Hello and allow me to introduce myself. I am illb90, greatest Anivia player of all time, and because you are reading my guide, you too will become pro.

I have mained Anivia since her release and as you can see, I have the most experience out of all the Anivia players out there. Needless to say, I have read through the top-rated Mobafire Anivia guides and the way these 'Pros' are telling you to play is all wrong.

I am writing this guide to bestow the secrets of Anivia upon the Mobafire community, and some of my wisdom, of course!

Anivia is what you would call a 'utility champion' which means she isn't very item/rune/mastery reliant, and how well she does in a match is entirely dependent on her summoner's skill. That being said, I always do well when I play as Anivia since I am the best Anivia player. Makes sense?

Warranted self-observation aside, while Anivia may not be very item/rune/mastery reliant but if push came to shove, I would choose the following qualities:


The Big Three

1. Cool Down Reduction
CDR stat-wise, is the most important factor when it comes to playing Anivia. Anivia's most important skill is Crystallize which requires for you to almost ceaselessly spam it. So the more uptime for that skill, the better!

Though, being a super-Pro myself, I find myself to never need CDR. There are times when I leave bare my masteries and entire rune page, and buy no items throughout the game yet still manage a quadrakill or a pentakill, if my team isn’t full of feeders. But of course, that's just me.

Anivia is a champion that requires perfect timing if you are lacking in CDR but with high CDR, she is much more forgiving.



2. Mana
Repeatedly spamming Crystallize is rather mana costly, so it would be desirable to not run out of mana, especially in a team fight situation or gank. After all, it is those crucial moments that require you to summon your walls at the right time.



3. Movement Speed
Positioning is everything when it comes to playing Anivia. You must be in the right position to assist your team mates, that I cannot stress enough. Since Anivia is a very slow champion, being in range to effectively assist your team can prove to be a difficult task. Thus is why high movement speed is so important.

Now that the fundamentals are covered, it is onward to the next section of my guide where I will go in-depth with my build.

As seen above, my mastery page is self-explanatory. It is designed to maximise CDR, Mana and Movement Speed. Some people may question why I have put a few points in death duration reduction. My reasoning is that the way I build Anivia makes her a game-changer, a super-carry, a support and reliable tank, requiring for you to have maximum uptime. Because without you, your team will literally collapse in on itself.

These masteries should allow you an additional 9% CDR which is a massive amount if you ask me.

For summoner spells, I'd take Teleport and Revive.

Teleport:
As mentioned previously, positioning is ever so important with Anivia seeing how your team is depending on you to win team fights and ganks. Not showing up for ganks and team fights is unacceptable. Because without you, who will get that crucial wall in to decide the victor of the team fight? Who will be there to guarantee a multi-kill? Teleport will blink you to the location faster than the announcer can say 'Pentakill'.

Revive:
Revive works hand-in-hand with Teleport, as you must be alive to help your team.
Generally, I would use it at every single chance I get but personally, I get no chances to use it because I never die since I am super-pro. Nonetheless, I would advise for you to spam it.



Smite:
There are times when I get Spite in place of Revive. Usually I do so when there is a jungler on my team.

Start the game ‘leashing’ the golem for your team’s jungler. You then Smite the golem ensuring you get last hit and rightfully claiming the Blue Buff. The reason for this is there isn’t any other champion more mana-hungry or CDR reliant than Anivia.

If you somehow lose your Blue Buff to the Jungler, ie; he KSes you, proceed to follow the Jungler throughout the jungle, assisting him in slaying the monsters. He will need you to assist him like that, since the Blue buff makes him much more confident of his capabilities than he should be. Don’t worry about the reduced exp rate as Anivia doesn’t really need to gain levels fast.

Follow him around as long as you can till you reach the point where he thinks he can beat the dragon (with your assistance). Wall him into dragon then fly away. He will most likely have died at this point which is a good thing, because it saves him the trouble of having to wait 8 seconds to warp back to base. Return to your lane.

My item build focuses on maximising 'The Big Three' stats as mentioned above. At the very start of the match, I buy a single Sapphire Crystal as well as a Mana Potion. Buying those two items will leave you with 35 gold. Some people would spend the remaining gold on a Health Potion, or perhaps buy a Sight Ward in place of the Mana Potion and the hypothetical Health Potion. Well I advise you not.

Sight Ward are useless as Anivia because no one would be stupid enough to try and gank you. After all, you have Rebirth that makes you invulnerable. If anything, they'd aim for your lane partner which in my opinion, is a good thing. Because if your lane partner dies that means you are single in a duo-lane = MORE EXP and GOLD. After all, I doubt there is a champion out there that is more deserving of it than you. So try your best at last hitting the minions and zoning out your lane partner. He will thank you later on for you carrying the entire team and winning the game in a stomp.

To buy a Health Potion would be a grievous mistake. It's pretty much as saying to your enemies, ''Hi. I'm afraid of dying. Please do not kill me''. As Anivia, you have your passive Rebirth that when combined with Revive and Teleport, makes you unstoppable. So there is no reason in buying a Health Potion. If you ask me, a LoL game is 50% psychological. So every victory is based 50% on psychological warfare. You must show to your enemies you are not afraid of death, and that you are a goth or a fearless bastard, if you may. Do not give in to buy that ***** Health Potion.

On my first trip back, I buy Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Glacial Shroud and Kindlegem. You've probably farmed enough from rightfully claiming your kills (anti-KSing your lane partner) and dominating your lane. Those 3 items are your core and a must-have for they allow you a handful amount of mana and maximum attainable CDR (40%). By then the CD on your Crystallize should be 15 seconds which means every 15 seconds you have game-changing capabilities.

By the 20 minute mark, just while the surrender vote has started (Definitely), you should have earned enough gold to buy 2 Phantom Dancer. Return to your base and do so.

In this section I will teach you how to dominate the game, both meta-physically and psychologically.


Skills:


Q - Flash Frost
This is the skill I max second to Crystallize. The reason for this is Flash Frost is a very scary skill. It has great range and targets multiple enemies, slowing them as it passes by then finally stunning them where it lands/detonates.

This is the bane of enemy champions and the hope of your team morale. This skill will strike fear within the enemy and create a false sense of security within your ally. They will think that since the enemy has been stunned and slowed, will allow them a major advantage in a fight. Abuse this notion and deceivingly spam Flash Frost at the enemy team.
This will get your team mates fighting the enemy.



W - Crystallize
Best skill in the game. Use it effectively.

If your team mate has been set up for a gank, wall him in preventing his escape. The reason for this is because he was not very a good player if the enemy team had organised to gank him. Since it is well known for gankers to focus on the weakest of the team, just as a pride of Lions target the weakest Buffalo of the pack. The way I see it is that he was weak and deserved to die for being the weakest in the team.
It is your duty as the strongest player to execute the weakest player, as they are more detrimental than beneficial to YOUR team.

When it comes to team fights and your team is losing and starts running away, wall them in. You know the saying that 'Runners are worthless', they are! Your team needs to understand that they must always fight to the death. You must in-still within their minds that they have no chance of escaping and therefore convincing them to fight to the very end, no matter the odds. You will leave them two options, to Win or to Lose. This is the same psychology used on suicide bombers, thus the reason they are so successful.

Apart from preventing the escape of team mates, Crystallize is also designed to split up your team when the enemy is vastly outnumbered. Use it to separate your team and prevent them from ganking. A good saying goes that 'Gankers are Wankers'. If your team successfully ganks the enemy, they will start thinking that you are all wankers. You don't want them thinking that about your team, do you?



E - Frostbite
Not a very good skill. Does pure damage, nothing else, and not very much of it. Use it to try and last-hit minions before you unlock Glacial Storm.



R - Glacial Storm
Best skill for anti-KS. Seeing how you will be starting in a duo-lane, your lane partner will try to KS your minions. Do not let him, I repeat; DO NOT LET HIM. Thank God for Glacial Storm, the well-designed tool for anti-KS. Use it as much as you can on minion waves.

It is an AOE DPS skill with a low CD, which allows you to kill all minions at once. Though, you may lose some kills to your partner, he cannot get them all. Since it reduces the Health of all enemies within its vicinity, your lane partner cannot possibly last hit more minions than you.

In team fights, use this to temporarily slow the enemy team down then deactivate the slow just when your team mates get in range. The reason why I don't leave the slow on is because the enemy team must know that you can win team fights without it. Don't worry about badly timing the deactivation of Glacial Storm as its slow lasts for a very, very short time. It also has a similar psychological effect to Flash Frost, where it gets your team thinking they have the higher ground.

So I have revealed my secrets to playing Anivia. Use them wisely and report back to me in the comments section below so I can see how well you went!