Spectre, The Mercurial - DotA Hero Strategy Guide

A darkness who was ancient even in the early days of the world's existence, Mercurial is the embodiment of rage and vengeance in the souls of those long dead. Haunting her enemies with relentless fervor, she is able to throw a dagger-like projectile that allows her to chase her prey beyond physical boundaries, and the fear and the desolation struck in the hearts of those who have the misfortune of encountering her alone is a pain impossible to withstand. Spectre's thirst for destruction is insatiable, and the upcoming struggle seems to be just what she was waiting for.

	Mercurial - The Spectre Range: 100 | Move Speed: 295 Primary: AGI Str: 19 + 2 | Agi: 23 + 2.2 | Int: 16 + 1.9 Damage: 46-50 | HP: 511 | Mana: 208 HP Regen: 0.82 | Mana Regen: 0.65 Attack Speed: 1.26 | Armor: 3
	Spectral Dagger (E) The Spectre launches a deadly dagger that trails a Shadow Path. Deals damage to the targets in its path. Units hit by the dagger will also trail a Shadow Path. The Spectre becomes phased (gains zero collision) while on the path. Level 1 - Spectre gains 5% movespeed, enemies lose 5%. Deals 50 damage. Level 2 - Spectre gains 9% movespeed, enemies lose 9%. Deals 100 damage. Level 3 - Spectre gains 14% movespeed, enemies lose 14%. Deals 150 damage. Level 4 - Spectre gains 18% movespeed, enemies lose 18%. Deals 200 damage. Mana Cost: 130/140/150/160 Cooldown: 25 Comment: Main skill for chasing you can consider this as a nuke, im gonna teach you how you can combine this skill with Haunt to finish an enemy hero.
	Dispersion (I) Reduces and causes any damage taken by Mercurial to be reflected onto all enemies in a 1000 AoE. Level 1 - 5% of damage. Level 2 - 10% of damage. Level 3 - 15% of damage. Level 4 - 20% of damage. Mana Cost: N/A Cooldown: N/A Comment: Good skill against channelers like voljin rylai we are going to max this first for defensive purposes.
	Desolate (E) Deals bonus damage that cuts through armour when attacking a hero that has no nearby allies. Works on Illusions. Level 1 - Deals 15 bonus damage Level 2 - Deals 25 bonus damage Level 3 - Deals 35 bonus damage Level 4 - Deals 45 bonus damage Mana Cost: N/A Cooldown: N/A Comment: This Skill is all about hero killing this is what makes Spectre a good Solo hero.
	Haunt (T) Creates a haunting image beside each enemy hero. These images are uncontrollable, take 200% damage, deal 40% damage and each of them will attack only its pair. Images also have the dispersion ability. Cooldown goes down with level. Level 1 - Lasts 4 seconds. Level 2 - Lasts 5 seconds. Level 3 - Lasts 6 seconds. Haunt has a 1 second delay during which they fade in before the images start attacking the targets Mana Cost: 150 Cooldown: 120 Comment: Your Ultimate skill this can finish off heroes with 1/4 health this skill is a free maphack. Use Reality to transfer with your illusions and use spectraldagger for the win.

Skill Build: 1. Spectral Dagger 2. Dispersion 3. Spectral Dagger 4. Dispersion 5. Spectral Dagger 6. Haunt 7. Spectral Dagger 8. Dispersion 9. Dispersion 10. Desolate 11. Haunt 12. Desolate 13. Desolate 14. Desolate 15. Stats 16. Haunt 17. Stats 18. Stats 19. Stats 20. Stats 21. Stats 22. Stats 23. Stats 24. Stats 25. Stats

Item Build: 1. Boots of Travel (2700) +90 Run Speed Active: Teleport 3 Second Cast Time, 60 Second Cooldown, 75 mana cost Boots of Speed + Boots of Travel Recipe Scroll Gives good speed and needed defending purposes and the images stack with the increased speed 2. Manta Style (5800) +30 Agility +6 Intellegence +250 HP Passive: Feedback 40 Mana Burned per Attack to Heroes Active: Illusion Creates 2 illusions of yourself that deals 40% damage and takes 300% damage 20 second duration, 70 second cooldown, 165 Mana Cost Orb effects do not stack Diffusal Blade + Vitality Booster + Manta Style Recipe Scroll the best item so far for Spectre images gain desolate and dispersion not to mention the also gain speed from Spectral dagger 3. Heart of Tarrasque (5500) +300 Hit Points +15 HP/Sec Regeneration 35 Strength Messerschmidts Reaver + Vitality Booster + Heart of Tarrasque Recipe Scroll Tanking purposes 4. Buriza-do Kyanon (5950) +75 Damage Passive: Critical Strike 20% Chance 2.2x Damage Multiplier Crystalis + Demon Edge + Buriza-do Kyanon Recipe Scroll Crits stack with images so im game with this

Early Game: Most Important items in surviving Early game . Self Explanatory Bracers give good Hp rather than wraiths. Boots is always needed by any hero. Chickens are for faster transport. Ring of Regeneration is for hp recovery. Tangoes are for Hp recovery since Spectre is very fragile. EARLY GAME(1-6) As you choose spectre buy some tangoes a chicken and proceed with any lane you wish to choose. If your laning with somebody be sure to dominate the lanes so your enemies wont farm well. If your alone and facing a meelee hero Last hit and deny is all that your going to do because of Spectres high attackspeed she should farm well easily. If facing a nuker just stay back your range creep and last hit or hug your tower so the enemy nuker wont chase you to death. Dont forget to buy a Ring if you didnt consider getting tangoes If you farmed well this should be your Inventory We wont be getting Ring of Bassilus since we wont spam Spectral dagger keep that in mind ok. KILLING TIME Killing with Spectre is more noobish than Zeus. Ok First look for a Half healthed hero think it over and over if you can kill him/her a failed attempt can cause you your own demise. Start out with Haunt then reality to your Illusion he should be running with a few whacks throw in a spectral dagger chase for the kill then you will be 100gold richer and happier Summary in Killing 1.Find a 1/2 health hero that you can take on. 2. Quickly Cast Haunt and let it have a few whacks. 3. Reality Next to him/her little mor whacks then spectral dagger for the win. With a Team mate 1.Tell your team mate that you will be ganking if he/she has a stun let them go first./p> 2.Haunt Few whacks then Reality. 3.Spectral Dagger and You or your team mate should have a kill. Spectre's Role in Mass gangbanging Her role is simply to slow a hero or Haunt a hero for thier location but more importantly she is a hero assasin herself. END OF EARLY GAME

Mid Game: MIDGAME (7-15) If you farmed right and ganked well you should have these items Spectre's Mid game is all about 3 things 1.Farming 2.Ganking 3.Pushing With Diffusal and Spectres Attack speed farming will be a breeze for her and so is Ganking. Pushing In early game you and your team mates should have taken down all Lvl1 towers in Mid game pushing is the key of winning.Dota players tend to forget this and brag about killing rights remember 1000Kills and 0 deaths dont mean a thing if your Frozenthrone/World tree is destroyed. Pushing will be easy lane with an ally and start pushing towers fast, 2-5 minutes is the common time of pushing while nobody is defending. Your Pushing should attract some attention and they will defend so what do you do? Use your improved Killing and Ganking Skills. NEW COMBO Haunt-> Reality-> Spectral Dagger-> Purge-> Chase and Kill Full Hp Heroes 1. Whack a few times 2. Spectral dagger as a nuke 3.Whack again a few times 4.Spectral dagger and purge for the kill 1/2 HP HEROES Either A. 1.Haunt and Reality 2.Spectral Dagger 3.After using the dagger Purge for the kill B. 1.Hit for a few times 2.Spectral dagger 3.Purge and chase for the kill TEAM GANKING 1.Notify and Ask your Ally to go first if she or he has a stun or slow 2.Once both of you are there Surely your ally will be duking it out with the enemy 3.Haunt Asap and reality next to him/her 4.Purge and chase this should give you or your team mate the kill and expierience. PURGE USES Purge is what makes Spectre a team player or a Soloer The uses 1.Saving Allies 2.Removing Skills doom poison etc. 3.Solo Kill or Team Kill. Remember to finish all the charges before upgrading to manta since all charges count. These should be your items END OF MIDGAME

Late Game: LATEGAME(16-25) The defining moment of Spectre, as you know Spectre is a late game hero she sucks early game but comebacks strong in Mid and Late this all depends in your farming and Ganking Whats next to get? 1. Vanguard has a nice synergy with dispersion i usually get this to boost Spectre's Hp after getting Manta this isnt hard to farm. 2. Tarasque this is for tanking or incase you dont get Vanguard. 3.Buriza This is for damage since Images bennefit from Crits. 4. Boots of Travel for pushing and defending also for killing since the speed stacks with the images i usually get this after tarasque or vanguard because defending is a must in late game SUMMARY ON WHAT TO GET OR THEN THEN Not much to say after you get Manta and tarasque or vanguard the game should end So in short Spectre should do this 1. Farm Less 2.Gank and Team Battles 3.Push like crazy 4.Defend The only Tip i can give you is stay with your team mates because all of your enemies have good items or completed thier core itmes so be careful DYING IS NOT FUN IN LATE GAME. OVER ALL ITEMS OR Manta Combo Spectral dagger-> Manta -> select all illusions-> Whack enemy to death OR Haunt- Reality-> Spectral Dagger-> Manta-> select all illusions -> Whack enemy to death Manta is a very good item for spectre since illusions gain bennefit from feed back and they got all her passive skills not to mention they get increase speed in spectral dagger Manta for escaping? Yes Manta is also for escaping once your in low health use manta and spectral dagger send all your illusions in diffrent directions to confuse the enemy or just simply do this Manta-> Spectral Dagger -> Escape like there is no tommorow END OF LATE GAME

Conclusion: NOOBS SECTION An alternative Build incase you dont want Manta Please i hardly recommend this Why the skills? Spectral dagger is your nuke and chasing skill, Dispersion is for Defense, Haunt in level 6 can net you first blood and desolate is effective mid game. May i remind you Spectral dagger is also for escaping. Why not desolate in Early game? No because do you expect that you can kill an enemy with out help from your ally in early game Desolate is only i reapeat effective in MID to LATE game. Why Manta? Manta has good synergy with your ulti and images bennefit from feed back and be aware they images has Dispersion and desolate not to mention they have increase speed when using Spectral dagger. What not to Get Eos is too much expensive dont get int items you wont need it Mjolnir i dont like it even with increased IAS Midas is also a waste of time and gold. DR/AEGIS You can get this if you have time and gold. Further use of Spectral dagger and Haunt Spectral dagger gives you zero collision, this means you can move like ghost imagine moving to a cliff by passing through it. As for Haunt it can be a good use for Map hack hehe Spectral dagger Escaping tips At my recent activity i found out a way to use Spectral dagger for escaping effectively example, Spectre uses the spectral dagger to escape through a cliff. This is possible how you ask by shift clicking. Shift Clicking!! Yes you can use Shift clicking for escaping its easy press shift and right click you will see some marks yes marks like a spear mark where you shift click sounds confusing eh but you should try. I suggest practicing in your fountain first Shift clicking makes spectre do a diffrent approach in moving. How do you master Shift Clicking? The easiest way to master this is to practice it in the fountain, You see the big rock in your fountain Use spectral dagger there and shift click spectre should move through if you made a mistake Spectre will go around the rock. Try it on diffrent areas on the map so you can get a hang of it. What are the skills that Dispersion disperse? 1.Freezing field 2. Death ward 3.Epicenter 4.Soul steal 5.Nightmare- you cant disperse this 6.Requiem of Souls 7. Shackles 8. Blade fury- It can but Yurnero will not take damage 9.Frost Bite 10.Over Growth 11. Fiends Grip 12. Counter Helix 13. Spirit Bears Entangle 14.Ignite 15.Black Hole 16.Malefice 17. Avalanche 18.Fire pandas immolation 19.Diabolic Edict 20.Decriptify+Nether Blast- She can disperse the whole thing or take less damage 21.Rot 22. Reapers Scythe 23.Shadow weave 24. Doom 25.Static Field 26. Geo strike 27.Fatal bonds 28. Shadow word 29. Infernals Immolation 30.Rupture Note: She can disperse this skill nulling them or she takes less damage. Concluding Section Good Allies and Bad Enemies And many more you guys should know what to do Enemies Early game nukers and Heroes that can out last you. I hope you learned something from spectre she isnt your average hero i hope people get to play her more often. Thanks to: Dota strategy for making this guide. To all dota players out there keep rocking \m/. Reminder I will update this from time to time and post pictures to since our internet speed is slow and get bad lags in Gg client or battle net so i am forced to play outside. Thank you again!! I await your comments -END OF GUIDE-

This guide has been taken from DotaStrategy.com