What players buy
The items bought most in each of Valve’s four game stages
Public matches · each item’s own count
1stMost bought
144 buys
2ndSecond most
106 buys
3rdThird most
82 buys
4thFourth most
61 buys
5thFifth most
60 buysBy GamGem ResearchLast updated 22 Sept 2026
Ancient Apparition
Ranged · Intelligence
- Win rate
- 51.6%
- Pick share
- 0.7%
- Matches
- 301,331
- Patch
- 7.41f
Draft coverage
BringsSupportDisablerNuker
NeedsCarryInitiatorFrontlineTower damageEscape
Recommendation
Pick
- The game is heading for 50 min + — that is where this hero measures best, at 54.8% over 1,302 matches.
- You are playing around Crusader — its strongest medal, 52.4% over 46,702 picks.
Avoid
- Spirit Breaker is on their side — this hero wins 33.3% of 60 matches against it.
- Tusk is on their side — this hero wins 38.8% of 98 matches against it.
- Snapfire is on their side — this hero wins 40.0% of 115 matches against it.
144 buys106 buys82 buys61 buys60 buys
Skill Order
Which ability to max first, and where each point goes — what most league players on Ancient Apparition took at each level.
QCold Feet
Places a curse on an enemy, dealing damage over time.
Unit Target · Magical damage
WIce Vortex
Creates a vortex of icy energy that slows, deals damage, and increases magic damage done to enemies in its range.
AOE · Point Target · Magical damage
EChilling Touch
Enhances Ancient Apparition's attack with increased range and a burst of magical damage and slow.
Unit Target · Autocast · Attack Modifier · Magical damage
RIce Blast
Launches a tracer toward any location on the battlefield, which must be triggered again to mark the area to be blasted by a damaging explosion of hail.
Point Target · AOE · Magical damageMax Order
WQE
Max W first, then Q, then E. Most took R at 6 / 13.
Level-up Order
- QCold Feet
- WIce Vortex
- EChilling Touch
- RIce Blast
- TTalent
| Ability | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QCold Feet | Q | Q | Q | Q | ||||||||||||
| WIce Vortex | W | W | W | W | ||||||||||||
| EChilling Touch | E | E | E | E | ||||||||||||
| RIce Blast | R | R | ||||||||||||||
| TTalent | T | T |
Matchup map
How Ancient Apparition performs against every opponent with 30 or more counted games
80 opponents · public matches40%60%Ancient Apparition's win rate
≥ 60%Very favorable
55 – 60%Favorable
50 – 55%Even
45 – 50%Unfavorable
40 – 45%Hard
< 40%Very hard
If this happens, use this
- They are running away
Something that holds them still, or closes the gap yourself. Matched on “slow”, “stun”.
- Kill them in one window
Damage that lands now rather than over a minute. Matched on “magical”, “damage over time”.
- Stay in lane
Healing, regeneration or lifesteal — not having to walk back. Matched on “healing”, “regenerat”.
By medal
- Herald51.0%7,464
- Guardian52.2%25,880
- Crusader52.4%46,702
- Archon52.3%65,219
- Legend51.7%68,500
- Ancient51.0%41,671
- Divine49.8%21,559
One count per medal, not one rate split across them; a medal with no counted matches is left out.
By match length
- 0–20 min45.3%2,838
- 20–30 min48.9%7,019
- 30–40 min51.5%5,405
- 40–50 min51.6%2,610
- 50 min +54.8%1,302
Bands under 120 matches are absent rather than shown small.
Learning Ancient Apparition
Abilities
Cold Feet
Unit Target · Magical damagePlaces a curse on an enemy, dealing damage over time. If the enemy unit doesn't move outside of the given range from the initial location, it will be stunned and frozen in place after 4 seconds.
Ice Vortex
AOE · Point Target · Magical damageCreates a vortex of icy energy that slows, deals damage, and increases magic damage done to enemies in its range.
Chilling Touch
Unit Target · Autocast · Attack Modifier · Magical damageEnhances Ancient Apparition's attack with increased range and a burst of magical damage and slow.
Bone Chill
Passive · Hidden · Magical damageWhen Ancient Apparition deals Magic damage to an enemy with his abilities, it is slowed for a short duration. If the target is a Hero, its Strength is also reduced. Multiple instances of this effect stack and have independent durations.
Ice Blast
Point Target · AOE · Magical damageLaunches a tracer toward any location on the battlefield, which must be triggered again to mark the area to be blasted by a damaging explosion of hail. The further the tracer travels, the larger the explosion will be. Enemies caught in the explosion, or who touch the icy ball of hail as it travels, are Frostbitten, taking damage over time and prevented from regenerating or healing. If a Frostbitten unit's health drops below a certain percentage, they will instantly shatter.
Base attributes
- Strength
- 20 +1.9
- Agility
- 20 +2.0
- Intelligence
- 23 +3.1
- Move · range
- 285 · 675
Talents
- 4450 AoE Cold Feet+4% Ice Blast Kill Threshold
- 3+4s Ice Blast Frostbitten Duration+80 Chilling Touch Damage
- 2-2s Ice Vortex CooldownCold Feet Break Distance
- 1+300 Chilling Touch Attack RangeCold Feet Damage Per Second
Aghanim’s Scepter
Changes Bone Chill
Increases Base Strength Reduction.
Aghanim’s Shard
Changes Ice Blast
Freezes enemies hit with the current level of Cold Feet for 50% of the duration.
Sources
- Kit, talents and upgrades · mechanicalread 22 Sept 2026
Ability names, icons, behaviour, damage type and text, plus the Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard descriptions — as the game itself ships them. Nothing here was counted over matches.
- Win rate by medal · countedread 15 Sept 2026
The same hero at each of Valve’s eight medals, over 4,610,063 public matches. Each medal carries its own sample, because the eight buckets are nothing like the same size.
- Matchups and match length · counted, on a narrower windowread 16 Sept 2026
Win rate against each opponent and across five match-length bands. This channel reports far fewer games than the medal figures above: the median hero pairing is 51 matches and the largest on the whole roster is 707. Rows under 30 games are absent rather than shown small, and the ones that remain are ORDERED by a figure shrunk toward even by its own sample — the rate you see is the real one, the ranking is the careful one.
- What players build · countedread 15 Sept 2026
The five most common items in each of Valve’s four game stages, with each row’s own pick count.
- Skill order · counted, in league matchesread 3 Oct 2026
Where skill points go, read off every player's own learning order in premium and professional league matches on patches 7.41 and 7.40. Each level shows the ability most players took there and the share that did — a column only a third agree on is printed as a third, not as the rule. Heroes under 30 counted games show no path.
- Situation index · derived, and checkableread 22 Sept 2026
Each situation is a phrase match against Valve’s own ability text, and every row shows the phrases that matched. No win rate is attached, because nobody counts one per situation.
Mechanics are the ones Valve publishes for patch 7.41f. GamGem is not affiliated with or endorsed by Valve Corporation.