Spectre/Guide

Hard Carry
The standard Spectre build, it focuses on taking advantage of Spectre's amazing late game but awful early game. Early game, Spectre can't do much but farm for, but after getting it Spectre can become a huge threat with her ult,. She can ult and push lanes while harassing enemies, or even use it to kill fleeing enemies. In a teamfight, Spectre becomes a huge threat. She has plenty of AoE damage to constantly damage opponents, but she's tanky enough that punishing her for it is extremely hard. She is heavily item dependant with this build, but once she gets farming her other items becomes really easy.

Ganker
Another build she has is an early to mid game ganker build. Instead of focusing on rushing Radiance, she instead grabs items like and  to help dominate the laning stage, and can transition into a very effective carry late game, but it won't be as strong as the standard hard carry build.

General

 * Spectre has a terrible early game, and it's likely that enemies will try to take advantage of this. Make sure you always have enough mana for Spectral Dagger while laning so you can escape from enemies who are trying to kill you.
 * Spectre has a weak lane presence. Picking her requires a team that will largely be able to support her in the laning phase.
 * One of Spectre's biggest strengths as a carry is her ability to participate in teamfights and ganks instantly through without wasting valuable farming time.
 * Spectre's main focus should be getting, which makes her significantly more powerful, both at fighting at farming.
 * Using to farm is a common tactic, allowing Spectre to farm areas of the map in which she would be in risk of a gank. Combined with, Spectre can be a rather effective split pusher.
 * In late game teamfights, Haunt and Desolate will allow your illusions to wither down support heroes at the back at significant speeds. In addition, you should always be in the middle of team fights to maximize the damage reflection of Dispersion.
 * More tips needed.


 * It is generally a good idea to level up Spectral Dagger first to provide Spectre with extra mobility so that she is harder to pin down during ganks. However, be wary of its mana cost, as a single Spectral Dagger will typically consume half your mana pool per cast (in the early game).
 * Early on, always make sure you have enough mana for Spectral Dagger in case you need to make a quick escape.
 * During fights, instead of aiming at an enemy, aim it at the ground in a way that it'll hit as much enemies as possible. It'll increase the overall DPS it deals.
 * However, aim it at fleeing enemies when the fight is ending to make sure they don't escape.
 * Spectre can perform as a viable solo offlaner by using Spectral Dagger to hide in trees before creeps meet in lane, allowing you to freely leech EXP off the lane with no risk of being killed, and quickly reach level six to gank with Dagger and Haunt.
 * There is a grace period after getting off the dagger where you still have free pathing. Use this to your advantage.
 * The shadow path left by Spectral Dagger lets her keep track on her prey even if the are invisible or have blinked/teleported. It also slows her target and enemies who came in to the path.
 * More tips needed.


 * Desolate works on creeps, so it makes farming in jungle slightly faster when you can kill that last creep faster.
 * Similarly, the bonus from Desolate still works if the enemy is near neutral creeps, so engagements in the jungle won't lower your overall damage.
 * It can be used to check for invisible enemies if you melee a creep who's alone but you don't get the bonus damage. This isn't as reliable as using a however.
 * Do not forget that Desolate only works on solitary enemies. Try to chase targets away from allies, causing them to take more damage.


 * More tips needed.


 * Dispersion effectively reduces all damage you take by 22% at max level, meaning it scales really well into the late game.
 * Dispersion is classed as HP Removal, which means that it won't proc things such as, but it also won't cancel items such as
 * Because the effect lessens with range, heroes with long ranges such as with a  will do more damage to you than a melee hero would.
 * More tips needed.


 * The illusions from Haunt carry the same things regular illusions would, which makes and  even more effective on Spectre.
 * Use Haunt to finish off fleeing enemies with low health.
 * Haunt is extremely useful when defending or attack the tier three towers and barracks.
 * Always keep an eye on the minimap to Haunt to teamfights when needed.
 * Spectre can buyback, then use Haunt immediately to return to the fight.
 * Use this to assist in fights across the map while you farm in the jungle, and to even drop in if you're needed in the fight.
 * It is sometimes beneficial to leave Haunt at level 1 in the early and mid-game. Your illusions will not be strong enough to significantly benefit from an extra one or two seconds during skirmishes or team fights, and the extra points may be better spent in your other abilities or the Attribute Bonus.
 * More tips needed.

Items
Starting Items:
 * is a good pick up to reduce the harassment you'll take, and it later builds into either or.
 * is are good for keeping you in lane as long as possible.
 * can save Spectre at the last moment.
 * gives you a little bit of HP regen and can be consumed to be able to use Spectral Dagger again while in lane.

Early Game:
 * is a great pickup early on to help you last hit, and can later be built into to help in farming the jungle before Radiance.
 * reduces the amount of harassment you take and gives you some agility to increase your base damage.
 * help her escape attackers and chase down weakened enemies.
 * is sometimes picked up against a hard lane.
 * provides agility and bonus damage, and mana regen aura.

Core Items:
 * is necessary on Spectre to not only farm fast, but also to take advantage of your AoE damage and tankiness from Dispersion.
 * are the best boots on Spectre this early, as she needs the movement speed and damage. You should usually grab this before.
 * let's you farm extremely fast by sending your illusions either into lane or into other jungle camps that, with, lets them take out the camps.

Situational Items:
 * is a great early game item to take advantage of Haunt to get a lot of charges and to buff Spectre's meager strength.
 * increases the damage your illusions deal, gives you some much needed mana and agility, and has a slow to keep up with enemies.
 * is a good item to get if you desperately need the stats. It combos well with.
 * gives a large amount of damage block, which is calculated after all reductions, including Dispersion. It also gives raw HP, again giving more value from Dispersion, and HP regeneration, which most farming heroes need to farm without breaks.
 * works well with Spectre's constant AOE damage and punishes enemies who try to focus you down.
 * is the best tank item you can get on Spectre. It lets you basically have infinite health against towers and creeps, and the HP it gives works well with Spectre's damage reduction, making her extremely hard to kill.
 * is a more midgame snowballing item. The stats transfer well to illusions and the extra movement speed will help Spectre stick to her target.
 * is a good luxury item on Spectre. The stats are much appreciated and the slow means enemies won't be able to escape you. Considering is no longer an UAM, this makes Skadi even better on her.
 * adds extra durability and makes Haunt a global -5 armor for the duration while giving any teammates in range extra armor and attack speed. The attack speed has good synergy with Desolate, but does not transfer to illusions.
 * adds some damage and HP along with BKB-penetrating anticarry and chase potential that again forces attention onto her.
 * adds significant farming and push potential, while filling the AoE damage role of while also scaling better and having an easier buildup. However, illusions get no benefits from it.
 * creates more illusions, dealing even more instances of Desolate damage. The movement speed is also highly desirable as melee heroes like Spectre can often be kited.
 * 's extra health will help Spectre take advantage of Dispersion and make her illusions difficult to remove.
 * is an all around good item on Agility carries. Spectre benefits a lot from it however considering her low 1.8 agility gain per level.
 * makes you even tankier and by giving you more armor, and increases your physical damage thanks to the aura lowering armor on enemies and towers.