Pudge The Butcher Guides

Pudge , The Butcher

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Foreword
   
2. Introduction
   
3. Playstyle
   
4. Butcher's Skills
   
5. Skill Build
   
6. Item Builds
   
7. General Strategy
   
8. Counters
   
9. Miscellaneous
   
10. Conclusion
    
11. Replays
    
12. Credits
    
13. Changelog
    

I. FOREWORD

This guide was written by an 18-year old Filipino whose native language is not English.

Because we're done with history, let me tell you why I wrote this guide.
I used to play Pudge sparingly, but now I play him quite often. I'm in the verge of discovering Heroes that make a difference very early in the game. I never liked full carry Heroes, so I prefer active playstyles.

I did not see many published guides on Butcher, so I decided to make one
of my own. Next, I love writing so much! This is the second of my
Alt-Tab guide series, which is an intentional misconception, as they are
actually full guides without the information nobody really cares about
(except history, which is one of the things I really appreciate about
DotA). My guides are for both first-timers and experienced players who need to know the stuff that they want to.

Enjoy, and remember, this is just a guide to get you started!

History: This is Pudge's history in a table starting from 6.70.

6.70-6.70c	No changes.
6.71	Fixed Flesh Heap gaining STR from suicides (recently reintroduced bug).
6.71b	Fixed a bug with Flesh Heap.
6.72	Rot damage increased from 25/50/75/100 to 35/60/85/110. Fixed Pudge being unable to cast Meat Hook while in Ethereal form. Fixed Meat Hook from wasting Linken's Sphere.
6.72b	No changes.

▲Top

II. INTRODUCTION

This is not a competitive guide for Butcher since I don't have that
experience. However, from all my games with him, I've found what seems
to be reasonable and what is purely dipshit. This is a pubber's guide on
Butcher, but still reliable and trustworthy.

Here are Butcher's key points:

Attributes: Butcher is a slow Hero, with 285 MS (movement speed). He is also Melee, something newer players try to avoid. However, all he needs is confidence and risk to be able to function effectively.

Playstyle: He is STR, but tanking is only his side role. His playstyle is that of a ganker/killer, intentionally targeting Heroes with his deadly skill combo. Early, no one can survive this combo at all.

Dismember: Late game, they might, but Pudge counters back with Aghanim's Scepter, dealing immense amounts of damage to a single target with Dismember.

Item Independence: However, items such as these are generally not bought in a competitive game. Why? Well, Pudge is not a farming Hero. And rightly so, because he is item independent. He only relies on his attributes and combo to kill early, and what Pudge needs to do is keep enemy levels at a minimum so that others can finish the game.

Carry Potential: Nevertheless, a fed
Pudge can carry a game well, unable to be killed by anyone. If all
skills are focused on Pudge to kill him, there are still four Heroes
they have to worry about while their disables cooldown.

Here are a few reasons why to pick Butcher for that game:

• You like Heroes that make a difference early game. Pudge, with his efficient combo, can make or break that game by killing fragile early spellcasters and carries.
  
• You like Heroes that need skill to use. Meat Hook is
  obviously one of those skills. Countless videos of Butcher have
  displayed luck and skill with feats like using Meat Hook against
  invisible Heroes and Heroes hiding in the Fog of War.
  
• You like playing gankers/killers. However, unlike most
  roamers, Pudge does not have a ranged disable. You need timing to use
  Meat Hook and Dismember is a melee channeling disable. Be careful.
  
• You like Heroes that are useful at all stages in the game.
  Late game, Pudge can tank spells and still be effective with Meat Hook's
  Pure damage. He can turn Rot permanently with the proper items and deal
  massive AoE damage, great for pushing and defending those critical
  moments.
  

▲Top

III. PLAYSTYLE

Ganker/Killer: Butcher has only one role in the game. That is to move around the map and start killing Heroes with the help of his teammates, or on his own.
This is called a ganker/killer. There's a notable difference between
only ganking and killing, because gankers solely depend on team
cooperation to kill. Killers, however, can dispatch Heroes on their own,
so that's the extent of his playstyle or role.

Tank: Playing Butcher as a full-fledged tank will net you nothing. Although
boasting one of the highest STR gains in the game (3.2) and just being
STR makes players think that Pudge is meant to be somewhat of a tank.

True, Pudge needs HP and HP regeneration to make use of Rot, and it is
true that Flesh Heap only contributes to this fact, but how do you
utilize Flesh Heap? By killing, right? And so, Pudge is a born killer that can tank on the side.

▲Top

IV. BUTCHER'S SKILLS

▲Top

V. SKILL BUILD

• Rot Start
  
  

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







Justification: Rot Start skills Rot first, obviously. There are some reasons why this is better. First, you can arrange a first blood attempt. The 20% movement speed slow is constant at all levels, which is, of course, one of the most powerful Level 1 slows. Second, you can avoid a first blood attempt for the same reasons.

There is not much difference between this and Meat Hook start. Meat Hook skilled first for 90 Pure damage
with a short range is quite a weird thing to do. However, you may use
the disable of a lane partner after snagging a target near a tower for
maximum efficiency, rather than relying on a 35 Magical damage/second skill and chasing for nothing. Use this build if you're sure no first blood attempts are happening.

Of course, the end result is maxing Meat Hook first and Rot second.

Flesh Heap is mostly taken at Level 10. Flesh Heap keeps tracks of kills the moment you are picked, so kills before Level 10 are not wasted!

Dismember is, obviously, taken whenever it is available. Its damage scales well, as well as its manacost, throughout the entire game.

▲Top

VI. ITEM BUILDS

• Hood Core
  
• Aghanim's Rush
  
• Which Boots?
  
• Optional Items
  
• Utility Items
  
• Luxury Items
  
• Other Items
  
  

Justification: Boots of Speed is the basic need for any Hero. I did not put a specific upgrade, because that is discussed in the third tab.

Empty Bottle is a core item on Pudge, middle lane or not. To make full use of this item, a Flying Courier is recommended. You may or may not be able to capture runes so a Flying Courier will help you manage your health and mana without returning to the fountain.

Hood of Defiance is a cheap and easy-to-build item. You can
purchase this completely at the side shops, which makes it more
convenient if you're not middle laning (though this doesn't really mean
anything, because you have a Flying Courier). Hood of Defiance stacks with your Flesh Heap skill (not exactly, so check out the Miscellaneous
section for Spell Resistance). It gives high regeneration, reduces the
damage taken from Rot, and is upgradable to Khadgar's Pipe of Insight.
Careful, though, getting Hood makes it more difficult to deny yourself
when necessary.

How to build it? You can get one Ring of Regeneration
directly from the start of the game (if you are on the side lanes),
coupled with a few consumables and Ironwood Branches. Follow it up with
another Ring of Regeneration, a Ring of Health and then Planeswalker's Cloak
and you'll finish it up rather easily. You can decide to get the Cloak
first if you're facing hard nukers. If you're moving around a lot, a Ring of Health might do better for the regeneration.

Mid-lane Pudges should focus on getting Bottle and Magic Wand.

The Hood Argument: Hood of Defiance is
for noobs. Not quite. Hood of Defiance is a great item for Pudge,
despite what other people say. Hood is generally considered viable due
to the need of early-game spellcasters and disablers. Also, Hood can be
upgraded to Pipe, which is a team item that you can use to contribute. Personally, I don't find myself building Hood that frequently.
I build Hood around 65% of my games, even around spellcasters. So don't
fret about getting Hood all the time; it is just a fitting item, but
you can do without it and follow the next build.

Magic Wand is, of course, one of the most useful and ingenious
items in DotA. As you can see, we're aiming for items that both heal HP
and mana (such as Empty Bottle) and trying to avoid items like Soul Ring
(which is still useful), which sacrifices health for mana.

Check out the Optional Items section to see some items you can still get if you're playing a specific style Pudge.

▲Top

VII. GENERAL STRATEGY

• Middle Lane
  
• Side Lanes
  
• First Blood
  
• Clashes
  
• Using Rot
  
• About Flesh Heap
  
• Using Dismember
  
  

I love playing Pudge and getting solo mid. It gives me an extremely early advantage, and there are only a handful of Heroes that can't be killed by his combo at this time. Let's do an assessment of the Heroes you cannot effectively kill.

First, Heroes with an easy escape mechanism.
Examples are Queen of Pain, Priestess of the Moon, Faerie Dragon, and
Morphling, some common middle Heroes. However, Heroes like Storm Spirit
need to get to Level 6 first, so have fun feasting! How to counter this?
Abuse them with Rot first near your tower, and gamble a Level 3-4 Meat
Hook when they try to escape. Otherwise, rely on harassing them instead.
If you've got Dismember, just have faster hands than them.

Second, Heroes with a lane control skill (there's a variety).
Ancient Apparition, Netherdrake, etc. comes to mind. However, they are
just as easy to kill as others if they don't harass you first. Proper
timing is needed. However, with Heroes such as Broodmother, it may be
difficult to study her pattern. Anyway, Sentry Wards are a must on
Broodmother solo mids, but she usually takes solo on side lanes.

Third, Heroes that drain mana. Silencer (see Counters),
Demon Witch, and Nerubian Assassin are all I can come up with. Oblivion
does not pose much of a threat since you don't have that much mana
regeneration to being with. Having no mana means no combo, and so the
only counter is avoiding harassment and killing them first.

Fourth, Heroes with a form of disable.
There are many Heroes like this, such as Obsidian Destroyer and again,
Demon Witch (if we have to include Heroes like Storm Spirit and
Priestess of the Moon, go ahead). Other uncommon middle Heroes are
Vengeful Spirit (highly unlikely) and Shadow Shaman.

Fifth, tanky Heroes. Heroes such as
Doom Bringer are just as hard to kill as Dragon Knight. Chances are
you'll have the proper damage for your combo only when they have some
fair items as well. Not only that, they have Ultimates that can turn the
tables on you. Doom Bringer can effectively end your life with Doom if
you've got Rot on (even without at lower levels) and tear you up with
LVL? Death, and Elder Dragon Form is simply a disadvantage according to
range. Request help, or be smart and use your tower.

Finally, and probably most difficult, Heroes like Shadow Fiend, Dwarven Sniper, and Tinker.
No, I'm just kidding. I eat these Heroes all the time. They're so
squishy. No real strategy against them, except that Shadow Fiend and
Tinker may have ready nukes to use against you if you're too slow. The
only thing keeping them alive against all odds is their skill compared
with yours.

Middle lane techniques, begin harassing with Meat Hook at Level 3. You don't know how many kills me and my lane partner have taken with this combo. My lane partner? That's right, my tower. So don't auto-attack because it pushes the lane in favor of their tower. Having more space to chase also means a lot. In my replays, I demonstrate hooking only on my side of the river as an example.

Know the basic tower AI. It attacks enemy Heroes only when they attack you, or if they're the nearest target after killing its current one. Don't Hook if the tower is busy attacking creeps within its range. Time it just right that if the last creep dies, the one you Hook will be the next target of the tower.

Request help if you need it. Sometimes an extra damaging stun is all you need to secure a kill. Never fret!

Watch out for the farming carry who doesn't
participate in team fights, farming solo like an idiot while everyone
else is enjoying the game. Keep on killing that Hero, he'll make you pay if you don't.

• Get to Level 7-9 as fast as possible.
  
• Use your high base damage coupled with Rot to last hit.
  
• Call missing Heroes and be aware if you're known to be missing or not. You're Pudge!
  
• Since you buy the Empty Bottle, too, once you have it, you
  can start efficiently ganking. Don't just gank for the sake of trying.
  Secure a kill or don't move at all, because you'd let no one defend your
  lane.
  
• After you reach your desired levels, have someone else capable of middle lanes take your lane permanently while you get ready to kill.
  

Now, check the other tabs back above.

MEAT HOOK

This section is a work-in-progress, specifically the screenshots and a demonstration video. It is not yet complete.

Stationary: Stationary targets are
targets who are still for more than a second, due to last hitting or
denying, casting animation and backswing, channeling, hiding, and
fighting. Also, due to being disabled. I never target the units themselves, but the ground near them where I'm sure the Hook will hit.

Moving: Moving units are units that are moving in a straight path, or a path defined by Warcraft due to terrain. You
must be aware of the latter parts, and you will only be after more
DotA. Estimate the travel time for Meat Hook, your target's movement
speed, whether the unit is under the effect of a movement increasing
spell (Spectral Dagger, Surge, Leap, Warcry, etc.), and surrounding
units. Never target the unit itself, target the ground where the Hook
will go through in a straight line to your intended target.

Juking: Smart players expect a Hook and will try to avoid it with a zigzag pattern.
Hooks for these units will require two seconds of studying a pattern at
least. Judge a Hook by targeting the next location they will move to,
such as when moving from left to right, and the unit has moved right,
you target the center-left to compensate for unit turn rate and movement
speed. This experiences comes with more Pudge games!

Fog: Fog Hooks are Meat Hooks used on the units hidden by the Fog of War after seeing them as they go in.
It is much like the moving Heroes section, except that you cannot see
where the target is moving. Imagine the Hero, compensating for its
movement speed and hook travel time again, and launch the Hook somewhere
short of the intended location. This is to ensure that Pudge will not
move to get a better angle unintentionally, due to exceeding the range.
Check one of my replays to see if a Fog Hook has been made.

Blind: Blind Hooks are different
from Fog Hooks in such a way that you did not see any unit go within
that vicinity, and you are judging merely from their skill usage and
luck. These hooks are usually associated with maphacks (lol). I have
a handful of blind hooks on my replays. This is dependent mostly on
luck, rather than skill, but also on experience. I cannot explain this
in words.

Invisible: These invisible Heroes will try to juke your Hook if their life depended on it.
This is a combination of Juking and Fog sections. It is merely up to
intuition this time, and no amount of reading will help you net a hook
for this situation. It comes with playing more Pudge and more DotA.
However, hooking an invisible unit doesn't make it visible. If it lives,
then there's not much you can do except hope that Rot hits (discussed
afterwards).

Allied: Meat Hook can save allies.
It doesn't deal damage and it doesn't stun them. Meat Hook will drag
allies no matter what! Hook them as if you would a normal enemy. If no
communication is available, carefully anticipate their movements and
launch a rescue hook.

Crazy: Meat Hook can hook things you don't normally expect to be hooked.
Countless times I've hooked Waveforms, Timewalks, Leaps, Icarus Dives,
etc. Don't limit yourself to anything and anticipate the enemy movement
carefully.

Ethereal: You can now use Meat Hook while in Ethereal form (6.72).

▲Top

VIII. COUNTERS

All the Heroes and/or skills mentioned are effective counters to our topic Hero, whether a major threat, or a minimum threat. Anything that is a unique detriment to the Hero's presence is covered. By unique, we rid ourselves of obvious counters such as stunners, and whatnot.

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
  

Justification: Silencer
disrupts Pudge's combo effectively. Not only does it make managing Rot
harder by being silenced after using skills, but also using Meat Hook as
you normally would will prevent you from using Dismember. Silencer may
also cancel a crucial Dismember at any time with a prepared Global
Silence. Early, Pudge is quite without mana as a simple Curse of the
Silent debuff would be a lose-lose situation for him.

▲Top

IX. MISCELLANEOUS

• Spell Resistance
  
• Jungling?
  
• No Meat Hook?
  
• Early Flesh Heap?
  
• Hook Spamming
  
• Blink-Swap-Hook
  
• Linken's Sphere
  
• Bottle-Crow
  
  

• Flesh Heap
  
• Planeswalker's Cloak
  
• Hood of Defiance
  
  

Resistance with Flesh Heap (Level 4) - 37%

▲Top

X. CONCLUSION

I hope you learned a new Hero. Pudge is definitely one of the most
popular and most fun Heroes to use. Every sane DotA player loves Pudge.
The feeling you get when you make a Blind/Invisible hook is just
immense. And as an enemy, the feeling you get when you are hooked is a
destruction of morale at the very least.

I'm not saying that this guide is absolute, it is just a guide, and it
is my personal take on Pudge. However, all these feats I talk about will
come only with experience. Don't get discouraged if your Hook Accuracy
is less than 20%, just keep learning the Hero and you'll get used to him
eventually.

Pudge is a great example of how fun DotA can be. Thank you for reading
my guide, and I hope you have some nice games with this Hero. Stay tuned
for replays and guide updates. I am open to comments and serious
suggestions.

I made this guide in a single day using my free time.

Final Words: My Alt-Tab series of
strategy guides are meant to display as much helpful information as
possible without the unnecessary portions. They are not meant for
Spotlight guides, with their fancy pictures and video tutorials. That
is, in my opinion, extremely time-consuming. It deviates from my
purpose, which is to have fun while writing this guide to communicate
with others in the DotA community. I like to maintain clean and simple
updated works which are just as rich in content as most good guides are.

▲Top

XI. REPLAYS

I do not save most replays if I don't find them amusing. I save
only unique ones, and I will be saving more just for this guide. I have
played Butcher countless times, and there have been many epic moments,
but I have to keep this guide up to date with the latest replays from
the latest maps, so expect more soon!

Standard Pudge	Public game. 6.69b, 1.24e. Shop-to-shop match where I played Pudge solo mid. This is NOT my personal item build, but this is a standard Pudge build that I am experimenting on. Here, you can see the benefits of Arcane Boots and Hood of Defiance, plus the contributions of Khadgar's Pipe of Insight against chain nukers. The power of Aghanim's Scepter is also demonstrated. For Hooks: many spammed Hooks, blinds, fogs, invisibles, and plain Hooks. This is an example of the difference Pudge can make in a game. This is not my best play, though, but is the subject of the video posted above. Old version, too.
New Pudge	Public game. 6.71b, 1.24e. Pudge on new map.
6.72b	No replays available for 6.72b at the moment.

▲Top

XII. CREDITS

I'd like to thank the reader, as always. Also, my friends, dsbn
and others coming soon. As usual, the thanks to IceFrog, the Forum
Staff, the beta testers and other previous developers, will be given.

Dagguh - for noting that Flesh Heap keeps track of kills at the moment Pudge is picked.

▲Top

XIII. CHANGELOG

• November 15, 2010 - Started the guide. Finished the guide.
  
• November 16, 2010 - Guide published. WTF. Reworked Skill Build and General Strategy, added more info about Flesh Heap. Thanks Dagguh for the correction.
  
• November 17, 2010 - Added more info about Meat Hook.
  
• November 21, 2010 - Added a work-in-progress section called Counters.
  
• November 23, 2010 - Added a replay.
  
• November 25, 2010 - Added a brag screenshot and two replays.
  
• November 27, 2010 - Added more info about Meat Hook and Rot. Finished the Counters section.
  
• December 13, 2010 - Added N'aix to the Counters section. Added more info about Treads, moved some items around, etc.
  
• December 18, 2010 - Added a banner I made for the guide.
  
• December 25, 2010 - Updated to 6.70, Merry Christmas!
  
• January 6, 2011 - Added a replay from 6.70c just to update. Removed some old replays.
  
• January 10, 2011 - Removed a few replays due to lack of quality.
  
• January 15, 2011 - Created an entirely new section for Meat
  Hook under General Strategy in preparation for screenshots soon. Removed
  Meat Hook Start skill build.
  
• April 15, 2011 - Just made a few typo check-ups. I thought
  I'd just rather make a video to show you the Hooks for the Meat Hook
  section instead of screenshots, but that'll be a while. Thanks for the
  comments. Put up a DotA video.
  
• May 1, 2011 - Updated fully to 6.72.
  
• May 5, 2011 - Updated fully to 6.72b.
  

ty man <3 thats is the full topic Or full guides

Whats the point?

what u mean mr.code

I can read this at play dota, What difference does it make? try to make guides yourself.

Yes thats right there is more than 100 hero out there we must have the dota gamers full guides