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Annie Counters: Who Beats Annie

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Annie counters are mid laners who ignore or soak her burst, shrug off the Pyromania stun, or punish a mage who has no escape. She’s a 625-range burst mage whose fifth spell stuns, with a fireball, a fire cone, a shield that burns attackers and Tibbers, a bear she summons on top of you.

Four spells, a stun and a bear: each pick below has an answer to that pattern, taken from patch 26.21 ability text. No win-rate data went in.

Annie counters: Annie, the Dark Child, splash art

Why is Annie hard to counter?

  • Pyromania (passive): after 4 spells, her next offensive spell stuns; she starts the game and respawns with it ready.
  • Disintegrate (Q): a fireball that refunds its Mana cost if it kills the target. Cooldown 4.
  • Incinerate (W): a cone of fire that damages every enemy in the area. Cooldown 7.
  • Molten Shield (E): shields Annie or an ally, adds a burst of Move Speed, and damages enemies who hit the shielded champion with attacks or spells. Cooldown 10.
  • Summon: Tibbers (R): summons Tibbers, damaging units in the area; he attacks and burns enemies near him. Cooldown 130/115/100.

Annie is simple (her whole combo fits in one breath), and that’s the danger. Count four spells, the fifth stuns, and Tibbers lands on top of you at the same time. Her 625 range is long for a mage, and Disintegrate refunds Mana on kills, so she farms freely. What’s missing? Mobility. She has no dash, only Molten Shield’s burst of speed, so champions who can reach her or survive the opening burst usually win the fight. And her stun is a visible counter: if Pyromania is up, you know the next spell stuns.

Which champions are the best Annie counters?

Malzahar

Malzahar’s passive is the trick (untouched for a few seconds, he takes far less damage and can’t be crowd controlled at all). Annie’s whole combo starts with the Pyromania stun, and a fresh Malzahar ignores it. Nether Grasp (R) suppresses her in a damaging zone, Call of the Void (Q) silences, which stops her from building Pyromania stacks, and Malefic Visions (E) keeps ticking damage refreshed by his other spells. Void Swarm (W) adds Voidlings that chase nearby enemies. Honestly, it’s a matchup where her best tool barely works.

Kassadin

Kassadin’s passive trims any magic damage coming his way, and his Q, Null Sphere, wraps him in an extra layer that only magic can chip through. Riftwalk (R) teleports him onto her, and she has no dash to answer it. Force Pulse (E) charges from nearby spells, and Annie casts four before every stun, so his cone slow is rarely far away. Nether Blade (W) empowers his next attack. The catch: Kassadin’s early levels are weak, so he survives the lane first and wins it later.

Galio

Galio is built to soak burst. Shield of Durand (W) charges a defensive stance, then taunts nearby enemies on release, and Justice Punch (E) knocks up the first champion in its path, which reaches an Annie standing still to cast. Hero’s Entrance (R) gives a magic shield to allies at the landing point and knocks up enemies near it, which saves a teammate who just ate a Tibbers. His Q tornado and the splash on his empowered attacks add some damage, though that’s not why he’s here. To be fair, he’s more of a roaming answer than a lane winner.

Lissandra

Lissandra can turn her ultimate on herself, becoming an untargetable, invulnerable block of ice that heals, and a Tibbers burst into that block does nothing. Cast on Annie, it stuns her instead. Ring of Frost (W) roots everyone around her, which is how she punishes an Annie who walks up for the stun, and Glacial Path (E) lets her teleport to an ice claw. Ice Shard (Q) slows and passes through. Champions who die near her even freeze into slowing statues (her passive). Thing is, Annie’s range is longer, so Lissandra plays for the moment Annie commits.

Fizz

Fizz’s E, Playful / Trickster, lifts him onto his spear and makes him untargetable, enough to dodge the Pyromania stun or the Tibbers landing with good timing. His Q dash goes straight through her, the W bleed keeps ticking, and his passive takes a flat chunk off each hit, Incinerate and Tibbers’ burn among them. Chum the Waters (R) throws a fish that attaches to a champion and brings up a shark for a knock-up. Long story short, Fizz forces Annie to guess, and a wrong guess wastes her stun.

How do you play the lane against Annie?

  • Count her spells. After 4, Pyromania makes the next offensive spell stun, and she respawns with it ready.
  • Stay out of Incinerate’s cone. It damages everyone in the area and counts toward Pyromania.
  • Don’t attack into Molten Shield. It damages anyone who hits the shielded champion with attacks or spells.
  • Track Tibbers. Summon: Tibbers is a 130 second cooldown at rank 1, and her all-in is weaker without it.
  • Punish her immobility. She has no dash, so champions who close distance win when the stun is down.

Which items counter Annie?

Magic Resist, a spell shield and Tenacity. Banshee’s Veil blocks the next enemy ability with its Spell Shield, which can absorb the Pyromania stun before it lands, and Edge of Night does the same for physical assassins. Against a champion whose whole plan is one stun, 30% Tenacity from Mercury’s Treads is worth the slot. Kaenic Rookern’s magic shield recharges between her burst windows and brings 80 Magic Resist. And if you’re a mage yourself, Zhonya’s Hourglass lets you sit out the bear’s arrival in Stasis for 2.5 seconds. You can check exact numbers in our items database.

When is Annie at her weakest?

When Pyromania isn’t ready. Her stun needs 4 spells to charge, and until then her combo is just damage, from a 625-range mage with no dash. That’s the window. Trading right after she uses the stun is far safer than trading before it.

She’s also weaker after Tibbers is summoned. The bear is her teamfight threat, and without it she relies on a fireball and a cone. Can she still burst you? Yes, but not with the same certainty.

Starting in mid? The guide to LoL roles explains how mid laners play. The rest of our champions are in the guides section (counters and ARAM both). Her cosmetics, Tibbers included, are on the Annie skins page, and random one-lane games have their own Annie ARAM guide. Put simply, Annie counters dodge or ignore the stun and punish her when it’s down.

FAQ

Who counters Annie the most?

Mid laners who resist or dodge her burst: Malzahar, Kassadin, Galio, Lissandra and Fizz.

How does Annie’s stun work?

Pyromania charges as she casts spells. After 4 spells, her next offensive spell stuns the target, and every respawn hands her a charged stun again.

Can Malzahar ignore Annie’s stun?

Void Shift grants crowd control immunity when Malzahar hasn’t recently been damaged or crowd controlled, so a fresh Malzahar isn’t stunned by Pyromania.

What is Tibbers’ cooldown?

Summon: Tibbers has a cooldown of 130/115/100 seconds. Tibbers damages units when summoned, attacks, and burns enemies standing near him.

How were these counters chosen?

The question was simple: who survives or avoids the Pyromania stun, according to her patch 26.21 ability text? No match statistics were used.