Picture by Hawf
Pugna is undeniably one of many strongest and most annoying place 5 helps within the skilled scene proper now. He boasts a 70%+ win fee within the Main and is within the high three most contested heroes. Does it imply the hero will be as profitable in pubs, or is Pugna too coordination-reliant to work in a chaotic atmosphere?
This isn’t the primary time Pugna is performed as a assist, however it’s the first time it’s this ubiquitous. Beforehand, the explanation Pugna was thought-about as a non-core hero was as a result of he may all the time pull off pulls, since Decrepify didn’t enable the enemy to intrude with impartial creeps, one thing that may and may nonetheless be utilized. He additionally had respectable, if a bit expensive, heal and offered the group with some dependable push.
Present Pugna just isn’t about push, at the least not the way in which the hero was used within the Main. Assist Pugnas usually go 2-1-0-0 by stage three after which max out Nether Ward by stage eight. Generally Decrepify is skipped altogether: it’s a area of interest capability that doesn’t offer you a lot in some matchups.
The injury manipulation from Nether Ward, occasional saves with Decrepify and Life Drain heals make for a reasonably potent injury and save assist. The hero doesn’t have a lot crowd management and that’s his greatest weak spot, however with good positioning and good itemization, you may flip round fights in a really sudden method.
So how does one make Pugna work? The hero goes to be fairly farm starved, particularly in comparison with his core counterpart, so we’ve to make each gold piece depend.
Tranquil Boots might be the non-negotiable a part of this construct. You want this further regen to have the ability to maintain your personal heals. Pugna can be naturally quick and will be out of attain of the opponent for some time merely by having superior motion velocity.
Most professional gamers typically go for Glimmer Cape after. It’s now an iconic Dota 2 save merchandise and between Nether Ward aura and Glimmer Cape magic injury discount it may possibly make even the strongest nukes look irrelevant.
Some later, high quality of life purchases embody Aether Lens, as a result of there isn’t a such factor as an excessive amount of forged vary. You could possibly additionally doubtlessly go for Boots of Bearing improve, since Tranquils are constructed already and the Drum aura will be very helpful.
Lastly, going for Wraith Pact just isn’t one thing loads of professional gamers do, however one thing that would work very effectively in pubs. Pubs are naturally slower, so a fairly costly assist merchandise will be inside attain for a assist. Between Nether Ward, Glimmer Cape and Wraith Pact Totem, you will get a ridiculous quantity of harm mitigation, making your personal heals that stronger.
Bear in mind: heals scale extremely effectively with any supply of harm prevention, be it easy Armor and Magic Resistance, or some extra distinctive sources of harm manipulation.
With a 70%+ win fee within the Main it’d seem like Pugna is a surefire option to victory proper now, however whereas it’s positively a great, viable hero, he isn’t all-powerful. The shortage of any type of disable has been talked about already, however there are different weaknesses the hero has.
The second greatest one might be Decrepify. It’s a tremendous capability that may generally do extra hurt than good. The truth that it prevents any kind of auto-attack interplay with the goal generally is a deciding consider a struggle, but it surely positively works each methods. There’s nothing sadder than your teammate urgent Satanic simply as you try to save lots of him with Decrepify. Skilled Pugna gamers will typically get a really feel for it, however it should actually take time.
Pugna additionally does little or no as soon as the enemy will get BKBs. Nether Ward stops working, each the injury and injury mitigation elements of it. Nether Blast stops working. Decrepify turns into much less related and the one factor Pugna can do at this level is present heals by Life Drain.
It isn’t nothing, however loads of different standard helps within the present meta have a really simple and significantly simpler means of coping with a BKB: they stop its utilization with their crowd management skills. Pugna, as said beforehand, lacks on this division.
Lastly, Pugna will be extraordinarily squishy and his excessive motion velocity doesn’t work effectively towards enemies with pure hole closers. It’s a hero with a really low Agility acquire, considerably low Energy acquire and which means excessive susceptibility to bodily injury come midgame. Pugna can and can dies over the period of 1 stun, if he’s discovered. Maintain that in thoughts when making an attempt to play the hero.
