SPatch 17.9
Arcanist Annie
ArcanistFast 9AP carry
Core Units

Annie
5-cost · Carry

Sylas
7-cost · Carry

Lux
4-cost · Carry

Fiddlesticks
5-cost · Utility

Shyvana
5-cost · Frontline

Swain
4-cost · Utility

Taric
4-cost · Frontline

Neeko
2-cost · Frontline
Item Priority
Annie takes Adaptive Helm, Spear of Shojin and Void Staff, adding survivability plus penetration since she's a bit tankier than a pure glass cannon mage. Sylas goes full aggression with Jeweled Gauntlet, Striker's Flail and Hand Of Justice, and Lux mirrors a Jeweled Gauntlet plus double Nashor's Tooth build that shows up on several comps in this list, crit AP with attack speed to proc her passive faster.
Augment Priority
Take econ through stage 3, then prioritise any Arcanist boosting or flat AP augment. With three Arcanist adjacent AP units on board, a single AP augment is effectively tripled in value compared to a one carry comp. Component doubling augments for Nashor's Tooth or Jeweled Gauntlet are also high value given how often those items repeat across this comp's builds.
Flex Slots and Early Placeholders
Fiddlesticks, Shyvana, Swain, and Taric can be swapped out depending on the lobby, since none of them are fixed pieces. Neeko is cheap enough to hold items early before your three AP carries are found.
Want to actually climb with this?
The free breakdown gets you started. The guide gets you to gold-plus.
This page covers the Arcanist Annie fundamentals. The full e-guide covers every transition, contested-lobby adjustment, and augment line piloting decision that separates a 4th from a 1st — the stuff that doesn't fit in a free writeup.
See what's in the guide