Jean's guide to AA

[jeandarc]

Jean's guide to Ancient Apparition

Guide information:


This guide is 100% originally created by jeandarc with all of his heart which doesn't contain any copied shits n' stuff like that. I hope you'll enjoy reading my guide and maybe one day you'll unleash your full AA powers just like jean does


Hero introduction:


Well, since my Dota times are coming closer and closer to the end, I wanted to share my knowledge with this wonderful hero.

The first time I played AA I felt this amazing power that this hero posses. AA is a hero which mostly is played as a supporter and is known of his deadly abilities.
For me, personally, AA is the coolest Dota hero that has been ever made, with awesome map control, great teamwork capabilities and a hero that you will never get bored of playing it.

AA is an intelligence hero, with 18 str, 20 agi and 25 int starting stats.



Pros and Cons


Pros

• Amazing casting animation
• Great attack animation
• Deadly skills
• An ulti that can be casted anywhere you want on the map
• Unpredictable

Cons

• Bad str gain
• Average movespeed
• Needs an ally hero to unleash his full powers
• Mana burn fucks him
• Enemy's magic imune fucks him

Skills


1. Cold Feet

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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.

Casting Range: 700
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: 150

Use this skill wisely while your teammate(s) are ready to initiate so the enemy won't get away from the target so you'll be able to freeze him for 4 seconds.


2. Ice Vortex

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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.

Casting Range: 1500
AOE: 275
Movement Reduction: 18 / 22 / 26 / 30
Magic Resistance: -10 / -15 / -20 / -25
Duration: 12
Cooldown: 6
Manacost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110

Using Ice vortex with Cold feet at the same time is much more useful, since you'll have more chances to freeze the enemy while being slowed with ice vortex.


3. Chilling Touch

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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.

Casting Range: 1500
AOE: 275
Movement Reduction: 18 / 22 / 26 / 30
Magic Resistance: -10 / -15 / -20 / -25
Duration: 12
Cooldown: 6
Manacost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110

'Dis shit ain't jean's favorite spell, that's why jean skips it'

Okay, let's get real now, I know Chilling Touch is great in teamfights and so... but I just prefer going for attributes and making my own lovely AA stronger

4. Ice Blast

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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.

Casting Range: Global (!!!)
AOE: *
Impact Damage: 250 / 350 / 450
Shatter Threshold: 10% / 11% / 12%
Cooldown: 44 / 32 / 20
Manacost: 100 / 125 / 150

Now that's what I'm talking about! Fuck yeah!

AA Ultimate is absolutely fabulous, with infinity global casting range and great aoe dmg. With this spell you can simply pew pew anyone over the map with deals damage over the time and insta kills the enemy hero with low hp.



Skill Build

Whenever I play AA, I go for this 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. Stats
11. Ice Blast
...(get hero stats as long as you can then chilling touch)
16. Ice Blast
17-25. Stats



Items


Solo mid AA (jean's favorite role):

If you are rushing bottle then go for this: 1x

This starting build saves you a lot of gold which gives you the opportunity to get fast bottle, even from the first minute of the game which will give you the possibilities to gank more and help your allies in killing the enemy heroes.


Core items:

• Basically, PT are my favorite boots on AA, where you can play with them by switching them into str/agi/int, gives great attack speed for killing the enemy while being frozen etc. Arcane boots are also quite nice, gives you great mana pool, but arc boots aren't in my style of playing AA
• Bracer gives you nice stats and you should upg it into jango later on.
• Wand is just simply life saviour, help you getting out of hard situations and makes the enemy's mind with "wow's" :P
• By getting bottle means that you will hunt runes and keep ganking, so go for it!
• Always carry a TP with you, your team always needs you.

Mid Game items:

These are only choices, you can't always go for the same items, it depends on what heroes enemy has.

Here are some suggestions:

• Jango - great team item which can be finished very fast cuz you already have bracer in your inventory and it'll help you team in pushing.
• Eul - I'm not a fan of this item, I rarely get this, I prefer going for force staff. Anyway, this item can be combined very well with your cold feet skill, try it.
• Meka - one of the greatest supporting items in game, if no one from your team is going for this, then go for it before it's too late!
• Necro - Great pushing item, gives your allies aura, burns enemy's mana etc. If your team is going to pushing then this item will do it's jib.
• Rod of atos - even tho this item is quite overrated sometimes I go for this, combine it with cold feet and enemy will get frozen for sure.
• Force Staff - One of the best AA items, I simply can't play w/o staff. This item gives you amazing escaping mechanism, help your enemy getting out of hard situations and many MORE!
• Medalion - Cool item with very short cooldown, since you are single unit caster, this item works perfectly for you.
• Pipe - Get this if the enemy hero has mass magic casters (in priv games is almost a MUST).
• Dagon - Getting mad that you can't get kills? Sick of supporting? Your team is shitting on you? Then what the fuck are you waiting?! Get dagon and burn the shit out of 'em!!!

Late Game items:

• Hex - There's no question why you shouldn't get this, if you have the money for hex then go for it!
• Manta - manta can be life save if you know how and when to use it. You can avoid nukes, push etc.
• Sphere - Too many nukers? then say NO to them.
• Skadi - well not the best choice you can get but if you want to have some fun and turning your hero into a carry, then why not.
• Orchid - great attack speed, mana reg, silence etc. go for this if your enemy is depended on hero which you will have to silence him.
• Buriza/mkb - you are already pew pewing the enemy? then get some more damage + crit chances and you will be good to go.

Note: All of my mentioned items (starting, core, mid, late items) are just my suggestions, you can't always go for them, everything depends on your enemy's heroes.



Gameplay:


Well, going mid is not always possible cuz sometimes your captain (in priv games) simple is a dick and won't let you go solo mid, even if you make his ass shiny.

So, if you get the chance to go mid then try to rush bottle (you should get it from min 1) and harras your enemy mid hero as much as you can so you'll get the advantage over mid. Harrasing with AA is not hard at all since your spell and attack animations are amazing and gives you the opportunity to farm easier.

Try to lvl up faster mid so you'll gank early on other lanes, with hunting runes ofc. Sometimes it's just better to stay mid and lvl up while your ulti will gank itself if you control it properly and you will basically have control over the whole map.

Since your hero needs an ally hero to unleash his full powers, then you obviously will have to go with your team. Always try to be the first who will cast cold feet so your allies will stun/slow him later so he wont get away from the target and he'll get frozen.

While game is turning from mid game into late game you must use your ultimate in maximum since your other skills will get weaker and weaker, that's why you should always be with your team.

Your biggest enemies in late game are heroes who have mana burn, like for example AM, Riki (after getting diff), NA etc. Silence is pain for you, so try to avoid being captured by them, so stay away from Bloodseeker, orchid, bala etc.



Ending:


Uhh, I can finally get a cup of coffee and rest a bit... Fuck no! I'm going to play some more Dota cuz I know i will soon retired from Warcraft 3 and PC games, but WC3 will always be in my heart as the best game I've ever played! So feel free to whisper me on server for some games before I'm dead

Thanks for reading my guide, it really means a lot to me. I'm sorry if I made English mistakes (I know that I did xD) cuz English is not my native language, so feel free to tell me about my mistakes

I'd also like to thanks everyone who contributed for Eurobattle.net, especially SafeList league for helping me to become a better player and helping everyone for making this even a better place to play



Farewell my friends,

jeandarc