Anivia/Strategy

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Playing As Anivia

• Timing Flash Frost with Frostbite can lead to devastating combinations.
• Anivia is extremely reliant on Mana for Glacial Storm. Try getting items with Mana or go for a Crest of Insight buff on Summoner's Rift.
• It can be very difficult for enemy champions to kill her egg early in game. Seize the advantage by playing aggressively.

Playing Against Anivia

• Try to gank Anivia when she's laning. With multiple people, it is easier to ensure that her egg dies.
• If you're playing a ranged champion, stay far enough away from Anivia so you can dodge Flash Frost more easily.
• Try to fight Anivia in the lanes. In the jungle she can block pathways with lower ranks of Crystallize.

Tricks

• Anivia is a combo mage based on landing and combining her skills onto a single enemy. However, 3 of her skills are area of effect, which increases her utility in various situations. Since her kit is focused on a quick combo and a finishing move for one enemy, being a utility combo mage with a great amount of crowd control, she is definitely a mid laner.
• Strengths: Anivia has one of the biggest auto-attack ranges. Her damage source comes from her amazing AP ratio on both hits of Flash Frost and the double damage on Chilled targets from Frostbite. Glacial Storm is a great farming tool, making her an incredible pusher. With proper positioning, Crystallize will push melee enemies away. As she has an incredible scaling ratio, her late game power is quite impressive.
• Weaknesses: Anivia is quite squishy, she has low base level 1 health, one of the lowest level 18 health pools, and the lowest base movement speed. She has high mana costs, 3 skillshots, and a high cooldown on Flash Frost. She has a slow auto-attack animation and slow attack speed growth. Due to having low attributes, average base damage on her skills and big mana problems, she suffers on a weak early game.
• Rebirth will modify your armor and magic resist, depending on your level, it will drop or raise it. From level 12 onwards, it will begin to get stronger, as it will raise your armor and magic resistance values at levels 12 and 15.
• Her combo is focused on an all-in-combo, so she can kill a squishy target really fast without retaliation.
• Anivia is good when fighting enemies that need to be in a specific spot ( Draven and Trundle for example), zoning them with her ultimate. Good against enemies that need a way to get closer, as she can still maintain distance with her range or crowd control ( LeBlanc, Katarina for example). And is really strong against enemies that don't have any gap closer skills, since she has great disengage capabilities and can punish enemies that come to chase her.
• The Chilled debuff applied by her  Glacial Storm and  Flash Frost will leave a trail even if the enemy becomes invisible.
• Since Crystallize creates an impassable area, it will interact with skills that need walls to have full effect. So champions like Gnar and Poppy can be really useful on the same team.
  • Crystallize grants vision of the area for the duration of the wall, and will draw turret aggro if it displaces an enemy champion.
• If  Anivia start channelling Teleport, it will be continued even in hers passive egg form. If you play  Anivia with Teleport you can use it when you are surrounded by enemies and have no way to escape, but their crowd control spells are already on cooldown and they don't have enough damage to burst you that fast.

Ability Usage

• Anivia's spells should be used carefully, as Flash Frost has a slow traveling speed which makes it possible for the enemy to use a shield, cure, or just dodge it.
• Q > R can farm a minion wave very quickly, but this can burn out your mana pool.
• It is generally recommended to time  Rebirth while under an allied tower or while you have your allies for protection. Do not count on your egg too much when you are alone and not under a tower. Low-level enemies can kill you because of the huge armor + magic resistance reduction and long revive time. Try to be aggressive in teamfights so you can deal good damage; be focused and let your team do the rest while they start working on your egg.
  • Rebirth can be used to bait an enemy to commit to killing  Anivia when your jungler ganks that lane.
  • Despite having  Rebirth,  Anivia is fairly vulnerable to other harassment. Heavy hits can severely cripple her. Try to stop harassment by stunning your opponent before they can combo you to win tradeoffs.
• Anivia's basic combo is to place Glacial Storm, place Crystallize to block the opponent from escaping, and throw Flash Frost in a line towards the edge of the wall to stun the opponent as they try to move. Then follow up with a Frostbite.
• Both the damage from passing through and the detonation of Flash Frost remove a spell shield from Banshee's Veil. This means if you time it correctly and detonate Flash Frost right after it passed through an enemy with Banshee's Veil's spell shield, it will dissolve and the detonation will deal full damage, stunning the target.
• During the laning phase, use your autoattacks to hide harassment attempts. Stand within attack range of an enemy champion and autoattack minions with Anivia. When the enemy doesn't expect it, launch a Flash Frost and charge straight at them; if you time it correctly, they will be chilled and stunned, and you'll be close enough to land a follow-up for tons of damage. This is an effective strategy because the start of many of Anivia's spell animations look similar to the beginning of her autoattack animations, and this can often catch an enemy, expecting an autoattacker, off-guard.
• Flash Frost's area of effect explosion is slightly bigger than the initial projectile's area, so try to hit the opponent twice with the spell by detonating it after it passes through them.
• Crystallize has a short cast time, so be sure to cast it well in front of the opponent. Just a little in front will block you off and push them away.
• In the jungle, Crystallize can completely block off a pathway. Allies can be blocked in/out as well so timing is essential.
  • Crystallize can completely block the Template:Moi in its area. This allows you to kill it without taking any damage as it cannot reach melee range and attack.
  • Crystallize grants sight, you can cast it in a bush to safely check them.
  • Crystallize will grant assists if an enemy champion touches it before dying. Be careful of turrets targeting you if an enemy touches your wall.
  • Crystallize can also be used to stop Maokai's Sapling Toss and Elise's Volatile Spiderling from running by placing it on top of the sapling, which prevents it from running anywhere, or pushing a minion into it, causing it to reassign its target.
  • It is also possible to disrupt channeled ultimates by putting Crystallize directly on top of the opponent. This is useful if Flash Frost is on cooldown.
• Frostbite deals double if the target is chilled by either Flash Frost or Glacial Storm, so try to time it correctly.
  • Casting Frostbite on an opponent and immediately placing Glacial Storm on top of them will chill the target, allowing for a much quicker Frostbite combo.
• Glacial Storm is a great spell that can clear entire minion waves very quickly. Be sure to deactivate the spell when you don't need it as it will quickly drain your mana.
• Glacial Storm is an ideal tower taking ability, assuming you have blue buff or high mana regeneration. You can drop Glacial Storm on the wide gap of the turret where the minions come out. This gives a lot of enemy champions problems especially if they are melee due to them having to make the choice of walking through Glacial Storm and getting hit with a Q > E combo or try to make their way around the remaining small areas left uncovered by Glacial Storm setting up for an easy Q > E combo. The same concept can be used for enemies playing offensively and attacking your tower.
• Anivia is a great pick against enemies that need to be in a specific position, Draven, Ezreal, and even Vayne, since their kits need positioning and mobility. Glacial Storm slows, making Flash Frost easier to handle, and finishing with Frostbite is almost a safe kill because Flash Frost's stun will stop your enemy in Glacial Storm, causing extra damage per second.
• Because of slow autoattack animations, high cooldowns and mana costs, farming with Anivia can be hard. So staying safe before level 6 is crucial for a good early game. Anivia has one of the biggest auto-attack ranges, and Flash Frost can be used for farming too, since it can hit two times and have a good area damage.
  • However, be careful when using Flash Frost for farming, as it is one of your abilities that can help you escape dangerous situations.
• Frostbite deals extra damage when hit enemies affected by Chill, so it need to be the last skill to be cast. The combination of her spells depends on the situation.
  • The basic combo is: place Glacial Storm, shoot Flash Frost (make it hit two times), launch your Frostbite and put Crystallize (the wall will eventually delay the enemy, giving time for more ticks from Glacial Storm)
• When in the fog or in bushes, using Crystallize will give vision of the area. If chased, place Glacial Storm followed by Frostbite and Flash Frost. The enemy will be both stunned and their pursuit delayed.
• For a quick harass on melee champions, place Glacial Storm followed immediately by Frostbite. This is very useful to keep distance and harass.
• When being chased, try to walk through narrow passages. Crystallize can completely block the way and for 5 seconds you can hit your enemies without risk (be aware of gap closers and/or skillshots)
• Anivia becomes very dangerous when in the jungle, as it gives the enemies less opportunities to dodge her spells. Therefore, try to force team fights in small places.

Mastery Usage

• The Ferocity, Cunning, and Resolve mastery trees can all be used, depending on what you want to focus or leave. Since Resolve is more focused on the defensive side, you may take two paths: Ferocity and Cunning.
  1. Ferocity: Pick  Sorcery to boost your abilities' damage. Choose  Double-Edged Sword for a greater damage on all stages of the game, or  Feast, for a more sustained lane phase. In Tier 3, you will select what kind of lane you are planning to play:  Vampirism for a safer lane, or  Natural Talent for more damage as the game progresses.  Bounty Hunter will upgrade your damage little by little for each kill,  Oppressor will increase your damage if the enemy got caught in CC abilities (including your own). Pick  Piercing Thoughts and, finally,  Deathfire Touch for improved DPS.
  2. Cunning: Pick  Savagery to easily last hit. Now choose either  Runic Affinity to increase the duration of neutral buffs or  Secret Stash for a more safe lane with the increased potion and elixir time alongside the Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation. In Tier 4, get either  Merciless for an aggressive playstyle or  Meditation for a defensive style. Get  Precision to upgrade your damage and armor, or  Intelligence if you are planning on spamming your abilities. Finally, get either  Stormraider's Surge to upgrade your mobility or  Thunderlord's Decree to upgrade your burst damage.
• The remaining 12 points will be spent in ways of mitigating her weakness or increasing her utility/damage. Remember that your masteries will be complementing your playstyle, so choose wisely based on what enemy you will face. Set up your combinations and play accordingly.
  • If you have chosen the Ferocity path, spend some points in Cunning: the Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation, longer Crest of Insight duration, mana regeneration,  Merciless,  Bandit or  Dangerous Game. For Resolve points, if you got  Vampirism and  Feast, pick  Recovery and then  Runic Armor, as it will increase all heals and shields on you (including those from  Vampirism and  Feast) You may also pick  Insight to reduce your summoner spells' cooldowns significantly.
• Runes: There are various situations that will improve the laning phase or your late game presence depending on what you are planning.
  1. Marks: Since Anivia's abilities have high AP ratios, flat AP can be better than flat penetration. Magic Penetration can still be a good option because AP will increase the scaling of your skills. The flat penetration is necessary to maintain your damage as the game progresses, as the enemy will try to mitigate it by stacking health and resistances.
  2. Seals: Anivia is one of the squishiest champions, so improving her defenses is a must. Flat armor (or sometimes scaling armor) can make your lane a bit safer against AD opponents, primary assassins or bruisers. Health (flat or per level) can sometimes be better than armor or magic resist, since Anivia has the lowest early game health and you need durability as well as defenses. Mana regeneration can still be good too, as the spam requirement of her abilities to maintain constant damage will deplete her mana pool quickly, so this can mitigate her high ability costs during early game.
  3. Glyphs: Magic Resistance (flat or scaling) is the better option for a more defensive playstyle. Anivia has extremely high mana costs, so flat mana is a must have too. Flat AP or scaling AP are good options to greatly improve your damage, scaling for a better late game and to complement your AP if you are buying mana and cooldown first. Because her CC abilities have high cooldowns, CDR can be a viable choice if you are intending to focus only on damage.
  4. Quintessences: For an offensive approach: flat AP, scaling AP or flat penetration. For a defensive approach: flat or scaling health, armor, and magic resist. For utility: flat mana, scaling mana, mana regeneration, scaling regeneration, movement speed.
• For a general playstyle against heavy AD teams: Flat Ability Power Marks, Flat Armor Glyphs-Seals and Flat Mana Quintessences (or Scaling Mana if you prefer to buy a Rod of Ages first)
• Against AP oriented teams: Flat AP Marks, Flat Magic Resistance Seals, Scaling Magic Resistance Marks (because your will not build magic resistance items at all) and Flat Mana Quintessences (or Scaling Mana ones if rushing an offensive item).

Item Usage

• Anivia has severe mana problems. Without Crest of Insight, she can quickly run out of mana from many of her abilities, especially Glacial Storm. Consider buying a Tear of the Goddess, another Doran's Ring and some potions on your first recall.
• Tear of the Goddess, Archangel's Staff and eventually  Seraph's Embrace is a must have path on Anivia's build. She can stack really fast by spamming her skills on minions and even placing Glacial Storm while in the base for free stacks.
  • Note: Glacial Storm doesn't stop while Recalling, so always use it before leaving or entering the base.
• The best way to build Anivia is to focus on mana, keeping her damage and increasing her survivability. So the standard and best build is:
  1. Two items to sustain her mana pool ( Seraph's Embrace, Rod of Ages or Morellonomicon)
  2. Boots of choice ( Sorcerer's Shoes, Mercury's Treads, or Ionian Boots of Lucidity).
  3. One purely offensive item ( Void Staff or Rabadon's Deathcap)
  4. An offense/defense hybrid item ( Liandry's Torment,  Rylai's Crystal Scepter,  Banner of Command,  Zhonya's Hourglass,  Abyssal Scepter or even another Rod of Ages since its passive will still stack)
  5. A purely defensive item ( Banshee's Veil,  Guardian Angel, or Randuin's Omen)
  • Note: If it proves necessary, pick purely offensive items and two purely defensive ones.
• A suggested defensive combination is Rod of Ages and Abyssal Scepter. The bonus magic resist, health, mana, mana regen and CDR will prove more useful in the safe zone. This option can get really better with a Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
• The second combination ( Morellonomicon and Seraph's Embrace) is the more offensive option. The extra mana regen, bonus mana pool, and the useful shield alongside the reduced cooldown, in this way, will be more offensive, plus the passive to deal with sustain-based enemies. In this option, Liandry's Torment will prove more useful.
• The third option ( Rod of Ages and Seraph's Embrace) will be a balanced way. They will synergize extremely well, the bonus mana will increase the active shield, the bonus AP from your mana pool, the bonus health from the RoA passive, and the lane sustain. In this build a second Rod of Ages, Rabadon's Deathcap or Liandry's Torment will prove more useful.
  • A Catalyst the Protector is a great item to help Anivia in her laning phase, giving her some much needed health and mana and can be built into a Rod of Ages later in the game.
  • Zhonya's Hourglass will have multiple uses. Since your abilities have high AP ratios, it will increase your damage sufficiently. The bonus armor will make your egg more resilient to damage and the active can be a life saver in teamfights. Zhonya's Hourglass is also very effective against AD assassins.
  • As a pure AP caster, Rabadon's Deathcap should be bought if you are having trouble with tanks and bruisers.
  • Even not being common, Muramana can be incredible useful, since she can stack Tear of the Goddess faster. The extra damage added to your Frostbite can result in a useful hybrid burst, as the bonus damage from  Muramana is physical.
  • Since Frostbite has the same range as your auto-attacks and a low cooldown, Lich Bane can be very useful. Right-clicking on your enemy after casting Frostbite will add extra damage from a safer place, as Anivia has the third biggest attack range.
• Due to Anivia being a combo mage based on crowd control and positioning of skillshots, Rylai's Crystal Scepter will boost your damage, give more survivability, and provide more crowd control, thus making it easier both to execute your combos and to catch enemies/prevent them from reaching you.
• Guardian Angel will prove very useful. The armor and magic resistance will make your egg tougher. Since Anivia is a very squishy champion without any escape ability, the revival passive combined with Rebirth can completely ignore the focus on you, since to bring you down, you need to be killed 3 times.
  • Sometimes Banshee's Veil can be better than Guardian Angel. To avoid too much targeted skills or intense poke, the spellshield will prove more useful than any other defensive item.
• Because Anivia's damage comes from only three abilities and two of them have a high AP ratio when applied on a Chilled target, Rabadon's Deathcap is very beneficial in increasing her damage.
• Liandry's Torment in conjunction with Glacial Storm can yield devastating results. The flat penetration in conjunction with the damage per second and the enhanced burn for the passive can make you a deadly presence in teamfights. Liandry's Torment also helps a lot with penetrating tanks.
• Since Anivia can be very mana hungry, consider starting out with Faerie Charms + Health Potions. In other words, anything that improves her sustain is a good way to start your game.
• Luden's Echo is a good pick, but should not be considered a core item. The extra mobility can be good at some stages of the game, but there are more essential stats to acquire, like cooldown reduction, mana and survivability, so consider the purchase carefully.
• Avoid buying pure damage first, your core stats are mana and health. Rabadon's Deathcap or  Void Staff should never be a first or second item on your build.

Countering

• Try to destroy her egg from her Rebirth to prevent her from coming back to life.
  • At early game, the egg is fairly weak, as it reduces her armor and magic resistance instead of increasing. Use this to your advantage.
  • Use knockback or pull effects to place the egg away from allies or turrets that can aid its survival.
• When playing on Summoner's Rift, a good strategy against Anivia is to steal her blue buff. Without it, she can't regenerate mana quickly enough, even with mana regeneration items, and if she tries to spam Glacial Storm, Anivia will become out of mana very fast.
• Anivia is very squishy both early game and late game. It is recommended to solo her while she is weak early game.
  • Try to engage her when her Rebirth is on cooldown.
• Flash Frost will stun you if you are in the path of the spell. Try to move away from the path to avoid both the stun and damage. Keep range from her to avoid damage.
  • When escaping from her, move criss cross to avoid her Flash Frost from a distance.
• Avoid confrontation with her in the jungle. Her Crystallize can block you from escaping or chasing easily.
• Keep in mind that the double damage effect in her Frostbite only applies when you are hit by her Flash Frost or Glacial Storm. It will not proc if you are slowed by abilities or Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
• Crowd control effects that stop abilities from being cast, such as stuns or silences, immediately stop Glacial Storm from being channeled. If Anivia is not guaranteed to die within the duration of such crowd control effects, it may be wiser to save them in expectation of Glacial Storm to stop it from being channeled.