Annie Gameplay Update
I want to make this clear first that this gameplay update suggestion is to fix issues with Annie with poor counter play and make her better to play against, this in short will allow Annie some unique kinds of buffs with better ability to play against her. Another thing I will do is separate Brand and Annie a little bit so that we do not have two fire burst mages with long stun durations and only the better gets played, but move Annie into more a sustain damage fire mage puppeteer role with a stun passive causing Annie's victims to slow burn and suffer to death for Annie's sick and twisted pleasure like the dark child that she is and Brand can be for the burst fire mage role so there will be a distinct reason to pick Annie over Brand and vice-versa (Brand will probably need a gameplay update as well honestly, but that is not for here). These you will probably see begone from Annie are instant stuns and instant damage as this has no counter play for the opponent to react and creates an anti-fun atmosphere (the compensations will be Annie should feel A LOT better to play overall). In short, do be patient with me as the changes are meant to be in a way a buff overall, but a severe change from the current instant stun from Tibbers into 100% to 0% your opponent (this is fun to play against right guys?) and I do want to GREATLY reduce Annie's need for Flash and even initiate items so she can feel she can be played without these tools.
Basic Attack Range: 550 units [from 625 units] Hold up, this range nerf will make sense in a bit; but to add, 625 units is a poop ton of range, but that is not the reason for the range nerf actually; attack frame and attack speed can be increased with a lower attack range.
Pyromania (Passive): Annie's magic damage from her basic spells apply a fire mark for up to 4 seconds which stacks up to 5 times on her enemies. Upon reaching 5 fire marks on the same unit the fire marks will be consumed to stun that unit for 1.25/1.5/1.75 seconds [@levels 1/6/11] (the same unit cannot be stunned again until 9/8/7/6 seconds has passed [@levels 1/6/11/16]).
Annie's basic attacks will reset the fire mark duration, but cannot apply fire marks themselves.
So how the stun has been changed to kind of a hybrid between Kennen's and Braum's passives so that you do not have eternal zoning power with a white Annie and grant a proper heads-up to the opponent that they are about to get stunned for a long time.
Disintegrate (Q): Cooldown: 4/3.5/3/2.5/2 [from 4] seconds; Cost: 65 [from 60/65/70/75/80] Mana; Range: 625 units Annie hurls a fireball at the target enemy to deal 80/100/120/140/160(+50%AP) magic damage [from 80/115/150/185/220(+80%AP)].
If Annie executes an enemy unit then the mana cost is refunded and half the cooldown.
Tibbers: If Tibbers is closer to the target enemy than Annie then he will attempt to use Disintegrate instead of Annie.
So this is more of a constant damage spells rather than a low cooldown burst spell of constantly throwing out fireballs plus to add to a puppeteer play style while Tibbers is summoned he can use Disintegrate instead of Annie if Tibbers is the one closer to the target enemy so that a short range mage can be a late game teamfighter constantly dealing constant and sustain damage on her opponents and burning them to death!
Incinerate (W): Cooldown: 8/7/6/5/4 [from 8] seconds; Cost: 70/80/90/100/110 Mana; Range: 625 units Annie scorches all enemies in a 50° cone in front of her with fire after a 0.5 second delay to deal 70/110/150/190/230(+65%AP) magic damage [from 70/115/160/205/250(+85%AP)].
Tibbers: Tibbers scorches all enemies in a 50° cone in front of him with fire after a 0.5 second delay to deal 70/110/150/190/230(+65%AP) magic damage. [damage does not overlay, meaning hitting a target with Tibbers' and Annie's Incinerate will only deal the damage one time and not double up on the damage]
The quality of life function here is that Incinerate will no longer gain a cast time for very smooth Incinerate using which will be great for the Annie player no longer stopping her movement when casting the spell, the delay overall means that it grant a brief second time to react to the spell. The spell will gain an animation indicating the spell is about to be used for the opponent can react to it. Something I want to clarify that this is indeed a buff for Annie before anyone says anything.
Molten Shield (E): Cooldown: 10 seconds; Cost: 35 [from 20] Mana; Range: 400 units [from 0] Annie grants herself and Tibbers, if he is active, a shield of fire for 5 seconds that grants 10/20/30/40/50 bonus armor and magic resistance as well as dealing 20/30/40/50/60(+15%AP) [from 20%AP] magic damage to enemies around the shield each second and each time they attack the shield. [again this damage cannot overlay so targets cannot take double damage when between Annie and Tibbers]
Tibbers: Tibbers additionally moves 15/20/25/30/35%(+1% per 25AP) faster while Molten Shield is active on him [from 300 movement speed for 0.75 second].
There will be a very visible and distinct flame aura around Annie and Tibber while Molten Shield is up indicating the damage per second range.
Summon: Tibbers (R): Cooldown: 150/90/30 seconds [from 120/100/80]; Cost: 100 Mana; Range: 700 units [from 600] Annie summons Tibbers to the target location after a 0.5 second delay to deal 50/65/80(+25%AP) magic damage per second to enemies within 250 units around Tibbers [from 20/30/40(+20%AP) around 200 units of Tibbers]. Tibbers remains on the field as a controllable minion for up to 30 seconds [from 45].
So this variation of Tibbers, despite no longer having initial burst damage and being on a lengthy delay before landing, is a lot stronger because Tibbers can use Annie's spells now and allows Annie to confidently get off damage in fights and skirmishes while still being an immobile fire mage herself. Very long cooldown by rank 1 is because of the Tibbers can now use spells meaning this is try to be a snowball prevention system so Annie is not extremely dominant early on even though she still can be dominant if you let her and by rank 3 Tibbers is ensured to be always up for Annie's late game damage output and of course there is only one Tibbers (I am well aware with Cooldown at rank 3 the up time is longer than the cooldown) so summoning Tibbers again kills the current active Tibbers to resurrect him once again. Also Summon: Tibbers no longer has a cast time for smooth walking; but this new Tibbers will be used to get used rather than throwing the teddy bear on someone's head to stun and kill them and then forget about the poor guy (Tibbers felt abused, neglected, and unloved- he wants to be in the action too and be played by Annie to have fun with his foes for Annie's pleasure!)
Hope you appreciate the ideas and list your feedback and/or concerns! Have a nice day everyone! ~ Stacona