Ahead of the Game! : A Guide to Puck

Introduction

Puck is a strong nuker, with the ability to initate very well, however he is easy to play, but hard to master.

This build will teach you all the basics and more on Puck.

Skill Justification

Double Initiate with Blink Dagger. This item is a heavy nuke and escape. This skill has many purposes, like escaping, initating, nuking, scouting, and juking. Many combos can be set up with this skill. See COMBOS.

Another heavy nuke! Combine the 2 for a ****load of instant burst. This silence prevents you from being disabled when you dream coil. This is one of the only 3 [If i am correct] area silences in the game, but this one does lots of damage as well.

Got to love this skill. This is what makes you very hard to kill, especially with heroes that rely on stuns to secure the kill, like Alchemist and Sven. You have to be careful and watch the animations! Get this at level 4 to block the situational stun, unless the enemy lane has no stuns.

Basically the enemy cant leave unless they want to get stunned and take damage. This skill is great for initating and setting up ganks. Dont be afraid to use it on 2 or less people, because the cooldown is surprisingly low and will be around for the next gank. I dont even need to color the words. The colors of the skill icons are majestic.

Item Justification

Items

Gives good early game INT,and can later me made into a Dagon if necessary.

I prefer Treads over the classic Arcane Boots since low HP enemies are able to be killed with right clicks, and it gives you more EXP later in the game when you get squishy.

Ahh, Magic Wand. It always saves your life or prevents you a trip back to spawn, and you can craft your Iron Branches into something useful. Never fails me.

Best friend of puck. The heal is massive compared to your tiny max HP, and it's another lifesaver. Always go for runes [Especially regen].

Blink Dagger synergizes very well with Puck, but how to use this item is coming in the next chapter.

Another backup Phase Shift if you see another stun coming, but its on cooldown. Also can be used on the enemy if its just 1v1, and provides good mana regeneration.

It gives you regen , tankiness, and the spell block. If the enemy has more than 3 stuns or you cant block them in time, get this.

Combos

INITIATON

You see a group of enemies approacing, and you wait to gank with your team.

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  OK, you have them trapped. And unable to cast spells.
  Blink is better than Orb for ganking because orb is slower, and they can see you. Use orb for escaping and for nuking.
  
  If you are successful and they do not chase you, do this.
  • 
  • OR
  • Dagon
    OK, one of them should be dead. Let your team do the rest, your stuff is now on cooldown.
    
    ESCAPING
    Escaping is another thing. You need to watch their attack animations closely, careful for jukers. Here is what you do: [Example : Puck vs Alchemist
    • 
    • OR
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      Blink Dagger works well with Phase Shift because it needs 3 seconds non-attacked, so you shift then immediately blink. Works OK with Eul's because it is 2.5.
      
      Another escape...
      Say you are on low HP and they have higher movespeed, and blink is on cooldown.
      
      
      
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        Use orb then immediately shift and let the orb fly. Cancel shift by using jaunt. Now you are far ahead of them, and they couldnt attack you!

Friends and Foes

FRIENDS

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  Friends of Puck are anyone that can provide him with mana.
  This list includes Keeper of the Light, Crystal Maiden, Outworld Devourer, as well as heroes who buy Arcane Boots.
  Other friends of Puck are initators who can set up his nukes. Not just nukers, I mean hard initators like Elder Titan, Enigma and Earthshaker.
  
  FOES
  
  
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  • Doom Bringer
    
    Foes are anyone with silence, mana burn or mobility. Silencer is your worst nightmare because you cant really do anything without your skills, and is also hard to lane with due to Curse of the Silent and Last Word. Doom Bringer is equally bad because you cant even blink out or use anything during Doom. Bloodseeker is also terrifying because if you try to escape he can Rupture you and also has a silence.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Easy escape, can dodge spells
• If mastered, is very hard to kill.
• Phase Shift counters almost every stun
• 2 nukes, total of 620 damage.
• AOE silence!
• Epic initation!
  
  Cons
  
  
  • Cant do much without Blink Dagger
  • Bad strength gain
  • Takes lots of watching enemy hero animations to dodge skills
  • Not enough burst damage to kill people.

Laning Phase

Try to go mid solo. Unless there is that one annoying Gyrocopter that insists on going mid. Then share the mid lane until he leaves. [JK]
Try to last hit and deny, although this will be hard because your orb is easily dodged. Immediately go for a Bottle. Always call missing, carry a TP, and dont tower dive unless you know you will get the kill.

COMMON MID HEROES

When laning against Pudge, always put creeps between you and him. Also watch out for Meat Hook and counter with Phase Shift. He is also tanky but can be harrassed extremely easily.

When she reaches level 6, she gets annoying. Also watch out for her Silence animation so you can dodge it. If she starts Frost Arrows on you, shift so you dont get slowed.

Viper is tricky because Poison Attack isnt hard to dodge, but is spammable. Nethertoxin will sap your HP, so be careful. If against him, get more Tangos.

A good Invoker is always hard to lane against, but harder to lane against a good Puck. Many skills have a slow animation like Deafening Blast, Chaos Meteor, EMP and Tornado. If you are good, you can see him stop and see no spell, then Phase Shift because most likely there is a Sun Strike.

Great harrasser, but squishy. However, it is extremely easy to dodge Assassinate.

Last Words

If you dont succeed at Puck, its OK. He is very hard to master. Try to play 3 games as him before you decide if you like him or not. He takes a lot of pracice too, but in time you will learn the ways of Puck.