Puck

Puck the Faerie Dragon is a highly mobile ranged intelligence hero best known for being an extremely unpredictable and slippery target. Puck is commonly played as an initiator and ganker, with spells that are equally useful for super-aggressive maneuvers as well as daring escapes. Expert use of Puck's abilities will let you appear out of nowhere, suddenly leave your enemies crippled and disadvantaged, and get away in the blink of an eye - but mess up your timing or misjudge the situation, and there is little left to save this fragile Hero from death.

Tips

 * Puck needs a solo lane in order to capitalize on its powerful abilities, and can easily play alone even against a dual lane because of Ethereal Jaunt and Illusory Orb.
 * Puck should generally go mid, as Puck is highly elusive in solo lanes and as such will keep the enemy's midgame carry/ganker busy longer; as well as the easy access to the sidelanes for ganking that mid grants. Puck also burns mana very quickly and as such will require a bottle and runes to sustain its lane.
 * When escaping from danger, always Phase Shift after you use Illusory Orb. This way, you can sit invulnerable and wait for the orb to travel before you slip away.
 * The Blink Dagger is the perfect item to get on Puck, as it helps with initiating and escaping in addition to the many escape methods that Puck has.
 * With a Level 4 Phase Shift and Blink Dagger, Puck can escape many dangerous situations with quick hands or queuing up spells. It is important to note, however, that Puck must still turn to cast abilities while phase shifted. Blinking out, for instance, can be very difficult if you wish to escape in the opposite direction, particularly if damage over time effects are active.
 * Puck's turn speed is among the lowest of all heroes.
 * Phase Shift can be used to avoid physical effects like Pudge's Hook.
 * An effective Puck player uses tricks and mind games on opponents. One such example is casting Illusory Orb, running in a different direction to where you cast it, then teleporting to it.
 * Mix Puck with a hero like Chen and you can use an Illusory Orb, then have Chen teleport you back to base to refill your bottle without leaving lane. Use Ethereal Jaunt to the orb before it disappears.
 * If you die while Illusory Orb is mid-air, you could buyback and use Ethereal Jaunt to the orb to enter the battle.
 * Should you have a Blink Dagger, the ideal initiation combo is to blink in a group of enemies, Waning Rift, Dream Coil, shoot an Illusory Orb through as many enemies as possible but in a safe direction, Phase Shift, then use Ethereal Jaunt to teleport to the Orb. The silence from Waning Rift is more than long enough to execute this combination.
 * Waning Rift is your most important skill in late-game, as its silence is a huge boon to your team.
 * Force Staff is an alternative for Blink Dagger. It has half the escape range, but is not subject to the 3 seconds penalty for being hit. It is harder to target than blink dagger, but it is more versatile, since it can be used on allies and enemies as well. It is 100 gold more expensive, have a higher cd and costs 25 mana per cast (instead of 0), but it provides +10 intelligence, and +3 HP regen. In addition, the Push effect can be used to force break your Dream Coil on an enemy hero to deliver more damage and stun, making all the more useful.
 * If you choose to purchase a Dagon and find yourself carrying, or your team already have enough initiation but are lacking in damage, purchasing an Ethereal Blade is a possible option, as it allows Puck to deal massive damage to an enemy carry with its multitude of spells and a Dagon, and prevents the targeted hero from autoattacking which may disable Blink Dagger. Take care to avoid magical damage while under the effects, as you suffer from the effects of Ethereal as well. This can be counteracted with good Phase Shift timing.

Trivia

 * Puck's alternate name was Kupu-Kupu, which means "moth" or "butterfly" in Malay language
 * Puck was introduced in v6.48 as result of a hero creation contest for the Warcraft III: Frozen Throne fairy dragon model held by the dota-allstars.com forums.
 * Puck pays homage to a character of the same name from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; aside from Puck's playful attitude, its line "A midsummer nightmare" is also an allusion to the play.
 * Since Puck pays homage to a Shakespeare character, its lines are all delivered in iambic pentameter.