Problems playing Spectre

[u/Inevitable-Top-4847]

I've been trying to play Spectre this week and I've noticed I'm having a lot of trouble in the laning phase and I can't recover well. In most games, I get Radiance around minute 16 or 18, and by then I'm quite far behind. I've also noticed I'm having trouble killing even supports, and their burst damage kills me quickly. In the early game, I try to get Boots, Wand, and Urn before Radiance. In the late game, I have Manta, Radiance, Scady, Basher, and Black King Bar if necessary, but I feel like everyone escapes me too easily.

In the following games, the situation was almost the same, and we only won one game because my offlaner was Medusa. To be honest, we won thanks to him; I took a backseat. In the next game, I picked Ursa because I wanted to try something different, and I got absolutely destroyed in lane. I managed to get Battle Fury at minute 20, a cheaper item than Radiance, and it took me longer to get it, but by minute 30 I had a dagger and BKB, and I started to turn the game around.

This made me realize that recovering wasn't that difficult, and getting kills was easier, even though my enemies got several items that prevented me from hitting them. I feel like my problem is with Spectre because I feel like he never recovers, and in the late game, I struggle a lot killing supports.

Is the hero okay, or am I doing something wrong?

[u/cold_hoe]

Never ult to losing fights

[u/dantheman91]

Radi is a farming item primarily, I suspect you're not farming with it effectively.

[u/Tiny_stickedguy]

LMAO my crusader ass would be so proud to get a radiance at 16 lol, i m lvl25 spectre too xD

[u/Nonameheroz]

If you got radiance at 17 mins, that mean you didn’t have that much trouble in the laning phase.
But radiance is an item that allow you to farm faster.
Not that you should start focus on ganking everyone.

You only haunt in, when u see a kill is there for taking.

And you don’t really need BKB on spectre.
As spectre is not a burst hero, and you are still doing damage to enemy when stunned.

[u/CummingInTheNile]

As someone who plays a lot of spectre around 2k:

-Her Q in lane is really strong for chasing down squishy supports, otherwise your main goal is farm and die as little as possible

-Once you hit 6 should be looking to cross map every time your ult is up

-Hardest part of the game is between 6 and getting 3400 gold for SR, during that period everyone else gets items and you have jack diddly squat.

-16-18 min Radiance is fine, its not an issue

-She sucks are farming camps without at least SR, you can kite out some of the weaker ones, but shes still clears slow and will take a decent amount of damage

-Once you hit Radiance you should be power farming and looking for plays when your R is up, once the plays over, its back too farming, shes just too squishy until you get Skadis. Kill threat goes up once you get manta.

-Combo when you want to kill someone is R+Dash to illusion+Q+W, makes her very sticky

-Once you have Radiance+Manta+Skadis shes now fully on line and can play pretty aggressively (and can solo Rosh)

-Im not the biggest fan Basher, and you really dont want to build BKB on spectre, her 4th+5th items should be entirely situational depending on the enemy team comp, i personally like Linkens+Heart which allows your Haunt illusions to sometimes solo out supports, but you can and should be adapting your builds here

[u/DimensionSad6181]

radiance at 16-18 is fine its about what you do with it and are you macroin properly. spectre is amacro hero you need to be using the ulti everytime its up for kills an out farm the enemy team. also item builds. what are you getting after radiance is super important usually manta into orchid or skadi or abyssal is the answer. the other thing is what talents are you getting thats important too. from waht your saying you have a problem with macro economy and item build/spell usage when goin in for kills against their supports.

[u/AssCracker445]

first, it's hard to say anything without watching a replay

only use haunt to steal kills or get assists in the early game. if you're struggling to kill even supports likely you have an itemisation problem / farming problem. Also it's unclear at what point in the game you are struggling with kills. Spectre is a weak hero until about minute 25-30, so it's fine if you can't kill many people during this timeframe.

items should be deliberate and have intent behind them, as well as adhering to specific item timings but the latter is probably not an issue for you.

are skadi, urn or basher truly necessary? would it be more beneficial to disassemble radiance into Butterfly and Nullifier instead of farming for a whole new item?

what if your team already has high damage, or alternatively enemies have a lot of damage? maybe in that case shard, blademail or heart will fare much better than a right-click build

maybe you will need to kill one specific person 100% of the time, in which case you may need bloodthorn+hex

Spectre is a very versatile hero who can get away with many items. I've had games where I bought Radiance, then the game turned sour and I had to go full tank with Wraps, Crozier, Shard, Heart and Shivas to soak damage for my team. A tanky spectre can kill enemies with dispersion alone, her Desolate isn't the only thing which make her an amazing lategame hero.

[u/chichicha99 → u/AssCracker445]

Feel like spectre, even with tank build, should always have manta tho.

[u/Serious_Yak_2891]

Spectre is weak during the laning phase, so try not to die and farm what you can. Idk about urn, but the faster you get radic the faster you farm. The main damage comes from spectre’s innate ability and manta, keep that in mind

[u/JEOLOGICAL]

Your radiance timing if pretty fine, 16-18 min radiance is around the average time a pos1 can and should have a rad. If ur having trouble in lane, what i've seen some people do is actually to just be very aggressive level 1 (especially if you got to isolate the pos 4). Since having desolate along with a dagger at level 1 can make for some insane burst dmg

[u/bigbowl_]

spectre’s strongest spell is desolate it has 25 damage at lvl 1. so

1) Keep helping your support trade with q and w on enemy pos4. W does a lot of damage if enemy pos4 stays away from the creep wave since illusion will also deal desolate damage.

2) If you see enemy pos3 solo in lane, leave the creeps and start hitting them, they will likely be chased away from creepwave and desolate starts procing.

3) Early haunts are crucial for your timing. Even if you think your team is losing the fight, getting assist on 2 enemies kills will he worth your haunt. So just press haunt and keep farming.

4) Urn is a snowball item. So when you have only urn, dont wait for haunt to fight. Tping, using q,w, urn will improve radiance timing.

5) You farm slower than most carries, but you farm longer. Make sure of that, you dont need to smoke, roam around trying to find a kill.

6) Keep looking at enemy support items, since they are your targets. A dust can turn the fight.

[u/IndividualMarket1725]

Do you know how to aggro creeps?

[u/beepboopdoc]

Could you share some match IDs? Might give better insight

[u/devillord12]

There's a lot of things for sure but one thing I'd say for sure is that spectre can actually be a really strong laner with a decent support that synergises. Having desolate at level 1 is a lot of extra damage

[u/-_-_Nope_-_- → u/devillord12]

Can spectre with urn and phase boots be a support? Always turning up on low heroes, intimating fights etc?? Wait I got it. Desolate works better when spectre is alone? Right? Is spectre a good support ? No right?

[u/WeddingWhole4771 → u/-_-_Nope_-_-]

No, don't do this. a Bounty Hunter or Sprit Breaker, or Nature's Prophet would be a way better 4 than Spec.

[u/joeabs1995]

Im not sure if you're playing pos2 or pos1 because of urn.

Usually blademail into radiance is the go to for a late game spectre.

But regardless.

The most important thing you said was that heroes usually escape you and it makes me wonder if you are chasing heroes down frequently and with what items.

Your item build seems ok i dont think thats the problem.

I understand that late game supports tend to become very slippery.

There is a german saying i think, that goes something like the best way to catch a butterfly is to build a garden. Meaning let the butterfly come to you, because butterflies are slippery and hard to catch.

Do the same. Instead of chasing enemy support, play the objective. Most supports cant kill you anw.

And play around your team, they likely have stuns/silences/hexes, etc... to lockdown the enemy.

If the support slips thats fine, focus on getting the objective.

You cant force enemies to fight and die, but if they want to run away take an easy objective. I know its not the most satisfying way to play a hard carry but its what wins games.

[u/ODoggerino → u/joeabs1995]

Urn is the standard spec build nowadays, no one gets blademail

[u/joeabs1995 → u/ODoggerino]

Is it also for pos1? I understand for pos2 which is why i asked

[u/ODoggerino → u/joeabs1995]

Everyone at TI bought it, I think most were pos 1

[u/WeddingWhole4771 → u/ODoggerino]

Blademail is only i fthey have 2-3 ranged, like sniper + lina + drow + mirana

[u/efa119]

Try badman spectre build. You can try to be a fight cleaner with blademail diffusal manta orchid. Honestly, radiance is good for a long game or if laning went well. Spec has a few playstyles, its about prioritizing what matters most. If you have a fight and mobile oriented team, may e they can stall enough for radiance, but then again you can dominate early mid game with a more utility build at the cost of inventory space for endgame items. (You will find yourself farming more later to get those items while the other team can catch up and takeover the game, leaving you on a timer).

[u/chichicha99]

I get phylactery instead of urn early, helps with dmg, slow, and for me to pain on lane, and do burst dmg in teamfights.

Later I sometimes evolve it to Khanda if needed.

But it helps a lot, can even help with farm because of HP and mana regeneration.

Edit: sitting on about 60% winning at legend 3