i decided to start a guide on my fav hero cuz i've a lot of free time atm and i dont find the guides already done for him good enought. Please note that english is not my primary language, so expect some (maybe a lot!) mistakes. Here we go folks.





For a detailed description of the hero stats, story and skills, just visit his official page at Faerie Dragon - DotA Hero Details.

1. Puck's Core



2. The hero characteristics

Puck is a very, very flexible hero (no you can't bend him in half) which means almost anything goes well with him and he can fulfill practically any kind of role (do note that his carrying capabilities are on pair with techies and ezalor). He doesnt excel in any department but he's truly well rounded having HP as his only stat below average. So bad HP translates to fragility, which is a trait shared by most int heroes anyway, no big deal. Usually when in a balanced team (5 melee agi anyone?), people expect Puck to play the role of ganker/initiator bringing a lot of AoE power and disable to the table. Hes also a genuine annoying mind fucker, causing havoc on the battlefield and then going Houdini leaving your opponents pissed at you. Apart from that, another characteristic worth mentioning is his sexy cast animation, its almost instant, just press it and the skill go out, no need to wait for big slow swings and such.

3. A look at Puck skillz

Illusory Orb

Undoubtfully his trademark skill, which is also responsible for most of his versatility as it can be used as an offensive or defensive spell, up to you depending on what the situation demands. A few things to take into consideration: although it cast range is 3000 the orb only travels 1800, it deals magic damage in 200 AoE around the orb and it travels at 512 speed (god damn hasted heroes). Also do note that unlike blink, ethereal jauting to the orb wont dodge projectiles, but we've phase for that anyway. It also synergize pretty well with his other two skills. With Waning Rift, not only for approaching enemy heroes but also to farm (kill all ranged creeps no matter how late in the game, unless hax are down ofc and leaves melee creeps at 1 hit). With Phase Shift, it form one of the best escape mechanism in the game behind only Blink maybe, just send the orb over a cliff/trees, phase and jaunt when the orb is at a safe distance.

Waning Rift

Not much to say about it, its pretty straight foward. No need to aim, just press the hotkey and the spell will immediately deal magic damage and silence any foe in a 375/400 AoE respectively. Use it together with orb to farm, nuke down your opponents or just disrupt their chain of nukes/disables.

Phase Shift

A pretty good defense mechanism on its own, together with orb its almost flawless. Be careful when using it at auto cast, as projectile spells which stuns before damaging will not trigger phase as you're considered disabled (classic example is Mirana arrow). So to take the most of this awesome spell you need to manually cast it, this is how you differ a good Puck from a pro Puck. When you manually dodge that Laguna Blade/Finger of Death you'll be able to purchase your certificate of h4x fingers! Also dont forget that any action you make will immediately end the phase shifting.

Dream Coil

A spell powerful enought to be worth calling it an ultimate. It's also pretty unique, AA's Cold Feet being the only skill with similar effect, just with a reverse concept. It has 375 AoE at cast but the leash stretch for a little longer, the casting range is 700 and it deals magic damage. It has a relative low cooldown so you shouldn't worry about "spamming" it even if it's to kill only one hero. Aghanim can be used to upgrade the coil duration and damage at the cost of increased mana cost. It's a great spell to set up the battlefield for you team, it also screws enemies positioning which is a very important aspect of team battles especially at competitive level. Regarding Linken Sphere, it'll block the first mini stun and damage but the coil itself will still take into effect.

4. Skill build

01. Illusory Orb
02. Phase Shift
03. Illusory Orb
04. Waning Rift
05. Illusory Orb
06. Dream Coil
07. Illusory Orb
08. Waning Rift
09. Waning Rift
10. Waning Rift
11. Dream Coil
12. Phase Shift
13. Phase Shift
14. Phase Shift
15. Stats
16. Dream Coil

Why?

Illusory Orb is your bread and butter, should be maximized first. Some people argue about going a mix of Illusory Orb and Waning Rift because of the increased silence at higher levels, but the thing is, Illusory Orb is much better in lane stage than Waning Rift. Illusory Orb have higher damage and easier utilization requiring little to no positioning at all, it can farm and harass at the same time at a much greater scale, also leaving you at a safer situation than Waning Rift which requires you to put yourself in danger and also doesn't have all the AoE the Orb has. Illusory Orb is also more spammable because of lower cooldown and it mana cost doesn't increase as you level it. Anyone who plays Puck a lot knows that you'll be using Illusory Orb much more often then Waning Rift, you usually save Rift for situations where you go for the kill while you spam Orb for a number of reasons like the ones already mentioned (farm, harass, defend pushes, etc). Maybe my reasons aren't clear enought to you but just trust me, Orb > Rift. An early level of Phase Shift is mandatory, i've lost count of how many times it already saved me even with only 0,5s duration. It's especially good when you're against some spell spammer like Krobelus, Rhasta, Lina, just leave it at auto cast and you'll dodge all that Carrion Swarm, Ether Shock, Dragon Slave spam. The rest of the skill build is a no brainer, ultimate always when possible, maxing Waning Rift before leveling Phase Shift again and stats when there's nothing else to level.

5. Item build

Leaving the base



Any mix of this items is a fine choice. If you're going to solo the long lane i suggest the famous Ring of Protection which can be upgraded into Ring of Basilius at the side shop. If you're going mid getting a chicken is a must. Atleast one set of Tangos and one Healing Salve so you can last longer in lane, Clarities is up to you. You can also start with a Str Gauntlet if you're aiming for Urn of Shadows. Spend the rest on GG branchs and you're ready to go.

First items



Apart from boots, that everybody should get, choose between two of those to cover your hp/mp regen necessities in the early/mid game. But just two, more than that is an overkill and you'll suffer with slot problems sooner than you should. If you started with Ring of Protection, upgrading it into Ring of Basilius is just the natural course, Bottle probably is the best choice to complement it but Urn of Shadows can also be choosed. Bottle and Wand combo has been there for ages and its use and advantages are very well know, can't go wrong with that. Urn of Shadows and Wand is also a valid choice, although a bit more passive and with a weaker regen, it offers a little more survivability and has it offensive usage too. Bottle and Urn of Shadows doesn't combo very well because both offer too similar utility.

The boots dilemma

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working on it