Champion Guide

Annie Guide

By LoLSuggest

Mid

Play mid-lane Annie as a simple but high-impact burst mage. Everything revolves around Pyromania: a loaded stun plus Tibbers — especially through Flash — can catch one target or the whole enemy team, so our guide is about managing that stun, valuing Flash and turning river skirmishes into kills.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Annie build

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

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Into squishy teams run Electrocute with Cheap Shot, Grisly Mementos and Ultimate Hunter, plus Axiom Arcanist and Absolute Focus. Start Doran's Ring, then build Malignance, Sorcerer's Shoes and Stormsurge into Rabadon's Deathcap, Zhonya's Hourglass and Void Staff. Against tanky teams swap in Liandry's Torment, Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Cryptbloom; Banshee's Veil and Morellonomicon are situational picks.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Skill Max Order

Strengths

Mechanically simple, with burst that deletes squishy targets.
Always useful: Tibbers with a loaded stun can stun up to five enemies.
Strong map impact in early skirmishes and around objectives.

Weaknesses

Extremely reliant on Flash, with no escape of her own.
Short spell range and weak waveclear; long-range mages like Xerath, Vel'Koz and Malzahar outrange and outpush her.
Can't face-check without vision, and struggles when she can't burst through tanks.

Laning Phase

Annie's auto-attack range is longer than her spells, so walk up to chain an auto into Disintegrate. Last-hitting with Q refunds its mana and halves its cooldown, which keeps you healthy on mana in lane. Put two early points in Q, then max W for waveclear and multi-target damage (or max Q if the matchup is too dangerous to walk into). Use E to finish loading the stun as a surprise, then use it to set up ganks or force Flash.

Mid & Late Game

Look for river skirmishes and grouped fights where a Flash–Tibbers stun can hit several enemies, and save Flash for important fights rather than a low-value kill. If you can't reach the whole team, first help burst whoever is diving your allies. Against slippery targets, open with a stunning Disintegrate: once it's travelling it can't be dodged, even with Flash.

Key Tips

Make sure the stunning Disintegrate lands before casting other spells, or the stun is wasted.
Incinerate is the fastest stun to land straight after Flash.
Tibbers can block skillshots, tank tower shots, interrupt recalls or fix a bad wave.
Hold a loaded stun to answer key ultimates such as Katarina's or Fiddlesticks'.

Matchups

Matchups and synergies

Our picks for difficult opponents, favorable lanes and strong allies. Compare matchup win rates on the stats page.