Crystal Maiden Ownage!1!!!1

And AA stays relevant in the late game too as the shatter is percentage-based. Also the aghs upgrade is really strong in my opinion. AND the frostbite debuff can be really strong against teams those rely on burst heal in teamfights.

A genius must have edited it for the editor...
Anyways, I think AA is better because he has a scouting tool, insane teamfight damage- 480 friggin magic damage per allied hero plus slow, single target stun, 11% of enemy health as damage, and disables regen. CM has a stun-ish thing, a slowing aoe nuke, and a somewhat suicidal channeled ult.

Hm, I must disagree that Cm isn't relevant late game. Her ultimate is really powerful, and yes, it does often result in her death, but it really helps in teamfights. If one hero were to get hit by all explosions it would deal roughly 21000 damage. However, although this doesn't often happen it still deals a lot of damage.

C'mon guiz where's the love for Crystal :(

Edit: Also, according to dotabuff, Crystal Maiden is about 2x more popular that Ancient Apparition, beat that, plus, cm's win rate is higher than that of aa. ;)

Actiavte BKB, ignore Freezing Field. Nuff said...

For a Support to have a good Late Game, they need more than a high-damage Ultimate.

Something that pierces Magic Immunity is a good start, even if only partially (this is the big reason why Ice Blast > Freezing Field, the Frostbite effect goes through BKB and scales with HP), so Fiend's Grip, Nether Swap, etc. are quite relevant Late Game when there are going to be at least 3 BKBs in a high level match.

An Aura or Buff that helps your Allies in hte Late Game is also good. Arcane Aura is nice Early-Mid Game, but you're not going to have any real Mana problems Late Game, and a fixed value loses its useful as your Allies gain more Mana Regen themselves. Compared to Vengeance Aura, Vampiric Aura, Tether + Overload, etc. it's incredibly weak in the Late Game.

I do agree with Xyrus. Generally, percentage based abilities are considered late game, while abilites with even very high, but non-scaling damage are most useful in early to mid game.

As for battle between Crystal Maiden and Ancient Apparition. I think that AA has a better potential of doing a rampage than CM, because of Ice Blast. Imagine Vacuum into Wall of Replica and Ice Blast with Aghanim's Scepter upgrade on it. It scales!

Crystal Maiden is a more reliable support, though. She is way better in early game and still useful in late game, but we can't understimate Chilling Touch that is also a great early-mid game teamfight ability + spammable slow and magic resistance reduction - Ice Vortex. AA is more of an utility hero than a typical support, but with good teammates Ancient Apparition rules. You have my vote on AA.

Eh, I still like Crystal way more. I tried aa and I don't like him. Also, in my level of play it's a surprise to see anybody build a bkb, so the ultimate still owns. All in all, I got these results with crystal and I don't think I could replicate them with any other support hero. If positioned right the ultimate is great.

Actually, the -50% attack speed from CM's ulti goes through BKB.

Meh, the Frostbite effect from Ice Blast is still better.

Nobody will ever be able to take over the place Crystal Maiden has in my favourite heroes list. Not even your Old Boring Apparition guy :)

Nobody has talked about how CM's passive can make or break heroes like Storm Spirit, or other mana-hungry heroes? That includes Ancient Apparition, mind you.