Hello there, my name is Poliko and I've been maining Anivia since season 3. I've reached my first challenger
in season 6 on eune server, rank15 eune in season 7 and then euw challenger in season 8 and peaked in season12 1229lp rank51 euw always with Anivia as my most played champion.
After all these years I still love playing this champion and in this simple guide I want to share how I use Anivia to win games.
I also stream almost every day on Twitch so check it out if you have any Anivia related questions or just want to watch top tier Anivia gameplay!

Currently ROA is the best mythic for Anivia with Everfrost being strong option for some games. Liandry might seem like a good item but it just makes Anivia insanely squishy what forces u to play/position too safe and you're not able to get your abilities in and pretty much end up dealing less damage than with ROA/Everfrost while being super easy to punish for every mistake u make.

My default mythic option right now is Rod of Ages and i opt for Everfrost when enemy doesn't have much poke or has a lot of short range champions, then Everfrost+Zhonya often becomes very strong core build.

I never consider buying liandry/ludens/crown it's pretty much just RoA/Everforst every game.

Currently I use phaserush runepage displayed at the top of the guide every single game and I never use electrocute.

Electrocute page is still great and could be used for every game it just has a different playstyle.

I copied this phaserush runepage from another challenger Anivia OTP Berkan and I really enjoy the skill expression and outplay potential that it provides. Using this page you can pressure lane way better without risking dying to enemy jungler (you just proc pr/nimbus and get out), you can use ms to juke enemy spells/reposition and continue fighting/chase down enemy/go back to safety so overall this page allows you to play more agressive without getting punished if you play aorund movement speed that it provides and it lets you get more spells in overall so the damage is still very good.

First recall(s):
I always buy Tear of the Goddess on first recall, Dark Seal and Boots can be postponed for Lost Chapter or its components depending on how much gold i have on recall.

Early game:
Anivia is the slowest champion in the game so I really like getting Sorcerer's Shoes before Everfrost, but it's not a must. Often that early movement speed allows me to get in enemy's range and get kills that I otherwise wouldn't.

Everfrost finish + seraph/zhonya(stopwatch) + mejai(optional)
Everfrost is always the first item to finish, but then it's situational order.

• If we're doing well as a team and there is no big threats from enemy I'm gonna just rush Mejai's Soulstealer even with close to no stacks. Item has great value and crazy snowballing potential so you can buy this in almost any game unless you're forced to buy other items.
• If enemy doesn't have too much ad damage and I want Zhonya's Hourglass just for passive to have outplay potential I'm gonna often buy Stopwatch to just sit on it and try to finish Seraph's Embrace.
• If enemy laner is something like Zed or Talon and I'm doing well, I'm gonna sit on Tear of the Goddess and not upgrade it in order to build Zhonya's Hourglass and Mejai's Soulstealer first.
• If game is very slow or we're not doing too hot as a team but I don't really need Zhonya's Hourglass anytime soon I'm gonna sit on Dark Seal and just go for Seraph's Embrace as my 2nd item.

Getting more ap if situational items not needed:
At this point if I still have Mejai's Soulstealer there is only 1 item slot left. If enemy is building magic resist I'll go for Void Staff, if not, then it's Rabadon's Deathcap
Mejai's Soulstealer can be sold at any point if you have no stacks to get the other item, this item has great gold return on sell that's why it's so worth to go for it in most of the games.

Here are some combo examples that you can practice (open spoilers for combo video):


AA+E+AA+Q+AA+AA+E
Especially when running Electrocute and Ignite this is very strong "cheese" lvl2 combo that's often gonna catch enemy laner off guard. Of course can be used later on aswell, in any prolonged trade. Ignite somewhere in the middle, the sooner the more damage but your enemy will realise you actually have lethal angle:


Q+E
Very simple combo for fast burst, use your Q and E immediately after, so they land at the same time but E still deals double damage. Useful when you just want quick burst and not let your enemy trade back.
Add one auto to proc Electrocute/ Phase Rush



In all the combos below you also try to weave in as many autos as you can


W+Q+E
Use your wall to block enemy path for easy Q hit when they try to go around your W.


Q+W+E
Here you use your Q, then W to block enemy path in a way so they walk into your Q.


Q+W+E Advanced version
Same sequence as previous combo, but here you use your W on top of enemy to displace the champion into your Q.


Here are some combos with R where you try to hit your double damage E twice in one combo:

R+W+E+Q+E


Q+E+R+W+E


Q+R+E+W+E


After finishing Everfrost:

R+ever+E+Q+W+E


Q+R+E+ever+W+E


Long combo with double Q and three double dmg E's versus tankier, slower opponent:
R+Q+E+ever+E+W+Q+E


After level 6 you can be quite creative with your spell usage and it all depends on how tanky or fast/mobile enemy is, you can practice combos i presented here, get some experience and then see what works for you.

Here is some real game combo example from my stream:
R into W to block/displace them back into ult > use E as soon as i have double damage > wait Q because enemy tries to predict Q dodge > use Q before he escapes ult > proc Predator for extra damage and to gapclose to hit another double dmg E and kill the target



Wall usage
You can use your wall to interrupt channels like Teleport, recall, Realm Warp


This is something people don't know about, but you can use your Crystallize next to turrets to block enitre minion wave from passing. This is super useful when you don't have enough vision/info on enemy to be able to safely walk up to the middle of the lane or if enemy laner is simply too strong to match him 1v1 in lane.
Using this wall trick you can pull enemy minion wave under your tower and safely last hit without any threat from enemy. Also can be useful with breaking freezes, if enemy laner has a freeze and you cannot really do much about it just use this wall trick on 1-2 waves and that's gonna be enough to fix your lane state.



Dash blocking with Crystallize. This is definitely the hardest thing to master on Anivia and not something you should expect to pull off when just starting to play the champion. Giving blast cone clip as this is probably the easiest cancel you can practice on. Other "easy" dash cancels that come to mind are on Rek'Sai's, Zac's and Pantheon's dashes/jumps.

Some general thoughts on my mindset and how i approach playing Anivia:

• If you ask me for a single thing that makes a good Anivia player, it's patience. She has a lot of tough matchups and isn't really a full champion before level 6, although she is extremly powerful at punishing mistakes pretty much since level 2 (especially with Electrocute+ Ignite).
  
  
• Most of the time your plan for early game should be last hitting minions and waiting for enemy to walk into your range or get ganked. Anivia has very high base damage on her Flash Frost and Frostbite so even a single combo can cost your enemy most of their hp. If your jungler has a stun or knockup and you can follow it up with your combo/cc chain it almost always guarantees in a kill.
  
  
• Anivia is the slowest champion with no mobility so you have to be extremly careful when pushing your lane. Do it only if you have your jungler nearby or sufficient vision/knowledge where enemy jungler/support is.
  
  
• After level six you have fast waveclear with Glacial Storm. If you get the wave quickly and enemy is stuck under his tower clearing his wave don't just midlessly try to push the tower. First look if you can make some deep vision, or help your jungler getting enemy camps or ganking a sidelane. That's why i run Relentless Hunter in my runes. Go for plates only if there isn't anything else to do on the map and you know you're safe.
  
  
• As Anivia you want to stay mid as long as you can because of how good your waveclear is. If your bot has to go mid it's ok to go sides to clear waves, buy never try to be a splitpusher. Most of the time you just push the waves and try to join your team. If enemy tries to siege mid you always want to be there, with your Glacial Storm it's super hard for enemy to push towers so make sure you're there.
  
  
• In mid-late game your job is to clear waves, secure whatever your team is doing and deny what enemy team is trying to do. Your team wants to do drake/nash? Push mid wave and join them. Once you're on the objective and enemy is looking to contest you can use Glacial Storm and Frostbite to damage objective and Crystallize with Flash Frost to zone enemy from approaching at the same time.
  Your team is sieging and has an engage? Be in range to follow up with cc chain/damage to kill the target.
  Enemy team is trying to engage? You can use your spells to peel the target or just zone enemy backline with Crystallize and make rest of enemy team unable to join in time to turn the fight in your favor.

Those are some generic cues for how in my opinion Anivia fundamentally should be played, but as you get more and more experienced and know limits of the champion you can become way more flexible/agressive with your playstyle.

Here I'm gonna list all the situational items and why would I choose to buy them in game instead of my standard build.

Mythic:

Item Sequence Crown of the Shattered Queen 2800 Item Sequence Liandry's Torment 3000 Item Sequence Luden's Tempest 3200 Other: Item Sequence Horizon Focus 2800 Item Sequence Morellonomicon 2850 Item Sequence Banshee's Veil 3000 Item Sequence Demonic Embrace 3000 Item Sequence Winter's Approach 2400

Crown of the Shattered Queen In my opinion overrated item, but can be a good substitute for Everfrost when playing into assassins, especially when behind. I'd consider building this item into champions like: Talon, Qiyana, LeBlanc, Zed, Irelia, Akshan Liandry's Torment This item became very good 2nd mythic option after 12.10 durability patch. Whenever enemy doesn't have very agressive champions that can easily jump on you or if they simply have a lot of tanky champions Liandry can provide a lot of value for Anivia. Luden's Tempest Another mythic that I'd hardly ever consider over Everfrost. Gives amazing burst but makes Anivia super squishy in exchange. Can be used if enemy has no champions that can easily kill me or if I have very good peel in my team. Horizon Focus Currently I don't find myself buying this item ever, it doesn't give Anivia too much value and I don't think it's worth buying over other items. Morellonomicon It's less convenient to get this item on Anivia compared to other mages, but sometimes we just have to. Buy Oblivion Orb after finishing mythic if enemy has a lot of healing and upgrade to morello when you don't need to buy anything else. It's ok to just sit on Oblivion Orb or you can just rush Everfrost Seraph's Embrace Morellonomicon as your 3 item core because of how cheap those items are or skip Seraph's Embrace completely and play tearless with morello and 2nd item. Banshee's Veil I don't find myself buying this item often but it's just great when enemy is ap heavy. You can buy Verdant Barrier before finishing mythic when enemy has hard ap matchup and ap jungler, or just go for banshee as 2nd/3rd item option instead of Zhonya's Hourglass Demonic Embrace Good situational item after 12.10 durability update. Can be used together with Everfrost vs champs that get tankier later into the game or together with Liandry and Phase Rush into super tanky comps. Winter's Approach More creative item on Anivia and probably not something I wouldn't recommend if you just started learning Anivia. Can be used when you need that extra tankiness and your team has enough damage.

I hope you enjoyed this simple guide that introduces you to Anivia's playstyle and build that I use.

For now my plan was to cover all the basics you need to know to begin your journey with this amazing champion and in near future I want to develop this into more detailed in-depth guide that Anivia players on all levels can learn from.

If you still have more questions after reading this guide or just want to watch some high elo Anivia gameplay join me on my Twitch channel where I stream almost every evening EU time!