Ghost Scepter is a criminally underrated item in most pubs, and is a fantastic way to counter a large amount of popular physical damage dealers. Let’s take a look at the item itself and what it offers.

Ghost Scepter
+7 All Attributes
Active: Ghost Form - Enter ghost form, unable to attack or be attacked, but take 40% extra magic damage. Using a Teleport Scroll dispels Ghost Form. Boots of Travel do not dispel Ghost Form.
GHOST DURATION: 4
Cooldown: 30s
Cost: 1600g

On top of giving +7 to all attributes (which ends up being 133 hp, almost 1 full armor, and 91 mana), Ghost Scepter gives access to a very unique active. Ghost Form means that you will not be able to be beat down by pesky enemy heroes while you yourself are still able to move around and cast your spells. This makes it a fantastic choice when you are up against a right-click heavy lineup and happen to be playing a squishy caster.

Buy a Scepter to counter:

These are some examples of heroes that you can counter using a scepter. Ursa, Lifestealer, Phantom Assassin, and Templar Assassin all have one thing in common here: they are very good at beating down people with auto attacks and don’t have targetable nukes.

Ghost Scepter is one of the best ways to counter these heroes when they jump on you, giving you 4 full seconds to run away and reach your team, or at least time to figure out that you are close to death and try to teleport away after it ends. Be very careful, however, as ghost form does give you that 40% extra magic damage taken so if the enemy team is nearby or hasn’t spent a few of their spells, it’s quite possible they can still nuke you down while these guys turn around to other victims.

Buy to not die as well as do something kind of cool with:

Virtually anybody can purchase and use a ghost scepter to deal with heroes like those listed above. However, there are a few heroes that can make it a bit more interesting of a choice.

Crystal Maiden, Witch Doctor, and Bane are squishy support-esque type heroes that will easily die when enemy heroes decide to click on them. Using a ghost scepter gives you those 4 seconds of being able to cast spells, including their channeling ultimates! That’s right, while you are in ghost form, you can use your big damage dealing spells on the enemy team without fear that they just turn around and maul you with their fists.

Queen of Pain, Morphling, and Tinker aren’t necessarily squishy supports but can still be easily eaten by heavy physical damage. However, the big draw of the ghost scepter is it’s build up: an Ethereal Blade! Extremely popular on morphling, as a ‘shotgun’ build, Ethereal Blade does damage based on your highest attribute and puts the enemy into ghost form so that they then take more damage from spells. The second aspect is the part that is most interesting on these heroes, as they themselves have pretty hefty magical nukes to shoot at targets that take 40% extra damage from them. As an added bonus, Tinker can use his Boots of Travel while ghost formed making it an even more useful pickup for him.

Want to stop your Tidehunter from having all his life stolen by a Lifestealer? Phantom Lancer just threw a spirit lance at you and is about to create a huge army of illusions? Poor Bane keeps getting focused down by Ursa while he stands still and ultimates? Buy a Ghost Scepter !