Hey there! I just wanted a place to compare different item builds. There are plenty of good guides for Annie, with all the other details. This is not one of them. I just wanted to explore different ways of building Annie's item sets to maximize different potentials. This is my first guide, and with all the quality Annie guides out there, I had no desire to replace them. Rather than downvoting this guide, feel free to offer suggestions if you feel it doesn't serve it's purpose well - tweaking different item builds.

Note: There are currently no masteries or runes or anything like that in this guide - just a raw comparison of items. You'll note that the core items of each set are the three highest AP items, a set of boots, and the Rod of Ages (which gets to 80 AP if you get Catalyst early, plus it has good synergy with Annie). The last item is the variable, which creates slight variations in each build.

Note Two: The second set of builds is just for amusement and experiment sake. The Lich Bane gives a slight bonus to movement speed, but a huge AP increase. I personally think you'd be dead in the water without some kind of boots, but that build is just a joke to maximize the AP.

I hope you enjoy the guide or find it useful.

This section is an analysis of each of the items, to aide my own understanding of why Annie is built various ways. Nearly everyone builds AP Burster Annie, so there are only subtle variations for the items. It's certainly possible to build her outside of this mix of items, but it doesn't seem to be very common.

Sorcerer's Shoes These are generally the best shoes for a burst caster like Annie. The magic penetration outweighs the other bonuses in the vast majority of cases.

Rod of Ages This item is somewhat controversial. However, if you get Catalyst the Protector early enough, the Rod will give a full 80 AP, excellent mana regen, and big health/mana bonuses.

Rabadon's Deathcap No brainer for an AP beast like Annie, this is the best pure AP item in the game - 120 AP AND +30% total AP. The question isn't IF you should get this, only when.

Deathfire Grasp A very powerful 120 AP item, reduces cooldown, has a very powerful activated. As the activated aides subsequent damage, try to start your burst with it.

Zhonya's Hourglass The third 120 AP item, also adds armor and a good save (2 sec invuln). Can save you, or at least improve the value of your sacrifice.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter Next-tier AP item, with 80 AP. Gives a big health bonus and a nice stun from all your spells. Makes it much harder for enemies to escape if they live through your burst.

Void Staff High AP, with 70 AP, also gives a powerful 35% bonus to magic penetration, in case your enemies actually buy gear to counter you. (Hint: They should.) This item helps maximize your damage potential by countering their counter.

Seraph's Embrace Medium Base AP of 60 AP, but gives you a HUGE boost of 3% of your max mana in AP - in this vanilla build, that's roughly 75 AP extra. In addition, you gain a massive chunk of mana (which isn't really needed except to synergize with the item itself), improved mana regen, and a powerful shield active. It is important to note that you have to get the Tear's of the Goddess early on in the game so you can charge it up - this will easily take 10 minutes of continuous spell-casting. Otherwise, you just have the Archangel's Staff, which is still pretty good.

Archangel's Staff Just to show what you're actually buying for ^^.

Abyssal Mask One of the more popular secondary items for Annie; 70 AP, 45 MR, and reduces the MR of enemies that are just out of your hitting range. (Scepter radius 700 vs. Annie's 625/625/600 Q/W/R spells). Will make you more destructive vs. MR stackers, and less squishy against AP champs.

Blackfire Torch Has a large AP of 80 AP, and a Swiss-Army-Knife of other abilities, including mana regen, 250 health, CDR, Damage-Over-Time, and Magic Pen. Not often used in the popular Annie builds, probably due to its excessive cost. But it looks pretty sweet, and seems cool on paper.

Liandry's Torment This looks to me like a more affordable version of Blackfire Torch, a little lesser in every way, but 1000 less gold.

Lich Bane This item is more for the joke 5th build, as it gives a small movement bonus, with a solid 80 AP and a pretty powerful bonus to Annie's AA, which you should be using anyway. Probably not a practical Annie item, but might be worth experimenting with.

Enchantment: Homeguard This is my favorite of the boot enchantments. The Alacrity or Furor could really help with chasing, and the Captain would be a solid choice especially for pushing.