A Quick Guide to Ancient Apparition by SSTriangle

First of all, this guide is not extremely comprehensive, so don't get mad if this doesn't tell you how to do everything with AA. This is meant for someone who's never used AA or someone who's not that good with AA to improve themselves, though this probably will not guarantee you go godlike every game. I myself am not an AA master, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Lastly, I assume you have basic DotA skills, like last hitting consistently, knowing to be careful when you don't see enemy dots on the minimap, knowing all the other heroes' skills, and stuff like that.

Hero Page: http://www.playdota.com/heroes/ancient-apparition

Pros
- Pretty high INT gain. It's not Dazzle status, but it suffices.
- Pretty good attack animation. Having 600 range doesn't hurt either.
- Pretty good AGI gain for an INT guy.
- Doesn't need many items to own.
- Overpowered ultimate.
- Good AoE support spell.
- Low cooldown skills.
- Aesthetically pleasing color scheme.

Cons
- Quite squishy. 1.4 STR gain is no laughing matter. It's even worse than Pugna.
- Below average base speed.
- Hard to ult people right next to you.
- Extremely useless when silenced.

Skills

Cold Feet
- Essentially does 150/200/250/300 (before magic resistance) over 4 seconds.
- Most players will try to move away from it once they realize they've been DOT'd, so it's best used as a follow-up disable (e.g. Hex to Cold Feet for a 7 sec disable).
- AM, QoP and other blink users can just blink away and be fine, so don't use it on them unless you're sure they cant blink away or something.

Ice Vortex
- Think of it as an AoE decrepify in that it slows and reduces magic resistance, but you can still attack the targets in the AoE.
- AoE is comparable to Leshrac's Split Earth.
- Huge cast range. It can be cast from one side of the river to the other.
- It may have an absurdly low cooldown, but don't spam it early game, as you'll suddenly find yourself with out enough mana to CF your enemy. It's best used to help chase enemy heroes when going for the kill.
- Gives vision in a small area around it. It's good to scout except that it advertises your presence in the area, which could scare off potential food.


Chilling Touch
- Use it wisely, since you may save an enemy because you reduced your team's AS too much. That said, don't get it early game. CF and Ice Vortex are better early on.
- Also costs an assload of mana compared to the other two skills. Another reason not to get it early.
- It's similar to Fuzzy's Overpower in that it auguments your DPS for a limited amount of attacks, so use it when you need hard hitting attacks that count, like when hitting buildings. It's magic damage, so it also owns siege units.


Ice Blast
- To use: Press T and click in direction you wish to fire. A marker of sorts will fly out at a speed similar to Clockwerk's rocket in that direction, and if you press T again the marker will stop and AA will fire another similarly fast projectile towards the marker which explodes in an AoE that increases with distance.
- Essentially reduces the max HP of enemy heroes by 10/11/12%. In other words, you'll only need to deal 90/89/88% of the enemies' max HP to kill them, since the debuff kills them when they reach 10/11/12%. Doesn't seem like much early game, but late game it'll really mess up your opponents.
- DOTs enemies after impact for the duration of the debuff.
- Absurdly low cooldown for its effect, and not necessarily hard to aim, so use it liberally.
- This spell is NOT channeling, so you can walk around and do stuff while the marker is moving. In fact, you can target a spot, teleport somewhere and then launch the ult when the marker reaches a good spot.

An example:

Say there's a target farming near top tower, so you target him.


The marker moves...


...and then you start teleporting to top tower.


You're at top tower and the marker's on its way.


When the marker reaches the desired spot, just hit T and it'll travel a smaller distance, increasing the chance that you'll the target. It'll also catch them off guard, since they won't expect the marker and the actual ice blob to come from different sides, so you can easily hit them like that. This technique is not that difficult and has a fairly wide margin of error, so don't sweat it too much. It's easier than hooking or hitting with arrows (IMO).

Skill Order
1,3,5,7 - Cold Feet
2,4,8,9 - Ice Vortex
17,18,19,20 - Chilling Touch
6,11,16 - Ice Blast
Everything Else - Stats

Max CF and Ice Vortex first, because they're the most effective skills to kill heroes. Your team will be able to use the DPS from Chilling Touch most effectively when they have enough AS so -15 isn't significant. Ice Blast should be gotten whenever possible because it's awesome.

Items
It all depends on what kind of lane you will face. You can usually start with:

1x Sobi
3x Branches
3x Tangoes

This setup will let you use your skills a lot and will work most of the time, but if you expect to have to be defensive (i.e are fighting annoying orbwalkers, chain stunners, NA, etc), get:

2x Circlet
2x Branches
3x Tangoes

AA has 600 range so he can last hit without much risk of getting harassed. Bottle is not suggested, since he'll have health in the mid-400's without stats at level 1. You can help your team runewhore later by getting wards.

Work your way up to Boots (eventually get BoTs - Treads and Phase aren't that great on him), some mana regen item like a Sobi or Void Stone, and some HP boosting items (if so needed), since AA is a flimsy-ass nagger. You'll end up having to get an Ultimate Orb item sooner or later, so that could be the first big purchase you make. Ultimate Orbs, though not very efficient in providing stats per gold, are components of Linken's, Guinsoo's, Manta and Skadi, so you have a variety of paths available with it. Get the appropriate item based on the situation. Usually Guinsoo's will be your top choice, though you may want Linken's if you're targeted by disables a lot. Rushing Manta or Skadi is foolish, but they're fun options if you're messing around. Eventually you will want high tier INT hero items - Guinsoo's, Orchid, etc. - as well as good survival items. Your low HP will plague you throughout the game (unless you're playing against scrubs), so it's good to get a Heart, Blademail and such items later on. Surviving is important, since you have spells to spam unlike some dump-spells-and-tank heroes like Tide and Treant. You can end up doing decent late game DPS, but you will be out-DPSed by nearly all AGI and most STR heroes, so you're best off as a disabler/support late game. AA is not a great farmer, so don't expect to get KotL level of junk in the same amount of time.

What to Do
- Use the skills as I advised.
- AA users need to pay particularly close attention to the location of enemy heroes, since he's as frail as Pugna. Getting wards with him is a good idea.
- Don't initiate, since AA don't have any great initiating skills. Though at levels 2 and 3, tossing an ult before the fight starts isn't a bad idea, with its giant AoE and low cooldown.
- During teamfights, try to avoid getting targeted. You'll be a prime target, but you don't really need to do much except run in and use your skills when they're off cooldown.
- When you gank, do it with a buddy. Your chances of success will increase dramatically. They should initiate with a slow/stun while you CF, Ice Vortex, then attack. If they're not dead, you can toss an ult. With enough distance it can reach an AoE greater than Warlock's ult.

Good Allies
- Anyone with a reliable STD (single target disable) or AoE disable, like Nessaj, Rylai, Lion, Sven and others.
- Omniknight, if he decides to repel you so you don't get stunned, slowed or silenced.

Annoying Enemies
- Heroes with silence (Krob, Trax, Silencer, etc). When casters can't cast, they're useless. Silencer is especially annoying, since you need to use CF and Ice Vortex quickly in succession, and Last Word keeps you from doing that.
- Blink users (Magina, Qop, etc.) are hard to catch with CF.
- Chasing heroes (Bloodseeker, Slardar, Lycan, etc.) take advantage of the fact that you run as fast as my grandma.
- Nukers/burst damage heroes (NA, Lion, Lina, etc.) will tear you apart faster than politicians bend the truth.
- Heroes with disables (There's a lot of them) are obviously annoying.

Conclusion
AA is overpowered, but he is not suited for every team. Treat him as Pugna - low HP, but a strong force early game that gradually loses his usefulness. Except Ice Blast is good all game, like Nether Ward, but it's better than Nether Ward. If you can avoid dying a lot and are able to shoot Ice Blasts well, you'll be a very good AA.