Champion Guide

Anivia Guide

By LoLSuggest

Mid

Play Anivia as a scaling control mage: farm safely behind poke and a passive that works like a free Guardian Angel, push waves hard once Glacial Storm comes online, and use Crystallize to cut off escapes and engages in fights.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Anivia build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Electrocute with Cheap Shot, Deep Ward and Relentless Hunter, plus Presence of Mind and Coup de Grace, gives kill pressure from level 2; Arcane Comet and Stormraider's Surge pages are alternatives. Start Doran's Ring with two potions (or Dark Seal), and take Sorcerer's Shoes or Ionian Boots of Lucidity. This setup builds Rod of Ages and Archangel's Staff before Liandry's Torment, Malignance and Rabadon's Deathcap. The second skips Seraph's Embrace, which delays her damage until the third item, and instead rushes Malignance into Rod of Ages (or the reverse) for a faster spike, then adds Liandry's Torment or Cosmic Drive, Zhonya's Hourglass and Bloodletter's Curse; cheap Bandlepipes is its favourite defensive item. In top lane it goes Rod of Ages into Liandry's Torment. Void Staff helps against magic resist and Morellonomicon against healers.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Strengths

Strong crowd control: a stun, slows and a wall that can split teamfights.
A fairly safe lane thanks to Rebirth, plus huge wave push after 6.
One of the strongest late-game mages, with burst and sustained damage on tanks.

Weaknesses

Slow, immobile and squishy, with no dashes or escapes.
Struggles to follow roaming assassins such as Zed, Talon and Katarina.
Mana-hungry; the build leans on mana items to keep Glacial Storm running.

Laning Phase

Farm safely and poke when the enemy steps up to last-hit. If your laner has kill pressure, keep Flash Frost for self-peel instead of poke — it's your only crowd control before 6 — and with a point-and-click CC jungler, wait for their stun before throwing Q. Ward and watch the minimap: burning both Rebirth and Flash and still dying is a disaster. If an assassin roams, ping and shove the wave hard rather than following.

Mid & Late Game

After 6, push your lane in and roam with allies, using Crystallize to block escapes, and turn picks into dragons, Herald or towers. In teamfights stay in the backline: answer engages with Flash Frost into Crystallize, peel for a hypercarry ADC, or isolate a target for a quick pick. Late game Anivia is effectively a hypercarry mage, chaining empowered Frostbites through Glacial Storm.

Key Tips

Frostbite deals double damage to targets stunned by Flash Frost or standing in a fully formed Glacial Storm.
Zhonya's Hourglass doesn't cancel Glacial Storm, so you can keep enemies trapped while in stasis.
In top and bot lane, Crystallize between your tower and the wall can delay or block a wave to reset a freeze.
Teleport just before taking fatal damage and you arrive at the destination as the egg.
Against Syndra, rush Lost Chapter early — you need the health.

Matchups