Specter any good/fun?

[Terimac.5871]

I dont hear much about specters, how are they? Good dps and support or what? I like their ranged aspect, otherwise i dont really like thief in general. 

xoxo

[emtea.6931]

dps specter is good and pretty easy to play..

alac dps specter is also good, though you do need to be careful on some fights around your shroud timing... the amount of alac it gives is pretty tight unless you spend more than minimum time in shroud... need to watch the damage you take while in shroud or you can get caught out and kicked out of shroud before you've done the alac part of your rotation (i.e. don't go into shroud on VG right as a green is about to pop)... also need to be mindful of who you are tethered to - if you tether to someone off the stack then rip the group's alac uptime. I hope anet change the alac application to be "around your tethered ally AND around yourself", but for now it doesn't work that way

heal alac specter is apparently situationally good, but I have not personally tried it. lack of aegis is a bit of a downside (why it's not on well of bounty I don't know!) 

[Eekasqueak.7850]

Specter is pretty good, shines most in group settings with how venom and their tether works though. 

[Psycoprophet.8107]

It's decent and gives u somthing different on thief to play, it's healing mechanics or playstyle is different to other healers. As far as fun it's pretty fun, imo opinion not as fun as druid or reaper if comparing classes that have shroud type mechanics as specter has imo far less interesting animations/skills than the others.

Edited October 25, 2023 by Psycoprophet.8107

[kash.9213]

5 hours ago, Psycoprophet.8107 said:

It's decent and gives u somthing different on thief to play, it's healing mechanics or playstyle is different to other healers. As far as fun it's pretty fun, imo opinion not as fun as druid or reaper if comparing classes that have shroud type mechanics as specter has imo far less interesting animations/skills than the others.

I feel like it's mostly in a good spot for healing in WvW and I'm not building for heal stats or healing specifically. I'm using mostly Rituatlist to chain Protection as much as I can. I can see the sustainability gassing out in long duration pve encounters though and it can be hard to land stuff on multiple moving allies when you only have so much of a radius.

With Wells and other stepping and movement skills, it's right up there with Rifle DE for being fun to play for me. If you're alert and responding to allies and enemies, then it's kind of like combat Dance Dance Revolution and the range and animations feel familiar but still engaging. It's great for vibing. 

I still not totally into the Scepter weapon and its animations even if the skills are alright though, especially with how fluid the rest of the Specter feels. 

Edited October 25, 2023 by kash.9213

[Joxer.6024]

how do you all reckon Spectre is for OW? 

[xellink.7568]

3 hours ago, Joxer.6024 said:

how do you all reckon Spectre is for OW? 

It is strong enough to take down champs.

[draxynnic.3719]

Hizen has an OW specter build (although the deadeye OW build is probably stronger overall), and the alacrity specter build for instanced content can be ported straight into OW with minimal modification (you might consider swapping venoms for more solo-oriented utilities). So yeah, specter does pretty well in OW.

[Joxer.6024]

4 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Hizen has an OW specter build (although the deadeye OW build is probably stronger overall), and the alacrity specter build for instanced content can be ported straight into OW with minimal modification (you might consider swapping venoms for more solo-oriented utilities). So yeah, specter does pretty well in OW.

awesome! time to give it a go, and yea, probably with Hizen's or a modified SC one.  😉

[aetemes.2603]

The gripe I have with this spec is the animations...they are really lack lustre for a "spectre"...I can't with the scepter wagging chicken drumstick while yelling at someone/spitting popcorns animation sounds. I wish they really made it ghostly and not..very..copy, paste, photoshop brush/change hue spam approach.

It's like the only spec I am kinda curious about EoD wise, but the animations alone demotivated me from attempting a purchase lol.

 

[kash.9213]

6 hours ago, aetemes.2603 said:

The gripe I have with this spec is the animations...they are really lack lustre for a "spectre"...I can't with the scepter wagging chicken drumstick while yelling at someone/spitting popcorns animation sounds. I wish they really made it ghostly and not..very..copy, paste, photoshop brush/change hue spam approach.

It's like the only spec I am kinda curious about EoD wise, but the animations alone demotivated me from attempting a purchase lol.

 

While I'm not a fan of the Scepter weapon animations or how the weapon itself looks for an otherwise agile Elite, I'm feeling the Well and Shadow Shroud animations, at least Shroud 2,3, and 4 for the animations themselves and how they feel in a moving fight or a brawl. 

[Micah.3789]

I have a build for OW alachealing that still does great damage, barely less than a typical boondps. You can fully self buff including quickness through Relic of the Chronomancer and wells. Plus nearly full uptime on resistance and lots of stab. It can comfortably solo champs and still fully support anyone who comes to help. 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PaABsitrlhixySZt4Yb9G7B-DyIY14/M6SVlrUVhfBopHPbgKA-e 

One open utility slot for anything that might be useful, which thief has many options. Bring thousand needles if you just want extra damage.

[Za Shaloc.3908]

On 10/26/2023 at 2:12 AM, aetemes.2603 said:

The gripe I have with this spec is the animations...they are really lack lustre for a "spectre"...I can't with the scepter wagging chicken drumstick while yelling at someone/spitting popcorns animation sounds. I wish they really made it ghostly and not..very..copy, paste, photoshop brush/change hue spam approach.

It's like the only spec I am kinda curious about EoD wise, but the animations alone demotivated me from attempting a purchase lol.

 

The wells and Endless Night are great, but beyond that I'd agree with you. The animation quality in EoD got noticeably worse from PoF to EoD. Twilight Combo especially is one that I think looks really horrible, like a slowed down projectile from Guardian Sword 3. I would love for them to revisit some of the EoD animations as well as some of the sound effects...well mostly the scepter AA.

In regards to the OP, I think Specter is great. I was a Thief main many years ago, but Specter is the only reason I play the class nowadays. Playing it as a support has some mechanical clunk to it, but as a whole the spec is quite solid. As a condi DPS and alac DPS it is fantastic.