Annie is one of my favorite champions. Her burst will have your opponents crying for there mommies as you laugh and play with your lovable teddy, Tibbers. This is my first guide I have written and I want it to be more of an open forum where I will put out what I believe is great way to play Annie but I would love if people comment with suggestions for improvement.

I would like to give a shout-out to jhoijhoi for the template used to create this guide. You can find it at here.

March 12th, 2012:Runes have been updated and glyphs changed to a recommended and aggressive option.
January 15th, 2012:Overhaul of items *mainly added an aggressive item list that starts with Mejai's Soulstealer over kage's lucky pick*.
January 7th, 2012:Guide created.

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Pros + Extremely high burst + Epic stun + Easy farm with Q + A freaking bear that drops from the sky

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Cons - Squishy - Slow - Slight mana problem very early in game (sub lvl 6)

I'm going to keep this brief because it's a generic AP mage build. I put 21 points into offense grabbing all of the AP and Damage bonuses along with 9 in utility to get the increased buff duration.

Favorite Spell Ghost: Increased movement really helps get that pesky champ that runs off with 12hp! It is also great for escaping if you don't get hit with anything that slows you.

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Favorite Spell Ignite: This is so great early in the game for getting that kill for sure (ghost+ignite=no escape). The reduction in healing is really nice especially if you get it off right before they get a big heal.

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Good Spell Flash: Some people really like this spell because you can escape well or close the gap to another champ. Another bonus, unlike ghost, you can't be slowed as you are closing the gap (because you are instantly "flashed" there) and you can get through some walls. The only draw back is that ghost lasts a lot longer so you can escape better if you are well positioned.

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Conservative:

• : I like to start with this because it has nice AP and can be built into Kage's Lucky Pick for a nice 5 gold/ 10 seconds. I also start with a health pot for a little more sustainability in lane.
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• Kage's Lucky Pick: You really need to rush your items to get an edge on your opponents so this will help over the entire game
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• : You need speed to get kills, nuff said.
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• : This has great hp, ap, and mana. The best part is it only gets stronger as it ages :)
  (I would strongly suggest that you get ruby crystal first for the hp and then catalyst the protectorcatalyst the protector for the heal at lvling.)
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• : Grate caster boots :)
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• : Best AP item in the game, you can't beat the +30% ap boost!
  (it doesn't make a difference if you buy blasting wand or needlessly large rod first because it's roughly the same ap/gold for each.)
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  Pick two (are you getting hit with AP, AD, or both dmg?)
  
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• : This is your first choice because it has awesome AP and a decent amount of armor to counter AD champs. If you are getting pwned by AP champs, I would recommend getting Banshee's Veil which will give you some nice MR.
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• : This item is simply the hourglass for MR instead of armor. It also give you some nice penetration with is always nice.
  *it was mentioned by Tailgating that a Void Staff sholuld be something you pick up. This is absolutely true if you start seeing two or more of the other team buying Negatron Cloak to cut through there MR.
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• : This has some really nice CD reduction to let you get out a few more hits in a team fight, an extra Tibbers is always appreciated :) I would get this if you are just destroying the other team.
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  Last Item
  
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• : This is just so much fun, you see someone with full hp and you drop this nice 30+% hp reduction and just smile. It also give you a bit more CD reduction and at this point, you are pretty much throwing fireballs like auto attacks :)
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• Lastly, after you have all 6 items, don't forget you can buy elixirs and you will just use them instantly
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• I would also like to stress the importance of sight wardwards. I don't have them in the item list because you should just buy them when you can but mid and late game, barron and dragon should always be warded because you could ace there team if you jump them (and possibly get barron buff for your team if you time it perfectly).

Your team will pwn:

• : I like to start with this because it has nice AP and can be built into Mejai's Soulstealer. I also start with a health pot for a little more sustainability in lane.
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• : There is a slight draw back to rushing this item because it is so expensive and its starting stats are not that great (you actually lose 5 ap). That being said, once you charge this up, you will destroy. 180 ap fully charged and some nice CD reduction, that is dare I say it, better than Rabadon's Deathcap?
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• : You need speed to get kills, nuff said.
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• : This has great hp, ap, and mana. The best part is it only gets stronger as it ages :)
  (I would strongly suggest that you get ruby crystal first for the hp and then catalyst the protectorcatalyst the protector for the heal at lvling.)
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• : Grate caster boots :)
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• : Best AP item in the game, you can't beat the +30% ap boost!
  (it doesn't make a difference if you buy blasting wand or needlessly large rod first because it's roughly the same ap/gold for each.)
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  Pick One Depending on the enemy team (are getting mostly AD or AP dmg?)
  
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• : This is your first choice because it has awesome AP and a decent amount of armor to counter AD champs. If you are getting pwned by AP champs, I would recommend getting Banshee's Veil which will give you some nice MR.
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• : This item is simply the hourglass for MR instead of armor. It also give you some nice penetration with is always nice.
  *it was mentioned by Tailgating that a Void Staff sholuld be something you pick up. This is absolutely true if you start seeing two or more of the other team buying Negatron Cloak to cut through there MR.
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  Pick one (do you get targeted down or are they stacking MR?)
  
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• : This will give you even more HP and AP and a nice slow. You will be so Tanky that you won't be dying that much and your stacks on Mejai's Soulstealer will definitely max out :)
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• : This will cut through most MR and really let your spell start to sting.
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• Lastly, after you have all 6 items, don't forget you can buy elixirs and you will just use them instantly
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• I would also like to stress the importance of sight wardwards. I don't have them in the item list because you should just buy them when you can but mid and late game, barron and dragon should always be warded because you could ace there team if you jump them (and possibly get barron buff for your team if you time it perfectly).

• Pyromania: One of the best reasons to play annie, this stun in combo with Tibbers or Incinerate is a great because it can AoE stun the whole team.
• disintegrate (Q): This is your best farming tool because if you kill a creep, you get your mana back and charge Pyromania.
  
• incinerate (W): Your bread and butter when in combo with and stun and Disintegrate, early on this is an epic poke.
  
• molten shield (E): great for charging your stun and the extra armor and magic resists is not bad either. Also, I feel that this is really nice to have up because it can hide that you have your stun ready. (You will have a grey swirl around you letting the other champ know you can stun them.)
  
• Summon: Tibbers (R): This is almost a guaranteed kill at lvl 6, especially if you are 1v1. Have your stun ready and hide it with molten shield when you are almost 6. Let your opponent push a little and then once you hit lvl 6, drop tibbers, fireball and flame breath, put up your shield and run toward his escape (normally his tower). By this time the stun will be up and he will freak out. You can pop ignite and ghost so he can't run or flash away and you should get one more fireball in for the kill :)

The Basic plan:
I plan to rush Disintegrate because that is your best farming tool but I want a point in Incinerate and Molten Shield so you can charge your stun at your base. Of course you want to take Summon: Tibbers whenever you can and once you have one point in Molten Shield, don't level it anymore until the end.

• 1-3:Don't try too hard to poke, you don't have the mana. Simply use disintegrate to last hit creeps and build up a stun. If they rush you, you can get a stun in and a few auto attacks. They should back off and you can go back to farming.
• 4-5:Here is where you want to start waring down there hp to about 1/2. You really want to get a combo of stunning with disintegrate and follow immediately with incinerate as you are still farming.
• 6-7:As soon as you hit lvl 6 you should get a nice kill (see my description of Tibbers in the abilities section). Continue using this combo as you farm and if all goes well, you should have your tower down.
  *Also, if the other champ just barely gets away with your devastating ult combos, this is a great time to go off and get a nice gank

• 8-12:This is a little bit of a lose section but, people will start leaving there lane and roaming in groups. You want to help push the lanes and take down the 1st set of towers in each lane (don't push in solo or in small groups past the 1st tower unless you know where most of the other team is, you will get ganked )

• 13-15: At this point you really want to stay in the group and start pushing single lanes as a team. One of the best strategies I have found, (*only if you know where all of there team is and they haven't been warding a ton) to get behind a team fight and hid in a bush. If any one of them strays too far back or tries to run, boom, you got a kill. Now here comes the best part, unless they are really coordinated, some will try and jump you and some will stay and fight (they foolishly have blinders on and have gotten wrapped up in the fight). Even if they only split for a few seconds, you have now split the group and with ghost, get out of there and your team cleans up the poor fools that didn't get the memo to fall back :)
• If you can't get behind them, you should always stay back and let your tank lead. You want to drop in and get all of you nuke on the squishiest carry and get out. Hopefully, you have oneshotted them. Either way, they will no longer be in the team fight.
• 16-18: This is where you want to push as a team, and have complete control over Barron (and hopefully but red and blue buffs). Continue with the same strategy and always stay with the group. Unless you are supper fed, you should not try to back door. You should not try and solo gank (it's probably a trap). You should not lead the way. Just stay in the pack and drop that awesome Tibbers on the some poor fool and send them back to the graveyard :)
  
  Alternate Play (with a partner)
  • It was mentioned by ViscousRandom that if you are in lane with a partner, lvling incinerate first will give you a free stun from the well. It does scale better for dmg than disintegrate so if you are bot or partnered top, you will have better bursting early on (and if you are really lucky, you might catch a noob in the bush and get an easy 1st blood).
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  • It should also be mentioned that even though it might not seem like it, both incinerate and disintegrate have the same range, so you don't lose any poking ability by leveling W over Q but it costs more mana and has twice the CD so do not farm with W, this is a burst strategy that works well with a partner.

*This will be the weakest section of my build and what I would love some input in.*

• : I want max AP in the start to try and snag an early kill.
  
• : A little bit of magic pen will help get a little more dmg in.
  
• :This will give you a great boost to your AP making you just that much better at nuking the enemy. (Thanks for the suggestion CasterMaster)
  
• * : If you are very confident of your self, I would roll with these because they give you more of a boost in the early (lvl 1-5) stage of the game. The give you more AP from lvl 6 up, so this is only for extremely aggressive early game but an early 1st blood give you a great advantage. This is not a recommended build but a possibility.
  
• : Because I don't like to start with the Doran's Ring, I want to be a little less squishy early on.

• Basically, you job is to hang back or in the bushes and then bring the pain down on a poor, unsuspecting noob that gets oneshotted by your ult combo :)
• Get the stun up and time it will with tibbers to group stun the enemy team when they are already fighting someone else.
• Farm with Q and when the tower falls (either you kill theirs or they kill yours), check the creep score. Yours should always be higher, unless they are an epic AD carry and then it should be very close.
• Max your Q first and your E last (but put one point into E at lvl 4 so you charge your stun faster).
• Never waste your stun unless you are sub lvl 6 and are simply farming creep.
• Most Importantly: Always be nice and have a good attitude, your team will play much better and you will get more help if you compliment people with gj and never talk trash your team. Simply try and help them get better.

Again, many thanks to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

Thanks so much for reading my guide!

I have been playing Annie for a while now but I'm no pro so any suggestions on improvement would be much appreciated. If you have a good suggestions I will add you to the credits and if it is really insightful, I will give you +rep.

If you like my guide, please take the time to comment and vote up. If you really like it, please +rep me :)