Specter the Unchained

duration = 20
atk = 0
max_hp = 0

“You chose a dangerous way to learn of the Abyssal Hunters and our enemies, Doctor. With nothing but your delicate body, the tides will drown you. But at the same time, you can count your lucky stars, because I invite you to hide behind me.”

Specter’s long convalescence at Rhodes Island has led to actual improvements in her physical and mental state. From a dazed, amnesiac buzzsaw-murderer, she is slowly reverting to her natural state: a calm, confident, artistic, affable buzzsaw-murderer. Good to know some things never change! Even as Specter the Unchained has changed from a 5* Centurion Guard to a 6* Dollkeeper Specialist, she still occupies the same space of turning immortal and grinding up multiple enemies at a time into a bloody paste, with the addition of AoE Slow and Arts damage from her substitute form.

As a Dollkeeper rather than a Centurion, Specter the Unchained (aka Spalter or, even better, Splatter) can only Block-2 and attack one enemy at a time. On the other hand, when her HP hits 0, her Embraced Self Talent switches her into a second form where she begins to sing a haunting AEgir elegy that inflicts Arts damage and Slow on all nearby enemies. (Think of her like one of those annoying blue Nervous Impairment jellyfish from the Stultifera Navis event.) After several seconds, Splatter will get tired of singing and pull out her seashell buzzsaw again, ready to wreak more terror and bloodshed.

Specter the Unchained uses her Skills to get closer to her substitute form, like other members of the archetype. However, in true Specter form, she does it in unusual ways. Her S1, The Skill to Survive, swaps her HP percentage with the lowest-HP ally within range and then gives Splatter an ATK buff. (Yes, you can use this on an S3-ing Surtr. It doesn’t work as well as you might hope, but it IS fun.) Her S2, The Thirst to Survive, is the “immortality” Skill, granting bonus ATK and ASPD and also preventing Splatter’s HP from falling below 1, much like vanilla Specter’s S2. The trick: once the duration ends, Splatter immediately swaps to her substitute. Her S3, The Pressure to Survive, breaks down class barriers and temporarily turns Splatter back into a Centurion Guard. She gains max HP and ATK, the ability to attack all blocked enemies, and bonus damage when attacking enemies with a higher HP percentage than her own. When attacking an enemy with a lower HP percentage than her own, Splatter will lose HP instead, putting her closer to that bonus damage (and also closer to her substitute form). As a final note, like other members of her team, Splatter also buffs all allied Abyssal Hunters—her AEgir’s Depths E2 Talent grants bonus max HP to Abyssal Hunters while Splatter is in the squad.

The major drawback with Specter the Unchained is simply how much investment she demands. If you thought Centurion Guards were needy because they needed to be E2’d before they can perform, Specter the Unchained blows them all out of the water. Without a fully upgraded module, Specter the Unchained is on par or even worse than her vanilla 5* version. That’s not an exaggeration. Without a module, Splatter has worse cycling time, no helidrop potential, lower Block, and a practically useless substitute form… for 6* investment costs. She’s simply not worthwhile until you upgrade one of her two modules to max.

The good news is, once you upgrade Specter the Unchained’s PUM-X or PUM-Y modules, she becomes the monster that Arknights lore claims she is. Splatter’s PUM-X module is a dramatic improvement to her substitute form, granting increased damage and Slow to her substitute and a burst of free SP when reverting back to Splatter from the substitute. The PUM-Y module is a ridiculous boost to the AEgir’s Depths Talent, greatly increasing the HP buff and adding SP generation to the mix. If you’re a big fan of Abyssal Hunter teams or Splatter’s S3, then PUM-Y is the way to go; otherwise, PUM-X is a terrific buff to Splatter’s S2.

It takes a ridiculous amount of resources to E2 Specter the Unchained and then max out one of her module upgrades to unlock her true power. Think of it as the time that vanilla Specter had to spend without memory of her true self. But once the gates have been unlocked and Specter truly becomes Unchained, none will doubt her strength again.

Skill	Mastery	Story	Advanced	Roguelike
	S2M3	S *	S *	S+ *
	S3M3	A *	A- *	A+ *

* Note that these skills are graded assuming the unit has at least one Module level 3. If you do NOT plan to get this unit's upgraded Module(s), treat the priority of these skills significantly lower. Priority depends on the Module. See the write up below for more details.

More than any other unit, Specter the Unchained's Mastery priority depends on if and which Module you upgrade for her. With only her base kit, there just isn't any value when compared to her 5★ form. Specter’s base kit is very mediocre and would only garner B or C-tier grades; however, both Modules are excellent and have differing niches that influence the grades. In particular if using PUM-X, favor S2. For PUM-Y, favor S3. Keep this in mind when deciding where to invest.

Supposing you do plan to get at least one of her upgraded Modules, Specter the Unchained is a worthy M6 consideration with the better first target (and Module) depending on how you want to use her. The generally better option would be to go with her S2 and PUM-X Module upgrades. This setup improves upon the invulnerability niche of her base form, while also making her a very effective lane holder. With the heavy snare and damage improvements on her doll from PUM-X that help stop leaks, and much improved cycle time on her invulnerability, she can excel in the role in a way few others can. S2 Mastery is very important here, representing large improvements to her cycle time and DPS.

Her S3 is a bit of a tricky skill. It is her DPS skill, and taken on its own and in the context of similar DPS skills on other 6★s, it has quite poor numbers. If she can't trigger the HP threshold condition, it performs worse than her 5★ form and without the invulnerability or 3-block. However, her second Module, PUM-Y, gives a pretty significant upgrade to her S3. It markedly improves S3 cycle time while also making her more bulky, which helps avoid her weak doll effect. This combos especially well with Gladiia's upcoming Module, which furthers her bulk. With PUM-Y and S3M3, Specter can maintain close to 50% uptime on a high DPS skill while being nigh unkillable to all but the biggest threats. Mastery also represents a well above average DPS increase for her, so don't skimp out if you plan to use her for that DPS role.