guys .... im going to do a pudge guide ....

Basically...everything Angelo said (never get Pipe of Insight unless your Team needs it -_- ), + Kody's idea of Hookspots on the Mini-map

Here's a few tips from me as well

1) You don't need lvl6 or Nighttime to successfully Gank as Pudge, a Rune of Haste and lvl1 Meat Hook into Rot is amazingly powerful if you avoid common Ward spots and know the other Team don't have a clue about that Haste Rune 8{3

i.e. don't be scared to take advantage of an opportunity if it presents itself, "Every hook you don't throw is a hook you miss"

2) Items - Stats + Regen (+ a Smoke if it seems a good idea) -> Bottle, Tranquil Boots, Blink Dagger -> Situational Luxury

Once you have your Blink Dagger, you have everything you need in order to Gank successfully, now you need to focus on being useful to your Team as time is getting on, and your Combo doesn't guarantee Kills anymore.

Shiva's Guard is useful in Teamfights and provides a little extra Damage to your Combo

Force Staff can allow you to Kite as well as save allies when you aren't in a good Position to Hook them to safety...or troll badly positioned opponents 8{3

Pipe of Insight protects your Team against Nukes (you don't really need any more Magic Resistance since Flesh Heap gives you all the HP + Resistance you'll ever need.

Vladmir's Offering and Assault Cuirass both provide +5 Armour to your Team among other Auras. Naturally if you're just looking to beef your Team up with Bonus Armour, Vlads is the better (cheaper) option, but as Angelo said, sometimes AC is worth the extra cost in the right Situations (or when you want to beef your Team up but someone already has a Vlads 8{3 ).

Eul's Sceter of Divinity removes a troublesome opponent for 2.5 seconds and removes certain Buffs, or can even protect you and remove certain Debuffs.

Scythe of Vyse lets your Team wail on some poor helpless sod and is an amazing Item to have Late Game.

Blademail - this is what you get when Lina/ Skywrath Mage/ Witch Doctor etc. are being annoying.

Boots of Travel/ Aghanim's Scepter/ Heart of Tarrasque are Luxury Items, get them when you're ahead and want to stay ahead while so you can finish the game in the next 10 minutes, but don't really need any extra Utility in order to do so.

Is an Aghanim's scepter on Pudge any good? Wouldn't a utility item be better? I say this because by the time one buys it, the player should not be going for solo killing potential anymore.

Eul's! One of the best post-core items on Pudge, hands down. Mana regen, movespeed, and you can dispel stuff, escape, or even set yourself up for incredibly easy hooks.

But yeah, I don't play much Pudge. I can see Crimson Guard being pretty decent on him as a sort of physical damage counterpart to Pipe of Insight. Everyone has had really good ideas so far.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Eul's on Pudge.. I'd probably have a support pick it up if we need to keep an enemy out of the fight..

Also, using Eul's to setup Meat Hook is a terrible choice, in my opinion.. A maxed out Meat Hook deals significant PURE damage, and you are losing out on that by using the Eul's-hook combo.

My general item build on Pudge is Bottle --> Boots of Speed --> Urn of Shadows --> Blink Dagger (most games should end with this) --> Aghanim's Scepter --> Boots of Travel/ Heart of Tarrasque --> Force Staff.

Depends if you have a good advantage against the other team or if you have Black King Bar. It's a way for Pudge to scale towards the late game and a decent 4th or 5th item pickup. You should decide if you want it after buying Force Staff and/or Blink Dagger, the mobility offered by these items outweigh aghs.

Idk, I find BKB works better than pipe.

The fault I find with that is that pudge usually benefits more from a health booster and platemail more so than early aghs

I find mobility benefits Pudge more than anything else, he naturally gains more hp with more kills and is pretty beefy without items. The more mobility Pudge has the easily it is to kill unsuspecting players, thus more hp.

More so than mobility I find positioning better. Using smoke to get into place rather than buying blink early can be really helpful.

Smoke is something you can always buy whenever and you don't use Blink Dagger just for positioning. To quickly travel across the map, to quickly blink > Dismember on a target like Anti-Mage then followup with a Meat Hook if he blinks or to get in range for someone that's just out of hook range even after you forcestaff or blink. To dodge incoming projectiles whether or not they're disjointable. It's that quick gab closer or the quick escape with either force or blink that makes Pudge that much more deadly than a statistical boost.

edit: I just prefer to get other items like Hood of Defiance or Shiva's Guard after blink/force since mobility is what helps me survive or get kills.

edit2: and also save teammates