The Heroes in Dota 2 - An Introductory Guide for Pudge

Introduction

With over 100 different heroes to choose from, it's easy to see why Dota 2 is considered to be one of the hardest games in the world. It can be very intimidating for every new player to get an idea of what to do with every single one of them.

Having said that, we decided to make a short introduction to some of the most popular Dota 2 heroes. Today, the one that will be under the spotlight is Pudge. He is by far the most famous and also the most picked Dota 2 hero.

Let's take a look at some essential things that you need to keep in mind when it comes down to him.

Pudge 101

The Butcher (this was his DotA name) is a strength hero who is mainly played as a roaming support. However, many players often decide to go mid or even offlane, depending on the situation. Pudge has four skills in total:

• Meat Hook - this is his most signature spell that pretty much defines the hero. Meat Hook is one of the few skill-shots in Dota 2 that can either change the course of a team fight or just wholly disrupt it. Usually, new players need to spend some time to learn how to use this spell properly.
• Rot - this ability slows and damages Pudge's enemies while also doing damage to him. Rot is a compelling ability, especially early on, because it allows you to chase down every single enemy. Previously, Pudge could even suicide with this spell, which was often used to prevent the enemy from getting a kill. However, after the Outlanders Update, this was removed.
• Flesh Heap - the only passive skill that Pudge has. Apart from providing magic resistance, this spell also gives him bonus Strength for every single hero that dies near him. Given a decent start early on, the Butcher can become an absolute beast later on. You can often see this hero having over 6000 HP if he participates in enough kills.
• Dismember - last, but not least, we have Pudge's ultimate ability. As the name suggests, this skill basically "eats" his enemies, which translates into three seconds disable. During that disable, pudge deals damage to his enemies while also healing himself.
  Dismember is useful at all stages of the game, even though it's mostly used as a disable early on. Nevertheless, once pudge gets a lot of strength, his ultimate can do a lot of damage too.

Item choices & Laning

As we mentioned earlier, Pudge can be played either as a midlaner, roaming support, or an offlaner, depending on which skill bracket you end in.  However, we believe that he definitely shines the most while he is wandering around because they can quickly pressure all lanes and get an excellent start for his team. Also, he can also take advantage of all kill participation he will take part in, thus, increasing his strength from very early on.

When it comes down to item choices, it all depends on which position he is playing. Nevertheless, there are a couple of items that every Pudge players goes for, regardless of his job in the game:

• Blink Dagger - perhaps the most game-breaking thing for Pudge that can completely change the way he plays. For those of you who didn't know, this item was not allowed to be purchased by him a couple of years ago. However, once it became available, people instant started to see why it was banned in the first place. Blink Dagger allows the Butcher to get a free Dismember + Rot combo in his enemy. Even though it might not seem that dangerous, it is more than enough to kill someone later in the game.
• Aghanim's Scepter - this is another common choice for all Pudge players out there. Throughout the years, the effect of this item has been changed a couple of times. There was a point where it reduced the cooldown of your Meat Hook by 8 seconds. Having said that, the current Scepter adds the option for Pudge to eat his team-mates. Even though it might seem useless, this is a great way to save some of your team-mates from death, especially later on.
• Aether Lens - this item provides a lot of range and mana regen, which makes it perfect for heroes such as Pudge. Aether Lens increases the range of his Meat Hook by a large margin, which means that he becomes even more dangerous. 

Counters

Similar to any other hero in Dota 2, Pudge also has a couple of heroes that can make his life a living hell. Here are some of the more notable examples that you need to be aware of. If you see them in your game, you might think twice whether you want to play Pudge or not.

• Templar Assassin - perhaps the most significant pain in Pudge's Life. Many people might not agree with his, but every single TA players know this. If this hero gets a fast Desolator, killing Pudge usually happens in no more than 3 seconds. That's because the hero does not have that much armor and doesn't scale it at all. So, next time you see someone picking Templar Assassin, either start ganking him early on to prevent him from getting an advantage over you or prepare to run down later on.
• Ursa - the big, bad bear is also another of Pudge's nightmares. Ursa is often picked as a counter to all those "fat" heroes because she is one of the best single-target heroes in the game. The best tactic against Ursa is to buy a Force Staff and get an Urn of Shadows to prevent her from chasing you down. However, she has a slow of her own, so that's easier said than done.