Annette — Patch 1.62 Verdict
[Liquipedia RPL: B] Pro play (RPL 2026): 38 picks, 57.9% WR, 19.6% pick/ban rate. Note: pro meta may differ from ranked.
Annette — Support Guide
Annette fills a niche very few supports in Arena of Valor can claim: she is a zoning wall, an engage threat, and a passive sustain engine at the same time. Her Hurricane Wall ultimate physically blocks enemy pathing. Not a slow, not a knockback that leaves the lane clear, but an actual impassable barrier that reshapes the geometry of a teamfight in real time. That alone makes her worth learning. She excels when her team has a dive-heavy carry who needs a corridor cleared, and she punishes brawly, melee-heavy compositions hard.
B tier at 57.9% win rate this patch reflects a hero with a high floor but a frustratingly low ceiling for players who haven't put in the reps. Wind Cuffs' double-target pull is the crux of everything she does offensively, and it demands precise positioning reads that most roam players aren't used to. Miss the through-and-pull on W and you're a slow tornado-placer with below-average peel.
Whisperwind passive also rewards players who stay disciplined with their ability rotation. Banking 10 stacks before a river fight rather than bleeding them on poke is the kind of pre-fight discipline that separates a support who merely casts spells from one who actually keeps their carry standing. If you play Sephera and want something with a more aggressive, fight-warping identity, Annette is your next step. She rewards map awareness and a good sense of when to force versus when to float.
Strengths
- +Hurricane Wall physically blocks enemy pathing for its full duration, enabling her team to isolate priority targets in a way no slow or knockback ability can replicate.
- +Whisperwind's automatic burst heal at 10 stacks gives Annette a reactive sustain tool that makes her extraordinarily difficult to poke off an objective without committing to a real fight.
- +Wind Cuffs' CC reset on Annette being stunned makes her uniquely resilient against dive-and-chain compositions that would otherwise delete a softer roamer instantly.
- +The central zone of Gust Force dealing percentage-max-HP damage means Annette scales her poke damage against tanky targets the enemy builds into, keeping her relevant against any front-line composition.
Weaknesses
- −Wind Cuffs' full value requires two enemies to be roughly in line from Annette's position, a condition that competent enemy teams, especially at Diamond-plus, will deliberately deny by spacing.
- −Annette has no meaningful mobility outside her ultimate, so without Sprint she is trivially kited or caught between rotations, and any lane that forces her to burn Sprint early leaves her a sitting target for 90+ seconds.
- −Whisperwind's 5-second internal cooldown on the heal means repeated burst trades will drain her stack bank without returning sustain, making her vulnerable in drawn-out skirmish sequences where she cannot rebuild stacks.
- −Hurricane Wall's dash is targeted at a point rather than being a blink escape, so enemies who position to block her likely landing zone, or who have long-range interrupts, can deny her engage and leave her overextended with no follow-up.
Abilities
PWhisperwind
When Annette casts a skill, she gains a Windmark stack (max 10 stacks). When stacks reach 10, if Annette or nearby allies have HP below 70%, she instantly consumes all stacks to restore HP to herself and nearby allies (triggers every 5s).
1Gust Force
Annette summons a whirlwind at the target location, dealing magic damage every 0.25s for 2s (damage increases by 33% every 2 hits). Enemies at the whirlwind's center take bonus magic damage equal to 2% of their max HP and are slowed by 50% for 0.25s.
2Wind Cuffs
Annette fires a wind projectile in a direction, dealing magic damage and slowing enemies. If the projectile passes through a first target and hits a second target, it deals bonus magic damage, pulls both targets together, and stuns them for 1s. Passive: When Annette is stunned, this skill's cooldown resets immediately and she gains armor and magic defense for 2s (effect triggers every 45s).
RHurricane Wall
Annette dashes to the target location and summons a hurricane that knocks nearby enemies away and deals magic damage. The hurricane blocks enemy pathing. Allied heroes in the hurricane gain increased movement speed and attack speed for 3.5s (all crowd control effects are removed from Annette after casting this skill).
How to Use Annette's Kit
The 5-second internal cooldown on the heal proc means you should not be randomly spending stacks on Q poke in the laning phase, let them build to 10 before any skirmish where an ally could drop below 70% HP, because the heal fires automatically at that threshold. The most common mistake is entering a Dragon contest at 6 or 7 stacks after throwing out a stray Q; you lose the burst heal exactly when it matters most. Think of it as a passive cooldown you manage, not free sustain.
Gust Force is a placed, stationary AoE, you drop it on a location, not an enemy, so anticipate where the target will be standing in 0.25 seconds, not where they are when you cast. The every-two-tick damage ramp (33% extra on tick 3 and 5) means enemies who stand in it get punished exponentially, which is exactly why you want to combo it with the W pull rather than using it alone as a slow poke tool. In fights, place it on top of where your W is dragging the two targets together so they eat the center bonus (2% max HP) while stunned and unable to walk out.
This is Annette's entire identity and the hardest mechanic to master: the projectile must pass through a first enemy and hit a second to trigger the pull and stun, so you need two enemies standing roughly in the same line from your cast point. The built-in passive that resets Wind Cuffs' cooldown when Annette is crowd-controlled is a massive anti-burst survival tool, if Grakk hooks you or Arduin chains you, you immediately get your W back and gain armor/magic defense, so don't panic-Sprint out of CC before you use the reset. In the laning phase, use W's slow on its own to confirm bush trades when a second target isn't available, but never mistake single-target W for good value, it's a consolation prize.
Hurricane Wall does three things at once, dash, knockback, and persistent wall, and most Annette players only think about the knockback. The impassable wall is the actual game-changer: used correctly, it can split a 5v5 into a 5v3 by physically preventing two backline enemies from re-entering the fight after the knockback. Crucially, the ult also cleanses all crowd control on Annette on cast, which means you can use it as an emergency escape from any chain-CC situation; never burn Sprint before your ult if you're caught out. The allied speed and attack-speed buff lasting 3.5 seconds is strong enough to set up an immediate Baron or Abyssal Dragon fight, so time the cast so your carry walks into the buff zone the moment the wall blooms.
Skill Order
Priority: R > Q > W| Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Gust Force | 1 | · | 3 | · | 5 | · | 7 | · | 9 | · | · | · | 13 | · | · |
2Wind Cuffs | · | 2 | · | 4 | · | · | · | 8 | · | 10 | · | 12 | · | 14 | · |
RHurricane Wall | · | · | · | · | · | 6 | · | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | 15 |
Loadout
Golden Body
Protect
ProwessStandard Build
1
2
3
4
5
6Core Combos
The Standard Pull-Burst
21Fire W through the first target to pull both enemies together, immediately drop Q centered on their collision point so they eat ticks in the center zone while stunned, use this in any skirmish where two enemies are spaced within W's projectile path.
Ult-Open Full Engage
R21Dash into the enemy cluster with R to knockback and cleanse yourself, then immediately throw W through two displaced enemies before they scatter and drop Q on top of the pull; use this when your team is ready to commit and you need to be the one who cracks the formation open.
CC-Reset Chain
2R21If an enemy stuns you during or just after your first W cast, the passive instantly resets W, use R to cleanse and reposition, then fire the reset W into the now-repositioned enemies and layer Q on top; this is the combo that punishes teams that try to dive Annette directly.
Objective Setup Wall
R1Drop R at the back edge of the Dragon or Baron pit entrance to wall off the enemy's nearest flanking path, then place Q in the center of the objective zone, your team fights with speed/attack-speed buffs while the enemy cannot reposition through the wall; only use this when your team is already contesting, not as an initiation.
Gameplan
Annette's first real power spike is level 4, when all three active skills are unlocked and she can execute the full Q-into-W-pull combo in a river contest. Her second, more decisive spike is Berith's Agony completion. The cooldown reduction lets her cycle Wind Cuffs fast enough that a single reset from the CC passive can chain into a second cast within the same fight. She is at her absolute strongest in mid-game, 5-man objective brawls where Hurricane Wall can wall off two or three enemies simultaneously. Late game she softens: if the enemy backline has built enough range to poke from outside her W projectile path, her impact drops sharply and she must rely on Whisperwind stacking discipline to stay relevant.
Early Game
Levels 1–6- →Spend the first two minutes in the side bush of your carry's lane rather than immediately roaming — stack Whisperwind to 10 using Q poke in the bush so you enter the level-3 skirmish with a full heal ready rather than zero stacks.
- →Once you hit level 3 and have W, look for the river bush ambush angle: position so that the enemy jungler's expected path puts them in line with the enemy laner for a clean W through-pull, triggering the full stun-into-Q combo.
- →Do not use Sprint offensively in the first five minutes; save it as a guaranteed escape from any overextension since you have no baseline mobility and an early death is a disproportionate setback on a roam economy.
Mid Game
Post Broken Spear- →Take control of objective timing: be at Dragon or Abyssal Dragon with a full Whisperwind stack bank 20 seconds before your team contests, so the passive heal fires the moment an ally drops below 70% HP in the fight.
- →Look for two-man clusters on the enemy team in mid-lane skirmishes — Berith's Agony should be complete by now, giving you the cooldown to throw a second W within the same fight window if the first is CC-reset.
- →Use Hurricane Wall proactively to cut off enemy retreats toward their tower rather than reactively for peel — at this stage you want picks, not just protection, and a wall across the retreat path while your carry chases is often a free kill.
Late Game
Teamfight phase- →Your primary job in late-game teamfights is identifying the exact moment two high-priority enemies — typically the enemy carry and their support — are within W's projectile line, which requires you to circle the fight's edge rather than dive in immediately.
- →Hurricane Wall's pathing block becomes most valuable at the final Lord contest; cast it to bisect the pit entrance so the enemy cannot collapse onto your Lord-tanking frontliner from multiple angles simultaneously.
- →If the enemy has built enough range that your W is being dodged consistently, shift into a pure Whisperwind-management mode — stay within heal range of your carry, keep stacks at 10, and let your frontline create the W opportunities rather than generating them yourself.
Matchups
Don't first-pick Annette blind. Her counters, particularly Grakk and Aleister, are common enough in Diamond-plus draft that showing her early invites a targeted counter-pick. Last-pick or second-to-last-pick support is where she becomes significantly safer. Pair her with a melee carry like Allain to guarantee W-pull geometry in fights, and look to ban Butterfly or Lorion when you commit to her, since both dismantle her core game plan from completely different angles. In bad matchups, play for safe Whisperwind stacking rather than aggressive W fishing. A reactive support who keeps the carry alive is more valuable than an overextending Annette who dies without firing her ultimate.
Annette gets countered by
GrakkHis hook initiates from a range that exceeds Annette's comfortable W-landing distance, and once she's pulled into his chain she burns her CC-reset W in a panic position rather than a controlled one, leaving her exposed with no follow-up.
AleisterAleister's binding root is a point-and-click CC that fires from off-screen range, meaning he can repeatedly trigger Annette's CC-reset passive to waste it on non-threatening situations and prevent her from building a full Whisperwind stack bank.
LorionHis persistent area denial covers the exact narrow chokepoints where Annette wants to fish for double-target W alignments, pushing her into open terrain where two enemies are almost never in a clean line for the pull.
ButterflyButterfly's blink-dash speed means she passes through Annette's Hurricane Wall zone in fractions of a second, negating the wall's pathing block and reaching Annette's carry before the knockback displacement matters.
Annette synergizes with
AllainAllain's dive engages from unexpected angles and forces enemies to cluster as they reposition away from him, creating the exact two-in-line geometry that Annette's Wind Cuffs pull demands.
VioletViolet needs a wall between her and the enemy's dive composition while she free-fires from range, and Hurricane Wall's physical barrier plus the 3.5-second attack-speed buff turns her already-dangerous channeled damage into a fight-ender.
TulenTulen's storm AoE and Annette's Gust Force overlap beautifully in the same area, enemies pulled together by Wind Cuffs eat both ultimates simultaneously, and the sheer burst prevents them from walking out of either zone.
MalochMaloch's naturally durable frontline soaks the initial engagement and forces enemies to cluster around him, giving Annette clean W angles from the flank while Whisperwind's passive heal keeps Maloch topped up through sustained trades.
Pro Tips
- →The Wind Cuffs CC-reset passive fires even if the enemy CC was applied before you cast your first W, meaning you can intentionally walk into a Grakk hook zone with W already aimed, take the hook, get the instant reset, and immediately fire W into the enemy cluster that forms around Grakk after he pulls you in.
- →Whisperwind stacks persist through death timers on the respawn screen but reset on actual respawn, this is not relevant in the fight itself, but it means you should dump stacks into a heal before recalling if an ally is low, rather than banking them through a base trip you were planning anyway.
- →Hurricane Wall's allied speed and attack-speed buff applies to any ally inside the storm ring, including your own jungler if they happen to be in range, position the cast so the ring's inner zone covers your carry's likely chase path, not just the initial knockback point, to maximize how long they benefit from the buff.
- →In the laning phase, you can use Gust Force in a bush that the enemy pathing must cross to reach Dragon, effectively turning the objective approach path into a tick-damage corridor, enemies who don't notice the AoE on the bush's exit point will take 2-3 ticks plus the center-zone max-HP bonus before the fight even starts.
Annette is the right pick for support players who feel constrained by pure peel-and-heal roamers and want their positioning decisions to physically change the shape of a teamfight. The single most important thing to master is not Hurricane Wall. It's Wind Cuffs: specifically, learning to identify the exact moment two enemies are in line and firing without hesitation. Players who get that one mechanic down will find Annette's 57.9% win rate is a floor, not a ceiling. She rewards the map-aware, draft-conscious support player who already knows what they're doing in Diamond-plus. If you're still learning roam fundamentals, build those on a simpler hero first.
Annette — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Annette good in the current ROV patch?+
Annette is a solid B-tier pick this patch with a 57.9% win rate. Respectable, but her 6.3% ban rate and 13.3% pick rate suggest she's valued without being dominant. She performs best in coordinated draft environments where her team can build around her W-pull windows, which makes her stronger in Diamond-plus lobbies than in lower-ranked play where her mechanics are more likely to go to waste.
What is the best build for Annette?+
Start with Gilded Greaves for mobility and tenacity, then go Ring of Terror into Berith's Agony as your core CDR items. Those two let her cycle Wind Cuffs fast enough to chain the CC-reset combo. The Aegis and Gaia's Standard give her the survivability to stay in range for Hurricane Wall engages, and Mail of Pain punishes enemy basic attackers who try to dive her directly.
How do you counter Annette?+
Deny the two-in-line positioning her Wind Cuffs pull requires. Spread out horizontally when she's in a fight so her W projectile can never pass through one ally into another. Heroes with long-range point-and-click CC like Aleister are particularly effective because they force Annette to spend her CC-reset W defensively rather than offensively, which strips her of the combo she's built around.
Is Annette hard to play or good for beginners?+
Medium difficulty, and that rating is almost entirely carried by Wind Cuffs. The two-target pull mechanic requires positional reads that take real game-time to develop, and without it she is a significantly weaker hero. Beginners who have mastered basic roam timing and objective control will find her passive and ultimate straightforward, but unlocking her full potential requires experience at reading enemy spacing in real time.