Annie
View on Wiki
Good (7/10)
Low Investment
Rare Relics OK
Annie is widely considered a versatile and effective champion. She functions competently at lower star levels (2-3 stars) for most standard content, offering a mix of aggro burn and control via stuns and removal. However, in high-tier Nightmare adventures (5.5*+), she can struggle with stat-checks unless utilizing specific "cheese" strategies (like Oath of the Guardians) or her 6-star constellation. Her Constellation upgrades are viewed as a mixed bag; while her 6-star power provides a massive damage spike by doubling skills, it introduces technical issues with the spell stack limit. Overall, she is a solid B+ to A- tier champion who offers diverse playstyles ranging from fast burn to slow control.
Machine Gun Control
Essential for consistency. It fills your deck with Annie copies, ensuring you draw her early. Crucially, it reduces the cost of her champion spell (Disintegrate), often making it 0-cost, allowing for efficient removal of high-health threats.
Generates a fleeting copy of Annie every round. Since Annie is already on the board, this transforms into her champion spell, Disintegrate. This provides a reliable, recurring source of hard removal and stun generation.
Boosts the damage of her skills and spells. This is vital for clearing boards and pushing Nexus damage.
Strategy
This build focuses on controlling the board while burning the Nexus. Use the generated Disintegrates to remove threatening units regardless of their health. The cost reduction from Echoing Spirit allows you to weave these spells in easily.
Oath of the Guardians Cheese
Shuffles 5 Level 2 champions with doubled stats into your deck and draws one. Since Annie costs 1 mana, you can trigger this effect on Turn 1.
Reduces the cost of the drawn Oath champions by 2 and buffs them further. Running two of these makes the Oath champions extremely cheap and powerful.- A second copy maximizes the cost reduction and stat boost for the Oath champions.
Strategy
This strategy ignores Annie's base kit entirely. You use her low mana cost to instantly cheat out massive, over-statted champions from the Oath pool to dominate the board immediately. This is particularly effective for punching up into difficulties your Annie might not be leveled for.
Aggro Burn
Creates 2 Warning Shots on summon. Annie can be played, allowed to die (or chump block), and replayed to generate more shots.- Increases the damage of every Warning Shot and skill, significantly increasing burn speed.
Deals direct Nexus damage when 1-cost allies attack. Annie is a 1-cost unit, making this a consistent source of extra burn on every attack.
Strategy
A fast-paced build focused on ending the game quickly through direct Nexus damage. You prioritize playing Annie and generated Warning Shots to burn the opponent before they can stabilize.
Other Relic Options
Annie's skills and many of her spells are Elemental. This provides a massive +2 damage boost to them, often outperforming Luden's Tempest for raw damage output.
Annie's signature relic. It shuffles Tibbers into the deck with reduced cost and increased stats. Good for a more mid-range, Tibbers-focused playstyle.
A solid budget alternative for mana management if you are running a spell-heavy control gameplan without Echoing Spirit.
Useful in 'suicide' builds where you want Annie to die to replay her for summon effects (like Dreadway Chase Gun) or to protect her in high-lethality encounters.
Constellation
Annie's constellation upgrade was met with mixed reactions. While it significantly increases her power ceiling, particularly with the 6-star power, some minor nodes (like adding Hextech Fabricator I to spells) can be detrimental due to RNG. Additionally, the doubling of skills at 6-stars can cause the spell stack to fill up (cap of 9), causing players to 'lose' skills or be unable to cast fast spells during combat.
Pyromania
Your spells and skills deal 1 extra damage.
Playful Trick
+1 Starting Mana. Round Start: Create a Fleeting Guile in hand.
Pyromania II
Your spells and skills deal 2 extra damage.
Raiding Party
When you damage the enemy Nexus, grant the top ally in your deck +1|+1.Review
Generally considered underwhelming. The power (Raiding Party or similar low-impact effect depending on the specific iteration discussed) often feels like a filler upgrade that does not drastically change her viability or power level.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.
Dark Child
Allied skills activate an additional time.Review
A massive power spike that doubles all skill and spell activations. This allows for immense burst damage and control. However, it requires careful management of the spell stack to avoid overcrowding, which can sometimes block your own plays.
Gameplay Tips
Disintegrate is Key
Against high-stat enemies in Nightmare adventures (like 20/20 units), damage-based removal falls short. Disintegrate destroys units who take any damage. Combine this with her pings (Warning Shot, Blade's Edge, Tibbers' AoE) to instantly delete threats regardless of their health.
Manage the Stack
If you have her 6-star power or are using relics like Shock and Awe, be very careful about attacking with a full board. The spell stack has a limit of 9. If you generate too many skills at once, some will simply fizzle out, or you may be unable to cast a critical Disintegrate or Stun during combat.
Oath Cheese for punching up
If you are struggling to clear a high-difficulty adventure with a standard build, switching to the Oath of the Guardians + Star Gem setup is a reliable way to bypass her intended gameplay loop and win through sheer stat superiority.
Aggro vs Control
Annie is flexible. In lower star adventures, you can play her as a rush-down aggro deck. In 5+ star adventures, she often transitions better into a control deck that stalls with stuns and uses Disintegrate to efficiently trade up against massive foes.