Pudge/Counters

Bad against...

 * Abaddon can activate to dispel Dismember; breaking the disable and potentially allowing Abaddon to escape.
 * can be cast on an ally to dispel the stun of Dismember, which can make kills difficult to secure, given that Dismember is Pudge's only reliable disable.
 * Pudge lacks a mobility without a, causing him to be easily chased with . The silence also prevents him from toggling off his Rot.


 * If Meat Hook is used before, Anti-Mage may be able to escape Pudge's grasp by blinking to safety.
 * grants Anti-Mage a large degree of magic resistance, a damage type Pudge is highly reliant on to secure kills. This makes Anti-Mage a bad target for Pudge. The active can also block Dismember if timed correctly.
 * can quickly drain Pudge's low supply of mana, which may render Meat Hook and Dismember unusable.


 * Pudge is particularly susceptible to Bristleback's and  due to his naturally low armor and poor agility gain.
 * Bristleback, in combination with his strength gain, high health, common itemization for magic resistance and damage reduction from makes him a poor target for Pudge.


 * can easily keep vision on Pudge, making it very hard for him to hook Bounty Hunter or his teammates from the fog of war.
 * cancels Dismember from great range.


 * Unlike any other illusion heroes, Chaos Knight is the worst target for Pudge to hook as it will definitely backfire him.
 * are significantly tankier than most illusion and deal full damage, which will quickly kill Pudge due to his low armor.
 * it becomes worse if pudge is affected with, which reduces his already abysmal base armor even lower.
 * Low movement speed and low mobility means Pudge will struggle to escape or outrun Chaos Knight in most cases.


 * disables the toggling of Rot and, if cast at the right time, may leave Pudge with a potentially lethal health drain.
 * Doom's naturally high health, strength gain and damage output makes him a poor target for Pudge.
 * The damage of Doom's scales with the target's maximum health, which is particularly effective against Pudge due to his naturally high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.


 * Legion Commander can use on an ally to dispel Dismember. The bonus health regeneration also partially counters the damage of Rot
 * can be used on Pudge whilst Rot is active, disabling toggling which may result in a lethal health drain that leaves Legion Commander with a successful duel.


 * The lifesteal of scales accordingly to the max health of its target, which is effective against Pudge due to his high health and further health granted by stacks of Flesh Heap.
 * Lifestealer can activate to be spell immune, making Rot deal no damage.
 * Pudge's plentiful health makes him an ideal target for Lifestealer's ability,.


 * If Meat Hook is used before, Mirana may be able to escape Pudge's grasp by leaping to safety.
 * The invisibility from gives a degree of mobility, which can make Mirana or her teammates difficult targets to hook.
 * can be used to cancel Dismember from long distances.


 * is effective against high health heroes, and Pudge is no exception. Coupled with his self-damage from Rot, being around Necrophos could prove risky for Pudge.
 * Regardless of how much health Pudge gains through Flesh Heap, will often kill Pudge should his health fall below 40%, making Necrophos an ideal counter versus Pudge.


 * 's mini-stun and silence from will stop Pudge from using Dismember or turning off his Rot.
 * Night Stalker has naturally high health, strength gain and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance, making Night Stalker a poor target for Pudge.


 * drains Pudge's little mana which may render Meat Hook and Dismember unusable.
 * and can be used to cancel Dismember easily, and can even do so when Pudge uses it on Nyx Assassin, if timed correctly.


 * deals more damage the less max mana the heroes hit by it have, making Pudge an ideal target.
 * Outworld Destroyer can save allies or himself caught by Dismember or Meat Hook with.


 * reveals Pudge's location, making it hard for him to use Meat Hook from the fog of war on Slardar's teammates or Slardar himself.
 * interrupts Pudge while he is using Dismember.
 * allows Slardar to avoid Meat Hook.


 * dispels Dismember if timed correctly.
 * allows Slark to escape Pudge's Rot once Dismember is over, and allows him to dodge hooks.
 * hides Slark and grants him a high degree of mobility, which can make him a difficult target to hook and also protects him from Pudge's Dismember (including allies with an ).


 * can dispel Dismember after reaching a certain threshold of damage.
 * Tidehunter's naturally high health, strength gain, and common itemization for survivability through magic resistance makes Tidehunter a poor target.


 * The percentage-based primary-attribute reduction effect of can be devastating for Pudge due to his high strength gain through Flesh Heap.
 * 's health regeneration and common itemization for magic resistance and durability makes Timbersaw a poor target for Pudge.
 * 's high mobility makes it difficult for Pudge to hook or deal much Rot damage to Timbersaw.


 * grants Weaver invisibility and a high degree of mobility for a short time, which can make him a difficult target to hook.
 * beetles are difficult for Pudge to remove, due to his low base attack time and poor agility. Additionally, it can be used to can scout out Pudge's location.
 * Should an ally get snagged by Meat Hook, Weaver can use upgraded  on them to send them back to where they were before hooked, even if Pudge has already started to Dismember them.

Others

 * Generally heroes with high damage instances, like, , and , as they can practically ignore Flesh Heap's damage block.
 * Pudge is strong versus heroes with low health, being able to kill them with a combo. On the other hand, tanky heroes are strong versus Pudge because they can survive Dismember and turn the fight around.
 * Heroes with disables such as, , ,, and many more cancel Pudge's Dismember before he has a.
 * Heroes with many summons or illusions are much harder to catch with Meat Hook:, ,.
 * Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook:, , ,.
 * Anti-Tank heroes like:, ,.
 * Meat Hook can prove annoying for Pudge if Rubick s it, allowing Rubick to easily hook and save his allies being Dismembered.
 * Any heroes that naturally buy like  or have a mana break talent is a big issue for Pudge because of his low mana pool.
 * A well-timed silence like, , , , against Pudge makes him unable to turn off Rot, which will drain his health.

Items

 * and will block Dismember.
 * can be used to escape Pudge's Meat Hook, or escape from Pudge's Rot slow.
 * makes Meat Hook much harder to land because of the illusions and invulnerability duration.
 * will deplete Pudge's low mana pool.
 * and / makes Meat Hook difficult to land because of their invisibility duration.
 * can be used to cancel Pudge's Dismember, allowing your ally to walk away. It can also be used to dodge hooks by using it on yourself.
 * is not the best choice, but can be useful to quickly dodge a hook.

Good against...

 * Meat Hook can cancel, even if Crystal Maiden has.
 * She is also slow and fragile, making her a good target for ganking.


 * Meat Hook can pull Drow Ranger to Pudge, disabling her.
 * Following up with Dismember will prevent Drow Ranger from using or.


 * If Phantom Assassin jumps on Pudge first with, she will be a very easy target for Pudge's and  combo.
 * Even though it can deal damage based on Pudge's max health, from  cannot disable Pudge's  as  is one of the few passive abilities that cannot be disabled by break.
 * Both and  ignore spell immunity which allows Pudge to disable Phantom Assassin even while she has  active.
 * Pudge occassionally buys armor items like, which in combination with many stacks from can make Phantom Assassin have little effect against Pudge.


 * Sniper has a low health pool and strength gain, making him vulnerable to Pudge's magical and pure damage.
 * Sniper usually likes to deal damage away from the fight, and Meat Hook is capable of bringing him to the front lines.
 * won't do much damage against Pudge because of his high strength gain and the strength bonuses from Flesh Heap.
 * will be mostly blocked by Flesh Heap's active.


 * Pudge's Dismember stops Spectre from escaping with.
 * He can easily tank the damage reflected by due to his high strength and the healing from Dismember.
 * Should Spectre try to get away through the trees or over a cliff with, Pudge can hook her back.
 * Spectre takes a long time to become powerful, and Pudge can ruin her early game with ganks.


 * Meat Hook can be used to pull Tinker to Pudge while he is hiding in the trees, and a follow up with Dismember and Rot can lead to a valuable kill, as Tinker doesn't buy many survivability items.
 * Flesh Heap makes it hard for Tinker to deal serious damage.


 * Zeus likes to stay far back in fights, dealing his damage uninterrupted, but once he gets hooked into the fight, he usually dies very quickly.
 * Pudge's high strength from Flesh Heap makes it very hard for Zeus to burst him down.
 * Zeus' low health pool makes him very vulnerable to the damage from Meat Hook, Rot and Dismember.

Others

 * Abilities that deal low damage with high amounts of instances are irrelevant against Pudge during Flesh Heap's active: 's and 's  are just a couple examples.
 * Heroes that have a channeled ability that can be interrupted by Meat Hook:, , ,.
 * Heroes who build a Black King Bar (or have any sources of spell immunity) to channel abilities/items can still get interrupted by Dismember:, , , ,.
 * Heroes who recklessly jump on Pudge with their gap-closing abilities will be easy targets for Pudge's Meat Hook and Dismember Combo:, , etc.
 * Heroes's damage that depend on magical nukes is nullified by Pudge's huge health pool from Flesh Heap, which makes their abilities less effective against him from mid to late game.

Works well with...

 * can dispel any debuffs that nullify Pudge's damage output with Rot, like slows and roots. It also makes using Meat Hook much easier for Pudge.
 * prevents all Rot damage dealt to Pudge, allowing him to use it way more often. Furthermore, the only downside to Fate's Edict is that it disarms Pudge, which is of little importance to him because of his low attack speed and is of no importance to him while he is channeling Dismember.
 * and Fate's Edict can heal Pudge, allowing him to use Rot to farm more efficiently.
 * synergizes well with Dismember's heal, as it doubles the heal amount. Additionally, with Pudge's upgraded, Dismember can be used to heal an ally, which means if Pudge uses Dismember on an ally affected by False Promise, the ally will heal ten percent of their max health a second.


 * Pudge can force an enemy into by depositioning them with Meat Hook, dealing tons of damage.


 * Pugna can use on an enemy, causing them to take extra damage from Rot and Dismember.
 * The control provided by Rot plus Dismember combo gives Pugna an easier time with casting and  the victim
 * Later into the game, Pugna can replenish Pudge's mana pool with Life Drain, provided Pudge's HP is at 100%


 * can set up a hook, if timed correctly.


 * Lifestealer can remain hidden inside Pudge using, and can burst out when Pudge successfully hooks an enemy. He can then continue to do damage while Pudge disables his enemy using Dismember.


 * Tiny and Pudge can make quite a deadly duo with Tiny able to use to engage by tossing Pudge onto an enemy or toss a enemy onto Pudge so he can get a Dismember off.
 * If you really want to get tactical with and Meat Hook, you can toss Pudge into a spot where he can get a good hook on a enemy or save a ally.


 * Crystal Maiden can combine her 's slow with Rot's slow to deliver high amounts of damage to the slowed target.
 * Crystal Maiden can use to make easy hooks for Pudge.
 * fulfills Pudge's mana needs.
 * Dismember can be combined with to kill most heroes early in the game or to prevent a hero from disabling Crystal Maiden while she channels.


 * Bloodseeker can use to discourage enemies from moving, allowing Pudge to land Meat Hook easily. Additionally, Rupture will deal serious damage to a enemy being dragged by Meat Hook.


 * Meat Hook makes a great setup for, as a enemy snagged by it pulls them to Purification's small area. The heal also ensures that Pudge can restore his health after Rot.
 * Because Dismember's damage is based off of Pudge's strength, 's bonus strength with make Dismember do significantly more damage.
 * The bonus regeneration from Heavenly Grace allows Pudge to heal up damage taken from Rot.
 * The strong dispel protects Pudge against disables that allow enemies to escape from Meat Hook, Rot, or Dismember, or stop Pudge from saving himself with his abilities.

Others

 * Generally any hero with a slow, root, hex, or stun like or  makes easy hooks for Pudge
 * 's synergizes well with Rot and Dismember.

List of heroes that counter Pudge, and list of heroes that work well with Pudge.

Pudge/Противостоящие