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Bad against...[]
- Spectre has no way to prevent Blink, for escape or initiation. Anti-Mage can easily pick off enemy supports and Spectre cannot do anything about it.
- Mana Break burns through Spectre's low mana pool.
- Manta Style's illusions prevent Desolate's damage.
- Even though Anti-Mage is outcarried by Spectre in the later stages of the game, a competent Anti-Mage with a Battle Fury can easily outfarm and get ahead of Spectre before she can come online.
- Spectre has no innate disables or silence to stop any of Dawnbreaker's abilities
- Solar Guardian allows Dawnbreaker to quickly stand next to one of her allies, denying Spectre any of Desolate's bonus
- Luminosity outheals the damage dealt by Dispersion
- Infernal Blade's damage is calculated by percentage of maximum health, meaning that it will hurt Spectre more than most normal attacks, negating some of her tankiness.
- Doom can pick up several different abilities from neutral creeps using Devour, some of which can be annoying to Spectre.
- Mud Golem, Dark Troll Summoner, Harpy Stormcrafter, Satyr Mindstealer or Satyr Tormenter are good examples.
- Doom makes Spectre less disruptive. Combined with Aghanim's Scepter, it will disable Spectre passive skills, reducing her potential in teamfights.
- Juggernaut's Healing Ward can help save allied supports when Spectre attempts a Haunt kill.
- Juggernaut has a stronger push potential than Spectre, enabling him to end the game early before Spectre can come online.
- Spectre is often paired with two supports that are often weak against Juggernaut.
- Juggernaut also tends to build a Manta Style, which can prevent Desolate from taking effect.
- Juggernaut is invulnerable against Dispersion while using Omnislash.
- Feast deals damage and heals lifestealer based on the target max health. Because Spectre often emphasises on building stat items to increase her HP pool, lifestealer can deal a lot of damage to her and heal himself at the same time.
- Ghoul Frenzy slows target, which is bad for Spectre if she does not have Spectral Dagger ready.
- Spectre cannot response to infest if lifestealer choose to stay inside his high mobility allies to approach the backline. Rage's bonus movement speed and spell immunity make it even more frustrating.
- Hex and Mana Drain can be used to immediately destroy Spectre's illusion when she Haunts. A fast fingered Lion can protect himself and a teammate.
- Hex and Earth Spike are good lockdown spells to control and kill Spectre, especially if she doesn't buy defensive items like Linken's Sphere and Black King Bar.
- Finger of Death can be used to burst down Spectre when she is low on life as she has very poor magic resistance.
- The movement speed granted from Shapeshift means that Spectre has no way to punish Lycan if he wants to splitpush or pick off supports. Furthermore, he will kite Haunt and cannot be slowed by Spectral Dagger.
- Lycan is often part of an early game push strategy which is often the best counter to Spectre because she needs a lot of time and space to come online as a late game carry.
- Poof combined with Earthbind can be used to easily lockdown and burst Spectre down.
- As Meepo's playstyle is often to come online early to mid game and take over the whole game, Meepo will often be much further ahead of Spectre in farming.
- Meepo's global map presence allows him to effectively hunt for Spectre and disrupt her farm.
- Spectre has no strong AOE abilities or way to control or lock down Meepo.
- Death Pulse can single out Spectre from her illusions, as well as heal his team against her. He also usually stands close to his allies for Death Pulse, effectively disabling Desolate.
- Global Guardian Angel will protect his allies from Spectre's Haunt, both when they are alone and in teamfights.
- Purification is a major problem for melee enemies, Spectre included, since they must be next to an enemy in order to attack. The AoE damage also allows Spectre to be singled out from her illusions.
- Degen Aura will prevent Spectre from chasing Omniknight, further exacerbated by her terrible mobility outside Haunt.
- Phantom Lancer has higher mobility and the ability to reset any fights with Doppelganger can be a nuisance for spectre to fight against.
- Phantom Lancer is a natural carrier of Diffusal Blade and Manta Style, which is outright nullify Desolate. In fact, Phantom Lancer will always have illusions with him at anytime, thus further exacerbated the problem.
- Although Spectre is largely AoE oriented, unfortunately, they are damage-over-time (DoT) rather than burst AoE damage. Without any effective ways to quickly destroy illusion and reveal the real hero, Spectre has little availability to manfight Phantom Lancer at any points in the game.
- Spectre often relies on Spectral Dagger as a pseudo-mobility skill. With her low mana pool and complete dependence on it to catch enemy team, she will soon find herself unable to do anything significant once her mana pool is completely drained.
- Doppelganger can be used to dispel the slow from Spectral Dagger, thus completely render it useless.
- Nether Blast is one of the best tower pushing abilities in the game, with a low cooldown. A competent Pugna will (at the very least) destroy tier 2 towers and make space for his team before Spectre can finally come online.
- Spectre's spells, while not spammable, have a fairly high mana cost, so Nether Ward can be fairly damaging to Spectre early game. The mana degen will also dampen Spectre's early game power significantly.
- Once Pugna gets Aghanim's Scepter, he can spam Life Drain on any illusion Spectre summons, whether it'd be from Haunt, Manta Style, or some other means.
- In addition, Pugna can disable Spectre's Desolate ability (although its damage is pure, it requires physical attacks) with his Decrepify ability, leaving Spectre only with Spectral Dagger.
- Riki's Smoke Screen can make it hard for Spectre to escape or burst down Riki with auto attacks.
- Riki can build Aghanim's Scepter and jump inside an allied carry or offlane tank with Tricks of the Trade to do a lot of damage to Spectre while completely avoiding Dispersion.
- Riki is great at destroying supports which are often needed to keep Spectre safe until she comes online. He can take them down quickly in team fights, which will leave Spectre alone against your whole team, a fight that she will most likely not win.
- While on Tricks of the Trade, Riki does not take damage from Dispersion.
- Hex can be used immediately to destroy Spectre's illusion when she Haunts.
- Shadow Shaman can use Shackles to lock down Spectre for his team.
- Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward and Ether Shock help him push lanes and end the game early before Spectre can come online and take over the late game.
- Storm Spirit can exploit every one of Spectre's weaknesses, and thus is one of the best counters against her.
- Spectre has to be in melee range to deal damage, making her likely to trigger Static Remnants and susceptible to being kited by Overload procs.
- Electric Vortex can lock Spectre down as she doesn't like to build Black King Bar.
- Ball Lightning gives Storm Spirit multiple advantages:
- Spectre cannot evade Storm Spirit, as Ball Lightning is superior to Spectral Dagger in terms of mobility.
- Storm Spirit can kite her and her Haunt illusions when it's later in the game due to her having no form of pseudo-blinks (Reality is far inferior to Ball Lightning).
- It is very difficult for Spectre to deal any substantial damage against Storm Spirit with Desolate. Ball Lightning grants invulnerability and can mitigate damage done from Dispersion and Radiance.
- To mitigate this, Spectre needs a team with hard disable to take Storm Spirit out.
- If Terrorblade's health gets low enough, Terrorblade's Sunder can be used to completely deplete Spectre's health pool without any consequences from Dispersion.
- Terrorblade is one of the few late game heroes that can stand toe to toe and man fight Spectre. Not all is lost if the game goes late when Terrorblade is on your team against Spectre.
- Generally speaking, Spectre is a strong teamfighter but a weak manfighter. She has no tool to deal with troll warlord once he has his sight locked on her.
- Troll often buys Silver Edge and Monkey King Bar, which greatly countered Spectre's passive and item build (Silver Edge can disable passive while providing some damage, Monkey King Bar provides accuracy to counter Radiance and Butterfly miss chance).
- Black King Bar allows troll to bypass the damage return from Blade Mail should Spectre attempts to fight back Troll. However, Black King Bar is generally not very effective against Spectre as her skills can pierce the spell immunity. Still, it offers protection against Blade Mail, a common item for Spectre in the mid game.
- Troll has high lifesteal from Battle Trance and Satanic, which help him survive the damage from Desolate should the break duration is over.
- Battle Trance and Fervor mean Spectre will have a hard time fighting troll and cannot take him down, even with equal farm.
- Spectre must chase for kills and relies on movement speed for mobility in fights, and has no way to counter the Tombstone zombies.
- The potency of Soul Rip can be increased from nearby illusions from Haunt.
- Decay will shut down Spectre during the laning phase by effectively cutting down her initial health pool.
- Venomancer's poison damage over time is very effective against Spectre, who tends to lack magic resistance during the early to mid game.
- Venomancer's multiple slows greatly reduces Spectre's movement speed and mobility.
- Plague Wards can scout out Spectre while she is hiding in trees.
- Nethertoxin disable passives, negating Spectre's damage and survivability by removing both Dispersion and Desolate.
- Due to Haunt and Radiance's burn, Spectre is heavily susceptible to being persistently slowed and damaged by Corrosive Skin without even directly attacking Viper.
- Poison Attack and Viper Strike further slow Spectre's movement speed to a crawl, while his improved magic resistance means he can easily shrug off Radiance's burn.
- Arctic Burn makes it nearly impossible for Spectre to juke into the trees.
- Cold Embrace negates all of Spectre's physical damage. Furthermore, Cold Embrace will generally outheal Desolate.
- Winter's Curse can taunt illusions, not only wasting the entire duration of Haunt but also turning its illusions against Spectre's own team.
Others[]
- Disruptor can control where she goes with Kinetic Field and Glimpse. Static Storm shuts her down in teamfights.
- Dark Seer can pull together Spectre's illusions with Vacuum, and Wall of Replica creates an illusion of Spectre that deals massive damage.
- Slardar's Slithereen Crush allows him to stun Spectre and illusions, and Corrosive Haze prevents her from juking with Spectral Dagger.
- Heroes with good escapes can usually outmaneuver and escape from Spectre: Slark, Clinkz, Weaver
- Heroes that are strong in lane can cause a lot of problems for Spectre in the early game, preventing her from getting farm and experience.
Items[]
- Scythe of Vyse will completely disable Spectre, and she rarely builds a Black King Bar to prevent this.
- Battle Fury will deal AoE damage and allow Spectre to be identified from her illusions.
- Mjollnir's active ability can deal a lot of damage to Spectre during a team fight, as damage from both Dispersion and Radiance will drastically increase the proc chance of Static Charge.
- Silver Edge can break both Desolate and Dispersion, crippling Spectre.
- Crimson Guard blocks most of physical damage from Dispersion.
Good against...[]
- As Ancient Apparition likes to stay far away from the fight to get full effectiveness from Ice Blast, he is a very good target for a Haunt gank.
- Ancient Apparition also has no hard disables and escape spells, making him an easy kill for Spectre.
- Spectre can catch Clinkz with Spectral Dagger, even if he uses Skeleton Walk.
- Spectre can instantly reach a ratting Clinkz with Haunt.
- Desolate's damage will melt him quickly, as he's alone most of the time.
- As Crystal Maiden is squishy with very bad movement speed, Spectre can easily stay on Crystal Maiden with Haunt and Spectral Dagger.
- Late game, with enough farm, Spectre can withstand an entire Freezing Field, possibly even causing Crystal Maiden to kill herself from Dispersion.
- Spectre can easily close the distance on Drow Ranger with Haunt and stick on her with Spectral Dagger, effectively disables her Marksmanship.
- Spectre does not care if silenced by Gust, since Spectre will catch her up regardless.
- Dispersion can reflect some damage back to Drow Ranger should she chooses to attack.
- Be careful once she got her Silver Edge as an attempt to shut you down.
- Spectre can use Haunt to intercept and disrupt Earthshaker's initiation attempts.
- Spectral Dagger can be used to traverse past Fissure.
- Earthshaker often travels alone when he is trying to initiate, so Desolate can be very effective against him.
- Spectre can very easily close the distance on Lina with Haunt and Spectral Dagger, and due to Lina's abysmal mobility without a Blink Dagger and terrible health pool and armor, Lina easily gets slaughtered due Desolate.
- Dispersion can mitigate a good portion of Lina's burst damage, allowing Spectre to turn against her afterwards.
- Spectre can use Haunt to intercept and disrupt Magnus's initiation attempts.
- Spectral Dagger can severely slow down Magnus after he uses Skewer.
- Magnus often travels alone when he is trying to initiate, so Desolate can be very effective against him.
- In late game, Spectre can survive Reverse Polarity initiation thanks to Dispersion.
- Spectre can get to him anywhere on the map with Haunt.
- Spectre can pass through his trees with Spectral Dagger.
- Desolate's damage will melt him quickly, as he's alone most of the time.
- Oracle's burst damage is not enough to take down Spectre due to Dispersion.
- Disarm from Fate's Edict does not hinder Spectre that much, since she can deal damage even without landing a single attack.
- Dispersion makes it hard for Phantom Assassin to burst down Spectre while also reflecting back Phantom Assassin's high burst damage against herself.
- Black King Bar is useless against Spectre as all of her skills pierce spell immunity.
- None of Spectre's spells are very good for Rubick to Spell Steal.
- Spectre can reach him easily in the backlines with Spectral Dagger or teleport to him with Haunt.
- He is usually a fair distance away from his allies, so Desolate will quickly tear Sniper down.
- Dispersion reflect or reduce his damage, making her hard to take down even at late game.
- His global teleportation with Boots of Travel and Rearm is easily countered with Haunt, and Spectre can reach him anywhere on the map.
- He is squishy, and if alone Desolate will kill him very fast.
- Dispersion can reflect and reduce his burst damage.
- Spectre can catch up to her with Spectral Dagger, even if she uses Windrun.
- Spectre can instantly reach a ratting Windranger with Haunt.
- Dispersion can reflect some of her damage, especially from her Focus Fire.
- Zeus burst damage can be reduced by Dispersion and reflect some of the damage back to Zeus himself.
- Zeus has low mobility and stays in backlines, Spectral Dagger or Haunt can easily catch him as he has no escape mechanism.
- Since Zeus has low HP, Spectral Dagger and Desolate will quickly tear Zeus down when he's alone.
Others[]
- Spectre's entire ability set is designed to get to and destroy heroes that stay in the backlines, both carries (like the aforementioned Drow Ranger and Sniper) and supports (like Dazzle and Shadow Shaman).
- Invisible heroes (like Bounty Hunter and Riki) can usually be caught by Haunt, and Spectre can chase them while simultaneously providing detection to her team.
- Squishy heroes without good escape mechanism: Crystal Maiden, Chen.
Items[]
- Spectre can intercept Blink Dagger initiations to warn her team while simultaneously disrupting enemy engagements.
- Black King Bar is essentially useless against Spectre as all her skills pierce Spell Immunity.
Works well with...[]
- Thirst can reveal enemies on low health anywhere on the map (and provide True Sight). Spectre can then Haunt to a low health enemy for an easy kill.
- Bloodrage can increase her damage from Radiance and Desolate.
- Spectre can use Haunt to reach a Tracked enemy anywhere on the map.
- Gold from killing Tracked enemies will allow Spectre to snowball and become unstoppable quickly.
- Hand of God can heal Spectre from anywhere on the map
- In the late game, Chen can push lanes by himself, and Spectre will be able to protect him from anywhere on the map with Haunt.
- Ganks from the jungle will allow Spectre to snowball quickly, and he can protect her in lane from enemy ganks.
- Haunt can reveal potential Hookshot targets without making him waste Rocket Flare.
- Echo Slam deals more damage the more units hit by it. This forces the enemy team to split up and risk being killed by Haunt illusions.
- Black Hole is devastating to heroes grouped together. The enemy team will be given the choice of being affected more by Haunt if spread out or Black Hole if grouped.
- Split Earth and Lightning Storm both provide excellent AOE lockdown to allow Spectre and her illusions to stick onto targets.
- Diabolic Edict can aid Spectre heavily in destroying towers, funneling her gold and creating space for her to farm.
- Magic damage from Pulse Nova compliments Spectre's physical and pure damage.
- Due to the AOE nature of Leshrac's spells, enemies will be discouraged from clumping up, which will make them more susceptible to Haunt ganks.
- Reverse Polarity is very effective versus heroes close together. The enemy team is forced to split to avoid this and is more exposed to Desolate from Haunt illusions.
- Empower can give bonus damage and cleave to Spectre to hasten her farm.
- Sanity's Eclipse can deal massive damage in an area. If the enemy heroes spread out, they risk being killed by Desolate.
- Desolate ignores nearby invulnerable and hidden units, so Outworld Destroyer can enable it by casting Astral Imprisonment on a nearby secondary target.
- Silver Edge breaks Dispersion, but Outworld Destroyer can negate the whole duration with Astral Imprisonment.
- Black King Bar is necessary against Outworld Destroyer, but all of Spectre's abilities pierce spell immunity. This forces their enemies to need more items to deal with both of them.
- Haunt and Shadow Step excel at targeting heroes who Outworld Destroyer can lack the means to catch such as Sand King, Sniper and Tinker.
- Nature's Guise can help Treant scout out enemies for potential Haunt ganks.
- Leech Seed will heal Spectre and her illusions, also providing a slow in case Spectral Dagger is on cooldown.
- Living Armor can be used to heal Spectre while she farms the jungle. It can also be used to heal towers, stalling the push of enemies and biding time for Spectre to farm her items.
- Overgrowth holds enemies in place. If enemies are rooted but far away enough from each other, Haunt illusions can be very devastating as then all of their attacks will be amplified by Desolate.
- Shadow Word keeps Spectre healthy in lane. Having more health also means more reflected damage with Dispersion.
- Fatal Bonds further increases damage of Haunt on a group of enemies.
- Can use Meat Hook on invisible heroes after Spectre hits them with Spectral Dagger.
Others[]
- Lane supports in general can help Spectre secure last hits and control the lane: Dazzle, Shadow Shaman, Shadow Demon
- Heroes with global abilities or high mobility help Spectre gank with Haunt: Io, Nature's Prophet, Ancient Apparition, Zeus
- Spectre deals almost exclusively physical or pure damage. To complement, nukers such as Skywrath Mage, Lina, etc. can prevent the team from lacking in magical damage.
