Spectre

Spectre 19 + 2 23 + 2.2 16 + 1.9
	Grants the following bonuses per point of attribute:
	+22HP and +0.1HP regeneration
	+0.17 armor and 1 attack speed; +1 main attack damage
	+12MP and +0.05MP regeneration; +0.1% base magic resistance ;
L0	Base Hero Values
L1	⤷ + Base Attributes
L15	⤷ + Attribute Gain
L25	⤷ + 6 levels of Attribute Bonus
L30	⤷ + 7 levels of Attribute Bonus
	All values shown are without talent bonuses.
Attack Animation	0.3 + 0.7
Gib Type	Default
Internal	Not Provided

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 isn't always the best option.

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:

[[Voice actors#|]] (Responses)

Gameplay

Abilities

Spectral Dagger

▶️QD

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self / Enemies

Damage
Magical

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: +

Cast Range: 2000

Effect Radius: 125

Damage: 50/100/150/200

Move Speed Bonus: 8%/12%/16%/20%

Move Speed Slow: 8%/12%/16%/20%

Path Duration: 12

16

130/140/150/160

Mercurial's dagger eclipses the physical plane in shadow, a state in which mortals cower, but spectres thrive.

The Spectral Dagger travels at a speed of 800 and cannot be disjointed.

Can directly target heroes and creep-heroes. When targeting a hero, the dagger homes on and follows it until it reaches the target.

When targeting the ground or creep-heroes, the dagger travels a distance of 2000 in a straight line. It does not home on creep-heroes.

Every enemy unit which comes within 125 range of the traveling dagger gets damaged.

Hit enemy heroes and illusions also start trailing a shadow path, like the dagger itself.

The slow affects every enemy unit which gets on the shadow path, and sticks on them for 4 seconds when leaving.

Spectre gains unobstructed movement while moving on the shadow path. This unobstructed movement lingers for 2 seconds after leaving it.

The movement speed buff on Spectre sticks on her for 4 seconds after leaving the shadow path.

The shadow path's segments last 12 seconds from the moment on they were created, not as the spell was cast.

Grants shared vision with every hit hero, while the shadow path itself has 200 range flying vision.

Does not affect wards and buildings.

Desolate

▶️WL

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Pure

Deals bonus damage whenever Spectre attacks an enemy who is alone.

Radius: 325

Damage: 20/35/50/65

Often times, warriors find themselves alone with a vision of Mercurial - the fated question is if it is the true Spectre.

Desolate damage is a seperate damage instance and applied before the actual attack damage hits. This means it damages even when the attack misses.

Works against any enemy unit, except for wards and buildings.

Desolate completely ignores nearby wards, buildings, invulnerable units and hidden units.
- This means that Desolate still deals its damage when the target only has one of the above as an ally nearby.
- Since it only checks for allies of the target, nearby neutral creeps do not prevent it from dealing damage either.

Dispersion

EI

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self / Enemies

Damage
HP Removal

Damage done to Spectre is reflected on her enemies, leaving her unharmed. The effect lessens with distance.

Minimum Radius: 300

Maximum Radius: 1000

Damage Reflected: 10%/14%/18%/22%

A daunting task lies before enemies of Mercurial - killing a shadow with blade and magic.

Dispersed damage is returned as the same damage type as it was received.

The damage from Dispersion is flagged as HP Removal, so it does not trigger any on-damage effects.

Dispersion reflects the damage before any form of damage manipulation.

The dispersed damage is not felt by Spectre, effectively reducing every incoming damage by 10%/14%/18%/22%.

Increases effective HP by 11%/16%/22%/28%, and potentially reflecting that amount per unit.

Reflected damage is not shared between enemies. All of them take the full reflected damage.

The damage dealt decreases linearly from a 300 radius to a 1000 radius from Spectre.

This is how much damage Dispersion deals to enemies at certain distances:
- 300 radius: 10%/14%/18%/22% of dealt damage
- 475 radius: 7.5%/10.5%/13.5%/16.5% of dealt damage
- 650 radius: 5%/7%/9%/11% of dealt damage
- 825 radius: 2.5%/3.5%/4.5%/5.5% of dealt damage

Haunt

▶️RT

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemy Heroes

Creates a spectral nemesis to attack each enemy hero after a short delay. 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 move at 400 base movement speed and ignore terrain.

Cast Animation: +

Illusion Damage Dealt: 30%

Illusion Damage Taken: 200%

Haunt Duration: 5/6/7

120

150

At the height of combat, Mercurial's physical manifestation shatters, and the shadowy pieces haunt those who still cling to life.

Haunt illusions are selectable, but uncontrollable.

The illusions have 400 movement speed and unobstructed pathing. Slows and movement speed buffs do affect them.

They also fully ignore stuns and can attack while cycloned. Other disables are not ignored.

The illusions start attacking their targets 1 second after being spawned.

They do not attack but still follow invisible units. They also spawn on and follow invulnerable or hidden units.

Haunt illusions do not spawn for enemy illusions, but spawn for every Meepo clone.

Reality

▶️DR

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Spectre exchanges places with a chosen Haunt.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: Global

The scattered shadows unite into the one true Spectre.

Does not disjoint projectiles upon cast.

When targeting ground, spectre exchanges places with the closest Haunt 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.

Recommended items

Template:Recommendeditems

Equipment

Spectre/equipment

Tips

Spectre has a weak lane presence. Picking her requires a team that will largely be able to support her in the laning phase. Contrary to popular belief, she's actually a very solid damage dealer early on if you build her for it - 65 extra pure damage on each attack is nothing to scoff at. Phase Boots, Urn of Shadows, Orb of Venom, Drum of Endurance all help her fight early on.
One of Spectre's biggest strengths as a carry is her ability to participate in teamfights and ganks instantly through Haunt without wasting valuable farming time.
The shadow path left by Spectral Dagger lets her keep track on her prey. It also slows her target and enemies who came in to the path.
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).
Maxing Desolate early is the best way to increase the effectiveness of Haunt. Maxing Spectral Dagger early, on the other hand, is also desirable as its level 1 offensive capabilities are almost negligible.
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.
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.
Don't forget that Desolate only works if enemies aren't close together. If you're playing against a Spectre, make sure to hug your ally if she comes at you to reduce her damage dramatically.
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.
Mjollnir adds significant farming and push potential, while filling the AoE damage role of Radiance while also scaling better and having an easier buildup. However, illusions get no benefits from it.
Eye of Skadi provides great general attribute bonuses, solves Spectre's mana issues, and gives her a slow that penetrates through magic immunity that allows her chase and forces attention on her. The early Orb of Venom and Point Booster give Spectre great early presence, also late game.
Skull Basher adds some damage and HP along with BKB-penetrating anticarry and chase potential that again forces attention onto her.
Pipe of Insight makes Spectre incredibly tanky against magic damage when combined with Dispersion (combined 59.05% resistance), and increases her teamfight presence with the HP regen and active ability.
Armlet of Mordiggian has incredible synergy with Spectre's skill set. The HP and offensive bonuses work with Dispersion and Desolate respectively, which also transfer to her Haunt illusions. The passive regen fills the need of a Vanguard for her core, while armlet toggling provides increased HP for Spectre to disperse.
Assault Cuirass 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.

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.
Spectre's alternate/fun name "Qwerty-" was given to spectre 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.

Update history

Template:Update History

Balance changelog

Template:Update History

Replaced abilities

Dispersion (pre 6.50)

EI

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Pure

Gives Mercurial a chance to avoid damage and disperse it to an area around her. Has a minor stun effect. Can only disperse for as much health as she has.

Proc Chance: 4%/8%/12%/16%

Disperse Radius: 400

A daunting task lies before enemies of Mercurial - killing a shadow with blade and magic.

This ability got reworked into the current Dispersion in the 6.50 gameplay patch.

Reflected damage is not felt by Spectre, effectively reducing the incoming damage.

Reflected damage is not shared between enemies. All of them take the full reflected damage.

Vengeance (6.33-6.33b)

WV

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Whenever an enemy kills a unit, it releases an energy to damage its killer as its last act of vengeance.

Radius: 1000

Hero Vengeance Damage: 100/200/300/400

Spectre Illusion Vengeance Damage: 50/100/150/200

This ability got replaced by Desolate in the 6.34 gameplay patch.

The aura places a debuff on enemy units. If an enemy with the debuff on kills a unit, that unit will damage the killing debuffed enemy instantly.

Whether or not denying allies while debuffed causes damage is unknown.

The aura's debuff does not linger.

Phase

QE

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Mercurial phases out resulting in the ability to walk through objects and move at a faster pace.

Cast Animation: +

Movement Speed Bonus: 4%/8%/12%/16%

Duration: 10/15/20/25

45

100

This ability got replaced by Spectral Dagger in the 6.33 gameplay patch.

Grants Spectre unobstructed movement, means she can move over cliffs, trees, buildings and units.

Haunt (pre 6.33)

WT

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemy Heroes

Mercurial haunts the target hero. The hero is frozen in fear while the illusion attacks. The effects of this are amplified if the enemy cannot see the true Avatar of Vengeance. At level 4, Spectre gains the Reality sub-ability.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 1000

Number of Hauntings: 3/4/5/5

Haunt Interval: 4-7

Regular Haunt/Stun Duration: 0.6

Amplified Haunt/Stun Duration: 1.6

Haunt Illusion Damage Dealt: 100%

Haunt Illusion Damage Taken: 10%

Total Duration: 8-14/12-21/16-28/16-28

60

140

At the height of combat, Mercurial's physical manifestation shatters, and the shadowy pieces haunt those who still cling to life.

This ability got reworked into the current Haunt in the 6.33 gameplay patch.

Creates 1 haunt illusion for the target upon cast. This illusion lasts for 0.6 seconds, during which it attacks the target.

4-7 seconds later, the illusion re-appears for another 0.6 seconds, repeating until the target was haunted 3/3/4/5 times.

The 4-7 interval timer starts at the beginning of a haunt, not at the end and only uses integers.

During the 0.6 seconds of each haunting, the target is stunned.

When the target has no vision over Spectre, the haunting and stun duration increase to 1.6 seconds.

The illusion is used for each haunt interval. This means when the illusion is destroyed, it does not appear again on the remaining intervals.
- However, the stun is independent and does continue to occur for the remaining intervals.

When Spectre or the target are dead upon the next haunting, the spell stops.
- This means if either respawn before the next interval is going to happen, the spell does not end prematurely.

Reality (pre 6.33)

DR

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Mercurial makes the next haunting a reality by visiting the target herself.

Cast Animation: +

60

The scattered shadows unite into the one true Spectre.