Pudge the Butcher

First and Foremost:

This guide was written to help players who want to master Pudge and learn some old tricks that haven't been covered in any previous Pudge guide. These tricks are very old, and I have been using them for over 3 years now. This guide is not meant to cover other irrelevant stuff like starting stats and growth. Just straight out hooking tips.

I will update the list of hookspots as I play more games for the sake of this guide. I will use saved replays in version 1.23b from now on, the first replay is version 1.20c(sorry about the inconvenience, but you can use the version switcher tool).

Most tips will be pointed out by me in future replays that I will post. Using an AI map. AI are perfectly fine for practicing hooks while hiding.

Skill Build:

Level 1 - Rot
Level 2 - Meat Hook
Level 3 - Meat Hook
Level 4 - Rot
Level 5 - Meat Hook
Level 6 - Dismember
Level 7 - Meat Hook
Level 8 - Rot
Level 9 - Rot
Level 10 to 14 - Flesh Heap
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Dismember
Levels 17 to 25 - Stats



Item Build:

Starting Item Build:



Stage 2: (5 minutes in to the game)



Stage 3: (6-8 minutes in to the game)



Stage 4: (10 - 15 minutes)



Optional:


Stage 5: (15 - 20 minutes)



or

Stage 6:
Core Item Build:



Rush hood early game, then buy boots. Rush aghanim's, and your Pudge will be complete. Aghanim's is not a luxury item, I repeat, NOT a luxury item. It is a complete necessity for Pudge. At level 16, it can deal 1000 damage over 3 seconds, twice as much as the regular Dismember. You can kill heroes with your combo at late game as if it was early or mid game. Plus, it heals you. So you can tank while disabling someone. It is too good to be left out.


Others:



You can easily build pipe right after hood, but that will delay aghanim's, which is a no-no. You will need a Heart to increase your tanking capabilities and also Dismember damage.

You can build any other item you want.


Laning:

Always choose the bottom lane. This is the best lane for Pudge. If playing on the Sentinel team, you can get a first blood much earlier.

Your best lane partners are disablers or nukers. The first skill of your partner is crucial for the first blood.

Getting the first blood:

You can call another ally to come over so three of you will be ganking as soon as the creeps fight. Mirana is a good choice, if an arrow lands consider the target dead. Your partners must always be pounding on the target while you should be beside him Rotting him to death. You can get the last hit if you want. You may be a support later in the game, but you will need money.



This is the best place to hide in whilst awaiting the prey. Your lane partner should be blocking creeps but not too much such that the enemy(in the picture, the Venomancer) will be in the red circle when aiming for last hits. The yellow arrow is where you are most obviously expected to come from. The purple arrow however, is the least expected area for you to charge in to them. Eat the tree and then surprise the victim.

This should only be done when there are 3 of you, because there will be 2 enemies at the bottom lane. One of them will surely pound on you and you might die if your target also strikes back at you. You will need the aid of one more teammate besides your lane partner.


Early laning:

Try to get all the last hits, leave the denying to your partner. You are a killer early to mid game and a support late game, but the item build discussed here will make you a support and killer late game.

Be aggressive in your lane, especially against squishies and melee heroes. Turn on Rot when a melee hero tries to last hit.

Use Meat Hook as early as Level 3. It might be hard for you, but you'll get the hang of it. If a Crystal Maiden uses Frost Bite, do not hesitate to hook the target.

At level 5, you should now be able to use the Hook Trapping technique(discussed later on). This will mostly ensure a kill, granted that the target is low on hp.



This is a hotspot. This my favorite spot to Hooktrap. There is a small gap to the right of the "entrance" to the spot. You should be blocking the way out, while the target is right in the small gap. As of writing this guide, not too many people know about this and may not expect it.

The red spot is where Venomancer was pre-hooking. The green spot is a small space for the target to be trapped in. The blue circle is the way out of the trap, and you will be blocking that. The yellow arrow just shows the direction he was pulled in.



Playing against AI is also effective in helping you land your hooks. They can avoid point blank hooks very well, sometimes they don't. So you are somewhat forced into only hooking them when they can't see you.

Hook Trapping and Hookspots:

This is where the guide sheds the most light on. Hook trapping is the most effective technique from early to mid game. More effective than Hook+Rot+Dismember combo.

Pudge's usual combo costs 240 mana(level 1 Dismember) or 270 mana(level 2 Dismember) and will only hold your enemy vulnerable to Rot for 3 seconds. Hook trapping ensures that the target will be vulnerable to Rot until he dies, and it only costs 140 mana.

Since our item build does not prioritize on mana regeneration, Pudge will mostly have mana for 1 combo, or 2 hooks. With hook trapping, those 2 hooks can be converted into 2 sure kills, whilst the combo only kills 1 hero.

Hooktrapping in mid-action


These are the hook spots: (Green circles are the area where the targets are trapped, blue circles are the way out of the trap, but Pudge is blocking it so they're doomed.)

Bottom Lane, Senti or Scourge


Top Lane, Scourge



Advanced Hooktrapping(Reverse Hooktrapping):





Can you explain to me how Venomancer got in there? Well, Pudge could have easily hooked him in there, but wait, if that happened, Venomancer should have been to the right of Pudge and escaped! How did he get trapped? How did Pudge block the entrance when he was hooking from inside the green circle?

I like to call it Reverse Hook Trapping.

As far as I know, only I use this technique. I first discovered it when I hooked someone at the top lane, Sentinel side. 2 years ago. This is very hard and you must be good at hooking, confidence is required.

Once you let go of your hook, IMMEDIATELY move to the right. This will cause Pudge to block the way out(blue circle) at the same time that the target is hit by the hook. Patiently wait for the target to return to where the hook originated(before you moved right). And voilah, you have hooktrapped a target in reverse. You hooked from the green circle but then managed to block the blue circle with fast reflexes.

Kind of hard to explain, so I saved a replay.

Reverse Hook Trap Replay

Download thread

Warcraft version 1.20c. I am sorry for the inconvenience if you cannot watch it due to the different version. But this is VERY IMPORTANT if you want to see how Reverse Hook Trapping is done. Please use the Warcraft Version Switcher tool(Google) and watch the said replay.

There are a few pauses in the replay, that is because I was taking screenshots and pasting them on MS Paint, so I had to pause

Highlights:

00:11:15 - Hook Trapping in early game.

00:14:00 - Tried to use the Reverse Hook Trapping technique, right after taking a screenshot and pausing xD(blew my concentration), failed hard lol.

00:15:40 - I demonstrate how to "sculpt" the hook spot.

00:16:00 - I wait until the enemy creeps push. Please don't try this, I only did this for the sake of the guide. It took too much time and exp.

00:17:27 - Reverse Hook Trapping in action!!


I will put up another replay, this time using Warcraft version 1.23b. Against AI, sadly. Because I am on dial-up(yes, we still exist).