How do I shut down Annie?

Just Blame Jenny·8/8/2015, 9:08:27 AM·1 votes·1,384 views

No QQ here. I promise. I don't think Annie is overpowered. She has obvious weaknesses, her mediocre range being one of them.

However, I'm fairly new. I recently laned against a support Annie -- and the girl flash tibbered my face off three times before we entered mid-game. While I understand to be careful when her passive is up, it doesn't seem plausible to hang out of flash range whenever she can stun me. Afterall, my lane will eventually have to move forward to do something, right?

So my question is this: when facing an Annie that I know full well can flash tibbers my face off at any moment, what I should I be doing to shut her down? I feel like my options are limited, but being inexperienced at the game, I'm sure there're some options I'm overlooking. I'm eager to learn how to up my game in this difficult (for an inexperienced player) matchup.

7 Comments

Sarutobi8/8/2015, 9:13:30 AM2 votes

Unplug her keyboard!

Wakamune8/8/2015, 9:30:24 AM1 votes

Gotta start timing her flash now

Alternatively, build mikaels if you're support and QSS if you're adc.

You can also bring cleanse as a summoner spell instead of heal as an adc. It's a really underated summoner spells and denies my annie match up many kills.

bumbertyr8/8/2015, 9:12:52 AM1 votes

you don't :)

Helltoken8/8/2015, 10:33:54 AM1 votes

Annie is a champion that scales well, so what I could offer are the following:

PREVENT FARM As soon as Annie gets rod of ages, she'll be very very powerful already. If you let her farm, you're looking at a pre-6 rod of ages. Push her under her tower and poke/aa when you can. Annie will still be a nuissance, but less so. She may be able to farm under turret, but not without costing a lot of mana. Plus, this prevents her from roaming as well, so keeping her in check is good.

POKE HEAVILY Annie has low mobility. Champs that can stun or poke from a nice distance will be safe from Annie's stun, and will win trades. Some recommended players are Brand, Lux, Morgana, Veigar (requires a bit more skill with his stun), orianna, galio, xerath, ziggs, leblanc, or syndra. They are not skill shot oriented and can do some nice poke from large ranges. I always play brand or orianna, simply because you can escape when you see the flash stun coming in with the slow.

DRAIN HER MANA She is useless without it. Drain her mana by forcing trades, poking her, pushing the lane, and forcing her to farm from a distance. When she has no mana, start to manage yours a little more to have an upper hand in ganks.

PUNISH HER STUN She will stun level 6 with immense burst. She will try it. Guaranteed. Especially if you've taken damage. What i do if I'm lower than her is I let her push a bit, watch her movement, and mimic it near my tower. if she dives i punish it by bursting. Most likely she'll get a kill, but if you used everything possible you can take her down with you, maybe even first.

NOT RECOMMENDED CHAMPS It's often assumed that Ahri is great because she can sort of stun and has high mobility. However, her strongest burst comes from charm and all other spell tactics. The downside is in fact that Ahri's abilities work best with no minion waves, and her charm actually allows annie to come closer to you. Do Not Play Ahri Vs Annie. Some other champs I'd steer away from are Akali, Katarina, Leblanc if you're not good with her, and Fizz, as she can punish Akali Katarina and Leblancs desperation with their ultimates and actually render them useless and also destroy them when they get near. Fizz Kata and Akali are melee champs or require close contact, and annie punishes them so much more for them than other champs. Some people play it well, but I'd also veer away from yasuo. Annie has the upper hand unless she is slower and has worse reaction times than you, because she can punish your E movement and after your ulti to burst incredibly hard. Zed is also a risky play, but also provides a safe option.

Hopefully this provides some insight. Basically the pointer I'll end this with is watch her carefully. If she has a swirly thing, she has stun, expect aggro.

Valderis Vandala8/8/2015, 11:03:46 AM1 votes

Morgana support + Sivir ADC?

Both can block spells, one gets mana out of it and the other gives you an extra damage shield. You can even build Banshee's Veil on top of it, thats 3 spells blocked pretty much shutting down her whole combo. Sivir can also poke her and gets some nice movement speed to stay out of range.

As long as Morgana always stays out of Annie's flash range then Sivir will be the only viable target for Annie's combo, meaning you don't have to guess on who to cast your shield.

EDIT: There are also quite a number of damage items ADC's can build to increase their magic resistance and negate stuns.

Maw of Malmortius, Mercurial Scimitar, Dervish Blade, Wit's End

Faith Breaker8/8/2015, 8:44:01 PM1 votes

Build a Banshee Veil. It blocks a single spell (while the sheild is up and not already popped) which often means Annie flash tibber's you, and pop's your sheild. You don't take any damage, you aren't stunned, and you have your window to engage.

Annie ADC8/8/2015, 9:54:04 AM1 votes

Playing against a support Annie can prove to be quite difficult. She has decent damage, fast-casting abilities, and a passive stun that does not have to be expended due to her lack of requirement to farm. Although I agree that Annie is not overpowered, I believe most people can say, myself included, that she is not exactly the healthiest champion when it comes to fairness in her playstyle. There is no guaranteed way to dodge her stun except by staying out of range. You yourself explained this already. Here are a few suggestions of my own.

Keep track of her . It approximately has a five minute cooldown, so when she uses it, take note of the time. Assume that it is 8:33 in the match you are in. Her should not be up until around 13:33 then. Let your team know this, and use this timeframe to play less safe and harass her a bit more. Also, this is a good time for your support (whether it is with engage or harass) to go in on . The same can be stated for your jungler, or for your roaming mid-laner.
Always know how many stacks of Pyromania (her passive) she has. It is a classic, cliche strategy for to hold her stun at three and then quickly use Molten Shield and another ability to surprise stun you or your allies. Of course, the less stun stacks she has, the safer it is to be near her to farm or to trade with her. Always remember: she is very squishy, and not too dangerous if she is not fed and has no to match with her stun.
Counter her engage. This will require communication or understanding between you and your fellow bot-laner. When uses her stun, that means she has utilized her usefulness. She can no longer peel or engage for her ADC afterwards. If you survived (or feel you can survive) her damage and then go in afterwards, do that. It is usually unexpected by both and her ADC. If you play it right, one of the enemies will die, since as a support practically goes on standby directly after using her stun.
Build items that go against her ( ). This usually applies more so for late-game, but your support can also aid you in this aspect ( ). The same can go for rune pages. Flat magic resist glyphs would be favor you the most in a matchup against , along with other heavy AP supports.

In summary, trade with her when her Flash is down. Keep track of her Flash timer and her stun count. Attempt to counter her engages, especially pre-6. Build effectively against her with MR/anti-CC items.

This is a forum I made based entirely on Annie and how I feel about her balance, some advice against her, etc. http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/qO21FAHA-annies-balance-my-explanation

Hope this all helps.