be treated as one single package for this guide. If you see the other team is heavy on AD carries, getting this will greatly lower your damage output, however it will lower your opponent's overall output on you a lot more. With both of these items, if any AD carries want to 1v1 or even 2v1, you have a good chance of coming out on top. If you see 4-5 AD carries on 1 team these two items are a MUST if you want to live.


Think you can get mass kills without dying? Then this is the item for you! Great for bot games or lol games with friends who just started playing. It can end up adding 110 attack damage which is more than a Bloodthirster! However if you don't think you get at least get 10+ kills in a row, don't bother with this because there are many more better alternatives out there.

The Ghostblade adds much needed attack speed and it has an active that gives you even more attack speed. If you want 1 item that fixes your attack speed needs then this is the one for you! Also the armor pen is a nice bonus as well as the crit chance but those are just side bonuses.

Here I will talk about some of the optional hybrid items which Anivia can get to play more mindgames with her pray.

Core Hybrid Items

The following items should be part of any hybrid build regardless of AP or AD focus.

It adds both attack and AP as well as giving you both lifesteal and spell vamp. Plus it has a killer active. Why would you not get this? Even if you don't go hybrid this is a great survival item as well because of the healing it offers.

A rageblade is great for both builds because it adds AP on stack and attack speed on stack. Both of which is very helpful to Anivia. While it is harder to keep it stacked as Anivia it is still a good go-to item for a hybrid build.

Hard to place items

These items are good on both but not really core to both builds and seems kind of limbo to me.

A Nashor gives you attack speed, AP and CDR which is all great. However just attack speed is useless without damage boosting items and there are better items for AP so this is in limbo.

Same as above, you get magic res lowering instead which is nice but if you get this on an AP build, why not get something like a for magic pen, and like Nashor's you need damage to go with the attack speed.

Physical oriented

The following items are for a mainly physical build. You should get at max 1-2 of these items if you want to throw off your opponents. Just remember a pure hybrid Anivia, while viable, loses out to pure physical or pure AP Anivia in the long run.

An Abyssal Scepter is a nice way to boost your skill damage a little, raise your MR as well as giving you some magic pen which makes your spells hurt more.

This gives a nice defensive boost as well as a healthy amount of AP. The best part is that you get a "OH SH--" button to press in case of emergency.

This is a good replacement for the Manamune because it gives AP as well as extra mana as well as an AP boost per mana %. Good for a burst of AP to surprise enemies.

This adds some nice magic pen and survival stats and is quite cheap so it makes for a nice early game item. It also gives more of an AP based build look which leaves your opponents thinking AP.

The passive on this is excellent if you have decent attack already. Dropping your R gives you 100% more attack damage? Yes please!!!

AP oriented

A Lich Bane is nice for mainly AP builds because it lets your physical attacks hurt A LOT more. Dropping your R activates it, stunning with your Q, activates it, walling with W activates it, hitting someone with E activates it. So the damage can add up especially if combined with a

Early game

Early game will likely be the hardest part of the entire game. But that should come as no surprise to anyone who has played any carry. Focus on last hitting! Though with a decent attack speed, and decent damage, it is much better than laning as an AP carry. Here the basics of laning apply.
1) Do NOT overextend yourself. Especially if you pushed up to their turret. It is probably better to back of a little and let them push back instead of getting ganked from behind. Also don't chase if you THINK you can kill him. Only chase if you KNOW you can kill him AND get out alive

2)Do not turret dive. If you have full health, KNOW you can kill your pray AND get out alive WITH someone covering you in the event there is a gank, then by all means turret dive. Generally since you are so soft it is a bad idea to turret dive.

3) Last hit last hit last hit. Oh did I mention last hitting? Yes last hitting is harder for an AP carry but remember you are going AD and that makes last hitting so much more bearable.

Remember to only harass with your Q and maybe to clear a wave of weakened minions. Don't think you'll be able to burst down much early game unless they stay in with less than 40% hp and no health potions and no help.

Mid game

Now mid game is a lot easier because you have a yourself a nice boost in attack speed from your and you should be almost done with your which gives you a good mana pool to work with. Now you can effectively harass whoever is in your lane with some intimidating walls and stuns here and there. Since you can't deny in this game, the second best thing is to harass them enough so the minions kill each other. There might be a team fight here and there during mid game, but unless you got super fed and have then do not rush in. You should still help because you deal decent damage. However, you do not deal enough damage at this point to turn the tides of battle. Stay further behind, stunning and walling when you see openings. Remember your main goal during this time is to get as much gold as you can to get your late game damage as early as possible.

Late game

Here is when you can tear holes in your opponents. You should be done with your 4th item after and almost done with your 5th. Actively look for kills and remember you are a carry and you are supposed to get kills unlike supports who get the assist money. Taking a kill from a support is not that bad because you need the gold to fuel your massive attack damage. Try not to be a jerk and take everyone's kills because sure at lower levels, 1 person can carry an entire team but at higher levels of play that doesn't work. You want to have a good overall team going into the late game.

As with all carries team fights is where you shine. Once a team fight starts, you need to determine if your team looks like they will be on top or if you will suffer some losses.

Winning fights

If you see that your team looks like they are winning then you can safely go in pretty close, drop your R and wall a good spot and throw down some stuns, while doing crazy auto-attack damage. Also if your passive is ready to go, throw yourself in as much as you can. If they attack you and revert you into an egg, each second they spend doing that is a second more for your team to do damage. If they try to completely kill you, especially later on when your egg gives you some armor, that ends up being even more time your team has to kill the enemy. If they don't focus the egg then you can revive with full or near full health and continue to DPS down the enemy team.

Losing fights

If you see your team is losing then drop your R and W and just run and tell your team to back up. The wall and the ultimate should be enough to deter your enemies from chasing. If they do, you have a good headstart on running and if they continue to chase, you might be able to get most if not all your team back to home base. If they actually chased then just drop your R again for a slow and some more damage. Most people would stop chasing unless they know they can gain more by chasing at this point.

Thanks for reading this guide and hopefully it will help you get a little more lol out of LoL. Remember for the last time: This guide is for fun only and will likely get you raged at in normal games. Also another thing to remember, Anivia has a high difficulty rating for a reason. Just because the general way to play AD carries is with auto-attack, her abilities count for something and don't expect to tear giant holes in your opponents because you are using this build for the first time.

P.S. please Please PLEASE tell me any suggestions you have because I am by no means good at this game, so any input for others will greatly benefit me and this guide.

I might add a section on how to deal with specific champions in different lanes, but I do not have enough experience for that as of right now.

I will continue to update this guide so people get get a glimpse of another way to play Anivia.

Version history:
7/1/11a: First version published
7/1/11b: Added summoner spells and more item choices such as situation items and hybrid items.
7/2/11: Added some things here and there, added Laning and Team Fights sections
7/8/11: Small edits
3/31/12: Updated cause I just remembered I had this.