Dota Ancient Apparition Hero Guide

Ancient Apparition

Kaldr the Ancient Apparition is a new ranged Intelligence hero in Dota version 6.55.  Another winter-themed hero, Kaldr’s spells and effects look just like those of Crystal Maiden and Lich, though the hero plays a lot more like Invoker.  Here is a closer look at Ancient Apparition’s stats and abilities:

Stats

Range: 600
Movement Speed: 295
Hero Type: Intelligence

Agility: 20 + 2.2
Strength: 18 + 1.4
Intelligence: 25 + 2.6

Cold Feet (c)

The Apparition curses his foes with The Frozen Mark which will freeze enemies to the ground. Unless target enemy moves at least 740 away from the mark within 4 seconds he is frozen still.

Damage per second: 37.5/50/62.5/75
Stun duration if triggered: 1.25/2/2.75/3.5

Cooldown: 15/13/11/9
Manacost: 90

Note: Target takes damage per second until he is stunned or moves out of range.

Cold Feet forces the target unit to run by freezing him to the ground unless he quickly gets far from the area.  This is best used in combination with Ice Vortex, which slows an area and prevents units from escaping in time  The result of Cold Feet is something just like Crystal Maiden’s Frostbite ability:

Ice Vortex (e)

Gathers ancient frost energy into one area to create a small, immobile ice vortex at a location. Whenever enemies are near it, their movement speed and magical resistance are reduced.

Movement Reduction: 18/22/26/30
Magic Resistance: -10/15/20/25
AOE: 275

Duration: 12
Cooldown: 6
Manacost: 80/90/100/110

As mentioned above, Ice Vortex’s slow works well with the Cold Feet ability to set up an immobilizing freeze.  The other part of this spell, which reduces magic resistance, is a great compliment to Ancient Apparition’s third ability, Chilling Touch, which adds magic damage to allied heroes’ attacks.

Chilling Touch (g)
Releases a gust of cold wind at a target area, enchanting allied heroes with bonus magical damage on their attacks. Lasts for a limited number of attacks up to a maximum of 40 seconds. While the enchanted heroes have this chilling touch, their attack speed is reduced by 15%.

Maximum number of attacks: 2/3/4/5
Bonus Damage: 40/50/60/70
Attack Speed Reduction: -15%

Cooldown: 50/46/42/38
Manacost: 140

Note: Damage bonus only works against enemy heroes, not creeps.

Chilling Touch adds some bonus magic damage to allied heroes’ attacks in a large AOE.  This is a great way to kill heroes after they have been encased in ice by Apparition’s Cold Feet spell.  Also try to use this after heroes have been hit by Ice Vortex so their magic resistance is reduced, causing them to take increased damage.

Ice Blast (ultimate) (t)

Ancient Apparition projects his presence out to make way for a powerful ripple of hailstone and dark magic. Once cast, it can release the spell to strike targets within 200 area of where his presence was upon release. It will deal damage to enemy units and apply a frostbite curse on them for 7 seconds where their health regeneration will be frozen and will shatter if they fall close enough to death. This spell has global range depending on how long you wait for the projections to move. Frostbitten units will take minor damage over time.

Impact Damage: 250/350/450
Shatter Threshold: 10/11/12%

Cooldown: 44/32/20
Manacost: 100/125/150

Ice Blast launches a projectile (above) at any location on the map.  When you touch the hotkey again, it will send out an Ice Blast to the projectile’s most recent location, causing AOE damage at that spot only.  Due to the speed of the initial projectile, and between initially sending out this projectile and the following Ice Blast, this skill takes some serious timing to land.  When used successfully, the effect is similar to that of Invoker’s Sunstrike or Clockwerk Goblin’s Rocket– it is an ability that allows you to pick off low health enemy heroes from any range.

Recommended Skill Build

1. Cold Feet
2. Ice Vortex
3. Cold Feet
4. Ice Vortex
5. Cold Feet
6. Ice Blast
7. Cold Feet
8. Ice Vortex
9. Ice Vortex
10. Chilling Touch
11. Ice Blast
12. Chilling Touch
13. Chilling Touch
14. Chilling Touch
15. Stats
16. Ice Blast
17. Stats -> Level 25

Strategy and Item Builds

Early Game

Early game you can control your lane by spamming Cold Feet on the weakest enemy in your lane.  This will cause the hero damage no matter what and force them to run or take more damage while you attack them after they’ve frozen.  Either way it makes it difficult for them to stay near the creeps and get last hits.  Later on you can combo this with Ice Vortex, which will make it very hard for them to escape the freeze at all, and amplify the magic damage over time being done by Cold Feet.  If you aren’t getting kills this way by level 4-5, then you definitely should produce some at Level 6 with your ultimate.

Since Ancient Apparition is a Intelligence hero and you’ll be putting all your experience points into learning spells, you will have very low hit points and should tank up early with a couple Bracers to keep from feeding early and help you gank.  Strength Power Treads is also a good choice since it raises your hit points and also gives you attack speed for smashing heroes that are frozen in ice cubes from your Cold Feet spell.  Look for carries and gank them hard early.  Bottle and observer wards are also useful.

Mid Game

You should keep ganking and be aware of the Minimap.  Use your ultimate to pick off low-hp heroes that are escaping from your teammates– you can snipe them from long range.

Ancient Apparition really doesn’t need a massive mana supply since his ultimate only takes 100 mana and all the rest of his abilities require less than 150 each.  Since his role is also that of a lane-controller or ganker early, and a support hero later in the game, Mekansm is a good choice as you have the necessary mana for it and can use it to tank up a little more and support your team in battles.  Some other viable mid-game options are Eul’s Scepter of Divinity, which you can use to set up a flawless Ice Vortex/Cold Feet combo on a single hero, or a blink dagger, if you really like to gank hard.  If these don’t interest you then just save your money for a big time support item like Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse.

Late Game

Team battles are pretty simple.  Just try to land Ice Vortex and Ice Blast on as many enemy heroes as you can.  Use Cold Feet on the most important hero the other team has and spam Chilling Touch on your team whenever it’s up.

If you haven’t farmed a Guinsoo yet get one asap and use it to contribute a little more disable to team battles.  Your lane control and ganking earlier has set up the carries on your team for a strong game, and your AOE damage and disables will set up battles for them to win.