Introduction
- Regular Attack
- Physical Damage
- Position
- Melee
Specter the Unchained is a Dollkeeper Specialist with skills that make it easier for her to swap into her doll form and to act as an unconventional laneholder in dangerous positions. Her Substitute deals AoE damage every second and applies crowd control to all ground enemies in her range. Although she may seem underwhelming at first, she improves significantly with her modules—either focusing on making her doll a more capable asset or highlighting her consistent laneholding ability and Abyssal Hunter synergy. Overall, she is a formidable operator when properly invested in, and can fill slightly different roles depending on the skill and module selected.
Operator Stats
- Health
- 2803
- Attack Power
- 817
- Defense
- 322
- Attack Speed
- 1.2 sec
- Arts Resistance
- 0%
- Block
- 2
- Redeploy Time
- 70 sec
- DP Cost
- 16
- Range
Y1 Y2 X1 operator cell active cell
She has generally offense-focused stats in line with the Dollkeeper branch. The exception here is her max HP, which is the highest out of the whole class by a decent margin.
Strengths
- High survivability due to trait and skills enables aggressive placement with little risk
- All skills make swapping to the Substitute easier or outright guarantee it, allowing you to take advantage of the AoE damage and slow
- Negative effects such as debuffs do not carry over between Specter and her Substitute
Weaknesses
- Substitute damage and slow can be really underwhelming without module X
- Skill cycles are quite long (especially S2) without investing into either module
- Positive effects such as targeted buffs do not carry over between Specter and her Substitute
Talents
Embraced Self
<Substitute> reduces Movement Speed of nearby enemies by 40%, and deals 40% ATK as Arts damage to them per second
| Y1 | Y2 | Y3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| X1 | active cell | active cell | active cell |
| X2 | active cell | operator cell | active cell |
| X3 | active cell | active cell | active cell |
Note: Substitute does not affect aerial enemies
This talent sets her apart from other Dollkeepers. Whereas others attack normally, Specter’s Substitute has an Arts damage aura around her and reduces the movement speed of enemies in range. Unfortunately, even at Elite 2, this talent is quite underwhelming, having mediocre DPS and only slightly slowing down enemies. These render her doll form as something that should be avoided. However, this talent is improved with her module X, offering a much better movement speed debuff and more damage.
Ægir's Depths
When this unit is in the squad, all [Abyssal Hunter] Operators gain +20% Max HP
This talent works well for herself, as well as in a full Abyssal Hunter team. It boosts their survivability and strengthens Gladiia’s regeneration talent. It works well with Specter’s tendency to be placed in more dangerous positions by giving her some extra survivability, and scales well with her high base max HP. This talent is also improved by her module Y, increasing the HP buff and giving all Abyssal Hunters an auto SP recovery boost.
Skills
The Skill to Survive
Per Second RecoveryManual Trigger- Initial SP
- 25
- SP Cost
- 35
- Duration
- 25 sec
When activated, exchange HP percentage with the ally with the lowest HP percentage within range. Specter gains ATK +150%
| Y1 | Y2 | Y3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| X1 | active cell | active cell | active cell |
| X2 | active cell | operator cell | active cell |
| X3 | active cell | active cell | active cell |
This is Specter’s least offensively useful skill—it will simply boost her ATK while making it easier for her to swap to her Substitute. The skill's ATK is sizable and has a relatively good uptime/cycle, but offers nothing unique besides the HP swap. Some players might find use with this skill in very specific strategies, but it will usually need Specter to be reduced to a support/utility role instead of using her in more efficient ways. It’s simply better to take advantage of the damage and survivability of her other skills in most circumstances.
Skill Mastery
- Recommended Rank
- None
- Priority
- --
The only reason to use this skill over her other ones is to take advantage of the HP swap, which is not improved in any way by masteries. They do, however, improve its cycle slightly, by 5 seconds at M2, but this small improvement is not worth going for, considering the high mastery costs. The ATK increase improvements are linear, and don’t change how the skill is used.
The Thirst to Survive
Per Second RecoveryManual Trigger- Initial SP
- 25
- SP Cost
- 35
- Duration
- 20 sec
ATK +130%, ASPD +50. While skill is active, prevents Specter's HP from falling below 1
Will be defeated when the skill ends
S2 is going to be the most used skill on Specter for many players. It offers high on-skill DPS and makes her unkillable for the duration. The big downside of this skill is the swap to the Substitute at the end. Without module upgrades, the Substitute is very weak in terms of damage and slow, meaning it will require support for its duration. Another major issue is the skill cycle, which is long because of her swapping to her doll form after the skill ends, in which she cannot gain SP.
These downsides are almost entirely rectified by her module X upgrades. The Substitute, instead of being something you’d rather avoid, becomes something desirable for its AoE Arts damage and slow. The long cooldown is also addressed by the module, making the cycle much more manageable.
Skill Mastery
- Recommended Rank
- Mastery 3
- Priority
- Low-Medium
This skill’s medium recommendation stems mostly from its very effective use alongside Specter’s module X. If you don’t plan on upgrading that module, treat this skill with a lower priority; it will be much less effective without it due to its aforementioned downsides.
The skill upgrades are linear, increasing the ATK buff and duration by the same amount with every level. The ASPD upgrades, while M1 may seem like the smallest one, are also more or less equal in value, increasing the number of attacks during skill uptime by 2 with every mastery. Feel free to stop at any mastery level and upgrade the skill further as needed.
The Pressure to Survive
Per Second RecoveryManual Trigger- Initial SP
- 25
- SP Cost
- 40
- Duration
- 25 sec
Attack interval increases, attacks all blocked enemies, ATK +260%, Max HP +200%; deal 70% ATK as extra Physical damage when attacking enemies with HP percentage equal to or higher than self, otherwise lose 3% of HP
This skill, while having less uses than S2, is still very valuable. It massively increases Specter’s survivability and damage output, dealing even more damage against enemies with a higher HP percentage than hers. When triggering this additional hit of damage, it has comparable ST damage to S2, falling off slower against DEF due to relying more on raw ATK rather than faster ASPD. However, if this additional hit is not triggered, its ST damage falls behind sharply. This means that if Specter is affected by strong HP regen effects or healing, her S2 would be the better option for killing one target. Where this skill shines however, is the multi-target aspect—it deals higher overall damage than S2 or S1 on 2 targets, even if the additional hit is not triggered.
This skill is best used alongside Specter’s module Y. This is for two reasons: because it has the highest SP cost out of all her skills, making module Y's SP recovery increase more effective than on her other skills, and because this skill cannot reliably trigger Specter's substitute—she will, at most, lose only 36% Max HP from the skill naturally, and thus won’t reliably benefit from module X's stronger substitute.
Skill Mastery
- Recommended Rank
- Mastery 1+
- Priority
- Medium
This skill’s most important mastery level is M1, giving good increases to HP and ATK modifiers, while also increasing the multiplier of the additional hit. If the additional hit is not triggered, masteries are more or less linear in terms of damage, so you may stop at any mastery you feel like investing into. Getting at least M1 should be a medium priority, while M2 and M3 can be of lesser priority, especially if focusing on developing S2 and module X.
Modules
- Attack Power
- +83
- Health
- +250
- Defense
- +30
'Vinyl Record' Box
PUM-X
Module X is Specter’s most used module when in a general team and with her S2. It greatly improves everything about her Substitute, boosting its damage and movement speed debuff. It also improves Specter’s cycles/uptime with the bonus SP she gets upon swapping back to her original form. The module upgrades benefit all of her skills, as they all make it easier for her to swap to her doll form to some extent, with S2 benefitting the most as it guarantees the swap. This module turns the Substitute from something you’d rather avoid, into something desirable that can be used to deal damage and control enemies.
- Recommended Stage
- Stage 3
- Priority
- High
Getting both of Specter’s modules would be too expensive for most players, so focus on developing only one of them depending on your playstyle. Module X is one of the best in the game when taking into account its 2nd and 3rd stage. Stage 1 may seem underwhelming, but the ATK bonus works well with the increased damage from her first talent with this module. It should be a high priority for anyone that wants to use her, especially with S2.
- Attack Power
- +40
- Health
- +250
- Defense
- +55
The Beauty in the Incomplete
PUM-Y
This module is the one that synergizes well with the Abyssal Hunter team and enables Specter's consistent laneholding with S3. It offers a massive SP regen boost to Specter and other Abyssals—cutting down cycles and increasing uptimes, especially on skills with long cooldowns. Whereas the other module takes advantage of her Substitute, this one focuses on keeping Specter alive, while making her Substitute even harder to kill if she does swap. The best skill to use with this module is S3—it gives her very high survivability and doesn’t force her to swap to her doll form. Specter cannot trigger her swap with S3 alone, especially if provided with healing or HP regen, which makes module X’s SP-upon-swap effect less effective with S3, resulting in it being more commonly used with module Y.
The bonus max HP and additional SP/sec for all Abyssals can be very significant for them. Gladiia’s HP regen to all Abyssal Hunters will be more valuable since it scales off of the max HP of the units affected. Skadi (Guard), will greatly benefit from the SP regen bonus for the situations where she’ll need to stay on the field, as her S3 has a very long cooldown without the initial SP.
- Recommended Stage
- Stage 2+
- Priority
- Low-Medium
Getting both of Specter’s modules would be too expensive for most players, so focus on developing only one of them depending on your playstyle. Module Y will be the one less commonly used with Specter. Its main focus is highlighting the Abyssal Hunter synergy and boosting her laneholding ability without relying on Substitute swaps. This module can be used to great effect with S3, even if not taking advantage of the Abyssal synergy, thus, the medium recommendation. If you’re planning to use her mainly for the Abyssal Hunter team, the module can be treated with a lower priority, as that team is a lot more costly to fully develop.
Synergy
Abyssal Hunters
All Abyssal Hunters benefit very well from each other’s faction buffs and complement each other’s kits. When combined, they add up to being a powerful group. Specter’s max HP buff works very well with the faction as they all have a focus on high HP, either from their base stats or skills, while the SP buff is a major boost to everyone’s skill cycles.
It should be kept in mind that getting the most out of all of them together requires a very large amount of investment, as most of the squad are 6-stars and will want module upgrades for these synergies. It is a big luxury to unlock their full potential and not a general recommendation.
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Gladiia provides damage reduction and HP regen based on the Hunter’s max HP. Specter’s upgrades module Y gives all Abyssals a large passive HP buff, which provides considerably higher effective HP with the damage reduction and is a strong boost to everyone’s sustainability when used with Gladiia
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Skadi (Guard) gets increased ATK stat and also additional HP buffs with her own module upgrades, further adding to the faction’s survivability and offense. Specter’s module Y’s SP boost also helps make Skadi’s cycle with S3 considerably better, as it is a skill that has a long cooldown at a 90 SP cost.
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Andreana herself has a higher base HP than others within her branch and benefits from the max HP in case she ever ends up in danger. She provides an ASPD buff to the faction which adds up considerably due to most of the group having a slow attack interval (and even skills that further slow it down).
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Specter (Guard) is also a small notable addition now as alternative operator usage restrictions were removed. While she doesn’t provide any faction buffs herself, she benefits well from the buffs and has her own max HP based regen that will stack additively with Gladiia’s, adding up to very high sustainability in battle.