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This is by far the most quality Pudge guide i have ever read. Your emphasize on a gank heavy strategy seems very logical and skill based. Which leads me to understand why you have had so much success with Pudge. The stats seem to make alot of sense, more stats, means more mana and health, who doesnt like bigger Pools of stats on pudge? They would have to be crazy not to.
This guide seems flawless the way it is now, if i were to add my own tweak to it though i would say a section that comments on how pudge can now buy blink dagger for the first time in 7 years, and how that changes pudge plays, How a quelling blade can influence pudge play early game, and what pudge thinks about Meepo.
The is ok, but I'm sorry the build isn't right, Tranquils is isnta-disabled by rot the circlets are a waste of good and rushing force staff for hooks is better then drums, and 2 bracers is overkill, good guide, not so good build.
You should always get rot at lvl 1 as it does more damage and slows and you can still max out hook at lvl 7. I always get a force staff as well because of the amazing positioning it gives you.
It is much better to get a Bottle because even if your team doesn't maintain perfect wards you can still bottle crow or pick up runes as you go to gank. Rot is also far better for geting first blood than Meat Hook.
Rushing 2 Bracers over an Urn of Shadows on a hero who doesn't right click, needs mana and HP regen a lot, and whose only goal in life is to gank, feels like a very big mistake to me.
Also, while I agree that Pudge doesn't need last hits to be effective, simply because Pudge scales in abilities not in stuff, I would still say last hiting it a primary focus, especially if you are trying to deal with an enemy that can deny (thus losing you experience)
Also, since Pudge is failly slow, giving him Tranquil Boots of all boots seems... Bad? Since if you get hit, now you arent wearing boots. even Crystal maiden is faster than you. And of course that HP problem being remedied with Tranquils would more effectively beeen done so with an urn.
I'm gonna have to say supa, as someone that has played with you and stalked your replays good guide man!! There's a majority of people that comment on pudge guides that watch too many Na'vi games where Dendi dominates the early game and rolls with pudge..people plz get over it, you're not an expert because you watch pro games. Supa I love the detail, and I agree with your skill build, as its worked in both dota and hon for me. Pudge, as you have stated, is not item dependent by any means his most important item is the observer ward because vision allows for more hooks, more hooks means more kills, which means passive opponents..stacking Hp like Supa demonstrates in his guide means an endless Rot in team fights, where you'll generally continue to push your advantage because that's what pudge gives you, map control and gold/xp advantge.
Supa great guide man ill be playing probably Friday this weekend, and playing in a private tournament for HoN with teams from back home this weekend. Those of you commenting on this guide negatively are probably the same people building dazzles and crystal maidens as Carrys question this guys guide all you want but ill laugh when you're the victim of one of his pudge rampages one of these days +1 cheers
1. You both need to work on your typing style. Having these blocks of code just makes people want to skip it. Learn to use empty linesand structural helpers like numbers!
2. So what you're saying is that Pudge does not need HP, mana, armor (yeah the agi gives you armor and attackspeed), damage, mana and health regen? Aghanims does all that, plus if you had a good game and accumulated enough Flesh Heaps, you will deal alot more damage with your ultimate.
@OP: Not getting Rot at level 1 is just a mistake, noone can ever say anything else. With the slow from rot, noone can get away from you and should there be a first blood attempt is it Rot, not Hook that will let you escape. It neither deals enough damage to be a viable nuke at level 1 nore is the range big enough to actually close a gap. With Pudge's relatively low movespeed, once you might have managed to close that gap, the enemy will just run away after one hit from you.
The way you should skill Pudge every time but a 5on5 SHOM is: WQQWQ RQWWER EEESR SSSSSSSSS
...and for commenting on my length of information posted, you are quite the hippocrit. Just look at your KOTL guide... my god it's lengthy and has drawn out, run-on, and never-ending paragraphs. http://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/guide/hard-support-kotl-guide-4869
1. You both need to work on your typing style. Having these blocks of code just makes people want to skip it. Learn to use empty linesand structural helpers like numbers!
2. So what you're saying is that Pudge does not need HP, mana, armor (yeah the agi gives you armor and attackspeed), damage, mana and health regen? Aghanims does all that, plus if you had a good game and accumulated enough Flesh Heaps, you will deal alot more damage with your ultimate.
@OP: Not getting Rot at level 1 is just a mistake, noone can ever say anything else. With the slow from rot, noone can get away from you and should there be a first blood attempt is it Rot, not Hook that will let you escape. It neither deals enough damage to be a viable nuke at level 1 nore is the range big enough to actually close a gap. With Pudge's relatively low movespeed, once you might have managed to close that gap, the enemy will just run away after one hit from you.
The way you should skill Pudge every time but a 5on5 SHOM is: WQQWQ RQWWER EEESR SSSSSSSSS
So you've played Pudge 2 times according to Dota Buff, and you are the expert? Also, I looked thru all of your posts and you don't have a single one that is positive. After you posted my votes went down 1, same with the other guides you posted on so... please don't hurt peoples guides just for no reason. It would seem that is what you're doing.
if i'm honest, I've seen hundreds of high level to pro level pudge games and agh's isn't something that comes up. pudge isn't the best tank because he has little to no armor, so that HP gets torn through quite quickly. i'd almost like to say the hook is more important than dismember late game. at the point in the game when it's 5v5, pulling someone out of position is super important. often, even if you don't get the dismember off, the other 4 members of your team would kill the enemy you hook. inversely, without the hook, dismember is useless unless you're one on one because A. if the enemy has a teammate and you do not they will disable you or just nuke you down, and B. if your team is there and the enemy's isn't, they will most likely have the damage dismember would have done and then some. yes, there are situations where this wouldn't be the case, but 4200 gold for something that gives virtually none of the stat pudge needs (which is armor) isn't a good choice late game a lot of the time. if the enemy team has very little right click damage then maybe, but if the game is low level to the point where there isn't a right clicking carry hero on the team, pudge (played competently) would have already owned and the game would be over by the time agh's is an option.
1. You both need to work on your typing style. Having these blocks of code just makes people want to skip it. Learn to use empty linesand structural helpers like numbers!
2. So what you're saying is that Pudge does not need HP, mana, armor (yeah the agi gives you armor and attackspeed), damage, mana and health regen? Aghanims does all that, plus if you had a good game and accumulated enough Flesh Heaps, you will deal alot more damage with your ultimate.
@OP: Not getting Rot at level 1 is just a mistake, noone can ever say anything else. With the slow from rot, noone can get away from you and should there be a first blood attempt is it Rot, not Hook that will let you escape. It neither deals enough damage to be a viable nuke at level 1 nore is the range big enough to actually close a gap. With Pudge's relatively low movespeed, once you might have managed to close that gap, the enemy will just run away after one hit from you.
The way you should skill Pudge every time but a 5on5 SHOM is: WQQWQ RQWWER EEESR SSSSSSSSS
I don't usually get Aghanims because by the time you get it, you will have team mates and enemies with much better stuns, BKBs, and damage output. Pudge's spotlight is in his ability to adjust every situation with a good hook, and to maintain a battle in favor of your team with strong tanking capability.
Thank you for your input, I greatly appreciate it. :)
oops, sorry to clog up your guide with that drawn out comment, since you said the same thing in like a quarter the words right here. my bad supa =)
I feel like you left quite a bit out. There's no real diversity, especially when considering some teams need a tank to rush in, dismember, soak up damage with ridiculous hp regen, and wait until your team nukes the other one to do clean up. For this, some people love force staff, phase boots, and urn. If you want to be that tanky **********er with 30-0, I've found in pubs a very viable and situational pick is urn rush, phase boots, hood of defiance rush, then build into an aghs. If you want to be a real force in the middle of team fights, owning their carry with that bonus damage from strength multiplier, and an added life steal makes you nearly invincible endgame. I'm not a huge fan of drums, because phase boots/force staff give awesome chasing potential for cleanup. Your build is a very gank heavy, support/disable pudge. I think you should at least give mention to the fact that because of his passive flesh heap, pudge scales his ult amazingly, but only with scepter. Endgame, aghs NEEDS to be core because more than one heart does NOT stack % regain, you should know that if you play a lot of pudge. AGHS gives MUCH more survivability, especially because the % regain from hearts is canceled when hit by any enemy hero period.
if i'm honest, I've seen hundreds of high level to pro level pudge games and agh's isn't something that comes up. pudge isn't the best tank because he has little to no armor, so that HP gets torn through quite quickly. i'd almost like to say the hook is more important than dismember late game. at the point in the game when it's 5v5, pulling someone out of position is super important. often, even if you don't get the dismember off, the other 4 members of your team would kill the enemy you hook. inversely, without the hook, dismember is useless unless you're one on one because A. if the enemy has a teammate and you do not they will disable you or just nuke you down, and B. if your team is there and the enemy's isn't, they will most likely have the damage dismember would have done and then some. yes, there are situations where this wouldn't be the case, but 4200 gold for something that gives virtually none of the stat pudge needs (which is armor) isn't a good choice late game a lot of the time. if the enemy team has very little right click damage then maybe, but if the game is low level to the point where there isn't a right clicking carry hero on the team, pudge (played competently) would have already owned and the game would be over by the time agh's is an option.
However, it's not great. Very few people get hook 1, like everyone's saying, because simply speaking you're not going to use it. Not enough range/damage, too much mana. Rot can be used for LH, and first bloods all the time, especially if not going mid plus, you're going to max it at the exact same time anyways... Second, you stated a misconception of pudge is building him as a carry... He can be the undisputed hardest carry in the game with infinite strength/magic resistance. If you can carry an entire team single handed, why not?
Third: Why would you build more than 1 heart before an aghs? As I said before, aghs gives WAY more survivability, and scaling damage.
You never mention getting a bottle either, for pudge it can be a huge help even if you DON'T rune ***** it. Makes regen in base that much faster, and gives you another few hooks before you have to b. Easily worth it to me. Frankly this guide makes me feel like you need to play some more games and experiment with how versatile pudge really can be. Following this guide will lead to undoubtable losses endgame. I'd be surprised if you ever won a game with pudge past a 45 min mark without aghs, unless your team carried you.
Regardless, it's a good guide for roaming early/mid game.
Hey, thank you.
I'm not here to argue with you, everyone has a different view on how to play the guy.
I have played about 80 matches as Pudge, in Captains Mode & Team Scrims, with a KDA of 3.21 which I feel is above average. I don't disagree with getting a Bottle or Rot at lvl 1, I just feel that from my experience I have had more first bloods and kills when I build him stats first, and emphasize his passive by building on regen and more resistance(tanky).
With the build I use I have found that I can always kill a mid to late game Void, in his Chrono, while he tries to beat on me and instead kills himself. My build also gives me PermaRot, so my health regen is godly.
I will be honest with you, most Pudge games I've had have ended before 45 minutes, but I've also had several games of over 30 kills simply because I was so beefy. I think people sometimes forget that an initiator should be able to survive as they are diving and pulling fire so your team mates can have the full advantage when jumping in the fight to kill the enemy.
I will try out your Aghs & Rot style and see if they make a difference.
By not building him as a carry, I mean like a normal carry... attack speed, damage, UAMs, etc.
I imply that by being a tank, 30 kills is not unheard of mid-game however, which definitely means you're carrying the team, but not a "carry". :)
I appreciate all your input though, and thank you again for making some convo with me. I may update and edit the build as time goes on, so you never know.
Are you new to Dotafire(6 posts)? I discovered this place not to long ago myself, seems like a nice community.
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This guide seems flawless the way it is now, if i were to add my own tweak to it though i would say a section that comments on how pudge can now buy blink dagger for the first time in 7 years, and how that changes pudge plays, How a quelling blade can influence pudge play early game, and what pudge thinks about Meepo.
Thank you for your guide.
Also, while I agree that Pudge doesn't need last hits to be effective, simply because Pudge scales in abilities not in stuff, I would still say last hiting it a primary focus, especially if you are trying to deal with an enemy that can deny (thus losing you experience)
Also, since Pudge is failly slow, giving him Tranquil Boots of all boots seems... Bad? Since if you get hit, now you arent wearing boots. even Crystal maiden is faster than you. And of course that HP problem being remedied with Tranquils would more effectively beeen done so with an urn.
Supa great guide man ill be playing probably Friday this weekend, and playing in a private tournament for HoN with teams from back home this weekend. Those of you commenting on this guide negatively are probably the same people building dazzles and crystal maidens as Carrys question this guys guide all you want but ill laugh when you're the victim of one of his pudge rampages one of these days +1 cheers
1. You both need to work on your typing style. Having these blocks of code just makes people want to skip it. Learn to use empty linesand structural helpers like numbers!
2. So what you're saying is that Pudge does not need HP, mana, armor (yeah the agi gives you armor and attackspeed), damage, mana and health regen? Aghanims does all that, plus if you had a good game and accumulated enough Flesh Heaps, you will deal alot more damage with your ultimate.
@OP: Not getting Rot at level 1 is just a mistake, noone can ever say anything else. With the slow from rot, noone can get away from you and should there be a first blood attempt is it Rot, not Hook that will let you escape. It neither deals enough damage to be a viable nuke at level 1 nore is the range big enough to actually close a gap. With Pudge's relatively low movespeed, once you might have managed to close that gap, the enemy will just run away after one hit from you.
The way you should skill Pudge every time but a 5on5 SHOM is: WQQWQ RQWWER EEESR SSSSSSSSS
...and for commenting on my length of information posted, you are quite the hippocrit. Just look at your KOTL guide... my god it's lengthy and has drawn out, run-on, and never-ending paragraphs. http://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/guide/hard-support-kotl-guide-4869
1. You both need to work on your typing style. Having these blocks of code just makes people want to skip it. Learn to use empty linesand structural helpers like numbers!
2. So what you're saying is that Pudge does not need HP, mana, armor (yeah the agi gives you armor and attackspeed), damage, mana and health regen? Aghanims does all that, plus if you had a good game and accumulated enough Flesh Heaps, you will deal alot more damage with your ultimate.
@OP: Not getting Rot at level 1 is just a mistake, noone can ever say anything else. With the slow from rot, noone can get away from you and should there be a first blood attempt is it Rot, not Hook that will let you escape. It neither deals enough damage to be a viable nuke at level 1 nore is the range big enough to actually close a gap. With Pudge's relatively low movespeed, once you might have managed to close that gap, the enemy will just run away after one hit from you.
The way you should skill Pudge every time but a 5on5 SHOM is: WQQWQ RQWWER EEESR SSSSSSSSS
So you've played Pudge 2 times according to Dota Buff, and you are the expert? Also, I looked thru all of your posts and you don't have a single one that is positive. After you posted my votes went down 1, same with the other guides you posted on so... please don't hurt peoples guides just for no reason. It would seem that is what you're doing.
if i'm honest, I've seen hundreds of high level to pro level pudge games and agh's isn't something that comes up. pudge isn't the best tank because he has little to no armor, so that HP gets torn through quite quickly. i'd almost like to say the hook is more important than dismember late game. at the point in the game when it's 5v5, pulling someone out of position is super important. often, even if you don't get the dismember off, the other 4 members of your team would kill the enemy you hook. inversely, without the hook, dismember is useless unless you're one on one because A. if the enemy has a teammate and you do not they will disable you or just nuke you down, and B. if your team is there and the enemy's isn't, they will most likely have the damage dismember would have done and then some. yes, there are situations where this wouldn't be the case, but 4200 gold for something that gives virtually none of the stat pudge needs (which is armor) isn't a good choice late game a lot of the time. if the enemy team has very little right click damage then maybe, but if the game is low level to the point where there isn't a right clicking carry hero on the team, pudge (played competently) would have already owned and the game would be over by the time agh's is an option.
1. You both need to work on your typing style. Having these blocks of code just makes people want to skip it. Learn to use empty linesand structural helpers like numbers!
2. So what you're saying is that Pudge does not need HP, mana, armor (yeah the agi gives you armor and attackspeed), damage, mana and health regen? Aghanims does all that, plus if you had a good game and accumulated enough Flesh Heaps, you will deal alot more damage with your ultimate.
@OP: Not getting Rot at level 1 is just a mistake, noone can ever say anything else. With the slow from rot, noone can get away from you and should there be a first blood attempt is it Rot, not Hook that will let you escape. It neither deals enough damage to be a viable nuke at level 1 nore is the range big enough to actually close a gap. With Pudge's relatively low movespeed, once you might have managed to close that gap, the enemy will just run away after one hit from you.
The way you should skill Pudge every time but a 5on5 SHOM is: WQQWQ RQWWER EEESR SSSSSSSSS
I don't usually get Aghanims because by the time you get it, you will have team mates and enemies with much better stuns, BKBs, and damage output. Pudge's spotlight is in his ability to adjust every situation with a good hook, and to maintain a battle in favor of your team with strong tanking capability.
Thank you for your input, I greatly appreciate it. :)
oops, sorry to clog up your guide with that drawn out comment, since you said the same thing in like a quarter the words right here. my bad supa =)
I feel like you left quite a bit out. There's no real diversity, especially when considering some teams need a tank to rush in, dismember, soak up damage with ridiculous hp regen, and wait until your team nukes the other one to do clean up. For this, some people love force staff, phase boots, and urn. If you want to be that tanky **********er with 30-0, I've found in pubs a very viable and situational pick is urn rush, phase boots, hood of defiance rush, then build into an aghs. If you want to be a real force in the middle of team fights, owning their carry with that bonus damage from strength multiplier, and an added life steal makes you nearly invincible endgame. I'm not a huge fan of drums, because phase boots/force staff give awesome chasing potential for cleanup. Your build is a very gank heavy, support/disable pudge. I think you should at least give mention to the fact that because of his passive flesh heap, pudge scales his ult amazingly, but only with scepter. Endgame, aghs NEEDS to be core because more than one heart does NOT stack % regain, you should know that if you play a lot of pudge. AGHS gives MUCH more survivability, especially because the % regain from hearts is canceled when hit by any enemy hero period.
if i'm honest, I've seen hundreds of high level to pro level pudge games and agh's isn't something that comes up. pudge isn't the best tank because he has little to no armor, so that HP gets torn through quite quickly. i'd almost like to say the hook is more important than dismember late game. at the point in the game when it's 5v5, pulling someone out of position is super important. often, even if you don't get the dismember off, the other 4 members of your team would kill the enemy you hook. inversely, without the hook, dismember is useless unless you're one on one because A. if the enemy has a teammate and you do not they will disable you or just nuke you down, and B. if your team is there and the enemy's isn't, they will most likely have the damage dismember would have done and then some. yes, there are situations where this wouldn't be the case, but 4200 gold for something that gives virtually none of the stat pudge needs (which is armor) isn't a good choice late game a lot of the time. if the enemy team has very little right click damage then maybe, but if the game is low level to the point where there isn't a right clicking carry hero on the team, pudge (played competently) would have already owned and the game would be over by the time agh's is an option.
Well, here's a positive.
You wrote a good guide.
However, it's not great. Very few people get hook 1, like everyone's saying, because simply speaking you're not going to use it. Not enough range/damage, too much mana. Rot can be used for LH, and first bloods all the time, especially if not going mid plus, you're going to max it at the exact same time anyways... Second, you stated a misconception of pudge is building him as a carry... He can be the undisputed hardest carry in the game with infinite strength/magic resistance. If you can carry an entire team single handed, why not?
Third: Why would you build more than 1 heart before an aghs? As I said before, aghs gives WAY more survivability, and scaling damage.
You never mention getting a bottle either, for pudge it can be a huge help even if you DON'T rune ***** it. Makes regen in base that much faster, and gives you another few hooks before you have to b. Easily worth it to me. Frankly this guide makes me feel like you need to play some more games and experiment with how versatile pudge really can be. Following this guide will lead to undoubtable losses endgame. I'd be surprised if you ever won a game with pudge past a 45 min mark without aghs, unless your team carried you.
Regardless, it's a good guide for roaming early/mid game.
Hey, thank you.
I'm not here to argue with you, everyone has a different view on how to play the guy.
I have played about 80 matches as Pudge, in Captains Mode & Team Scrims, with a KDA of 3.21 which I feel is above average. I don't disagree with getting a Bottle or Rot at lvl 1, I just feel that from my experience I have had more first bloods and kills when I build him stats first, and emphasize his passive by building on regen and more resistance(tanky).
With the build I use I have found that I can always kill a mid to late game Void, in his Chrono, while he tries to beat on me and instead kills himself. My build also gives me PermaRot, so my health regen is godly.
I will be honest with you, most Pudge games I've had have ended before 45 minutes, but I've also had several games of over 30 kills simply because I was so beefy. I think people sometimes forget that an initiator should be able to survive as they are diving and pulling fire so your team mates can have the full advantage when jumping in the fight to kill the enemy.
I will try out your Aghs & Rot style and see if they make a difference.
By not building him as a carry, I mean like a normal carry... attack speed, damage, UAMs, etc.
I imply that by being a tank, 30 kills is not unheard of mid-game however, which definitely means you're carrying the team, but not a "carry". :)
I appreciate all your input though, and thank you again for making some convo with me. I may update and edit the build as time goes on, so you never know.
Are you new to Dotafire(6 posts)? I discovered this place not to long ago myself, seems like a nice community.