Spectre's still strong and fun to play this patch. MY PURPLE GHOST WAIFU HAS HER PATCH!
I have had a few games recently where the other team has committed a strong dual or trilane to keep me from getting farm, and won plenty of them still. I didn't get much farm out of the lane, and often had to run all over the place as they would basically push me to opposite ends of the map, but I wasn't dying, and even though my farm was slower, I was finding it somewhere.
I've been getting Urn more often lately and I really like it, I think I underestimated it before. Just picking up a few charges is useful if you're forced into the jungle, you can usually do a stacked large camp with one charge.
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1833360739
This one was one such match I had tonight. I was in a lane against Silencer and Ogre Magi, and Silencer was smart about it and maxing Curse. This is of course really bad for me, as I have mana for basically one Dagger and then I have no spells left to cast. Looking at the last hit chart for every 2 minutes, I had 33 CS at 10 minutes. I think we can all agree that is not very good, but I wasn't dying! I still managed to scrounge up a 26 minute Radiance, and quickly get my Reaver into Heart from there. There were of course many attempts to kill me, the only one I died to early on was not until 16 minutes when Jugg got an ult on me. Most of the time I was able to Dagger into the trees and either TP out or come out somewhere safe. You have a 2 second grace period from Dagger, so you can Dagger into the trees and make a U-turn to get back to tower if you're close enough. I usually pick up a Quelling Blade on Spectre for the easier secured last hits, but also just in case you have a mishap involving Dagger and get stuck, you have a way out without having to wait on a TP. Daggering through terrain is an absolutely powerful tool for early game Spectre that you must abuse, especially if the other team is constantly committing to try to kill you. If they didn't get you, they wasted their time they could have been farming or getting a kill on someone else. Your farm was slowed down when you had to leave, but that's okay, as long as the game is not completely out of control (and I'm talking someone on the other team has to be like 25-0) and you make it to 25-30 minutes, you have probably won.
Also for those looking for Spectre counters, I was against a Tinker that went Dagon, Octarine, Shiva's, and Eblade. The Octarine part of that was what did the most work I felt like, as I couldn't really keep consistent damage on him, then the Ghost Scepter/Eblade made it even harder. That 0.75 second Rearm time is no joke. I think I made a mistake in this game not buying BKB, that might have gotten me around it. The Tinker was the main issue in this game though, despite what the scoreboard may tell you. This was the game: http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1832782515
One thing about BKB on Spectre: Very rarely will you ever have to buy it. The main reason is because if you use it, you're basically nullifying a lot of Dispersion you could be getting. This is why people either build tanky or now magic resistance is totally an option. I think generally tanky still works best, but if you are against a 5-magic damage team, Pipe is on the table. BKB is generally an absolute last resort item for Spectre.
I have had a few games recently where the other team has committed a strong dual or trilane to keep me from getting farm, and won plenty of them still. I didn't get much farm out of the lane, and often had to run all over the place as they would basically push me to opposite ends of the map, but I wasn't dying, and even though my farm was slower, I was finding it somewhere.
I've been getting Urn more often lately and I really like it, I think I underestimated it before. Just picking up a few charges is useful if you're forced into the jungle, you can usually do a stacked large camp with one charge.
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1833360739
This one was one such match I had tonight. I was in a lane against Silencer and Ogre Magi, and Silencer was smart about it and maxing Curse. This is of course really bad for me, as I have mana for basically one Dagger and then I have no spells left to cast. Looking at the last hit chart for every 2 minutes, I had 33 CS at 10 minutes. I think we can all agree that is not very good, but I wasn't dying! I still managed to scrounge up a 26 minute Radiance, and quickly get my Reaver into Heart from there. There were of course many attempts to kill me, the only one I died to early on was not until 16 minutes when Jugg got an ult on me. Most of the time I was able to Dagger into the trees and either TP out or come out somewhere safe. You have a 2 second grace period from Dagger, so you can Dagger into the trees and make a U-turn to get back to tower if you're close enough. I usually pick up a Quelling Blade on Spectre for the easier secured last hits, but also just in case you have a mishap involving Dagger and get stuck, you have a way out without having to wait on a TP. Daggering through terrain is an absolutely powerful tool for early game Spectre that you must abuse, especially if the other team is constantly committing to try to kill you. If they didn't get you, they wasted their time they could have been farming or getting a kill on someone else. Your farm was slowed down when you had to leave, but that's okay, as long as the game is not completely out of control (and I'm talking someone on the other team has to be like 25-0) and you make it to 25-30 minutes, you have probably won.
Also for those looking for Spectre counters, I was against a Tinker that went Dagon, Octarine, Shiva's, and Eblade. The Octarine part of that was what did the most work I felt like, as I couldn't really keep consistent damage on him, then the Ghost Scepter/Eblade made it even harder. That 0.75 second Rearm time is no joke. I think I made a mistake in this game not buying BKB, that might have gotten me around it. The Tinker was the main issue in this game though, despite what the scoreboard may tell you. This was the game: http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1832782515
One thing about BKB on Spectre: Very rarely will you ever have to buy it. The main reason is because if you use it, you're basically nullifying a lot of Dispersion you could be getting. This is why people either build tanky or now magic resistance is totally an option. I think generally tanky still works best, but if you are against a 5-magic damage team, Pipe is on the table. BKB is generally an absolute last resort item for Spectre.
. Chicago is hella great tho. Excited to move hopefully soon! 
iG 
