A Rapist's Guide to Ancient Apparition

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my very first Dota 2 guide.This one will be on one of my favorite and most successful heroes; AA.

Ancient Apparition is an intelligence support hero,who is also a great solo mid.His skills give him amazing lane dominance,and make him absolutely lethal if coupled with a lane partner(carry) who has a stun.

Despite his immense potential however,AA is by no means easy to play or master,but that just makes it even more fun when you own the other team.

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Pros / Cons

Pros

Dominating lane domination ability,that can also dominate the lane

Can make his magic happen without needing to get close

Can provide a lot of killing power

Can snipe off retreating low hp heroes and make you feel BAWS

Can win fights for your team from across the map

Underrated(surprise factor makes him BAWS)



Cons

Squishy,and also quite low Hp and can be considered squishy

Has no escape mechanism,and low base movement speed

Can be mana starved early on

Somewhat more level dependant than most support heroes

Needs to lane with a hero that has a stun,in order to reach full capacity

Ice Blast can be quite hard to aim at times

Skills

Cold Feet

Great disable/harassing tool. If the enemy doesn't move out of its radius in 4 seconds, they will have taken 300 damage over time and will be stunned for a whopping 3.5 seconds. After reaching level 3, you may choose to spam it on the enemy(s), forcing them to either stay and take the damage and stun(and then more auto-attack damage), or run away like a sissy while they take damage (emotionally) as you insult and belittle them in front of everyone for being *******. And they also miss exp and farm and stuff.

Assuming that you'll be lane-supporting a carry with a stun, this will dominate.Just cast Cold Feet and have your carry stun them. A standard 2 second stun will leave them with too little time to get out of the range(unless they have a Blink, Leap etc.), resulting in immense damage and about 7 seconds of lockdown, which should be enough to kill/rape.

Since both the stun duration and the damage increase with levels, maxing this skill first is a must in every scenario.

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Ice Vortex

At first glance Ice Vortex may seem like a pretty weak slow(which it is), but it is much more than that. With an incredibly long range it allows you to chase down enemies, and takes away their juking options as it gives vision around it. The vision also makes it a great tool for scouting (even checking the rosh pit from a safe distance) and for counter-warding when you need vision on the highground.

What many players seem to forget is that this skill also reduces magic resistance, so casting it on enemies before they get nuked, or scattering vortex's around the battlefield can make getting kills a lot easier.

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Chilling Touch

In the recent patches it may seem like IceFrog was trying to buff this skill, but this is all a diversion. This skill only has one purpose; to make sure that Ancient Apparition isn't overpowered. At max level it gives bonus damage for your next 6 attacks, and it also decreases your attack speed. What it reduces most however is AA's mana pool.

You may have noticed by now that I am not a huge fan of this skill, but I have to admit there are situations in which the bonus damage can be useful.In these cases you might want to max this skill at level 9, but I personally do not recommend it.

In almost every scenario getting Ice Vortex and stats will be more beneficial, so I do not recommend putting levels into this until level 22, which you will most likely never reach as a support.

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Ice Blast

This skill will do just about anything you can ask for, although it may not be able to get you laid with Scarlett Johansson. Still, the text on it is too long to read, so you never know, keep playing AA and you might be able to get a closer look on her...acting skills.

This is an insane teamfight ability, and you don't even have to be in the teamfight to rape with it. Picture this; a small teamfight breaks out on the midlane. You're not there, and so the enemy team think they can engage. You send your Ice Blast down there and all hell breaks loose. First off they get a random 250 dmg nuke. As their HP slowly starts to decrease they decide to run away. While running they pop the Mekansm to survive the frozen fury of Ice Blast. BUT NO. Their Dazzle heals,their Juggernaut Healing Wards..nothing can heal them. As they start to calm down and think that the damage over time won't be enough to kill them..one of their tankiest heroes just shatters.Panic fills them as they realise they had forgotten about the instant shatter when enemies drop below 10% HP. They are forced to stand there and die a painful death as you insult them in all chat. If by some incredible willpower they are still alive, you can rage at your Invoker for not using Sun Strike.

This spell is more than just for teamfights though. With its low mana cost and very low cooldown, you can use it to gank, pick off retreating heroes, push out your lanes or even check Roshan as long as you're sure you won't need it in the next 30 seconds or so. You might also want to type "You can't run from heaven" in all chat after sniping off retreating heroes. This deals pure damage if used when the enemy team has Zeus.

The most important thing to remember is to use your Ice Blast constantly. It takes very little mana and has a tiny cooldown duration; even if used to just harass ,waste it. Make the enemy team fear it.

Pro Tip: Shooting the Ice Blast ahead of enemies is a safe bet. Even if they aren't effected by the nuke damage, they still get the Frostbite curse if the ult ball travels above them. Better than missing completely right?

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Why I prefer stats

I would recommend getting stats instead of leveling up Chilling Touch, not just because I dislike the skill, but because AA is a really squishy hero. The increase in strength and intelligence you get from stats is just way too good, and should not be underestimated. Stats and good positioning will make you relatively not-squishy(still not tanky) and you will no longer be easy prey.

Friends and Foes

Friends

Unless you'll be taking the solo mid role, you will want to lane with a carry,preferably one that has a stun,as Cold Feet can be deadly when coupled with one.

Sven, Naga Siren, Chaos Knight are great lane partners, just to name a few..

Playing on a team with more global skills such as Thundergod's Wrath, Sun Strike, Wrath of Nature etc. will also be deadly, and will spare you the frustration of seeing enemies survive with 15% HP.

Foes

During the laning phase, heroes with high mobility will be quite annoying, as they will be almost impossible to freeze with Cold Feet. As a result, any hero with Blink, Leap etc. can be considered as a foe.

The most frustrating thing to deal with as an Ancient Apparition would be playing against heroes that can remove negative debuffs, such as Omniknight with Repel,or Slark with his Dark Pact. Unlike Blinking heroes, these heroes do not even have to waste time by blinking to another location to avoid your Cold Feet. They will just stand there, right up in your face,and punch you until your frozen body is unrecognizable.

Channeling Heroes

I would also like to mention Cold Feet's dominance over channeling spells such as Death Ward or Dismember. During a teamfight, just use your Cold Feet on whoever has a channeling ability. They will most likely be unable to cast, and have to change position in order to not get frozen. Best case scenario; Enigma will try to cast anyway and you will be sucked into a 0.05 second Black Hole, until he is frozen with regret.

Item Justifications

Urn of Shadows

Urn of Shadows is a great item for many support heroes, especially Ancient Apparition. It gives you some great early game HP and Mana Regeneration, which is essential to be able to stay in lane and spam those Cold Feet. It also has easy build-up, more so if you start with Gauntlet of Strength. The only item I consider standard for AA every single game.

The active urn charges provide great offensive and defensive power. This coupled with your Cold Feet should give you a lot of Damage Over Time.

Animal Courier/ Observer Ward

No matter how BAWS you feel, you are still a support hero, and wards and a courier are simply essential. Try not to buy both of them, and opt to get courier over wards.

Power Treads

Treads have always been my favorite boots, but it is more than just personal preference at work here. Power Treads give you some much needed HP, and the ability to Tread Switch to toggle between stats, which is a very underrated and underused aspect of the item.

Arcane Boots

Some prefer Arcane Boots over Treads,but the mana regen from Urn of Shadows and an early Sage's Mask for your Eul's Scepter of Divinity should be enough to keep you going. I don't think mana boots are necessary, unless you're going for a Mekansm.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity

Eul's gives some great mana and mana regen, and also has great synergy with your Cold Feet. Just use your Eul's right after your Cold Feet, and you now have a guaranteed 3.5 second stun. Also provides some mobility and survivability, which makes it an overall amazing item choice.

Force Staff

I personally think this is the best item in the entire game. It gives great survivability, some HP regen and some intelligence. Great for escaping and positioning in teamfights.

Scythe of Vyse

Great disable that also gives intelligence. Not very cost-effective at all though. Get it if you're obscenely overfarmed.

Rod of Atos

Provides HP and intelligence, good enough.

Mekansm

Great utility and survivability. Your team will probably need this. Get it if nobody else will.

Bottle

Pretty much necessary if you're going mid, gives HP and Mana Regen at a cheap cost, and is important for rune control.

Eye of Skadi

Gives great stats, and goes along with your whole ice theme. Only get this if you're at a big advantage. Given how much it costs, there's no other way for a support to buy it anyway.

Gameplay Tips

Laning

As mentioned, try to lane with a stunning carry, and use him to combo with your Cold Feet and get kills. When you're not raping enemies, stay back and let your carry farm. Despite how farm-deprived you may be, there is no justification for stealing farm from him. You will get your gold from kills and creep pulls.

If not getting kills, try to use your Cold Feet and auto-attacks to push the enemy out of the lane. Do not spam it at Level 1 though, as it costs too much mana for too little damage and stun duration.

The same goes for the mid lane, except you will be getting a lot more farm and Exp. Use your Ice Blast to gank the other lanes, if you can't be there in person.(or ice ghost thing,I'm not sure)

Keep buying wards for your team, if nobody else will.

Mid-Game

After you have your Lvl 6 or 7, and your carry is able to survive and farm on his own, you may leave the lane and gank/fight with the rest of your team. Do not do this unless your carry is getting uninterrupted farm by himself. Always try to be there during teamfights to collect Urn of Shadows charges. If you're too far to get there in time, use your ulti to assist your team. It is more useful than you may think, so never hesitate to use it.

Whenever you get your Eul's Scepter of Divinity, use it too get a guaranteed Cold Feet stun on enemies, during ganks or teamfights. Do NOT tornado somebody who is already stunned, this just helps them. More people make this mistake than you would like to believe.

Keep buying wards for your team, if nobody else will.

Late Game

At this point, your killing power is pretty limited, yeah sorry. Your only way of killing is through your Ice Blast, but your other skills are still very useful. Use Ice Vortex for slows and bonus nuke damage, and use your Cold Feet for disabling and crowd control. Always try to use your Ice Blast before you die, as the respawn time will be longer than the cooldown.

If you haven't kept up with your farm and levels, you will be easy prey for enemies. Try to stay as far away as possible, and just assist with your Ice Blast and long range disables.

Keep buying wards for your team, if nobody else will.

End Game

Call "ggwp" to form the illusion of being a nice guy, and then furiously type "ez game noobs LOL" to humiliate the other team further. If you lose the game, then just blame your teammates. It can't be your fault right? So it has to be theirs..

You may now stop buying wards.