Close Out Winning Games and Stall Losing Ones

Anivia is an extremely versatile control mage in Classic LoL with almost no losing match-ups. She can be picked into any comp, and excels against all the immobile bruisers/melees/mages that are currently in league classic. She is hard to kill in lane thanks to Rebirth (P) and minion aggro. She has a reliance on mana which is easily mitigated with RoA and archangels, although blue buff is beneficial. She has extremely high damage in an uninteractive way (throw Frostbite (E) and Glacial Storm (R) under them). She can be both aggressive and passive in lane, and can close out winning games and stall out losing games long enough for the enemy team to commit mistakes or for your team to scale/catch up.

• Midlane Matchups

  • Winning

    • Annie - Anivia simply outranges annie, and without her stun you can trap her in Glacial Storm (R) with Crystallize (W) and Flash Frost (Q) while you kill her with Frostbite (E) .

    • Brand - Unlike Annie, Brand needs to land 2-3 spells to cancel anivia's Glacial Storm (R) . In lane, he can Pillar of Flame (W) minions to then Conflagration (E) to get his passive onto you, and then try and land a Sear (Q) through minions. The other option is Conflagration (E) at close range and then Sear (Q) , but if he is close enough to Conflagration (E) then you are spacing incorrectly. If he does not cancel your Glacial Storm (R) , you will win and Rebirth (P) will keep you alive if you die to Blaze (P) .

    • Karthus - Karthus can do absolutely nothing to anivia. Anivia outranges him, he has no cc, and she can punish all his attempts at cc with Flash Frost (Q) as his low movement speed makes him an easy target. Using Crystallize (W) in Glacial Storm (R) will always result in a kill without flash from karthus or jungle assistance.

    • Evelynn - Like Karthus , Evelynn also gets bullied by anivia as she has no approaching tools that do not get shut down by her kit. Unlike Karthus , Evelynn will look to roam for gold which you can punish by clearing the wave with Glacial Storm (R) and taking her tower quickly.

    • Ezreal - Ezreal can outtrade you early game with Mystic Shot (Q) and auto attacks, as well as dodge your Flash Frost (Q) with Arcane Shift (E) . However, he lacks wave clear and will be forced to slowly kill waves as you clear with Glacial Storm (R) and roam endlessly. Once you are 6, even with Arcane Shift (E) he cannot dodge Frostbite (E) and 1 tick of your Glacial Storm (R) which will always let you win fights.

    • Fiddlesticks - Anivia has 2 methods to cancel Drain (W) , Crystallize (W) displacement and Flash Frost (Q) . Be weary of him ulting from either bush or from the wraith wall and it is an easy matchup.

    • Heimerdinger - Your Glacial Storm (R) can kill his turrets without risking your health bar, and his CH-1 Concussion Grenade (E) is easy to dodge even without boots. Look to traddeback when he tries to Hextech Micro-Rockets (W) you and do not approach him with less than 3 minions as they will always 100% autotarget you.

    • Katarina - Without CC, katarina's only chance is to kill you before you kill her. Wait for her to Shunpo (E) on you and then stun with Flash Frost (Q) and always stand within your own Glacial Storm (R) . Interrupt Death Lotus (R) with Crystallize (W) displacement or Flash Frost (Q) .

    • Kayle - Immobile, and without a way to cancel your ultimate. Her waveclear is bad early game.

    • Kog'Maw - Immobile, outrange him, dies without flash.

    • Morgana - Can play like a pseudo Malzahar just clearing waves, but if she overextends she cannot meaningfully kill you. You only lose if you get hit by both Dark Binding (Q) and a follow up Soul Shackles (R) stun.

    • Nidalee - Play behind your minions and do not allow Javelin Toss / Takedown (Q) to hit you through minions. She has no spells apart from Javelin Toss / Takedown (Q) until level 6, and by level 6 you will Frostbite (E) Glacial Storm (R) combo her and outtrade her regardless. If she manages to land a spear, get ready to Flash Frost (Q) her Bushwhack / Pounce (W) and kill her before she Javelin Toss / Takedown (Q) you.

    • Sion - He can be kept away from you out of his Cryptic Gaze (Q) range by your Flash Frost (Q) Crystallize (W) and Glacial Storm (R) . If he manages to land Cryptic Gaze (Q) , make sure to damage him with Frostbite (E) Glacial Storm (R) instant combo so that his shield Death's Caress (W) breaks as that is most of his damage as ap Sion . If he is AD, it is a free win.

    • Tristana - Tristana will look to wear you down with Explosive Shot (E) and then all-in you with Rocket Jump (W) and ignite once you are low. Trade meanginfully every time she Explosive Shot (E) you, with auto attacks and Frostbite (E) , if you ever land Flash Frost (Q) you will win the lane/interaction. Once you are 6, do not let her approach you by Frostbite (E) Glacial Storm (R) combo and if she Rocket Jump (W) it is incredibly telegraphed and you will land Flash Frost (Q) and chunk her hp/kil her.

    • Twisted Fate - In lane, Twisted Fate is an easy matchup as his damage is low; however, the difficulty in Twisted Fate is his roaming which you can only punish by pushing with Glacial Storm (R) . His jungle gank setups are also very good with Gate (E) Pick A Card (W) so bewear that. His waveclear requires a lot of mana so you can push him in and kill him if he ever gets aggressive by himself.

    • Zilean - Zilean is not a danger to killing you, but not punishing him sufficiently allows you to get run over later in the game by his utility. Suffocate him in lane by outtrading his bomb with Flash Frost (Q) and Frostbite (E) and understanding how autopathing works when he is speedboosted to use Crystallize (W) to lead him into Flash Frost (Q) .

  • Losing

    • Kassadin - You win this pre-6 by spamming auto attacks, Frostbite (E) , and with ignite. Once he hits level 6 and scales, there is not much you can do other than stun him at close range and hope your team kills him. His q will cancel your Glacial Storm (R) and not allow you to recast your Flash Frost (Q) for a close range stun.

    • Pantheon - You lose this pre-6 by him using Spear Shot (Q) . Buy 2 health potions instead of mana potions and hope that minion aggro keeps you both relatively similar hp. Losing minions to get exp is okay, level 6 you win hard by not allowing him in range of Aegis of Zeonia (W).

• Even/Skill Based

  • Lux - Lux has the range to make it difficult to trade with her/approach her. A good lux will keep you low/pushed in pre 6 with Lucent Singularity (E) . If you are able to dodge Light Binding (Q) through the slow of Lucent Singularity (E) and get her inside Glacial Storm (R) , you will win.

  • Malzahar - The most boring, even matchup. You guys will just trade waves for 20 minutes. He has some kill pressure by cancelling Glacial Storm (R) with Call of the Void (Q) and then catching you with Nether Grasp (R) . Keep him at range and target Summon Voidling (P) before it grows after 7s.

  • Ryze - You outrange him but he outdamages you heavily until level 6. You build the same items so you are roughly at the same level of tankiness, he is also quite good at dodging your Flash Frost (Q) with his movement speed. He can clear waves with less mana usage than you can.

  • Veigar - You outrange him but have no recourse for dealing with Event Horizon (E) or jungle ganks. If you do not space properly, you will die to a Primordial Burst (R) combo.

  • Ahri - Ahri is one of the only mages with mobility in LoL classic. In a straight 1v1, Anivia will always win; however, ahri can choose to engage and disengage and bait out key spells. If she lands Charm (E) you will lose a lot of HP without the opportunity to trade back. You should look to bait out her ult Spirit Rush (R) by using Crystallize (W) and dodge left/right immediately after landing Flash Frost (Q) as they always use Charm (E) in those situations.