Spectre Divide is a tactical online first-person shooter where two teams of 3 players are fighting each other to dominate the battlefield and emerge victorious.
The rules are simple: one team has to plant and detonate the bomb in a designated area while the other one has to secure the detonation site and prevent the explosion.
It’s a simple and well-tested formula that we saw a number of times in other games already, but it adds a unique twist to the gameplay which makes it a truly unique experience you wouldn’t want to miss.
This is the titular Spectre – your body double that you can freely switch to during the game, giving you essentially two lives and two separate characters you can control. It adds a new layer of strategy to the game, as now you can be in two different places simultaneously, which opens a whole new world of possibilities to surprise your opponents.
Considering that Spectre Divide is a highly competitive team game, you may want to spare a moment or two to learn some tips and tricks everyone should be aware of; doing so will make you a valuable ally who can stand their own ground and doesn’t need to be carried – your team will be grateful.
Read on to learn everything you should know about Spectre Divide – from new player mistakes to avoid, to combat strategies for beginners.
Spectre Divide: Character Classes (Sponsors)
In Spectre Divide, you can choose one of the eight playable classes, here called Sponsors, allowing you to play the game in a way that’s the closest to your personal preferences. Before you start the actual game, it would be smart to familiarize yourself with the existing Sponsors so you know how to play each one and how to counter them in case of facing them in battle.
Each class offers a unique playstyle and is meant to fill a different role on the battlefield. As such, you should learn the role of each Sponsor, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, so you can use the chosen character at their maximum efficiency and support your team in a more meaningful way.
The game is being constantly developed and balanced, so it’s no use making a Spectre Divide character class tier list or diving into the details here, as the info may quickly become irrelevant. Here’s just a quick summary of existing Sponsors at the time of writing and what they do:
- Pinnacle International: frag grenades, self-healing, flashbangs
- Morrgen United: smoke and caustic grenades, slowing traps
- Bloom Technologies: barriers, ally healing, vision-impairing grenades
- Ryker Industries: sonar for enemy detection, sticky mines, slowing sentries
- Vector Dynamics: fire rate buffs, vision-blocking walls that move forward, bouncing grenades
- Ghostlink Collective: vision-blocking walls, clones, distortion fields
- Muu Robotics: healing and exploding drones, shields, portable Fast Recall zones
- Umbra Reconnaissance: revealing enemies, causing blindness in the area
Pre-Round: Shopping Phase
When you start the match, you get a short window of preparation time before each round begins. This is when players decide what to buy and where to place their bodies and their other selves.
Purchasing the right equipment is extremely important. There are several tiers of weapons to buy; higher tiers are more powerful or may offer more specialized use when compared to their cheaper counterparts. Getting high-tier weapons can give you the upper hand in combat, but if you die, you’ll lose it and you’ll have to buy it again.
As such, it’s important to develop a strategy focused on when to buy what. It’s a risk and reward system. If you’re not sure about your abilities, perhaps it would be a better idea to stick to mid-tier weapons, so you can easily save some money on the side and re-purchase what you lost in case of death.
Losing expensive gear will be more difficult to re-acquire and may force you to use low-tier weapons for a round or two while you’re saving money for the top gear, giving your team a harder time during the upcoming encounters.
Team Inventory
Unlike in other, similar games, you can’t drop weapons for your allies to pick them up. If you want to buy someone a weapon, it can be done through Team Inventory instead.
Due to the existence of Spectres, buying weapons can be a bit confusing at first. When you’re buying weapons, you’re always buying them in pairs; one weapon goes to the main body, and the other one goes to the Spectre.
You can only select one of the pre-existing weapon pairs.
Whenever someone buys a copy of the weapon pack, it goes to the Team Inventory. Team weapons will be shown in orange. From there, anyone can claim them. If there are two orange weapons in a weapon pack, this pack can be claimed for free. If only one weapon is orange in a pack, this pack will be sold at a discount; whoever wants to claim it will have to pay for the other weapon from that pack themselves.
You can also place requests on weapon packs, so your team will know which one you need.
Placing and Utilizing the Spectre
The second thing to do during the shopping phase is to place the Spectre.
It’s important to note that you don’t have to physically get to the position from where you want to start the round. You can place both your body and your Spectre anywhere within the designated area by simply pressing M by default to open the map, and then clicking at the desired location. Left-clicking will place your main body; right-clicking will place the Spectre.
The initial placement can be done only within a short distance from the starting location. Maps feature a special type of anti-Spectre walls that will prevent you from placing your bodies at remote locations. This restriction exists to prevent situations where players would choose to spawn at the enemy base, for example.
Once the preparation time is up and the round begins, you can’t change the positions of your original body this way anymore. From now on, you have to take control of the body and walk it to where you want it to be. However, you can recall and place your Spectre, but it takes time. Placing is much quicker if you do it within Fast Recall zones, marked in green on the map.
Placement itself is extremely important. Do it smartly. Don’t place the Spectre in the open; don’t let the enemies find it and eliminate it easily. Flank the enemies using the Spectre or create ambush opportunities.
One of the useful tricks you must know is the fact that when it comes to planting and defusing the bomb, your two bodies can act independently. You can start planting/defusing with one body and switch to the other one; the process of planting/defusing won’t be interrupted. In other words, you can now protect and provide cover to your other body as it’s taking care of the bomb.
Be Mindful of Spectre Warnings
During the game, it may be difficult to pay attention to two bodies at the same time and constantly check their respective surroundings to make sure they’re both safe. To make it a bit easier for players, developers introduced Spectre warnings that are meant to notify players of potential danger ahead of time, giving them a little bit of extra time to react.
When you open the map, you’ll notice that there’s a big circle around your Spectre. This is the area of enemy detection. Whenever enemies perform actions within this circle, you will receive a warning of a potential threat incoming. You can’t possibly miss it; it’s a big warning sign that will be flashing in the middle of the screen.
Warnings are issued in two variants: yellow and red. As you might have already guessed, the variant you’ll get depends on the severity of the danger. The louder and the closer to your Spectre the enemy is, the more likely it will be for you to receive a red warning.
If you see a yellow warning, it’s recommended to take action immediately: switch to your Spectre, look around, and prepare to confront the enemy. Waiting until red is, generally speaking, not advised unless you’re already busy dealing with enemies while playing as your primary character and simply can’t afford to switch at the moment.
Only the Spectre can sense nearby dangers. For this reason, it’s highly recommended to stick to your primary body and only use the Spectre as a backup and a scout. Leave him hidden behind the corner at the other side of the map and you’ll know when the enemies will be trying to take that route.
Weapon Control
Spectre Divide is first and foremost a first-person shooter game. As such, it would be greatly beneficial to learn how to efficiently use your weapons, which is general FPS knowledge, not necessarily unique to Spectre Divide.
Take your time and practice shooting with each gun. Learn how each weapon behaves, and test things such as recoil, accuracy, fire rate, and reload speed. Some weapons may perform better in certain scenarios than others.
Practice hip-firing as well as aiming down sights.
Swap your main gun to a sidearm when necessary – doing so is faster than reloading, so it may save your life if you’re cornered.
Movement Tricks – Ferrari Peeking and Counter-Strafing
If you need to take a peek and see what’s around the corner, don’t do it while aiming down the sights – it makes you slower and more predictable; the enemy will see your leg and arm a moment before you can see them at all, which gives them a slight advantage and allows them to react quicker.
Instead, strafe with A and D. In FPS games, this is sometimes called Ferrari peeking.
Counter-strafing, on the other hand, is when you strafe in one direction and then suddenly stop and start strafing in the opposite one.
Why’s that important? Because when you’re moving, your aim is greatly reduced. Standing still results in the best accuracy. If you’re strafing and there’s an enemy around the corner, you want to be ready to shoot, but if you attempt hip-firing during strafing, you’ll most likely miss all your bullets.
Technically speaking, when you’re switching the direction of strafing, there’s a very short time window when you’re essentially standing still. It lasts a fraction of a second, but if you time it right, you can use that opportunity to take a very accurate shot. It takes a lot of practice to learn and master, but it’s extremely useful in competitive FPS games.
Conclusion
Spectre Divide is a surprisingly fun FPS game with a unique twist that adds a whole new layer of strategy to the game. Having two lives in each round means more playing and less spectating, which makes the experience more enjoyable and interactive. However, the idea of dual-body mechanics can be quite difficult to grasp at first. Hopefully, with our help, you’ll be more prepared for the upcoming battles.