Talk:Anivia/@comment-25798210-20150531153249/@comment-26455933-20150601182526

Build according to your comp and enemy comp. Thats the beauty of having a champ without a set build-path. If your team can protect you (or you're froggen and are confident enough to avoid damage from skillshots), build more damage/mana and forego health (I saw that he rarely builds ROA on the bird on soloq). If your team can't protect you, build more tankier early (ROA). If enemy has a lot of tanks, try to rush liandries and magic pen. If enemy has a lot of squishies, just rush pure AP burst and speed. If enemy is double AP comp, make sure you include chalice in your early build. If enemy has pure AD comp or things you want to zhonya, rush zhonya after some mana items. If enemy has assassins... well for this one you need everything; and you just gotta wait for late game to really shine. So in that case, play safe, don't roam by yourself, and position well/be very aware of assassins during team fights.

That being said, I usually go for a core build of RoA + athenes/archangels/morello. As Odaswifteye said you need just 2 mana items, as long as you have good mana management practices.

Usually your mid game AP levels will be lower compared to your lane opponent because your have to double down on mana resources but your base damage should be high enough to compensate in most cases.

If you need to up your early/mid game though, then you might want to forego the ROA and consider using HP runes (yellows), build a few doran's rings, and rush more AP after that (haunting guise, deathcap, etc.).

Speed is really important for Anivia's E/R combo and for dodging skillshots in general, so I usually pack at least 2 speed quints so that I'm not forced into building lvl 2 boots too early.

As for why you die too much, its probably because of your playstyle. Anivia should be played reactively, unlike a lot of other champions that try to force openings. The only "aggressive" move you should make is harrassing with E/R or when you're just stupid fed and can chunk 50% or more HP off of carries with 1 combo. But even then, be wary. The best situation, honestly, is when the enemy tries to focus too much resources on ganking you but NOT SUCCEEDING because you're playing passive but still doing significant damage to them.

Also, don't rely on your egg too much. No matter how much HP and armor/MR you build, its not gonna survive very long.