Annie Build Guide by ZaylerTheEmperor

Introduction

Annie has been a very popular support since Tabe (Royal Club's support) used her in the World Championship. Right now, she is, along with Thresh and Leona, one of the most popular support. This guide will show you how I like to play Annie, which means you can be flexible and buy other items depending of the situation (aka buy an IE and Shiv if you feel to).

If you liked the guide, don't forget to upvote ;) However, if you think something should be improved, tell me about it in the comment section!
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To do list:
- Masteries explanation
- Pros/Cons
- Lane Match-up
- Synergy

Extras:
5 upvotes = Special Chapter for newbies
10 upvotes = Visual update
20 upvotes = Top Annie Build

Early Game

Items:

Normally, if everything goes well, you can get a Sightstone, or at least a Nomad's Medallion at your first back; don't forget to buy a Stealth Ward or two! Also, if you feel that it's going to be a hard/poke lane, buy a few Health Potion or Mana Potion!

Poking:

Why?: You might think it's useless to auto-attack since it only deals 50 damage. That's true if you do it once a while; however, when you AA the enemy ADC or support 5 times in 10 seconds, they are going to lose around 150-200 HP, which makes them easier to kill in an all-in.

When?: Since you have an incredible auto-attack range (625), you can easily poke enemy AD carries and support, considering most of them have only 550 range. However, you might not be able to poke longer ranged ADCs like Ashe (600), Caitlyn (650) and Jinx (700 while she has her rocket), since they can just AA you as well. Also, be extremely careful when you are against very aggressive champions like Leona and Blitzcrank; they are just waiting for you to be out of position and all-in on you!

How?: The best way to poke, in almost every situation, is to click on an enemy, and as soon as your fire line appears, you immediately back-off so they can't fight back. If you are charging your Pyromania, especially at level 2 and sometimes 3 (when you don't have your Molten Shield yet), you can use your Disintegrate right after you auto-attacked the enemy, so it will add an extra 50 to your Disintegrate's damage (140 instead of 90). If you can, try to insert a last auto-attack before backing, to deal around 190 damage (before applying Armor/MR).

Mid Game

Items:

Upgrade your Nomad's Medallion to Talisman of Ascension as soon as you get Sightstone and Boots of Speed. Buy your Sorcerer's Shoes only AFTER you got your Talisman. Oh, and btw... TALISMAN HAS AN ACTIVE :D

All-in:

As soon as you get level 6, your bot lane's killing potential becomes very high, especially if you have Tristana, Graves, Ashe or Vayne. Tell your ADC to be prepared, be sure that river is warded (you don't want the enemy jungler to mess everything up) and be sure to have your stun. After that, if you think you can stun both of them, use your Summon: Tibbers (if you're not in range, Flash on them), followed by your Incinerate and your Disintegrate (use it on ADC, unless the support is really low but your ADC can't kill him/her. If you think they still have a chance to survive after that, use your Ignite or Exhaust on the ADC/support. And one thing you should not forget : if you are sure you can have the kill, give it to your ADC/ Jungler !

Before using your full combo, especially your Flash, try to burn a summoner or two from them. If you can force a Flash, a Cleanse or a Barrier out of their ADC, it will definitely increase your killing potential. Also, when you are against some great disengage like Sona or Zyra, burning their ult before using your full combo is a great idea, even though it can be dangerous for you!

Late Game

After you have your six items, you can sell your Talisman of Ascension for a more damage oriented items. Here's a few examples:

- Athene's Unholy Grail: It is a decent exchange for your Talisman since you will get your 20% CDR, but also 60 AP, 40 Magic Resist and better Mana Regeneration.

- Morellonomicon: It gives you a little bit more Ability Power than Athene's, but doesn't give you MR and reduces Mana Regen. However, the passive is pretty good against champion with great heal/sustain (like Vladimir, Dr. Mundo, Fiddlesticks...)

- Banner of Command: Basically the same thing as Morellonomicon, except it doesn't give you Grievous Wounds nor Mana Regen; instead, it gives a little boost to your minions and pets (like Tibbers). The active is great when you are pushing a turret/inhibitor and have a siege minion next to you.

IMPORTANT: You may choose not buying these items, considering your Talisman of Ascension's active is much more useful than Grevious Wounds or Banner of Command during a Team fight. The active, in a well coordinated team, is a great way to engage or disengage if you can use it on 2 or 3 of your teammates. It's also very useful when your team is chasing someone, or when you are in a bad position and want to escape.

TL;DR Don't sell your Talisman unless you're sure you don't need the active.

Skill Sequence

- You should always start the game with Incinerate. Before going in lane, it's better to charge your Pyromania on the fountain.

- If you think or you know your team will invade, charge two stacks of your Pyromania on the fountain and the two others while you are walking toward the enemy jungle.

- At level 2, take Disintegrate for more damage.

- At level 3, taking Molten Shield will give you the resistance you need during an all-in. You can also choose Incinerate rank 2, for more damage. If you do, take Molten Shield at level 4.

- After that, you want to rank up Incinerate for a maximum of AoE damage. However, don't forget that you can't level it up at level 6 and 8!

- When you can't rank up Incinerate anymore, max your Disintegrate for a maximum of damage; use your final ability points on Molten Shield.

- At level 6, 11 and 16, you always rank up your Ultimate, since it's the most powerful ability on a lot of champions (including Annie).

Runes

Since you want a maximum of burst damage on Annie, Quints of AP are better than Quints of MS. Also, the extra Movement Speed that Talisman of Ascension gives you is enough if you are chasing/fleeing.

The Greater Mark of Magic Penetration is very good early game, since it removes 8 Magic Resist from your enemy. This basically means he will have 122% effective health instead of 130%, which will increase your AP damage by 5%. For example, if you use your full combo at level 6, you will deal around 498 instead of 468. This might not be a huge difference, but it can secure a kill and even save your ADC's life (yeah and yours, but no one cares about support)!

Between more AP damage and more Magic Resist, I prefer AP. Why? Because, most of the time, you won't take a lot of AP damage directly from the bot lane. When they try to poke you with abilities, you can easily stun them and burst them with your Incinerate and Disintegrate. In an all-in, you can simply use your Molten Shield to have extra Armor/Magic Resist.

This basically what you take if you go for 21-0-9 masteries. The extra 270G (at around 20 min) will compensate the gold you could've got with Greed (180G), Scavenger (150-200G) and Wealth (40G). The 130G difference is basically the price to pay for 21 pts in Offense Tree.

VS

Seals of Armor are the best option when you choose 9-0-21 masteries, and even 21-0-9 depending on your lane matchup. It gives you 13 extra armor, which is very useful against poke and all-ins. In term of gold efficiency, it worths more than Seals of Gold until 22 mins.

Masteries

Coming Soon™!

Items - Tanky vs Full Damage

Tanky Path:

That's very fun way to play Annie. It's directly inspired of Voyboy's top Annie. With this build, you can get:

- 1160 hp, which synergizes very well with her Molten Shield (+60 armor/MR)

- 35% slow on your Disintegrate (aka Randuin's Omen's active), and 15% slow on your Incinerate and Summon: Tibbers. If you send your Tibbers after someone squishy, it will help your team stick to him/her.

- Tons of damage. With 6 items, you will have 250 AP, 30 Magic Pen and Liandry's Torment's passive that drains 12% of enemies' current life. And this is only from items...

Full Damage Path:

Right now, this is my main build in ranked games. Let's see why these 3 items are good:

- Deathfire Grasp: Why that item? It's so expensive, and support will never have enough gold for... OK... just... STOP! We are not in S3 anymore, where pro supports only have a Sightstone at 30 min! With the gold you get from Talisman of Ascension, masteries and assists, you can easily have more gold than the mid laner. Also, with the S4's trinkets, you don't need to buy 1337 wards anymore :)

However, why taking a DFG? I always thought it is a "I didn't get mid lane so I'm support" item, but I drastically changed my mind when I saw LemonNation using it on Annie support. Basically, it's pretty useful if your AP Carry doesn't have Deathfire (like Lux, Orianna, Ryze...), since the active increases the damage on the target by 20% for 4 seconds, so any magic damage other than yours is still increased by the amount (aka your 26-9 Ryze can destroy the enemy Shen in the next 4 seconds).
PS: It gives you Cooldown Reduction :D

- Zhonya's Hourglass: I don't think I have to explain why you should take that. The extra armor, but most of all, the ACTIVE is so good; kind of a 90-sec cooldown activable Guardian Angel...

- Rabadon's Deathcap: That gives you so much AP! With your Zhonya's and DFG, you will have 468 AP only from the items. If you change your Sightstone and Talisman of Ascension for an Morellonomicon and Abyssal Mask, you will have 657 AP... only from the items...


In conclusion, I'd say both path are viable. If you want a bit more tankiness and utility, go for Rylai's Crystal Scepter path. However, if you just prefer to have more burst damage, try the Deathfire Grasp path.

Items - Situational

Boots:

Pretty much the best choice after Sorcerer's Shoes. It can helps you chase enemies or running away from them, if you didn't get attacked before! It's also very useful to return in lane and engage.

Only get this if the enemy team has many members with dangerous crowd control (e.g. Ashe, Annie, Leona, Nasus...).

You can get these if you want more CDR on your Summon: Tibbers or Disintegrate. You can also take it if you are going to build Locket of the Iron Solari instead of Talisman of Ascension. Note: Don't take them if you are going to build a DFG.

Enchantments:

This is a very good enchantment on Annie if your team is ahead. With Summoner's Insight , your Flash's Cooldown will drop to around 200 sec from 300, which means you can use your Flash+Tibbers a bit more often.

Basically what I use on almost every champions, except maybe Annie or Ryze. It's very useful when you are defending your base or you want to get back in lane faster. If your team is losing pretty early (around 20-25), it's recommended to buy Homeguard.

This is a decent item since it gives you AP, MR and Movement Speed. Also, the active is useful if you are chasing someone but you aren't in range to use your Disintegrate.