Annie support is way too strong.

IntoTheOcean·Jan 21, 2014·1 votes·792 views

I hate playing against Annie, I don't think she's any fun to play against, and she's too strong with support. Her insane AA range, her burst damage, and constant stuns make it so hard to play against her.

When she hits level 6, you immediately lose your lane. AoE stun with insane burst to back it up. Most of the time she can win on her own. Add in an ADC? And you just lose. I don't feel like there are any good support counterpicks against her. It's hard for the ADC to itemize against her, and just in every way I hate her.

This is indeed a rant after losing my promo matches and the next three games against her. I feel like if enough people speak out, she'll be fixed. Not nerfed, but just out of the support lane.

7 Comments

Penguin EclipseJan 22, 20144 votes

I've had some luck lately focusing her with my adc from lv 1. A lot of Annie players will be aggressive and stand a distance from their adc. Unlike her adc who has barrier and lifesteal, she has nothing in the way of sustain. A lot of times we can get her to under half health before lv 2. It usually costs her a Flash and forces her to be passive or B. Most enemy adcs will not be ready to react in time. The primary goal is actually not to kill Annie, but just make her incapable of helping her adc for a while. Not all Annie players will play passive or recall, so she can also become an easy kill. Either way her adc is more vulnerable, and can be denied farm, poked, and hopefully even killed. Both fall behind.

Because I always play a support with a shield or heal, the early trades are almost always in our favor or can be recovered quickly. Annie has no sustain for her or her adc, whatsoever. That advantage can probably be felt the most at early levels, pre-tibbers. After that point Annie will probably be able to do more damage than can be shielded/healed, single-handedly.

RoaranorJan 23, 20144 votes

Basically this. Aside from her e, Annie is relatively squishy (as most mid mages are) early and is very susceptible to poke. If she uses her stun combos on you pre-6 take advantage of her skills being down and punish her for it.

As for counter-picks into support Annie, look for supports with heal/shield to mitigate her burst damage, or look for champion with spell shields (ie. Morgana and Sivir). Some Annie's will keep their charge just below stun and shield + skill for a quick stun. Keep track of seen skill usage and care for stun following a flash+shield or her shielding as she approaches skill range.

For items, it might be worthwhile to rush an Aegis to give your ADC a bit of extra mr (This synergizes really well with tanks like Thresh and Leona)

A well placed Janna ult can negate any follow up on a Tibber's stun (make sure not to stand near your ADC so as to get caught up in the stun yourself), and she can shield her ADC from a lot of pre-6 lane harass).

A well-timed Soraka silence can give your ADC a window for Annie-free harass, and the heals (+armor buff) will allow you to outlast them in lane.

I'd pick Thresh into Annie over Leona, since Thresh can shield his allies as well as himself, and allow for a quick escape to prevent a follow up on Annie's stun (pre and post 6)

Hope this helps.

GenuineJan 21, 20143 votes

Don't like playing against her, then play her. It's your fault for losing, not the champ you're up against.

IntoTheOceanJan 21, 20142 votes

Funny. I've tried desperately to play her as a support, and I absolutely hate it. She's not fun to play, and she is completely the opposite type of support I play. Leona, Thresh, those kinds of tanky utility supports. I've lost every game I've played as Annie support. She just should not be in the support role.

AutumnWakeJan 21, 20142 votes

She is so much fun to play support though.

ToyoFeb 1, 20141 votes

> She just should not be in the support role

Yeah, no. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. Annie may be a very powerful support, but she can be counter picked (Leona, Thresh, and anything with a heal do great against her), and any nerfs to her are going to also affect her mid lane power... which isn't good.

I love Annie support because it's one of the first times a champion has been able to fill a role they weren't designed for. It supports meta diversity, people being able to choose weird, yet viable, champs.

(P.S - Annie and the supports you listed are vastly different in play style. Out of curiosity, do you play champs like Lulu, Karma, etc in the support role?)

Sir ArmaMalumJan 21, 20143 votes

If you're playing ranked, request an Annie ban. A lot of people agree with your standpoint. As for a nerf she actually di just get nerfed by having her passive stun reduced by .5 sec early game, going back up to 1.75 sec by lvl 16. To balance that thy decreased the cd of her ult late game by a hefty amount. I understand she's frustrating to play against, we've all been there, but the easiest way to win against her is to beat her in champ select. Want easier laning? She has no sustain, so a healing support like sor or sona will do quite well if you play passively. Something to keep in mind is that being forced under your turret isn't a horrible thing as long as you (or your adc) can farm well under turret, which is an important skill either way. Beyond that, you also have to trust your jungler to either come when he's needed or hyper-pressure another lane.