Ash
Ash | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Shuriken | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 15 seconds. | |
Smoke Screen | Casts when cooldown ends. | 8-12 seconds. | Attacking with Warframe weapons ends Specter invisibility. Operator attacks do not end invisibility. Cooldown is lower if your attacks end their invisibility early, but specific cooldown is sporadic in this case. |
Teleport | Enemy is more than 10m away. | 10 seconds. | |
Blade Storm | 5+ enemies within 50m, at least 1 in line of sight. | 55 seconds. | Doesn’t necessarily target all 5+ enemies, just needs 5 to cast in the first place. |
Atlas
Atlas | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Landslide | Any enemy is in line of sight within 12m. | 25 seconds. | Skips straight to third punch, sending affected enemies flying. |
Tectonics | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Petrify | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Rumblers | Any enemy is in line of sight within 30m. | 100 seconds. | Golems do not benefit from a Specter’s scaling health and armor, making them very quick to die in high-level missions. |
Banshee
Banshee | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Sonic Boom | Any enemy is in line of sight within 7m. | 13 seconds. | |
Sonar | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 30 seconds. | Because Sonar’s actual range is 30m, Sonar will often go to waste in maps with long sightlines, as the Specter casts the ability as soon as an enemy comes into view. |
Silence | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 65 seconds. | |
Sound Quake | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 13 seconds after end of effect. | Maintains up to 10 seconds, but is highly inconsistent, sometimes deciding to stop the effect immediately after starting to cast the ability. |
Baruuk
Baruuk | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Elude | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 50 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains for up to 120 seconds. |
Lull | Any enemy is in line of sight within 30m. | 35 seconds. | |
Desolate Hands | 3+ enemies within 25m, with at least 1 in line of sight, and has no daggers already orbiting. | 40 seconds. | |
Serene Storm | When enemy is in melee range. | 40 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains for up to 130 seconds. Will only ever use Serene Storm attacks when they would otherwise attack in melee. |
Chroma
Chroma | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Spectral Scream | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Elemental Ward | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 55 seconds. | Seems to have no effect. My guess is that the rework that made Spectral Scream determine element type instead of energy color has resulted in Elemental Ward using no element at all, thus giving no actual buffs. |
Vex Armor | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 30 seconds. | |
Effigy | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 60 seconds from Effigy recall. | Effigy does not use elemental breath, but will use radial pulses. Stun pulse is typically used once per Effigy cast, while knockback pulse is used every 5 seconds if enemies are within 5m. Specter will often recall Effigy right away on the first cast upon Specter’s creation, but otherwise leaves Effigy out for 15-25 seconds, even if enemies are defeated. |
Ember
Ember | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Fireball | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 20 seconds. | |
Immolation | Whenever available. | None. | Shield lasts up to 50 seconds. If it expires naturally, Specter will wait 10 seconds before casting again. |
Fire Blast | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 40 seconds. | Doesn’t seem to prioritize casting this ability once the cooldown is over, so it may wait for a while longer than the minimum cooldown. |
Inferno | Whenever available. | 60 seconds. | Bugged. Specter simply plays the animation for the ability, with no actual effect. |
Equinox
Equinox | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Metamorphosis | Whenever available. | 35 seconds. | |
Rest & Rage | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 24 seconds. | |
Pacify & Provoke | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 33 seconds. | Maintains for up to 25 seconds. |
Mend & Main | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 33 seconds. | Maintains for up to 25 seconds. |
Excalibur/Excalibur Umbra
Excalibur | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Slash Dash | Any enemy is in line of sight within 12m. | 20 seconds. | |
Radial Blind/Howl | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 50 seconds. | |
Radial Javelin | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 60 seconds. | |
Exalted Blade | Does not cast. | n/a |
Frost
Frost | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Freeze | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 12 seconds. | |
Ice Wave | Any enemy is in line of sight within 13m. | 25 seconds. | |
Snow Globe | Specter shields are below 25%. | 30 seconds. | Will not cast if any other Snow Globes exist on the map, even those made by players. Scaling Specter Armor makes Snow Globe extremely durable. |
Avalanche | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 70 seconds. |
Gara
Gara | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Shattered Lash | Any enemy is in line of sight within 5m. | 12 seconds. | Will only cast the sweeping Slash damage variant of Shattered Lash, never the stabbing Puncture variant. |
Splinter Storm | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Spectrorage | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 70 seconds. | |
Mass Vitrify | Any enemy is in line of sight within 7m. | 70 seconds. | Because Specter armor scales with its level, the walls from this ability are often more durable than that of a player’s Gara. |
Garuda
Garuda | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Dread Mirror | Does not cast. | ||
Blood Altar | Does not cast. | ||
Bloodletting | Specter health is above 90%. | 30 seconds. | Increases Specter’s damage due to Garuda’s passive ability. |
Seeking Talons | 4+ enemies are in line of sight. | 40 seconds. |
Gauss
Gauss | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Mach Rush | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 5 seconds from end of effect. | Does not use when set to Hold Position. Maintains until target is knocked down, or when the target can’t be reached without leaving the ground. Can cast other abilities while active, but will not fire weapons. |
Kinetic Plating | Any enemy is in line of sight within 12m. | 60 seconds. | |
Thermal Sunder | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 28 seconds. | Uses Heat variation exclusively. |
Redline | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 70 seconds. |
Grendel
Grendel | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Feast | Any enemy is within 10m. | 40 seconds. | |
Nourish | Currently holding an enemy via Feast. | 30 seconds. | |
Regurgitate | Currently holding an enemy via Feast, and target is in line of sight within 10m. | 5 seconds. | |
Pulverize | Currently holding an enemy via Feast, and target is in line of sight within 45m. | 60 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains for up to 60 seconds. Ignores Hold Position command while rolling, but will return to position after ending the ability. |
Harrow
Harrow | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Condemn | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 15 seconds. | |
Penance | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 25 seconds. | |
Thurible | Whenever available. | 52 seconds. | Typically aims for an energy return of 13.5. |
Covenant | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 55 seconds. |
However, every cast of Penance depletes the Specter’s shields entirely, necessitating some form of shield recovery, and Condemn isn’t usually up to the task since it restores a flat amount for each enemy affected, rather than a percentage. This Specter is dependent on downtime for shield recovery, a Shield Osprey Specter from Cephalon Suda to max its shields out immediately, or Warframe abilities that restore shields.
Hildryn
Hildryn | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Balefire | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 25 seconds from end of effect. (Determined during old testing before becoming bugged.) | Bugged to not deal any damage. Maintains indefinitely, even when shields are depleted. Charges all shots. |
Pillage | Any shielded enemy is in line of sight. | 45 seconds. | Will cast even when enemies are too far away to be affected. |
Haven | Any enemy is in line of sight and Specter shields are above 50%. | 30 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains until Specter shields are depleted. |
Aegis Storm | Does not cast. | n/a |
Hydroid
Hydroid | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Tempest Barrage | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 21 seconds. | |
Tidal Surge | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 25 seconds. | |
Undertow | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Tentacle Swarm | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 70 seconds. |
Inaros
Inaros | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Desiccation | Any enemy is in line of sight within 5m. | 20 seconds. | |
Devour | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 45 seconds. | Specter will not fire at an enemy while it is affected by Devour. |
Sandstorm | 5+ enemies within 25m, with at least one in line of sight. | 60 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains for up to 10 seconds. Will disable Hold Position command when cast, but will not change the toggle action displayed; telling the Specter to Follow after it has cast Sandstorm will instead cause it to Hold Position. |
Scarab Swarm | Does not cast. | n/a |
Ivara
Ivara | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Quiver | Any enemy is in line of sight within 25m. | 15 seconds. | Only uses Sleep Arrow. |
Navigator | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Prowl | Whenever available. | 13 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains up to 75 seconds, until Specter uses melee or fires an Alarming weapon, or until the player uses any weapon on their Warframe. Operator attacks do not end invisibility. Specter does not steal from enemies while in Prowl. |
Artemis Bow | 4+ enemies are in line of sight. | 50 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains up to 20 seconds. |
Khora
Khora | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Whipclaw | Any enemy is in line of sight within 5m. | 9 seconds. | |
Ensnare | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 25 seconds. | Despite the ability’s base range of 30m, the Specter’s version will affect enemies at any range. |
Venari | Passive. | 45 seconds to respawn after death. | Venari is kept in Protect posture, and follows the player rather than the Specter. Does not use parkour maneuvers. Health does not scale with Specter level, making it die nearly instantly in high-level missions. |
Strangledome | 3+ enemies are within 8m, with at least 1 in line of sight. | 30 seconds. |
Lavos
Lavos | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Ophidian Bite | Specter is aware of enemy within 10m. | 8 seconds. | The actual range of the ability is 8m, making this ability miss if cast on the very edge of the trigger range. |
Vial Rush | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Transmutation Probe | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Catalyst | 4+ enemies within 25m, with at least 1 in line of sight within 15m. | 35 seconds. |
Limbo
Limbo | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Banish | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 22 seconds. | Does not send targets to the Rift, only causes knockdown. |
Stasis | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Rift Surge | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Cataclysm | Does not cast. | n/a |
Loki
Loki | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Decoy | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 25 seconds. | Places Decoy directly on top of the targeted enemy. |
Invisibility | Whenever available. | 7 seconds when cut short, 3 seconds when expiring naturally. | Invisibility ends whenever player attacks with a weapon. |
Switch Teleport | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Radial Disarm | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 70 seconds. |
Mag
Mag | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Pull | Any enemy is in line of sight and between 8m and 15m away. | 20 seconds. | |
Magnetize | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 33 seconds. | Tap cast variant only. Maintains bubble for 6 seconds instead of full duration. |
Polarize | Player is within 20m and has 60% or lower shields. | 5 seconds. | The animation is buggy, often making it seem as though the Specter casts this ability three times in a row, but it only takes effect once. |
Crush | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 30 seconds. |
Mesa
Mesa | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Ballistic Battery | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 45 seconds. | |
Shooting Gallery | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 90 seconds. | |
Shatter Shield | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Peacemaker | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 45 seconds. | Maintains for up to 10 seconds. |
Mirage
Mirage | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Hall of Mirrors | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Sleight of Hand | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 20 seconds. | |
Eclipse | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 40 seconds. | |
Prism | Any enemy is in line of sight within 30m. | 70 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains for up to 10 seconds. |
Nekros
Nekros | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Soul Punch | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 13 seconds. | Does not summon a shadow version of the marked target. |
Terrify | 5+ enemies are within 25m, with at least 1 enemy in line of sight. | 60 seconds. | |
Desecrate | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Shadows of the Dead | Does not cast. | n/a |
Nezha
Nezha | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Firewalker | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Blazing Chakram | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 20 seconds. | |
Warding Halo | Upon taking damage. | 70 seconds from end of effect. | |
Divine Spears | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 30 seconds. | Cancels ability immediately after casting. |
Nidus
Nidus | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Virulence | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 12 seconds. | |
Larva | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Parasitic Link | Ally is within 30m. | 20 seconds from end of effect. | Only casts ally variant. |
Ravenous | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 50 seconds. |
Nova
Nova | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Null Star | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 30 seconds from end of effect. | |
Antimatter Drop | Any enemy is in line of sight and over 15m away. | 25 seconds. | |
Worm Hole | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Molecular Prime | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 50 seconds. |
Nyx
Nyx | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Mind Control | Specter is damaged by enemy within 20m. | 30 seconds from end of effect. | |
Psychic Bolts | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 13 seconds. | |
Chaos | 5+ enemies are within 20m, with at least 1 in line of sight. | 50 seconds. | |
Absorb | Specter is damaged while under 80% health and an enemy is within 10m. | 75 seconds. | Lasts up to 5 seconds. |
Oberon
Oberon | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Smite | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 30 seconds. | |
Hallowed Ground | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 30 seconds. | |
Renewal | Player health is below 80%. | 40 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains for a very sporadic amount of time, usually 30-40 seconds, but recorded as high as 140 seconds. |
Reckoning | Any enemy is in line of sight within 7m. | 50 seconds. |
Octavia
Octavia | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Mallet | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 15 seconds. | |
Resonator | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 16.5 seconds. | |
Metronome | Whenever available. | 20 seconds. | |
Amp | Any enemy is in line of sight between 10-20m. Will not cast if any enemy is closer than 10m. | 40 seconds. | Damage boost does not increase with noise levels. |
Protea
Protea | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Grenade Fan | Any enemy is in line of sight within 30m. | 30 seconds. | Will only cast the Shrapnel Vortex variant, never Shield Satellites. |
Blaze Artillery | Any enemy is in line of sight within 60m. | 12 seconds. | |
Dispensary | Player health, ammo, or energy are below 70%. | 40 seconds. | |
Temporal Anchor | Specter health is below 75%, and 2+ enemies are in line of sight. | 70 seconds. | Maintains ability for up to 10 seconds. |
Revenant
Revenant | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Enthrall | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Mesmer Skin | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Reave | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Danse Macabre | Whenever shields are depleted. | 5 seconds from end of effect. | Maintains until no enemies remain within a set range. This range increases based on the number of enemies. As best I can tell, every enemy adds 15m to this range requirement; 1 enemy within 15m, 2 enemies within 30m, 3 enemies within 45m, and so on. Shields must begin recharging before Specter will cast the ability again. |
Rhino
Rhino | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Rhino Charge | Any enemy is in line of sight and between 5m to 20m away. | 15 seconds. | |
Iron Skin | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 20 seconds from end of effect. | |
Roar | Any enemy is in line of sight, and 2 or more other Specters are in the mission. | 75 seconds. | Companions and other players do not count towards the trigger conditions: only having two other Specters in the mission will cause Roar to be used. These Specters can belong to other players, they do not have to come from you. Keep in mind that you can only have one Tenno Specter out at a time, so you’ll need Syndicate Specters if you want to trigger Roar when solo. |
Rhino Stomp | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 70 seconds. |
Saryn
Saryn | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Spores | Any enemy is in line of sight within 50m. | 20 seconds. | Often seems to cast without the usual handwave animation. |
Molt | Whenever available. | 6 seconds. | The body double appears in front of the Specter and blocks its line of sight. Despite this, it will still target the closest enemy, ignoring others that may actually be targetable, effectively shutting down its AI. As such, using Hold Position is highly detrimental. |
Toxic Lash | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 45seconds. | |
Miasma | Any enemy is within 5m. | 55 seconds. |
Titania
Titania (retesting) | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Spellbind | Any enemy is in line of sight within 25m. | 20 seconds. | |
Tribute | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 40 seconds. | Enemy “soul” vanishes almost immediately, and does not seem to apply any buff. |
Lantern | Any enemy is in line of sight within 15m. | 40 seconds. | |
Razorwing | Does not cast. | n/a |
Trinity
Trinity | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Well of Life | Player health is below 80%. | 30 seconds. | Casts even when there are no enemies to target with the ability. |
Energy Vampire | Any enemy is in line of sight within 100m. | 40 seconds. | |
Link | Any enemy is in line of sight within 20m. | 35 seconds. | |
Blessing | Player health is below 60%. | 60 seconds. |
Valkyr
Valkyr | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Rip Line | Any enemy is in line of sight and between 6m to 15m away. | 15 seconds. | |
Warcry | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 40 seconds. | |
Paralysis | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m, and Specter’s shields are above 33%. | 25 seconds. | |
Hysteria | Does not cast. | n/a |
Vauban
Vauban | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Tesla Nervos | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 20 seconds. | Spawns one roller when enemy is over 30m away, or multiple when enemy is within 30m. Throws up to 10 grenades at a time with no juggling windup like player-run Vaubans, though only 4 of these grenades can spawn rollers. |
Minelayer | Any enemy is in line of sight within 30m. | 30 seconds. | Uses a random variant on each cast. Overdriver affects the Warframe or Specter that is closest to the impact point, determined when the ability is cast, not when the projectile actually lands. |
Photon Strike | Any enemy is in line of sight with none within 10m. | 10 seconds. Usually. | The Specter does not adjust its throwing angle when enemies are far away, making the strikes fall well short of their target. While the cooldown is usually 10 seconds, Vauban can sometimes inexplicably use the ability multiple times in a row. |
Bastille | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 30 seconds. | Heavily favors Vortex variant, but will very rarely use Bastille variant instead. |
Volt
Volt | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Shock | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 9 seconds. | |
Speed | Whenever available. | 30 seconds. | |
Electric Shield | Any enemy is in line of sight. | 25 seconds. | |
Discharge | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 85 seconds. |
Wisp
Wisp | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Reservoirs | Any enemy is in line of sight within 40m. | 20 seconds. | Reservoir type is random. |
Will-O-Wisp | Any enemy is in line of sight within 30m. | 12 seconds. | Teleports to decoy as soon as it reaches the targeted enemy. |
Breach Surge | 2+ enemies are in line of sight within 30m. | 45 seconds. | |
Sol Gate | 3+ enemies are in line of sight within 40m. | 65 seconds. | Will maintain ability for up to 25 seconds. Will focus on one enemy until it dies or moves out of range before targeting a new one. Cooldown begins once the beam ends. |
Wukong
Wukong | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Celestial Twin | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Cloud Walker | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Defy | Whenever available. | 13 seconds. | |
Primal Fury | Does not cast. | n/a |
Xaku
Xaku | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Xata’s Whisper | Does not cast. | n/a | |
Grasp of Lohk | Does not cast. | n/a | |
The Lost | Does not cast. | n/a | |
The Vast Untime | Does not cast. | n/a |
Zephyr
Zephyr | Casting Trigger | Cooldown | Extra Notes |
Tail Wind | Any enemy is in line of sight within 5m. | 20 seconds. | |
Air Burst | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 20 seconds. | |
Turbulence | Specter takes damage. | 50 seconds. | |
Tornado | Any enemy is in line of sight within 10m. | 70 seconds. |
Thank you this is very helpful.
I love to hear that! 🙂 If there’s anything you wish I’d included, lemme know. I wanna make this the best resource possible.
Super useful guide.
If had any suggestion, it’d be to add a general guideline on which weapons are good for specters (like, what to look for when selecting the weapon. on the wiki I see a lot of contradicting info like “specters have bottomless clip” and “specters have to reload” etc.)
Thanks!
Yeah, that sounds like good info to have. It’s true that Specters *usually* have an infinite magazine, but there are occasions where they’ll reload the weapon. I haven’t figured out what makes them reload, but it sounds like a fun thing to test. 🙂
As a quick answer right now, I tend to equip mine with Exergis or Proboscus Cernos, depending on whether I want them for damage or general utility. Not that Probuscus Cernos is weak; it tends to clear large groups faster than the Exergis, though it falls behind when enemies are flowing in steadily.
I didn’t see a feedback link, so I’ll drop this here:
I’ve read a number of your articles so far, and you’re doing a wonderful job. Keep this up and Google’s algorithm will be promoting you in no time. I really like your “Is frame X good at Y?” format; frames are nuanced.
Wisdom > Information > Data. Unlike the data mongers, you’re pushing wisdom.
P.S. This article is the one that brought me here, but you can see its popularity from your web reporting.
Thanks so much! That’s some great input, I’ve been wondering if I was on the right track with that format or if I was just making things overwhelming by using it.
I didn’t even think of a feedback link. o_o I suppose it makes sense that some wouldn’t want to broadcast their comments to everyone at once, though. I’ll see if I can add something for that, at some point. 🙂
I really love the article and I can now see how my “Broberon” (Oberon) specter and the specifics on the Hydriod specter timings and how they feel from another player’s perspective ranks in with the others. I really like the straightforward way you present the information.
Small question though, how long does it take to observe each specter’s behavior?
Thanks, glad to have been helpful!
The length of time to figure out each Specter can vary pretty heavily. I perform the tests in the Ballroom Simulacrum, starting off by placing the Specter on the player platform and waiting to see if they cast anything right away. If not, I spawn in twenty enemies, and wait another moment to see if they do anything. If they don’t, I place the Specter right in the middle of the enemies. Doing this, I can see if they have any simple ability triggers that’ll just take quick tweaks to the situation to figure out (such as enemy count and distance).
If there are any abilities that don’t get cast through these basic tests, I enable enemy AI so that the Specter and I can take damage, to see if anything triggers those other abilities. The triggers can sometimes be rather obscure, like Rhino’s Roar requiring two other Specters to be present. The length of time needed to work out the full scope of a Specter’s behavior depends mostly on whether or not they have obscure triggers like these. If it’s all just basic “cast when enemy is within x meters” kind of stuff, it can take as little as twenty minutes.
I’ve been playing around with Specters more and found what I was comfortable with… When it came to their abilities. I’m still somewhat in the dark on what’s good for weaponry for Tenno Specters in general. (I did notice they don’t really use secondaries however)
Do you have any plans in adding a sort of generalized “weapons section” for this page? Although I enjoyed how you cited the Proboscis Cernos on some of the descriptions…
I hadn’t considered testing weapons, but it could be fun! It’s a little harder than testing the Warframes themselves due to how many are in the game, but I can start by seeing if the AI is the same between crafted Specters and the inherent Specters of Excalibur Umbra, Wukong, and Equinox. If it is, that’ll make testing way easier since I won’t have to wait for them to craft.
So, yeah, I’ll look into it! In the meantime, I’ve found Exergis to be potent for sheer damage output, and yes, Proboscis Cernos has some handy utility to it. Secondaries are indeed ignored, except for when the Specter is downed, which is… Finnicky. They sometimes skip downed state altogether.
Convinced a couple of clan mates to try out Specters and one of them likes using the Wisp Specter.
It seems that the Wisp Specter is actually great for other Specter types because of her Reservoirs which also buff ally Specters. What are your thoughts on how effective this actually is?
Wisp is certainly one of the better Specters! As for how her Reservoirs affect other Specters… It can be a tad unreliable, unfortunately, but decently potent. One big problem is just getting the Specters to actually touch the Reservoir in the first place; they don’t specifically aim for the buffed area, and if the Specter’s owner is moving quickly through a level, it may just teleport to keep up, which means no opportunity to touch the buff zone.
As for the buffs themselves… The Health Mote is a drop in the bucket at higher levels, where Specter health has scaled into the tens of thousands. The healing component can be quite nice for keeping non-Tenno Specters alive, though, especially with an Ancient Healer decimating the damage taken.
Shock Motes can be kinda handy with lots of Specters running around, just because it means more area being covered by the stun effect.
The major player is the Haste Mote. The increased fire rate makes other Specters all the more powerful, especially since they don’t need to reload (most of the time). The movement speed and melee speed aren’t necessarily that helpful for Specters, but there is the niche benefit of giving a speed boost to the Grineer in Defection missions, provided you can ensure that your Wisp Specter is in their path, and luck into having her place a Haste Mote. You can always just set her to Hold Position at one of the healing stations to nearly-guarantee that the defectors will get the buff.
Ultimately, using Wisp to buff your team’s other Specters is a handy tactic. It’s no gamechanger, but it can speed things up a bit, and there aren’t really any better options except perhaps Rhino, who strangely only casts Roar when there are other Specters present.
And while Rhino’s buff results in a higher damage boost than Wisp’s Haste, it misses out on movement speed and health/healing, so it’s not a clear-cut choice; you’ll have to decide if you want to go all-out on damage, or get the more generalized buffs that Wisp offers.
Hi! Thanks a lot for the research you have done. Do you have any information about the different specters? (Vapor, Phase, Force, and Cosmic)? I cant find any information about them (health, armor,…) and i dont see a big difference, but the higher grade specters need a lot more resources to craft. So I prefer the Vapor or Phase specters.
Howdy! Sorry for the late response, wasn’t able to check on things until now.
The different Specter types simply spawn in at different levels. If I remember correctly, Vapor Specters match the level of of enemies, Phase Specters spawn three levels higher than enemies, Force Specters spawn five levels higher, and Cosmic Specters spawn ten levels higher.
Ultimately, those levels aren’t going to do much; they’ll scale the weapon damage, health, and shields of the Specter by a little bit, but nothing else. Once you start getting Steel Path and Sortie missions, Vapor Specters will have plenty of durability without the level boost.
The main way you should decide the loadout for each Specter is based simply on what you’ll use most often. I have a Mag in my Vapor Specter slot, for example, since her Polarize ability provides some nice durability to most of my Warframes, making her consistently useful. Meanwhile, I only really use my Protea Specter for giving me energy when I’m piloting my Railjack, so she’s in the Cosmic loadout because I know I won’t need her as often.
What would you recommend as weapons for the specter?
Generally, any weapon with high base stats, aside from reload speed; Specters don’t need to reload, so they’ll just fire continuously. They can put out some nicr damage because of this. Exergis is a favorite of mine for that purpose.
However, my personal favorite weapon for Specters is the Proboscis Cernos, as it provides an extra crowd control component while still having decent damage output.
As regards to not reloading, since the Flux Rifle has no reload function and Specters have indefinite ammo, I was wondering how effective this was. Maybe the level scaling can make up for the lack of damage?
This is fairly late but I really enjoy crowd control specters like Hydriod using the Tonker. Since specters don’t need to reload or have ammo issues then this weapon is great for what it does. Hydriod also has a somewhat medium cooldown for his abilities compared to other specters so he shoots his Tonker more.
Then again, I am staying as MR 6 and the Tonker is one of the few area-of-effect weapons that I have available to me.
I wanted to test Faction Radial Effects if they worked with Specters or not… So far I tried Oberon, Vauban, Hydriod, & Yareli. None of them seem to be able to use the Rakta Ballistica’s Faction Radial Effect Perhaps if I had other faction weapons to test, I can see if any of those work?
Perhaps you already tested Faction weapons on the Specters? If you have, would you say if any Faction Radial Effect works?
After extensive testing on other specters and other faction weapons, I can conclude that Specters cannot use Faction Radial Effects even after the update. I also checked the wiki shortly afterwards and it was already mentioned there… Oops.