Puck counter picks: who to choose against this hero in Dota 2

Intelligence is power, which is proved by the flying Dota 2 hero – Puck the dragon. Thanks to intelligence, magic skills and his wings, the character moves easily, causes a lot of trouble to the enemy, and inflicts serious damage on him.

Strengths and weaknesses of Puck

According to the history of Dota 2, Puck is a child of a magical dragon who is alive for more than one hundred thousand years, but does not grow up in any way. Like all children, the dragon loves to play, so in battles it can hurt not only the enemy, but also the allies.

Thanks to his skills, Puck can be used as an initiator. Put him in ranged combat or in the central lane, move quickly and deal serious damage to opponents.

Puck’s abilities:

• Waning Rift. Magical dust which is released by the dragon forbids enemies to use their skills and at the same time deals damage.
• Illusory Orb. The character launches a magic orb that flies in a straight line and hits everything in its path. This orb can even transform into Puck. Additionally, the orb is used for reconnaissance.
• Phase Shift. To protect himself from enemies, Puck moves to another dimension.
• Ethereal Jaunt allows you to move instantly a distance to a specific target or to a flying magic orb.
• Dream Coil is a skill that delays the enemy for 6 seconds. If the enemy wants to move far from the center of the Dream Coil, he will be stunned and take damage.

Such abilities allow the dragon to easily beat enemies. But Puck also has weaknesses that Nyx Assassin breaks through without any problems. Disadvantages include below average agility, low base armor.

In the first phase of the game, Puck has low mana. He is afraid of Silence, Black King Bar. And also our hero takes a long time to recharge the Dream Coil skill.

Puck allies and game tactics

In a team game, Puck has allies to help overcome enemies. These can be: Witch Doctor, Lifestealer, Gyrocopter, Tiny, Sven and many others. For example, Lifestealer will take advantage of the general turmoil that Puck’s attack will create to show his might and take out more enemies.

The dragon is used in mid-lane. There he will effectively gank. The main thing in this interval is to buy Blink Dagger (instant movement around the map). It will help initiate fights and get away from them.

In the middle of the game, there can be massive brawls where Puck plays a key role. It is important to use several abilities at once: Blink Dagger, Dream Coil, Waning Rift.

If you have a good game for Puck you can buy Dagon and Ethereal Blade in the end in order to destroy single enemies with a blast.

Who is countered by Puck

The following opponents can be easily defeated by our hero:

• Phantom Lancer immediately becomes visible, with low health.
• Morphling is getting demoralized by the dragon’s surprise attacks.
• Naga Siren dies when caught and waits for rebirth.

In general, Puck is not afraid of enemies, unless they are silencers or disables.

Opposing characters and how to counter Puck

Despite the strengths of the character, there are those who can defeat him or cause significant damage. The main thing in the fight against the dragon is to buy artifacts with control.

Puck is countered by:

• Disruptor. This character uses the Static Storm ultimate, forbidding the use of artifacts and casting magic spells.
• Doom. This opponent is extremely dangerous, because he can prohibit the use of skills and items of our hero.
• Templar Assassin helps control the mid lane dragon.
• Nyx Assassin is a dangerous opponent who takes advantage of every weakness of our dragon. For example, an enemy can stun Puck, eat a lot of mana with the help of the Mana Burn skill.

In addition to these four dangerous enemies, you should beware of Lycan, Venomancer, Arc Warden.

To successfully counter this character, you need to know that while Illusory Orb is on cooldown, at the beginning of the game, the hero’s survivability is halved. He can also be lured out of his Phase Shift ability. This can be done with an auto-attack, Shadow Strike, or you can just wait while the Phase Shift skill is used for other purposes.

As you can see, Puck can be a great player with the right use of his skills and the purchase of additional abilities, such as Blink Dagger, Eul’s Scepter of Divinity or Scythe of Vyse. Understanding the mechanics of the game, this nimble, mobile hero will bring success to the team.