Annie Build Guide by luxie060

Introduction

Hello everyone! I am Kat, and I bring you a guide for Annie, The Dark Child! I have played Annie since I began League of Legends. I loved mages, and noticed Annie. She caught my eye the moment I saw her in the shop. I currently own 2 skins for her: Prom Queen Annie, and Reverse Annie. I have mained Annie since level 1, when I worked up 450 IP.

_____I somehow managed to get CasterMaster to help me with this. We made this guide together, and yeahh. You are probably asking how we made it. Well, we made a troll account and then did the guide there. Then, we copied and pasted all of it to my account and released the guide. It worked out pretty well, my knowledge of Annie and his knowledge of casters.

_____This will be my 3rd guide here on MobaFire. I have studied other Annie guides here at MobaFire and SoloMid. I have spectated ranked games with players playing Annie and have watched multiple streams. I currently have been collaborating with CasterMaster to help me with this guide on the item sequence, masteries, runes, and mostly the entire guide. He has helped me and given me insight on this guide.


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Glossary

• AoE: Area Of Effect. A spell that deals damage in an area instead of a single target. (i.e. Miasma)
• AD: Attack Damage.
• AP: Ability Power
• Burst: Categorizes any hero that rely on chaining his abilities quickly to inflict high damage. (i.e. Annie)
• Carry: Champion which needs to develop his efficiency so that he can "carry" his team to victory in the end-game. (i.e. Varus)
• CC: Crowd Control, any ability that prevents from doing what he wants to do: Silence, Fear, Stun, etc.
• Combo: Short for "Combination". Quick succession of abilities (and sometimes attacks) that synergizes together to provide good damage and/or additional effects.
• Denying: To deny an opponent from obtaining gold and/or experience.
• DoT: Damage Over Time abilities or spells. (i.e. Malefic Visions/ Ignite)
• DPS: Damage Per Second with basic attacks, the higher the better. By extension, categorizes any champion that is supposed to kill his foes using auto attacks. (i.e. Tryndamere)
• Feed: Action of giving someone repeated champion kills, so that they get extra experience and gold. Carries are usually VERY dangerous when fed. You want to feed your carry mostly, and avoid feeding the opponent.
• Gank: Short for Gang-Kill, when several heroes team up to dispatch an inferior number of ennemy champions. (i.e. Annie)
• Last Hit: Slaying Minions & Monster grants gold to its killer, but ONLY for the killing blow, refered as a "Last Hit". In the laning phase you hence want to only last hit enemy minions.
• MIA (SS): Missing In Action, usually followed by the name of a champion or the lane involved, meaning a champion's whereabouts are unknown, and might be on their way to gank someone, somewhere.
• Skillshot: A skillshot is an ability that you cast with no target, "hoping" to hit an opponent. You usually have to "predict" where they are going to go before you shoot your skillshot.
• Support: Action of helping a teammate. By extension, categorizes any champion that mainly supports his team, be it with heals, support spells, crowd control, etc. (i.e. Sona)
• Tank: Action of taking the blunt of the damage while you fight back. By extension, categorizes any champion that is supposed to focus the enemy's attention on her while her teammates provides the damage. (i.e. Leona)
• Zoning: The act of forcing an opponent to stay out of range of your attacks and/or abilities from fear of getting disabled or heavily damaged. By effectively zoning an opponent out of experience range, you are effectively denying him experience and gold, since he cannot last hit either.

Pros / Cons

As with all champions, Annie has her upsides to her downsides..

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Superb Pros + Extreme burst damage + Amazing AoE damage + Built-in Thornmail ability + Not mana dependent + Extremely viable to any team composition + She controls fire?!?!

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Atrocious Cons - Squishy - Susceptible to CC - Easily countered - Focused quickly - Useless if shutdown early - A bit difficult to master

Masteries

You can consider many different paths for Annie. Since she's an AP carry, we're going to want to take damage for our masteries. A set-up you should follow can include something like this:

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Summoner's Wrath : Worth more then both Brute Force and Mental Force combined when you use Ignite. Definitely a must. Mental Force : Just a tiny increase to damage, and makes you look more threatening. Can be replaced with Brute Force / Havoc . Sorcery : Reduce Cool-downs by a pinch. Arcane Knowledge : 1/4 of a Void Staff's passive. Havoc : Helps slightly with a minor increase in damage. Can be replaced with Brute Force / Mental Force . Blast : +18 AP at level 18. Archmage : Definitely a must to dangerously increase your damage output. Executioner : Become an assassin, get your kills here.

Summoner's Insight : Reduce the cool-down on Flash for those times you will need it. Good Hands : Can't be dead for too long. Besides, you can't buy anything to reduce death timer. Improved Recall : 1 second out of 8 seconds gone. You now get out faster. Swiftness : Better fast then slow. Helps throughout the game. Runic Affinity : Blue Buff will last much longer now.

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Runes

M a r k s

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Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: These are the marks that I run on. These are helpful all throughout the game. Most people only build their regular build. Some are just stupid enough to ignore the situation. You will rip through them like they had no magic resistance. This will help you hit a lot harder early game and throughout the game. Synergizes really well with Sorcerer's Shoes. Greater Mark of Scaling Ability Power: I grab these on occasions because we start with Boots of Speed and 3x Health Potions and we don't start with Doran's Ring. Combined with Greater Quintessence of Ability Power, we will have a lot of ability power in lane. These are per level marks so remember that these will give you about 16 AP at level 18.

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M a r k s

S e a l s

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Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power: These are the seals that I use for Annie. Since you will only be last hitting with Disintegrate, you won't need to bring mana regeneration seals. These will also give you 16 AP at level 18 so they are pretty helpful. That is more AP than Doran's Ring. Greater Seal of Health: Since Annie is so squishy, these are an option. Due to the fact that you will be focused in teamfights, these will help keep you alive. These will also keep you in lane more because when combined with Rod of Ages, you will have a decent amount of health to keep you alive in teamfights and 1v1s. Greater Seal of Armor: These runes are for those occasions when you are against an AD carry mid. This will help a lot to reduce their damage. Gives you approximately 13 armor so that is something you can consider. When you are fighting an AD carry, you will most likely need these runes because they will rip you apart with just basic attacks. Greater Seal of Vitality: Per level health seals. This will help increase your survivability throughout the entire game. Do not take it for granted. This will give you 175 health at level 18 so make sure to take advantage of your health all throughout the game.

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S e a l s

G l y p h s

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Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: These are the glyphs that I take on Annie. These quickly outscale Greater Glyph of Ability Power, so these are better. They will give you more AP as you level up and it teaches you to stay in lane more so you can get that XP to get more AP. Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Since we are going to be mid lane, we will be taking a lot of magic damage. These will reduce your enemy's harass by a lot, so don't take it for granted. These are literally magic damage reduction runes so these will help you survive in 1v1s, and in teamfights. Greater Glyph of Ability Power: These runes are better for EARLY game damage. Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power quickly outscales this, but if you want more early game damage, take these runes. You will be getting approximately 11 ability power, that is almost as much as Doran's Ring.

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G l y p h s

Q u i n t s

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Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: Due to the fact that Annie is relatively slow, these are possible quints that you can take on her. These will help you juke enemies and catch up to them to blast them with a Disintegrate/ Incinerate. These will also give you an advantage on your enemies because you will be in lane faster. Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: These are the quints that I take on Annie. We deal magic damage, meaning we benefit from ability power. These will add up to around 15 ability power, equal to Doran's Ring. We are going to be doing a lot of damage with these runes. Greater Quintessence of Health: Annie is squishy. Even with Rod of Ages, you are squishy. These give you 76 health points total. Since we are starting with Boots of Speed and 3x Health Potions, we are going to need these to make us beefier throughout the game.

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Q u i n t s

This is our main rune page set-up. This is focusing on maxing out your damage output throughout the game.

Summoner Spells

New Annie: Ghost + Flash
Intermediate Annie: Teleport + Flash
Expert Annie: Ignite + Flash

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Since we are going to be bursting down champions, this will ensure that they won't get away. Also due to the fact that it decreases healing regeneration by 50% this will help against Heal, Wish, or any other healing ability for that matter.


We bring this for the utility that it brings. This allows you to escape ganks, catch up to opponents, escape opponents, etc. I really love this because it allows you to "blink" over a wall. Since we are going to be mid lane, their jungler will gank from time to time. Sometimes, Ghost isn't enough to get you out of a frisky situation.


We bring this for the heal. It allows you to regain health in an instant and can change the outcome of a 1v1/teamfight. This spell will benefit you and your team. But beware, it can be reduced by Ignite so make sure to use it when it is going to heal you for as much as it can.


A very underrated summoner spell choice, it'll be extremely helpful against a powerful lock-down team. You most likely won't get this against Malzahar or Warwick as it will not remove suppression, you'll need Quicksilver Sash for that. A good option, if your enemy team is going to stun you before you can even take action.

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This spell will help you in some cases. Since Annie is relatively slow, it will take a bit to get back in lane. This will get you back in lane if your Teleport is on CD or if you didn't bring Teleport. This will also allow you to catch up to an opponent to pop that last Disintegrate in to kill them.


Having trouble staying in lane more? Your opponent raping you to the point to where you need to recall to buy Health Potions every minute? Well this spell is your answer. This will also allow you to get back in lane to farm and/or rape your opponent! Huge wave of minions at the top lane and you are at bottom lane? Teleport your *** to top lane so you can get a gold advantage on your opponents!


Annoying AD/AP carries raping you? Exhaust them and then combo them! Keep in mind that this reduces their movement speed, magic damage output, and attack damage output. This also reduces their magic resist. and armour by 10 since we are taking Summoner's Wrath .

Setups

Explanation:
1. You are stilling learning how to last hit with Disintegrate.
2. You do not have Flash yet.
3. You do not know mastery setups/rune setups.
4. This build is aimed for a balance of damage and health while also trying to makeup for the lack of mobility and the potential mana issues you might have.
5. This is for levels 1-11 ONLY.


The masteries here are aimed to give you some utility and a fair amount of damage output.


Runes:
Lesser Mark of Magic Penetration
Lesser Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration
Lesser Glyph of Cooldown Reduction
Quintessence of Health

Rune explanations:

• Lesser Mark of Magic Penetration: This is just to help you with the damage output. Since you are low level, you can't really find better runes at your level than these.
• Lesser Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration: This is for the potential mana issues. You are still learning the game, therefore you are having trouble last hitting with Disintegrate.
• Lesser Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: Standard AP per level glyphs. These are just to help you learn to stay in lane more so you know that the more you stay in lane, the more AP comes your way.
• Quintessence of Health: Since you are still learning the game, you are going to have trouble avoiding ganks and learning what 1v1s you can and cannot win. These will help you a little and give you a little bonus health to add on with Doran's Ring.

This is what you should start with. You are going to be squishy and have trouble managing to last hit with Disintegrate. Starting with this is aimed to help you stay in lane and give you that little extra kick to start the game.

Summoner Spells:

• Ghost: Since we don't have Flash yet take this. Another reason to take this is because Annie has no reliable method of escape so this will help you escape some frisky situations.
• Clarity: This is a decent spell for you if you are still having trouble managing your mana.
• Heal: Good spell. You are going to have trouble staying in lane and this will help you survive teamfights, ganks, and 1v1s.
• Exhaust: This is a good spell for you. You are still going to be struggling to pull of your combo and survive in teamfights, 1v1s, and in lane. This will help you manage your opponents without worrying.
• Teleport: You are going to have trouble staying in lane. So this will allow you to recall and get items and then be back within 6-10 seconds. That is a tiny little window of opportunity for your opponent to take advantage of, but they usually won't push because they think you will gank them.

This item setup is aimed to give you an abundant amount of health, decent survivability, and a large amount of damage output. This is focused to help you survive, kill, and gank with efficiency and effectiveness.

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Explanation:
1. You have Flash.
2. You are still lacking rune/mastery wisdom.
3. You are developing at a decent pace.
4. This build is aiming for health, survivability, damage, and a decent amount of mana regeneration to compensate for you missing last hits.
5. This is for levels 12-19 ONLY.


The masteries here is aimed to give you a reasonable amount of damage, and a pretty good amount of utility throughout the game.


Runes:
Lesser Mark of Magic Penetration
Lesser Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration
Lesser Glyph of Cooldown Reduction
Quintessence of Health

Rune Explanation:
We are stilling using the same runes until level 20 because Tier 2 runes are not worth buying. Save your IP for Tier 3 runes or buy cheap 450 IP champions along the way. I recommend you stick with these runes because it is going to be a waste of IP to upgrade to Tier 2 runes.

• Doran's Ring: This is a usual starter item if you are still in need of the health and mana regeneration, which you do need so I recommend you start with this if you are still having trouble surviving ganks and/or 1v1s.
• Boots of Speed and 3x Health Potions: This is what I used to start with around this level. This gives you a mobility advantage over your opponent and a reasonable amount of sustain in lane. Your opponents will usually start with Doran's Ring.

Summoner Spells:

• Flash: This is mandatory now. This will allow you to blink over walls, escape ganks, catch up to opponents, or get out of a sticky situation.
• Ignite: This is optional. I never took this when I was at levels 12-19 because I needed the sustain and utility in lane. I usually only took this for fun at those levels.
• Clarity: If you are still having trouble managing your mana.
• Heal: If you are still having trouble surviving teamfights, 1v1s, and/or ganks.
• Teleport: If you are still having trouble staying in lane.
• Exhaust: If you are still having trouble 1v1ing and/or ganking opponents.

This item setup is aimed to give you armour, health, magic resistance, and most of all... a lot of damage output. This will be your main setup until you get to level 20. At level 20, you can start using the next 2 setups.

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Explanation:
1. You want to "support" teammates, but still own.
2. You want some spell vamp to fit into your build.
3. You want to have nice damage output.
4. You want to survive in teamfights with a reasonable amount of damage.
5. For levels 20+.


The masteries here are aimed to give you a reasonable amount of damage output and a lot of utility throughout the game to help you and your teammates.


Runes:
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
Greater Seal of Replenishment
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
Greater Quintessence of Health

Rune Explanation:

• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: These runes will allow you to deal a decent amount of damage while still supporting.
• Greater Seal of Replenishment: These seals will allow you to bring in multiple stuns while keeping a decent amount of mana to help your team out later.
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: These glyphs will allow you to survive in teamfights and to survive those pesky AP carries.
• Greater Quintessence of Health: This will allow you to survive teamfights, and make you a bit beefier.

These are your one and only starting items as support Annie. This will bring your starting gold down to 0, but this is making the most it your starting gold. You grab Faerie Charm for the mana regeneration so you can bring in them stuns. Sight Wards for obvious reasons. Health Potions and 1 Mana Potion for the lane sustain.

Summoner Spells:

• Clairvoyance: As the support, you want to take this so you can prevent ganks in your lane and in other lanes.
• Flash: Self explanatory.
• Exhaust: To help you and your teammate handle your opponents.

The items here are to benefit you and your team bringing utility to you and your team and a decent amount of damage output. The build is focused on survivability, damage, and most of all... utility.

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Farming

Farming with Disintegrate: This is one hell of a farming skill. This will refund you ALL the mana that it costed to cast it if it dealt the killing blow. This teaches you to last hit, which is extremely important in ranked games. Last hit with this. By doing this, you charge up Pyromania and not use any mana. If you can't last hit with this ability, you are destined for failure. If you can't even last hit with this, one of the burstiest abilities in the game, then you fail soo much. Last hitting is extremely important to an AP carry mid lane, so yeahh. Last hit and make sure to only last hit.

Farming with Incinerate: This is your farming bread and butter. You will be able to farm extremely well with this spell, so don't overuse it because it eats up quite a bit of mana. I usually only use this for farming when there is a giant wave. For example: A giant wave of approximately 30 minions comes to your tower. Blast out Incinerate and you got yourself approximately 600 gold. That's equal to 2 champion kills, so do you see why farming is essential on Annie?

Farming with AA's: Of course, Disintegrate won't always be up, and sometimes you won't want to use it because you have saved up your stun. You're going to need to auto-attack to last hit those minions. This isn't a drawback at all, as you should already know how to last hit minions with auto-attacks (from playing other champions). Also note, Annie's auto-attack range is quite high, so farming with your basic attacks can sometimes be more safe then using Disintegrate and be more effective. It's your choice.

Skill Explanation

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Pyromania Allows you to stun every 4 spells you cast. Being able to stun is great. This is what makes Annie... well, Annie. This is what you start your combo with. This allows you to rape. The bad thing is, is that it needs to be charged up. The good thing is, is that you can use this spell offensively and defensively. Using this in teamfights will benefit you and your team greatly. Make sure to charge it up before you begin a teamfight.
Disintegrate You fling a mana-infused fireball. Extremely bursty ability. Make sure to be blasting this in teamfights so you and your team can burst them down quickly. This allows you to stay in lane more. If you deal the killing blow, you are refunded the mana. This allows you to stay in lane more because you just last hit minions to get the mana back. Free chargeups for Pyromania.
Incinerate You cast a cone of fire. Amazing ability. Keep in mind that this is an AoE ability. Meaning, you can blast more than one target. Use this in teamfights so you and your team can rape them. This ability has many uses: farming, harassing, killing, etc. Make the most of this ability.
Molten Shield Gives you a shield. This is a pretty decent shield. This raises your magic resistance and armour significantly so don't underrate it. This is basically a built-in Thornmail. Enemies that basic attack you will take damage back. This increases your survivability in lane and in teamfights.
Summon: Tibbers You summon a sexy bear that deals damage. Annie's signature ability. Popping Summon: Tibbers allows you to deal a lot of damage. Make sure to land it on as much enemies as possible so you can make the most of it. This is an AoE ability so that means it deals damage to every enemy caught in it. Use Summon: Tibbers to unleash hell on your enemies!

Deadly Combos

Explanation:
This is a minimal, but effective way of harassing. You just stun them, pop a Disintegrate and Incinerate and then back off. It's simple, but hurtful for them. Their life will be disappearing pretty quickly when you are using this harass. Alternatively, you can just use Pyromania and Disintegrate OR Incinerate if you are afraid you are going to take damage before you can use the second ability.

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Tips:

• Make sure to have Pyromania charged up so you can lead in with a vital stun that determines if you get the kill or not.
• Lead in with Disintegrate because it has a relatively low cooldown so you can burst them if they try to escape.
• Make sure to pop in Ignite so that they don't get away or heal up.
• Make sure to Summon: Tibbers so that he deals DoT damage.

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Tips:

• Lead in with Summon: Tibbers so you can stun their entire team to ensure you guys win the teamfight.
• Make sure that Pyromania is charged before you enter the teamfight.
• Try to hit Incinerate on all your enemies.

Core Items

Laning