When League of Legends champions or items are nerfed, they normally fall quickly out of the meta due to Riot Games finding their power to be a bit too oppressive. Yet a recent hotfix to one of the game's first-released champions has done nothing to remove her meta influence, as she continues to shine in many areas on Summoner's Rift.
Annie, the Dark Child, remains one of the league's top scorers, even after Riot stepped in with subtle tweaks earlier this week. According to stats websites OP.GG and U.GG, Annie has a win rate of nearly 55 percent across almost every position, not just in the mid lane but as a support as well.
Annie received a number of upgrades to her entire kit, as Riot hoped to make her a more appealing player choice rather than an obscure situational choice. These included improvements to her E to reflect damage from abilities, more health to Tibbers scaling with her ability power, and fully charging her passive when the game begins and when she respawns.
Annie became a menace in the mid lane where not only did she appear to be no longer dealing much damage, but she could summon new-empowered Tibbers to act as another champion for opponents to deal with. Even after her hotfix nerfs, she maintains her power.
Annie has become a powerful enchanter that can deal significant burst damage thanks to her E's enhancements, which have increased her impact as a support significantly. As a result, players have begun transforming her into a powerful enchanter that can also deal substantial burst damage, such as Shurelya's Battlesong and Staff of Flowing Water, which have made her much more effective than traditional supports like Karma and Janna.
Riot is currently unsure if or not to extend Annie's power with nerfs specifically targeting her abilities in the near future, since she is not listed for any planned changes according to the Patch 13.4 preview released last night.