Guide · Mid

Annie Guide

the Dark Child

Mage

Support

Tier B Mid

Annie, the Dark Child, is a mage and support champion of medium difficulty. Across our 256 analysed ranked games, Annie is mostly played in Mid (100% of its games), with a 50.8% win rate in that role: tier B among Mid champions (#23 of 42, ranked by win rate). Annie's damage is mostly magic (91%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. Win rate stays steady whatever the game length (48.8% to 51.9%): a reliable pick in every phase of the game.

Averages measured over 256 Mid games played with Annie, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Annie is a burst mage: after 4 abilities used, her next offensive ability stuns its target, and she starts the game and respawns with Pyromania available. Disintegrate refunds its mana if it kills, Incinerate deals damage in a cone, Molten Shield protects, and Summon: Tibbers brings her bear to life.

Role in team fights

Annie prepares her stun with 4 abilities before the fight, then casts Tibbers on the enemy group so it is followed by a stun. She also protects her carry with Molten Shield, which damages attackers.

The stun

W › Q › W › Q › R

When: An enemy is within range.

Chain four abilities; your next offensive ability stuns your target: cast Tibbers, which deals area damage and burns nearby enemies.

The team engage

E › W › R › Q

When: A fight begins.

Molten Shield gives movement speed and a shield (damaging attackers); Tibbers attacks and burns nearby enemies.

Farming

Q › AA AA

When: You are in lane.

Disintegrate kills the target and refunds its mana cost.

The team-fight opener

E › W › R › Q

When: Your passive is ready (4 abilities already used).

Molten Shield protects you, Incinerate damages in a cone, Tibbers (with the stun from your passive) lands on the group, Disintegrate finishes.

Laning phase

Use your abilities to charge your passive: 4 abilities then a stun. Disintegrate refunds its mana if it kills the target.

Common mistakes

• Wasting your passive before the engage.
• Casting Tibbers without the stun ready.
• Neglecting Molten Shield for an ally.

Riot's official tips for playing Annie

• Storing a stun for use with her ultimate can turn the tide of a team fight.
• Striking killing blows on minions with Disintegrate enables Annie to farm extremely well early in the game.
• Molten Shield is a good spell to cast to work up to Annie's stun, so sometimes it's beneficial to grab at least 1 rank in it early.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Malignance, Hextech Rocketbelt, and Shadowflame (25 games, 52.0% win rate), usually with Spellslinger's Shoes (50.5% over 184 games).

Malignance+Hextech Rocketbelt+Shadowflame

25 games · 52.0%

Malignance+Hextech Rocketbelt+Zhonya's Hourglass

18 games · 38.9%

Malignance+Shadowflame+Stormsurge

17 games · 41.2%

Boots

Spellslinger's Shoes50.5% · 184 games

Crimson Lucidity51.3% · 39 games

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite47.5% · 162 games

Flash + Teleport56.0% · 91 games

Most-played runes

Electrocute + Sorcery

50.3% · 165 games

Primary tree · Domination

Cheap Shot65%

Grisly Mementos68%

Relentless Hunter66%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Axiom Arcanist52%

Absolute Focus50%

Shards

Adaptive force60%

Adaptive force88%

Health scaling56%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Annie's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team62.5% · 72 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Malignance 63.5% ▲

Hextech Rocketbelt 73.3% ▲

Shadowflame 77.8%

Liandry's Torment 46.2%

Rabadon's Deathcap 83.3%

Zhonya's Hourglass 72.7%

The item that stands out most is Hextech Rocketbelt: 73.3% win rate, +15 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team42.0% · 81 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Malignance 45.7% ▼

Shadowflame 43.8% ▼

Hextech Rocketbelt 42.9% ▼

Zhonya's Hourglass 36.8%

Stormsurge 38.5%

Rabadon's Deathcap 45.5%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team49.5% · 103 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Malignance 47.9% ▼

Hextech Rocketbelt 57.5%

Shadowflame 34.3% ▼

Zhonya's Hourglass 44.4%

Rabadon's Deathcap 56.2%

Stormsurge 46.7%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

How to play against Annie

• Annie's summoned bear, Tibbers, burns opposing units around himself. Try to keep your distance from him after he's been summoned.
• Summoner Smite can be used to help take down Tibbers.
• Keep an eye out for a white, swirling power around Annie. It means she's ready to unleash her stun.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed.

Abilities

PassivePyromania

After casting 4 spells, Annie's next offensive spell will stun the target.

Annie begins the game and respawns with Pyromania available.

QDisintegrate

Annie hurls a Mana infused fireball, dealing damage and refunding the Mana cost if it destroys the target.

WIncinerate

Annie casts a blazing cone of fire, dealing damage to all enemies in the area.

EMolten Shield

Grants Annie or an ally a shield, a burst of Move Speed, and damages enemies who strike her with attacks or spells.

RSummon: Tibbers

Annie wills her bear Tibbers to life, dealing damage to units in the area. Tibbers can attack and also burns enemies that stand near him.

Frequently asked questions

Full Annie page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides