Pudge is a Dota 2 hero who is both entertaining and difficult to master. Here we will teach you how to play Pudge so that you can be more effective in games.

Pudge is a lot of fun to play with because of his abilities, which allow him to do things that other heroes can’t. Dota 2 is all about positioning; Pudge with Meat Hook can drag them out of a safe position and kill them before the fight even starts.

What makes Pudge difficult is successfully hitting an enemy with Meat Hook. To do so, you must practice this ability frequently. On the other hand, This guide will instruct you on how to approach the laning phase and item selection but first let us introduce you to this hero’s abilities.

Pudge’s Abilities

Meat Hook:

Launches a hook in a straight line in front of him, snagging the first unit it comes into contact with and dragging it to Pudge. If the unit is an enemy, it deals pure damage to it. You can also use this ability to drag your allies to safety. By hooking enemies, you can also cancel channeling spells.

At level 1, this ability costs 125 mana and deals 150 damage. It deals 360 damage at max level and consumes 140 mana. There are two talents available for the Meat Hook ability, one reduces the cooldown, and the other increases its damage.

  • Tip: Hooking runes will not cost any mana.

Rot:

When Pudge uses this ability, he creates a toxic cloud around himself, which damages and slows any enemies within its radius. It also causes damage to the Pudge.

Aghanim Scepter: If you equip this hero with an Aghanim Scepter, the radius and damage of this ability are increased by 225 and 100, respectively. Additionally, It will also add a 25% health restoration reduction to this ability.

Flesh Heap:

This ability grants you bonus strength whenever a hero dies within a 450-radius or whenever you kill a hero within a 1600-radius radius of yourself. Additionally, this ability increases your resistance to magic.

Strength bonuses per death are 1.5/2/2.5/3. You also have a talent that increases it by 1.5. The numbers for magic resistance are 12%/14%/16%/18% in each level, which is a pretty big deal.

  • Tip: By destroying illusions or even Arc Warden’s Tempest Double, you cannot gain bonus strength. Tip: Each time you kill meepo, regardless of how many clones are nearby, you gain only one bonus strength.

Dismember:

Pudge chows down on an enemy unit, disabling and damaging them over time. While this is happening, Pudge will be healed for the amount of damage dealt by this ability.

Aghanim shards: This item reduces Dismember’s cooldown by 10 seconds and allows you to use it on allies. When used on allies, it swallows and heals them for 6% of their maximum HP. This ability scales with hero strength.

If you purchase shards, an Eject ability will appear between Flesh Heap and Dismember. It gives you the ability to eject swallowed ally whenever you want.

Skill Builds For Pudge

The skill builds for Pudge are the same across all roles.

Pludge’s Talent Tree

Unlike Skill Builds, the Talent Tree varies depending on your role. The image below shows the most popular Talent Tree for Pudge.

Difficult Matchups For Pudge:

Anti-mage: When you hook him, he can easily escape using blink ability. He can use Counterspell to avoid Pudge Dismember ability. On the other hand, due to Counterspell’s passive magical resistance, he takes less damage from Rot and Dismember abilities.

Necrophos: His Heartstopper Aura and Reaper’s Scythe make him an excellent counter to tanky heroes such as Pudge.

Slardar: This hero’s Corrosive Haze ability significantly reduces armor, making Pudge vulnerable.

Dazzle: Dazzel’s Shallow Grave ability can almost always save someone you’re attempting to kill. Additionally, his Bad Juju ability reduces armor.

Legion Commander: If Pudge uses Dismember on an ally, Legion Commander can negate the spell by pressing the attack on that ally.

Strong Matchups For Pudge

Crystal Maiden: Pudge’s Hook can cancel the Freezing Field, even if she uses a Glimmer Cape prior to activating ultimate. Additionally, her slow movement speed and low HP pool make her an ideal target for Pudge.

Drow Ranger: Due to her Marksmanship ability, she wishes to avoid fighting close to enemies, but Pudge can Hook and Dismember her before she can use Gust or Shadow Blade.

Sniper: He prefers to maintain a safe distance from opponents, but Pudge can easily hook him and close the gap. He also has a low HP pool.

Zeus: This hero deals a high amount of damage and can be challenging to deal with if you cannot reach him. As with Sniper, he wishes to maintain a safe distance between himself and his opponents, but a good Pudge player can easily gank Zeus.

Shadow Shaman: While channeling Shackles’ ability, he must stand still, allowing Pudge to hook him easily.

Pudge’s Best Allies:

Techies: Pudge can hook enemies into the mines.

Outworld destroyer: His Astral Imprisonment can set up a hook if timed correctly.

Blood Seeker: His Rupture discourages enemies from moving, which makes it easier for Pudge to Hook them. Additionally, if Pudge Hooks them, they are pushed toward Pudge while taking significant damage from Rupture.

Pudge’s Gameplay

Pudge’s abilities have a decent cooldown and a high damage output, making him an ideal ganker. Additionally, he has a large HP pool that grows with each kill, also making him a perfect tank. While you may have seen Pudge in each of the five positions, we believe he is most effective in the midlane, soft support, or offlane positions.

Using Pudge In Early Game

Easy Matchups

Midlane: If you play as a Midlaner and your opponents are weak in front of you, bully and harass the opposing Midlaner to the maximum extent possible. Get all the last hits and denies. Force the opponent Midlaner to ask his supports to help him. Putting pressure on Midlane will make other lanes easier for your cores, even at the start of the game.

Soft Support: If you are soft Support, don’t just sit in the trees and wait for a chance to hook someone. Be active, help your Core to deny creeps especially ranged creeps - Harrass enemy heroes whenever you can.

  • Use your Meat Hook as much as you can on enemy heroes because it deals a lot of damage, even at level one. Additionally, you can use your Meat Hook to prevent enemy support from pulling creeps to side camp.

Offlane: As previously stated, bully the enemy Core and force him to leave the lane. Bear in mind that you must collaborate with your Support to eliminate enemy heroes. Keep an eye on other lanes and use Teleport to help them if a big fight breaks out.

Hard Matchups For Pudge

Midlane: Survival should be your top priority as a Midlaner. This is because Pudge can be more effective in a match with more levels than with more items. You can earn gold later in the game by joining and killing sideline heroes. You can also aggro melee creeps into your range creep, allowing for safer last hits and easy range creep denial.

  • If your opponent has a bottle, try to contest the runes as much as possible; this forces them to buy regen and makes their game a little more difficult.

Soft Support: As a Soft Support, do the following:

Use a sentry ward to block the enemy’s small camp and drag a creep wave between your tier 1 and tier 2 towers. It provides your Offlaner with a free creep wave and last hit.

Instead of stealing your offlaner exp in the lane, pull the large camp and earn your exp from that.

Offlane: As an offlaner, you must complete all of the tasks listed in the Midlane section (except for purchasing a bottle) and then ask your Support to do the tasks listed in the Soft Support section.

  • Again, we urge you to do everything in your power to stay alive in the lane because your abilities are more important than your items at this stage.

Using Pudge In Mid Game

Midlane: This is your opportunity to showcase your full potential. If you had an easy lane, you have two options: pressure an opponent Midlaner further by requesting a gank from your Supports or gank sidelanes to make space for your other Cores.

  • You can do both in a difficult matchup, but we recommend the latter because your ally core is in a 1vs2 situation, which may result in his death.

Soft Support: In an easy matchup where you forced the enemy Safelaner to the jungle, you can either leave your Offlaner to gain solo experience or ask Hard Support to join you to find and kill the enemy Safelaner in the jungle.

  • If your Offlaner can stay alive in a tough matchup, let him play solo and then help other lanes, but if he can’t, stay in lane and Hook him to safety when he gets into trouble.

Offline: In an easy matchup, you can ask your Soft Support to leave the lane and then collaborate with your teammates to destroy the enemy’s tier 1 tower. Additionally, you can switch lanes with your Saflaner to provide him access to safer farms along with ancient creeps.

Playing Pudge In Late Game

Midlane: If you’re the team’s initiator, you’ll want to focus on the enemy team’s key heroes during fights. Your immediate objective should be to disable or eliminate them.

  • Pudge possesses a strong wave clearing ability, allowing you to apply map pressure.

Soft Support: If you’re superior to your opponents at this point, use Smoke of Deceit to win a fight; after that, your primary objective should be Roshan. Aegis enables you to take down tier 2 and 3 safely.

Remember that your impact diminishes as the game progresses. If your opponents gain an advantage, try to play slightly behind your team in order to save your allies with Hook if necessary.

Offlaner: At this point in the game, your abilities are less significant than they were in the early and midgame; what matters now is how much damage you can take as the team’s tank. You must absorb the majority of enemy damage.

Itemization For Pudge

Pudge’s abilities make him an excellent early to the mid-game hunter, as well as a perfect late-game tank and initiator. He has a few flaws; for example, slow movement speed, low health, and mana regeneration, along with low armor. Thus, he requires items that increase his speed, health, mana, armor, and resistance to magic.

Early Game

Midlane: You’ll need one set of Tango for HP regeneration, a Quelling Blade for easier last hits, one Circlet for better lane trades, one ironwood branch for more stats, and a Faerie Fire to increase damage and instant healing. Remember to put Observer Ward in the lane to scout runes and avoid ganks.

Soft Support: You can begin with Boots to increase movement speed and one set of Tango for some HP regeneration. You can later purchase mangoes or Clarities to fix your mana issues.

Offline: In patch 7.29, Pudge armor increased by one, giving him a total of two. We strongly advise you to begin with a full bracer and one set of Tango. This way, you can trade with the enemy Safelaner much more effectively.

Mid Game

Midlaner: You must be aware of your team’s requirements. Purchase a Blink Dagger if an initiator is required. Purchase Phase Boots if you need movement speed and armor; Boots of Travel is recommended if you need to gank and push lanes frequently.

  • You’re already in need of a Hood of Defiance due to Rot’s self-damage. If the enemy team has a high physical damage output, purchase a Ghost Scepter or Blade Mail.

Soft Support: Buy an urn of shadow if your team is active in the mid-game, and you’ll need Spirit Vessel later. Buy Blink Dagger if you have won your lane by a large margin and have a considerable amount of gold.

  • The Ghost scepter is particularly effective against physical-damaging heroes such as Phantom Assassin.

  • We strongly advise you to purchase Tranquil Boots due to the high HP regeneration and movement it provides

Offline: Buy the Phase Boot, then the Hood of Defiance, and finally the Aghanim Scepter. Rod of Atos is the best choice if your team lacks sufficient lockdown abilities. Purchase some Bracers to make yourself a little tankier.

  • You can upgrade Hood of Defiance to Eternal Shroud to gain Spell lifesteal while doing magic damage with Rot

Late Game

Midlane: If you want to one-shot an enemy, purchase an Ethereal Blade to burst them with your ultimate. If you require AOE damage and armor, purchase Shiva’s Guard. Remember to buy a Black King Bar to prevent your enemies from disabling your Dismember.

Soft Support: The Aether Lens increases your mana and ability cast range. If you need to save your allies and yourself, invest in force staff. Pipe of Insight is an excellent choice against a heavy magic damage lineup.

  • Keep in mind that you can counter heroes with high HP regeneration with Spirit Vessel. Lotus Orb is also very beneficial to your cores.

Offline: To increase the hero Strength and AOE damage, upgrade Blink Dagger into Overwhelming Blink.

  • If you haven’t already, buy Eternal Shroud. Heart of Tarrasque is also recommended since it can significantly increase your tankiness and make you extremely difficult to kill.

Situational Items

Heaven’s Halberd: Whichever position you play, if you’re up against a hero like Ursa who deals a lot of physical damage, you should purchase it.

Radiance: If you play as a core and want to increase your output damage, this item is ideal.

Aeon Disk: This item can save you in challenging situations for a few seconds.