Anivia - Just chillin'

Anivia – Just chillin’

Extra note -> I apologize for any typographical errors; it was created in a word 2007 document. It was really neat in the original document


Lore

In most lore, the phoenix is a creature of fire that rises from its own ashes. What few know, however, is that phoenixes are elemental beings, formed by the eternal essences of their native world. Anivia was conceived on a world such as this - a being of the coldest winter, a creature of pure elemental ice. On her world, Anivia was the protector of the frozen wastes and all those with the spirit to endure in such unforgiving places. She was consulted as a creature of great wisdom, one who could not die and who had seen the world renewed several times. Somehow, Anivia knew that the day would come when would be plucked from her home and pulled across worlds, and when that day came, she received the call with grace. Seeing the imbalance and injustice on Runeterra, a world lacking elemental protectors, Anivia took residence at the League of Legends.

Anivia is an immortal being of intense power. She can instantly freeze a path in front of her, covering all in its wake with thick frost - she can even force the cold to violently explode, throwing razor sharp ice shards in every direction. She can also concentrate this ability on a single enemy, riddling his flesh with deep frostbite. The cryophoenix can also summon a glacial storm, a blizzard of terrible fury that both harms and slows those within. When defense is needed, Anivia can create an impassible barrier of ice. Furthermore, Anivia can never die. Whenever she is killed, she simply transforms into an egg, waiting to be reborn.

Some say the world will end in fire, some in ice. Anivia awaits the inevitable latter.

Skil Deskriptions

Rebirth (Passive)
On dying, Cryophoenix will revert into an egg. If the egg can survive for six seconds, she is gloriously reborn.

This is simple. You revive with as much hp as the egg has left when you’re reborn. While you’re in egg form you have increased armor.
While your egg is up you are allowed to play aggressively (not stupid!) and when it is down, you have to play very defensively as Anivia is a very squishy champion that is killed instantly if focused.


Flash Frost (Q)
Anivia brings her wings together and summons a single piercing lance of ice that flies towards her opponents, chilling and damaging anyone in its path. When the lance explodes it does moderate damage in a radius, stunning anyone in the

This skill has numerous uses. It is very important to truly understand that this spell does lance damage AND damage on blast. It also slows when lancing and stuns for 0.75 second upon detonation.
This means that you have to detonate is slightly behind the target in order to get him hit both by lance damage and blast damage as well as the stun which is the maximum effect you are going to get for that mana.

The stun effect is incredible to get out of ganks as you stun the guy and run for it. As it is AoE you can actually stun a whole group of opponents trying to rough your feathers.


Crystalize (W)
Cryophoenix condenses the moisture in the air into an impenetrable wall of ice to block the movement of her enemies. The wall only lasts a short duration before it melts

This skill does also have a thousand uses even though it is very straight forward; place a wall at a desired location.
Even the first level of this wall can block small jungle path and by level two it can block all jungle paths. When it is level 5 it is actually able to block the whole river if placed carefully. It is truly large and you are going to block and thus kill lots of kill with this skill.
It can also be used to scare of enemies for a bit, i.e. If you are defending a tower a wall in the middle of it all will cause them to go back a little buying you some valuable time.
It’s also fantastic for scouting bushes and/or revealing ganks before they unfold. As it has a relatively large range and large LoS it can easily be dropped over some trees/walls etc to reveal stuff there.
Overall it is the hardest skill Anivia has; and the one that takes the longest to learn to use properly. You can easily block your teammates which will not make you very popular. Learn to use it well and you will truly rock as Anivia.

Frostbite (E)
With a flap of her wings, Anivia blasts a freezing gust of wind at her target, dealing a medium amount of damage. If the target has been slowed by an ice effect, the damage they take is doubled.
Anivia blasts her target with a freezing wind, dealing magic damage. If the target has been chilled, they take double damage.

This is another one of your nukes; that should only be used when they are already chilled which is done by your ultimate of Flash Frost.
The reason is the double damage IF the enemy is chilled. Without it is a mediocre nuke, but if they are chilled it is a really great nuke, capable of nuking more than ½ of a squishys HP late game.

Glacial Storm (R)
Anivia summons a driving rain of ice and hail to damage her enemies and slow their advance.
Toggle: Anivia calls forth a driving rain of ice and hail, dealing magic damage per second, slowing their movement and attack speed by 20% for 2.5 seconds, and chilling them.

This is your ultimate and is a pretty straightforward skill with a myriad of uses. The circle it encompasses is relatively large and can easily fill up all jungle routes; to force people to go through or back.
This skill should be dropped at ANYTIME you encounter ANYTHING that can be labeled enemy, unless you simply lack mana.
When you see a opponent, drop it underneath his feet and nuke with your other skills. This skill can make a huge difference in teamfights, as they are forced to break formation or simply soak up the damage, but it is only tanks that are able to do that for longer periods of time.
It has a really short cooldown; so don’t be afraid to move it if it is more needed another place. It is not going into some huge cooldown, but instead 4 sec after level 16. After the cooldown place it again; it should be up under the enemy at all times in a teamfight.

Skill Combo (R->Q -> E)

This is really a no-brainer. Put your ultimate underneath their feet and proceed to damage and stun with Q and then nuke with E. Rinse and repeat with Q -> E all the time as soon as they’re off cooldown.
You can use R -> E if the enemy is running fast away and the relatively slow Q projectile isn’t able to hit them in time. As E is not a skill shot, it will hit no matter what.
Your W is used whenever the situation requires it; but it isn’t a component of your direct combo. Just a nice thing when you are trying to achieve something.

Masteries

I go for a 9/0/21 on Anivia. It focuses on utility; with some focus especially on magic penetration which is very important for a magical burst champion such as Anivia. (one point should be spend in the ghost mastery instead if you have that particular summoner spell; I do not take the clarity mastery normally, as it is of little use when not having a laning partner in my opinion, as most have enough mana when teamfights really being to be frequent)
Here it is in a graphical version:



Runes

For runes I go:

9x Greater Mark of Insight (+0.95 magic penetration)
9x Greater Seal of Clarity (+1.8 mana/5 seconds at champion level 18)
9x Greater Glyph of Focus (-0.65% ability cooldowns)
3x Greater Quintesse of Insight (+1.89 magic penetration)

This all together gives

-5.85% ability cooldowns
+14 magic penetration
+16 mana/5 seconds at champion level 18

These are in no way mandatory; just what I find to give me most. Magic penetration is good for a champ that really relies on burst damage, so I would recommend at least those.
The quintesses can be switched with flat hp quintesses if you feel like it, but she’s still squishy as hell and you won’t need them if you play well.

Summoner Spells

As summoner spells I would recommend Ghost and Flash for several reasons.

Ghost is just a good allaround spell, that can help you get the positioning right and make your life easier when facing threatening situations.

Flash is very good for all kinds of situations, and is always nice on a very slow champion with escape mechanisms that aren’t always failsafe.

Some good uses for flash could be:

1) Get under tower just before you egg to lie in relative safety if you are somehow caught out in the open

2) Use a wall in front of you and jump over it with flash, if you for some reason cannot place it behind you because of the time of the animation.

Other viable choices:

Teleport can be very useful if you know you’re going to hold a 1v2 lane and for some reason the jungler/mid are not able to help you. This can really save your tower.

Clairvoyance is always useful, but isn’t really suited for Anivia. Only pick it if you must; if somehow the support isn’t taking it for some reason or simply refuses to do so for no apparent reason.

Cleanse is useful, but you shouldn’t really be the one getting hit by stuns and such. Only pick if facing a team that screams chain disablers and you don’t think your team can protect you.

Clarity can be good if you are an inexperienced Anivia player, but is useless if you learn to conserve your mana and will always only be good a low levels.


The rest is not good/useless on Anivia. Sure they can be used, but they will be much better on other champions.

Skilling order

Your skilling order should be to priotize Flash Frost (Q), as it does as much damage as E (more if E is not fired a chilled target) and can stun, but it is a skillshot, which you shouldn’t be a problem as aiming skillsshots is something you need to do good as Anivia.
The next in line is Frostbite (E) to maximize dmg. Before level 6 you want to have atleast 1 level in Crystalize (W) and maybe even 2. When you Crystalize (W) is level 2, you can let that skill be for a while.
From level 6 you are free to choose; but my recommendations are as follows:




Build

First I would like to point out that there is no such thing as a cookie butter build for most champions and Anivia is no exception. I will give examples on different builds, as well as explaining each item that you could use and which I do not think is worth it.

I start off with either Doran’s Ring and 1 Health Pot or a Meki Pendant and 2 Health pots. I take the ring if I need the early game survivability else I take the other to quickly build a Tear of the Goddess.
No matter which I choose, I go for a Tear of the Goddess and a pair of Boots of speed at my first trip back. (955 gold if you took Meki Pendant)

When I got the Tear of the Goddess I go for a Rod of Ages as it gives a nice boost to mana and survivability.
If the game is going good I’ll take a Mejai’s Soulstealer before finishing the Rod of Ages. When that is done I upgrade my Boots of Speed into Mercury’s Threads if they have many disables, else I’ll upgrade them into Sorcerers Shoes. Now I upgrade the Tear of the Goddess into an Archangel’s Staff

By now you have lots of mana, tier 2 boots, and a good amount of AP (maybe pretty much if you have Mejai’s Soulstealer). In short terms you have a pretty expensive core build(She can easily farm enough money); and now it is time to finish the build. You have 2 or 3 inventory slots back at this point.
Before proceeding you have to judgee the current situation in the game. Are you dying /are your team loosing? Or are you winning slightly or even large?
If the latter is the case, go for a Rabadon’s Deathcap if this is however not the situation go for a defensive item. Try to find out which damage source most of their damage is currently coming from when you do this.
Here there are some good choices:

Banshees Veil
+375 Health +375 Mana +50 Magic Resist UNIQUE Passive: Blocks one negative spell every 30 seconds.


This item is overall good on casters such as Anivia as it gives good MR, a very good passive and some hp + mana. This is especially good against champions that rely heavily on a single skill to get you, like Sion, Morgana and Ryze which all needs to stun/snare you in order to kill you without you running. It is good against casters/magic damage dealers overall

Guardian Angel

+68 Armor +38 Magic Resistance UNIQUE Passive: Revives your Champion upon death, restoring 750 health and 375 mana, this effect can only occur once every 5 minutes.

This is a very all-around item that can be used against most setups, if they are not having a very dominating factor in terms of kind of damage. The passive is also awesome as it stacks with your egg and makes them have to kill you thrice times within 5 minutes to really kill you.

Frozen Heart
+99 Armor +500 Mana UNIQUE Passive: Reduces ability cooldowns by 25% and reduces the attack speed of nearby enemies by 20%.

This item is good against physical damage dealers and also gives some good stuff as cooldown reduction and a nice bit of mana, which is also a little AP because of the passive of Archangel’s Staff. It is rather expensive though. It’s really nice against heavy physical damage such as Tryndamere or Ashe.
A Thornmail might seem like a better choice, but because you are very squishy already they are not exactly going to kill themselves hitting you and thus I prefer the extra mana and cooldown reduction.
From here a good thing would be Rabadons Deathcap,if you haven’t got it before your defensive item, as you need the massive AP to really burst them down.

Now I would get a Void Staff as everybody else has also gotten their defensive items; which will probably be something containing magic resist when you are their foe. Combined with runes and Sorcerers Shoes your opponents magic resist should be ((Magic resist*60)/100)-34 . This is a considerable amount of reduction.

If you still have a slot left, I would recommend Zhonya’s Hourglass as it can be a real lifesaver. This can be taken before the Void Staff if you need some extra armor and the really awesome passive too. This could be if you are still in a stalemate/loosing situation in the match.

Another Item to consider is Death Fire Grasp as its active combined with your own burst is really going to hurt even a heavy tank. Normally I wouldn’t get it as your AD carry should have a Bloodrazor to appropriately deal with health stacking champions like Cho’Gath.
This is again not THE build; but it sure works. Any Anivia build involve several of these components; but feel free to test for yourself.

Early game

Early you want to play defensively and trying to just farm up. Do not in any way overextend as it will probably get you killed very quickly. She’ has a hard time defending herself against ganks until you have enough mana to run your ultimate for a longer period of time, while still being able to use your other skills.

Mid game & late game

My mid game you should have enough mana to continuously spam you ultimate and all of your skills in general. By this time you place is with your team and nowhere else. Anivia is no solo hero; I can’t stress this enough!
You do only run for yourself if you are absolutely sure where the all the opponents are and that no teamfight is about to emerge. At all other times you are with your teammates as you are vulnerable even though you can wreck most of their team in no time.
When in a fight, pop your ultimate the second action begins, and then stun (q) and frostbite (e) their most squishy guy inside reasonable range of you. Continue this; moving your ultimate if necessary and continue the squishy nuking until they are dead.
Be ready with your W as you are going to block their escape path and net your team some extra kills.

Good lane partners/teammates

First of all: Anivia should be in a single lane, all other is a waste.
But if you however end in the/one of the duo lanes, any support champion will be very good to let you continue your harass all the time.

Teammates should in general some with some decent crowd control to let you get your combo off as much as possible. Sion and Taric are prime examples, especially Taric that is also the support champion I was talking about.

Authors Note

This is a GUIDE, and as so isn’t a set in stone way to play Anivia; just a viable one. Feel free to comment on mistakes or make suggestions in a constructive manner.
If you come with any suggestions please back it up with arguments; and so I’ll be happy to try it out and eventually adjust my guide accordingly

Well elaborated guide there, sir +1

Here is how you should play her. Made by an US ~2000 elo player, amazing gameplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJAN1oDRJpk

thx up there

TunaKiller6 wrote:Here is how you should play her. Made by an US ~2000 elo player, amazing gameplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJAN1oDRJpk

Haha; I showed that to my sister when she tried to play Anivia... hilarious until she realized that It wasn't quite as fantastic as the picture I painted of the guide

Another thing. Zilean+Anivia makes them have to kill her four times

Nice guide, Maclaren's guide is epic LOLOL

You need to level W a bit more often than 4-7 then last.
Also, no clarity. Bad spell, really bad.
Swap glyphs to mp regen per level, will make up for clarity.

Ghost+flash. always.
ignite is usefull too, but I wouldn't pick it unless it's really needed.

Shaco wrote:You need to level W a bit more often than 4-7 then last.
Also, no clarity. Bad spell, really bad.
Swap glyphs to mp regen per level, will make up for clarity.

Ghost+flash. always.
ignite is usefull too, but I wouldn't pick it unless it's really needed.

Hmm, just found it to be somewhat insufficient when I want to harass.

Might try it out some more though

Rahbek er Gud wrote:

Shaco wrote:You need to level W a bit more often than 4-7 then last.
Also, no clarity. Bad spell, really bad.
Swap glyphs to mp regen per level, will make up for clarity.

Ghost+flash. always.
ignite is usefull too, but I wouldn't pick it unless it's really needed.

Hmm, just found it to be somewhat insufficient when I want to harass.

Might try it out some more though

anivia is one of the best mage supporters there is
like morgana

hard to kill early
harassment is huge damage
her wall can decide the outcome of a teamfight
AoE stun
AoE slow

morgana has her snare
magic resist reduction
best shield in LoL
AoE ulti slow/stun


Play them as caster mage, which means, some damage, but also supporting.

Shaco wrote:

Rahbek er Gud wrote:

Shaco wrote:You need to level W a bit more often than 4-7 then last.
Also, no clarity. Bad spell, really bad.
Swap glyphs to mp regen per level, will make up for clarity.

Ghost+flash. always.
ignite is usefull too, but I wouldn't pick it unless it's really needed.

Hmm, just found it to be somewhat insufficient when I want to harass.

Might try it out some more though

anivia is one of the best mage supporters there is
like morgana

hard to kill early
harassment is huge damage
her wall can decide the outcome of a teamfight
AoE stun
AoE slow

morgana has her snare
magic resist reduction
best shield in LoL
AoE ulti slow/stun


Play them as caster mage, which means, some damage, but also supporting.

Hmm, play her as pure caster as you see. But i tend to play with a Morgana on my team (when in premade) so that may be why. I don't really play Anivia in solo as I hate not being protected an just raped if the other team is not completely stupid

Well Clarity on Anivia is really useless later on. You should have such excessive amounts of mana at that point that something like 300 or how much mana isnt really a change.

TunaKiller6 wrote:Well Clarity on Anivia is really useless later on. You should have such excessive amounts of mana at that point that something like 300 or how much mana isnt really a change.

hmm, may just be me that is bad at conserving I will test it out next time I'm going to play her

Anivia needs clarity, because sometimes it can save her ass.

FarSeerPT wrote:Anivia needs clarity, because sometimes it can save her ass.

no.
runes enough.

don't spam spells, problem solved.

Or get MANAMUNE!

TunaKiller6 wrote:Or get MANAMUNE!

HAHA

I tried without clarity, it works wonders

Shaco wrote:

FarSeerPT wrote:Anivia needs clarity, because sometimes it can save her ass.

no.
runes enough.

don't spam spells, problem solved.

i play her without clarity, im just saying that clarity can be a viable choice.

Updated and fixed several typos.

Was actually gonna rewrite some parts because of the relatively massive nerf to her ult.

Now they are changing it for the 3rd time in a row. I'll wait and see whether they get it right within a foreseeable future.