Froggenivia: Overhyped or viable?

Froggenivia: Overhyped or viable?

Over the past few months, the Anivia play by Henrik "Froggen" Hansen of CLG.EU has come of note to the LoL community not only in gameplay but also in the wide variety of builds he uses in competitive play. Although his build between games is rarely the same, one build that Froggen has acknowledged in a recent interview is the Tear-Mejai's-Warmogs build, which requires accumulating stacks over time compared to the conventional Rod of Ages-Deathcap rush that most other players use.  The goal of today's A DIFFerent View/VVinning is to find out whether Froggen's chosen build is effective and viable, or overrated out of fan regard for Froggen's skill with the champion.

 

The Base Stats

The two builds that I will be comparing today are:

  1. Warmogs + Mejais + Tear + Elixir -- 5480 gold
  2. Rod of Ages + Needlessly Large Rod + Blasting Wand -- 5475 gold.
Note: The blue elixir was added to Froggen's build in order to make the two builds cost the same amount of money.
 
 
When all items are fully stacked, Build 1 (Froggen) will give 1270 hitpoints, 1350 mana, and 240 AP, and 10% CDR while Build 2 (Conventional) will provide 730 hitpoints, 725 mana, and 200 AP.
 

 

The Upsides

Froggen's build provides far greater survivability -- it gives almost twice the bonus hitpoints and mana when both builds are fully stacked.  The 500 HP difference may not sound like a huge amount on paper, but it's a vital extra second or two of survivability when in a fight.  When you add additional survivability items that give resistances, the Anivia will be very difficult to take down, especially while egged in a teamfight.  The Warmog's Armor makes it so Anivia is effectively a 6000 HP tank with a multitude of slow and kite abilities, while the Tear of the Goddess gives a giant mana pool that will last a full teamfight and more combined with a blue buff.  Additionally, the Warmog's build is much more friendly for a losing team because you will have more survivability if your bruisers are weak.
 
A feature of the Froggenivia build that you cannot see in the table is that you can gain up to 25% CDR just off of Blue Elixir and Mejai's Soulstealer - or maximum CDR including blue buff.  It isn't as strong on Anivia as on other champions because she still has obscenely high cooldowns even with 40% CDR, but it's still important to note as an advantage.
 
 

The Downsides:

The big risk in the Froggenivia build is the ability power conferred by the two different builds - just the Mejai's in Froggen's build when fully stacked will give the same amount of AP as the RoA + 120 AP from the Needlessly Large Rod and Blasting Wand; however, there is no guarantee that you will be able to build many stacks on Anivia, and therein lies the risk of going with the Froggen build.  If you are kill starved, you will have 20 AP after spending over 6000g after you buy boots, while the traditional build will provide at least some measure of bonus damage.
 
With the unorthodox Froggen build, you are basically relying your teammates to tank and do damage for you while you provide all of the stuns, walls, and slows you can throw out.  It's a much more team-reliant build, but it pays off if you can stay alive and makes kills possible for your team because of the stacks that you gain.
 
 

Conclusions + Opinions

Froggen's Anivia build is risky in terms of damage output, but it is by far the superior option if you are building for survivability due to the bonus HP and MP stats that the items give.  In addition, if you manage to become fed through teamfights, you will reap a greater reward than a traditional RoA-Deathcap build, especially as you add more items to your core build.  You probably won't be able to score a 1v1 kill with Anivia due to her skillset, so a more teamfight oriented build using a Mejai's may be stronger on her.

I believe that Froggen's build may be more viable on Anivia compared to the traditional build, especially since Anivia is a teamfight-oriented champion with relatively low damage output compared to other AP carries.  The added survivability and mana, in addition to possible cooldown reduction from the Mejai's makes it so she shines even brighter in fights and gives her a larger chance to survive after being egged.  In addition, since Anivia does not heavily rely on damage to be effective in teamfights, bonus AP isn't the skill you need to max out, in contrast with most other AP carries.

TL;DR: Froggen Anivia viable.

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Today's post was a bit short because I've been working on BIG BLOGS as part of my Runes to Win series. (you can find the first part here and the second part here)

Despite the shorter-than-usual length, I hope you enjoyed it! Please comment below or on reddit! :)

-- VVinrar

For more of my work:

-- Find old posts at reignofgaming.net/blogs/a-different-view/vvinrar.
-- Look out for new posts on Thursdays and Sundays!
-- Find my Item Efficiency Spreadsheet at bit.ly/mathcraft.

If you have any questions, feedback, suggestions, or post requests:

-- Feel free to find me in the "A DIFFerent View" chatroom on the NA server.
-- Leave a comment on this post.
-- Contact me at vvinrar@gmail.com

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Comments

  • iCha0s's avatar
    Melee Minion
    • Posts: 2
    #5 iCha0s Posted 6/15/2012 5:13:56 AM

    you really shouldn't forget that he never bought mejais at mlg - just because it's too risky against teams such like tsm. He also builds his bird every game different and according to the enemies, which is most of times the common anivia + a warmogs. And warmogs + passive is kinda an obvious choice.

  • tzdanof's avatar
    Melee Minion
    • Posts: 3
    #4 tzdanof Posted 6/14/2012 10:47:40 PM

    It would be interesting if this post included a time comparison. As in how long would it take to achieve both builds with somewhat average /hypothetical CS statistics and farm. How long would it take in between the items to farm the Warmogs and Tear stacks with spells cast and minions slain. A true comparison would be taking the same two scenarios with equal farming time and seeing when both builds are finished what the stacks on ROA,Wmogs, and Tear are. I suppose for tear you could use a calculation of one cast every three seconds, especially because with Anivia it seems like it would be pretty possible post level 6 with just toggling her ultimate. The tricky part is Mejais. There is no precise way to measure this so I think it should be replaced or the post should be continued to part b/or supplemented with a chalice instead.
    Nonetheless, I enjoyed the post! Thought it was very interesting and had no idea that froggen build could be potentially stronger in every aspect.

  • IconX's avatar
    Caster Minion
    • Posts: 37
    #3 IconX Posted 6/14/2012 7:50:20 PM

    The problem I see with Froggen's build (or, adding Mejai's in particular), is that it takes quite awhile to get fully stacked, which means the game will push into late-game, and champs can reach 6 items.

    So, his core is Tear/Archangel, Mejai's, Warmog, boots - 4 slots. Meanwhile, the traditional build: RoA, Rabadon's, boots - 3 slots. Froggen's doesn't allow as much flexibility, with only 2 open slots compared to 3.

  • klvkboom's avatar
    Super Minion
    • Posts: 87
    #2 klvkboom Posted 6/14/2012 7:12:40 PM

    Froggen doesn't really use mejais in competitve games though. More often than not I see him with the build of Tear>Chalice>Warmogs, with other items i the middle depending on the situation. Even if it is Chalice over Mejais, I think his build is quite effective even though you don't necessarily build AP.

    Anivia's base numbers and field control utility is quite strong, and because of that Froggen fixes where Anivia is weakest, which is her mana pool and survivability. Tear+Chalice is a strong combo and from my personal experience, you are much less reliant on blue buff. Warmogs is deceptively ridiculously strong Anivia, because the extra HP it gives you also apply to your passive, and the difference in survivability is huge. Of course, Anivia's AP ratios are pretty good along with the base numbers, so it is a good idea to get AP somewhere in the build eventually. Froggen builds according to how well the game is going, and most of the time you'll find him even building small AP items such as Revolver, Codex, and Haunting Guise, along with his eventual big items of Archangels, Deathcap.

  • Ira11's avatar
    Melee Minion
    • Posts: 1
    #1 Ira11 Posted 6/14/2012 6:00:34 PM

    Intresting that Mejais is being used again

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