Hi I'm Dvdave and I've been playing league since the end of season 2. I'm currently high diamond with Anivia being my main champ. The reason I prefer her over other champs is simply because I have fun playing as her. She has high damage all game and has one of the strongest late games of any champ. With this guide I'll try to explain how Anivia works and how to play her in different match ups. I'll do my best to update this guide regularly especially if Anivia receives and Nerf's or Buffs.

The great thing about Anivia is your build nearly never changes no matter who you are versus in lane. The reason for this is your late game can beat nearly every other mid laner once you reach the late game.The only time you might change your build is if they have a full either Ap or Ad comp. For the FULL AD I would recommend a Zhonya's Hourglass instead of the Void Staff and for the FULL AP team comp I would recommend Abyssal Mask instead of the Void Staff and that's about it.

Anivia works with nearly all summoner spells. That being said you will always want Flash since you are a very low mobility champ flash is a necessity for you. The other masteries you can take with flash are

Teleport if you are vs a high mobility champ and want to be able to counter their roams EX: Twisted Fate / LeBlanc

Cleanse if you think you are going to be camped especially if the opposing mid laner has a lock down stun EX: Malzahar / Twisted Fate

Ignite if you are looking to play aggressively and try to secure kills especially against immobile champs EX: Viktor / Vladimir

Barrier if you want to stay back and farm up hoping to stall till late game. Also helps a lot with burst champs EX: Syndra / Katarina

One thing to think about before picking up Anivia is that she has the disadvantage in most of her match ups. That being said she has extremely high AOE damage late game making her an ideal pick. One thing to remember is that Anivia has a lot of trouble when it comes to mobile champs which is the reason Fizz is one of her hardest match ups. When you are in these types of match ups it is typically ideal to just stay back and clear the wave. While Anivia is a great champ she has plently of faults which I will go through down below.

PROS

High and Constant Damage

High AOE Damage

Able to split teams in half with her W

Amazing Late Game

CONS

High Cooldowns

High Mana Costs

Low Mobility

Slow Attack Speed

Easily Outmanouvered

One of the hardest things to do as Anivia is farm. She has a very slow attack speed which leaves her vulnerable and you shouldn't use your abilities to farm too often since they have a high mana cost and high cooldowns. As a result of this farming under tower is fairly difficult for her and will require you to use your E Frostbite properly if you use wish to be succesful at it. The only good thing about having a slow auto attack is you are able to bait abilities pretty easily. Always use your auto attacks to try to wait out Yasuo's Wind Wall and Fizz's Playful / Trickster. If you are versus a mobile champ make sure you shove your wave to make your opposing laner stay in lane to farm instead of out roaming. some examples of champs to do this to woud be Ekko, LeBlanc, Katarina and Twisted Fate.

As Anivia You have a very strong level 1-3. Since Anivia begins to lose most her match ups mid game since she has to build tear it is idea to abuse this part of the laning phase since you want to try to skip right into your mid game build. You're Q Flash Frost and your E Frostbite will easily do 1/2 of your opponents health. Keep in mind your Q has a very high cooldown as well as mana cost so only use it if you are 100% sure you can get the stun. Never poke with just your E Frostbite if you don't have your stun or your ult's passive on them as it wont do any damage. Instead use it to help you farm under tower.

If you were unable to get a lead early you will have to stay back and farm with your ult Glacial Storm and save your Q Flash Frost if you are vs a mobile champ in case they ever try to engage on you. If you are not vs a mobile champ use your Q Flash Frost to try and poke them down. If you do manage to get ahead and are several kills up make sure to roam to your side lanes. This will either force your laner to try and follow you allowing you to turn of them, or if they don't follow, gives you a numerical advantage in a side lane. Before roaming anywhere make sure you have a general understanding of where their jungler might be and try to coordinate with your jungler to follow you to whatever side lane you choose to go.

There are 2 different ways to engage on someone in your lane.
The first way is by placing down your R Glacial Storm onto the enemy champion and cutting off their escape outside your ult with your W Crystallize and then using your E Frostbite (Which is your main damage) on the enemy champion (make sure to try to use it when your ult is fully formed for the 2x damage). Lastly save your Flash Frost once you know which way they are going to try to run out of your ult and throw it in that direction. Even if they are able to dodge your Q Flash Frost they will still be taking damage from your ult Glacial Storm and your E cooldown might reset by the time they get out.
The second way is if you are able to get a stun with your Q Flash Frost (make sure it fully passes through them before reactivating to get off the extra damage) then immediatly follow up with your E Frostbite before using your ult Glacial Storm and W Crystallize to either kite back or finish them off. Depending how how much your intial burst did to them.

If you wish to see how I personally Play Anivia you can check out my stream at Twitch.tv/dvdave_on_the_rift or feel free to look ay my builds in my match history at http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=Dvdave

Feel Free to add me on League if you have any questions regarding Anivia or if there's anything extra you wish to know