Top Preface All these changes, Ti5 and the meta shifts; at this point sure, we do see the Gyrocopters and the Leshracs, but what is going on? Im talking about the viable hero pool, and what the new items caused. We are looking at naga supports, centaur getting picked, Chaos Knight, Dazzle on pro matches, Bloodseeker ruining my mmr, all this stuff all happening at once.



I was playing Shadow Fiend against this Bloodseeker, mid of course. Chilling, everyone is last hitting as normal, we were about equal in farm. He starts running around and by the 15 minutes he was 8-0, two shotting my allies. What do I do now. Ended up losing that match, and a following few to Bloodseekers and one Slardar+ Juggernaut combo but thats a different story.



Closed dota and took a break, I got bored.



...



30 minutes later I was refreshed and came back.



In a sort of zen journey I decided that I had to go back to my roots, to the fat disgusting pub hero I used to play back in the day, Pudge of course.



To give you an idea, I used to play Pudge so much, that even when I stopped playing him for a good 6-7 months, he still is my most played hero by just over 25 matches. Second most played being Tinker.



Shake the rust off, back into the frey.



On a sidenote, shoutout to this guy ♥. So yes, this guide will pretty much cover everything I can think of when you ask me how to play Pudge Pudge



And no, sorry to dissapoint you guys but my most played hero is Pudge



Lets go shall we? You know how I write my guides.

Oh and blog version will be linked when it's done . Guides on my blog are usually more clean and less formatted than the dotafire versions, if you like that you can go over there.



I hope that this guide settles me as the go-to Pudge Storm Spirit Pudge Let's do it.

, this guide will pretty much cover everything I can think of when you ask me how to play; from the basics, building and laning, to how aplayer thinks and why., sorry to dissapoint you guys but my most played hero is, sorry. Kind of a guilty pleasure that ended up as a guilty addiction.. Guides on my blog are usually more clean and less formatted than the dotafire versions, if you like that you can go over there.

Top 1. Introduction More than likely you are familiar with this, but I'm going to keep it in the guide anyway.

Pudge So basically a cheap Batrider



Because he is a rather level dependent hero early on he is sent solo, most of the time mid, but he is just as good as an offlaner (I'll talk about this later on the guide). He can work without much items, but he can do more if he has them.



In this meta of mid lane carries Pudge However, on the right hands you can still be a monster in pubs and if you trust yourself, use it to grind mmr. By following these simple steps you will do like I did, and get to 6k mmr in a few weeks. Proof.

A good Pudge Techies Pudge he is a space creator.



The main factor to Pudge Flesh Heap

If we talk pros and cons :



Pudge Pudge



Kind of like with Techies Techies Pudge Is havingon this team worth it?

So basically a cheapBecause he is a rather level dependent hero early on he is sent solo, most of the time mid, but he is just as good as an offlaner (I'll talk about this later on the guide). He can work without much items, but he can do more if he has them.However, on the right hands you can still be a monster in pubs and if you trust yourself, use it to grind mmr.A goodcan disrupt enemies at a-tier level. He is a hero that really forces the enemies to stay on their side, reduces carry farming space and support warding options (and ganking routes). With good rotations and average farm,can be constantly setting the enemy carry back in terms of farm,The main factor tobeing an un-decaying roamer is his passive,. Allowing him to maintain the threat throughout the game if you keep landing kills or taking part of teamfights, transitioning the ganking role to a more damage sponge/disabler hero, with the hook as a second option.is a hero that doesnt really have many cons, we can certainly say that he isn't as effective against certain heroes and strategies, but it does not fall into a shut-down hero. The pros are of course having an easy way to land kills and all the other things that aoffers, and the con is that he is using a space in your team.Kind of like with, sure he offers some useful stuff to the team, but would you rather haveor another hero that helps in more areas? Make the trade yourself.

Top 1.1. The Pudge Effect



EASY PUBS So, why do people play so much of this hero.



I have a few wild guesses:



- It takes practice to get good at the hero, so people will pick him over and over in order to get better.



- Once you get good at it, you can't stop. Its hook after hook, playing so much that once in a while you land one of those insane montage hooks, killing off carries farming with a single hook and generally being the bully of the match.



- And third, it's a hero that rewards playing alone and skill capping yourself. Also known as a hero that does not need teammates to success, at least to a certain extent (you do need a carry to actually win you the game in the end for example), so you can go solo queue while pubbing and not having to trust these fools to win the game, but go solo lane and do it by yourself. Or die trying.

Keep these in mind, I know I am guilty of those at least a little bit.



On a separate note, but still importantly...



If anyone says anything negative about a hook, mute them instantly. Don't even think it twice. Even if it's a simple "lol" or "?", mute them.



If it's an ally : Do you really want to listen to the guy who is looking at you and actually typing in chat for what you are doing? If they comment on hooks they will very likely start bothering you or another teammate on their play. With just two clicks you shut them up for the rest of the match.



If it's an enemy : You'll get a lot of "nice hook" or "lol pudge" from enemies, especially the opposing mid (if you went mid). If they are doing this there is no reason not to mute them, they are not going to be using the chat for anything that isn't trashtalking your team (or talking during pauses). Most of the time they are just trying to push your buttons and test your patience. As a dota player, you probably wont be offended or anything, but it's still distracting.



Revenge is better served cold anyway...

, so people will pick him over and over in order to get better.. Its hook after hook, playing so much that once in a while you land one of those insane montage hooks, killing off carries farming with a single hook and generally being the bully of the match.Also known as a hero that does not need teammates to success, at least to a certain extent (you do need a carry to actually win you the game in the end for example), so you can go solo queue while pubbing and not having to trust these fools to win the game, but go solo lane and do it by yourself.Don't even think it twice.: Do you really want to listen to the guy who is looking at you and actually typing in chat for what you are doing? If they comment on hooks they will very likely start bothering you or another teammate on their play. With just two clicks you shut them up for the rest of the match.: You'll get a lot of "nice hook" or "lol pudge" from enemies, especially the opposing mid (if you went mid). If they are doing this there is no reason not to mute them, they are not going to be using the chat for anything that isn't trashtalking your team (or talking during pauses). Most of the time they are just trying to push your buttons and test your patience. As a dota player, you probably wont be offended or anything, but it's still distracting.

Top 2. Spells Im going to expose the spellset in a particular order that I think will help understand a little better how everything fits in the hero. The correct order for the spells is Meat Hook, Rot, Flesh Heap & Dismember in case you don't remember or you never played Dota before.



Top 2.1. Rot



Rot Rot Pudge is's second spell and it's actually relatively simple, Let's look at what it does:



Rot Dismember



Rot Pudge deals 35/60/85/110 magical damage per second to everyone in a 250 radius around him. Includinghimself.



Rot Pudge



Rot This is a good thing too.



If Pudge Rot Doom Rot

In detail:



- Rot has no cast point Rot



- Rot is lethal. Rot Rot Dismember



- Since Rot Flesh Heap the self damage is reduced with magic resistance, from items and also from Black King Bar



- Clarity Bottle Healing Salve Rot You can use consumables (such asand) without cancelling their effects withor it's first three levels, Bottle Rot



- Rot 's slow effect is considered an aura.



- Rot Pudge Rot Every 0.2 seconds,checks ifhasactive Pudge Pudge Rot as long as Pudge



You are going to be using Rot



- Dismember In your combo during Dismember Rot The basic, most "intended use".



- Dismember To chase people down, without, and to dish damage in a fight just by standing around.



- For farming. Now, there are two ways to use Rot Tranquil Boots Rot Tranquil Boots Tranquil Boots Axe



but there is still a handful of things to keep in mind.is a toggle ability, costs no mana and you can activate and de-activate it whenever. You can even use it without cancelling channeling abilities, so it's great for using your ultimatewithout worrying of cancelling it on accident.also applies a slow effect to units inside the radius (this of course does not affect). Slowing them by 20%/22%/24%/26% of their movement speed.'s damage or slow do not pierce magic immunity.Ifis silenced, disabled, muted, etc.is not turned off, so watch out and not geted withon or you will get destroyed., at all. This means that actions such as walking or attacking a target will not be stopped, not even for a frame. You can be running someone down and turnon and off without losing territory.You can useto deny yourself if you need to, as the game progresses and you become tankier and more resistant to magic this becomes much harder to perform. A way to get the deny easier is to walk into a neutral camp withon, this doesnt work on ancient camps or roshan though. Also, if you are being attacked by a single target you can wait for them to take your HP down to around 200-250, then turn around and useon them, just for the disable, and deny yourself easily.- Sinceis magic damage,Also withyou can run around slowing and dealing everyone damage per second while taking 0 damage from it yourself.as the damage isnt enough for it to cancel them. With this you can run down someone andup yourself to resist through thedamage, if they do it you can just autoattack them and cancel it (since they are also slowed), and they can't really cancel your consumable as they would have to turn around.This means it lingers for 0.5 seconds after they go out of the radius., and if that is the case,and all enemies which have the slow debuff fromare damaged. Therefore It is possible to rapidly toggleon and off several times to drastically reduce damage dealt/taken while still maintaining the slow and enemies that get out of range can still can get hit by 2 to 3 damage instances,Hook someone,andthere are two ways to usefor farming: The first one is to help you last hit, so when approaching to last hit double tap rot to get an instance of damage out with your autoattack swing, allowing you to CS a little bit easier, it does eventually damage you a bit so keep an eye on that. The second one is to take full creepwaves and jungle camps, so waveclearing and clearing the jungle; in order to do this I recommend you went's self damage does not cancel theeffect, and even if you plan on taking damage from the creeps, you can drop theand do it like anjungling.

Top 2.3. Flesh Heap



Flesh Heap Ok so, this is Pudge



It does two things:



- Gives Pudge

- Gives Pudge



Obviously this just makes you tankier and the magic resistance helps around with everything, plus it dimishes the damage you take from Rot

This spell works by stacks, as a buff (similar to Legion Commander Duel And the icon stays there throughout the match from the moment you put the first point in the skill. Something really important about Flesh Heap Flesh Heap Flesh Heap Flesh Heap



Pudge Each stack givesX amount of strength (2.5 Strength at max level).



The scaling is as so:



-Level 1: 1 Strength per stack, and extra 6% Magic Resistance.

-Level 2: 1.5 Strength per stack, and extra 8% Magic Resistance.

-Level 3: 2 Strength per stack, and extra 10% Magic Resistance.

-Level 4: 2.5 Strength per stack, and extra 12% Magic Resistance.



When an enemy hero dies within a 450 radius of Pudge Pudge On the other hand Pudge Flesh Heap if and only if Pudge



This is mainly so long-range Meat Hook Pudge Flesh Heap Urn of Shadows



Something that is kinda stupid but I want to point it out anyway: Flesh Heap

The reason I said this allows Pudge Aghanim's Scepter Ethereal Blade



Oh, and illusions get the magic resistance but not the strength, and the cannot gain any stacks (similar to how Shadow Fiend Necromastery



Important note: Getting Flesh Heap



Ok, I think I didn't miss anything. Now let's talk about the real thing.

- GivesStrength.- GivesMagic Resistance.Obviously this just makes you tankier and the magic resistance helps around with everything, plus it dimishes the damage you take fromyourself.And the icon stays there throughout the match from the moment you put the first point in the skill. Something really important aboutis that is retroactive, this means that even if you haven't learned the spell yet, the game will still count those as invisible stacks that will be taken into account the moment you getand each stack adapts to your current level of, so if you have a lot of stacks you will notice first hand how you get tankier every time you get a point in1 Strength per stack, and extra 6% Magic Resistance.1.5 Strength per stack, and extra 8% Magic Resistance.2 Strength per stack, and extra 10% Magic Resistance.2.5 Strength per stack, and extra 12% Magic Resistance.When an enemy hero dies within a 450 radius ofhe gains a stack.doesn't have to participate of the kill at all, just have the hero die inside the radius.gets astack EVEN if the hero dies outside of the 450 radiusis the direct killer.This is mainly so long-rangekills givestacks, works for any kills you get with' damage over time too obviously. And also, heroes that are denied (by any means) will not give a stack, even if in radius.The reason I said this allowsto scale into the late game is not just because he gets tankier as the game goes, but because of hisupgrade and also thepickup (but I'll explain this into detail when I talk about items).Oh, and illusions get the magic resistance but not the strength, and the cannot gain any stacks (similar to how's illusions interact withstacks).Gettingstacks isnt as passive as you think, you will get a guaranteed stack if you land the kill, but not necessarily if we talk assists, in fights I want you to really get in there in the middle of the fight and make sure you get those stacks, dont take every kill you see in the screen as a granted stack, 450 radius isnt that big at all.

Top 2.4.1. 20 Hooks You Have To Learn (And Not Miss) So here I have a bunch of different angles that you are going to be using a lot. For the sake of not filling the guide with these I just picked the ones that are more relevant during the early and mid game, because these represent the kills that set the timing for the match. Hooks later on and during teamfights are rather intuitive and you have to measure for yourself.



This first hook is the most basic one and the one you will be using the most when you play mid on the radiant side. The little overhang there in the terrain allows you to reach all the way to the enemy highground and if the creepwave is down in the river and so are they, they cannot see you standing up in that uphill, so they dont see the hook coming.



This hook is not nearly as good from the dire side, as there is no overhang in the terrain, and so you cannot reach their highground, also the angle is way worse (creeps are more in the way).



Back to radiant side, this other overhang is not as good as the last one, but helps if the first spot gets warded or if you already got a kill with it and they are expecting it. If they use a ranged creep as a shield to the right, you use this spot to hook them from the left.



On dire side, this small dead end juke path is great to catch people when they push your tower and difficulting their teammates making them path around to get the spot, a bit risky because its really close to the enemies and you are pulling a hero (and so giving vision) to yourself. Use carefully.



This spot often called Radiant balcony or radiant side balcony can be used for both sides, you can kill a dire hero trying to push or a radiant hero trying to farm. When radiant has it's ancients warded its even better, as you go in with smoke and get in the blind spot between the trees, when the smoke breaks (because you get close to the enemies below) you are still inside fog of war, and since they have a ward they will be confident they are safe and not dodge in caution like they normally would.





Furthermore, this is a great spot for catching out heroes going down this path, e.g. radiant mid going for a rune, as since the path is narrow is almost impossible to miss the hook with that angle, and there are no creeps around.



If you don't feel like using the balcony for whatever reason, this is an alternate angle for defending the radiant tier 1 mid.



This is an angle I recommend not using for various reasons. First of all, if the dire mid tier 1 is standing, they can see you walk in there. Second, there are many directions from where you could get counter-ganked and there is no real way of escaping the hole. And third, it is even relatively hard landing a hook from that angle because of the open-ness of the lane before the tier 1, so the enemy hero could be pretty much anywhere in that general direction, oh and also you cant see creeps so you cant hook around them. The only ocassion where this angle might come useful is when pushing the lane and your creeps are up to their tower, having their creepwave fight yours and allowing their ranged creep to attack your creeps, so giving vision around it and information for you to hook through the gap between the ranged creep and the tower to see if you get lucky.



This is an angle that is yet another advantage for radiant side, these trees cover you up even if the enemy mid checked around for you before going down into the river, if you have a ward it's even easier to land the hook using the rune as a bait.



Ok, so this is a great angle for defending the radiant top tier 1, but it's also amazing for picking up cleanup kills for fights that happen in the top lane. The way you use it is as so, if you got a hero standing in the X1 you pull them from the green circles tagged as 1. Same thing for X2 , green circle 2. This helps create a gap between you and the allies of the hero you just pulled, stand you in a safe-r place so Dismember



This is another hook for top lane, it can be used on both sides and it's generally more effective for hooking upwards instead of downwards, as you use those trees as a cover.



I really like this hook when ganking top, it uses two narrow paths that are easy to hook and you use the trees from the large neutral camp as cover, the only downside is that this zone is often warded by both teams sometimes.



This is the alternative, it also uses two narrow paths (well, the one to the right not so much), but its really effective if you manage to land a hook. It's really difficult though, due to the open-ness again.



A more aggresive approach to the previous hook. I like this one because of the better angle, but at the same time I dislike it because it's only a few second window you have to stand there, as the creepwave will see you and aggro you ( green arrow ) when they walk by.



A first spot for defending the tier 1 radiant bottom tower, works great, but heroes can come in from both sides.



If you want to play cheeky and go deeper try this one, again, using the juke paths to give you more time to get the kill. If there are many enemies though it's going to be almost impossible to get out. If you manage to hook the important target and outside are left the supports they will either be scared of diving the tower or scared of your team's TPs.



Dire's side isnt nearly as good, the juke paths are way more open and enemies can come in. Use at own risk.

And lastly, here are three hooks for catching out people jungling or sometimes pulling: The red M and R mean if you expect it to be a melee or ranged hero and where they are more likely to stand when killing the camp.



This last one is also useful for hooking people fleeing or people that are going towards the bottom rune through the jungle.

This first hook is the most basic one and the one you will be using the most when you play mid on the radiant side. The little overhang there in the terrain allows you to reach all the way to the enemy highground and if the creepwave is down in the river and so are they, they cannot see you standing up in that uphill, so they dont see the hook coming.This hook is not nearly as good from the dire side, as there is no overhang in the terrain, and so you cannot reach their highground, also the angle is way worse (creeps are more in the way).Back to radiant side, this other overhang is not as good as the last one, but helps if the first spot gets warded or if you already got a kill with it and they are expecting it. If they use a ranged creep as a shield to the right, you use this spot to hook them from the left.On dire side, this small dead end juke path is great to catch people when they push your tower and difficulting their teammates making them path around to get the spot, a bit risky because its really close to the enemies and you are pulling a hero (and so giving vision) to yourself.This spot often calledcan be used for both sides, you can kill a dire hero trying to push or a radiant hero trying to farm. When radiant has it's ancients warded its even better, as you go in with smoke and get in the blind spot between the trees, when the smoke breaks (because you get close to the enemies below) you are still inside fog of war, and since they have a ward they will be confident they are safe and not dodge in caution like they normally would.Furthermore, this is a great spot for catching out heroes going down this path, e.g. radiant mid going for a rune, as since the path is narrow is almost impossible to miss the hook with that angle, and there are no creeps around.If you don't feel like using the balcony for whatever reason, this is an alternate angle for defending the radiant tier 1 mid.First of all, if the dire mid tier 1 is standing, they can see you walk in there. Second, there are many directions from where you could get counter-ganked and there is no real way of escaping the hole. And third, it is even relatively hard landing a hook from that angle because of the open-ness of the lane before the tier 1, so the enemy hero could be pretty much anywhere in that general direction, oh and also you cant see creeps so you cant hook around them. The only ocassion where this angle might come useful is when pushing the lane and your creeps are up to their tower, having their creepwave fight yours and allowing their ranged creep to attack your creeps, so giving vision around it and information for you to hook through the gap between the ranged creep and the tower to see if you get lucky.This is an angle that is yet another advantage for radiant side, these trees cover you up even if the enemy mid checked around for you before going down into the river, if you have a ward it's even easier to land the hook using the rune as a bait.Ok, so this is a great angle for defending the radiant top tier 1, but it's also amazing for picking up cleanup kills for fights that happen in the top lane. The way you use it is as so, if you got a hero standing in theyou pull them from theSame thing forThis helps create a gap between you and the allies of the hero you just pulled, stand you in a safe-r place soisnt cancelled.This is another hook for top lane, it can be used on both sides and it's generally more effective for hooking upwards instead of downwards, as you use those trees as a cover.I really like this hook when ganking top, it uses two narrow paths that are easy to hook and you use the trees from the large neutral camp as cover, the only downside is that this zone is often warded by both teams sometimes.This is the alternative, it also uses two narrow paths (well, the one to the right not so much), but its really effective if you manage to land a hook. It's really difficult though, due to the open-ness again.A more aggresive approach to the previous hook. I like this one because of the better angle, but at the same time I dislike it because it's only a few second window you have to stand there, as the creepwave will see you and aggro you () when they walk by.A first spot for defending the tier 1 radiant bottom tower, works great, but heroes can come in from both sides.If you want to play cheeky and go deeper try this one, again, using the juke paths to give you more time to get the kill. If there are many enemies though it's going to be almost impossible to get out. If you manage to hook the important target and outside are left the supports they will either be scared of diving the tower or scared of your team's TPs.Dire's side isnt nearly as good, the juke paths are way more open and enemies can come in.This last one is also useful for hooking people fleeing or people that are going towards the bottom rune through the jungle.

Top 3. Your Role In Each Stage Of The Game As I always say, knowing your hero's role and how to behave in each stage of the game is really helpful towards learning a new hero, and personally I think this is specially important for a hero like Pudge that is so dependant when talking playstyle.



Top 3.1.2. Laning Stage & Early Game (Solo Offlane) The offlane is a good alternative to the midlane because of what Pudge needs for a good laning phase.

Talking about solo offlane if it wasnt obvious before...



Pudge Get level 6-7 and start rotating. The time where you are in lane is actually fairly intuitive, avoid harass, stay in exp range as much as possible, when the creepwave comes pull it around the tower, get any CS you can and so on.



More than often you will see some of the supports (usually the one that harasses the most) to get out of position and make an opening for you to hook him. Now, first of all you have to remember you are still in lane with other enemies and they can easily dive the tower to save their ally or at least get you killed in return.



Pudge In order to hook someone as a solo offlaneyou have to look at certain things:



-Make sure the creepwave under your tower just died or is about to, as you want no enemy creeps tanking the tower in case your victim's friends try to come help.



-Get into a blind spot, if you hook from a juke spot or behind trees they are going to first have to find you, and in that process path around the tower and paths and that usually gives you enough time to land the kill and run back to a safe zone.

An offlane Pudge



You will see yourself going for stats less or not going at all, as stats from something like Gauntlets of Strength Rot



- Regen of your choice: Set of Tango Healing Salve

- Ring of Protection

- Ring of Regen



These two build into Tranquil Boots Pudge



Pudge Tranquil Boots Soul Ring These two items replace the Bottle Soul Ring



I've seen people go something like:



- Tango

- Ring of Protection

- Sage's Mask



As starting items, building into Tranquil Boots Soul Ring



Also, Town Portal Scroll Pudge Flesh Heap Flesh Heap

as offlane has one goal,The time where you are in lane is actually fairly intuitive, avoid harass, stay in exp range as much as possible, when the creepwave comes pull it around the tower, get any CS you can and so on.More than often you will see some of the supports (usually the one that harasses the most) to get out of position and make an opening for you to hook him. Now, first of all you have to remember you are still in lane with other enemies and they can easily dive the tower to save their ally or at least get you killed in return., as you want no enemy creeps tanking the tower in case your victim's friends try to come help., if you hook from a juke spot or behind trees they are going to first have to find you, and in that process path around the tower and paths and that usually gives you enough time to land the kill and run back to a safe zone.You will see yourself going for stats less or not going at all, as stats from something like's main purpose is to allow you to usea little bit more, to harass and last hit, and these are things you do not do as an offlaner. HP regen and armor is more valuable in scenarios like this, this is why I recommend the following:Set ofes or aThese two build intoand these boots are the best for athat is going to be playing mostly defensive as you dont have the items for a more invasive playstyle.These two items replace theone for HP and one for mana, as you wont be able to pick up runes as you would if you were midlane. You get the passive regen from tranquils and you use yourbefore each hook and it basically pays for itself.I've seen people go something like:As starting items, building intoand. The reason I don't recommend this is because you wont be using that mana regen as often, because you will only be wasting mana when an opportunity presents itself, and you will be using the HP regen much much more, to deal with harass to start off.Also,s and Smokes are much more crucial to offlane, it's defensive playstyle often results in lack ofstacks, you have to try help your team in other lanes every time you can, TP into enemy dives to even the playing field, and use smokes to gank mid, even if you dont land kills you will be helping your allies and getting stacks of