The challenger tier in League stands for the pinnacle of solo queue and I was fortunate enough to interview one such player by the name of Jared “Annie Bot” Carr. He is one of the best Annie players in the world and was kind enough to let us get to know him a little better.

What lead you to start playing League of Legends?

Jared: When I was first starting out at UC Berkeley my roommate ended up showing me the game and I ended up playing a few normal and co-op vs AI games and I got really hooked on it so I would attribute it to him. He was never really an avid league player though, I got into it way more than he did. He was more of a casual gamer.

Why did you decide to start streaming?

Jared: When I was in high elo, people would tell me to stream because I was a high elo One Trick Pony and they thought I would have a lot of success streaming. They had seen other OTP streamers like BoxBox have a lot of success so they believed I would too. Pressure from other people as well as I myself had watched some streams and it seemed interesting. So I started streaming around December of 2013 and I got so enthralled with streaming that right after my classes would end at six at night and I would be streaming until I went to sleep at two in the morning.

What enthralled you so much with streaming?

Jared: I honestly don’t know. It was a combination of watching people react to my plays or being able to talk to people. Honestly, when I was first starting out watching the little viewer count numbers go up was so exciting to me. I remember one time when I had been streaming for a couple weeks I got to fifty viewers and I was so excited because it was a huge milestone for me. I had made it to fifty without anyone even giving me a shoutout or hosting me so I had to celebrate.

What would you attribute that success to?

Jared: With streaming, I felt like because I was so consistent streaming at the same times every day I would get a lot of returning viewers and those viewers in turn got me more viewers because having more viewers puts you further up the list. Talking a lot is another thing. When I’m streaming I’m constantly commentating and having a good time. I think being fun on stream is one of the most important things you can do because not as many people want to watch someone being negative because it isn’t as entertaining. I was also known in solo queue by other streamers like Gosu and Imaqtpie because I’m high elo and would end up playing on their streams and they have tens of thousands of viewers sometimes so those viewers would see and recognise me. That got my name out there. Being a OTP is attractive to watch as well because you’re kind of the “professional” of that champion so people come to watch like BoxBox has his Riven, Gosu has his Vayne. People just come to watch you play that champion.

Was it hard for you to balance streaming and schooling.

Jared: Streaming wasn’t particularly hard, but it did have an impact on my schooling. I tried to put homework and studying first but I found myself rushing through the homework just to get it over with and then studying I would do a little bit then be like “Oh gawd, I’m gonna take a break and stream”. I was really more interested in streaming than doing the course work and it did make my grades suffer. I never got less than a B so at least that’s okay. So I would say it was definitely hard to balance.

Why do you main Annie?

Jared: When I was first beginning the game my friend showed me Amumu to start because Amumu is a really easy champion to try out and we’ll see if you like the game after that. He was pretty good for me but I also tried out Garen and Ryze but I was really bad at those champions. I would just turret dive and die with Garen and I could never combo right with Ryze. Amumu I was a little bit better with because my friend showed me how to play him and laned with me. I ended up playing Amumu in a Co-op vs AI match a day or two later and I ended up going mid on my own at my friends request to see how well I would do, and I ended up getting stomped by Annie Bot because she was mid. I ended up asking my roommate if Annie was a good champion and he said she was so I ended up trying her. She was the best champ I had played so far because I wouldn’t run out of mana while farming on her using spells. I ended up sticking with her and it’s been that way ever since.

What are some of the innovations you have come up with on Annie and have you seen other players using them?

Jared: Annie is a simple champ mechanically so there isn’t a lot of crazy combos. Something I try to do is throw in auto attacks when I trade with someone, especially now with thunderlords. In terms of making a new combo there isn’t anything, but it terms of itemization I have tried a lot of different things.

One of the most unique ones was Rod of Ages plus Seraph’s Embrace on Annie to get a high amount of burst damage because if you couple that with a Rabadon’s Deathcap you get upwards of six hundred ability power with only three items and two of those are relatively cheap compared to other items.

I have also done Liandry’s Torment plus Rylai’s Crystal Scepter where you kite back with Tibbers. Tibbers does a lot of area of effect aura damage so you can slow the whole enemy team and kite back plus the Liandry’s effect would be doubled so you end up doing massive damage while kiting back as long as you have a kite comp meaning you’re not looking to all in.

I’ve also done something called Rocket Annie where you take teleport flash and Ionian Boots of Lucidity with Distortion enchant so you have teleport on a three minute cooldown. It’s called Rocket Annie because at twenty minutes you get Homeguard speed boost then teleport to a ward to make a pick using that speed mid to late game or just engaging a teamfight or even just flanking. You just need to avoid getting hit by a skillshot or you lose the speed boost.

I’ve even used Lich bane and Will of the Ancients. Though Lich Bane is only good later in the game when you have ability power to support its scaling and WotA is only good when you’re ahead so you can sustain in fights. WotA plus Rylai’s is a good choice when you’re ahead because it's very defensive and you usually want to build defensively when you are snowballing.

Has Riot Games ever contacted you about possible changes to Annie to get your opinion?

Jared: Only once when they were removing Deathfire Grasp. They wanted to know if Annie was going to need compensation buffs. I told them “Hell no”. She is easily one of the strongest mages in the game and removing DFG wouldn’t hurt her that much. Most of her damage is in her AoE anyway. DFG was used more for assassination potential and she already has that with high ability power ratios.

Is there anything you would like to say to your viewers?

Jared: Thank you for supporting me. I really appreciate your help in making my dream job of streaming a reality and I really hope you guys continue to enjoy my stream for a long time.

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