Introduction

Hey there, I’m Peachfuzzz#NA1, a chronic low master player who recently picked up Annie after seeing her weird BIS on various stats websites. After playing 10+ games of her over the span of a few days, I think I have a decent baseline understanding of her various lines, and I thought I might write them up just out of boredom.

Note: This is meant as an entry-level guide, as well as exploring a few different variations of the comp for mid-late game. I’ve only played 30 games over the set (currently in low plat). Take my greedy opinions with a grain of salt.

Core Reasoning

The core reason for why Annie reroll works is in her spell's passive. Basically, she's the strongest ramping caster in the game right now if she gets going early, and combined with the Emo trait, no amount of mana is too much. As a result, she has some weird and specific itemization which incentivises loss streaking, but is also surprisingly flexible with large numbers of components.

The core units Annie needs are Annie and Amumu. Amumu generally serves as the best tank item holder in Annie reroll boards, due to his innate defensive scaling and Emo synergy trait, as well as being able to obtain him earlier than other alternatives.

Beyond this, your first decision in building a board depends on the chosen trait that Annie has. Right now, Emo Annie has a nicer curve and caps out with 6 Emo if you hit a spat, but Spellweaver is still very strong and should not be passed up.

Play conditions

If you’re like me, every game that you get dropped defensive components + tear/bow/sword looks like an Annie game. If you’re sane or just trying to add a reroll comp into your repertoire, Annie is strongest with an early Annie chosen and any item opener with at least 2 items out of bow, tear, belt, sword. Hitting early super fans is a bonus.

Win conditions

Annie’s optimal fights are drawn out engagements where she simply outpaces the opposing enemy carry throughout the fight. To sustain her pace, she needs a ton of mana. To satisfy both of these conditions, when playing Annie reroll the optimal boards should satisfy both of these conditions:

• BIS Mana generation items (yes, this is an actual problem and not just greedy)
  • Annie's first two items are non-negotiable! Shojin is currently the best mana generation item in the game, and Nashor's synergizes with her spell giving her attack speed to rapid fire off casts. In fact, regular best-in-slot (BIS) Annie is Shojin + Nashor’s + Shojin by a long shot (-0.2 placement delta on almost every other 3 item combo, which is a lot).
  • Her third item is slightly (but only slightly) more flexible. Shojin is generally the best choice for a third slot. Other serviceable items include blue buff, generic AP items (archangels and gunblade), and AP artifacts. A special note should be made for Manazane, which is the super ultra niche BIS third item.
• Tanky frontline
  • To even get her casts going, Annie wants a solid frontline. Generally, this means at least 3 real tank items (no, spark is not a real tank item, but it’s still nice to have). This means you should look to prioritize frontline items after the first Shojin + Nashor’s. In many cases, Amumu with 3 tank items ends up being a secondary carry with his damage output. You’ll also lean towards 4 Guardian in a lot of games, though this isn’t always possible.
  • If you can’t go 8/9 for bigger frontline, rolling for 3 star Neeko/Ekko/Amumu is a strong alternative. As of the writing of this guide, those three units are extremely contested, so this specific line is pretty rare, but a 3 star Amumu is a strong win condition unto itself.

All Annie boards need to aim to satisfy both of the above conditions or you’ll be crying just like the rest of the Emo units. Your Annie BIS either needs to come from your synergies (Superfan), or from your augments (Pandora’s, Buried Treasure, etc.). Likewise, your team’s ability to stall needs to come from synergies or combat augments. Synergies and units who don’t add to Annie’s ability to carry or your board’s ability to stall should be skipped (looking at you, 5 Spellweaver). We’ll be looking at board variations that tackle these win conditions, with the first one being the most consistent way to play Annie.

Early Gameplan

Stage 1

So you got dropped a bow, belt, and tear. Great, you’re one sword away from a free top 4. The early game of Annie is very straightforward: lose streak until carousel to guarantee first pick, grab whatever component you need to complete a slammable Annie item. If you hit early Annie chosen, always click on it.