Hi, This is my first guide so please give me feedback on it.

*MobaFire stats calculator not working properly as of Jan 27, 2013. Will remove notice once it's fixed.*

(In construction)

If you're reading this guide, then you must really like Annie. Well, after you're done with this guide, you will be pro demon child. In this guide I will cover some tips on how to play Annie well, an explanation to my build, masteries, and runes, and will also give a few pointers on how to mid against a few other mid champions who I use a lot.

Also, see my AD Annie guide if you're looking for a more unorthadox, yet extremely fun and useful, way to play Annie. (In construction)

Pros

+ Extremely High Ap
+ Tons of Burst Damage
+ Nice stun
+ Great in teamfights


Cons

- Very squishy
- Weak if shut down early game
- No defense

For Annie's masteries you want to go 21/0/9. 21 in Offense to maximize damage output, and 9 in utility for bonus mana and mana regen. I also put 2 of those 9 points into Mastermind for the 7% summoner spell cooldown so I can use Flash and Ignite more often, however, if you don't want to be extremely squishy, you could put 2 points in Perseverance for hp regen, or into Durability for a little extra hp late game.

You wanna use flat 3x Quintessence of Ability Power runes with flat 9x Seal of Magic Resist, 9x Mark of Magic Penetration, and flat 9x Glyph of Ability Power.

The reason I do not use scaling runes is because I prefer higher damage output early game in order for me to get fed, HOWEVER, if you know that you aren't that good early game and you are better mid-late game, I highly suggest getting 9x Glyph of Scaling Ability Power. You get 3.06 ap at lvl 18 per scaling ap glyph. That's 27.54 extra ap at level 18, as compared to the 10.8 extra ap at level 18 you get from using flat ap glyphs. However, with scaling ap glyphs, at level 1 you have 1.53 extra ap as opposed to 10.8 extra ap you get from flat ap runes. Obviously a huge difference that could change the tide of the game early on.

Also, the reason I recommend getting 9x Seal of Magic Resist over 9x Seal of Armor is because you're usually midding against another ap champion. But if you want to build seals of armor than it's still viable, as it can help to save you from being ganked or easily killed by an enemy ad champ.

Good Summoner Spells

+ Flash: Great for escaping, useful on all Champions.
+ Ignite: Great for securing that kill early game, also useful mid-late game on a champion that's low on hp and running away. Deals True Damage
+ Exhaust: Great for slowing down an enemy champion so that you can stun them and/or for your teammates to finish them off.


Okay Summoner Spells

* Heal: Alright for a bit of extra sustain Early-Mid game. Pretty useless late Game.
* Teleport: Great for getting back into a lane or into the enemy base if you've almost won the game. USE WITH CAUTION! Do not teleport somewhere where you will die.
* Ghost: Great for running away or chasing down an enemy. Not as Effective as flash because it lacks the ability to blink through walls.


Bad Summoner Spells

- Barrier: Somewhat useful for adding extra defense when being focused down. Otherwise, utterly Useless
- Clarity: Useful if you're running out of mana too much. (If you just aren't good at conserving your mana, there is always the blue buff).
- Cleanse: Great for facing a team with Lots of CC
- Revive: You should not be dying anyway. However, somewhat useful late game once revive timers are longer.



Troll Summoner Spells

|_| Clairvoyance: Do I honestly have to explain this one? Just no. If you somehow find this being one of your spells, at least use it to check Baron and dragon.
|_| Smite: Worst Than Clairvoyance. Annie does not need smite, She is an APC (or ADC If you're building her that way).

For Annie, you're gonna wanna max your W first. Why? Your W will always deal 10 more damage than your Q at the same level. Also, it's an AoE spell that doesn't deal reduced damage based on how many enemies you hit. You wanna get your Q maxed second, but don't forget to put a point into your e at level 3 so you can have a freebie spell to store a charge for your stun. As with all champs, put a point in your ult at 6, 11, and 16. Be sure to farm with your Q early game to store a charge for your stun, but mid-late game you can take out an entire minion wave with your W and get a lot of Cs for one skill cast.

For Items, I like to start off with the standard boots and 3 hp pots, tho the hp pots are optional if you doubt you're gonna take much damage from harass early game. However, those are the only 3 pots you should buy, period. The rest of your gold will go towards boosting your magic penetration and ap. I personally enjoy the 20% spellvamp that you receive from WotA, mainly so because my build offers little defense, however, if you're determined to have a lot of damage, I recommend getting something like deathfire grasp or liandry's torment so that you can shred through your enemies hp. I get void staff over rod of ages because I perfer the magic penetration over The bonus Hp, mana, and 20 ap I wouldn't recommend switching this out for any item because the magic penetration boost greatly increases your burst damage. It feels great to send the enemy mid champion back to base 2 times in a row just because they got bursted down so low after returning back to their lane. I also do not get doran's ring on Annie ever, despite the fact that most people do. I feel it's useless as it restores only 5 mana each kill, which isn't really too much if you're last hitting AND harassing like you should be. Mid-Late game it's worthless anyway, so I wouldn't recommend it. But if you feel that you need the extra ap early game, then start off with Doran's ring instead of boots and pots. As for the Deathcap, since it provides the most base ap out of all the items in the game, along with Zhyona's hourglass due to the new season 3 update. It now provides 120 base AP, which makes it a lot better of a item to build after Deathcap. I highly recommend getting it to finish off your build. If you need to counter build, then I suggest that you decide on what to build for your 6th item based purely on the situation. Lot of Ad on the enemy team? Build Thornmill to help you stay alive. Lots of nukes or pulls on the enemy? Build banshee's veil. Nothing more satisfying than to see blitz grab you, only to have his arm deflected by an invisble force. Tons of cc? I highly suggest quicksilver sash. Use that and flash to make a quick escape- or use it and then stun the entire enemy time for a possible pentakill.

Farming with Annie is rather simple. Use your Q and make sure to last hit your basic attacks. Annie has insanely long basic attack range as well, so you should be safe to farm without suffering much harass from the enemy unless they are playing extremely aggressively (Which you should punish them for by killing them). Mid-Late game, however, you wanna farm with your W. Not single minions, no, but entire waves of enemy minions that were left unchecked to push towards a tower. You can easily get 20-25 Cs right there easily.

In team fights, you're gonna wannna land a stun using you're ult. With such high Ap and magic penetration, a stun from your ult on the entire enemy team almost guarantees you'll win the team fight 100% of the time. If you find yourself low on mana with enough of it to cast one spell and stun someone, go ahead and stun that enemy that's trying to run away. Hopefully, your teammate will pick up the kill. Also, be sure to have your teammates call MIA or ward the bushes near mid lane. If you're pushing against the turret and you're open for a gank, build up a stun and pretend that you're gonna go toward the turret. When you see the enemy champion come out, either stun and run if you can't take him and the person you're midding against has a lot of hp left, or stun and burst him down and finish him off with ignite if you can, and maybe even picking up a double kill if the enemy mid lane champ had low hp and decided to try and come save his teammate.

Annie's Autoattack has long range. USE IT. I can not tell you enough how many times I managed to pick up a few kills when I was out of mana and the enemy was running away and had barely 100hp left. Your auto attack range is 625. Use that range to harass the enemy free of mana. Also, instead of getting your stun ready and trying to attack an enemy, bait them by getting 3 charges and making sure you're E and ult are ready to be used. Once the enemy get's close, quickly use E and then ult them with tibbers and burst them down until they're nothing but ash. Why get 3 charges instead of having all 4 nice and ready? People look for the white aura around Annie to signal that she has her stun ready. Trust me, if people think you don't have your stun ready, they will be a lot more inclined to attack you because they feel that they can destroy you before you get you're stun ready again. While they couldn't be more wrong, they're going to be scared to go anywhere near you if you have your stun nice and ready for them. Mid-Late game you should clear scores of Minions with your W rather than your Q because it's a lot of CS (Which means more gold) and also pushes the lane a lot faster.

(In construction)

V.1.00.01: Initial guide. Added Summoner Spells, Item Build order, Skill order, masteries, and runes.
V.1.01.01: Information added. Added text in all chapters of the guide, added notes to Item build, masteries, and runes. Provided Starting Items and situational Items for Item build.
V.1.01.50: Edited Masteries, Runes, And Summoner Spells Chapters. Made it easier to read and also Added explanation as to why Certain Summoner Spells are good and also what they can be used for.
V.1.01.60: Changed Items and Edited Items chapter somewhat, due to season 3 update. Zyhona's Hourglass now provides 120 Base AP.

Next update will consist of making the guide easier to read, visually pleasing, and going more in depth on certain things I chose not to for now. Also will add Tips on how to handle certain Mid Champions.