The Dota 2 Pudge is arguably the most iconic hero in Dota 2, with its popularity dating way back to Dota 1. For many players, it’s the farfetched and deterministic skill shot, Meat Hook that makes every shot you land so satisfying.
And, admittedly, a good Pudge Dota 2 player who lands his hooks frequently is a terrifying experience.
Dota 2 Pudge Skills
Dota 2 Pudge’s skill set is one that has stood the test of time, especially Meat Hook and Dismember. Meat Hook’s animations remained consistent throughout most updates, so old-school players who played Dota 1 Pudge can enjoy the same experience.
Dismember is Pudge’s ultimate, which serves as a follow-up disable typically after landing a hook on an opponent. It pierces magic immunity, making Pudge’s Hook into Dismember combo a threat.
Dota 2 Pudge’s Rot is his second ability, and damage-dealing AOE skill. It’s not as effective against late-game carries with BKB but is still great to finish off unfortunate support heroes. However, an impactful change to Rot is its ability to deny itself. Prior to this change in Rot’s mechanism, pro players, such as Danil “Dendi” Ishutin prided themselves on their ability to deny themselves during a sticky situation. For instance, denying yourself when you’re in low health after a fight can mean the opponent gets no reward for fighting Pudge.
Raid Boss mode with Flesh Heap
Lastly, Pudge’s Flesh Heap is his most important skill, which enabled him to be one of the best Dota 2 heroes in terms of durability. Flesh Heap’s passive stacks strength gained from nearby kills, while the active skill blocks magic damage.
This ultimately means that not only is Pudge practically invulnerable in early-midgame, but it negates his own self-inflicting damage from Rot.
Pudge Dota 2 Builds
Dota 2 Pudge can be played as a safelane core or mid, but the former is significantly better. Although he’s a carry, one does not play him as typical physical damage carry. Instead, he shines best as a hybrid tank and magic-damage carry.
And since Pudge’s abilities already offer decent magic damage output, sustainability is the main priority in item choice. The first item is Vanguard, which is cheap and effective at blocking physical damage. It’s crafted with Ring of Health, which offers a decent health regen. With Vanguard, Soul Ring, and Phase Boots at 10 minutes, Pudge will be untouchable throughout midgame.
The armor and strength from Soul Ring are a plus on top of the necessary mana bonus for landing hooks. Whereas Phase Boots offers decent damage and movement speed to catch up to opponents with Rot.
Pudge Dota 2 Skill Build
The first skill for Dota 2 Pudge is always Meat Hook, as the strongest Level 1 nuke and position allocator. Hooking an enemy to an unfavorable spot usually secures a kill, especially with allies nearby. You will go for Rot as your second skill, which is just about all you need to start landing hooks for potential kills.
At Level 3, however, you have the option of picking a powerful Level 2 Rot or getting Flesh Heap. You can opt for Level 2 Rot if you somehow purchased Ring of Health early because it deals too much self-inflicting damage on Pudge to be considered viable. Instead, opting for Flesh Heap is the more sustainable decision as it enables you to sustain enemy harassment besides tanking up your own Rot damage.
Moving forward, prioritize maxing the two skills because they deal damage and durability while Meat Hook is still a skillshot that could miss. For talent options, both options, 16% Rot Slow or +4 Armor are great depending on the game, for catching out enemies or durability respectively. Then, progressively, opt for Spell Lifesteal, longer Dismember duration, and at level 25, the multiplier on Flesh Heap stack.
Late Game Dota 2 Pudge
In the late game, Pudge often falls off in terms of physical damage output and defense. Hence, picking up BKB and even Shiva’s Guard would compensate for that. That said, Aghanim’s Scepter is a great upgrade to Dota 2 Pudge’s Rot by increasing AOE radius, damage and reducing the enemy’s lifesteal effect. This is great against opponent carries that often buy Satanic in late-game.
That’s typically the only Dota 2 Pudge item build he needs to win the game because any longer, and Pudge would eventually fall off the win probability graph. Hence, make the best of his midgame advantage and win.
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