League of Legends - Annie Guide and Build

Are you looking for a Season 3 Annie guide or an Annie build? This page covers the basics of playing Annie effectively including skills, runes, masteries, tips and includes custom skins.

Annie is a powerful burst mage based around the element of fire. She can summoner her pet Tibbers to aid her on the battlefield and has a strong shield to protect herself. Annie has low cooldowns, a powerful laning phase and has the ability to cast area of effect stuns, giving her great utility in both 1v1 and team fights.

This Annie guide and build aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Annie, it is recommended for people just starting to use Annie.

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Guide current as of Season 3: Release Notes v3.02.

This Annie guide is also available in quick summary format (thanks to LeagueCraft.com).

Images on this page are sourced from the official League of Legends website and the game client. They are used for review, commentary and educational purposes.

Pyromania (Passive) Annie has a very powerful passive and gives her the stun she needs to unleash her combo of spells. It is great for zoning enemies in the laning phase and also can be turned into a nice area of effect stun with the use of Tibbers in team fights.

Disintegrate (Q) Annie's primary attack spell, it has very low cooldown and has nice base damage and scaling. It also allows Annie to stay in lane for ages at a time allowing her to get some strong early game farming (due to its ability to refund mana on a kill).

Incinerate (W) Annie's 2nd offensive spell, it is great for farming mid-late game and also provides a useful spell to build up her passive as it does not require a target to cast. While it is a nice addition to her combo of spells it is the most dangerous to use due to its short range. It is best used after you have stunned your opponent ( and committed to a fight)

Molten Shield (E) A strong defensive ability that should always be active mid-late game. With full cooldown reduction this shield is only down for around 3 seconds. Like Incinerate it can help Annie charge up stun on her way back to lane. Molten Shield is also very effective at hiding Annie's stun.

Summon: Tibbers (Ultimate) Tibbers combined with the stun from Annie's passive is devastating in both 1v1 situations and in team fights. Tibbers can also be controlled after cast using "ALT + Click". Allowing him to harass a single target, tank a turret as needed or scout out an area. Tibbers also has a fairly low cooldown, making him available for most team fights.

Annie's skills are best leveled: Ult > Disintegrate > Incinerate > Molten Shield

Disintegrate is maxed first as it is a powerful last hitting spell and also provides Annie with a strong form of harassment. Taking Molten Shield at level 4 is important to help charge up Annie's stun as needed.

Incinerate should be maxed second to allow Annie to farm mid game while also increasing your damage output. Molten Shield is left till last as it only requires one point to be effective. However, if you need more defences you can drop an extra point or two into this skill earlier.

Red (Marks) - Magic Penetration

Yellow (Seals) - Mana Regeneration Per Level

Blue (Glyphs) - Ability Power Per Level // Magic Resistance

Purple (Quintessences) - Ability Power // Health // Movement Speed

Magic Penetration Marks are an obvious choice on Marks to increase your damage output. Seals should be mana regeneration to maintain your mana levels throughout the game.

Running Ability Power per level Glyphs allows you to pack more damage with your spells, leading to more damage output. If you find your having trouble early game or want to play more defensively then you can consider running magic resistance Glyphs instead.

Running Ability Power on Quintessences allows Annie to capitalise on her early-mid game dominance by providing you with even more damage. But you can go for Health as a defensive option or Movement Speed to provide you with the extra mobility.

To learn more about making effective rune choices, visit the Rune Page Guide.

Best Summoner Spells:

-Flash

-Ignite

Flash and Ignite are your best options for summoner spells in regards to Annie. Flash gives you the escape mechanism you need or allows you to Flash in to land a massive Tibbers stun on an enemy. While Ignite compliments Annie strong 1v1 damage and gives the extra boost to damage throughout the game, being related to fire it also just feels at home with Annie.

Other Good Summoner Spells:

-Exhaust

-Teleport

Some other possible Annie summoner spell options are Exhaust and Teleport. Exhaust allows you to counter certain champions and works well against melee champions (including short range mages), it can also be taken if you are forced to lane up top but Ignite is definitely preferred. Teleport is another option that gives your team great map control and can be used to set up kills.

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Annie uses a typical aggressive caster setup of 21/0/9. This offers Annie improved damage and also some movement speed and increased buff duration (to give Blue Golem buff that little bit extra).

To learn more about masteries and your mastery options, visit the LoL Masteries Guide.

Final Item Build:

-Sorcerer Shoes

-Rod of Ages

-Rabadon's Deathcap

-Abyssal Scepter

-Zhonya's Hourglass

-Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Steps/Reasoning:

-Start with a Boots of Speed & 3 Health Potions, this will give you some lane sustain and also allow you to avoid danger.

-On your first trip back you want to look at picking up your Sorcerer's Shoes and a few Doran's Rings to boost your defenses and improve your mana regeneration.

-If you are dominating your lane a Rabadon's Deathcap should be your first item choice, if you are struggling or looking to play defensively then a Rod of Ages is a great first item choice.

-After you have built the above items (order will vary) your build will depend on the game situation. If your having trouble with physical damage look towards Zhonya's Hourglass, this also provides a really strong active which can keep you alive or help you get one more spell off for a kill.

-Alternatively, if you need some magic resistance you want to look towards Abyssal Scepter, as Annie is a short ranged mage you will always be in range for the Abyssal passive.

-A good final item is Rylai's Crystal Scepter as it applies to all Annie's skills, helping you control fights better. If your team lacks crowd control you can even consider picking this one up early.

Alternatives:

-Banshee's Veil (Great counter to crowd control heavy teams).

-Void Staff (A must have against magic resist stacking teams).

-Deathfire Grasp (The active is a good addition to Annie's combo).

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• You can use your Molten Shield to try hide your stun from enemies.
• Against solo targets you can stun with Q effectively to ensure you hit Tibbers. If there are multiple enemies use Tibbers to land your stun.
• Use Incinerate and Molten Shield on your way back to lane to charge up your stun (or at your base fountain).
• Always ensure you build up your stun and keep it up when pushing or you are anticipating a fight.
• Don't forget you can control Tibbers using "ALT + Click", you can send him on towers or to harass an enemy champion.

• Last hit with your auto-attacks and Q. This will keep your mana high and makes Annie one of the best laning and early farming champions (great for starting players).
• Once your stun is active you can use it to zone your enemies, preventing them from last hitting. This works extremely well as landing a stun on the enemy will result in significant damage (and potentially a kill).
• Concentrate on keeping the enemy low and your mana high, this will ensure you can grab a kill at level 6 with Tibbers.
• You should try to aim not to recall during this stage.

• Now that you have Tibbers you can really start utilizing your full spell combo to bring down squishy champions.
• Support and gank the side lanes if you were in middle lane, your stun should guarantee kills and if you can land Tibbers on both the enemy side laners, you can get some nice double kills and potential towers.
• You can start using Incinerate to farm up during this stage.
• Be sure to always have shield up (or be ready to cast) when enemies are around, try activate it as late as possible to ensure it remains up for the duration of the fight.
• Be careful when committing to use Incinerate on an enemy, it puts you in harms way.

• Try to maintain an active blue golem buff during late game, it makes Annie's low cooldowns even more deadly and lets you keep your shield up.
• Always have your stun and Tibbers ready for team fights, you want to try stun as many people with it as possible and follow up with an Incinerate.
• Keep your shield up every time its off cooldown now, it gives you great extra survivability thanks to the resistances it provides Annie.
• Don't forget that Tibbers can be used to tank towers after you have aced the enemy team if there is no tank available.
• Remember to use your Zhonya's Hourglass, the few seconds of invulnerability can allow you to use another spell to finish off an enemy. It can make those close engages into kills for you.