Pudge/Counters

Bad against...

 * Abaddon can activate to dispel Dismember; breaking the disable & potentially allowing Abaddon to escape.
 * can be cast on an ally to dispel the stun of Dismember, which can make kills difficult to secure as Pudge only has that as a hard disable.


 * 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 an unideal target for Pudge.
 * can quickly burn through Pudge's poor supply of mana; which may render Meat Hook & Dismember unusable.


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


 * 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 make 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 the disable of 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 damage of scales accordingly to the 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 completely negate magic damage, therefore rendering the damage of Rot & Dismember null.
 * Pudge's plentiful health makes him an ideal target for.


 * deals physical damage and reduces Pudge's already low armor.
 * can break Dismember after a certain amount of damage, making him a poor target.
 * If Tidehunter gets hit by Meat Hook, he can react to it with on Pudge's entire team.


 * The pure damage of Timbersaw's spells ignores Pudge's increased magic resistance, and the percentage-based effect of is effective against Pudge's high strength.


 * Weaver is one of the hardest heroes to catch with Meat Hook, because of.
 * can reduce Pudge's already low armor or can be used to scout to search for Pudge.
 * With good reaction, Weaver can use after he gets hooked by Pudge.

Others

 * 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 and even turn the fight around.
 * Pudge often doesn't rush, that makes him often vulnerable during Dismember against most of disables such as , , , , , , , , , , , , , and many more.
 * Heroes with many summons or illusions are much harder to catch with Meat Hook:, etc.
 * Any illusion hero that goes for is a big issue for Pudge because of his low mana pool.

Items

 * will make the bearer immune to Pudge's magical damage. Keep in mind that Dismember stun pierces spell immunity, but does not deal any damage.
 * is not the best choice, but can be good to escape the area faster than Meat hook can reach.
 * and will deny Dismember.
 * will be seen used by players to escape Pudge Meat Hook, or, in worse conditions, escape Pudge himself after Dismember. It is also a great alternative for due to increasing your mana, intelligence, and having a relatively cheaper price.
 * makes Meat Hook much harder to land because of illusions and invulnerability duration.
 * will wear down Pudge's low mana pool.

Good against...

 * Meat Hook can cancel, even if Crystal Maiden has.
 * Her already very low health makes her a lovely victim for ganking.


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


 * Pudge can easily survive Luna's and, and his Meat Hook and Dismember can pierce , making Luna one of the perfect victims for ganking.
 * However, can cancel Dismember, as Pudge often doesn't build Black King Bar, and if she is farmed enough, Luna might be able to fight back against Pudge.


 * Pudge's stunlock does not allow Spectre to escape with.
 * He can easily tank the damage reflected by due to his high health, magic resistance and heal from Dismember.
 * Should Spectre try to get away through the trees or over a cliff with, Pudge can hook her back.


 * Pudge is the perfect hero for tanking mines, as Flesh Heap grants him lots of health and magic resistance.
 * Techies' good highground defense can be bypassed by Pudge hooking his enemies to the lowground from a long distance.
 * Techies usually sit in the trees during the laning stage, setting up, but Meat Hook can pull them out.


 * Rot penetrates, so landing a Meat Hook on her and using Rot will deplete all absorb charges almost immediately.
 * Keep in mind Templar Assassin still has her Damage procs and can after you Dismember, so unless you have  or some form of detection, she can more than likely escape.


 * Zeus likes to stay far back in fights, dealing his damage uninterrupted, but once he gets hook into the fight, he usually dies very quickly.
 * Pudge's high health pool and magic resistance from Flesh Heap make 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.


 * Sniper has a poor Health pool and Strength gain. Pudge is one of the best counters against Sniper because of this.
 * An average Sniper player likes to stay in one, good position in a team fight. Pudge can with ease hook him out.
 * won't do much damage to Pudge because of Pudge's high magic resistance thanks to Flesh Heap.


 * Axe is very vulnerable to Disables and Pure damage. Pudge is the perfect hero for this as he's one of the best Disablers in the whole game.
 * Axe should be really careful when using against Pudge, because Pudge has a high health pool in the mid-late game, which may give Axe very low chances to kill The Butcher.
 * In the other hand, Pudge should be really careful hooking Axe. Axe can use his immediately when he gets hooked by Pudge, denying his Rot+Dismember Combo.


 * Pudge's high health pool will make him have possibilities of escaping.

Others

 * Pudge is really good against most magic nukers, as they are usually squishy and lack any form of escape mechanism. Flesh Heap also grants him bonus magic resistance making nukers less effective against him in the later stages of the game. Examples of heroes that Pudge can easily kill include:, , , , , , ,

Works well with...

 * Pudge can hook enemies into mines, which can guarantee a kill.


 * Pugna can use on an enemy, causing them to take extra damage from Rot and Dismember, since Decrepify increases magical damage by up to 60% at its max level.
 * The control provided by Rot + Dismember combo gives Pugna an easier time into casting and  on the hooked victim


 * Arc Warden can quickly build up a large amount of s for Pudge to stand in and hook players. Also, 's single target slow makes it easier for Pudge to hook enemies.


 * Pudge's mana pool is rather small, and his int gain is not great, so it does not take a lot of spells to completely deplete his mana pool. Having Outworld Devourer's is a huge help, as he can spam his spells more often without having to go to base every time.
 * Keep in mind the Essence Aura has a chance of triggering as it is pseudo-random, and you may just run out of mana at times.
 * can also 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 his ultimate.


 * 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 Pudge can get a Dismember off to keep them stunned long enough for the rest of the team or just Tiny to help secure the kill.
 * Another good reason is if you really want is to get a bit tactical with and Meat Hook by tossing pudge into a spot where he can get a good hook and maybe pull someone who is low to either their death or save them from certain doom.

Others

 * can use on his enemy, setting up an easy Meat Hook for Pudge.
 * can an enemy, giving Pudge enough time to hook during the lift duration.

Works poorly with...

 * is a bad ability to attempt to set up a Meat Hook as there's a good chance Pudge will end up hooking one of Shadow Demon's illusions.


 * when placed by a well meaning Ally, or offensively by an enemy the spawned Zombies make it very difficult to angle for, or attempt a clean shot at hooking a target for the duration of the spell.

Others

 * Any hero that can summon units or illusions needs to be aware of where they are relative to Pudge so that they do not block his Meat Hook attempt.
 * An ally using a can sometimes disrupt a Meat Hook.

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

Pudge/Противостоящие