Spectre is a relatively popular pick among Dota 2 carry players for good reasons. Her skillset scales well into the late game and has exceptional global presence, which is an advantage over many carry heroes.
As such, Spectre’s high win rate at 54.8% and being the thirty-second most popular hero speaks volumes about her. Additionally, we know how much Dota 2 players love to splurge on skins, which the Spectre Arcana Dota 2 skin is one that many fans love.
Spectre Dota 2 Skills
Spectre on paper is arguably a very easy hero to play. She only has two active skills, one being her ultimate, Haunt, which you really will be using rarely. Whereas the other skill, Spectral Dagger, is straightforward to use. It’s a targetable skill that deals damage and slows everything in its path while also letting her pass through trees and units.
Couple that with her passive abilities, Desolate and Dispersion, which offers additional damage and damage dispersion. We have a formidable candidate of the best Dota 2 heroes to call home about. Yet, there are flaws which a typical carry player might not have the best games playing her.
Dota 2 Spectre Win rate and Pick rate statistics on DOTABUFF
Beforehand, we should explain the two passive abilities as these have unusual mechanics behind them. Firstly, Desolate deals bonus damage when she attacks an enemy hero who doesn’t have nearby allies. This works synonymously with her Haunt ability, and can do serious damage to wandering supports. For instance, Spectre could use Haunt to create an illusion for all enemy heroes to identify a solo hero, use Reality (teleports to a specific illusion), and attempt to kill.
Spectre is also effective in chaotic fights with Dispersion, which reflects up to 20% of damage dealt to her. This makes Spectre more durable than your average agility carry hero, while still being able to deal tremendous damage.
Spectre Dota 2 Tips
Now, Spectre’s flaws lie in her unsustainable laning ability. Her skills do not offer much to zone out opponents nor do she have any form of reliable last-hitting skills. The best she could use is her Spectral Dagger to try to last-hit ranged creeps from a distance, but the rest of the laning work has to be from player ability.
Last-hitting can be rough when both opponent heroes attempt to deny too. Instead of passively waiting for the creep’s health to reach last-hitting value, a good Spectre Dota 2 player will agro the creeps to move closer to your tower. This prevents the enemy heroes from securing the denies easily, but also avoid any harassment damage that the enemy tries to spam on you.
Being at less than half health is never good as it forces you to play fearfully and miss good opportunities of last-hits.
Read also: Lina Guide – Mastering the Best Hero in Patch 7.32D
Spectre Dota 2 Item Guide
The item meta shifted from the typical Tangoes and Iron Branches to just bulk-buying six or even nine Enchanted Mangoes. These Mangoes offer decent health regen, are stackable, and can be consumed for an immediate mana boost for any situation.
Being in the safe lane, players are bound to find enemy heroes spamming their skills to harass you. Hence, picking up a Magic Stick and Quelling Blade could make your laning much easier and sustainable.
Then, to maximize your damage reflect, Blade Mail stacks on top of Dispersion to deal damage to your opponents indirectly. It is also a great utility tool for wiping the jungle creeps alongside your Spectral Dagger.
After Blade Mail, Aghanim’s Sceptre can be a viable option for its stats and single-target Haunt. This can be a great pick-up versus enemy drafts that has crucial backline heroes, such as Sniper, Drow Ranger and squishy supports.
Spectre Dota 2 Art – Artist: Zhong Yang
Spectre Dota 2 Late Game Itemization
Manta Style, which offers more illusions, also has Desolate passive buff. Although it’s unnoticeable that Desolate deals heavy damage when Spectre has multiple illusions, it’s certainly the reason why Spectre has great damage scaling into late game. Additionally, it dispels enemy spells targeted on her, which makes her even more elusive. Other damage items, such as Abyssal Blade, Eye of Skadi, and even Diffusal Blade are typical luxury items for Spectre.
Just look at how Oliver “skiter” Lepko haunts into the fight to claim a triple-kill.
In hindsight, Spectre players only have three priorities in every match. First, secure every last hit possible and keep farming. Secondly, farm the jungles if the lanes aren’t pushed towards your towers because she can flash-farm efficiently. Lastly, use Haunt whenever there’s a fight, which is why Spectre can farm anytime and only shows up when necessary.
With that, we hope that this simple Spectre guide will let you haunt your opponents in the pubs.
Read next: Dota 2 Sniper Guide to Dominating your Games
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