Specter

So my question isn't how to play Specter, but how to not make yourself a target, when i play specter I am the center of attention for 4 man ganks (it isn't even funny).

Take this game for example
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1021968291

I had safelane farm, dual lane vs solo lane tide (i really wanted to trilane). I was farming pretty well, not perfect because I am not generally a carry player, don't get much practice, point is, I got farm and was well on my way to a radiance. BUT WAIT! Tidehunter ravage for a kill on me. Ok what ever, i deserved that. TP back to lane, have about 30 seconds to a minute of farming, BOOM BLACKHOLE! Enigma got like an 8 min Blink Dagger. OK what ever, TP back to lane because the scary men were gone, get ravaged and killed.

New plan, farm other lanes, works for a while, I am farming mid lane, and get 4 man ganked, use my ult and almost escape, but i have to hop to anti-mage who then Mana Voids me.

end of the story, I sold my vangaurd (wouldn't normally get this item but i need the HP bad) so i could get about a 30 min Radiance (so late). Game was going well from that point on, not sad about how it went.

That was a long story, but I really just want to know from you experienced carry players, how do you make sure the whole enemy team doesn't want to kill you, and with few wards up, how do you know what lanes are safe to farm. I know when to get out of lanes, but not when to go to them.

All I can suggest is improve map awareness.

If their team is missing and you have no wards, assume you're getting ganked and play accordingly. If needed, vanish into the jungle to throw them off. Ideally you'll also have wards... but this is pubs.

Make sure, if you are ganked, your team can TP in and support you. A lot of avoiding ganks is intuition and map awareness, which just takes practice.

OR get your team to hide near you and spring any enemies if they try to gank you. If no enemies appear, then push tower. EZ GAEM KAPPA

when playing in a team we prioritise and people do that in pubs too... just not as much unless your in higher brackets :/

becoming the number one priority is .... stressful haha

but i like to switch mindsets. instead of think "im there priority" i think " what are my priorities"

when i am position 3 (usually solo offlane)

my thoughts are on three things.

- get xp
i will make sure i am getting as much xp and safely possible.
- provide pressure
make sure that if those supports leave i get into that lane and either harass their carry or get those l/s and starve their carry of l/s
- global positioning
look at what is happening in all lanes every 45 seconds if i see an opportunity to tp into lane and get a kill or to save a gank?

they are my priorities when pos 3.


when i play pos 1 my mind set changes.

- get l/s
no matter what i want last hits. if my supports are not doing there job and im getting harassed out of lane i will constantly ask for support and harass. because above all .... i want l/s if your still getting bumraped i will look to rotate into another lane with safe l/s if i feel i can jungle i will jungle ... dont hesitate evry second you hesitate is a last hit you have lost...

- map awareness/enemy movements
in safelane im even more aware of the map and who is missing and who isnt, if mid is gone and im near the shop line ill back off and sit as close to the tree's as possible if we have vision ill ask the supports to scout jungle. ill also look at the movements of the enemy laners are they going aggressive? are they not in xp range? why are they not in xp range? even though im still getting that ls ill constantly look at where they are and what they are doing, for example i saw that the enemy cent had just reached level 6 (i was spectre) then instead of him sitting in lane he backed off out of vision, i checked mid straight away and the enemy brewmaster was also missing (mid didnt call it) i checked top and saw that they were playing passive...straight away i threw out my dagger and ran straight into the tree's the NEXT second centuar ultied and three of them appeared in my lane... i safely sat in the tree's where they couldnt get to me then after they retreated i tp'd back to the tower and resumed farming.

- progression
constantly look at your item progression. set your self goals and back up plans. i had a game as fv where i was not getting any farm and 18 minutes in all i had was morbid mask and brown boots i was up against a riki and a silencer i even rotated into other lanes but they followed me to them all amazingly i was only 1-1-3 which was pure luck haha but i realised i wasnt going to be able to get that 1000 gold so i checked my progression and finihsed power treads and started building drums then into medallion weird build i know but with the fact that i couldnt farm and i was spending all my time and money on regen and tp's i was struggling. the new item choices helped me get back into the game and survive the harass. i ended up going 19-3-24.

if you arent getting what you need they dont be afraid to change.


in that game you should have kept your vanguard and built midgame items a BKB would have helped also a blademail would have been pretty good. diffusal would have helped with the tide and dazzle.

look at your item timing. if you dont have your first core by a set time revise it and give your self a new time frame to have it by if you STILL dont have it .... revise to your back up plan and build something else.

*spectre

and maybe don't pick spectre up against tide and enigma :3

Map awareness is very important if you are looking for free farm, I always have hard time farming up my Spectre against decent enemy team, just try not to stay alone for too long, and look for every ganking opportunities, if you can't farm creep, then farm hero! Spectre have amazing chasing potential and damage potential, 65 pure damage is no joke. Try to get some cheap components like Bracer, Orb of Venom ( this item is amazing on heroes like Spectre ). If you want to farm jungle, get pseudo-vanguard A.K.A. Poor Man's Shield, Ring of Health, Point Booster/ Vitality Booster, feel free to skip any of these component once you can farm lane.

DO NOT get Radiance after 30:00! It just sounds like getting Hand of Midas after 15:00, which completely reduced the effectiveness of the item. If you passed 20:00 and have a lot of golds, go for Diffusal Blade, Yasha, Drum of Endurance (in case no one else getting it), or something else that boosts your mid-game teamfight presence.

Although Spectre have terrible early-game presence, but she is very hard to be shut down, unlike Sniper, Drow Ranger, and some other carries. Once you have Diffusal Blade, just haunt and bam! You get double kill or even triple kill because your Desolate, purge and mana-burn from Diffusal Blade are very painful.

Wards are definitely important any time you're playing the 1 position. The only carry that can reasonably do well with poor warding is Anti-Mage since he can just blink away. Even then he'll die more times than not. Always know when key gankers/disablers or groups of heroes are missing, and just hang back for awhile.

With Spectre you have the opportunity to farm longer than most heroes, because you don't always have to tp around or walk to fights. Simply wait for a fight to start, keep farming, and then ult when you're ready to arrive. After that, just go back to farming and wait for your ult to cool down.

Though Spectre is pretty weak until farmed and has no laning presence, she can still escape unless silenced and stun locked. Simply cast your dagger onto the ground and run into the trees. Unless they have Timbersaw or someone who can clear trees really fast, this usually gives you time to TP out. Anything that gives vision like Shrapnel or Beastmaster's Hawk will also make you pretty easy pickings. Try to cross as much impassible terrain if you can and always keep a tp scroll on you.

Spectre can also use her ult to escape, though I wouldn't really recommend this unless you're absolutely certain you can get away with it. Basically you haunt when you realize you're getting ganked, then appear next to a support or someone on the enemy team who you know can't solo kill you. Sometimes you can even turn this into a kill for yourself! But like I said, this is tricky and you can easily waste a Haunt trying to do it.

Spectre is unplayable without Observer Wards.

If you're playing this kind of silly 1 vs 5 pubs where your supports don't ward, ward yourself.

Ward the entrance to your jungle and/or the fog beneath your safe lane, sit in lane, and farm your Radiance.

Avoid ganks this way, wait until they get bored, and then get back to farming.

Try to keep the lane equilibrium close to your tower by denying creeps.

Between ward vision and early game Haunt ganks, 18-20 minute Radiance is perfectly doable even with the worst supports in the world.

If you don't have wards and the whole enemy team is missing, they could jump you at any moment - it just means that your team needs to buy wards.

In am unstacked team., consider going agi builds like drums diffusal and manta. Works for me.
Radinace in pubs is long shot if they dont ward plus if you ward your radiance is delayed.
The idea is to make her come online faster so she can come in ganks using haunt then farm her items for late game.
Contrary to popular belief, spectre isnt totally bad in lanes, especially if you get one point in dispersion. Agreed she has no lane control you still need supporting and hence the arguement to avoid radiance if you have greedy lineups in pubs or if they wanna play carry earthshakers or like that.