Probably the most balanced of all champions right now, and my personal favorite hero. Anivia is a heavy caster that requires most focus on AP and Mana supply. I'll talk about her pros, cons, game strategy and even the best mastery and rune setups for her.Pros
Excellent farming capabilities
Good early harasser
Powerful ganking/team battle skills
Good multi-stun and slow skills
One of the best passives in the game
Cons
Low starting HP and damage
Highly reliant on MP supply
Slower movement speed
Requires lots of micro-management
Not for beginners
Pre-game Options - Summoner Skills
Anivia benefits from almost every summoner skill, apart from things like Smite. Revive is top of the list for me, and is an excellent skill with Anivia to keep her in the fight at all times, since her passive is also a revive. This makes sure she never misses anything throughout the game, since oftentimes by the time she actually does die, your Revive skill is off cooldown.
Boost is another suggestion, since Anivia is very squishy early on and stuns can mean the end quickly even with her passive.
Flash is a good combo spell with her Wall ability, as you can set a pre-emptive wall in front of you while being chased, then simply Flash passed it, leaving your enemies behind it.
Pre-game Options - Runes
Considering the runes are rather meh right now, for the most part, I'd suggest going nothing but AP and Mana runes. Another possible is to go AP and Magic Penetration, since you will be spamming your skills a lot.
A third option, and one which you should only go for if you plan to make a tank Anivia (yes, you actually can do this) is to go full HP and Armor/Mag Resist on the rune page.
Pre-game Options - Masteries
Simply put, your masteries should all be into MP regen/MP gains/skill cooldowns. I personally worked on the Attack masteries up until the 15% Magic Penetration, then went full Utility afterwards, getting all the mana boosting/regen and skill cooldowns in the tree.
Item Build - Mana Phoenix
The first item build here will be to get as much mana as you can as quickly as possible, as well as speedy cooldown items. I'll list the items by order in which you should buy them.
Boots of Speed - 350g
Amplifying Tome - 435g
Ruby Crystal - 475g
Sapphire Crystal - 400g
Catalyst the Protector - 450g (1325g total)
Blasting Wand - 880g
Sapphire Crystal - 400g
Faerie Charm - 180g
Blasting Wand - 880g
Cloth Armor - 300g
Sage's Ring - 975g
Chain Vest - 700g
Frozen Heart - 425g (2800g - Third Main Item Complete)
By the time you attain Frozen Heart, the game should be nearing it's end, so after that point you can go for whatever you feel is best at the time. Now understand this is just a base of what I personally find the best for Anivia. I do stress that Rod of Ages is a MUST for her early game. The faster you get it, the better, since it takes quite a bit of time for it to max it's abilities out. It's vital to her for both HP and MP needs, so please do not ignore this until late game.
As a good option for a late game item, get Abyssal Scepter. The magic resist reduction combined with Anivia's ultimate can be devastating.
Item Build - Tank Phoenix
Boots of Speed - 350g
Cloth Armor - 300g
Ruby Crystal - 475g
Sapphire Crystal - 400g
Catalyst the Protector - 450g (1325g total)
Blasting Wand - 880g
Null-Magic Mantle - 400g
Cloth Armor - 300g
Chain Vest - 700g
Guardian Angel - 850g (2250g total - Second Main Item Complete)
Ruby Crystal - 475g
Long Sword - 415g
Phage - 400g (1290g)
Giant's Belt - 1100g
Frozen Mallet - 800g (3190g total - Third Main Item Complete)
Now again, Rod of Ages is a must for your first build. The faster the better. Tabi is grabbed instead of Sorc Boots for theme itself. Not to mention, it's faster to attain. Guardian Angel on Anivia is godly. It almost completely puts the opposition off from killing you thanks to both Angel's revive, plus your own passive revive. And if they do focus fire on you, it means they'll be spending alot of time doing so, giving your teammates a very good chance to eliminate them while you continue to stay alive. I know people are probably wondering why I've put Frozen Mallet in here though. Well for starters, the +800 health. Aside from that, it's the synergy it has with Anivia's skills. Since it's considered a slow from a Frost source, your Frostbite spell will always do double damage after a normal attack.
Additional items you could use with this build would include Warmog's Living Armor and Banshee's Veil.
Skills List - (NOW UPDATED WITH SKILL ABILITY SCALING)
Damage - 60/90/120/150/180
Atk/Spd Slow - 20% for 3 sec (ice-type)
Stun - .75 sec
Flash Frost is Anivia's key skill. It stuns, slows and is your farming skill the entire game. By rank 3 or 4, you should be able to one-shot a wave of ranged creeps if detonated properly, which is a quick 50+ gold. It's range is incredible as well, so it will be important use in ganking and team fights to stun.
Width - 400/500/600/700/800 units
Duration - 5 sec
One of the neatest skills in the game. This is essential in chasing and ganking, especially in jungle areas, as it can cut off an escape very easily. It can also assist you and your team in getting out of a fight you know you'll lose. The direction Anivia faces will determine the angle the wall faces.
Damage - 55/90/125/160/195 (x2 if ice slowed)
A key skill for early first bloods. As per the description, it's damage gets doubled whenever something gets slowed, so it has synergy with your Flash Frost and Glacial Storm. It also works with allies like Ashe or Nunu who also have ice-type slows, and of course Frozen Mallet as well. Against the right opponent, you can score an easy first blood within the first couple minutes of a match with a Flash Frost/Frostbite combo.
Damage - 80/120/160 (dmg/sec)
Atk/Spd Slow - 30% for 3 sec
Massive AoE that deals constant damage. Early levels are worthless however, and is only good after the first rank. Combos with Frostbite and great for taking out creep waves during pushes and counter-pushes. Very mana intensive though, so it will drain your pool VERY quickly if you're not careful.
One of the best, if not the best passive in the game. After Anivia hits 0 hp, she'll turn into an egg with her HP completely refilled. This allows her to probably die the least in most games, since it wont count as a kill until she is completely dead. It also means she potentially has 2x the HP that is shown on her due to it. A 3k hp Anivia is very hard to deal with, because you'll have to deal another 3k in HP after just killing her once.
Skill Build
1. Flash Frost
2. Frostbite
3. Flash Frost
4. Frostbite
5. Flash Frost
6. Frostbite
7. Flash Frost
8. Crystallize
9. Crystallize
10. Glacial Storm
11. Glacial Storm
12. Crystallize
13. Crystallize
14. Crystallize
15. Frostbite
16. Glacial Storm
17. Frostbite
18. Flash Frost
Game Strategy - Early Game
Early game, Anivia can either solo or dual lane. She's very effective at both. During this time you should be harassing the enemy as much as possible with Flash Frost. Only use Frostbite when you know you'll do some massive damage that will cause them to retreat (which means using it against champs like Annie, Ryze, Morgana, Evelynne, etc). Otherwise just pound on the creep waves with Flash Frost for some easy money. You should be able to finish off whichever Boots you're going for and begin on your Rod of Ages by 5 mins in, possibly already having enough to either get your Sapphire or Ruby Crystal, especially if you're soloing. If you're dual-laning, it's very possible to get a First Blood within a couple minutes of the game, as long as your lane partner is with you on it, because her skills are very strong early game.
Game Strategy - Mid Game
Mid game, about lvl 7-8, you should have finished off your Rod of Ages by about this time if you've been farming well. You should have a couple levels in Crystallize, then can commence the ganking with Anivia. She is really outstanding at this point, as you can have your teammates chase an enemy into the jungle and have Anivia chase from the other end. Once you get within range, position yourself and plant a wall. Free kill. This is the best way to help out with Anivia during ganks. During a team fight, Anivia is also a good initiator, using Flash Frost to stun one or more champs momentarily for the rest of your team to move in for kills. Of course, wall off any runners if possible. During this time, you should be going for whatever your second main item is, whether you're playing mana build or tank build, finishing it off by around lvl 12-14. When no one's engaged, just continue to easy farm on creep waves with Flash Frost, and you can jungle at the same time fairly easily.
Game Strategy - Late Game
About lvl 15, the game should start showing who's dominating by this point, if either team truly is. Your second main item should be done, and depending on the situation, you could either be going for your third item or something that can adapt to the situation at hand if you're the one being on the defensive. You should be almost exclusively helping out in ganking/team fights, only laning when a tower needs to be defended for a moment, which you should easily be able to push back. Wall and Flash Frost will continue to be your key skills. Depending on the build you went with as well, Anivia could very well be used as an initiator or decoy in final pushes, since her overall survivability is higher than most other champions outside of pure tanks.
Lane Partners
Anivia's best lane partners are anyone who can dish out burst damage or stun as well. Nunu and Ashe have the best synergy in a lane with her, due to the ice damage combinations with Frostbite. As for bad lane partners, anyone that deals mass AoE damage is probably worst laned with Anivia, since neither will be able to farm properly due to 2 mass aoe skills. Chronokeeper, Cho'goth and Annie are examples of this.
Good Lanes
Any low HP champion that doesnt have a reliable way to escape is a bonus for Anivia. This would include Chronokeeper, Teemo and Annie. Most melee champions are also good to lane against, such as Warwick or Master Yi, as Anivia has one of the best ranges for attacking in the game, as well as the huge range on Flash Frost.
Bad Lanes
Veigar is probably your worst nightmare. His ability to do damage based on your mana pool can destroy Anivia very easily, and in the case that you see he is on the opposing team, that's when I'd suggest running the tank build of Anivia.
Other bad lanes are Ryze, Cardmaster, Evelynne and Twitch. They are very hard for Anivia to deal with, mostly due to their incredible burst damage with Anivia's low hp. I would also suggest going tank build if your enemy has 2 or more of these champs on their team, as you wont have a chance to do much farming because of them. Rammus can also be a very big pain early game against his spike roll, unless you get a well timed Flash Frost detonation on him to stop the roll.
