Ancient Apparition/Counters

Bad against...

 * Anti-Mage can from Cold Feet and tends to build a  which dispels it.
 * minimizes the damage Anti-Mage takes from all of Ancient Apparition's skills.
 * and thus deal a lot of damage to Ancient Apparition due to his high mana pool.


 * makes Brewmaster invulnerable for the duration, rendering effects of Cold Feet and Ice Blast useless.
 * can dispel Cold Feet from allies.
 * Brewmaster can easily run Ancient Apparition down with the slow from and.


 * allows Mirana to easily escape the freezing range of Cold Feet. Mirana tends to build which dispels Cold Feet.
 * During, invisibility makes it hard to catch Mirana's team with Ice Blast.
 * Ancient Apparition's lack of mobility/escape capabilities makes him an easy target for Mirana at any stage of the game.


 * can dispel the stun from Cold Feet and can save an ally that's about to shatter from Ice Blast and even allows to heal with because of delayed effect.
 * is good against all of Ancient Apparition's abilities at all stages of the game.
 * can dispel Cold Feet from allies.


 * Phantom Lancer can dispel or escape from Cold Feet with and  respectively. Phantom Lancer also builds  which dispels Cold Feet.
 * Ancient Apparition has trouble dealing with Phantom Lancer illusions due to a lack of Area of Effect damage other than Ice Blast.
 * Phantom Lancer builds diffusal blade which greatly amplifies his damage to Ancient Apparition due to Ancient Apparition's high mana pool.
 * Ancient Apparition has no escape/mobility mechanisms, making him an easy target for Phantom Lancer at any stage of the game.


 * helps Phoenix to escape from Cold Feet.
 * can save Phoenix from Ice Blast.


 * allows Terrorblade (or an ally) to regain HP while affected by Ice Blast.


 * minimizes the damage Viper takes from all of Ancient Apparition's skills.


 * allows Weaver (or ally if upgraded with ) to regain HP while affected by Ice Blast.
 * completely ignores the slow from Ice Vortex and helps him escape the freeze range of Cold Feet.

Others

 * Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his spells:, , , , , and etc.
 * Heroes with mobility/escape mechanisms to dodge Ancient Apparition abilites, or to easily jump on him:, , , , , , , , , etc.
 * Ancient Apparition has no escape or reliable control and is very fragile, which makes him an easy target for anyone who can get on top of him, like or.

Items

 * and its upgrades reduce damage from all of Ancient Apparition's spells.
 * and both can save from Ice Blast damage with the barrier.
 * prevents all damage from the Apparition's spells. The only thing it doesn't stop is the frostbitten debuff.
 * / can be used to escape Ancient Apparition abilities.
 * / makes it hard to catch the hero with Ice Blast.
 * dispels the debuff from Cold Feet.

Good against...

 * Ice Blast nullifies 's and 's healing.


 * Ice Blast nullifies the health regeneration granted by, which Alchemist greatly relies on to stay alive in battle.
 * Alchemist tends to build which can be deadly during Ice Blast.


 * Ice Blast prevents and  from healing allies.


 * prevents Ice Blast's shatter for up to 5 seconds, but can mostly only delay it as Ice Blast lasts 10 seconds (17 seconds with Aghanim's Scepter) and prevents from healing them.


 * Ice Blast prevents Death Prophet from gaining health from and.


 * Ice Blast prevents Huskar from healing with and negates any lifesteal, making him significantly weaker in battle.
 * and cost Huskar his own health, killing him under the effects from Ice Blast.
 * Huskar often builds which can be deadly during Ice Blast.


 * Ice blast prevents Io's heal with
 * Io is a common builder which is useless if affected by

Others

 * Ice Blast negates all regeneration, healing and lifesteal, making some heroes and heal-strategies risky.
 * Heroes like, and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal deny.
 * Heroes that withstand damage like, , and others will have their durability largely reduced when hit by an Ice Blast due to the risk of shattering.
 * Ice Blast does not debuff illusions, so it can be used to detect the real hero out of his illusions, since the real hero gets debuffed, while the illusions do not. This does not work against Meepo however, since the clones and the main Meepo are debuffed.

Items

 * Ice Blast's ability to nullify health regeneration makes it effective against health regeneration items like,, /, and  etc.
 * Ice Blast's damage per second also disables items like.
 * Ice Blast is devastating against as users cannot activate it to gain HP and toggling it off can result in health immediately dropping below shatter threshold. However, keeping the Armlet toggled on is dangerous as the damage over time from the Armlet can bring a hero down to shatter threshold.
 * The Ice Blast debuff still applies even while cycloned by.

Works well with...

 * is perfect setup for Ice Blast and can be followed by Cold Feet to stun enemies for an additional amount of time.
 * and both help Cold Feet for a successful stun on enemies.


 * Successive casts of lock the enemy in place long enough for both Cold Feet and Ice Blast to hit.


 * You can almost always ensure a stun by casting Cold Feet followed by.
 * Ice Vortex stacks with to amplify damage output of allies, especially magical damage.


 * is perfect setup for Cold Feet and Ice Blast.
 * may bring enemies closer to the threshold for Ice Blast.

Others

 * makes good usage of the Frostbitten debuff, as he can spam on enemies without healing them.
 * Any long-duration disable can make a good setup for a long-distance Ice Blast, such as 's, 's , or 's.

Items

 * can help burst enemies that are Frostbitten and under the effect of an Ice Vortex.

List of heroes that counter Ancient Apparition, and list of heroes that work well with Ancient Apparition.

Ancient Apparition/Combinações Ancient Apparition/Противостоящие