Ancient Apparition

Kaldr the Ancient Apparition is a ranged intelligence hero. This spell-caster elemental being possesses high range, great attributes and strong semi-spammable spells. He is commonly played as a ganker or support role and due to his high agility and an attack enhancing spell, he can be played as a Semi-Carry too. His ultimate is one of the most devastating spells in the game as it can hit multiple units, has global range, freezes health regeneration, and instantly kill units if low on life.

Gameplay
Ancient Apparition is considered an efficient Ganker for his very powerful abilities, despite each of them requiring precision and good timing to reach their full potential. Because his spells work very well with those of other heroes, a good ganking partner can easily ensure a kill. Kaldr is also a good Support because of his Chilling Touch ability, which gives a large amount of bonus magic damage to his teammates' attacks, but more importantly for his Ice Vortex, which slows and helps him and his team deal more damage. He can also be an Initiator by using his ultimate, but to do so effectively requires more strategy and coordination with your team.

Ancient Apparition is recommended for Intermediate/Advanced players because he requires large amounts of map knowledge to maximize the use of his ultimate, but also to avoid getting ganked because he doesn't have any true escape mechanism. Because his abilities are most powerful when cast in succession, pulling off quick ability combos is very helpful. Consequently, he requires lots of mana management because casting all of his spells in combination can consume a lot of mana, which can leave you unable to cast any more spells until you replenish.

Ancient Apparition can solo mid effectively because of his quick lane dominance through harassing and denying, but side-laning is also viable, especially with a partner who can disable. He shines most during the Early & Mid Game-Phase because his abilities are naturally strong while he is laning. Ancient Apparition also does not require as many items as other heroes. He is good with just his abilities and therefore doesn't need to farm. Even the most basic items are all that this hero needs. Because of his mana issues, a few good mana-regen items could help. Despite how good he is early on, he isn't necessarily less so during the late game. In fact, because of his supportive nature, he can be extremely helpful during later teamfights.

Tips

 * Use Cold Feet to harass in the early game, but mind your mana pool.
 * Eul's Scepter of Divinity in combination with Cold Feet can almost always guarantee a stun (though at the cost of Cold Feet's damage over time). It also allows you to land a short-range Ice Blast in quick succession.
 * Chilling Touch can be useful to max along with Cold Feet if you are laning with another ranged hero. The harass is extremely potent and can often push your enemies out of the lane.
 * Ice Vortex can be used to slow enemies when chasing or being chased, as well as reduce their resistance. It also gives vision, so it can be used to scout the Roshan pit, ancients, trees (if someone jukes into them), high ground, and so on. The cast range is very long, so all of this can be done from a safe distance.
 * Ice Blast is a multi-purpose spell that can be cast to anywhere on the map. Use it to aid your allies in ganks, initiate team battles, finish off low-HP heroes, and clear large creep waves.
 * Remember that Ice Blast debuff prevents all health gain, including healing spells, natural health regeneration, lifesteal, health gained indirectly such as from activating an and even bonus health gained from the strength obtained by leveling up under its effects! Landing this spell on the enemy team at the start of a team fight will prevent healers such as Dazzle, Chen and Omniknight or a Mekansm carrying hero from regenerating any hp to their team. The debuff reaches its ideal effect especially if you have an Aghanim's Scepter.
 * Ancient Apparition can solo mid in the early game, as he has all the necessary tools to control his lane. AA will look to start ganking as soon as possible and use the early Ice Blasts to his team's advantage.
 * In spite of his ability to solo, AA is still very potent in a dual or tri lane. Cold Feet functions well as a follow-up to an ally's stun, and Chilling Touch is able to buff every one of AA's allies, effectively multiplying its effectiveness by the number of allies you have available.
 * All of Ancient Apparition's spells have incredible range. Try to avoid close combat when possible.
 * You don't have an escape mechanism, so having vision of your opponents is crucial for you to survive. Ask your teammates to ward or do it yourself whenever possible.