In most lore, the phoenix is a creature of fire that rises from its own ashes. What few know, however, is that phoenixes are elemental beings, formed by the eternal essences of their native world. Anivia was conceived on a world such as this - a being of the coldest winter, a creature of pure elemental ice. On her world, Anivia was the protector of the frozen wastes and all those with the spirit to endure in such unforgiving places. She was consulted as a creature of great wisdom, one who could not die and who had seen the world renewed several times. Somehow, Anivia knew that the day would come when she would be plucked from her home and pulled across worlds, and when that day came, she received the call with grace. Seeing the imbalance and injustice on Runeterra, a world lacking elemental protectors, Anivia took her place at the League of Legends.

Since her arrival, the Cryophoenix has chosen to live among the highest peaks of the Northern Ironspike Mountains, adjacent to the frozen wastes of Freljord. She has openly claimed this territory as her own protectorate. Surprisingly, Anivia has struck up a friendship with the yeti of this region - a friendship that grows deeper and deeper with each passing moon. She has formed a close bond with two League champions: Nunu (and Willump) and the nomad princess Ashe. In a move that caught the League by surprise, the Cryophoenix recently entreated the summoners of the Institute of War to research a means in bringing across others of her elemental fellows. As a champion, Anivia is revered with a sense of awe by most, but is not the most popular as most consider her unapproachable.

Some say the world will end in fire, some in ice. Anivia awaits the inevitable latter.

Hello everyone, this guide will show you my way of playing Anivia. From the first time I played the bird I fell in love with her destructive power and utility and... THE WALL! I have since played her a lot and I am now playing around 1500 Elo with a 70% win percentage and 8-3-12 K/D/A ratio. I will show you 3 ways to play Articuno.

-August 26th : Rabadon's deathcap has been nerfed to 140AP but it was overpowered... it is still the smart choice to rush the item asap so no change to the guide!

PROS
-Amazing burst damage
-Built in Guardian Angel
-Great utility
-Can check brush with walls
-Has a stun always usefeul)
-Deals massive AOE damage
-Good bait (Rebirth)

CONS

-Squishy champion especially early game
-Terrible autoattack for last hist (slow and low dmg)
-One of the slowest champ of the game
-Very mana hungry (needs blue buff nearly all the time)
-Hard to master
-Difficult to aim FF at lane phase

Greater Quintessence of Health
For Quintessence, I choose flat HP because at early levels, it gives you a good health bonus which is really a problem with Anivia at low levels. Also, if they are to turn you into an egg, that egg will have the bonus hp too and when you respawn, you have that bonus hp healed too. So in a long fight, that 78 bonus hp is tripled.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
If you don't play have those marks, do not play Anivia

Greater Seal of Armor
For seals, I have been running armor lately cause early game is vital as Anivia, if you get underfed at lane phase, it will be a hard game. The armor helps me survive as an egg if things go wrong because people will usually bash on it with autoattacks.

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration
Those seals are also a good idea since Anivia is probably one of the most mana hungry champion of the game. However, at high Elo, people are smart enough to understand that Anivia owns with mana and is just a walking dead bird without it. Therefore, a good team will let you have the blue buff all game. You also have 30% increased duration from masteries. To conclude, if you play with someone who also wants blue or with noobs, good choice.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction
Dealing a **** load of damage if a fun thing, especially with Anivia because you can melt people very fast. However, I was often frustrated by waiting for my FF or Wall cooldown that could have saved my allies and then when I get it, I'm one second too late. After playing a lot, I think the low cooldown will save lives more than the extra AP will get you kills.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power
Also a good choice as explained above

High elo build

the item pattern is shown at the recap above. Let's explain now. You will want Catalyst the protector as soon as possible to have a better lane durability, if you lose lane phase, you will have a hard time getting back on your feet. Then you want your Sorcerer's Shoes asap because movement speed is the key to landing good flashfrosts and then closing in for the frostbite. You will then go straight for Rabadon's Deathcap which is an item that give waaaay to many AP to be bought later. After this item is made, you will be high lvl so the lvl up bonus from Catalyst the protector won't be useful anymore, change it to Banshee's Veil. Then you will want to pierce the other team's MR. If the champs you want to kill are getting items based on Negatron Cloak, make a Void Staff. If they are not getting any MR, make an Abyssal Mask. Usually at that point, the game will be over. If it's not, then you have the liberty to choose what the team needs. If they are stacking health, Deathfire Grasp is a good idea. Zhonya's Hourglass also a smart choice. Lich Bane is to be considered if you have trouble pushing towers since it will make you land 300 dmg hits on towers.

DO NOT FORGET TO BUY ELIXIR OF BRILLANCEwhenever you finish an item, if you have 250 leftover gold, buy an elixir! The bonus AP will show when your flash frost goes through the enemy champion, it will show when the ball explodes and it will double on the Frostbite. Thats 4x dmg from the bonus AP, DO IT!

Low elo / normal games build

The big difference between Low elo and High elo is the number of kills. People act like Rambo at low elo/normal and there are less wards around the map so people tend to get surprised more often. More kills = snowball items = yayyy.

Once again start with Sapphire Crystal and 2 Health Potion

Before the 25 minute mark, you want in your inventory : Sorcerer's boots, Rod of Ages and Meija's soulstealer. After that, rush to Rabadon's Deathcap since as mentionned above, way too good of an item. Then once again, you will want to pierce some MR so go by the same logic as above. If you die or nearly die a lot, think about surviving before piercing MR.

Bulky build

The bulky build is not the best way to play Anivia, at all. I usually do it when I get paired with ******s on the solo queue and we lack tanks. This build can work if you ally get dish out massive damage (which they are supposed to be able to do since there are no tanks). You will want to charge in first and take the hits while using your useful skill to help your teammates (stun with FF, slow with ultimate, used intelligent walls, etc.) Then since you went in first, the chance of you dieing are fairly high so you will turn into an egg... a very powerful egg. They most likely won't be able to kill you or they will lose more in the trade from your damaging allies. If they don't kill you, well Anivia deals massive amount of damage over time even with few AP.

Once again start with Sapphire Crystal and 2 Health Potion
Once your first trip back try to make Catalyst the protector and Boots
Then the build goes like this : Rod of Ages Sorcerer's Shoes Glacial Shroud or Abyssal Mask depending on their main source of damage but I would usually go for Glacial Shroud. Then make Banshee's Veil to finally complete with Frozen Heart
if the game is not over at that point, your team is not dealing enough damage so make Rabadon's Deathcap :D

If you can't flash any FF, you can't play Anivia. As a beginner, people won't be too good at dodging this skill so you can aim right at them and it will hit most of the time. However, as the player get more skilled, landing a flashfrost (probably the slowest skill shot of the game) is more of a mind game. People know that if you hit them once, they will lose 50%+ of their HP. This is why I love to toy with them a little. Try to analyse the dodging pattern of your opponent. Most of the time, skilled players will move the place where you would least expect him to go to dodge the FF. So as the game goes on, you have to think : If I was him, where would I think I would fire my FF... and then, fire at the opposite location! You can also trick him by wasting a couple of FF. I could let's say fire 3 consecutive FF at his left making him dodge right all the time. (this toying process costs me 270 mana). Then I fire the fourth at his right and since he's used to dodge there, he will eat the FF and the FB costing him more than 400hp. As I said, mind games... practice and you'll get there!





I think I don't have to explain how the wall works... you place it, people can't get through.

Tip 1: in a lane, try to make one side of your wall touch the trees from the lane, that way, you know exactly where the opponent will go when he tries to run away or to catch you. That way, you can fire an easy FF at that location and stun them/kill them depending if you're running away or chasing.

Tip 2 : When a fight starts in the jungle, try to split the other team in half making the fight that much more difficult for them.

Tip 3 : The wall gives vision so instead of facechecking a bush, wall on it.

Why did I put 2 points in the wall instead of leaving it lvl 1 ?

I found that the extra point in crystallize gives me the ability to FULLY BLOCK most pathways in the jungle. The lvl 1 wall can only block some of them so I think that the full lockdown is more useful than the little extra damage on FF.

Also, make sure to put 1 lvl in it at lvl 4. I have played A LOT of game with Anivia and believe me, I wished I had my lvl 1 wall when I didn't way more often than I wish I had an extra lvl in FlashFrost.



Not much to say about this skill, just make sure to it when your target is chilled by either FF or Glacial Storm!


Very useful skill

-Slows movement speed (remember that when you run away)
-slows attack speed (try to aim at AD champs)
-Chills the opponent (a lot easier to aim than FF if you wait to score the 2X dmg of FB
-Makes hitting with FF A LOT easier (since they move slower)
-Anivia can now creep like a boss instead of being stuck with one of the worst autoattacks ever

P.S. Be careful with your mana especially in a fight, you will be frustrated when you run short of mana to make the kill and you forgot to turn off the storm during the said fight.

I really think that and are the way to go to make a good mix of firepower and escape mecanism.

isn't a bad choice but I feel that since you can already flash over walls, slow, stun or wall out the opponents, you don't have to run that fast to get away

Can be a good choice if you're starting with Anivia and don't know how to gage your mana well yet.

Always a good choice especially if bot and top lanes put wards in the brush... surprise gank!

Farming is the hard part of playing Anivia since as mentionned, she has a very, very bad autoattack. You will need a lot of practice to get those last hits right. One thing is for sure though, YOU MUST ask for the mid lane cause if you have to share last hits with someone, you will lose. If you are playing on a high lvl team that has a jungler and a support not taking any cs, I still think that anivia is not at her best with brush around, you really should mid.

The hard part is to farm the first 1275 gold before your first trip to get Catalyst and Boots of speed. If you can manage that, then you will be lvl 6 and with Catalyst providing you mana every now and then you will be able to use Glacial Storm to get them creep kills.

I think using the egg to it's full potential is the thing that you will learn by doing with Anivia. However, here are the things you want to try to use it to its full potential.

1- Early game, don't be afraid to die from harrassment/ignite. Just make sure that when you do collapse (from ignite idealy), you are under your tower so you can't be hit. You will respawn full health to fight your lane.

2- Act like you are scared of dieing to make your opponents overcommit and do mistakes

3- If you are being chased, do not always run away home on a straight line. You can zig-zag and gain time with your slows, stuns and wall. Then when they finally catch up and egg you, your backup arrives and kills them all. Then you press Shift + Enter and write : Worth it ?

4- Do not be scared to be among the first to die (I'm not saying to suicide Zombie Karthus style) but if you die last in a team fight, your egg will most likely die too since you will have no one to defend it. Also if you are among the first to die, your team can deal serious dmg while they are busy killing you... AGAIN!

95% of the time, you want mid lane with Anivia, however, a very good partner for her is

If you take bot lane with him, he shouldn't steal any cs making you farm like if you had mid but he can also pull off good stuns. You can then proceed to FF the stunned champ and then FB him making them cry and ask for a lane switch. If you have a side lane, always keep in mind that even if Anivia has a slow and weak autoattack, she really has a big range on it. Feel free to harass with autoattacks whenever you can

Early game

Early game with Anivia is all about respect and mind games. Your goal is not really to kill your opponent... it is more to be able to keep up with him in creep kills even if your champion is not good at it. Anivia is better than most champions at the other aspects of the game so if you can keep up on the creep kill aspect too, GG!

What you want to do is always stay at flashfrost range with your opponent to make him freak out about the mad damage he knows you can do. If he moves towards you for some harrasment, you have to answer with some dmg of your own to impose respect. When you see that some of your creeps have low hp, you can move towards the enemy to make him freak out about a combo and make him miss his creep kills. Also, if he does respect you a lot and stay far from his creeps, try to see when he will go in for a creep kill and flashfrost where he will approximatly be for his autoattack. Anivia is not good at creep killing but she is indeed good at making people freak out and miss creep kills.

Mid game

If you are not underfed from lane phase, this is your time to shine! Level 5 Frostbite is all you need to deal MASSIVE amount of damage to who you see fit. Try to force team fights at dragon or at blue/red buff to make the most of your shining moment. If you manage to get them in the jungle, your lvl 2 wall should be of a huge advantage to your team to pick up a couple of kills and make you snowball!

Late game

Even if you can still give considerable amount of pain to who you see fit, there is probably someone on your team who can deal even more pain. Your primary job is now to make sure that person lives by stunning/slowing/walling anyone who tries to kill him. If your carries are safe, then proceed into dealing massive amount of damage to anyone who crosses your path!

If you're wondering to play Anivia or not, I assume that your team needs an AP carry or else you're an idiot and you have no understanding of this game.

When is the best moment to pick Anivia instead of : Malzahar, Annie, Swain, Karthus, etc.

I think that Anivia is very versatile which is what makes her such an awesome champion, however, you will want 3 things from your opponents:

1- Take the full combo of FF/FB in the face and eat it all

2- Can't dodge flashfrost too easily

3- Will suffer from the CC of Glacial Storm

Therefore, here are the champions you want to avoid :

1- Nocturne, Sivir and Gangplank have built in abilities that will block one of your spells... may it be FF or FB it doesn't matter cause Anivia needs a full combo to truely dish out pain

2- Kassadin, LeBlanc, Ezreal, Vladimir and Tristana
I'm not saying that you will lose if you face any of these champs but if they're good, they will dodge your flashfrost with their abilities

3- Master Yi and Olaf
They don't give a **** about your cc, they will get to you


Once again, I'm not saying to not play Anivia if you see any of these champions. However, if by any chance you see none of them, play the bird :D

Anivia is one of the hardest characters to master for the following reasons :

-Her autoattack is **** making last hits very difficult
-FlashFrost is a very slow skillshot making hitting with it a mind game at high lvl
-Crystallize can either win a fight or lose a fight if placed good/bad
-Mastering Rebirth takes a lot of experience

If you play Articuno a lot, you will realise that she is definately one of the best 5 casters of LoL

Hope this guide is useful, it is my first and since I really don't master the guide creating tool I have no idea how it will come out. Let's cross my finger that it looks good!