1. Description
2. Overview of Abilities
3. Skill build
4. Item build
5. Overall Strategy
6. Specific Strategy
7. Screenshots
8. Placing Observer Wards
9. Best Allies, Weakest Enemies and Toughest Enemies
10. Replays and the Practice Your Pudge map

1. Good hero-killing combination of abilities
2. High strength, and able to gain more with Flesh Heap
3. Abilities are useful in team situations
4. Hook can win games by initiating fights

1. Unimpressive agility and intelligence
2. Low armor
3. Low movement speed and attack rate
4. Melee hero
5. Weaker towards the late game
6. Abilities are often not enough to kill an enemy without help

Meat Hook [T]

Launches a bloody hook at a unit or location. The hook will snag the first target encounters, dealing damage then dragging the victim back to the Butcher. Costs 140 mana at all levels, cooldown of 14.

Level 1 - 400 range, 100 damage.
Level 2 - 600 range, 200 damage.
Level 3 - 800 range, 300 damage.
Level 4 - 1000 range, 400 damage.

Notes:

- Physical damage type
- Inflicts a mini-stun on enemies
- Passes through trees, cliffs, buildings and siege creeps
- Can hit allies; allies will not be damaged or stunned, only pulled by the hook
- Hits invisible units
- Apparently stretches slightly farther than advertised due to the code (440/680/920/1160) but since you eyeball it rather than calculate units in your head this is of little practical importance


Rot [R]

Pudge releases the disease and filth inside of him, dealing intense damage to and slowing surrounding enemies while hurting Pudge as well.

Level 1 - 25 damage/second.
Level 2 - 50 damage/second.
Level 3 - 75 damage/second.
Level 4 - 100 damage/second.

Notes:

- Magical damage type
- Can be turned on mid-Dismember
- Can't be turned off if you are silenced!
- You can kill yourself with this ability
- Hits invisible units


Flesh Heap [F]

Pudge is made of innumerable rotting corpses, giving him extra protection against spells as well as the chance to add more to his bulk. (Adds more for heroes; hero-kill values in parentheses)

Level 1 - 4% magic reduction, 0.9 Str bonus per kill.
Level 2 - 8% magic reduction, 1.2 Str bonus per kill.
Level 3 - 12% magic reduction, 1.5 Str bonus per kill.
Level 4 - 16% magic reduction, 1.8 Str bonus per kill.

Notes:

- Spell resistance stacks with items
- Pudge gains strength from his hero kills, and from any hero that dies within 400 AoE


Dismember [D]

Chows down on a target, causing excruciating pain.
Lasts 3 seconds (on heroes) at all levels.
Channeling.

Level 1 - 75 (75 + 0.75 * strength) damage/second.
Level 2 - 125 (125 + 0.75 * strength) damage/second.
Level 3 - 175 (175 + 0.75 * strength) damage/second.

Notes:

- Magical damage type
- Disable works on magic immune heroes (damage does not)
- Will continue to hold + damage a hero if they become invisible mid-spell
- Requires channeling
- Upgradeable with Aghanim's Scepter to increase damage (upgrade values shown in parentheses)
- Scepter upgrade causes Dismember to heal Pudge for an equal amount
- Mana cost of 100/130/170, cooldown of 30 seconds

1. Rot
2. Meat Hook
3. Meat Hook
4. Rot
5. Meat Hook
6. Dismember
7. Meat Hook
8. Rot
9. Rot
10. Flesh Heap
11. Dismember
12. Flesh Heap
13. Flesh Heap
14. Flesh Heap
15. Stats
16. Dismember
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats

Ancient Tango of Essifation x2
Gauntlet of Strength x2
Ironwood Branch x2

Empty Bottle
Boots of Speed
Bracer x2

• Empty Bottle is the most important part of the Pudge build. Use it to monopolize runes and keep your health and mana up for frequent ganks.
  
  
• Bracers - Convert your 2 Gauntlets into Bracers for useful stat bonuses.
  
  
• Optional: - Use Magic Wand instead of making a second Bracer, or even in addition to 2 Bracers. You can decide this based on the enemy team's line-up (spell-heavy or not), and if you do decide to go 1 Bracer + Wand you can get 2 or even 3 additional Branches early instead of 1 Gauntlet (so 2 tango, 1 gauntlet, 3-4 branch). I'm also considering playing with just 1 Bracer now for a fast Hood, so basically Bottle, Boots, Bracer, Hood rush, Pipe or Shiva rush.
  

Hood of Defiance

• Hood of Defiance - I finally broke down and decided to give Hood a serious chance - and it's awesome. The damage reduction in Rot and life regeneration is really noticeable, and you can use Rot as a farming tool almost at will. Additionally, the current meta-game is quite spell-dependent, meaning your Hood will go a long way towards saving your life in a hairy situation.
  
  
• Observer Wards are extremely useful because they can spot unsuspecting heroes for your hooks and Runes for your Bottle. They can also see ganks on you or allies, and are just generally very useful items. You always see them in league games, and there's a reason for it. Knowing the enemy's location and the location of Runes are two very powerful things. Make sure to Ward the Runes so you can keep refilling your Bottle. Use Sentries if the enemy has Wards that you'd like to take out.

Khadgar's Pipe of Insight

Shiva's Guard

Vanguard

Aghanim's Scepter

Heart of Tarrasque

What if they have wards?

Buy some fucking counter-Wards, you dweeb.

Abuse the runes

This is a good time to reiterate that you should be taking full advantage of your Bottle. In between ganks, travel via the rivers and pick up ALL runes you see with your Bottle (unless a nearby ally could put it to better use, in which case notify him of it). Consider putting Wards on the runes to constantly be aware of which runes are where (they spawn every multiple of 2:00 on the game clock). With runes returning a full Bottle after being used, you may not need to fountain trip for quite a while. (And if you do fountain trip, refill your Bottle, then use it immediately and refill it a second time. That heals you faster and cuts down your fountain trip time.)

Rot

Flesh Heap

Dismember

Meat Hook

Point Blank Meat Hook - Okay, so this is the way to Hook a moving hero for someone who doesn't want to think. Not that that's necessarily bad, because if you miscalculate a long Hook you'll miss. This is often done while you are chasing with Rot and need an extra punch. Meat Hook is almost guaranteed to hit and makes for a nice finisher. This can be worth trying if you are having trouble landing longer-range Meat Hooks for whatever reason, but I find it to be a worse tactic overall. You don't get the surprise element and the enemy is likely to be near a creep wave, so he could certainly turn the tables on you. Worse, if he runs before you get close to him you have relinquished all advantage and must either give up on the kill or risk missing with Hook. He will be on the lookout and try to dodge, and if you miss then he may be able to really pound you. So, you may want to consider longer range hooks.

Manipulating the Terrain - If you are worried about an enemy juking you, or simply that you will miss because there are several possible paths a Hero could take, wait to Hook until the enemy is at a point where he really only has one option for where to go. The narrow ramps all along the river are perfect. It becomes a lot easier to predict the enemy's exact path. However, it is not always possible to get a Hook at one of these locations. When it isn't possible, I recommend waiting until the last possible second to launch your Hook, unless you think you will have time to launch another after it cools down. Enemies often feel safe once they approach an allied tower and they do not think to juke. Furthermore, once they are in a sort of set path back to base along a lane, it is reasonable to assume that they will be running straight towards the base and have no reason to stop. This is even more true if there is an ally chasing them. Letting the enemy hero fall into a sort of "easy escape path" will allow you to land a Hook on them much more easily.

Also, position yourself to try to get the best angle possible when Hooking a moving Hero, especially if the enemy knows you are there and trying to Hook them. If an enemy Hero is running away and you are directly behind them, don't Hook straight in front of you. Small terrain deformations and kinks in the enemy Hero's path actually give your Hook a decent chance of missing. Step slightly to the side so you aren't running directly behind them but rather off to the side a little. Then you can Hook at a small angle. Even 15 degrees is enough to make a difference, and it really does increase the chance that you will connect.

The Ally-Saving Meat Hook - The good Pudge player is always prepared to rescue his ally from a dangerous situation. If there's only one enemy, pull the hero attacking your ally to you with a Meat Hook and turn your combo for a kill and a save. However, there may be multiple heroes attacking your ally, in which case your best bet is to hook your ally himself. He won't take any damage. While he's running, if you aren't scared of the ganking heroes, you can try to slow them down with Rot/Dismember and you may even score a kill. If you think they might kill you, though, you'd better do the same as your ally and run.

The Blind Hook - Meat Hook can hit a hero that you can't see due to invisibility or line of sight. It will still deal damage and bring the Hero to you. Trace the Hero's projected path in your head. It's the same sort of anticipation you would use to Hook any moving Hero, but taken to the next level because you can't actually see them. Aim Hook ahead of the Hero in his imagined path, so it will collide with him as he keeps moving and go for it. There are some screenshots demonstrating this in the Screenshots section. Being able to judge a Hero's path is something that you will simply get better at as you play more DotA and more Pudge.

Click on the ground, not the hero - Don't click on the hero, especially when trying to hit a moving target. This will result in a miss VERY often. ALMOST ALL THE TIME. Click on the ground near the hero, or if they are moving click on the ground in front of them. If they are very devious, they may try to run in zig-zags or other tricky patterns. There are several ways to deal with this. One, try to figure out where it looks like they're going to move, and then decide where they will deke to. Basically you are just staying one step ahead of them mentally. However, you can also run directly at them and turn on Rot as soon as you get close. Zig zags and fancy jukes take longer than a straight line, so often you can catch up to them and use Rot to chase for your kill. Plus you can then Hook at point blank range anyway if you need an extra punch.

Click a little short of where you want the Hook to hit - Another thing you should be careful of is clicking ~1000 range away. The Hook stretches that far, yes, but don't gamble. If you misjudge by a tiny bit and click 1100 units away, Pudge will have to move before throwing the Hook and it will ruin your angle, timing, etc. I usually click about 700 units away from Pudge on a maximum range Hook, or 300 units short of the place at which I want the Hook to connect. Don't worry if you don't know how much 300 units is (it's half of Pugna's attack range, if that helps). The specific amount isn't that important, though. Just do it a little short of where you want the Hook to hit and you should be fine. Not only does it prevent Pudge from having to move to make the Hook, it's also much easier to visualize the angles involved by giving your eye a point in space to use in mental calculations.

What doesn't Hook hit? - Hook will go across cliffs and through trees. You can't hook buildings, siege units, Roshan, [Syllabear's Spirit Bear or Chickens]. Use this to your advantage! The enemy may feel safe behind his tower, or "protected" by a siege unit.

Be aggressive! - If an enemy is stunned, immediately Hook them if you have a clear shot! And in general, when in doubt, throw a Hook unless you think you'll hit an ally. It's better than not trying, and you might get lucky - and besides, Hook's cooldown is only 14 seconds. It might come back up again.