Hero
Spectre
    23 + 2.5
23 + 2.1
16 + 1.9
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Mercurial, the Spectre, is a melee agility hero, adept at dealing pure damage to lone targets, and is powerful both offensively and defensively. Spectral Dagger provides a significant amount of mobility, allowing Spectre to go through objects, units and terrain while slowing foes that come in contact with the shadowy path left by her Spectral Dagger. Desolate allows her to inflict high pure damage to enemy heroes when she catches them alone. Dispersion reduces and reflects all damage, whether by attacks or spells, to an area around her. Dispersion gives her great durability, especially when equipped with items that provide health, armor, and damage block. Finally, her Haunt creates a malevolent spectral illusion to all enemy heroes in the map. Haunt lets Spectre wreak havoc in clashes and ganks, while her allies take advantage of the confusion. Spectre can use Reality during the Haunt, instantly teleporting her to her illusion to take its form. This lets her hound her victim anywhere on the map. Mercurial is a dangerous supernatural being, relentless as she can chase and stalk down her victim to a global range, unhindered by boundaries. Her kit allows her to play the role of the team's hard carry by applying an immense amount of pressure in late game team fights. More specifically, the damage reflection from Dispersion makes it disadvantageous for teams to focus her. Her abilities have a complex nature, and newer players should generally not play Spectre as she is extremely farm and level dependent. It is best to face Spectre with allied help and strength, as encountering her alone is not always the best option.
Contents
Bio[]
Mercurial, the Spectre▶️ "Among the Transcendencies, you would be thought ignoble."
Lore:
Just as higher states of energy seek a lower level, the Spectre known as Mercurial is a being of intense and violent energy who finds herself irresistibly drawn to scenes of strife as they unfold in the physical world. While her normal spectral state transcends sensory limitations, each time she takes on a physical manifestation, she is stricken by a loss of self--though not of purpose. In the clash of combat, her identity shatters and reconfigures, and she begins to regain awareness. She grasps that she is Mercurial the Spectre--and that all of her Haunts are but shadows of the one true Spectre. Focus comes in the struggle for survival; her true mind reasserts itself; until in the final moments of victory or defeat, she transcends matter and is restored once more to her eternal form.
Voice:
Abilities[]
Spectre flings a dagger to draw a Shadow Path, dealing damage and slowing the movement speed of any enemies along the trail. Units hit by the dagger also trail a Shadow Path. While treading the path, Spectre phases through otherwise impassable terrain.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.37
Cast Range: 1800
Effect Radius: 125
Damage: 75/130/185/240 (
175/230/285/340)
175/230/285/340)Move Speed Slow/Bonus: 10%/14%/18%/22% ( 24%/28%/32%/36%)
24%/28%/32%/36%)Path Duration: 12
Path Creator Duration: 7
Move Speed Slow/Bonus Linger Duration: 4
Free Pathing Linger Duration: 1
22/ 17/15/13/11)
130/
Can target spell immune enemies, placing the trail and slow debuff on them. The slow debuff is inactive while spell immune.
Procs only when secondary target while a hero was directly targeted. However, Spectral Dagger instantly reattempts to apply the debuff, thus wasting Linken's cooldown. No interaction with the primary target or when hit while the ground was targeted.Modifiers
modifier_spectre_spectral_dagger_path: Undispellable. Persists death.
modifier_spectre_spectral_dagger_in_path: Dispellable with any dispel. modifier_spectre_spectral_dagger_path_phased: Dispellable with death only.
modifier_spectre_spectral_dagger: Dispellable with any dispel.Mercurial's dagger eclipses the physical plane in shadow, a state in which mortals cower, but spectres thrive.
Notes:
- The Spectral Dagger travels at a speed of 800.
- Can directly target heroes and creep-heroes.
- When targeting a hero, the dagger homes in on the target until reaching it.
- When ground-targeted or targeting creep-heroes, the dagger travels 1800 range in a straight line. It does not home in on creep-heroes.
- Every enemy unit which comes within 125 range of the travelling dagger gets damaged.
- Hit enemy heroes and illusions also receive the Dagger Path Creator debuff, making them trail a shadow path like the dagger itself.
- This debuff also grants shared vision over the enemy heroes, revealing their silhouette when they become invisible.
- Spectre and enemies gain the Spectral Dagger Path modifier while on the path, increasing hers while decreasing the enemies' movement speed.
- This modifier lingers for 4 seconds after leaving the path.
- The modifier only refreshes from the same source. Meaning that Spectre will not be slowed by an enemy Spectral Dagger when she has the buff modifier.
- Spectre also gains a hidden buff, which grants her unobstructed movement.
- This buff lingers for 1 second after leaving the path.
- The shadow path's segments last 12 seconds from the moment on they were created, not as the ability was cast.
- The shadow path grants 200 radius flying vision around itself.
- The movement speed changing modifier on Spectre and enemies on the path is dispellable.
- However, as long as Spectre stays on the path, it immediately gets re-applied on her again.
- For enemies, the slow debuff does not get re-applied immediately, but does get applied again if they leave the path and enter it again.
- Dispelling the path creating debuff on enemy heroes stops them from creating or extending the path, but does not remove already created paths.
Desolate
Radius: 425
Damage: 18/32/46/60 ( 30/44/58/72)
30/44/58/72)Modifiers
modifier_spectre_desolate: Undispellable. Persists death.Often times, warriors find themselves alone with a vision of Mercurial - the fated question is if it is the true Spectre.
Notes:
- Desolate's effects are applied upon finishing an attack, regardless of whether the attack actually hits the target or not.
- This means Desolate applies its effects even when the leading attack misses the target.
- When used by ranged heroes, Desolate is applied on projectile launch, not when the projectile hit.
- The bonus damage is dealt in a separate damage instance, and counts as spell damage.
- This means it is not affected or considered by anything that works with attack damage.
- This also means that it fully works with spell damage amplification and spell lifesteal.
- Desolate completely ignores nearby wards, buildings, invulnerable and hidden units.
- This means that Desolate still deals its damage when the target only has any of the above as allies nearby.
- Only checks for allies of the target, meaning nearby neutral creeps do not prevent it from dealing damage to units of the enemy team, and vice versa.
Damage done to Spectre is reflected on her enemies, leaving her unharmed. The effect lessens with distance.
Min Radius: 300
Max Radius: 700
Damage Reflected: 8%/12%/16%/20% ( 13%/17%/21%/25%)
13%/17%/21%/25%)
Spectral Dagger Max Trigger Distance: 700 Spectral Dagger Damage Threshold: 300 7
Causes dispersion to fire a spectral dagger every 300 damage absorbed in the direction of the last source of damage. Can fire a maximum of one dagger every 7 seconds and only triggers off player based damage within 700 range
All aspects ignore spell immunity, including the passive Spectral Dagger, which are launched on spell immune units as well.
All aspects are disabled, including the passive Spectral Daggers.Modifiers
modifier_spectre_dispersion: Undispellable. Persists death. modifier_spectre_haunt: Dispellable with death only. modifier_illusion: Dispellable with death only. modifier_invulnerable: Dispellable with death only.
Ability Draft Notes:
Spectral Dagger must be drafted as well for it to passively proc.
A daunting task lies before enemies of Mercurial - killing a shadow with blade and magic.
Notes:
- Applies generic incoming damage reduction on Spectre. Stacks additively with other sources of generic incoming damage manipulation.
- Reflects the 3 damage types, but not HP Removal effects (e.g. Sunder, Soul Ring etc.).
- Increases Spectre's survivability against any damage by 9%/14%/19%/25% ( 15%/20%/27%/33%).
- Dispersed damage is returned as the same damage type as it was received.
- Reflected physical damage is affected by damage block.
- The damage from Dispersion is flagged as HP Removal, so it does not trigger any on-damage effects.
- Reflects a percentage of the full damage value before Spectre actually takes the damage.
- This means that it reflects damage before all manipulations, so that it may only be affected by incoming damage manipulation the enemy has.
- This also means it reflects overkill damage dealt to Spectre. If a damage source exceeded Spectre's current health and killed her, the damage reflected will be the same damage value.
- If both Spectre and an enemy would die to the damage simultaneously, the enemy is always killed first.
- Reflected damage is not shared between enemies within the radius, all of them take the full amount of damage based on their distance.
- Reflects the full 8%/12%/16%/20% ( 13%/17%/21%/25%) within a 300 radius from Spectre. Then the reflected damage decreases linearly up to a 700 radius from Spectre.
- This is how much damage Dispersion reflects to enemies at certain distances:
- 300 Distance: 8%/12%/16%/20% ( 13%/17%/21%/25%) of dealt damage.
- 400 Distance: 6%/9%/12%/15% ( 9.75%/12.75%/15.75%/18.75%) of dealt damage.
- 500 Distance: 4%/6%/8%/10% ( 6.5%/8.5%/10.5%/12.5%) of dealt damage.
- 600 Distance: 2%/3%/4%/5% ( 3.25%/4.25%/5.25%/6.25%) of dealt damage.
- 300 Distance: 8%/12%/16%/20% (
- This is how much damage Dispersion reflects to enemies at certain distances:
- With Aghanim's Shard, a passive Spectral Dagger triggers when Dispersion collectively reduces 300 damage.
- Spectral Dagger notes fully apply. If it is not leveled, no dagger is launched.
- Only counts player-based damage and damage dealt by Roshan. Does not count damage which has the HP removal or the no-reflection flag.
- Counts damage even while on cooldown, and may instantly release a dagger on the next damage instance once Dispersion is off cooldown again.
- Counts damage from any distance, but the Spectral Dagger is only released when a damage source is within 700 range of Spectre.
- The damage counter has no time limit. It only resets once a passive Spectral Dagger is launched.
- Any exceeding damage is completely ignored. For example, if an enemy deals an instance of 450 damage, it does not carry over to the damage counter for the next proc.
- The Spectral Dagger is launched towards the location of the last damage source that reached the damage threshold.
- Does not directly target the unit that procs the passive cast, the dagger always flies in a straight path.
- Uses a regular cooldown, so it is fully affected by cooldown reductions sources and it can be refreshed as well.
- Passive Spectral Dagger procs do not cost mana and are independent from the active ability's cooldown.
Reality
Affects
Self
Self
Spectre exchanges places with a chosen Haunt.
Cast Animation: 0+0.7
Cast Range: Global
0The scattered shadows unite into the one true Spectre.
Notes:
- Reality is unlocked upon learning Haunt and always stays active.
- Does not disjoint projectiles upon cast.
- When ground-targeted, Spectre exchanges places with the closest Haunt-based illusion from the targeted point.
- Can be cast multiple times until Haunt ends or all Haunt illusions are dead.
- After swapping positions, the Haunt illusion still walks towards its target and attacks it.
Allows Spectre to perform a single target unit Haunt. Casts Spectral Dagger on the target.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.5
Cast Range: Global
Illusion Damage Dealt: 40%/60%/80% ( 72%/92%/112%)
72%/92%/112%)Illusion Damage Taken: 200%
Haunt Duration: 5/6/7
30 180
Modifiers
modifier_spectre_haunt: Dispellable with death only. modifier_illusion: Dispellable with death only. modifier_invulnerable: Dispellable with death only. modifier_spectre_spectral_dagger_path: Undispellable. Persists death. modifier_spectre_spectral_dagger_in_path: Dispellable with death only. modifier_spectre_spectral_dagger_path_phased: Dispellable with death only. modifier_spectre_spectral_dagger: Dispellable with death only.Ability Draft Notes:
Spectral Dagger must be drafted as well for it to get applied.
Requires drafting Haunt to be unlocked.
With great focus of will, Mercurial can sometimes limit the extent of her division.
Notes:
- Requires Aghanim's Scepter to be unlocked.
- Shadow Step's level is always equal to Haunt's level.
- The illusion notes of Haunt apply to Shadow Step as well.
- Instantly applies the current level of Spectral Dagger on the target, without using a projectile.
- Spectral Dagger notes fully apply. If it is not leveled, no buffs or debuffs are applied.
- Cannot be cast on creep-heroes.
Ability
No Target
No Target
Affects
Enemy Heroes
Enemy Heroes
Creates a spectral nemesis to attack each enemy hero. At any moment during the duration, Spectre can use Reality to exchange places of a given haunt.
Haunt illusions are uncontrollable, take extra damage, and deal less damage than Spectre herself. They ignore terrain.
Haunt illusions are uncontrollable, take extra damage, and deal less damage than Spectre herself. They ignore terrain.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.5
Radius: Global
Illusion Damage Dealt: 40%/60%/80% ( 72%/92%/112%)
72%/92%/112%)Illusion Damage Taken: 200%
Haunt Duration: 5/6/7
180/ 150/ Grants a new ability: Shadow Step.Modifiers
modifier_spectre_haunt: Dispellable with death only. modifier_illusion: Dispellable with death only. modifier_invulnerable: Dispellable with death only.At the height of combat, Mercurial's physical manifestation shatters, and the shadowy pieces haunt those who still cling to life.
Notes:
- Haunt illusions are selectable, but uncontrollable.
- The illusions have unobstructed pathing.
- The illusions spawn 58 range away from their targets, at a random spot around them.
- They do not attack but still follow invisible units. They also spawn on and follow invulnerable and hidden units.
- Haunt illusions spawn for enemy Meepo clones, but not for other clones or illusions.
- The illusions disappear once their target dies.
Talents[]
| Hero Talents | ||
|---|---|---|
| +5% Dispersion | 25 | +32% Haunt Illusion Damage |
| +14% Spectral Dagger Slow/Bonus | 20 | +400 Health |
| +100 Spectral Dagger Damage | 15 | +12 Desolate Damage |
| +5 All Stats | 10 | -5s Spectral Dagger Cooldown |
Notes:
- The / / all stats talent effectively grants Spectre 100 health, 0.5 health regeneration, 0.83 armor, 5 attack speed, 60 mana, 0.25 mana regeneration, and 5 attack damage.
- The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.
Recent Changes[]
Main Article: Spectre/Changelogs
Version
Description
- Spectral Dagger slow and trail debuffs are now dispellable. [?]
- Reworked Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Old: Adds an active component to Dispersion, that allows Spectre to target any hero that damaged her within the last 8 seconds, creating a Haunt illusion at their location, that lasts 5 seconds. Has a mana cost of 50 and cooldown of 25.
- New: Causes Dispersion to launch a Spectral Dagger towards the last enemy unit that damaged her after absorbing 300 damage. Can trigger once every 7 seconds and only triggers on player-based damage coming from within 700 range of Spectre.
- Talents:
- Level 10 right talent changed: +5 health regen ➜ -5s Spectral Dagger cooldown.
- Level 15 left talent changed: -8s Spectral Dagger cooldown ➜ +100 Spectral Dagger damage.
- Increased armor from 0 to 1.
- Increased turn rate from 0.5 to 0.6.
- Reduced Spectral Dagger cast range from 2000 to 1800.
- Increased Desolate damage from 15/30/45/60 to 18/32/46/60.
- Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Reduced Shadow Step cooldown from 35 to 30.
- Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Dispersion
- The active can now target any hero that damaged Spectre, instead of only the last hero that damaged her. [?]
- Increased recent damage timer from 5 to 8.
- Reduced mana cost from 150 to 50.
- Dispersion
- Reduced base attack speed from 100 to 90.
- Spectral Dagger
- Increased mana cost from 100/120/140/160 to 130/140/150/160.
- Increased cooldown from 16 on each level to 22/20/18/16.
- Rescaled Dispersion damage reflection from 7%/12%/17%/22% to 8%/12%/16%/20%.
- Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Shadow Step now applies the current level of Spectral Dagger on the target.
- Added Aghanim's Shard upgrade for Spectre:
- Adds an active component to Dispersion.
- Can be cast to create a Haunt illusion on the last unit that dealt damage to Spectre.
- Cast time: 0
- Illusion duration: 5
- Mana cost: 150
- Cooldown: 25
- Notes: The illusion is based on the current level of Haunt. If it is not learned, no illusion spawns. The illusion is uncontrollable, and starts attacking the target immediately after creation. Spectre can use Reality to swap positions with the illusion.
- Can be cast to create a Haunt illusion on the last unit that dealt damage to Spectre.
Recommended Items[]
Starting items:
- Tango regenerates health to keep Spectre in lane as long as possible.
- Healing Salve also restores health which can save Spectre at the last moment.
- Enchanted Mango gives passive health regeneration and burst mana for one more usage of Spectral Dagger.
Early game:
- Quelling Blade helps with getting last hits to farm for later items.
- Boots of Speed help her escape gankers and chase down weakened enemies.
Mid game:
- Power Treads benefit Spectre's illusions with attributes. Against weakened targets that cannot deal with the illusions, the extra attacks with Desolate may produce a kill.
- Radiance speeds up Spectre's farm and deals burn damage to all enemies during Haunt, complementing her tanky and AoE fighting style.
- Manta Style lets Spectre farm fast by sending illusions either into lane or into other jungle camps that, with Radiance, lets them take out the camps, and combines with desolate to deal a ton of damage to unwary foes.
Late game:
- Heart of Tarrasque gives a huge amount of health and health regeneration, coupling with Dispersion's damage reduction to make Spectre tough to kill and reflecting that damage back on her enemies.
- Butterfly grants agility and evasion to increase Spectre's and her illusions' damage output and survivability.
Situational items:
- Urn of Shadows is a great early game item to take advantage of Haunt to get a lot of charges.
- Phase Boots grant movement speed and attack damage to hunt enemy heroes.
- Diffusal Blade increases the damage your illusions deal, gives you some much needed mana and agility, and has a slow to keep up with enemies.
- Mask of Madness is a good early-game farming tool. Once you've haunted, rifted to a target and thrown your dagger, you don't mind being silenced, and will gladly take the bonus movement and attack speed.
- Drum of Endurance raises attributes. It combos well with Urn of Shadows.
- Vanguard gives a large amount of damage block, which is calculated after Dispersion. It also gives much needed early-game HP, as well as HP regeneration, which most farming heroes need to farm without breaks.
- Blade Mail works well with Spectre's constant AoE damage and punishes enemies who try to focus you down. Also, it can help you easily farm ancient stacks.
- Sange and Yasha is a midgame snowballing item. The stats transfer well to illusions and the extra movement speed will help Spectre stick to her target.
- Eye of Skadi is a good luxury item on Spectre. The stats benefit dispersion and your illusions, the slow means enemies won't be able to escape you, and the mana can help sustain the low cooldown Spectral Dagger talent.
- Assault Cuirass adds extra durability and damage and makes Haunt a global -5 armor for the duration while giving any teammates in range extra armor and attack speed.
- Abyssal Blade adds some damage and HP along with spell immunity-piercing disable and chase potential that again forces attention onto her.
- Mjollnir adds significant farming and push potential, while filling the AoE damage role of Radiance while also scaling better and having an easier buildup. Illusions can benefit from the attack speed but not the lightning effect.
Gameplay[]
| Roles: | Carry Durable Escape |
|---|---|
| Complexity: | ★★☆ |
| Playstyle: | An eternal being of violent energies, Mercurial, the Spectre is irresistibly drawn to conflict. She throws out a Spectral Dagger, creating a shadowy trail to her foes in which she may travel unobstructed. Harm done to Mercurial is partially deflected onto nearby foes, a Dispersion of damage that prolongs her endurance. Even in the most Desolate wilderness, travelers are Haunted by visions of Spectre, seeming to prey on their solitude. But these are no mere illusions. It is said that for one in every five haunted, the apparition becomes Reality, and alongside these unfortunate victims the Spectre appears, bringing with her the destruction that she eternally craves. |
Audio[]
History[]
Equipment[]
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Trivia[]
- The name Mercurial most likely comes from the DeviantART account of Kenneth Tan, the person who made the 6.28-6.32 loadscreen.[1][2] 6.28 is also the version in which Spectre got released in DotA.
- "Mercurial" means "swift, shrewd, and deceitful", which is attributed to the Roman god of thieves, Mercury, as Spectre is an agile and quick Hero. It can also refer to the planet Mercury, since Spectre is an otherworldly entity. Mercurial can also hint towards the element Mercury, often called "quicksilver," which is another reference to Spectre's speed and mobility. When used as an personal adjective, mercurial can mean a personality quick to change and dangerous to both the person receiving and transmitting. Someone quick to forgive and quick to anger would be mercurial, but not someone who holds grudges or holds none. See Mercutio (obviously named) from Romeo and Juliet.
- Spectre's alternate/fun name "Qwerty-" was given to her for remembering a legendary Dota player Zaven "Qwerty" Terminasov, who died on December 5, 2010.
- Spectre's voice responses are overlayed with the same track playing backwards, bearing a huge similarity to the Spirit of Vengeance's voice in Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, which is also the voice of Spectre in DotA.
- Spectre has fewer model animations than any other hero in the game.
Gallery[]
Spectre with old weapon model
Ability icon progress
