Five Reasons to Pick Ancient Apparition

Dota 2

16 Apr

Eric Oliveira

ESL One Raleigh is finally over, and Ancient Apparition’s performance was nothing short of stellar. Despite receiving a minor nerf in patch 7.38c, the hero dominated most matchups.

If you're looking to climb the MMR ladder, now’s the perfect time to take advantage of this icy powerhouse. Here are five reasons to pick Ancient Apparition and make your journey a whole lot easier.

Ancient Apparition was the undisputed winner on the ESL One Raleigh.

This hero demolished enemies all week at ESL One Raleigh. – Credit: Reddit (r/Dota2)

Ancient Apparition Has Been Consistently Good

Let’s start with the numbers. Ancient Apparition has been on fire lately. He had a solid 56.41% win rate across 39 matches during FISSURE Universe Episode 4 — and then skyrocketed to a jaw-dropping 75.86% win rate in 29 matches at ESL One Raleigh.

This sharp increase came even after a nerf in patch 7.38c, proving that AA remains the most successful hero among the five most picked at the event.

Ancient Apparition's performance on the ESL One.

Imagine winning three out of every four games you play. That’s exactly what happened. – Credit: Liquipedia

Low Cooldowns on All Abilities

As long as you’ve got mana, Ancient Apparition is always ready to cast his spells. His longest cooldown is on his ultimate, Ice Blast, which is just 40 seconds at level 3. This allows him to spam abilities during the laning phase and contribute multiple times during extended teamfights.

However, this strength comes with a caveat — mana dependency. If you burn through your mana pool too quickly, your impact drops sharply. Managing mana efficiently is key.

Ancient Apparition has one of the shortest cooldowns in ultimate abilities in the game.

Very few heroes can use their ultimate two or three times in a single teamfight. – Credit: Dota 2

Long-Range Nukes and Constant Pressure

All of Ancient Apparition’s abilities have long cast range, letting you stay safe while dishing out tons of damage. With proper positioning, enemy cores have to go through your entire frontline just to reach you.

Meanwhile, you’ll be slowing, damaging, and zoning the enemy team from afar. Stacked slows and high damage make it nearly impossible to escape once AA locks on.

Every Ability Offers Control

Ancient Apparition is more than just a glass cannon — he’s also a control specialist. Cold Feet stuns for up to 3 seconds at level 4 and synergizes beautifully with Ice Vortex, which slows and adds AoE damage over time.

Chilling Touch adds 120 bonus damage and 150 bonus range every 3 seconds, letting you chip away at enemies from a safe distance. Finally, Ice Blast can snipe enemies globally, assist in nuking from mid-range, freeze enemies with Aghanim’s Shard, and even push lanes or farm camps.

Everything is a slow if you're playing AA.

Every ability is a control tool in disguise. – Credit: Dota 2

Bone Chill Facet Counters Strength Heroes

Last but not least: the Bone Chill facet. Strength cores are incredibly popular in the current meta, and Ancient Apparition is one of the best heroes to counter them.

Bone Chill reduces enemy Strength based on stacks, starting at 0.5 per stack and scaling to 1.25 with a maxed ultimate. This weakens high-strength heroes like Tiny, Beastmaster, Kunkka, and Bristleback — reducing their damage, health pool, spell resistance, and status resist — all from a safe distance.

This facet is specially good against tanky strength heroes.

There’s no better way to deal with tanky bruisers than sapping their Strength. – Credit: Dota 2

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