Hi everyone, I am Hoity Toity, I hope you enjoy my guide which helped me achieve challenger in season 10 and 11 playing Annie and also achieving rank 1 annie world multiple times.

For more in-depth commentary, match-up guides and strategies you can watch me at:
My Twitch
My Youtube
My Twitter

Abilities

Annie - The Dark Child (probably killed her step-sister too) Ranged, Mage, Burst, Support Annie is a burst mage capable of utilising her incredible AOE and front-loaded damage to win teamfights and find picks. Although she is considered one-dimensional, she has versatility through build paths and playstyle which can open up the game to you. Role: Annie can be played as: Burst Drain Initiator Peel Pick However, she excels in proactive play, finding opportunities and making plays through her instant AOE and burst damage.

Durability Patch Changes <VERY IMPORTANT>:

Following the huge durability changes, pure burst builds have become more unreliable due to MR scaling on all champs. This means breakpoints will be harder to reach and you will have to snowball harder than previously. This gameplay style has thus become inconsistent.

The changes to Durability open the path for this Annie playstyle which is more consistent and opens up other options for Annie such as split pushing and playing more riskier due to being extremely tanky.

It is a shift but Annie is in a good spot

Movement:
Annie's smaller character model allows her to dodge skillshots easier than other champions, less movement is required and she is a harder target to hit. On top of this, her Molten Shield gives a short burst of decaying Movement speed which allows her to make nuanced movements as well as get to locations quicker for roams etc.

Scaling:
Very weak in early game due to Mana costs to damage value, however, once you enter midgame and get some item spikes you will be able to one shot squishy champions. This will be your chance to be proactive with roams or solo kill your laner.

As long as you can 1 shot a squishy, you have value. If you aren't able to you can either set up plays for your team or peel as a stunbot for them.

Power journey:
Annie starts the game with a weak level 1-3, Focus on farming with Disintegrate and auto attack harass if possible.
At level 4 (i.e 2 levels in Disintegrate) you will be able to Q poke if possible. Don't look for trades unless they are favorable.
Level 6 onward you have huge kill potential and pressure with Summon: Tibbers
From this point onward you will have kill and pick potential as long as you play around your ult cooldown and stun stacks

Types of fighting:
With Hextech Rocketbelt you act as an initiator, looking for flanks and picks on squishy champions or multi man ults to engage for your team

With Everfrost you will play a more front to back and peel style for your adc and rest of team. Everfrost also allows for picks due to its great lockdown.

With Liandry's Torment builds you will play a front to back heavy playstyle looking to kill the opposing frontline and tanks before moving towards their backline.

The decision of what mythic and playstyle to adopt will be dependent on your own team comp and the enemies team comp

Annie is without a doubt an easy to pick up champion. Her kit is an archetype of a battle, loaded with upfront damage and burst. Most would consider her one-dimensional.

Due to this type of kit, learning Annie will allow you to strengthen your fundamentals and macro play and you will elevate your overall levels by learning her.


However, although she has a low barrier of entry she also has a high skill ceiling due to the use and micro of Summon: Tibbers. There are a lot of creative plays that can be made and you will be able to carry her fundamentals to other mid champions that you decide to learn

At the moment I feel that Hextech Rocketbelt and Everfrost are Annie's 2 strongest Mythics.

Hextech Rocketbelt excels in allowing you to catch and initiate for your team. On top of that, it allows you to break spell shields from an extremely far distance which then opens the enemy to being stunned or flashed on. This is especially the case as you start to climb elo and smarter opponents start to build Edge of Night and Banshee's Veil.




Everfrost excels in locking down opponents not only for your team to damage safely and peel but also in your own all in's for Tibbers to stay enraged on. summone: tibbersTibber's enrage is a large amount of DPS which Everfrost lockdown after your stun will enable further.


Why not ludens?

This is a very common question I get, Luden's Tempest has amazing stats that are all relevant to Annie, with a great mythic passive and allows for wave clear.

In my opinion Luden's Tempest is overkill on Annie's already impressive burst. It also lacks the ability to reliably break Spell Shield which cuts off options if the opponent builds Spell Shield. I've never felt the need to build this item and likely won't anytime soon even with its recent buffs.

Dark Harvest A heavily underrated and underused rune on Annie. Dark Harvest works well with Annie as she is able to proc Dark Harvest even when she is dead. Summon: Tibbers has the ability to proc Dark Harvest across the teamfight if champions are dying. On top of this, Annie generally already has large kill potential on squishy targets, being able to burst a single squishy then proc Dark Harvest onto another squishy allows the potential for multi-kills.

Cheap Shot allows for the additional damage and synergises well with her stun combo. Disintegrate Incinerate+ auto will allow an electrocute proc + additional true damage from Cheap Shot. If you are finding sustaining in lane difficult, you can opt for Taste of Blood instead.

Ghost Poro An excellent rune if versing roaming champions, allowing you additional vision against champions such as Fizz and Talon who may opt to roam instead of engaging on you. If you have a safer playstyle this rune will get you extra value to spot out those roams when you don't have priority. The runes in this tier are playstyle dependent and all of them are viable.

Ultimate Hunter More ults = More play making potential and extra pressure. This tier is also play style dependent as both relentless hunter is also viable (if you are roam heavy/skirmish heavy player) and Ravenous Hunter can offer additional sustain (especially if you play a side lane/split push/high farm style.

Mana Flow Band Great rune as Annie will require at least some source of Mana ( Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will, Manaflow Band or Tear of the Goddess) and Manaflow Band grants access to this.

Transcendence The cooldown reduction is helpful for you especially in mid/late game and team fighting. More cd reduction = more stuns + shields for your team.

Due to Annie's small mana pool most of your early laning will be spent managing waves and getting farm. Harass with Annie's extremely long autos and look for good trades. I often look for more trades when my Q is at least level 2 to justify the mana costs.

Pre 10 minutes focus on farm, having good wave and looking for early skirmishes with your jungle (your stun is very valuable)

Manage your threat by holding onto your stun if needed and play safe when your stun is not available to avoid jungle ganks or lane all ins.

Your goal is to get out of early laning without forfeiting too many minions so you can look for skirmishes later

Mid game will be your strength and where you will be looking to get leads and snowball.

If you are able to, you can pressure your mid laner using your all ins or Summon: Tibbers. This does not mean you have to kill, being able to pressure them out of lane and force them to recall will allow you priority to look for roams and other skirmishes/objectives.

If you have pressured them out of lane, or even if you haven't but have a good wave state, you can look for roam angles to gank for your laners ( Annie excels in bot lane dives and bot lane ganks due to her guaranteed Pyromania stun) and utilise your Molten Shield speed to help you get to locations quicker.

Late game you will be looking for picks and playing around vision as much as possible. Making sure to Flash for plays if it leads to objectives and not just kills.

Look for flanks outside of vision to gain access to the opponents squishies and don't be afraid to Flash in or die for a multi man ult or 2 man ult even if it allows your team to win the teamfight.

Do not play Annie for KDA, play her for objectives and control.

Example:
Finding an angle for multi man stuns

Bear Micro is the ability to control Summon: Tibbers when he is cast. By using Tibbers as an extension of your Champion, you open the skill ceiling to be able to make more creative plays.

This will separate good Annie players from great Annie players.

An understanding of Bear Micro will include:

• Use of Summon: Tibbers as a ward
• Blocking skillshots
• Using leash range to teleport Summon: Tibbers back to you
• Tanking tower shots
• Leashing minions for better wave states
• Many more

Example:
Using tibbers to block nunu snowball

More to come, all feedback is welcome.

Be sure to check me out on:

twitch
twitter

11.16 - Guide Created
11.17 - Wits end nerfs is a slight indirect buff to Annie when vsing champions like Irelia
11.18 - Nothing Special
11.19 - Buffs to Akali makes pushing her out of lane harder, Buffs to Galio won't affect laning vs him but mid/late game will be harder. Ryze nerfs improves this matchup
11.20 - Imperial mandate changes makes synergy with mandate nami a lot better.
11.21 - Ingenius hunter buff makes predator/hextech/everfrost annie builds more viable. Health rune buff
11.22 - No direct changes that will affect Annie

Durability Patch + - Multiple changes, complete revision of build. Achieved masters with high winrate to ensure consistent build.