I am a pub player. My builds are used in public games, and I have had much success with them. I don't know how effective they would be in competitive play, simply because I do not play in competitive DotA.

Kaldr, the Ancient Apparition

Since Kaldr, the Ancient Apparition (AA) was first introduced in 6.65, he quickly became my favorite hero in the game. His skills can be confusing at first, and with four actives, he can be quite intimidating, but once they are learnt and mastered, AA becomes one of the most powerful heroes in DotA. He is able to amplify both his teams physical, and magical damage output, as well as stop pushes from across the map, and control the lane in a excellent fashion.

AA has been nerfed since his introduction in 6.65. His Skill Cold Feet, which costed 90 mana in 6.65, was increased 90/100/110/120 in 6.66, and then increased again to a constant 150 in 6.67. Ice Blast's impact delay was increased from 6.65 to 6.66 as well. 6.68 saw AA's biggest nerf to date, he lost 1 starting armor, and Ice Blast's cd was changed from 44/32/20 to a constant 45 seconds. In 6.72 his armor was nerfed a further 2 points, but due to the fact that heroes get exp if they kill other heroes outside of their exp range Ice Blast received a huge buff. While these are nerfs to balance AA, he is still a formidable hero.

Foreword
Introduction
Table of Contents
Hero Introduction
Skills
Skill Build
Item Build
Strategy
Ice Blast Strategy
Closing

Kaldr, the Ancient Apparition

Defeated in a battle long forgotten, this once great mage was banished to a tomb of ice for all eternity. For countless ages he lay in unbearable anguish until he was discovered by minions of the Lich King. In a vain attempt to gain favour with this ancient soul for his own purposes, the Lich King released him. But this soul no longer knew gratitude, it no longer knew friend from foe, it knew only pain. With its body long since decayed, the soul took up the only form it knew. Consumed with hatred, even a touch from this monstrosity causes agony. Able to conjure devastating ice storms with a mere thought and hurl soul-shattering bolts of frost seemingly impossible distances, this creature punishes all who dare to stand their ground against it.

Stats
Strength 18 + 1.4
Agility 20 + 2.2
Intelligence(main) 25 + 2.6

Advanced Stats
Affiliation: Neutral
Attack Animation: 0.45 / 0.3
Damage: 44 - 54
Casting Animation: 0.01 / 0.75
Armor: 1.8
Base Attack Time: 1.7
Movespeed: 295
Missile Speed: 1250
Attack Range: 600
Sight Range: 1800 / 1400

Pros and Cons

Pros
High range
Good starting stats
Amazing casting animation
Very good night time vision
Great attack animation
Can push lanes from across the map
Simply amazing skills

Cons
Terrible strength gain
Average movespeed
Needs ally help for reliable disable
Four actives (Silence)
Magic immunity counters what ever he can do


As you can see, the Pros out weight the cons. His biggest weakness is silence and his low hp, but his skills alone make up for these drawbacks, let alone his awesome other stats.

Cold Feet 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. Level 1 - Deals 37.5 damage every second, 1.25 seconds stun. Level 2 - Deals 50 damage every second, 2 seconds stun. Level 3 - Deals 62.5 damage every second, 2.75 seconds stun. Level 4 - Deals 75 damage every second, 3.5 seconds stun. Manacost - 150 mana Cooldown - 15/13/11/9 seconds Notes -Casting range is 700 -This skill actually does damage at .8/1.6/2.5/3.4 seconds -The stun occurs at 4 seconds exactly -The damage stops and no stun occurs if the target moves out of range, even if he moves back in range -The casting is instant

This skill is the crux of your laning stage. Use it to keep enemies out of exp range, and do damage. If you have an ally with a stun or slow, you can easily get kills with this. It works wonders in trilanes.

Ice Vortex 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. Level 1 - -18% movespeed and -10% spell resistance Level 2 - -22% movespeed and -15% spell resistance Level 3 - -26% movespeed and -20% spell resistance Level 4 - -30% movespeed and -25% spell resistance Manacost - 80/90/100/110 Cooldown - 6 seconds Notes -Casting range is 1500 -AoE is 275 -Casting time is instant -Gives vision of the area -Negative 25% spell resistance does not mean that it negates natural hero resistance in 25% - 25% = 0, the equation is .75 * 1.25 = 93.75% damage done, instead of 75%. Dagon for example, does 375 damage instead of 300.

This is the skill that amplifies your teams magic damage. Cast it behind targets of cold feet to slow them and cause them to take more damage, and cast it underneath targets in team clashes to cause them to take more damage. The skill also helps to escape, and the vision can be used to scout ganks, scout runes, and prevent jukes.

Chilling Touch 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%. Level 1 - +40 Bonus magic damage on attack, for 2 attacks Level 2 - +50 Bonus magic damage on attack, for 3 attacks Level 3 - +60 Bonus magic damage on attack, for 4 attacks Level 4 - +70 Bonus magic damage on attack, for 5 attacks Manacost - 140 mana Cooldown - 50/46/42/38 seconds Notes -Casting AoE is 450 -Casting range is 800 -Magic damage amplified by Ice Vortex -Damage is dealt separately from attack damage -Interrupted attacks do not count against the attack counter

This skill increases your entire teams physical damage output. It is invaluable in team fights, essentially adding 1750 magic against the enemy team. It can be useful in the laning stage as well, with a good disabler/slower.

Ice Blast 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 the area of where his presence was upon release. It will deal damage to enemy units and apply a frostbite curse on them 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. Level 1 - 250 Damage, 12.5 DoT, instant kill if damage suffered below 10% HP, last 8 seconds Level 2 - 350 Damage, 20 DoT, instant kill if damage suffered below 11% HP, last 9 seconds Level 3 - 450 Damage, 32 DoT, instant kill if damage suffered below 12% HP, last 10 seconds Manacost - 100/125/150 Cooldown - 45 Notes -Casting range is global -The area of effect for the damage is 225+50*TimeTraveled capped at 1000, The area of effect for HP freeze is 275 along the path of the second projectile and upon the final strike area. -First projectile has a 1500 movespeed, stops when the caster dies or casts the second part of the skill -First projectile clears fog in a 500 radius circle at it's end. -When shatter kills a hero, the kill is given to AA -Fatal damage is 100000000 physical and clears all debuffs prior damaging. -Shatter does not work on meepo's clones or illusions -Stops all heals from items and skills during the duration of the debuff -The debuff can be purged, and it will not kill units under the effect of shallow grave -The original projectile is invisible, but will be revealed by truesight.

This skill is AA's best skill, and one of the best skills in the game. It can kill heroes from far away, or close up. It can be used to stop heals, including lifesteal. It is also AA's only real farming skill, but it is a good one. It can push lanes, or defend lanes from anywhere on the map. It is ridiculous, and I expect the mana cost or cd will be nerfed. However, the skill is hard to aim, and with truesight, exceptionally easy to dodge when not disabled, unless launched from across the map.

If you don't get this skill after reading this, I recommend testing it out in single player, as it's actual use is much simpler then its description.

Go to Ice Blast Strategy

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

Reasoning:

Cold Feet is taken whenever possible. The lane control advantage is too great to pass up. The disable will help kill enemies with an ally, and the damage is really good for early game. There is no reason not to get Cold Feet.

Ice Blast is also taken when possible. It's uses speak for themselves, and the added ganking powers are simply to good to even consider passing up.

Ice Vortex is taken over chilling touch because it's all around a better skill. The 1500 cast range is absolutely ridiculous. With a 6 second cd, a powerful slow, an instant cast time and vision, it's very hard to escape or gank AA. Plus, the negative magic resistance and slow synergise with Ice Blast for kills.

One level of Chilling Touch might be helpful early because it does add a lot of damage. With just three heroes, it adds 240 magical damage, which is pretty good. But most of the time the damage from those 6 attacks alone mixed with Cold Feet and other spells is more than enough, and the extra mana cost is hardly worth it.

x1 set

These starting items give enough health, mana and regen to last until you can make at least 1400 gold, and get to level 6, as long as you play smart. They will turn into your core build.(A chicken is an option if no one else bought one, and you can buy clarities/tangoes/GG branches with the money)

This is your core build. These items give enough health, and regen on all aspects, to last on outing of at least 10 minutes ganking, if you have successful ganks. Usually they will last much longer then that, until you can get bots in which case it doesn't matter if you go back to the fountain, as you can be anywhere in seconds. Do remember to have tp scrolls, and many times you will be the warder for the team.

Bot's cost 2200, which is more then you have spent all game. In total, these items cost 4084, and in many games these are all you need to be successful. Each item has different utilities that will be discussed in game play.

Of course, sometimes BoTs isn't achievable. Phase boots or treads are acceptable alternatives to BoTs in many cases, Phase boots if you need ms, and treads if you need hp. Otherwise, just not upgrading your boots in favor of other items is totally fine as well. But BoTs is by far the best option for AA.

After you get your main core, you will often have a big sum of money left to spend. You can opt for a bracer or two if you need the health. Afterwards, there are 5 main items to choose from. Each have different uses, and drastically different costs. Which item is chosen is dependent on the game.


This item is perfect for Kaldr, fitting him even more so than guinsoo's in many cases. Because of Ice Vortex, Ice Blast, and of course it's relatively low cost and easy build-up, Dagon makes Kaldr an even better ganker than he already is, and can easily take out key heroes in team fights, faster than Guinsoo's can. In games with low hp heroes, Dagon is probably the best choice possible.

Note: Upgrading Dagon is usually not wise. It cost quite a bit for a very small increase. Though it can be wise, against low hp heroes who must be taken out in a split second. The damage with Ice Vortex does tend to add-up.


Probably the item AA is most famous for getting, and for good reason. Guinsoo's gives life, all the mana Kaldr would ever want, and a 7 second disable when combined with cold feet. But it is very expensive, hard to build-up, and gives almost no benefits before it's gotten. Because Kaldr's main farming tool is his ultimate, which only becomes very effective at level 11, and often times steals farm from other people while pushing lanes, it isn't the most practical item in many games. That being said, if you can afford it without hindering your allies, it is a perfect item for Kaldr, and can often win games.

Note: Cast Cold feet before using Guinsoo's. Because of the way it is coded, Cold feet will have no effect casted on a hexed unit.


This item is a must if the enemy team has any type of invisibility, or silence. Because this item gives the biggest strength boost of any item Kaldr should really be considering, and that it can easily be more effective than both Dagon and Guinsoo's, it is a perfect choice for Kaldr. The only problem with this item is that the effect's aren't nearly as fast as the other big four items. Still the stats and effect help Kaldr immensely(remember, the demons speed aura counteracts the speed debuff from chilling touch.)


This item is the item that Kaldr gets if he needs physical damage or the enemy team has a silencer. It provides huge survivability, and huge damage. It's probably best at killing towers, but it will allow Kaldr to carry in some situations. Manta is best gotten after one of the others. Necronomicon is the best combo with this item, because of it's great stats, but most importantly the demons. Manta and Necronomicon can allow Kaldr to carry in aoe light games.

Note: This item can dispel silence and other debuffs, making it a very good second core in a lot of games, even if your dps isn't all that needed.(it works well with Guinsoo's as well)


The cheapest of the big five, Mekansm is what Kaldr should get if he needs to support/survive. Sometimes, your allies simply do much more than you can even with bigger items, and it is important to keep them alive. Other times you have a moment of phail, and need a cheap item that helps you survive while helping your team. Mekansm is a great item if you or your allies need a heal to win the day. Plus, it gives great stats for Kaldr.

Listed best to worst, these items are rejected because the big five are simply better, due to cost, effects, or other things.


This item can be fairly useful in the right line-ups. It's a situational item that can be beastly when combined with Ice Vortex. The biggest problem is that it's effects are pretty drawn out for AA's skills and it's stats are not the greatest, which means that unless you have allies to take advantage of it, other items are simply better. This item is ALWAYS better if someone else gets it, no matter which hero you choose, which means that AA may be the one who is forced to buy it, because he is at least fairly item independent.


One of the better item's for Kaldr. It gives a disable for cheap. You can cast everything you have as they cooldown. And you get more movespeed. The problems are these. It's only good against one hero to save yourself with, it doesn't help with hp, and the biggest by far, it isn't that great for ganking, at least Dagon is much better. The disable causes them to be invulnerable, which gives time for their allies to come, their skills to cooldown, prevents dot's and can even allow them to blink away. Dagon will usually cause death, while Eul's only sets up the possibility. Still, Eul's is plausible if you love the item, and want to use it to leet dodge crix/tide/kunnka's ult, or are afraid of gankers.


The problem with this item is that even though the survivability is great, you shouldn't need it. Kaldr stays back casting, if he is in attacking range it is because there is no risk of death.(or he is trying to carry with necro book and Manta.) Linken's is useful for long single targeted silences and that is about it.(yes I'm talking about Doom and Bloodrage) Even then it cost a lot of money.


Skadi is a great item for almost any ranged hero, no one can deny that. And the slow loves cold feet, and Kaldr loves the stats. But it cost too much, Kaldr shouldn't need so much hp, and every big five item is better then this item for Kaldr.


The thing about bottle is that, he doesn't need it. He doesn't need the hp, because he has urn, which is much better. He doesn't need the mana if he uses his mana wisely. And if he comes across a rune, he doesn't need to store it, as he can gank pretty much any time starting from level 1. It's a sub par choice.


This item is a weird one. While it cost a small amount, and it gives mana which could change the early game, it phails in comparison to Magic Wand and Urn, both of which AA was built for. Even though AA shouldn't be taking very much damage, that doesn't mean he can afford the health needed for this item. It's not the worst item(as it can be used to launch an Iceblast for free), but it's simply not good enough.


The nuke and the aura are the only redeeming qualities to this item. Kaldr doesn't need the int, and he doesn't need the armor. His health is to low for the armor to make a big difference, considering he already gets quite a bit from mek and his own agi gain. Waste of money when looking at any of the items above it.


Worse than Shiva's. Kaldr should rarely if ever physically attack, and if he needs too, Manta is many times better. Silence is to weak a disable to waste so much money on. And he doesn't need the mana regen.


All of these items cost to much for something Kaldr doesn't need. If you want to increase survivability, get Mek, Manta or Necronomicon. These items are a waste.

All other item's don't need explanation. The item's I mentioned are the only one's Kaldr should really consider.(Save situational items like Ghost Scepter, Force Staff, etc...)

Early Game(Levels 1-5)

There are two "best" laning options for you here. Solo mid, or trilane. Since I play pubs, I choose solo mid, but I can explain the basics of trilaning.

Solo Mid:

Basically, you will out creep your opponent, and harass him every chance you get. Due to your amazing attack animation, this is very easy to do, even for a bad last hitter such as myself. But really, the harassing is where AA shines, because the enemy can't fight back without risking a Cold Feet/Ice Vortex combo. The thing about this combo is that if the enemy hesitates to run for even a second, it will activate(unless they have a very fast hero.) This means that you can be super aggressive in the lane with very little worries. If the enemy fights back, you have a very high chance of getting a kill. If the enemy runs, you still did a lot of damage with Cold Feet and your attacks and you can then go scout runes, which you absolutely don't want your enemy to get.(if you get a nice one, you can go gank with it)

The main goal of this phase however, is to get to level 6.

Trilane:

Cold Feet and Ice Vortex are both amazingly strong on low levels, and work amazingly well in a trilane. Lane with some stunners, and kills are all but guaranteed. Even long range anti-trilane heroes will have a hard time against Ice Vortex. It's so good, many people would call it imbalanced.

Dual lane:

Only dual lane with someone who can activate cold feet with some magical damage. This should be done only if your allies are...less than adequate, because getting to level 6 is as important for AA as it is for say, Storm or Meepo.

Mid Game(Ganking)

Once you reach level 6, you should be ganking non-stop. Use the runes if no one else needs them, and use your ultimate as well.

The unique thing about AA is that he can literally be ganking two different lanes at once. Because Ice Blast's AoE gets so large if you shoot it off far, it can be timed right to hit distant enemies with ease, which usually allows those allies in that lane to kill that hero. While Ice Vortex and Cold Feet are such a good combo together you rarely even need Ice Blast to kill a hero if you have an ally to help you. Of course, if you don't trust to/know your allies aren't capable of killing the enemies this way, than you can always do it the old fashioned way, and use the three skills in conjunction for an almost sure kill.

Late Game(Team Fights)

Your focus in team fights comes down to using your skills and items effectively.

Chilling Touch is a pre-fight cast, to increase your team's total damage by 1750 magic damage, which is simply amazing against agility carries who have a very high armor late game.

Cold Feet should be casted on a key hero, usually in conjuction with Guinsoo, but sometimes they can be more effect if used separately, particularly if a hero is already disabled.

Ice Vortex should be spammed all over the enemy team, to increase your teams magic damage and slow the enemy team down. The effectiveness of doing just this can win fights. And afterwards it can chase down heroes easily.

Ice Blast should be used to hit as many heroes as possible and comboed with Ice Vortex.(which is easy to do with Vortex's 1500 cast range) As long as the carry is hit with the DoT, that is usually enough, because now they can't life steal, or be healed by the supports. Hitting low hp heroes with a Vortexed Ice Blast will usually devastate their hp pool by 50% or more when all is said and done, which means almost certain death with another AoE damage, or just a few attacks from a farmed carry.

Book: Use this item before the fight to scout out any enemies/mines. Set them to attack and burn the mana of the most crucial hero after the battle starts. While this item gets a bad rap for hard microing, it's really very simple, just a one button manaburn and a right click.

Manta: This item is special. It might seem like a lolwtf item, but it's really just fantastic. If the enemy team has silence, use this item to dispel it and increase your dps to respectable levels. The enemy won't know what hit them.

Ice Blast is my second favorite skill in DotA, second only to the legendary Ball Lightning. As such, I've learned a few gameplay tricks to using it, that I've noticed not many other players take advantage of.

Initiating?

A lot of other guides advertise to initiate with this spell, which is, in many cases, the best thing you can do. But in many other cases it's a terrible idea. For one, if the enemy has truesight, Ice Blast will be completely wasted. Secondly, if you can't hit very many heroes with it, or it's debuff, then you should wait until the battle starts and the enemy comes in closer together. Lastly, it works best as a follow up to an initiation that involves a disable, such as Ravage, Puck, or ES, because the enemy heroes certainly won't move out of the AoE then, and Ice Vortex should already be on them. These cases occur in at least 50% of my games, so, they are well worth considering.

+

Ice Blast's AoE is increased based on where it was cast, not where AA is when he launches it. In other words, if you want a guaranteed hit, cast if to a lane, tp to that lane, and then when it finally arrives cast vortex underneath the target hero/heroes for a nasty surprise and often double kill. The best thing about doing this is that the enemy doesn't see you cast Blast, and even if they spread out it will most certainly hit with a huge AoE. Also, since the cd would have already started, it means you can cast it again sooner. Lastly, since you most likely casted it at the fountain, you didn't use the mana on it. A sign of a good AA is one who uses this combo(which not many do.)

+

This is the reason why Urn is and always will be core on AA. Use Urn after a gank to replenish you health. Use it during a gank to secure a kill, rinse and repeat.

+

If you have wards around where a gank just took place, and one of the enemies had low hp, wait until you can see them to cast Ice Blast. They could heal, they could be taking a weird, not obvious detour, and you don't want to waste Ice Blast on nothing. Though this one should be obvious, it sadly isn't

Holy shit, you made it this far lol? Thanks for reading. I will admit that after 6.68 update me and Kaldr has a little bit of a falling out, but we rekindled our relationship and we still love each other. That's why this guide took me so damn long to complete, but I figured I may as well, mostly because I was bored, and also out of love. Thank you for reading and such.