Let's talk Spectre

Good day, I'm jemiles and a 1.8k scrub atm. I've been playing supports for the most part but decided to go with a carry as I'm often disappointed with any carry we have in game.

Can be a bit problematic in some games. I usually lock in first (counter picking isn't much of a thing at this range) to establish I'm going to play the the pos 1 carry. Yet often people in this range don't get the memo.

Many games I'm fortunate to have a support. Rarely I have one that actually knows how to play. So often I'm either fighting my support in lane and in turn fighting to keep creep equalibrium and maintain any farm. Luckily though the offlaner(s) don't even bother actually last hitting and just constantly push the lane.

But that's enough talk on this mmr range. Just keep in mind these things as things that work higher up may not translate well down here. I've had a lot if success thus far anyways with spectre and do well even matches lost. So let's get to the meat of the post.

###Ability builds

So starting out I followed the guide (torte de lini) and it worked out pretty ok. It suggests maxing dagger first followed by desolate and lastly dispersion. But given your mana pool early and poor sustain it boggles my mind why this would be maxed first. Mana cost increases reducing your ability to use it more than once or twice and often it's needed early on to make an escape from a dive.

There were a few times where I could haunt in and make a kill with the damage, but after a haunt and dagger you are basically out of mana. And it really doesn't help with jungling. When I went with this build I had a lot of trouble sustaining in jungle. Bear in mind that a lot of games a good portion of farm comes from the jungle as the lane is unreliable.

So I've since been taking one level in dagger a 1 and maxing it last. Generally I get dispersion first followed by desolate. Totally changed my game. I could sustain in jungle and lane, better survive ganks, and actually team fight early. So can someone explain why dagger first is so popular?

###Item builds

The guide suggests starting items tango, shield, and salve. I myself prefer going tango, shield, QB and buying a salve a once the match starts. QB is an absolute must to help with last hitting, especially when your opponent is denying.

After that it suggests phase boots, PMS, and iron talon. I've done this a few times and things went ok but since changing my abilities I prefer treads over phase. Extra armor, health, or mana and attack speed really improved my farming and teamfight abilities coupled with my ability build.

After boots I've been generally going vanguard and then radiance. At first I thought that this would put my radiance timing later (18 to 22 mins on average). But I've found that with the vanguard, sustain no longer becomes an issue. Additionally I can easily take on ancients as well where before I could not do so easily. So I can still easily hit a 20 min radiance and really start fighting. Though with a vanguard I feel often times I can still fight rather well if needed.

What I'm saying here is if I can still hit a 20 min radiance, why would I bother skipping vanguard to radiance when the timing is essentially the same? By not going with a vanguard you just leave yourself vulnerable and mostly useless until you get a radiance as well as severely reducing your sustain and in effect farming ability.

So after all that I usually get a blademail, manta, heart, ect. Blademail and heart are generally must haves. Abysmal is another obvious choice. But I'm always a little fuzzy on manta and disffusal and their worth. I just don't understand these items enough to value their worth on spectre.

###Wrapping up

Any other suggestions are welcome. I've had a lot of fun with spectre and admit I'm still a pretty fresh dota scrub. If you would like check jemiles on dotabuff and throw me some thought on my games. Thanks for reading and GG.