Dota 2 Hero Guide: Pudge, The Butcher

Pudge is one of the most played heroes in Dota and that is because of the rush and excitement that you get from hooking that one hero that would have otherwise got away.You should never underestimate Pudge, for there is always a possibility of you being hooked at any moment.

Pudge's Abilities:

Meat Hook:
  
Launches a bloody hook at a unit or location. The hook will snag the first unit it encounters, dragging the unit back to Pudge and dealing damage if it is an enemy.
Damage: 90/180/270/360
Mana Cost: 110/120/130/140
Range: 600/800/1000/1200
Radius: 100
Cooldown: 14/13/12/11
Notes: Meat Hook has a mini stun so it will cancel channels. Meat Hook will go through cliffs, structures, trees, and seige units.

This is the skill that makes or breaks a good Pudge.  Make sure you use Meat Hook wisely as your mana pool can only support 1 hook-ulti combo or 2, maybe 3, individual hooks in the early game.

Rot:
 
Pudge releases the disease and filth inside of him, dealing intense damage and slowing surrounding enemies while hurting Pudge as well.
Damage per second: 35/60/85/110
Area of Effect: 250
Mana Cost: 0
Cooldown: 0
Note: Rot will not beable to be de-activatable if you are silenced.

Rot’s extra damage makes last hitting easy, its self inflicting damage allows you to deny yourself, and the AOE slow is immense when going for the kill. Just make sure you do not over do it as it does drain your HP quite quickly.

Flesh Heap:

Gives Pudge resistance to magic damage, as well as bonus strength that increases each time Pudge kills an enemy Hero or it dies in his vicinity. 
Magic Resistance: 4%/8%/12%/16%
Strength Bonus:  .9/1.2/1.5/1.8
Radius: 450
Note: Flesh Heap is retroactive, meaning it can gain charges before it is skilled, which then become active.

Flesh Heap makes Pudge tanky which allows you to build more utility items.

Dismember:
 
CHANNELED - Pudge chows down on an enemy unit, disabling it and dealing damage over time. Lasts 3 seconds on Heroes, 6 seconds on creeps.
Damage per second: 75/125/175
Aghanim's Scepter Strength Multiplier: .75
Mana Cost: 100/130/170
Cooldown: 30
Radius: 160
Note: Dismember heals you for the amount of damage it does if you have Aghanim's Scepter. 

 Dismember synergizes perfectly with the rest of his skills, especially when you get Aghanim’s Scepter. Make sure you to use rot while channeling dismember to add additional damage.

Skill Order:

Level 1: Rot Level 2: Hook Level 3: Hook Level 4: Flesh Heap Level 5: Hook Level 6: Dismember Level 7: Hook Level 8: Rot Level 9: Rot Level 10: Rot Level 11: Dismember Level 12: Flesh Heap Level 13: Flesh Heap Level 14: Flesh Heap Level 15: Stats Level 16: Dismember Level 17-25: Stats

Explanation: You will rarely ever stray from this skill build when laning with Pudge. You want to get a point in Rot first so you can last hit with ease. You then max out Hook because you need the additional range.Then max out Rot next to secure those kills. You will notice that we put a point in Flesh Heap early on, at level 4.This is because having that little extra strength and magic resist could be the difference of surviving or dying from a gank. Level your ultimate when you can.

 

Starting items:

Note: Pudge is not item dependent. He can do everything he is designed to do without any items. He is, on the other hand, dependent on levels, positioning, and mana. So our items will be focused on fixing Pudge’s weakness.

Start off with:
3x , 1x , 1x 

These starting items will give you enough regen to support your self inflicted rot damage and enemy harassment. These will also give you a head start towards purchasing your early bottle/boots by not spending all of your beginning gold.

Early game goals:
,
Optional: 

If you are doing well in lane, like getting kills or forcing the enemy out, then go boots first because they are cheaper and will secure your other kills. If the lane is going normally then just follow up your starting items with a bottle.

Wand is acceptable if you are laning against someone who spams like crazy. Examples of Heroes that most people tend to spam with are Zeus, Storm, and Batrider.

Mid game Goals:
 or ,
Optional:

Bottle should cover Pudge’s mana problems but if you feel that it is not enough then get Arcane boots. Phase boots and Force Staff will cover Pudge’s positioning issue. If a teammate is blocking your shot and yelling in voice chat doesn’t seem to work then just Force staff yourself ahead of them. If the enemy is just out of range of your hook then just phase to close the gap. Urn is acceptable when you are dominating the game. Basically if you can get a consistently gain charges.

Mid-late goals:
 and/or

There doesn’t need to be much convincing to get Pipe but if the enemy team has little to no magic damage then just skip it and go straight for Aghanim’s Scepter. With all enourmous amount of extra damage and the additional heal, there is no reason why you shouldn’t get Aghanim’s Scepter.

Late game goals/ luxury items:
, , , ,
Any of these items are all worth getting but only after you have finished your core items.

Now it is time to learn how lane/gank/teamfight with Pudge.
To get better at with all aspects of your pudge game, practice how to Rot + auto attack to maximize the damage you do and, thus, making last hitting easy. Also practice using Dismember on the enemy while they are being dragged back from the hook. This will give them 0% chance of escaping after getting hooked.

Early Game:
Pudge is best suited for mid lane. It is the safest lane and has easiest lane to access to both runes, which allows you to farm and level with ease. In lane, you should always stay behind your creep wave, far enough so you are safe from the majority of the enemies harassment, and when a creep gets low you run up to last hit it, only rot attack if it is necessary.

Always keep in mind that Pudge can kill anyone as early as level 2. Basically, what you do is turn on rot and chase the enemy down, make sure you get a few auto attacks while chasing. Then when they are just about to escape, to the safety of the tower, hook them and finish them off. Just the chcecklist down below in mind or you might be the one killed.

1.  Check your health. Do you have enough health to sustain Rot long enough to kill the enemy?

2. Check the distance. Is there enough room to chase and kill the enemy before you get in range of the tower?

If you are Radient, then if the enemy is around or below the red line then they are most likely killable. If you are Dire, then if the enemy is around or above the blue line then they are most likely killable.

3. Check for MIAs. If a lane has been MIA for a bit then you probably should not be aggressive.

Mid Game:
Pudge’s Mid Game starts roughly at level 7. This is the time where you can kill anybody as long as you land Meat Hook so start ganking. To gank safely and successfully you should push out your lane roughly 30 mins before the rune spawns. This will get your creeps up the hill which gives you better vision of the enemy, which allows you to safely grab the rune. Now what rune you get and what the lane situations are will dictate whether or you should gank or go back to lane.

If the enemy is pushing and is pretty far down the lane then go gank with or without a rune. If a lane is very passive and tower hugging you probably won’t be able to get anything done unless you get the right rune, such as invisibility or haste, to be able to force a kill. Always make sure you communicate with your team or you are just going to waste your own time.

Mid-Late Game:
This is when the big team fights occur, people have their ultimates and core items and are gunning for towers and Roshan. This is when you need to land those hooks. Hooking anyone before the team fight happens will give you a huge upper hand and will win you games. Don’t forget to carry a TP scroll.

Late Game:
Always use your ultimate on the carry. Having a 3 second stun is useful in team fights. Having a 3 second stun that goes through BKB is broken. There is no reason for you to Dismember someone random when you can chose to Dismember the carry. This is also a point in the game where you will most likely not be able to kill anyone by yourself so stick with your team and communicate when you are going to hook.

Tips:
-Be elusive. A MIA pudge is a scary pudge.
-Be creative. Do not use the same spots to land hooks as people do eventually catch on.
-Don’t give up. It takes practice to land hooks consistently so do not give up at the first signs of failure.