THE SPECTRAL STALKER

Base Statistics		--	Adv. Statistics
Affiliation:	Scourge		Attack Animation:	0.3 / 0.7
Damage:	46 - 50		Casting Animation:	0.3 / 0.51
Armor:	3.3		Base Attack Time:	1.7
Movespeed:	295		Missile Speed:	Instant
Attack Range:	100 [Melee]		Sight Range:	1800/800

Background Story: 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.

THE INDEX
Two short tips about how to go about perusing this guide. Firstly, if you find the font too small, then use 'Ctrl' + '+' to enlarge it. Secondly, click on the sub headers to return to the main menu.

INTRODUCTION
SKILLSET
SPECTRAL DAGGER
DESOLATE
DISPERSION
HAUNT

INTRODUCTION

Spectre. One of the most haunting [pardon the pun] heroes in the game. With a skillset and theme to perfectly synchronize with her model, she is one of my favourite heroes. The popular misconception about Spectre is that she was "nerfed to the ground". The reality is that Spectre started off way above ground level, and now she has entered the fringes of balance. Still a tad overpowered, she can situationally take down unwary teams on her own. Her main strengths lie in the fact that she is not as item dependant as most carries, yet she has potentially scaling skills that make her one; and the fact that she can, in mid game, take out almost any lone hero solo.

ROLE: Spectre's role is not as simple as that of, say Axe, nor is it overbearing like that of Invoker's. Spectre's role in early game is to set herself up; ie. to farm up her core items. There is almost no way around this: she is NOT a good roamer or ganker this early on. In mid game, she is a global ganker and stalker. Her job is to hunt down and take out isolated targets every two minutes of the game. Also, she is a brilliant anti-gank, and can turn the tides on any skirmish by instantly appearing at the side of her fighting team mates. Come lategame, she can choose to bolster her EHP and become a semi-tank, balancing out her DPS, or she can choose to become a traditional carry, bolstered by her heavy gold input through hero kills and assists. Spectre can easily get an assist on almost every mid game kill.

I'm not going to have a pros and cons section, I'm just going to tell you what you're better off doing in a decent game. Yes, Spectre can babysit and roam, but no, that's not how you optimize her role.

OPTIMIZED	NOT OPTIMIZED
Decent starting damage and animation	Bad stat growth [6.1 per level]
A situationally amazing escape/juke skill	Vulnerable to disables [no hard escape skill]
Amazing at chasing and picking off lone heroes	Not that powerful against groups of heroes till late game
Has a reliable 25% EHP increase skill	Cannot really be a hard tank due to main attribute being agility, and low strength growth
Rather versatile playstyle, can compensate for a few of the team's weaknesses	Does not truly excel in any role when her ultimate's in cooldown or heroes are grouped

PICK SPECTRE WHEN:

Your team comprises of disablers, gankers and/or a hard carry.

Your team comprises fragile heroes who might lack escape mechanisms.

Your team needs a tank/semi carry.

Your strategy consists of ganking and map control.

The enemy team is fragile, or consists of damaging [not disabling] spellcasters.

The enemy team is based on turtling a lone carry or two.

Now this list is obviously subjective and all of it depends on the line ups. Even if none of the points here match the game style, you can still go ahead and pick Spectre [Personally, my opinion is that she is an amazing DPS support come mid game] due to her aforementioned versatility.

SKILLSET

SPECTRAL DAGGER

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.

__	____.	________.	_______.	___.	_______.	__________________________.
	Mana	Cooldown	C. Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	130	16	2000	150	12	Spectre gains 5% movespeed, enemies lose 5%. Deals 50 damage
2	130	16	2000	150	12	Spectre gains 9% movespeed, enemies lose 9%. Deals 100 damage
3	130	16	2000	150	12	Spectre gains 14% movespeed, enemies lose 14%. Deals 150 damage
4	130	16	2000	150	12	Spectre gains 18% movespeed, enemies lose 18%. Deals 200 damage

Notes:
• Damage type: magical
• Buff lasts for 4 seconds after Mercurial leaves shadow path.
• Debuff lasts for 7 seconds after enemy leaves shadow path.
• Slows but does not damage magic immune units.
• The dagger moves at a speed of 857.14 units per second.
• Vision is granted of shadow path when Spectral dagger is cast.

GUIDE TO THE SPECTRAL DAGGER

The Spectral Dagger is your primary weapon, and it is the one skill that helps you juke, chase and go through uncrossable terrain and through other units. It also grants vision of the path it takes. Thus, I am presenting this miniguide to the one skill you will need the most often in your game.

First of all, note the casting range and the cooldown and duration. The casting range of 2000 is just about the same as a diagonal across your visible screen.

The Dagger takes around two and a half seconds to reach the end of the trail. The duration of 16, and the fact that the trail lasts for 12 seconds after creation coupled with the trail not instantly disappearing, means that the last created spot of the trail lasts around fourteen and a half seconds after cast. This gives the Dagger a down time of merely a second and a half before you can cast it again, making it almost permanently castable while chasing.

The manacost, however, is a problem, and coupled with Spectre's fairly low INT gain and manapool, using it indiscriminately is not an option. Always remember to keep 150~ mana in reserve for emergencies, in the laning phase.

AIMING
The first thing about the Dagger. How do you aim it? Well, basically, there are two methods to target, the ground or an enemy hero. Note that you cannot target creeps.

Targetting the ground: This is preferred when you are either going to escape [you need a specific pathway], you need to pass through a certain point of cliff, or there are multiple hero targets you have to hit [ie like in a team fight] and they are positioned roughly in a line. Basically, targetting ground ensures that the dagger travels the full 2000 units in a line. The disadvantage is that you might end up missing your moving target. Even if you miss your targets and they walk through the Shadow Path, they will get the slowing buff, but they will not take any damage unless they were directly in the Dagger's way when it initially passed. I always prefer targetting ground, but if you are new to the skill, by all means target the hero to get the feel of it. Remember: the Dagger travels 850~ distance per second, so it will reach halfway in about just over a second, and full distance in just under two and a half. It has a breadth of 150 units, just more than your melee attack range.

Targetting a hero: This is better when you're chasing solo heroes, or heroes in the forest, who can easily juke your dagger. The Dagger will curve towards the end of it's path, turning with the hero, and won't miss the target. The trail ends with the target hero, and on running, he will produce the extension of the trail. You can also use this [albeit with caution] on the last hero in a line of enemy heroes, to produce the same effect. However, this is usually not preferred because you lose the sight extention beyond the point of the target enemy hero.

Wasting: A misnomer of sorts, this isn't when you waste the Spectral Dagger completely, but lose out on the damage for a placement advantage. Do this when you have a moderate to heavy advantage while ganking or chasing an enemy; use it to cut off certain paths. Any decent enemy will hesistate to go through a Spectral path; it creates trails that will grant you a relative 30+% speed difference. Use this with discretion; it is not advised, but may work situationally.

JUKING
The Spectral Dagger can be used as an amazing juke/escape tool. The ability to gain speed, slow enemies in your wake, and pass through regions they cannot cross in one ability makes it one of the best tactical defensive weapons in the game [apart from Goblin Techies - but that's another story]. As I have mentioned before, always keep enough mana for your Dagger, if you are staying in your lane.

Lane Protection: The top and bottom lanes have very distinct, and relatively unbroken tree lines, and this gives a great advantage to Spectre against ganks. A few areas have been marked in the screenshots below of the top and bottom lanes, to demarkate the "safe" areas in the lane, which can commonly be used for quickly escaping from ganks. In these areas, the tree cover is thick, and a simple Dagger in the direction shown will grant you enough safety to wait out the potential gank / teleport or wait for your teammate/s to appear. I highly recommend carrying a TP scroll while laning with Spectre, especially against gank heavy lineups. -Unstuck is not an elegant way out.

As you can see, the bottom lane provides much more safe tree cover for Spectre to phase through. However, that is the long lane for the Scourge, and hence, it is a tad better for Spectre to be on the Sentinel team for gank evasion in the laning phase.

Forest/Cliff Juking: This follows the same principles as lane protection. If you're being chased and on low HP, shoot a Dagger towards either a clump of trees or a cliff. Use your jurisdiction to decide the exact spot. A few Blinkers and heroes who have displacement skills might be able to follow you through. So here's an interesting tip: you can go through any trees while you have the Dagger buff, not just the ones in the Spectral path. The Dagger buff lasts 7 seconds after you step on it. Note that this is not true for cliffs, though. You can only pass cliff paths which have been darkened by the dagger.

You might want to refer to Dr. Gazila's guide The Forbidden Techniques to learn about basic and advanced juking. However, also remember that along with the basic principles of juking, you have the additional ability to cross through any terrain, which gives you a huge advantage over normal juking.

A special note about cliff-crossing: it's really hard at first. Even when you right click on the shadow path itself on the other side of the cliff, it will seem like Spectre is trying to pass it from the non-cliff region. This is because of a hardcoded interaction which isn't too easy to bypass.

How do you do it, then? Well, the solution is to make a series of small-interval clicks near the slope itself. Personally, I use my Shift-click for this, and the simplst solution I have found is: make a series of shift clicks in succession on the cliff at very small intervals of each other. Then, make another shift-click away from the cliff and in the direction you are intending to head. This works very well most of the time; and the advantage is, you don't lose any speed while fumbling over the cliff.

Wards: In decent games, you will have to be careful of Wards. No matter what terrain you are passing through, if they can see you and you're in range, they can attack you. Wards are usually placed at higher elevation and some other key points. Make sure you anticipate wards at these points and act accordingly, and on the premise that you are seen by the enemy. Refer to Heldarion's Total Warding if you want to learn more about the basic warding locations. Enemies to watch out for, under influence of wards and in uncrossable terrain are long ranged stunners and displacers. They will cancel your TP, and might even manage to kill you. Prime examples are Mirana, Pudge and Chaos Knight. If they are chasing you in a high-ward-priority location, make sure you are far enough from them or hidden safely before attempting to teleport out.

MATH
Here are some numbers to help you understand by exactly how much the Spectral Dagger speeds you up, and slows enemies.

Spectre:

Boots	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
None	310	322	336	348
Boots of Speed	362	376	393	407
Power Treads	373	387	405	419
Boots of Travel	409	425	445	460

Enemies: [assuming 300 base MS]

Boots	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
None	285	273	258	246
Boots of Speed	332	302	301	287
Power Treads	342	327	309	295
Boots of Travel	375	359	339	323

Both tables show the effective values of MS increase / reduction after using the step down function. Note that I have not included Phase Boots in the table.

DESOLATE

Deals bonus damage that cuts through armor when attacking a hero that has no nearby allied units. Works on Illusions.

__	____.	________.	_______.	___.	_______.	__________________________.
	Mana	Cooldown	C. Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	-	-	-	-	-	20 Bonus Damage
2	-	-	-	-	-	30 Bonus Damage
3	-	-	-	-	-	40 Bonus Damage
4	-	-	-	-	-	50 Bonus Damage

Notes:
• Damage type: pure
• Damage is dealt before Spectre's actual attack.
• Works only if attacked enemy has no allies in 350 range.
• Your illusions also have the Desolate skill.

GUIDE TO DESOLATE

You must be wondering how a passive skill could have a guide behind it. Well, this is not per-se a guide, merely gives a few tips about how to position yourself and the enemy hero to pull off this skill.

Firstly, the requirement. You need to make sure there are no enemy units near the enemy hero. This does not include neutrals, but counts enemy creeps, illusions and conversions. The AoE requirement is 350.

Secondly, the animation. Whenever Desolate activates, there will be a small purplish explosion every time Spectre attacks the target. If it doesn't, that means your target is too close to their allies. Most of the time in a lane, the unit that stops Desolate from activating is a creep.

USAGE
Laning Phase: Desolate, if managed correctly, is a principal aid in harassment during the laning phase. At level 3, 25 pure damage hurts. Agreed, it isn't as great as Searing Arrows, nor are you ranged, but remember that an aggressive lane is a strong lane.

Teamwork with your lane partner is one of the main ways you can pull this off. Apart from stuns, slows and position displacers that your lane partner can pull off [most babysitters should indeed have at least one of them; I am considering spells like an openly channeling Illuminate to be position displacers, since they force enemy heroes to get out of it's way] they can also do a few things to ensure that your Desolate gets pulled off.

They can pull creep aggro. This works well against most melee enemies, since a sudden pull of creep aggro by your babysitter will jerk their creepwave away toward your sitter. Use this sudden displacement to get in a few hits if possible, else use their fear of your Desolate to keep the melee unit away from the creepwave with frequent tactics. This will only work if you have revealed the power of your Desolate, and the enemy is as or less aggressive than you. Do not overestimate Desolate, either.
They can bait. Usually not as successful, and a riskier tactic, but a low HP caster really does draw attention. Make your sitter position themselves at a suitable distance from the creeps, and wait for the perfect moment when your enemies get close. Also note that you shouldn't place too much risk on your sitter either, since you have an escape mechanism and they probably won't. If you judge it to be a better move, you can bait instead. Do not try this against dual disable lanes, ever.

Global phase: Most of the rest of the game, Desolate will be used for chasing and in conjunction with your ultimate. Remember, Haunt illusions cal deal the full 50 pure damage every blow [they also have Desolate], so they pack a really good punch even before you decide to cast Reality. Maxed Desolate is really a great weapon to get you through most fights easily. Remember: your illusions have Desolate.

Another thing here will be your chasing style. Remember to play mind games with the enemy. Try to lead them to or away from certain directions, by chasing them from certain angles. For example, if you're chasing a hero south, and shift a bit to the east to make it seem like you're chasing them south-west, then there is a chance that they will drift a bit to the west. Use these subtle positioning tricks to get your enemy where you want them; away from the rest of the enemy.

MATH
Here are some numbers which can help you compare the damage of a Sacred Relic, and Desolate, against armor.

Armor	Desolate	Relic
0	50	60
3	50	51
6	50	42
9	50	37
12	50	34

This means that as soon as the target hero attains ~5 armor, Desolate will deal as much damage as [and subsequently more than] a Relic.

DISPERSION

Causes any damage taken by Mercurial to be reflected onto all enemies in a 1000 AoE.

__	____.	________.	_______.	___.	_______.	__________________________.
	Mana	Cooldown	C. Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	-	-	-	1000	-	10% of damage
2	-	-	-	1000	-	14% of damage
3	-	-	-	1000	-	18% of damage
4	-	-	-	1000	-	22% of damage

Notes:
• Damage type: pure
• Reflected damage is not felt by Spectre, effectively reducing the incoming damage.
• Illusions will not benefit from this ability.
• Dispersed damage is divided equally between all enemy heroes in the AoE.

MATH ON DISPERSION

This skill has supposedly been "nerfed to the ground". I beg to differ. With a little bit of math, it becomes obvious that this skill is one of the more superior and reliable EHP skills in the game. I would like to compare this to Great Fortitude. Of course, I do understand that the roles are different, and Fortitude provides damage too, as well as HP regeneration; but I would still like to point out the scaling differences.

I'm going to draw up a table in which I give you the maximum HP required for Spectre's Dispersion to equal the EHP granted by Great Fortitude. Note that I have equated maxed Dispersion against each level of Fortitude, since that is an ultimate.

Level	Fortitude EHP	HP required
1	228	1036
2	456	2072
3	684	3108

This means that for Spectre to gain the EHP of Level 2 Great Fortitude, she needs 2072 maximum HP. A scaling skill which can easily make you as bulky as Bradwarden himself.

DISCUSSION
Dispersion is not just a damage block; it is AoE pure damage. This means that 22% of your HP is going to damage all opponents in a 1000 AoE. Note that the damage is now split between the heroes, but it still packs a moderate punch. Also, it's other main function is to disable Dagger of Escape in a huge area. Remember; your job is to target lone heroes and gank, and for that purpose, this skill is just brilliant at intimidating burst damage opponents on moderate health, and taking out very low HP heroes through having a tower or other obstacle damage you. Dispersion has great synergy with Radiance, and raw HP items.

Units affected by Dispersion will also have a small purplish visual effect on them.

HAUNT

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. Haunting images have a 1 second delay before they become active.

__	____.	________.	_______.	___.	_______.	__________________________.
	Mana	Cooldown	C. Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	150	120	-	-	5	Creates an Illusion beside each enemy hero
2	150	120	-	-	6	Creates an Illusion beside each enemy hero
3	150	120	-	-	7	Creates an Illusion beside each enemy hero

Notes:
• Illusions have Desolate ability with same level as Spectre's, and damage from Desolate on illusions isn't reduced.
• Illusions are uncontrollable.
• There is a 1 second delay before illusions start attacking the nearest hero.

REALITY [Subskill]

Target a location to replace the nearest Haunt Illusion immediately and end Haunt.

GUIDE TO HAUNTING

This is, of course, the one skill that gives you a global presence, and the ability to clamp down on any enemy on the map. Haunt is a unique and powerful ultimate which has multiple uses depending on the game phase and situation.

USAGE
In summary, Haunt coupled with Reality can be used to initiate, to escape, merely for free travel, to throw in extra damage in teamfights, to detect or prevent incoming ganks or to merely give your team the psychological edge when the enemies can never have a lone hero on yellow HP.

Early Game: I prefer to use Haunt defensively in early game if I am having a bad game. If you are not farming well, use Haunt to just avoid the cost of that Teleport Scroll to get to your lane [ie. if your enemy is in lane]. But use this tactic carefully, because it might mean you will miss out on a kill you might have snagged in the next two minutes. Also keep a watch on all the lanes as soon as you level up Haunt: the laning phase is the easiest and surest way to bag kills on low HP opponents. There is little juking involved and just a straight, short chase will ensure a kill.

Mid Game: This is Spectre's main killing phase, and decides her role in the game. You must never waste Haunt on anything but a guaranteed kill or atleast a support in this phase, except if you must desperately escape. Keep one eye always on the minimap, and make sure you occasionally survey your enemies, so you can take advantage of any blunder on their part. Go in for isolated enemies when you're sure they won't have a surprise countergank hidden nearby. I have devoted a section to this just below.
Also, importantly, you can try using your Spacebar to shuffle between mainscreen views. Your keyboard willl change your view to key parts of the three lanes in a cyclic order.

Late Game: In the late game, your specialty and focus will be to hunt down isolated fragile heroes [for example a pushing Furion], and also contribute your presence to every major teamfight. Exploit Haunt; spend a long time farming and pushing, and the next moment you can appear right beside your enemies, giving your allies the edge in teamfights.

MINIMAP
This is the most important part of using Reality. You must always, and I repeat always, spend atleast the first two seconds of Haunt surveying your minimap. Your main screen will likely be on the hero you are going to surprise, but the minimap will give you information on every single enemy hero, and their position relative to your target.

A simple but helpful suggestion: keep your ally color mode to distinct and separate colors for each person, so it's easier to distinguish enemies via minimap.

The second important thing is to guage distance from the minimap. It takes practice, but you should be able to calculate certain things about the heroes by glancing at the minimap, like:

Will your target reach a safe zone before you manage to kill him?
Can nearby heroes come to the aid of your target?
Can nearby heroes countergank you; is it a setup or bait for you?

It is important to intuitively judge threat levels. If Pink is Rhasta, and you see Pink near your target on the minimap, there is a high chance that you will be prevented from killing the target; perhaps even dying yourself. But if Pink is, say, Bristleback, then there is not as much to fear. Memorize the hero colors before you hit level 6.

SKILL BUILDS

OFFENSIVE

Level	Primary Choice	Secondary Choice	---	Level	Primary Choice	Secondary Choice
1	Spectral Dagger	None		9	Desolate	Spectral Dagger
2	Desolate	Dispersion		10	Dispersion	Desolate
3	Desolate	Spectral Dagger		11	Haunt	Desolate
4	Spectral Dagger	Dispersion		12	Dispersion	Spectral Dagger
5	Spectral Dagger	Desolate		13	Dispersion	None
6	Haunt	None		14	Dispersion	None
7	Spectral Dagger	Desolate		15	Stats	None
8	Desolate	Spectral Dagger		16	Haunt	Stats

This is the standard and optimal aggressive skill build. Beyond level 16, the skill choices are rather obvious, so it is not displayed. If you are having trouble interpreting it; the list of Primary Choice is the optimal route to take, Secondary Choice is a tad more defensive route, and the places filled with "None" in Secondary require you to compulsarily pick the primary choice. Of course, the build is flexible, and you can vary your options, but I find this to be the most optimal sets.

When: The offensive skill build is for a lane where your enemies are not overthreatening or too dangerous, and you can actually accomplish a bit more than safe and passive farm. It is best accompanied by some sort of babysitter or healer in case things go awry. This build promotes early usage of Haunt and a midgame ganker playstyle for Spectre.

Reasoning: The reasoning is straightforward for the most part. Never skip Spectral Dagger at level one, it will save you more times than you might expect. After that, Desolate is a better harassment choice [The difference is minute, but you will be using Desolate to harass, not Spectral Dagger. Three or four hits from a level 2 over level 1 Desolate equal the damage increase of Spectral Dagger, which is reduced by M. Res.], but you will be taking three levels of Spectral Dagger by level 5, in order to chase well once you get your ultimate. The 150 damage is also not a joke, and in a while you will find yourself casting it twice in a single gank. Two levels of pure damage is enough till level 8; they will give you a damage edge over almost any lone hero. The ultimate, of course, is taken whenever possible to maximize ganking potential and illusion damage.

DEFENSIVE

Level	Primary Choice	Secondary Choice	---	Level	Primary Choice	Secondary Choice
1	Spectral Dagger	None		9	Desolate	Spectral Dagger
2	Stats	Dispersion		10	Dispersion	Haunt
3	Stats	Dispersion		11	Haunt	Desolate
4	Dispersion	Stats		12	Spectral Dagger	None
5	Desolate	Dispersion		13	Spectral Dagger	None
6	Haunt	Stats		14	Desolate	None
7	Spectral Dagger	Dispersion		15	Dispersion	Desolate
8	Desolate	Spectral Dagger		16	Haunt	Desolate

This is the standard and optimal defensive skill build. Beyond level 16, the skill choices are rather obvious, so it is not displayed. If you are having trouble interpreting it; the list of Primary Choice is the optimal route to take, Secondary Choice is a tad more defensive route, and the places filled with "None" in Secondary require you to compulsarily pick the primary choice. Of course, the build is flexible, and you can vary your options, but I find this to be the most optimal sets.

When: The defensive skill build is for a lane where your enemies are threatening or dangerous, and you cannot accomplish much more than passive farm and last hitting. This build is used as a lategame tank or hard carry, when having early game heroes as allies.

Reasoning: The reasoning is straightforward for the most part. Never skip Spectral Dagger at level one, it will save you more times than you might expect. After that, Stats are much better than 5% return damage at very early levels, since you need the HP and +2 damage much more than reflecting ~3 damage. Beyond level 5, the build is actually very fluid as the laning phase ends, and you might either get the opportunity to farm up quickly, in which case you can switch to an aggressive build. Dispersion is taken early on as a secondary choice in early levels in case you are aiming to get high-HP items and play as a tank-carry. You can skip Haunt for a while [never beyond level 10] if you choose to farm passively for the first few levels, but make that decision only if either you are severely underfarmed, or most of your allies are natural gankers.

SUMMARY

Spectral Dagger at Level 1. Continue skilling it for the extra boost in movespeed for ganking, in an aggressive playstyle. Usually better than taking Stats.

Desolate for an early offensive. Two-three levels are enough to start ganking. Usually better than taking Stats.

Dispersion to reflect damage. It becomes significant late into the game. Not as good as Stats earlier on.

Haunt is taken preferably by level 6, and then it is possible to delay further levels for other abilities, since it does not scale that well. Never skip this past level 10. Always preferable compared to Stats.

Stats is taken mostly for defensive purposes and for the slight damage boost. A level or two might also optimize your mana pool to give exactly enough mana for Haunt and two Spectral Daggers, so you might consider situationally skipping Desolate for a point in Stats.

STARTING ITEMS

Spectre should ideally start out with items which give her precisely what she needs; ie. survivability, healing and easy farming. The set of items that will do well in the beginning are [in order of decreasing preference]:


053	090	100	250	225	150

Ironwood Branch gives you a cheap, healthy mix of survivability, damage and mana.
Tangoes and Healing Salves grant in-lane regeneration which you need. You will most likely not need Clarity Potions, since you are not a spammer.
Quelling Blade allows for really easy last hitting against deniers and strong harassment.
Stout Shield grants strong early protection against physical harassment.
Slippers of Agility grant cheap damage, armor and can be converted to a poor man's shield. Can be replaced with Bracers.

Now all that is left to do is to find an optimized combination of those items which fit into your starting budget. I do not recommend purchasing Slippers of Agility at the starting, because item slots are no great problem, and three Branches do exactly as much as a Slipper, and more. I do not recommend buying a Magic Stick at the start, but you can build a Wand later on if you find it feasible.

	x3
	x2
	x1

The generic defensive build, grants decent stats, defense and plenty of healing. The Tangoes can, of course, be replaced with Salves, but Tangoes are preferable because of the steady, uninterruptible healing.

DEFENSE IIIII

FARMING IIIII

ATTACK IIIII

	x3
	x2
	x1

The stats-farming build, usually requires buying a Stout Shield from the side shops later to be fully effective. This gives the highest base damage for farming, and a decent amount of healing. Recommended while not up against too much physical harassment.

DEFENSE IIIII

FARMING IIIII

ATTACK IIIII

	x1
	x1
	x1

The defensive farming build, does not offer too much of defense, stats or healing, but grants very good base damage for last hitting. Requires a quick upgrade of the Stout Shield into a Poor Man's Shield from the side shops. Recommended if laning with a good support.

DEFENSE IIIII

FARMING IIIII

ATTACK IIIII

	x4
	x2
	x1

The harassing build, optimized for attack. Grants a lot of stats and damage, allowing easy harassment and farm; and also grants a decent amount of healing. Upgrade the Branches into a Magic Wand, and convert the Slipper into a Poor Man's Shield. You will have to sell atleast one Branch soon.

DEFENSE IIIII

FARMING IIIII

ATTACK IIIII

These sets are the most cost effective items you can get in the start with 603 gold. After that, you have the freedom to upgrade or discard these early items.

ITEM
UPGRADE				*

*Not exactly an upgrade, but as a ganker you might want to buy a Bottle over constant refills of Salves and Clarity Potions.

Below is a short visual summary of the discussed item builds.

TIER ONE

Tier one items are those purchased directly after the starting items. These will usually be low cost trinkets which grant you survivability or small damage boosts. Consider the following in your first tier inventory.

I strongly recommend getting Boots of Speed by level 6, since in early game, Spectre's main role is to chase and finish off heroes, and basically lend her presence to all teamfights.

These items will give you a decent boost to survivability and damage. Fill atleast two of your inventory slots with any combination of these in the starting. A Poor Man's Shield is the top priority, followed by Bracers, and then Wraith Band. At this point, you will not need excessive damage [and thus, the Wraith Band] because Desolate and Spectral Dagger will be your two primary sources of damage against a fleeing enemy.

The Magic Stick or Wand will definitely help you through sticky situations. You might consider replacing a Wraith Band or Bracer with a Magic Wand, using the Branches you bought at the start. The burst mana will also definitely help pull off an extra proverbial Spectral Dagger.

Not a tier one item, but the Teleport Scroll is an item that you must always carry, from the time you gain enough money for it. Do not buy it at the start, though.

TIER ONE SUMMARY

In conclusion, the tier one inventory is fairly straightforward, and should comprise of movespeed, survivability and a little damage. Aim to get your tier one inventory by the middle or end of your laning phase. If you are falling short of gold, build up on defensive and farming capabilities.

	The optimally balanced build. Gives quite a lot of survivability, a decent boost to damage and burst regeneration from the Magic Stick. COST: 1895
	Another version of the first build. Instead of constructing a Bracer, uses the Branches bought at the starting to make a Magic Wand. Costs less, but you lose out on a bit of HP. COST: 1694
	The purely defensive build, gives a lot of HP and damage block, but you lose out on burst regeneration. Quite expensive. COST: 1905
	You can choose to build Power Treads first, instead of buying anything else. This build would be rather rushed, and is not recommended in most situations. Build it if you have a surplus of gold. COST: 1835

TIER TWO

From tier two will begin the building if your core. This tier will contain more hero-specific items, to exploit Spectre's specialities, and use her to the fullest. By the time you start building these items, Spectre will be nearing the peak of her power in the game. Occasionally, your core will be a rushed expensive item, such as a Radiance, but I will place that in tier two because it is very hard to obtain by the middle of the laning phase.

One of the most popular cores for Spectre; this works well in two situations. A little trickier to make this early but perfectly achievable nonetheless, Diffusal burns mana and allows (if you play your cards right) up to 16 kills via the massive slow from Purge.The Feedback is a great addition and the bonus damage from it will really help, along with the fact that enough hits will mean the enemy cannot disable you.

COST:

3300

The other popular core for Spectre, usually most effective if rushed. Great for area of effect damage and farming; your illusions will gain the area damage too [but not the raw +60 damage]. Remember to let your illusions last for as long as safely possible, because early-mid game, the 40 damage per second is devastating.

COST:

5150

Doesn't give any direct survivability, but the bonus movement speed and agility are very useful. Even as a standalone item it holds it's own, but it works well when upgraded into a Manta Style. If you are employing this build, then try to possibly get a Radiance if the game's length permits it. However decent an investment, this is not the most cost-effective damage granter.

COST:

2150

The Crystalis grants a great damage ratio; however, remember that your illusions will not gain the damage. Build this item if you are sure to upgrade it into a Buriza, and are playing like a carry. The criticals work well for a hero with no real steroid skills, even though they do not amplify the damage of Desolate in any way.

COST:

2150

The classic Vanguard, easily built from scratch. All three bonuses this item grants can be very useful to Spectre. Get this item if you need more survivability or lane control. Note that this is almost always better than a Hood of Defiance, because more health lets you return more damage. Blocking off all the magical damage makes Dispersion redundant.

COST:

2225

Not as viable as before, but this item, along with Dispersion, is amazing at countering burst damage. Get this against high damage casters, like the Slayer. This item, though, should be built in conjunction with some high damage, not high defense, item to make you a real threat.

COST:

2200

Though not a very good orb, the Sange is a rather good defence item, providing 304 raw HP, along with offensive power. Build this if you are at an HP disadvantage and need damage too; ie. if Vanguard will not provide the firepower required. A natural upgrade is Sange and Yasha.

COST:

2200

There is no set build of items to provide for Tier Two, because after Tier One, you can pretty much upgrade into any of these items as a basic core item.

TIER TWO SUMMARY

Defensive Items

Offensive Items

Build if you are going the defensive route and are in need of HP. A standard followup is Blademail.

This is rarely built first; usually you should go for the HP from Vanguard if you choose this path. Build it to counter early burst damage against relatively fragile heroes like Batrider or Slayer.

Build this to go a hybrid build, opting for defense first. If you are not sure of whether to go the offensive route or not, and are faring badly, pick this. Upgrade into a Sange and Yasha.

The most preferred item here; this allows you to counter fragile heroes and chase more easily. It's upgradeable and convenient.

The alternate buildup to a Sange and Yasha. Pick this if you'd rather go the hybrid build, but prefer to farm for a while. Choose this also if you have ample stuns in your team.