Spectre popularity and heroes with passives

I was reading the following article in Dotabuff:

http://www.dotabuff.com/blog/2016-01-07-femme-fatale--medusa-and-spectre-trends

It says: "Spectre has a 59.29% win rate on average and almost 55% win rate in the 5k+ skill bracket. This hero is currently the strongest core in the game and an overall second best hero in terms of win rate."

Sometime ago, however, I had a discussion about the new patch and the changes to Silver Edge, which some people said turned the heroes with passives unplayable.

Assuming this is true (which I don't, but for the sake of the conversation), why is Spectre in such a good place now, if she can be considered one of those heroes which rely heavily on her passive?

Spectre is always going to be better in pubs than in a theoretical environment; People are really bad at closing games out, and Spectre is like the best hero at punishing that.

Tbh, I am reluctant to draw many conclusions from games right now, because the patch is really untested; Like, it was a huge patch and the first real major event only started four days ago. (We still haven't seen the best teams play much. Like I cannot recall an OG, Secret or EG game this patch).

I also think the Silver Edge buff might have gone unnoticed a little, given how many big things happened in the patch. Since it seemed like an absurd buff.

But if I had to guess; Spectre relies less on her passive than the other examples. Like losing Dispersion is irritating because you become more squishy, but you are still sitting on like 3 or 4k EPH; Killing you in that time frame is hard.

The meta of deadly laners have ended, that probably has something to do with it. Running a Lich based Dual offlane is no longer gonna shut down Spectre all game, especially since she can go Vanguard now.

Spectre got pretty noticeable buffs in 6.85, but she never really got to shine, mainly because that guy, Doom, was everywhere, and he countered Spectre abnormally hard, since she was tank carry that charged in and did not have any real burst damage, so it was a very easy Doom target.

But the hero kind of sucks now, and he was probably the single best counter to those late game tank carries with no burst, and since laning is less of an issue, they get to shine more.

Also, despite Silver Edge being buffed, with introduction of new items like Dragon Lance, Aether Lens, and the buffing of items like Veil, the items people buy have turned a lot more "mid game-y", so, even though the item is more effective against Spectre does not necessarily mean she'll lose more, especially if this patch comes with less Silver Edge carriers like Slark (seeing less play compared to heroes like Jugger), Tusk (finally got a big nerf), DK (still not good enough mid to contest Invoker), and Shadow Fiend (too nerfed for pubs it seems, though he's still legit).

Perhaps we need a surge of Broodmothers to shut down these silly Dusas and Spectres.. once the LC craze dies down.

Maybe Spectre is actually - not - in a good place right now and the article you mentioned is full of false information?

Because :
- Spectre is in such a good place right now that she has a 4% pick/ban rate in competitive
- Medusa is in such a great place right now that she has a 3.9% pick/ban rate
- Invoker was hardly even "nerfed", he's still overpowered and sitting at the confortable 2nd place with a 83% pick/ban rate. It'll take a major nerf to balance this guy out, Icefrog should understand by now that there are heroes that you just cannot buff.
- Gyrocopter is so "slowly fading" that he's sitting at the top 1 of the board with a 86% pick/ban rate right now

Yes, pubs can't deal with Spectre, because to play against Spec you need proper positionning and you need to coordinate pushes when her ult is down, and pubs can't do that because whatever the MMR, they're completely uncoordinated so they can't push properly, especially in a strict timing window. That's why her winrate in pubs is high. It has been the case for like 2 years really. It doesn't change the fact that she was nerfed super hard this patch with the Silver Edge change.

So.... Spectre==new Riki but with completely changed style of playing?
Btw..didn't I asked a similar question a few weeks ago?

@Icefrog

• Make Invoke cost 80 / 90 / 100 / 120 mana and nerf Agh's to reduce mana cost to 50
• Remove disarm from Deafening Blast
• Reduce Flak Cannon sub-target damage to 50/60/70/80%

You want Invoker to become completely unplayable after shining in just one patch?)))))

I wouldn't say anything about competitive yet - the patch is fresh, maybe those heroes see some play. Though everyone ignoring Silver in their Spectre dithyrambs is kinda fun.

No I want invoker to become a hero that was reserved for top notch players, not just a hero kids can spam Alacrity. Like old times

Winrates in dotabuff don't give a **** about competitive. It's mostly the sub 4k who make those winrates. In competitive Spectre may be a silly hero but in pubs she owns. Also most people in pubs do the Vanguard Blade Mail build. This allows the average puber to be active during midgame, way earlier than the average Radiance Spectre. They end their games rather quickly and if it goes late they still buy items like Manta Style, Radiance, hearth of tarrasque and you name it. This makes Spectre amazing in the sub 4k matchmaking, WHICH IS 80% OF THE GAMES!!!!!!!!

So because of here good pub ownage playstyle she has a good winrate. Refering to competitive will lead to people say, spectre is bad, but that doesn't matter because who gives a **** about competitve. Only people higher than 5k mmr, which is like 5% of the players.

Competitve dota ruined Riki to be honest. First he was that funny pubscrub hero and now they want to make him viable in competitve with his stupid new ultimate, but nobody in competitive plays Riki.

With your nerfs hero would be reserved for no one because he'd be **** lmao. I'll even say more, kids who spam 2-3 spells would be the only one playing the hero because they don't care about Invoke manacost and cooldown. Alacrity- Ghost Walk Clinkzvoker FTW.