Anivia
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Excellent (8/10)
High Investment Required
Rare Relics OK
Anivia is a potent control champion who excels in high-difficulty content by stalling adversaries and scaling into an unstoppable late game. While her early turns can feel slow and vulnerable without investment, she stabilizes incredibly well once she approaches Enlightenment. Her playstyle is polarizing; players who enjoy "zombie" recursion mechanics and board wipes will find her top-tier, while those seeking fast aggression may find her sluggish. She requires significant Star Level investment (specifically the 5-star Manaflow) to smooth out her mana curve, but she performs exceptionally well with standard Rare relics.
The Cryophoenix Printer (Zombie Anivia)
The cornerstone of Anivia's most effective strategy. When Anivia 'dies', she transforms into Eggnivia. Guardian Angel revives her as a champion copy, leaving the Egg behind. This allows you to rapidly duplicate Anivia on the board, creating a wall of revivable units.
Anivia naturally wants to reach 10 mana (Enlightened). This relic doubles her powerful spells (like Harsh Winds or Glacial Storm) once you hit 6 mana, providing massive board control and accelerating her level-up condition.
Ensures a steady supply of her champion spell, 'Harsh Winds' (or 'Glacial Storm' if leveled), to constantly trigger Chemtech Duplicator and control the board state.
Strategy
This build focuses on 'printing' multiple copies of Anivia using Guardian Angel. By allowing Anivia to die and revive while keeping her Egg form, you can fill the board with champions. Once you hit the mana threshold for Chemtech Duplicator, your duplicated spells will permanently freeze the enemy board while you scale into an automatic win.
Elemental Scaling
Provides a significant damage boost to all Elemental spells and skills, turning Anivia's board wipes into lethal threats rather than just stalling tools.- Doubles the output of your amplified Elemental spells.
Ensures you have the spell mana required to cast your expensive Elemental spells every round.
Strategy
A more damage-focused approach that leverages the 'Elemental' tag on Anivia's skills and spells. This build clears enemy boards through raw damage output rather than relying solely on Frostbite stalling.
Other Relic Options
Increases consistency by filling the deck with Anivias and discounting her Champion Spell, making it easier to survive the early game.
Anivia's signature relic. It provides a defensive Frostbite on the strongest enemy when played. While functional for stalling, it is generally considered lower impact than the Chemtech/GA engine.
A viable alternative to Icon of Valhir for boosting spell/skill damage if Epic slots are unavailable.
Can be used with Luminous Orb to ramp faster, though Anivia's native ramp capabilities often make this redundant compared to other utility options.
Provides Tough and Challenger, useful for safely trading units or forcing favorable blocks to trigger Egg mechanics.
Constellation
Anivia's constellation is heavily weighted towards solving her mana issues and enhancing her late-game stability. She is a champion who feels incomplete at lower star levels due to the high cost of her units. Investment is highly rewarded, transforming her from a clunky ramp deck into a control powerhouse.
Winter's Boon
When you play an Elemental spell or Elemental Skill, gain a temporary mana gem next round.
Glacial Overflow
+1 Starting Mana. If you're Enlightened, when you'd gain a mana gem, grant allies +1|+1 instead.
Winter's Boon II
When you play an Elemental spell or Elemental Skill, gain an empty mana gem.
Endurance
When an ally survives damage, grant it +1|+1.Review
The 'Endurance' power reduces damage allies take from your own spells/skills. This upgrade is widely considered low-impact and disappointing, as it only synergizes with specific self-harm cards in Freljord that aren't central to her best win conditions. It is often viewed as a 'skippable' node unless pursuing full completion.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.Review
This is arguably her most critical upgrade. Anivia's deck is expensive, and starting with extra mana allows her to stabilize turns earlier, bridging the gap to her powerful late game. Highly recommended.
Crystallize
When enemies attack, Frostbite the strongest attacker. Enemies with 0 power take double damage.Review
This is a potent defensive tool that trivializes high-stat attackers in Nightmare adventures. While it doesn't offer the explosive speed of other 6-star powers, it provides unmatched safety and turns Frostbite into a lethal damage multiplier.
Gameplay Tips
Master the Zombie Strategy
When using the Guardian Angel relic, allow Anivia to die in combat. She will respawn thanks to the relic and leave behind an Eggnivia. When the Egg hatches (upon Enlightenment), you will have two Anivias. Repeat this process to fill your board with copies of the champion, multiplying your spellcasting power via Chemtech Duplicator.
Surviving the Early Game
Anivia's greatest weakness is the first two turns. Aggressively mulligan for low-cost units or ramp cards like Catalyst of Aeons. Do not be afraid to take Nexus damage early to preserve mana for a board wipe later. If you have the 5-star Manaflow power, this vulnerability is significantly reduced.
Managing Board Space
Because Anivia generates Eggs and creates copies of herself, board space can become an issue. Be mindful of capping your board, which can prevent you from playing critical units or getting the revive benefit from Guardian Angel. You may need to intentionally sacrifice weaker units or use Challenger (via relics like Full Build) to clear space.
Double Damage Mechanics
With her 6-star power, enemies with 0 Power take double damage. This synergizes perfectly with Overwhelm (from relics like Beast Within or Troll King's Crown), as the doubled damage calculation applies to the strike, allowing massive excess damage to spill over to the enemy Nexus.