Dota 2: Should you pick Specter?

Specter is always in the top win rate of pub games and the hero’s power is not lost in high ranked games. However, in the professional arena, Specter was never noticed, with comments that the hero was overrated, easy to counter, and an unstable pick.

However, the stats draw in the other direction, as Specter is not only one of the strongest carries in the game at the moment, but can also be considered the strongest hero in pub. Specter has a win rate of over 60% in games of Divine rank and above and has been the most successful hero of the past month.

There is a lot of controversy, but we have to admit that Specter is a stable pick, not overrated, and can be countered (but no hero does not have its own counter). So should you pick Specter? Of course it should. So how to play Specter effectively? The answer is below.

Choose how to dress up for yourself

There are two distinct builds for Specter: one that revolves around Radiance and one that focuses on early game combat and stats. Both of these builds are fine in the current patch.

Slow but sure

Building Radiance is the basic way to build Specter. This hero benefits from the Radiance aura and probably makes the best use of Radiance in the game, with the ability to be present all over the map and counter initiating fights, and deal massive amounts of damage.

It is usually seen to go to Ring of Aquila and Power Treads to add buff to the early game, followed by Vanguard, Drum of Endurance, Blade Mail or even Urn of Shadows. However, Urn of Shadows is no longer favored because the item’s stats have changed.

This build method requires completing Radiance at the earliest about 20 minutes, not to mention an additional 3-5 minutes to build the necessary items for the match.

The reason this build is called “slowly but surely” is because it doesn’t need to take full advantage of Specter’s effectiveness to kill heroes in teamfight. The amount of damage released is very large, but it does not affect a single target, but the entire enemy team will slowly lose HP.

The way to build this item is “sure”, because Radiance helps the ability to farm to the highest efficiency. Due to the lack of AoE moves or creep clearing, Specter without Radiance will farm quite slowly. In addition, the cooldown between the ultimate, the period when Specter doesn’t want to participate in the teamfight, Radiance will help the hero build up, albeit slowly but surely will be fine in the late game.

Specter is not the strongest carry in the game when comparing his 20k net worth to your team’s 20k net worth. But Specter is among the strongest carries in the game when it comes to 40k net worth.

When building up at the end of the game, gradually having for themselves the most effective items in Dota, Specter is almost guaranteed to win teamfight.

Beat fast win fast

The other way to build, which is gradually dominating in Pub and Pro, revolves around building Phase Boots then Yasha, Manta Style and Diffusal Blade. Sometimes, Specter can also be combined with Mask of Madness.

Yasha and Diffusal Blade are the two most cost effective DPS items for Agility cores. They increase attack speed and damage, while Phase Boots add movement speed to make chases easier.

This build requires Specter to carefully engage in as many fights as possible, get last hit heroes and get gold through ganks. While Radiance Specter is often seen as prey for your team, this build makes Specter a predator: it doesn’t rely on ultimate Haunt and is stronger when hunting alone.

Unlike Radiance Specter, this build benefits from the level 10 Desolate talent. It doesn’t increase Desolate damage much, but ignoring Radiance means getting to Manta Style sooner and all shadows benefiting from Desolate, killing. Potential damage gains 45-60 pure damage per hit.

Currently, this build seems to be superior to Radiance Specter and this is true depending on the draft of the game. However, the weakness is that Specter will not farm anything. Despite having a lot of agility from items, which adds attack speed and damage, jungling is extremely ineffective.

Specter should not appear alone in the lane, because it will immediately signal to gank Specter and with this build you will not want to be attacked first. This specter also can’t jungling effectively, so the only way is to find enemy solo heroes, usually with one or two teammates, and kill them to earn more gold.

In addition, this way up is also suitable for Specter farm Radiance too slow. There have been cases when the game was more than 25 minutes and you just barely golded Sacred Relic. You can try to complete Radiance at 28-30 minutes, and slowly make your way to shore. Or you can buy Diffusal Blade and surprise the enemy, to earn more gold.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the “hit fast win fast” build often helps Specter build items that are effective against the core heroes he’s up against. Unlike the Radiance Specter when it has to rely on its ability to crawl and try to get as many stats for itself as possible in teamfight, the “Fast Strike Win Fast” Specter wants to kill the enemy carry as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Epilogue

Specter has not been considered too strong for many years. There is no discussion that the hero is too ‘big’ and Specter’s annoying appearance in the matches where he wins. Usually the community complains about Slark (50% win rate) or Tinker (49% win rate), but will always ignore Specter and discussions like “this hero is not played by pro, so definitely there is a problem.”

In fact, no matter how high your MMR is, the team’s synergy in pubs won’t be as good as in the pro arena. Every decision in the team is later, even though the pub members know what their responsibilities are and agree to play as a team. Everyone will need at least a minute to reach their goal while the pros only need 45 seconds.

15 seconds per minute is enough to create space for Specter players. Sure, this hero will get ganked, but there’s always a chance of survival. Enemies will put pressure on turrets, but they will be slower than pro, and this space will help her reach her strength quickly. Finally, Specter has a high chance to air late game and at this point, the hero’s presence will definitely have a huge impact on teamfight.

By: Dotabuff