Pudge is a very powerful utility hero. He needs very little to be very effective. A good Pudge player can make a significant amount of space for his team in the early and mid game and changes how the entire enemy team plays.
Landing Meat Hook takes a lot of practice, although when mastered is a very powerful skill.
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[/column]Pudge Skill Build
- Rot
- Meat Hook
- Meat Hook
- Rot
- Meat Hook
- Dismember
- Meat Hook
- Rot
- Rot
- Talent
- Flesh Heap
- Dismember
- Flesh Heap
- Flesh Heap
- Talent
- Flesh Heap
- –
- Dismember
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Pudge throws his hook and drags the first target hit towards him. Meat Hook deals damage if it hits an enemy. Aghanim’s Scepter increases the damage and reduces the cooldown. Meat Hook should always be maxed at level 7 as the increased damage and range of the hook is very important when ganking and getting kills. The hooked target will be brought to where you stood when you threw the hook, which means that if you Blink immediately after hooking, the target will not follow you.
Meat Hook has a very high mana cost relative to Pudge’s small mana pool. For this reason, you should use it very sparingly. It’s very beneficial to build intelligence and/or mana items on him to combat this. Pudge isn’t very reliant upon gold and he also lacks any good way to farm until he can Dismember jungle creeps. This means that Pudge either has to get kills through landing Hooks or farm lanes to get gold. If he does the latter however, the enemy will know where Pudge is and feel safer. However if you need to farm a bit to get an item you’re somewhat close to, it can be good just to farm a lane or a few camps. You can use Hook runes to you, and doing so successfully refunds the mana cost of the Hook.
Meat Hook can be very hard to land, although it can be very rewarding to master it. The damage pierces magic immunity and scales very well into the late game. This is because it has the potential to be used to relocate enemies into bad positions and to save your allies from unfavorable situations. In team-fights, look for hook lines in between heroes, behind trees and behind enemies that are about to die. If an enemy is about to die to dismember, you can prepare a hook against a target behind the one about to die.
Pudge needs to have a strong map-presence and scare the opponents into playing safe in fear of his hook. Try to reveal yourself as little as possible as this makes it easier to land hooks onto unsuspecting enemies and try to hook from angles other than the obvious. For example, get behind their lane or hook them sideways. If you stand in vision of the enemy or they appear to have a ward showing where you are stood in the laning phase or early game, this isn’t always necessarily bad. It often forces them to have to play safe and hide underneath their tower which in turn gives your allies more space to farm. Just be careful that they don’t counter-gank and kill you. This is less effective against off lane heroes that can turn to the jungle, such as Tidehunter or Legion Commander.
Pudge slows and damages nearby enemies. He takes half of the damage himself. This can also be used to deny himself if timed well. Pudge can be silenced with Rot enabled, causing potentially lots of damage over time.
This should be used immediately after landing a hook as the slow makes it hard for enemies to escape. It can also be used to deal a bit more damage to creeps when last-hitting by toggling it on right as you attack. Sometimes the target can be Dismembered outside of Rot range and in these cases you should turn off the rot as it will only damage you.
If you walk towards enemies, they will often move erratically, trying to dodge your Meat Hook. You can use this to your advantage to just walk up to them and Rot and Dismember them.
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Flesh Heap gives Pudge extra magic resistance as well as strength for every enemy that dies near him. This gains charges even before it is first skilled, although remains inactive until then. This should be maxed lastly in Dota 2 esports because Pudge’s other two spells give him more killing potential and you’re unlikely to build up many charges before it becomes very useful.
Pudge begins devouring the target, stunning the enemy, dealing periodic damage and healing himself. The damage is a percentage of Pudge’s strength stat plus a minimum value. The audio played for when this is cast is global and heard by everyone even if Pudge is in the Fog of War. The disable from Dismember goes through spell immunity although the damage does not. This makes it a great spell particularly in the late game. True Sight is applied to the target for the duration of the cast.
This can be used to farm a jungle camp as it heals you enough so that you don’t get too low on HP. Similarly, it can be used to stun Roshan for 6 seconds. Note that on both of these occasions, the enemy will be aware that you are killing one or the other. This will make the enemy team alert to a possible Roshan attempt or let them know that you are farming and that they are indeed safe from you. It can be good to use it on a jungle camp if you are heading back to the fountain and intend to teleport to another lane afterwards.
The extra Rot damage adds a just over a bit more than what an additional level of the spell would provide. This is very strong if you are ahead and aren’t dying much. If you’re facing lots of physical damage or if you’re a bit behind, then the extra armor will tank you up a lot.
If you need to tank up a bit, then the spell lifesteal will go a long way in keeping you alive. It will also effectively reduce the amount of damage you deal to yourself with Rot when near enemies. Otherwise, the extra damage will help you get kills in the mid game more easily. If you have snowballed massively and already are tanky enough through the Flesh Heap stacks, you may be able to get away with the extra damage.
The extra GPM will help you to get items and have a larger impact in the late game. If you are trying to end the game sooner rather than later, then the cooldown reduction might be a better choice. It can be especially strong if you have items with long cooldowns, such as BKB or Shiva’s Guard.
The extra Flesh Heap strength can be very good if you have lots of stacks of Flesh Heap or if you need to tank up more. The extra Dismember duration can be good if you need more lockdown or control against a farmed carry or a slippery hero that is hard to lockdown. Usually enemies will have some way to interrupt your ultimate, but it can be strong in situations where the enemies have few stuns or ways of saving the Dismembered target. The extra Flesh Heap strength will help you stay on the front-lines of a fight more, soak more damage and Rot enemies for longer and as such is usually a better option.
Pudge is somewhat open in terms of starting items and what he can buy. For a roaming Pudge, movement speed items such as Wind Lace or Boots can help him close the gap and chase enemies down with Rot. Support items are also very good on Pudge. Smokes allow him to roam undetected, Dust slows invisible heroes and allows him to potentially get kills on them and Observer Wards can be placed behind enemy towers to get easier hooks. Pudge will usually need health and mana regeneration items to help him roam and have more of a map presence, and Branches can give him more stats and potentially some more regen from tangos. Pudge may not need all of his Tangos if he roams, so he can share some with his other heroes.
Tranquil Boots should be purchased on Pudge in most games because they fit his needs very well. They give him lots of movement speed which allows him to position himself better in fights for hooks. They also give HP regeneration which give him the ability to restore his HP while roaming. In comparison, Arcane Boots only restore his mana but with Pudge’s massive HP pool and the fact that Rot lowers his HP, he will often find himself low on HP. This may force him to waste urn charges on himself for example, when often the mana regeneration from Soul Ring/Urn of Shadows/Infused Raindrop/the level 10 talent will be enough.
Magic Wand is great on Pudge because he roams the map a lot in the early and mid game to build up lots of charges. His mana pool is very low so the restored mana allows him to get at least one more crucial hook.
Urn of Shadows is a great item on Pudge, as it gives him a small bit of armor and mana regeneration for a very small price. However most importantly it gives him the Soul Release active which allows him to heal himself or an ally after a successful gank, or to use offensively on an enemy managing to escape on a very small amount of HP.
Soul Ring sacrifices some of Pudge’s large HP pool for some much needed mana. It’s especially a good pickup against heroes with mana burn. It’s not always needed, as Magic Wand and Urn of Shadows is usually enough mana regeneration, especially as your supports will most likely have Arcane Boots. It is nonetheless a decent item on Pudge.
Aether Lens may not always be the item you need on Pudge although it helps your mana pool and increases the range of Meat Hook and Dismember. The increased hook is very strong particularly in the late game as it can catch carries sieging your base.
The magic resistance from Hood of Defiance is great on Pudge as it reduces the damage he takes from Rot. The extra HP regen helps with this further. Hood also allows him to stand on the front lines of his team and soak up more magical damage from the enemy. This can be built into a Pipe of Insight later if your team will benefit from the magic damage block.
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Rod gives Pudge more strength and intelligence as well as a very useful root ability. It’s very easily built out of cheap, helpful items. It’s very effective against Blink heroes and allows him to walk close enough to the target to get a Dismember off and potentially also a hook. Enemies also become much easier targets for Meat Hook after being rooted.
Force Staff gives Pudge more intelligence and mitigates some of Rot’s damage through the HP regeneration. It mainly provides him with a very powerful mobility active. He can Force himself out of danger or into hook lines.
Blink Dagger allows Pudge to Blink on top of enemies and Dismember them, as well as Blinking and getting easier hooks off on either friends or foes. It is usually more reliable to Blink on top of a target and to Dismember them than it is to catch an enemy with Meat Hook.
Ghost Scepter allows Pudge to ignore all physical damage for a few seconds. This can be very useful against heroes such as Shadow Fiend or Ursa who can deal a lot of damage to Pudge if not killed immediately. Try to keep Rot turned off as you’ll take 40% more damage from it.
Blade Mail gives Pudge some armor and intelligence, as well as the ability to reflect incoming damage. This achieves similar results to Ghost Scepter, although it won’t save Pudge against several sources of physical damage at the same time.
Eul’s provides lots of mana regeneration and a helpful defensive ability. If you use Cyclone on an enemy you can hook them out if it at any point, although the enemy will not take any damage this way.
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Shiva’s Guard provides lots of armor for Pudge who has very low armor as well as lots of intelligence to allow him to cast more spells in fights. It also provides an attack slow aura which is very effective against physical damage dealers.
BKB may be necessary if you are unable to be on the front lines of your team in fights because of disables or excessive magic damage. It also makes you immune to your Rot damage, so you can have it active the entire duration. Some of the best Dota 2 players build this item in their games.
Aghanim’s Scepter allows you to use Meat Hook every 4 seconds and makes it deal significantly more pure damage. Agh’s is very effective against heroes with high magic resistance such as Viper or Anti-Mage as it deals pure damage through magic immunity. It provides a significant increase to your mana pool, although is nonetheless a very mana intensive item. In the late game, Pudge can throw his hook very often when sieging or being sieged in an attempt to catch someone out and swing the fight in his favor.
Boots of Travel free up an inventory slot for Pudge and also give him more movement speed. This is strong on Pudge as it allows him to position himself for hook lines better.
Lotus Orb gives Pudge a purge active and gives him an ability similar to Blade Mail. It’s very effective against lineups with many single-target spells and debuffs such as silences or slows. It also gives Pudge some much needed armor.
Heart of Tarrasque provides Pudge with a massive amount of HP and health regeneration. This makes Pudge a very strong front line hero in the late game and makes him very tanky.
Scythe gives Pudge a massive increase to his mana regeneration and the ability to Hex a target. This makes it easier to land a hook on them and gives Pudge the ability to keep one target locked down for a very long time. This may be needed against strong carries or heroes who are hard to lockdown.
If your team has fallen behind, a Glimmer Cape provides Pudge with magic resistance and the ability to go temporarily invisible. This is good against lineups which are dominating you with magical damage and tanks you up against Rot. The invisibility also allows you to get some surprise hooks off to help you get back into the game.
Against invisible heroes, a Gem is very strong on Pudge. This is because Pudge is less likely to be killed as he tends to stick to the side-lines of fights unless he is very tanky, in which case he is hard to kill. It also gives Pudge lots of map control against wards and makes it harder for the enemy team to keep an eye on Pudge’s movements and incoming hooks.
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When playing against Rubick, you should always use Rot after Meat Hook even if you miss the hook. This is to make it harder for Rubick to steal you Meat Hook, as he can make very good use out of it.
Doom’s ultimate ability will silence Pudge for a very long time, often catching him with his Rot enabled. This will cause tremendous damage to Pudge over the full duration, and there is a good chance the damage from Doom will get the kill instead of denying yourself with the Rot as well.
Lifestealer deals bonus damage and lifesteals from tanky heroes. This is very powerful against Pudge as he gains strength throughout the entire game through Flesh Heap.
These three heroes all have powerful purges that can purge the disable from Dismember. Keep Dismembered targets away from Abaddon, Dismember Slark after he uses Dark Pact and avoid using your ultimate on Tidehunter, as he will almost always purge it. Avoid hooking Tidehunter into your team as well, as he can ravage your entire team if they are near.
Timbersaw deals lots of Pure damage which ignores your high magic resistance and Whirling Death reduces your strength and, in turn, your HP.
Rot burns through Templar Assassin’s Refraction charges in roughly a second. This is makes him very strong against her in the early to mid game, before she gets a BKB. However be careful when hooking her as she can deal a lot of physical damage to Pudge very quickly.
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