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Anivia Counters: Who Beats Anivia

Updated for patch 26.22. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Anivia counters are mobile assassins who get past her wall, dodge Flash Frost, and burst both her and the egg. She’s a 600-range control mage with a slow-moving stun orb, an ice wall that blocks all movement, a damage spike on frozen targets, and a storm ultimate that slows everything inside it.

The five were chosen by comparing her patch 26.22 ability text with each counter’s kit. Win rates had no say.

Anivia counters: Anivia, the Cryophoenix, splash art

Why is Anivia hard to counter?

  • Rebirth (passive): on fatal damage, she turns into an egg and is reborn with full Health.
  • Flash Frost (Q): an ice sphere that chills and damages along its path, then explodes, damaging and stunning everyone in the area. Cooldown 11/10/9/8/7.
  • Crystallize (W): an impassable wall of ice that blocks all movement for a short time. Cooldown 17.
  • Frostbite (E): a gust that damages a target, doubled if they were recently hit by Flash Frost or the fully formed Glacial Storm. Cooldown 4.
  • Glacial Storm (R): a storm of ice and hail that damages and slows enemies inside it. Cooldown 4/3/2.

Anivia controls space. Glacial Storm slows anyone inside it, Crystallize cuts off paths, Flash Frost stuns from range, and Frostbite doubles its damage on targets she’s already hit with either of those. Then, if you do kill her, Rebirth turns her into an egg that comes back at full Health. So how do you beat that? With champions who skip the slow walk toward her: blinks and teleports go over walls, untargetability dodges the stun, and enough burst kills the egg before it hatches. She has no dash herself, so once someone reaches her, she has only the wall to buy time.

Which champions are the best Anivia counters?

Kassadin

Riftwalk (R) is a teleport, and Crystallize only blocks movement through the wall, not a teleport over it. He can chain Riftwalks for extra damage. Void Stone (passive) cuts the magic damage he takes, and Null Sphere (Q) adds a magic shield while interrupting channels. His cone slow charges off spells cast around him (Anivia casts plenty), and his W adds magic damage to his hits. Honestly, it’s one of the matchups she dreads most.

Zed

Death Mark (R) makes Zed untargetable as he dashes onto a champion, then repeats part of the damage he dealt during the next 3 seconds. That repeat is how he deals with Rebirth: burst Anivia, and the mark pops on the egg. Living Shadow (W) sends a shadow forward that he can swap with, a way around a wall, and Razor Shuriken (Q) hits everything from both Zed and his shadows. Shadow Slash (E) slows enemies hit by shadow slashes. Contempt for the Weak (passive) adds magic damage against low-Health targets. Thing is, a Flash Frost stun on Zed before he commits ends the attempt.

LeBlanc

Distortion (W) dashes LeBlanc in, damages around where she lands, and lets her return to her starting spot within 4 seconds. That out-and-back pattern dodges a slow Flash Frost and keeps her out of Glacial Storm’s lingering area. Sigil of Malice (Q) marks and detonates on her next ability, Ethereal Chains (E) roots if the target stays shackled for 1.5 seconds, and Mimic (R) copies one of her basic spells for a second burst, often enough to break the egg. Mirror Image (passive) briefly makes her invisible and creates a decoy when she gets low.

Katarina

Shunpo (E) blinks Katarina to a target, enemy or ally or dagger, and blinks don’t care about ice walls. Voracity (passive) dramatically cuts her remaining cooldowns when an enemy champion she damaged dies, which lets her reset onto the egg after Anivia goes down. Bouncing Blade (Q) and Preparation (W) drop daggers that she picks up for area slashes, and Death Lotus (R) deals massive magic damage to the three nearest enemy champions while she channels. To be fair, Flash Frost’s stun interrupts that channel if it lands, so Katarina has to wait for it to be used.

Fizz

Playful / Trickster (E) makes Fizz untargetable while he hops onto his spear, which can dodge Flash Frost’s explosion with good timing. Urchin Strike (Q) dashes through the target, Seastone Trident (W) bleeds and empowers his attacks, and Nimble Fighter (passive) reduces all incoming damage by a flat amount, which helps against Glacial Storm ticks. Chum the Waters (R) sends a fish that attaches to a champion, then a shark that knocks them up and damages the area. In practice, Fizz needs Anivia’s Flash Frost on cooldown before he jumps in.

How do you play the lane against Anivia?

  • Sidestep Flash Frost. It moves slowly and stuns on its explosion, and Frostbite then deals double damage to you.
  • Don’t stay in Glacial Storm. Its fully formed version also doubles Frostbite’s damage.
  • Watch for Crystallize. It’s a 17 second cooldown, and it can cut you off from your team or your escape route.
  • Save burst for the egg. Rebirth brings her back at full Health, so killing her once isn’t enough if the egg survives.
  • Engage with blinks or teleports. She has no dash, and walls don’t stop teleports.

Which items counter Anivia?

Magic Resist and a spell shield. Kaenic Rookern suits the matchup: between her burst windows, its Magebane shield recharges, and it carries 80 Magic Resist on top of 400 Health. Banshee’s Veil blocks the next enemy ability, ideally Flash Frost, and Edge of Night gives physical assassins the same Spell Shield. Flash Frost’s stun ends sooner with 30% Tenacity from Mercury’s Treads (cheap insurance). Force of Nature stacks Magic Resist after repeated magic damage, which Glacial Storm provides. Every number is in our items database.

When is Anivia at her weakest?

Right after Flash Frost misses. It’s her only stun, an 11 second cooldown at rank 1, and without it she’s a 600-range mage relying on a wall and a slow. That’s the moment for Zed, Katarina and Fizz to commit.

She’s also weak when Rebirth is on cooldown. The egg is her safety net, and without it a single burst kills her for good. How do you know it’s down? If you killed her and she hatched recently, the next kill sticks (the passive needs time to come back).

New to the mid lane? Our guide to LoL roles is a good place to start. Everyone else we’ve written about, counters and ARAM pages both, can be found through the guides index. For the bird’s cosmetics, open the Anivia skins page. ARAM is its own topic, so it has its own Anivia ARAM guide (storms work differently on one lane). Put simply, Anivia counters blink past the wall and burst through the egg.

FAQ

Who counters Anivia the most?

Mobile assassins who get past her wall and burst her: Kassadin, Zed, LeBlanc, Katarina and Fizz.

Can you get past Anivia’s wall?

Crystallize blocks all movement through it, but blinks and teleports such as Kassadin’s Riftwalk or Katarina’s Shunpo travel over it rather than through it.

How does Anivia’s egg work?

Rebirth turns Anivia into an egg when she takes fatal damage. If the egg survives, she is reborn with full Health.

What is Flash Frost’s cooldown?

Flash Frost has a cooldown of 11/10/9/8/7 seconds. It’s her only stun, so playing around it is the core of the matchup.

How were these counters chosen?

A counter had to get past Crystallize, avoid Flash Frost or break the egg, judged from her patch 26.22 ability text. No match statistics were used.