Hi friends I'm MissMaw, a long-time member here on MOBAFire, and this is my (pre) S4 Annie support guide. It consists of two builds - an aggressive full AP build and a Targon's Brace build. I consider the aggressive build to be the main one but I will explain all of the choices made in the second build as well, in this chapter. But before moving on with the guide let's talk a little bit about Annie. Why should you play Annie?

P R O S

|||

Well first of all Annie has enormous AoE burst and does a lot of damage even without items. She has a long duration stun that can be used multiple times in a fight and while she is squishy she's gets a good amount of armor and magic resistance from her E. She also has huge auto-attack range which you can abuse in lane to easily harass the enemy laners. On top of this she's extremely fun to play!

C O N S

|||

As for her downsides Annie is really squishy when her E is down. To make matters worse she's got no sustain so she can't go into lane without a couple of pots else she'll be forced to go back when she gets poked down. She also has to use mana in lane in order to charge up her stun. On top of all of these she has no escape without flash.

greater mark of hybrid penetration

|||

Marks of Hybrid Penetration are what I recommend on Annie. You get both Magic Pen which will enhance your ability dealt damage and Armor Pen which will make your auto attacks hurt more. Hybrids are expensive runes though so if you don't have enough IP, or simply if you prefer, you can also go with Magic Pen marks or flat AD marks. Either of the three work well, but Hybrids are the best in my opinion.

|||

For seals I recommend taking flat armor. This will help you deal with the enemy AD in lane and with the other physical damage doers later in the game. Some people prefer to go with Mana Regen Seals but I think these are much more useful.

|||

As far as glyphs go I suggest getting 3 flat MR glyphs and 6 CDR glyphs. Supports tend to buy AP as early as lane phase so having a good amount of MR during that time would be preferable. As far as the CDR glyphs go I get those so that, with my items, I get the CDR cap. Which means more Tibbers and more passives.

|||

For Quints you can either go AP, Magic Pen or Health. I prefer to take APs so you can deal more damage straight away without having any items. Health quints are still good as Annie is pretty squishy and already has resistances from her E. And Magic Pen since Annie's bases are already quite high. It's pretty much all preference as far as I'm concerned.

|||

With masteries I suggest going 21-9-0. It's pretty much generic mage masteries but I skip the point in Butcher since unless I'm getting Relic Shield there won't have a practical use for it. The whole tree is very straight-forward. I get magic and armor pen, ability power and increased damage dealt from the 21 points. In the defense tree I go down to Tier 3 for Juggernaut . Veteran Scars is a very good mastery point and it basically acts as a single HP quint. I also get some HP regen and damage reduction.

|||

Flash is essential on Annie as she, along with being very squishy, has no escape. If you get into a tough spot Flash will usually be able to help you. You can, and it's a popular thing to do, also flash into someone to get in range to Summon: Tibbers on top of their faces. If your stun is ready it's even more devastating, especially in team-fights and in 2v2s and so.

|||

Ignite is a great offensive spell for lane phase. With it you'll be able to secure many more kills for yourself and your AD and therefore be unstoppable in late game.

|||

Exhaust is the alternative for Ignite. I get it whenever I'm up against a High Burst Assassin, an AS-based champion or just against an unfavorable match-up. Otherwise I'd stick with Ignite for the lane pressure in early game.

|||

Annie's passive. After casting 4 spells, Annie's next offensive spell (so, not Molten Shield) will stun its target for 1.75 seconds. This is something you're going to have to learn to use properly in order to play Annie well. Her stun is simply invaluable both during lane as well as in fights.

+ It's best to charge up your passive in the fountain each time you spawn, or leave it at 3 stacks before you go to your lane.
+ During lane don't let the enemy notice you have your passive up as people tend to play more cautiously when they know it's up. Generally best to keep the charges at 3 and then engage without having 4 charges yet. Using your Q or W, or even E, will activate it in time for the fight.
+ You can use your stun multiple times in a teamfight so long as you keep charging up the passive.

|||

Annie's Q ability. Annie flings a mana infused fireball dealing 85 / 125 / 165 / 205 / 245 (+70% of ability power) magic damage. If Disintegrate kill the targeted unit the mana cost is returned. Surprisingly isn't very mana consuming and so it can be used for harass.

+ Its best use is either for last hitting or for proccing your stun with on a single target - as it's a targeted ability.
+ Scales really well with levels damage wise and so is incredibly powerful in mid game when it's at rank 5.
+ Q into W, or W into Q, is a very effective form of harass.

|||

Annie's W ability. Annie casts a cone of fire dealing 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+75% of ability power) magic damage to all enemy targets in the area. Most important ability during lane phase as you can proc your stun onto two (well, and more) targets.

+ Should cast 4 times in the fountain when the game starts.
+ Can be used to push as it makes for a great wave clear ability.
+ Incinerate paired with Summon: Tibbers does a huge amount of AoE burst damage.

|||

Annie's E ability. Places a shield around Annie for 5 seconds, increasing her armor and magic resistance by 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60. Additionally, enemies will be dealt 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+20% of ability power) magic damage whenever they use autoattacks on her while the shield is active.

+ Is good used to charge up your passive as its mana cost is super low.
+ Remember to activate this when you're taking damage. The increased resistances even at rank 1 help out a lot.

|||

Annie's ultimate ability. Annie releases her bear Tibbers, dealing 200 / 325 / 450 (70% of ability power) magic damage to enemy units in the summon area. For a limited time of 45 seconds, Tibbers can move and attack at Annie's will, while continually dealing 35 (+20% of ability power) magic damage to surrounding enemies. Tibbers does a huge amount of damage and it's got quite big AoE range. Tibbers sticks around for 45 seconds so he can be useful after the whole burst thing too.

+ You can control Tibbers by either holding alt and right clicking to where you want him to go or by pressing R while hovering over the location you want him to go to.
+ You can move Tibbers in front or behind you and make him block skillshots for you. Stuff like Zap!, Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike, Inner Flame. Might be difficult to pull off at first but this is a very useful thing to know how to do.
+ You can use Tibbers to scout or push waves after his primary use has been exhausted.

Disintegrate Incinerate Molten Shield Summon: Tibbers

1 W

2 Q

3 E

4 W

5 W

6 R

7 W

8 Q

9 W

10 Q

11 R

12 Q

13 Q

14 E

15 E

16 R

17 E

18 E

The skill sequence for Annie is R > W > Q > E. You max R whenever it's available as the base damage rises up greatly with levels.

You max your W first for the AoE damage. Since you're botlane generally the AoE damage and AoE stun are going to be more useful than single target and on top of this the ability gets super strong with levels and can be used to clear waves.

Q is maxed second but can be maxed last as well if you need your E (if you're losing and need the resistances). It does a lot of damage even at just rank 1 or 2 so you don't even need to max it up in order for it to be useful.

E is maxed last. While it makes you a lot tankier you're generally not going to be focused down (at least not till late game) so you won't need it as much and should focus on getting more damage for fights. If you're behind you should max this second, though.

Recently Relic Shield received a change which rendered it virtually useless for many ranged supports. The change was that ranged champions would not proc Execute, the item's passive, which would normally help champions kill minions under 200 HP in one hit. Among a few other changes, as well (can check out here). However Annie is one of the few champions who can still make use of it even without the passive. How? While Annie's auto attack damage obviously isn't high enough to be able to last hit with ease, her Q can act as an auto-attack. Annie's Disintegrate returns the mana used to cast it if the targeted unit dies. Therefore Annie can last hit minions for the Relic Shield stacks and not spend any mana. You and your AD will get more gold and your AD will get sustain from the stacks. Not only that but you can charge your stun on the last-hits for free. But why? Assuming you use Relic Shield and etc properly, you'll not only get a lot of money from having last-hit minions, but you will also be given sustain for yourself and your AD in lane, sustain you otherwise would not have.

Disintegrate Incinerate Molten Shield Summon: Tibbers 1 Q 2 W 3 E 4 Q 5 Q 6 R 7 Q 8 W 9 Q 10 W 11 R 12 W 13 W 14 E 15 E 16 R 17 E 18 E

The skill sequence is a little bit different with this build - you max Q before W. This isn't completely necessary though. If you max Q you can last-hit minions with great ease but you will lose some of your AoE damage - though you can still use your W for utility (AoE stun) and also your Q isn't exactly as useful during lane phase in 2v2 fights I'd say. E is still maxed last and R is still taken at 6, 11 and 16.

The item build is changed a bit as well but your core remains more or less the same. You start the game with either consumables, like in the main build, or with a Relic Shield. I personally prefer not to start with the latter. Why? Well Relic Shield got changed and now the charges only charge up every minute. You won't lose a lot of gold if you just settle for the vision and sustain and getting those certainly won't hurt your lane phase. For early game you want to be able to get targon's brace as soon as possible. It's much better than Relic Shield since you get an extra charge and they charge up in half the time. You get more gold with this item and you can sustain your carry with it, too. Next up you want to start building towards your Deathfire Grasp. If you're wealthy go for Needlessly Large Rod right away and if you're not just settle with Fiendish Codex. After getting boots ( Sorc's if ahead, Mobs otherwise or if preferred) you should get your Sightstone which will make it so that you won't have to purchase wards anymore. Your core consists of three major items, and an optional trinket upgrade. The items being face of the mountain, Deathfire Grasp and Ruby Sightstone. Greater Vision Totem if you have money lying around. FotM isn't all too necessary either but it's a good purchase. Deathfire Grasp for the same reason as in the main build - the burst. You upgrade your Sightstone into Ruby Sightstone if you have gold for it and you'll get a boost of health from it. Finishing options are pretty much any AP item. After your core + boots the first thing you'd want, generally, is a Void Staff. You'll literally be doing about as much as your APC will. Banner of Command if you need the pushing active and you also get a lot of AP from it. Rabadon's Deathcap if you're ahead and just want to kill more things, you know. Twin Shadows is kinda toned down version of an AP item. Good scout tool and good chase tool. Zhonya's Hourglass if you need the armor or the active.

||There are a few key spots that need to be warded throughout the entire lane phase. Those spots are Dragon, Tri Brush and Lane Brush. There are a lot of other spots you may need, or would like, to have warded (faded out on the map) but sadly you're limited to placing only three wards at a time + one vision ward. You can replace any of the Stealth Wards in this picture with a Vision Ward but it's not always a good idea to place it, say, in lane brush. It's good to place somewhere where, should you be required to, you could protect it as these are easily cleared, seeing as they're visible. I don't recommend going into lane without at least one Stealth Ward and the trinket ward. That's the bare minimum. Recommended amount is, of course, three wards and it's good to always have a Vision Ward as well for when your team wants to dragon. All your warding problems are solved with Sightstone and Greater Vision Totem so getting either or both will, while down your damage a bit, really help with the vision during lane phase.

And that concludes my guide. Hope it was helpful and thanks for reading!

If you have any comments, suggestions or questions (including anything related to the aesthetics of the guide) please feel free to post here or send me a private message. I will read everything and reply to questions and criticism.

And lastly a quick thank you for everyone who has contributed to the making of this guide, you guys are awesome :3!
- GrandMistressD (for testing out a few match-ups with me, helping me out with the build, as well as allowing me to use his skill sequence code)
- Astrolia (all the help she provided with the build)
- LaCorpse (all the incredible graphics done in the guide)
- Luther3000 (testing out match-ups with me, encouraging me to try out Annie in the first place and helping me out with the screenshots)
- Yehosera (testing out match-ups with me and moral support)