Pudge counter and synergy picks

Nightmare and Fiend's Grip are amazing at setting up a guaranteed Meat Hook into Dismember, for almost guaranteed kills. This interaction alone is more than enough to justify their strong synergy due to Meat Hook's Pure Damage and repositioning properties.

Meat Hook can trigger Rupture damage as it drags its target. Dismember can be used to lockdown opponents and set up Blood Rite. Thirst can provide vision of low health targets for Pudge to snipe with Meat Hook, while in return Pudge can pick up and Aghanim's Scepter, allowing him to wear down multiple opponents with Rot and empower Bloodseeker with it.

Crystal Maiden's lockdown and slow through Frostbite and Crystal Nova helps set up Pudge's Meat Hook on enemy heroes and lets him run them down during Rot. The control spells from Crystal Maiden also lets Pudge close the gap and start with Dismember to have more flexibility with Meat Hook usage. The Arcane Aura mana regeneration also helps Pudge immensely while fighting and farming.

Dark Willow's lockdown through Bramble Maze and Cursed Crown helps set up Pudge's Meat Hook on enemy heroes and lets him run them down during Rot. The control spells from Dark Willow also lets Pudge close the gap and start with Dismember to have more flexibility with Meat Hook usage. Dark Willow's burst damage through Bedlam also helps pick off enemy heroes while they are Dismembered by Pudge.

Pudge makes great use of Grimstroke's Ink Swell to run in with Rot with the movement speed boost and stun enemy heroes around him. This lets him follow up with his Dismember and Meat Hook to finish off kills together with Grimstroke's damage spells. Grimstroke's Soulbind also keeps a couple of enemy heroes leashed together for Pudge to run in and Dismemeber them both at the same time.

Pudge can proc Cold Snap on an enemy hero frequently with his Rot while keeping them in place for Invoker to land the rest of his spell combo. Dismember is also a decent setup for global Sun Strike kills. Pudge's right click damage and burst potential with the Rotten Core facet also gets a significant boost with the Alacrity buff.

Pudge makes great use of Lich's Frost Shield to run in with Rot and run down enemy heroes with the movement speed slow from both spells. The damage reduction also keeps Pudge healthy while he runs into fights. Sinister Gaze is also a decent setup for Pudge's Meat Hook and Dismember combo. Lich's burst damage through his spells also helps finish off enemy heroes Dismembered by Pudge.

Lina's Light Strike Array lockdown acts as a decent setup for Pudge's Meat Hook into Dismember combo. Pudge also acts as a meat shield for a squishy Lina throughout the game to let her freely dish out her massive damage through spells and right clicks. This damage from Lina helps instantly pick off an enemy hero Dismembered by Pudge.

Ogre Magi's lockdown and slow through Fireblast and Ignite helps set up Pudge's Meat Hook on enemy heroes and lets him run them down during Rot. The control spells from Ogre Magi also lets Pudge close the gap and start with Dismember to have more flexibility with Meat Hook usage. Pudge also makes great use of the attack speed and movement speed buffs from Bloodlust to do massive right click damage with his Rotten Core facet.

Omniknight's Repel lets Pudge run down enemy heroes without fear during Rot and right click them down. The HP regeneration through Repel also mitigates some of the self damage from Rot, while the debuff immunity and strength gain boosts the damage of Dismember and ensures there's no cancelation on its channel. Omniknight's Purification also works well both defensively and offensively on Pudge while he stands next to enemy heroes.

Oracle provides Pudge with sustain and damage mitigation in order to maximize the uptime of Rot. Fortune's End provides Pudge with a low cooldown basic dispel that can both set up Meat Hook with it's root or be used as follow-up to it and Dismember. Fate's Edict prevents Pudge from taking damage from Rot. If all else fails, Oracle has a last resort safety button in False Promise to further prolong Pudge's life in a fight so he can keep that Rot going.

Astral Imprisonment is amazing at setting up Meat Hook on both friends and foes. This interaction alone is more than enough to justify their strong synergy due to Meat Hook's Pure Damage and repositioning properties. Dismember can lock targets down for OD to quickly dispatch of with his abudnance of Pure damage from Arcane Orb.

Pudge and Techies' kits complement each other greatly. Meat Hook can pull opponents into Proximity Mines. Proximity mines reduce Magic Resistance, amplifying the damage of Rot and Dismember. Dismember can lock opponents down so Techies can get of a full Stick Bomb+Blat Off!+ 3 Proximity Mines combo. Sticky bomb slows and provides vision, making it easier for Meat Hook to connect.

TIny's Toss is a great initiation tool to throw a tanky Pudge on top of enemy heroes, which lets him immediately Dismember and run them down with Rot. Tiny's burst damage through his spell combo and right clicks also instantly picks off an enemy hero Hooked and Dismembered by Pudge.

Aghanim's Scepter and Shiva's Guard are staple items for Pudge and reduce Chemical Rage's healing, which is Alch's main defensive tool. Pudge is able to provide a strong permament slow on Alch preventing him from both attacking and retreating and has a reliable lockdown with Dismember.

Pudge gets easy Meat Hooks on a squishy and immobile Arc Warden when he stands inside his Magnetic Field to throw his spells and right clicks. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish him off as he has no natural ability to get away from Pudge. Pudge also takes very little damage from the Flux damage over time with his Meat Shield active.

Pudge's natural large HP pool and slow attack speed make him a poor target for for Berserker's Call in terms of bursting him. Additionally, he can hook Axe or any of his allies caught by Berserker's Call to disrupt his Combo.

Pudge finds easy Meat Hooks on a squishy and immobile Bane when he channels Fiend's Grip on anyone other than Pudge. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish him off if he doesn't have Nightmare available. Pudge can also Hook an ally caught by Nightmare or Fiend's Grip to bring them to a safer spot.

Pudge gets easy Meat Hooks on a squishy and immobile Crystal Maiden when she casts Freezing Field and stands in place, which interrupts her ultimate and gets her in a compromised position next to Pudge. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish her off if Frostbite is on cooldown. The Meat Shield active also reduces a lot of Frostbite's damage over time.

Pudge gets easy Meat Hooks on a squishy and immobile Drow Ranger when she casts Multishot or tries to stand and throw right clicks. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish her off if she doesn't have Gust or Hurricane Pike available. Drow Ranger's ultimate also doesn't proc when she gets Hooked next to Pudge.

Pudge counters Faceless Void's Chronosphere lockdown by Hooking one of his allies caught inside the AoE of the spell. This makes Faceless Void unable to cast his ultimate on a single hero for pickoffs as long as Pudge is around, or makes it necessary for him to catch and kill Pudge inside every Chronosphere. Pudge can also Meat Hook Faceless Void to get him outside of Chronosphere and prevent him from killing his targets.

All of Jakiro's damage over time abilities do very little damage to Pudge because of the Meat Shield active, effectively nullifying his entire damage. Pudge also gets easy hooks on Jakiro as he finds it difficult to dodge the spell because of his immobility. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish him off as he has no natural ability to get away from Pudge.

Pudge gets easy Meat Hooks on a squishy and immobile Nature's Prophet when he hides himself inside Sprout, or tries to stand and throw right clicks. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish him off as he has no natural ability to get away from Pudge. Pudge can also Hook and instantly kill the stronger Treant summoned by Nature's Prophet with his Ironwood Treant facet, taking away a lot of his damage.

Pudge finds easy Meat Hooks on a squishy and immobile Pugna when he stands and channels Life Drain, interrupting his ultimate and bringing him next to Pudge. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish him off as Decrepify does nothing to help and only magnifies the damage taken by Pugna from Rot. Pugna's Life Drain also does very little damage to Pudge because of the Meat Shield active.

Pudge finds easy Meat Hooks on a squishy and immobile Shadow Shaman when he stands and channels Shackles, interrupting his spell and bringing him next to Pudge. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish him off as Hex does not stop Rot from slowing him down and doing damage. Pudge can also Hook and save an ally caught by Shadow Shaman's control spells.

Pudge gets easy Meat Hooks on a squishy and immobile Sniper when he casts Assassinate or tries to stand and throw right clicks. The movement speed slow during the Take Aim active also prevents Sniper from dodging Meat Hook. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish him off if he doesn't have Hurricane Pike or Concussive Grenade available with his Aghanim's Shard.

A core Pudge can decimate a Spectre both in lane and in game. In lane, his base damage is about 50% higher than Spectre's, making last hitting difficult. Due to Rot + Aghanim's Scepter being enough damage for Pudge that leaves him the rest of his inventory slots for sustain and tank items. Often Spectre finds herself rundown by Pudge.

Pudge gets easy Meat Hooks on a squishy and immobile Tinker when he stands and channels Rearm or TP away with Keen Conveyance. Meat Hook also helps Pudge find Tinker while he hides in tree lines to cast March of the Machines. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish him off as Laser does nothing to stop the Rot damage and slow. The Meat Shield active also prevents most of the March of the Machines damage.

Pudge gets easy Meat Hooks on anyone Cold Embraced in place by Winter Wyvern. Winter Wyvern also finds it difficult to dodge Meat Hook because of her low movement speed. A follow up Dismember and the run down during Rot lets Pudge finish her off as Winter's Curse has low duration on a single target. Pudge can also Hook away an ally caught by Winter's Curse to bring them to a safer spot, and also doesn't get bursted down easily during Winter's Curse.

Aphotic Shield is a low cooldown ability that can outright dispel Dismember and when combined with Mist Coil, Pudge finds himself struggling to output enough damage to get through all the sustain. Withering Mist provides additional healing mitigation, which is one of core Pudge's main strengths he plays for. Borrowed Time can be used during Dismember to dispel it.

Counterspell can block and reflect Dismember, while providing significant Magic Resistance that mitigates a lot of Pudge's damage from Rot and Dismember. Blink's mobility makes it hard for Pudge to keep up with Anti Mage, or lock him down and stay on top of him when combined with Counterspell.

Meat Hook is Pudge's signature and arguably most impactful ability. Call of the Wild Boar makes it hard for Pudge to land a Meat Hook on Beastmaster or any of his allies, while Call of the Wild Hawk summons hovering in a circle around Beastmaster makes it a complete Hail Marry play whether the Meat Hook would connect or not. Primal Roar interrupts Dismember.

Bristleback's dominant physical damage and armor reduction through his spells and right clicks makes short work of a low armor Pudge. Bristleback cares little about getting Hooked by Pudge, and actually wants to get Hooked to immediately be in the middle of fights and burst down Pudge with his Quill Spray and right clicks. Pudge's spell combo also doesn't threaten Bristleback because of his tankiness.

Chaos Knight and his Phantasm illusions easily burst down a low armor Pudge with their dominant physical damage during the armor reduction from Reality Rift. Pudge also has a difficult time Hooking his target among the Chaos Knight illusions, and his AoE Rot damage isn't enough to immediately find the real hero. Pudge's spell combo also doesn't threaten Chaos Knight because of his tankiness and lifesteal through Chaos Strike procs.

Clockwerk's long range stun through Hook Shot lets him interrupt Pudge's Dismember channel on his target. Clockwerk also isn't threatened by Pudge's Meat Hook into Dismember as he can activate Battery Assault when next to him to interrupt his ultimate easily. Pudge also has a hard time running down Clockwerk with Rot as Power Cogs can easily push him away.

Legion Commander's Press the Attack is a strong dispel that stops Pudge's Dismember channel when she presses her spell on the Dismember target. Legion Commander's dominant physical damage also makes short work of a low armor Pudge, and gives her easy Duel wins to accumulate damage throughout the game.

Feast scales with Flesh Heap - you know it's a bad matchup when your own scaling powers up your opponent as well. Rage is amazing against Pudge as the debuff immunity avoids the slow from Rot, while the magic resistance reduces the damage from Dismember and Rot. Between Open Wounds and Feast, Pudge struggles to output enough damage to get trough Lifestealer's sustain alone. Even Infest can be used as a save by instantly healing a Dismembered ally.

Lina's burst damage spells take down Pudge in fights as his damage block from Meat Shield does him little help to reduce the damage. The Light Strike Array stun also stops the Dismember channel to prevent Pudge from locking down and killing anyone.

Lone Druid and his Spirit Bear dish out a ton of physical damage to make short work of a low armor Pudge, who struggles to get away from the Spirit Bear because of the Entangle root. Lone Druid also becomes extremely tanky during True Form, and the hero as well as his Spirit Bear are not threatened by Pudge's Meat Hook into Dismember combo. Savage Roar from either Lone Druid or his Spirit Bear can also disrupt the Dismember channel.

Pudge's Meat Shield does little to negate the massive burst damage done by Monkey King's Boundless Strike and Primal Spring. Monkey King also gets to build up Jingu Mastery stacks easily by attacking an immobile Pudge and burst him down because of his low armor. Boundless Strike also lets Monkey King stop the Dismember channel.

Necrophos' Heartstopper Aura reduces the max HP of heroes around him, which works incredibly well against a high HP Pudge and his Flesh Heap strength gain. Pudge also does self damage with Rot and relies on his high HP pool to run down heroes, but Necrophos threatens to kill Pudge with Reaper's Scythe whenever he falls below half HP, making it extremely difficult for Pudge to get aggressive in fights.

Pudge's Meat Shield does little to reduce Outworld Destroyer's massive damage through his spells and Arcane Orb right clicks. Pudge's low mana pool also lets Outworld Destroyer threaten him with Sanity's Eclipse after just one Astral Imprisonment usage. Astral Imprisonment on Pudge or his Dismember target also interrupts the ultimate, as long as Outworld Destroyer isn't stunned himself by the spell.

Slardar's dominant physical damage and armor reduction through his spells and right clicks makes short work of a low armor Pudge. Slardar's lockdown through Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep interrupts the Dismember channel, as long as Slardar isn't stunned by the spell himself. Slardar's high movement speed through Guardian Sprint also lets him dodge Meat Hook, as well as distance himself from Pudge and his Rot damage.

Pudge's high HP pool and Flesh Heap strength gain works against him as it only gives Slark a bigger HP pool to right click and build up Essence Shift stacks throughout the game. Slark's mobility through Pounce lets him dodge Meat Hook as well as get away from Pudge and his Rot damage. Slark can also easily dispel Dismember off himself with a timely Dark Pact, and is never threatened by Pudge as long as Shadow Dance is off cooldown. The Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard also stops the Dismember channel on an ally.

Tidehunter is never threatened by Pudge's Meat Hook into Dismember combo because of his high HP pool, and Kraken Shell always dispels Dismember if Pudge's damage exceeds the threshold of the spell. Tidehunter also cares little about getting Hooked, and actually wants it to happen when Ravage is off cooldown, as it brings him right in the middle of the enemy team to stun all of them. Ravage also interrupts the Dismember channel.

Timbersaw's burst damage through his spells makes short work of Pudge, as his Meat Shield does little to reduce the damage coming towards him. Timbersaw's Whirling Death connection on Pudge also reduces his strength, turning his Flesh Heap stacks against him and making him much less tanky. Timbersaw's mobility through Timber Chain also lets him avoid Meat Hook, and his high HP pool means Pudge never threatens him with his spell combo.

Undying's Tombstone is a massive counter to Meat Hook as it spawns zombies on top of Pudge and his team, which compels him to right click and kill the zombies if he wants to Hook anyone in fights. Undying also steals strength through Decay, making himself extremely tanky while rendering Pudge's Flesh heap stacks completely useless. This leads to Undying never feeling threatened by Pudge's Meat Hook into Dismember combo.

Fury Swipes makes it so that no itemization would ever make Pudge unkillable. Earthshock is effective at dodging Meat Hook as well as staying on top of Pudge. Enrage gives Ursa an abundance of damage reduction to mitigate even Meat Hook's pure damage, as well as status resistance to reduce Dismember's duration. Aghanim's Scepter can further upgrade Enrage allowing Ursa to use it during Dismember and dispel it.

Weaver's high mobility through Shukuchi makes it extremely difficult for Pudge to ever land a Meat Hook on him, while Rot does not slow Weaver at all during Shukuchi, meaning Pudge can never run him down with his spell. Weaver can also undo all the damage and get away with Time Lapse. Weaver's dominant physical damage and armor reduction through The Swarm beetles also makes short work of a low armor Pudge.

Wraith King's dominant physical and pure damage with his Spectral Blade facet makes short work of a low armor Pudge. If Wraith King has the Bone Guard facet, his skeletons make it extremely difficult for Pudge to land the Meat Hook on his target. Pudge's spell combo also doesn't threaten a tanky Wraith King, while the second life from Reincarnation means Wraith King doesn't have to worry about Dismember on both lives.