DotA 2 Guide - Puck! :3

Puck is easily one of my favourite heroes. He is mobile, has a wide range of role applicable from pure Support to Semi-Carry, and can be placed in almost any position from a strong solo mid to a roamer or a tri-lane support. I like to play with a bit of excitement, so while he doesn't have the boring damage of Sniper or Drow Ranger, Puck's combos, complexity and spontaneity always enthrall me.

This here would be my first guide - feel free to comment!

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Lore

While Puck seems at first glance a mischievous, childish character, this quality masks an alien personality. The juvenile form of a Faerie Dragon, a creature that lives for eons, Puck spends countless millennia in its childish form. So while it is technically true that Puck is juvenile, it will continue to be so when the cities of the present age have sloughed away into dust. Its motives are therefore inscrutable, and what appears to be play may in fact indicate a darker purpose or just its endless fondness for mischief.

Spells

A cute Swiss Army knife of DotA 2 spellcasters, spells are what make this Intelligence Hero a great friend and a fearsome enemy.

Illusory Orb

Shoots an orb that has flying movement and phase of 600 MS along a path of 1800 range. Has a 3000 cast range and a 225 damage radius. You can jump to the orb's current position during the time the orb is flying. Point target that affects enemies with magical damage.

Mana cost: 150 at all level
Damage: 70/140/210/280

Cooldown: 12 sec


* Things to remember!
- The orb has flying movement and phase, so can be shot through trees, rock cliffs and phased behind for some nasty initiates or cunning escapes.
- Playing Puck, you should get used to having a 3-second mental timer, as all of Puck's skill are around that time duration. The orb exists for 3 seconds, so keep that in mind should you decide to Jaunt to the orb, or if you want to synergise with Shift.
- IO has 3000 cast range, so try to be careful if you target in the fog of war to initiate - or worse, escape! Many times I used IO in the trees and wait the an orb that doesn't come in the screen to Jaunt to and died behind. Unlike most point target spells, IO has a greater cast range than effective range.

Waning Rift

Burst fairy dust that damages and silences enemies in an AOE around Puck. No target that affects enemies with magical damage.

Mana cost: 100/110/120/130
Damage: 70/140/210/280
Silence duration: 0.75/1.5/2.25/3.0 sec

Cooldown: 16 sec

* Things to remember!
- Rift actually have a really nice range, only that the animation doesn't reach the edge of the radius so it feels like it's short. Imagine about 3 lengths of a creep's sword arm, then that would be about the effective safe range to burst a pro edge Rift. (the dust does reach the edge if you zoom down, but it's not all that noticeable in furious team fights)
- While the end-game Rift is a 3-second silence with 280 damage(again, 3-second mental timer!), early on Rift's disable is not all that impressive. At least get a level 2 or 3 before feeling like a boss against nasty spell chains like Invoker, Leshrac or Lion.

Phase Shift

Shift away from all harm. Movement, spell and item usage will dispel the effect. No target, affects self.

Mana cost: ZERO OMG SO IMBA
Duration: 0.75/1.5/2.25/3.25 sec

Cooldown: 6 sec

* Things to remember!
- The time is 3.25, to help with the 3-second of all skills. Don't get overconfident that you can aim nicely though - the median reaction time of normal humans is 0.215 sec, so if you decides to wait till the end you have a 0.1 sec margin of error. And the mental 3-second clock is not all that accurate. Play safe (or daring, if you got used to the limits!)
- 3.25 seconds scales with the 3 second cooldown of the Blink Dagger, one of Puck's core. Shift-click the blink target location as you are in the Shift will almost certainly bring you away from harm. Try not to be too predictable on where you blink.
- 3.25 seconds is also ample time to Jaunt into an IO shot before you Shift. Same tip on predictability here. Combine this IO with the Blink in dire positions or high MMR matches - pros expect you to Jaunt away, so an IO and a Shift creates a mind game with 3 outcomes. Even a whole team would have trouble finding an experienced Puck. IO, Shift, then choose to Jaunt or Blink as you will. Think fast, you have only 3 seconds.
- You don't get assist gold or Urn charges if the kill(s) is made when you are in Shift.
- You still have collision size when you Shift.
- You can't cast this while entangled/ensnared!

Ethereal Jaunt

Mentioned heavily above, move yourself to an orb, disjoints and dodge skills and projectile attacks. No target, affects self.

Dream Coil

Puck's ultimate. Stuns enemies in the AOE for 0.5 seconds and deal initial damage, then deal the break stun and break damage if enemies get out of the bind AOE.

Mana cost: 100/150/200
Radius: 375
Coil range: 750
Coil duration: 6 (8*)
Initial stun: 0.5
Initial damage: 100/150/200
Break stun: 1.5/2.25/3
Break damage: 100/150/200 (200/250/300*)

Cooldown: 85 sec

*Things to remember!
- A pro can hold down many at once. While you may not be a pro, and pro enemies never clump in one place with a Puck around, try to get at least 2, or even 3, down. Prioritise high flight risk targets, like squishy carries.
- Blinking and TP-ing will still deal damage and stun, even though said person gets to where they intended. This can end fleeing enemies, or keep them in place enough for you to find where they are and kill them off.
- Some abilities with invulnerability frames like Morphling's Waveform, Raijin's Ball Lightning or Tusk's Snowball can escape Coil without repercussions.

Roles and positions

Due to the wide range of utilities that he possesses, Puck can be put in any place and holds his own, with the exception of the Jungler. However, there are two spots in which he excels:

- The Solo Laner: An AOE silence-nuke, a double stun ultimate, a gank/escape nuke and a last minute disappearance give Puck the kind of versatility found only in a skilled Invoker. While Puck has a below-average attack animation, his body movements are very clear in telling you which stage the attack is at, making him a perfect candidate for animation canceling training -> great physical harassment. Although some argue that the cast animation for the Illusory Orb is too long compared to most nukes, I find that the ease of cast canceling makes for a mind game that is worth the wait.

- The Lane Suppressor: Akin to Jakiro, Puck can dwell as a strong lane presence, even netting the carry a few kills early on with his nuke/movement+silence combo. The nuke can be leveled once as a mobile ability and the silence would be the focus, giving his lane an AOE silence and nuke of up to 3 seconds at level 7 - enough time to dispatch the more frail of heroes, and can give the hardlaner(s) of the other team a really bad time. The side lane gives all the items for the purchase of the Orchid Malevolence, which gives Puck more staying strength while giving him an extra lane disable and solid damage, as well as a good scale to team fights in late game.

Builds

This is builds that works for me. I understand that they is drastically different in item choices sometimes, but overall they should be quite similar to the norm. They works for me and it is my personal opinion.

Solo Laning:

1. Orb
2. Phase
3. Orb
4. Rift/Stat (if lane requires no spell suppression or there is no benefit- like Sniper, Windranger or Drow)
5. Orb
6. Coil
7. Orb
8. Rift
9. Phase
10. Rift
11. Coil
12. Rift
13. Phase
14. Phase/Rift (if you didn't get Rift earlier)
15. Stat
16. Coil

Explanation: Solo mids need to farm and farm as a Puck to be viable for more role choices later in the game, and to be a stronger lane presence and ganker. As a solo mid, chances are Puck won't get to safely land a Rift and secure a kill over the river. Puck can get a bit daring with a Shift, but tower-diving a second too long and even a single hit from a Tier 1 can feel very painful for the squishy Puck. It's better to max out Orb to increase mana/damage ratio for it, as the mana cost doesn't change.

Lane Suppression:

1. Orb
2. Phase
3. Rift
4. Rift
5. Rift
6. Coil
7. Rift
8. Orb
9. Orb
10. Orb
11. Coil
12. Phase
13. Phase
14. Phase
15. Stat
16. Coil

Explanation: Focusing on Rift gives a neat silence/nuke quickly. The Orb/Phase give so much mobility and choices early on so having them first is a must, but laning as a suppressor means that the need to max them out is far less than when you have little choice in gank set ups in solo lanes.

Items:

Early

Ditch the Mantle and the Circlet to get Bottle instead otherwise if solo. Your choice if you dual lane, as even a dual lane Puck might need a bottle if you want to be hyper aggressive.

Kind of later

Go for Phase or Arcane depends on what your team needs. Personally I prefer Phase. The better last hitting potential grows into quick items and more domination. Also, as a rule, always have a TP. Squishy Puck needs to be in team fights regularly due to his skill set, so a Wand can be perfect for the rushes.

Updrade choices

Choose one out of the first three, depends on how you want to be - full on support/survive, aggressive ganker, or pusher/ganker hybrid. Force Staff, however, can be easily admitted to almost any situation, like pushing a friend out of harm, pushing a friend in for a chase, or pushing a careless enemy into your mob. Remember to put double-click to self cast settings on for ease of PWNAGE...did I mention Force break Coil?

Core

Even the most versatile of heroes have a core. With Puck, it is just the Blink Dagger. While I usually go for Force Staff first, when I feel like trying hard, always go Dagger, always. OR just always do it try hard or not :D

Other choices

Use a combo of these depending on the situation, but most of the time pick one in mind and see if you need to save for buy back. Linken's if you think Shift is not enough for your life. Don't BKB, it's overkill.

Don't focus this unless you are crazy rich

While they are good, the above items are usually better. The Dream Coil extra damage doesn't account for that much and for the price other things could be better.

Even more advanced Puck tips!

1. Don't be a Hard Carry - because Puck is among the heroes with the slowest turn rate, and mediocre AS growth. This is the reason why I recommend against Power Tread, unlike many builds - it's better to get one good hit that many.
2. EBlade if you get Dagon 5 as a rule.
3. If you die, you can buy back and Jaunt in a still-flying IO!

Love allies like...

The AOE stuns, the initiate-twin-bros are the best of Puck's friends

Hate enemies like

Orb-walkers and insta-silence is the bane of Puck

I don't even...

This guy. Right here. Hate him.

Thanks for your time and tell me what you think!