Anivia Tips

[whyumadbro]

Hey guys

Just started playing Anivia about 3 days ago. I've been using the guide on mobafire, and I watched the Champions Spotlight on her, but I just can't seem to string together good enough shatter combos. 3/4 games I play I end up with around 3-4 kills, but 15 assists, because it seems I can only get them to about 40% life

Was wondering if you anyone help some beginner tips to help me out, and maybe some cheaper items to buy to get me into the damage game faster.

Thanks

Edit: Would also like to note, I'm in a game with Kass and Veigar, and they are hitting people once and doing more damage than I am in a shatter combo

[Deleted]

Ow. Well. Anivia isn't an easy champion to give straightforward advice for.

When I play Anivia, it's usually my role to try to catch people off guard. A well placed W can seal off an enemy from his team for just a second or two, but during those seconds your burst plus your team's damage is usually enough to kill anything that hasn't built defensively. Similarly, while Anivia's Q travels slower than what many champions run, it has a fairly long range and large blast radius. I always save my Q until I have trapped somebody with W (I know they'll run towards the corner of the wall so it's an easy hit) or until I can surprise somebody with it from around a corner or whatever. Hitting with Q often means a kill if your team is around.

The only way to play Anivia efficiently is to have the blue buff as often as humanly possible, there's no discussing that. Your damage output and utility are completely dependant on you being able to spam your abilities whenever an opportunity shows.

A few pointers:

• Always make sure your Q travels through your target before detonating it. That way it ticks twice and deals a fair amount of additional damage.
• When "chasing" or trying to catch somebody off guard, try not to use your W until you've come closer to them. If W is several yards behind them they won't be able to flash right over it, which means even if they have flash they will still be fairy easy targets both for you and your team.
• Similarly, wait with placing your R until you're in a good position. If you can place the R right above an enemy you'll get more ticks from it, they'll be slowed enough for you to cast two E rather than just one and you'll be able to get a W up at the edge of your R's radius, forcing them to run even further inside of it.
• When playing "aggressively" (ie, when they run from you), don't use your Q until you know you can hit (like, they're already stunned, snared or slowed, when they only can run straight forward or when they're running around your wall).
• When playing "defensively" (ie, when you run from them. Anivia is something of a kiter champion so you it'll be quite often), save your Q to interrupt your enemies abilities. The perfect example is Katarina's ulti, but basically anything that temporarily buffs an enemy champion or channels damage should be interrupted. Unless, of course, you're actually escaping, in which case you should just stun whenever appropriate.
• Cast E before R. If you're fast enough you'll get R up before E connects so you'll get the double damage. That way you'll have another E much earlier, and people often run out of range for E when you place your ulti on them. Consider binding at least E to smart casting for this.
• When laning, you can play quite aggressively as your egg makes you very hard to kill. That does not mean, however, that you should throw Qs at random. Good players will dodge them with ease. Instead, harass with regular Es and auto attacks until they close in on you to retaliate, and that's when you use do a shatter combo.

But really, there are exceptions to every rule. Reading the situation is very important since your abilities have really long CDs and since mana is limited even with blue buff. If you place your R poorly you'll have to cancel it and wait for, what is it, 3 seconds? That's an eternity in a team fight.

You shouldn't always throw up a W just because you can. If done wrong, it may well let the enemy escape easier, seal off your team from the enemy carry in a team fight, block your own escape route etc.

Always get Flash and Ignite. Ignite complements Anivia's burst and has given me countless amounts of first bloods or just kills overall. With ignite you'll faceroll any AD carry late game as well.

As for items, I have no strict build. It very much depends on the enemy composition and state of the game, but Rod of Ages and Rabadon's Deathcap are always included in any build. Rod of Ages is a strong first-buy but I occasionally get a Kage's Lucky Pick prior to it if I farm long and well. The gold is nice and Deathfire Grasp later into the game gives Anivia a very, very high burst.

Other than the core, the following are items often found in my inventory (in no particular order):

Morello's Evil Tome
Frozen Heart
Zhonya's Hourglass
Void Staff
Abyssal Scepter

Then there's Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Will of the Ancients but I'm not a big fan of either of those on Anivia. There's also Lich Bane which I've felt was very strong on her in some scenarios; it provides that sustained damage in between abilities (and quite a lot of it) which she lacks, and a 7% movement speed increase which is just priceless for wall and ulti placement. It's very expensive though and while it complements her quite well, I'm not sure it's strong enough to be used in anything but a few unique scenarios. It's also not quite a beginner's item.

For shoes I usually go with the magic penetration shoes, unless the other team has an extraordinary amount of CC in which case I get Mercury Threads.

Erm. I ended up writing a whole lot more than what I inteded. o.O

[Deleted]

check out froggen when he streams on own3d.tv he is INSANE with her

[akts]

Edit: Would also like to note, I'm in a game with Kass and Veigar, and they are hitting people once and doing more damage than I am in a shatter combo

Here is your problem. Having 3 AP nukers on one team is not very good.

[whyumadbro]

That is exactly what I wanted, and needed (Mest). Thank you <3 Much appreciated everyone else.

[MOGATRON]

Most things have already been said above, worth noting that if you blow your Q early game and it misses you have no defense and people often will counter attack you! So don't stick around after a missed Q in the lane phase.

[Silent]

I cant really add anything over what MEST has said, except !!! Prepare to fail a lot of your walls,

[Blupparen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJAN1oDRJpk
Don't play like this

[valden83]

Yep, listen to Mest. Because of how anivia plays, she is just going to take more practice for you to get used to. Very skill shot and combo oriented, but a good anivia can be devastating in team fights. I have played quite a few games as her and still struggle sometimes to land my combos correctly. One good thing though is if you can get good at anivia, you should be much better off playing other skillshot based champs.