Annie Support: Is She Really the Best?

I've been working my way through supports for a while now, and now I'm onto Annie. I've been wanting to round out my champion pool with one of the "supports" that can do stupid amounts of damage and function almost as an APC under the right circumstances. Annie is the most popular, and most "meta," of them all, so I chose her to test out first. I'm doing alright with her, but I kind of hate her play style as a support. She's a stun bot. Without her stun, she's defenseless because she has zero mobility. Your only other means of escape, flash, is best saved to be used offensively. If your opponents know what they're doing, they'll hang back and avoid grouping, so your chances of getting off a multi-person Tibbers stun without flash are pretty low.

Were you to put a cast time on her ult, having her throw Tibbers like I've seen suggested plenty of times, I think that alone would cause both her success and popularity to plummet because landing that game-changing ult would become the equivalent of winning the lottery. That's essentially what's become of Darius' Q now that it has a cast time. It's become one of those abilities that people practically have to _let _ themselves get hit by. She could still be a lane bully, as she does have good range and damage, but that's not why you take her bot lane. You play Annie support for that ult, and as much fun as landing a solid ult with her can be, I just don't find it to be enough reason for me to pick her over some of the other options I have.

Lux can zone with her E, which is almost impossible to dodge now that she can pre-detonate, and which she'll be able to use even more often now that they're reducing its mana cost. Her Q is a shorter version of Morgana's that travels faster, can pass through minions, and can root two instead of just one. She can shield herself and allies instantly with her W. Her ult is on such a short cooldown that she's basically Cyclops once she gets CDR, firing lasers left and right. And her passive just adds to her damage even more. Similarly, Vel'Koz has a spammable, long-range Q with a slow, a knock-up that's like an easier to land Nami bubble, a passive that deals true damage, and that crazy ultimate of his. Both are immobile, yet they have a lot more to defend themselves (and their ADCs) with than Annie.

Even Ekko, who I've played support some in the past, seems like he could potentially be a more well-rounded and safe pick, so long as (and this is vital) you know what you're doing. If you can manage it, multi-person stuns with his W are like a low CD Tibbers ult minus the instant damage. But the shield he gets will allow him to put out a good deal of damage still. And if you're really a master when it comes to timing, you could either sync your W and ult or follow up with your ult thanks to the stun giving it time to catch up to you. His passive is a little more risky to apply than Lux and Vel'Koz's, yet it has the added incentive of speeding him up and slowing his target. His Q is sort of like a toned down version of Lux's Q in that it too provides damage and some of the easier to land CC in the game, just it's in the form of a slow rather than a root. His E gives him escapability and burst. And his ult... well... everyone's familiar with what his ult can do for him.

So is Annie really the best option, or is she just the simplest and most popular one? She has one of the easiest kits in the game to learn, and her ult is one of the strongest in the game, so I understand why she's so popular. I'm just wondering if I might be better served trying out the champions I mentioned, or maybe others, if I happen to like them more and perform better with them. Or if Annie really is that much better.

P.S. You'll notice I didn't mention Brand. I could end up eating my words like I did with Lulu, who went from infuriating when I first tried her out, as she was completely lost on me at first, to my second best support statistically speaking. Of the 8 I've reached Level 5 with, she now has my second best win rate, second best KDA, second best kill participation, second best average assists, and best average kills and deaths (AKA, fewest). But I hated Brand so much when I tried him the last time he was free that I don't think I even bothered trying another match, and have purposefully held off on buying him, wanting him to be the last "support" I buy. So I don't foresee things going any better with him than Annie.