Is it Pugna or Pubna?

Pugna is another hero that I've never really seen in the pro scene. As a matter of fact, he's the ONLY hero that got neither picked or banned in the DAC. So is Pugna just a pub hero who can't squeeze he way into the meta, or is he just used for push heavy line ups like Shadow Shaman? So, let's now discuss Pugna and his usage in competitive play.

He used to be a big pick in the patch after TI3, 6.79
That patch had a lot of early push strats, but after that was nerfed a bit desthball appeared in TI4, and he didnt really fit in 'that' well because deathball was not about the <20 min push. But now that pushing alltogether has been nerfed push strats arent really viable, unless you can exploit a weakness in an opponents draft with it.

As Tim said, he used to be a very common pickup for push based lineups, playing either mid or safe lane carry. Huge midgame, falls off really hard later.

These days he's a super situational pickup, tends to be played mid as he's a little too item dependent to make a good support. Can make space for harder carries with effective pushing midgame.

Usual reason to pick him is against mana heavy lineups - e.g. Shadow Shaman, Lich, Skywrath Mage etc - they can melt themselves if they try to throw a combo within range of a hidden Nether Ward, 1000+ health cost for your ult is bad news when you're squishy and can't afford a BKB. Also pretty good combo with heavy nukers.

I get the feeling that within a patch or two he'll be a viable support hero, or at least have more dimensions to him than being this 'End the game in 20 minutes or less or lose badly' hero that he tends to be now.

He's not bad per say, he's just extremely one dimensional, and that dimension is all but gone from the game now.

Why get Pugna if you can get Jakiro who has better teamfight, better push and better aoe?

Much as I love Jakiro and his many qualities, he's badly lacking in damage output potential compared to Pugna. He can't make Skywrath instantly implode. He can get by much better with much fewer items however.

As above, the current meta doesn't suit push heroes at all, just look at poor Leshrac too.

My big beef with Pugna is Life Drain; while it's a really fun ability and one of my favorite ultis in the game, it just doesn't feel like it fits into his kit very well. Granted, you can always go with the Decrepify+ Life Drain combo which to me feels more like a novelty, ergo, something you can only get away with in pubs. The problem is he's too squishy to just be channeling his slurpy ulti out in the open where he can get bursted down before he can leave a real dent in his target.

Another thing I've found is that he hard counters outworld devourer (another hero who's been obscured in the current meta). Nether Ward screws up everything OD wants to do when you consider that it even triggers when he uses Arcane Orb (it works on all orb effects) and Sanity's Eclipse won't even tickle him since his INT will always be higher than OD's.

Oh if only the meta revolved around big time spell casters...

make bkb on him and channel ultimate.fun fun!

Very weak hero currently, both in pubs and competitive scene, that's why he is not picked in either.

http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1342860689

pugna to stronk...

32 assists boyz