Mountaintop Studios is labelling its new tactical shooter Spectre Divide “genre-evolving.” And while the jury’s still out as to whether this new title will shake up the tac-shooter scene, one thing is sure: The way it approaches abilities is unlike any other.
There are no classes or heroes in Spectre Divide. Instead, players will have the ability to select a Sponsor prior to every match. These Sponsors resemble companies or factions and each come with three different abilities you can activate during a round. Many Sponsors have a clearly defined role; e.g., Bloom Technologies has support abilities like a barrier and a heal.
There are eight sponsors in Spectre Divide‘s August playtest, and four are locked to start. You can only have one Sponsor selected at a time, and you’ll be able to progress through a Sponsor’s levels if you play games with its endorsement activated. As you level up a Sponsor, you’ll earn rewards for it, including themed Sprays and banners.
Here are all eight Sponsors and their abilities in Spectre Divide, so you can best pick a playstyle that’s best for you.
| Sponsor Name | Ability One (Q) | Ability Two (E) | Ability Three (C) |
| Pinnacle International | Splinter Grenade: A grenade that explodes into eight splinters. Each do 40 damage.
Cooldown: 75 seconds |
Adrena Link: Using this ability equips a Spectre-linked stim that heals the user for 80 health over 10 seconds. Your Spectre gains enhanced vision and ignores weapon-move speed debuffs. | Flash Grenade: A grenade that explodes after 1.6 seconds and blinds all players in the line of sight.
Alt fire: Underhand throw the grenade, which will explode in 1.0 seconds. |
| Morrgen United | Smoke Shift: A grenade that creates a cloud of smoke for 14 seconds.
Alt fire: You throw a smoke grenade and your puck at the same time. Your puck’s recall line is invisible to enemies. Cooldown: 60 seconds |
Meltdown: A grenade that creates an area of caustic fluid that damages enemies for 168 health over seven seconds. | Hidden Grasp: A trap that quickly becomes invisible and will explode when an enemy gets too close, creating a slow zone for 10 seconds. |
| Bloom Technologies | Hex Barrier: A barrier comprised of four sections that each have 150 health. The barrier will block bullets.
Cooldown: 30 seconds |
Twin Mend: Heal an ally and their Spectre for 80 health over 10 seconds.
Alt fire: If damaged, you can choose to heal yourself and your spectre for 40 health over 10 seconds. |
Swarm Grenade: A grenade that releases a swarm of bees that blocks vision and damages enemies for 100 health over 12 seconds. |
| Ryker Industries | Wave Scan: A sonar spike that emits three pulses towards your active body. If an enemy is hit by a pulse, they’ll be located for three seconds.
Alt fire: The spike will bounce once before sticking. Cooldown: 45 seconds |
Hull Mine: A proximity mine that sticks to the ground. After a short delay, enemies who get too close will trigger three explosions that deal 15 health damage each. | Arc Sentry: A sentry that heavily slows enemies who cross its line of sight. |
| Vector Dynamics | Dual AMP: Deploy a marker and gain a 15-percent increase to fire rate for eight seconds. Reactivating it teleports your Spectre to the marker and gives it a fire-rate buff. Kills rest buff duration.
Cooldown: 30 seconds |
Vector Wall: Deploy a slow-moving nanobot wall that will block vision for 10 seconds.
Alt fire: The wall moves quicker, but lasts for six seconds. |
Nano Sphere: Deploy a bouncing nano swarm dealing 90 damage over 2.5 seconds to the first enemy it gets near. |
| Ghostlink Collective | Partition: Deploy a wall that blocks line of sight for eight seconds. This wall cannot be stopped by terrain. Touching the wall slightly blurs vision.
Cooldown: 45 seconds |
Dupe: Deploy a clone of your current body that lasts for 5.5 seconds. You’ll additionally leave a dupe behind when you Puck throw if you have a charge remaining. This dupe lasts 60 seconds. Enemies who shoot dupes are briefly revealed. | Dead Zone: A grenade that creates a large distortion field lasting 10 seconds that blurs vision of all players inside. |
| Muu Robotics | Patches: Deploy a drone that moves forward and heals you and allies in its radius for 80 health over 12 seconds.
Alt fire: The drone remains stationary. Cooldown: 60 seconds |
Dazzler: Deploy a flying drone that follows your crosshair. After one second, it explodes and obscures the vision of any enemy in line of sight. | Hyper Dome: A grenade that creates a permanent Fast Recall Zone and 150 health shield dome on floor impact that lasts 14 seconds. |
| Umbra Reconnaissance | Recon Wing: A drone that sticks to the first surface it hits. After 1.2 seconds, it reveals enemies within range for 2.5 seconds.
Target Marker: Instantly create an area of effect at the marker that reveals enemies for 2.5 seconds. Cooldown: 50 seconds |
Pulsefinder: Instantly equip a scanner that pulses every two seconds for 30 seconds. If an enemy is hit by a pulse, they are detected and leave a marker at their location. Detected enemies can see remaining pulses. | Glare Burst: A drone that charges for 1.2 seconds before blinding all players in its area of effect for four seconds.
Target Marker: Instantly create an area of effect at the marker that blinds all players for four seconds. |
Only four are unlocked when you first load in: Pinnacle International, Morrgen United, Bloom Technologies, and Ryker Industries. You have two options for unlocking a Sponsor in Spectre Divide; either activate its endorsement and play matches to progress its levels, or buy level seven in the Sponsor’s progress path directly with the in-game currency (SP).
For the August playtest, players automatically have 2,050 SP to spend. Purchasing level seven in a locked Sponsor costs 1,000 SP, meaning you can unlock two Sponsors. Be sure to read through those abilities one last time before making your final choice.
If you’re wanting to get in on all the building hype for the Shroud-backed tactical shooter, you can sign up to the Spectre Divide playtest through Steam or follow its storefront page for more information on its release date.
