Annie Build Guide by Lolirepicwin
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.
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Example Build
Starting items
First Back
Damage Options
Defensive Options
Utility Options
Ability Sequence
2
8
10
12
13
1
4
5
7
9
3
14
15
17
18
6
11
16
Not Updated For Current Season
The masteries shown here are not yet updated for the current season, the guide author needs to set up the new masteries. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Table of Contents
Introduction
Hello I am Lolirepicwin and welcome to my guide for Annie Support. I picked up playing Annie as a support soon after Tabe picked it at worlds and it remained a very strong pick since. I hope you enjoy the guide and I welcome any feedback.
Why should I play Annie Support?
- Annie is an extremely strong Support champion. Her on-demand stun and high AoE damage potential make her useful during the lane phase and in teamfights.
Sounds too good to be true, what are her weaknesses?
- While Annie can deal a huge amount of damage, she is squishy, especially during the early game. This can eventually be negated when you have a few points in Molten Shield however poor early game performance could put you behind.
Runes
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Mark of Precision 9 |
Greater Seal of Armor 9 |
Greater Glyph of Ability Power 9 |
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3 |
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These are the standard runes I use when playing Annie:
greater mark of hybrid penetration:
Hybrid Pen marks are very strong on Annie. They give you magic penetration which great for dealing damage with your spells but also gives you armor penetration for early game harass using Annie's high auto-attack range. The only other marks I would consider are
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration if you're not planning on auto-attacking too much. Greater Seal of Armor:These are fairly standard across all champions. They give you some protection from your enemy ADC and any auto-attacks from the enemy support.
Greater Glyph of Ability Power:These are my preferred glyphs as they give a good, consistent damage boost to your spells throughout the whole game. Alternatives are
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power if you are looking towards the later game, or 
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist if the enemy team is very AP heavy. Greater Quintessence of Ability Power:Again AP quints will boost your early game damage and provide decent spell damage throughout the whole game. An alternative would be
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed which will help with your engages and general map rotation.
Masteries
These, in my opinion, feel like the best masteries for Annie. The 9 points in Offense gives you 5% CDR, an extra damage buff for your allies and some AP for boosting your own damage. The 21 points in Utility are fairly standard in supports, but going deep into the Utility tree gives you extra gold generation, movement speed and even more CDR bringing you to 10% which can be invaluable during teamfights.
Items
Starting Items:
I like to start with Ancient Coin as it gives you both health and mana regeneration as well as a passive gold buff as your ADC kills minions. Alternatively you could start with 
Spellthief's Edge if you intend on harassing the enemy bottom lane with Annie's long range auto-attacks, or 
Doran's Shield if you are anticipating a difficult laning phase. Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation helps with your sustain and Stealth Ward provides early vision against enemy ganks. I start with Warding Totem to give extra vision early on, but you should swap this out for a 
Sweeping Lens once you have purchased 
Sightstone.
What items you buy on your first return to the base will depend on how successful your early game has been. Ideally you will have enough gold to purchase a Sightstone as well as to upgrade your gold item to 
Nomad's Medallion, however this may not always be possible. If you can afford 950g to buy a Sightstone I would recommend that as your first item, if not upgrading your gold item or purchasing a 
Ruby Crystal is acceptable. Remember to exchange your trinket for Sweeping Lens if you've bought a Sightstone!
Key items:
These items form the basis of your build and are essential in performing your role as Support. Talisman of Ascension is amazing at helping you to engage and also in moving your team around the map. Ruby Sightstone will provide your team with as much vision as you can manage and you should aim to have your 3 wards active at all times. Oracle's Lens is ideal for Supports as it helps you to clear enemy wards, mainly when fighting over Baron or Dragon.
Boot Choices:
These boots increase your damage output considerably by providing you with magic penetration.
Mobility boots are excellent for map movement allowing you to catch up to your team if you are falling behind, and will also help you with engaging team fights and catching out opponents.
Damage Options:
If your team is lacking damage threats or your early game has gone well you should consider building a couple of damage items. Annie can do massive amounts of damage without too much AP as she has 2 spells that are capable of hitting multiple targets. Personally I like to build magic penetration so Liandry's Torment is a key item for me and Void Staff is also useful if the enemy team is tanky. If you want to go more down the AP route, Rabadon's Deathcap and Deathfire Grasp are good choices.
Defensive Options:
More often than not you will want your final build to contain at least 1 or 2 defensive items. Generally Annie is a very squishy character and so building slightly defensive will increase your survivability allowing you to get off more burst during teamfights. Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a great item as it not only gives you 500 health and 80 AP but also gives you a great passive which slows enemies when hit by your spells, which is great for chasing teams down. If the enemy team contains a lot of AD heavy champions you may want to buy Zhonya's Hourglass or Randuin's Omen which both come with great actives. Similarly if the enemy is AP heavy a Banshee's Veil or Spirit Visage will keep you alive for longer.
Utility Options:
Either of these 2 items are a good addition to your build in any situation but ideally when you might not have had the most successful start to the game. If your ADC is fed and the enemy team has a lot of crowd control, Mikael's Crucible is an excellent item as it gives you technically gives you a targetable 
Cleanse and 
Heal in one active, which could easily save a team mates life. If, for example, an enemy AP midlaner is fed, Locket of the Iron Solari is a great item as it gives allies some Magic Resist as well as handing out a small shield with its active.
I like to start with
Ancient Coin as it gives you both health and mana regeneration as well as a passive gold buff as your ADC kills minions. Alternatively you could start with Spellthief's Edge if you intend on harassing the enemy bottom lane with Annie's long range auto-attacks, or Doran's Shield if you are anticipating a difficult laning phase. Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation helps with your sustain and Stealth Ward provides early vision against enemy ganks. I start with Warding Totem to give extra vision early on, but you should swap this out for a Sweeping Lens once you have purchased Sightstone.
Your First Back:
What items you buy on your first return to the base will depend on how successful your early game has been. Ideally you will have enough gold to purchase a
Sightstone as well as to upgrade your gold item to Nomad's Medallion, however this may not always be possible. If you can afford 950g to buy a Sightstone I would recommend that as your first item, if not upgrading your gold item or purchasing a Ruby Crystal is acceptable. Remember to exchange your trinket for Sweeping Lens if you've bought a Sightstone!Key items:
These items form the basis of your build and are essential in performing your role as Support.
Talisman of Ascension is amazing at helping you to engage and also in moving your team around the map. Ruby Sightstone will provide your team with as much vision as you can manage and you should aim to have your 3 wards active at all times. Oracle's Lens is ideal for Supports as it helps you to clear enemy wards, mainly when fighting over Baron or Dragon.Boot Choices:
These boots increase your damage output considerably by providing you with magic penetration.
Mobility boots are excellent for map movement allowing you to catch up to your team if you are falling behind, and will also help you with engaging team fights and catching out opponents.
Damage Options:
If your team is lacking damage threats or your early game has gone well you should consider building a couple of damage items. Annie can do massive amounts of damage without too much AP as she has 2 spells that are capable of hitting multiple targets. Personally I like to build magic penetration so
Liandry's Torment is a key item for me and Void Staff is also useful if the enemy team is tanky. If you want to go more down the AP route, Rabadon's Deathcap and Deathfire Grasp are good choices.Defensive Options:
More often than not you will want your final build to contain at least 1 or 2 defensive items. Generally Annie is a very squishy character and so building slightly defensive will increase your survivability allowing you to get off more burst during teamfights.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a great item as it not only gives you 500 health and 80 AP but also gives you a great passive which slows enemies when hit by your spells, which is great for chasing teams down. If the enemy team contains a lot of AD heavy champions you may want to buy Zhonya's Hourglass or Randuin's Omen which both come with great actives. Similarly if the enemy is AP heavy a Banshee's Veil or Spirit Visage will keep you alive for longer.Utility Options:
Either of these 2 items are a good addition to your build in any situation but ideally when you might not have had the most successful start to the game. If your ADC is fed and the enemy team has a lot of crowd control,
Mikael's Crucible is an excellent item as it gives you technically gives you a targetable Cleanse and Heal in one active, which could easily save a team mates life. If, for example, an enemy AP midlaner is fed, Locket of the Iron Solari is a great item as it gives allies some Magic Resist as well as handing out a small shield with its active.Spells
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Passive - Annie's Passive is one of the main reasons she is such a strong support. Every 5th spell that Annie casts will stun enemies affected by it for a certain amount of time increasing with champion level. Using Pyromania in combination with Incinerate or Summon: Tibbers can stun the entire enemy team allowing you and your team to deal massive amounts of damage without retaliation.
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Q - Annie's Q is a standard single target damage spell with a very short cooldown. It has decent range and can be used to constantly poke enemies during team fights and to build up stun charges. |
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W - Incinerate is an area-of-effect spell which can potentially damage the entire enemy team. At a base cooldown of 8 seconds it is usually available a couple of times during a teamfight and pre level six will be the spell you want to use your stun charge on as it will stun every enemy it hits. |
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E - Annie's E is an armor and magic resistance buff with a built in  Thornmail. It has a very low mana cost and with a ten second cooldown can be used to charge up your stuns in the laning phase. At max rank this will increase your armor and magic resistance by 60 making Annie very tanky for a short period of time.
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R - Annie's Ultimate. This is the second AOE spell on Annie's kit and it is an extremely powerful way to engage teamfights. It does a huge amount of damage to anyone in the area of the spell and will also trigger Pyromania on any enemies damaged. Tibbers is not only good for engaging but can be controlled providing the  Sunfire Cape passive against any enemies in his area. He can also be used to tank tower shots or even dragon to secure you objectives.
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Spell Order:
| Ability Sequence | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
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Annie has a great kit with a single target damage spell, 2 AOE spells and a resistance buff. I like to start with W -
Incinerate as this can be used to stun both of your lane opponents early on if used successfully. At level 2 you should pick up Disintegrate to increase your damage output and at level 3 Molten Shield can be used to avoid harass and to build up charges for Pyromania. At levels 6, 11 and 16 you should level up Summon: Tibbers. I like to max Incinerate first to deal the maximum amount of damage, levelling Disintegrate second and Molten Shield last.Summoner Spells:
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Flash is basically a mandatory summoner spell on most champions. It allows you to escape from guaranteed death situations and also suit Annie very well as it can be used in conjunction with Summon: Tibbers to initiate fights.
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Your second summoner spell slot will, in 99% of situations be filled with either
Ignite or 
Exhaust:|
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Ignite is my preferred choice for the second summoner spell slot as it gives you extra kill pressure and can secure kills on an enemy that would otherwise have got away. It's a very aggressive choice which can sometimes leave you vulnerable.
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Exhaust is a more defensive option if you are not so confident in yourself or your lane partner. It will slow an enemy by 30% and also reduce their damage by the same amount, and can be used to give your ADC an advantage over the enemy bottom lane early in the game or to nullify a fed opponent in the late game.
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