Ancient Apparition is a support hero who excels at dealing a lot of magical damage to enemies, but who is very squishy. He has a very unique ultimate ability which prevents healing and this makes him a natural counter to many heroes and items.
His skill build is very flexible, as he can have a very large impact whichever spell he maxes first. He is somewhat item dependent however, as he is very squishy and not very mobile. His ultimate ability is also greatly empowered with an Aghanim’s Scepter.
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[/column]Ancient Apparition Skill Build Order
- Chilling Touch
- Cold Feet
- Ice Vortex
- Cold Feet
- Cold Feet
- Ice Blast
- Cold Feet
- Ice Vortex
- Ice Vortex
- Talent
- Ice Vortex
- Ice Blast
- Chilling Touch
- Chilling Touch
- Talent
- Chilling Touch
- –
- Ice Blast
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Ancient Apparition curses the enemy hero. The target will take damage every second until either they moved far away enough or until 4 seconds pass, at which point they will also be stunned for several seconds. This effectively forces enemies to move away from where they stood when initially cursed. This spell is usually maxed firstly because each point increases the damage, stun duration, cast range as well as decreasing cooldown.
It’s very effective when stacked with slows or stuns from allies as it helps to guarantee the stun at the end of the 4 seconds which they incur if they fail to move away in time. If you don’t have many other disables on your team, it may be more effective to max Ice Vortex first. Avoid wasting this spell on enemies that are very mobile or that are fleeing, as they are unlikely to get stunned. Instead, prioritize on enemies that have channelled spells or melee carries that need to get close to deal damage.
Ancient Apparition freezes an area on the ground which slows enemies and decreases their magic resistance. Ice Vortex also provides vision of the area it affects. Ice Vortex is usually maxed secondly as it gives your team a large damage increase to their magical damage spells and offers a powerful AoE slow. It can be good to max Ice Vortex firstly if you have lots of magical damage on your team, or if your team lacks many disables. This is because having few disables can make it hard to land Cold Feet, and the slow from Ice Vortex may be more valuable in this case. The vision it provides is helpful in a number of situations. It can scout for incoming ganks, juking enemies, the Roshan pit as well as behind towers.
Ancient Apparition grants all allied heroes in the targeted area extra magical damage to their next few regular attacks. These attacks also slow the enemy’s movement and Ancient Apparition will always receive the buff, regardless of whether he is within the area of effect or not. Illusions do not receive the buff. This spell is usually maxed lastly after getting one point in the spell early. This is because the movement speed slow remains the same at all levels, and your other spells are usually a bit more effective. The buff is very strong in the early game, as it massively increases the damage of every affected allied hero.
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Ancient Apparition targets an area at point on the map and launches a ball of ice which explodes upon reaching the designated area. When this spell is cast, it will launch an invisible tracer which will travel in a straight line in the target direction. Upon pressing Ice Blast again, Ancient Apparition releases the blast which travels the distance faster the farther away the target area is from the hero whereupon it will explore dealing damage and placing a de-buff on enemies. The Ice Blast de-buff places a curse on any enemy it passes while travelling or in the target area which deals damage over time and prevents healing for several seconds. If the hero drops below a percentage of their HP, they will instantly die. Aghanim’s Scepter increases the damage and duration of the de-buff.
Ice Blast is one of the strongest ultimate abilities in Dota 2 esports because it prevents enemies from powerful healing abilities and has a global cast range. It also provides vision of the area through the tracer which makes it easier to catch heroes that may be hiding in trees. Try to aim Ice Blast behind enemies, because this will make it harder for enemies to flee from it.
Remember that it travels slower the closer the target area is to you, which means that fast enemies may be able to avoid it if they see it coming. If Ancient Apparition does not release Ice Blast after the tracer, he will not launch it at all. Enemies can see the tracer on the mini-map if there is true-sight over the area it travels. The de-buff prevents any kind of healing, be it from life-steal or HP regeneration. The only exceptions to this are Terrorblade’s Sunder and Weaver’s Time Lapse.
The extra GPM is usually a bit better because it helps you to get your important survivability items as well as Aghanim’s Scepter more quickly. If you are having a good game or are trying to end the game quite quickly, then the extra spell amplification can help you to snowball in the mid game.
The HP regen is usually preferred over the cooldown reduction as it does a lot to help keep you alive. Ancient Apparition is very squishy and 20 HP regen is quite a lot. However, the reduced cooldown can be good if you have a lot of magical damage on your team or if you need more control on your team. It practically gives you a 30% AoE movement speed slow on a 1.5 second cooldown.
This talent choice is largely dependent upon which teammates you have. If you have lots of physical damage dealers, then the extra Chilling Touch damage is very strong. On the other hand, the extra slow/resistance makes all enemies take more magical damage and gives you even more control. It’s especially strong if you chose the reduced Ice Vortex cooldown talent at level 15, as you’ll be able to use it much more easily. In most cases, the extra slow is probably better but they’re both potentially strong talents.
In most cases, the AoE Cold Feet is a much stronger talent. It gives the spell much more utility as it can potentially stun several enemy heroes and has a very low cooldown. It will also give the spell a lot of potential to deal damage to enemies. Lastly, it will also force enemies to relocate or get stunned, which in itself can be very valuable.
The increased Kill Threshold can be strong in some situations, but is a bit more niche. It can be strong against heroes that sacrifice their HP or that rely on HP regeneration or lifesteal. It can also be good if you have lots of lockdown on your team as this makes it easier to land Ice Blast. However, at level 25, there are fewer situations where you will be able to snipe enemies across the map and if an enemy is going to die, then a 4% difference in kill threshold won’t make much difference.
Ancient Apparition needs very little in terms of starting items. Get some Dota 2 wards for your teammates and some basic regeneration to keep you in lane. One or more Clarities will keep you casting your spells such as Chilling Touch to harass opponents away. Otherwise, saving some money for faster Boots of Speed or a Wind Lace can be good.
A Wind Lace is a very cheap item which offers more mobility for Ancient Apparition and can be built into Tranquil Boots. The hero is quite slow and having a bit more movement speed will help you to position yourself in fights more easily.
A Magic Wand is a very cheap and effective regenerative item and is very strong on almost every support.
If you have had a good game and managed to amass a fair amount of gold quite quickly you can get a Hand of Midas. However, it can be a bad idea to get one if you need other support items such as Eul’s Scepter of Divinity or Force Staff to stay alive in fights through the mid game. It’s mainly purchased to help farm an Aghanim’s Scepter which, in some games, can be particularly powerful.
Tranquil Boots are the boots of choice on Ancient Apparition because it provides a lot of movement speed and you don’t really need the mana restoration that Arcane Boots provide. His intelligence gain is quite high and you can easily courier Clarities to you to get your mana back up if needs be. Lastly, his spells cost relatively low mana anyway. The extra healing can be very helpful because the hero roams a lot and can easily heal himself back up
If you need a pair of Arcane Boots on your team, it can be good to get them. The mana regeneration can be quite nice as it allows you to farm neutral creeps a bit more easily than you would otherwise.
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A Eul’s Scepter is a good item on AA because it provides a lot of mana regeneration and a powerful utility spell. Besides its’ defensive capabilities, you can use it on an enemy after cursing them with Cold Feet. Doing this will give them less time to move away from the starting point and makes it more likely that they will be stunned at the end of the duration. However, this sacrifices some of the damage that the spell provides, so only use it on enemies if they are likely to be able to move away in time.
A Force Staff is a great survivability item on AA. It can help to kite enemies and avoid taking damage from AoE damage spells. The extra intelligence is also very helpful on the hero.
A Glimmer Cape helps AA to avoid be burst down quickly. It also provides lots of magical resistance and can be used on allies and is very strong against a number of heroes who have powerful magical damage spells.
An Aghanim’s is a core mid-to-late game item on AA. It makes his ultimate much more effective and may even be rushed in certain games. If you are playing against heroes that rely on HP regeneration or healing, then you should consider buying a Hand of Midas to help you farm the Aghanim’s Scepter a bit faster.
A Scythe of Vyse is a very strong late game item on any hero. It provides AA with a lot more mana and mana regeneration, a powerful disable which stacks well with his other spells and a bit more HP as well. You can keep enemies disabled for a very long time by chaining together Cold Feet, Hex and Ice Vortex.
An Octarine Core is good on AA because it will reduce the cooldowns of all his spells and tanks him up a lot. The cooldown reduction is strong because the hero relies on all 4 of his spells, and having ice Blast on an even lower cooldown can be very strong against heroes with strong healing abilities or lifesteal.
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A Kaya can be a strong item in many situations. The manaloss reduction is nice against heroes with mana burn and the spell amplification can be good if you are doing well in levels and are having a big impact with your spells. The manacost reduction is also very good if you find yourself casting many spells every fight.
An Urn of Shadows can be a strong early game item if no one else on your team is getting one. Ancient Apparition roams quite a lot and it’s a very cheap and effective healing item for your allies. It can also be very effective to use the urn offensively when stacked with Ice Blast, as it will cause even more damage over time and can be the difference between an enemy going under the kill threshold or not.
Guardian Greaves can be good if you no one on your team will buy the components. Generally, you don’t need Arcane Boots which makes this item a rare pickup. However, if you do get them and no one on your team has a Mekansm, consider finishing up Guardian Greaves. They are especially strong against enemies who have strong de-buffs.
A Ghost Scepter can be good against line-ups with lots of physical damage dealers. Ancient has quite low armor and very low HP which makes him a prime target for carries to quickly kill if possible. A Ghost Scepter may help to keep you alive for a lot longer in team-fights.
A Rod of Atos can be a strong mid or late game item against heroes that are hard to lockdown. The 2 second root delay makes it more likely that the enemy will be stunned by Cold Feet as well, although heroes with Blink will be able to move away in time most likely. The extra HP and intelligence are also very helpful for AA.
Any hero which typically buys an Armlet of Mordiggian such as many strength heroes are countered by Ice Blast. This is because when they activate it, their HP will be drained slowly in addition to taking damage over time from the spell and if their HP falls too low, they will immediately die. On the other hand, if you catch them with it on, they will have to turn it off which will reduce their total HP and also make them likely to fall below the kill threshold.
Alchemist gains a large amount of HP regeneration from his ultimate ability which is negated by Ice Blast. This makes him much easier to kill.
Phoenix casts a lot of spells which cost HP and if she’s not careful, she can accidentally kill herself. However, Ice Blast does not prevent the healing from Supernova.
Morphling can use his ultimate ability Morph on any target and swap between the HP of the main hero and the morphed target. This makes Ice Blast a bit less useful. However, If Morphling has low HP and morphs from strength to agility or the other way around, his current HP percentage may fall below the threshold. He effectively cannot morph strength or agility effectively while cursed by Ice Blast.
Ice Blast prevents Abaddon from healing through his ultimate ability and will also punish him for using Mist Coil, as it costs him HP.
Ice Blast can be used across the map on any target. The global presence of this spell somewhat counters the global presence of Chen’s ultimate which can heal his allies.
Dazzle’s healing abilities are prevented during the de-buff from Ice Blast. However, he can use Shallow Grave on allies who fall below the threshold and this prevents them from dying.
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Ice Blast counters both Spirit Siphon and the healing she receives at the end of Exorcism.
Huskar cannot heal from Inner Vitality while affected by Ice Blast. He also usually buys an Armlet of Mordiggian which is also useless against Ancient Apparition.
Ancient Apparition works very well with Legion Commander for several reasons. Ice Blast is much easier to land against dueled targets, they are easily stunned from Cold Feet and they can be forced to stand in the Ice Vortex while taking lots of magical damage. The extra right-click damage from Chilling Touch is also easily applied through the fast attacks of Legion Commander and you can often safely hit the enemy as well.
Each one of the Meepo clones can receive the extra damage from Chilling Touch. This can potentially allow Meepo to deal a massive amount of extra damage.
Ice Blast prevents any enemy hero affected by Oracle’s ultimate from healing at the end of the duration and usually guarantees a kill on the target if timed correctly.
Slark cannot passively heal through Ice Blast, even when his ultimate ability is activated.
The healing which Timbersaw receives from his passive ability is prevented during the de-buff from Ice Blast which makes him much easier to kill.
Ursa can quickly apply the extra damage from Chilling Touch through Overpower which effectively nukes an opponent down even more quickly.
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