When I play a game of Dota one of the things I struggle most
with is my map awareness. I can ward pretty well and when I support I keep them
wards coming all game every game. The thing that I am still trying to get my
head around is predicting movements and trying to be in the right spot at the
right time with my hero. This lacking of skill I have in this area really
impacts my game play with every hero but especially one such as Ancient
Apparition. AA is hero where map awareness is paramount. Not only keeping an
eye on your own surroundings and what is happening in your lane but keeping an
eye on everyone elses lanes and positioning. Having this skill makes AA a
deadly ganker and can make or break a team fight without being present.
To start with AA is an inteligence hero. He is an effective
solo mid laner but will be used to his full potential if paired with a carry
with a stun. His abilities are great for assisting kills. Cold Feet is
essentially a hex that does damage over time and can freeze a hero solid for 4
seconds if the hero stays within the range of the hex. If the hex is placed and
then another hero stuns the enemy won't have time to escape the area before
being stunned. That is basically six seconds of no movement.
Ice Vortex is a slow. What people don't also take advantage
of though is that this spell increases magic damage that is done to an enemy.
Increased magic damage and a slow will give other heroes around AA an easy kill
on the enemy.
Chilling Touch is great to use in team fights just as they
are about to commence. Used in conjunction with Ice Vortex will increase magic
damage that the enemy takes and increase the magic damage that the allied hero
inflicts. It does however slightly lower allied heroes attack speed.
AA's ultimate ability, Ice Blast, is a deadly ball of ice
that is great for many functions and which is the main reason for great map
awareness. The further the Ice Blast is shot the larger the area of damage.
This ability will make all regeneration stop, making mekanism, urn of shadow,
skill heals and even the fountain useless. Any heroes under 10% HP will
instantly shatter and die. This ability is great for scouting, finishing off
enemies and causing havoc in team fights. If the ice ball travels over enemy
heroes but the AoE does not hit them they are still affected by frost bite
which does a small amount of damage over time. It should be spammed as often as
possible as it has a low cool down and low mana cost.
AA doesn't require many items to be an effective support. I
like to go with my three iron branches, a clarity or two, a set of tangoes and a
courier. Next I would go with a magic wand, boots and urn of shadows. In most
cases I would upgrade the boots to treads and keep them on strength as this
hero is quite squishy. I like Eul Sceptor as the hero can be cast with cold
feet and kept in place by Eul Sceptor. Force staff is great for chasing and
helping team mates as a support hero. If you can afford it sheeps stick is a
great investment and helps with AA's mana issues. Another item I would get if
possible is Eye of Scardi. The passive of this item couples well with all of
AA's skills.
This is a really long post I know and basically just goes
over the hero abilities and the items but AA is a very usedul hero to learn and
I am basically trying to consolidate my knowledge through blog posts. If you
think I could add or change something please let me know because I am still
struggling through the learning phase of Dota.
I have started a few series of Let's play on Youtube which
can be seen on my channel. I hope to add some new videos tonight before I go to
basketball but we will see!
Anyways, thanks for reading J
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