How to unlock Spectrier
Spectrier is not sold directly, so the only route is the Galar banner, where it occupies a 5★ slot. The 5★ band takes 1.5% of all pulls and holds 103 partners, so one specific Spectrier works out to about 0.0146% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter guarantees a 5★, but it does not target Spectrier specifically, so a guarantee can still resolve to another 5★. A duplicate Spectrier refunds 300 coins at the 5★ rate.
Spectrier stats and rank
Spectrier reads 115 HP, 133 speed, ×1.5 attack, ×1.06 physical, ×1.5 special, 60 defense and 80 special defense, for a 580 base-stat total. On the three-stat percentile this is 94.2 out of 100, which puts Spectrier at rank 5 of 966 and in tier S. The relative picture matters more than the total: its strongest slot is special multiplier (98th percentile) and its weakest is defense (35th percentile), so it is a specialist rather than an all-rounder.
Best moves in Spectrier's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (112.5 effective DPS, ×1.06 multiplier), then Hyper Beam at 126.2 damage per 1.76s (107.5 effective DPS, ×1.50 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (95.0 effective DPS, ×1.06 multiplier). 7 of its 12 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 5 with the special one, alongside 4 support moves. Its special multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.5 against ×1.06), so special moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 5.0 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call. Range, area and knockback are not in the DPS number, so a nova can beat a melee on clear speed despite a smaller figure.
Evolution cards for Spectrier
Its starting move, Shadow Ball, evolves into Phantom Force once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Reflexes card, which boosts cooldown for that run. If Reflexes never appears in that run's level-up offers, the move stays at level 5 and unevolved. 12 of its 16 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Magnet). The strongest of them is Body Slam at 112.5 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Spectrier compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Iron Moth (-9 HP, -9 speed, -0.03 attack, -10 total) and Munkidori (-5 HP, -10 speed, -0.08 attack, -25 total). Against Iron Moth, Spectrier is 9 speed faster and Spectrier hits harder by ×0.03, and the rank gap is 35 places. Those differences are what you actually trade when swapping partners, not a straight upgrade path, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.