Skip to content
Dota 2
GuidesMetaBuildsTiersDraftNewsWeeklyHeroesItemsTalents
A full hero guideItems and skillsHeroes S to D
All games

Pugna · Soft Support (pos. 4)

Pugna for Beginners

BeginnersData-drivenEasyPatch 7.41
2.1KUpdated

More Pugna guides

This guide is assembled by the site from match data and the game's own information — nobody wrote it by hand. Official and community guides appear alongside it when they exist.

Overview

Pugna is a ranged Intelligence hero that Valve tags as Nuker and Pusher. It is played mainly as Soft Support (pos. 4): 42% of the public matches we measured, by starting lane and starting items. In this guide you play it as Soft Support (pos. 4): your job is to help your offlaner win the hard lane, rotate for kills and make space with your spells. Pugna is of average difficulty: learn the basics below and it rewards you quickly.

Strengths

  • Keeps allies alive with Decrepify.
  • Reliable disable: Decrepify sets up kills.
  • Long attack range (630) to harass and last hit safely.

Weaknesses

  • Low base armor (0): vulnerable to physical harass early on.
  • No escape in the kit: without good positioning and vision, Pugna is easy to catch.

Build cheat sheet

Pick the build that fits what you want to do this game.

Builds

Simple build

BalancedRecommended
Open build

When to use it

The most-bought items without the situational ones: buy them in this order and focus on playing the hero.

Where it's played

Picked before the game: the main lane first, then the alternatives.

Seen from RadiantRadiant · bottom leftDire · top right
  1. OfflaneMain43% of matchesOff lane next to your offlaner, as Soft Support (pos. 4).
  2. Safe lanePriority 237% of matchesSafe lane next to your carry, as Hard Support (pos. 5).
  3. MidPriority 320% of matchesMid lane, one against one (pos. 2).

Starting items

Iron BranchTangoObserver and Sentry WardsBlood GrenadeMagic Stick

Core items

  1. 1Glimmer CapeYour first big item.
  2. 2Aether LensSecond: buy it right after.
  3. 3Force StaffThird: completes your core.

Boots

Arcane Boots

Late game

Blink DaggerAeon Disk

Skill order

Max order:Nether Blast›Nether Ward›Decrepify

Ability1234567891011121314151617
●·●·●·●··········
·●·····●●●·······
···●·······●·●●··
·····●······●···●

Talents by level

  1. +1.9 Nether Ward Damage Per Mana
    +200 Nether Blast Damage
    25
  2. +1.5s Decrepify Duration
    +15% Life Drain Heal
    20
  3. +30% Decrepify Movement Speed To Allies
    +250 Health
    15
  4. -1s Nether Blast Cooldown
    +2 Nether Ward Health
    10

Abilities

  • Nether Blast5s100 / 115 / 130 / 145 mpAn exploding pulse deals damage to enemies and structures in the area. Deals 65% damage to structures.
    Blast delay
    0.8
    Radius
    400
    Blast damage
    95·170·245·320
  • Decrepify16 / 13 / 10 / 7s80 mpA powerful banishing spell that slows a unit and renders it unable to attack or be attacked. Healing on affected allies is increased, while afflicted enemies take extra magic damage instead.
    Ally heal amplification
    10%·15%·20%·25%
    Enemy increased magic damage
    -20%·-30%·-40%·-50%
    Enemy move slow
    -45%·-50%·-55%·-60%
    Duration
    3.5
    Basic ability — applies a disable and heals. Use it on the target your team can kill.
  • Nether Ward40s80 mpPugna places a Nether Ward at the target location. The ward will fire at any enemy hero who casts a spell dealing base damage plus the damage multiplier of the mana spent by the enemy hero.
    Ward attack range
    1400
    Base damage
    50·70·90·110
    Damage per mana
    1·1.2·1.4·1.6
    Damage to hp
    0%
    Damage to mana
    0%
    Attacks to destroy
    4
  • Oblivion SavantPassivePugna can cast spells and use items while channeling. Pugna receives 1.5% spell amplification per destroyed tower.
  • Life Drain7s115 / 160 / 205 mpCHANNELED - When cast on an enemy, Pugna drains health from the target enemy unit to heal himself and granting vision over the target. When cast on an ally, Pugna will drain his own health into his ally.
    Enemy drain per second
    150·250·350
    Ally drain/heal per second
    150·250·350
    Max duration
    10
    Ultimate — heals. Time it for the enemy's burst, not for chip damage.

Most played skill order

The most played order in the last 12 professional matches with this hero. Highlighted levels are the points spent on talents.

Max order:Nether Blast›Nether Ward›Decrepify

Ability1234567891011121314151617
●·●·●·●··········
·●·····●●●·······
···●·······●·●●··
·····●······●···●

Strategy

1What Pugna does

Pugna is a ranged Intelligence hero that Valve tags as Nuker and Pusher. It is played mainly as Soft Support (pos. 4): 42% of the public matches we measured, by starting lane and starting items. The kit brings crowd control (disable) with Decrepify and sustain with Decrepify. Its ultimate is Life Drain.

2The basics

In this guide you play it as Soft Support (pos. 4): your job is to help your offlaner win the hard lane, rotate for kills and make space with your spells.

  • Vision: a ward in the right place saves more lives than any spell.
  • Positioning: you are the easiest kill on the map, so stand where the enemy can't reach you first.

3Common mistakes

Most new players lose games with the same few mistakes. Avoid these and you'll already be ahead:

  • Taking last hits from your carry.
  • Placing wards during the fight instead of before it.
  • Standing in front of your cores in fights.

4Your first games

Position 4 starts in the off lane with your offlaner: harass the enemy carry, block or pull their camp when it helps and look for the first rotation to mid once the runes spawn. Use the simple build in this guide and don't worry about situational choices yet.

Tips

  • Vision: a ward in the right place saves more lives than any spell.
  • Positioning: you are the easiest kill on the map, so stand where the enemy can't reach you first.
  • Check the minimap every few seconds: most deaths come from heroes you didn't see coming.
  • Learn what Life Drain does before anything else: it's the ability that wins fights.

Changelog

  1. Guide created for patch 7.41.

Was this helpful?

Your vote helps other players find the best guides.