Thread:Emptylord/@comment-24385282-20160220030505/@comment-3974211-20160221033922

From what I've just checked in game - Annie's Incinerate's just a case of not being clearly animated (although, personally, I don't see it as being that unclear - especially compared to Kassadin's Force Pulse). There is a minuscule delay between pressing W and the ability happening, and that delay is shorter than Annie's casting animation (i.e. she has to stand still longer than the cast time). Cassiopeia's is similar but has a longer cast time. On both champions it is possible to hit people who flash away - but it is easier to do with Annie because the delay is so short (the window you have to press Flash is too short, meaning both abilities will resolve at the same time).

However, none of that really contradicts Annie being simple. There's other champions that perform animations after the cast time (e.g. Zyra's E, as she visually follows through after she releases the ability). Cassiopeia does too - she has to compose herself after screaming for a very short duration. Illaoi's E used to, too, and I wish Riot would opt to add more instead of remove them (e.g. what if Blitzcrank, Thresh and Nautilus had to pull their hooks back in before they could resume moving?). Vladimir is actually a good example of a bad implementation - his ultimate has a wind-down but there's no animation to accompany it (he just cannot activate his abilities for a short time).