Pudge, the Butcher, is a melee strength hero feared for his incredible ganking prowess and risky, yet potentially rewarding playstyle.
Pudge is potentially one of the strongest gankers and disablers in the entire game, with his combo of three active abilities proving more than sufficient to kill fragile enemy heroes in the early and mid-game. His signature ability, Meat Hook, is a grapple that is thrown out in a straight line; if it snags a target, it will drag them back to Pudge, dealing enormous damage to it if it was an enemy. Although it can be difficult to land and often requires a good read on the enemy's movements, it is a very powerful ganking and initiation spell due to its ability to displace enemies, and also has the utility of being able to save an endangered ally. He can then follow up with his ultimate, Dismember, a channeled disable that deals further damage to the target over a few seconds and increases in lethality the more strength Pudge has, while also healing Pudge for its duration. During this period, he can activate Rot to deal even more damage while he is consuming his foe, and use it to slow and finish them off if they survive the initial assault. Rot is also a very potent ability even from the start of the game, as it can slow an enemy to a crawl and be used indefinitely as long as Pudge keeps pace with the enemy, making Pudge a strong roamer. To supplement his killing power is Flesh Heap, which provides him some magic resistance to reduce the damage he takes from Rot as well as from other enemy spells. The scariest aspect of Flesh Heap though, is that it provides him with a permanent strength bonus with every kill that he participates in, making him harder to kill and increasing the damage of Dismember as the game goes on. A skilled Pudge player is feared by many, as he can quickly snowball out of control, cripple the enemy team, and become an unstoppable behemoth of rotting flesh.
