Annie-Versary Annie

Annie-Versary dropped October 27, 2019 – the exact date of League of Legends’ 10th anniversary – and Riot basically said “here, take a Mythic skin for free.” Logged in that morning half-asleep, saw the notification, and spent about ten minutes convinced I misread something. Didn’t. They just gave it out. Been locking Annie into ranked games since before Diamond and this might be the strangest skin in her roster just on premise: a birthday Annie skin with special anniversary pricing that most players picked up for nothing. That’s the whole story.

What Annie-Versary actually changes

The new VFX is where this skin earns its Mythic classification. Annie’s kit gets the full Surprise Party treatment – confetti, streamers, party balloons woven into her ability animations throughout. The Q, Disintegrate, reads noticeably brighter and more festive, which sounds ridiculous on paper but plays cleanly when you’re poking someone off a wave in midlane. The W, Incinerate, fans out with a party-themed particle effect that’s genuinely hard to miss in a teamfight.

Tibbers gets the real glow-up. When Annie’s R comes down, Tibbers arrives in full party mode – giant bow, streamers, the whole production. Watching him stomp around backliners while looking like someone’s birthday decoration is either horrifying or perfect depending on your taste. Think it’s perfect. Backline divers running into a Tibbers with a party hat is exactly the psychological warfare Annie needs when she’s hard engaging post-6.

The recall animation is new and honestly might be my favorite part of the whole skin. Annie blows out candles on a birthday cake and Tibbers pops out. Simple concept, clean execution. Spent an embarrassing amount of time in the practice tool last Tuesday just cycling the recall animation back to back. (sidebar: I genuinely recommend doing this before your first ranked game with it, just to watch it a few times and get it out of your system.)

No new voice lines though. Cristina Milizia’s base performance stays intact, no Surprise Party-specific recording added. Voice pack is base only on this one, which stings a little at Mythic tier but the VFX and recall do enough heavy lifting.

Surprise Party skinline and Hozure’s splash

Surprise Party as a skinline has been running for a while. Fiddlesticks got the original, Amumu followed, then Annie joined in 2019 for the anniversary event. The theme is consistent across the set: cheerful horror. Party aesthetics on champions who are genuinely unsettling by default. Annie fits this perfectly – she’s a little girl who sets things on fire and maybe accidentally killed her parents. Slap some confetti on that concept and you’ve got something that works.

Horace ‘Hozure’ Hsu handled the artwork and it’s one of the stronger pieces in the Surprise Party set. Annie centered with Tibbers in full party gear, confetti everywhere, the composition reads celebratory without going full saccharine. Hozure got the balance right between cute and slightly unnerving – the sweet spot for anything Annie-related. Seen this splash used as a forum avatar more than almost any other Annie art, which says something.

The Surprise Party line holds up better than a lot of Riot’s novelty skinlines from that era. Not all of them aged cleanly but this one still reads sharply in 2024, and Annie-Versary fits the set without feeling like a late cash-in on the theme.

Is Annie-Versary worth chasing?

Okay, the real question – especially since you’re not buying this at a standard RP price point.

Annie-Versary sits in the vault now. Loot eligible, so you can still roll it from chests, but its not a permanent shop skin. Given the anniversary context, thats probably the right call for Riot. Keeps it from being completely devalued since the original distribution was a free gift for logging in during the 10th anniversary event. Legacy catalog skin with a specific story attached.

If you main Annie, yes – chase it. The Mythic tier is justified: new VFX across abilities, new Tibbers R transformation, unique recall, the full Surprise Party production. Ran maybe 20 games with this last season in Diamond during a stretch where I was spamming Annie mid to climb through a rough patch, and the skin genuinely held up game after game. Never felt like I was staring at a recolor wondering where my RP went.

If you’re a casual Annie player, depends on your loot situation. But fair warning: the Mythic tier here is accurate. This is a full content upgrade over her 975 RP options on pure particle work alone. The anniversary context adds a layer most skins don’t have – it’s tied to a specific moment in LoL history, October 2019, League turning 10. That kind of timestamp on a skin is rare.

S-tier Annie cosmetic. Worth burning shards if you’ve got loot sitting idle. Surprise Party Annie on the 10th anniversary is creative direction done right, and Hozure’s splash ties the whole package together cleanly.