Mischief and Merryment!

Hello guys, I am BuLba of Team Liquid. Follow me at @LiquidBuLba on twitter thanks!


Puck is a unique hero because of the nature of his spells. He is fragile but has insane spell damage in the form of his Orb, Silence (Waning rift), and Dream Coil. He is most likely seen as a mid solo hero or an offlane hero (Bottom on Dire and top on Radiant.)
Puck has one of the highest skill ceilings in the game because of his third spell : Phase Shift. This spell allows you to dodge the majority of spells or attacks in the game and lasts for increasing duration. This spell synergies well with Blink dagger.

Here are some tournament VoDs with amazing Puck Play.

Dendi plays puck in Game 2 of the International Group Stage versus Orange. He had some amazing phase shifts versus Hao's QoP ultimates and some clutch initiates.


Ferrari's puck decimates coL in the Ti2 Group Stages

Core items:


Situational Items:


Core item (late game):

Build #1-
1. Orb
2. Phase
3. Orb
4. Rift
5. Orb
6. Coil
7. Orb
8. Rift
9. Rift
10. Rift
11. Coil
12. Phase
13. Phase
14. Phase
15. Stats
16. Coil
17-25. Stats

Notes:
This build is the most popular competitive build for Puck. Fast leveling of Orb allows aoe nuke at a safe distance. Orb will be your main damage output.


Build #2-
1. Orb
2. Phase
3. Orb
4. Rift
5. Rift
6. coil
7. Rift
8. Rift
9. Orb
10. Orb
11. Coil
12. Shift
13. Shift
14. Shift
15. Stats
16. Coil
17-25. Stats

Notes:
This is a build I use ever since the new patch that varies slightly from the build before.
Take a look at the last few patches


Waning Rift has received huge buffs in both the duration of silence and the damage. Getting early levels in Rift earlier in the game increases your usefulness and disable against heroes that have escape such as Queen of Pain or Storm Spirit.

Starting Items-


Transitional items-


Core and Situational items-

Starting items-
These items give you the regen you need for the middle lane as well as a bit of extra gold to get your bottle on time. Use your tangos as much as possible with the harass on the enemy hero.

Transitional Items-
Bottle should be the first item you get so you can spam your Orb to get creeps and harass the enemy. Go for a boots and a Wand later on. Blink dagger is the best item on Puck and should be farmed right after your treads. Blink allows for you to initiate team fights and escape nasty situations. Force staff is another good transitional item since it gives you even more mobility. You can also force people out of your coil.

Core and Situational items-
Sheepstick is the best late game item on Puck. A sheep gives you an extra disable and is arguable the best item in the game. You can solo kill most heroes with a sheep stick. Dagon gives you extra burst damage with your three nukes. Only get it if you are doing really well. Shivas is a good item after Sheep Stick since it gives you the tank you need and another good initiating spell with its passive. Necro book synergizes well with your ultimate.

Early game-
Puck is a solo mid hero for the majority of games. You exist to provide space for your carry to farm and your main job is ganking. Puck is a strong mid hero because of phase shift. She can dodge harass attacks and spells like Queen of Pain's Shadow Strike. Try to harass a lot with puck but realize that your hero does have low HP. Phase shift is strong but doesn't make you a god. Try to get that bottle and boots and level 6. At level 6, you can solo kill most enemy mid heroes.

How to kill at 6-
Cast coil, if the hero breaks the coil, chase him with an Orb and then a waning rift. Try to get several right clicks in. Your spells, (even your ultimate) does not have a huge Cooldown. Your ultimate is a great disable. Don't be afraid to use it.

Mid game-
By this time, the laning phase should be close to over. Try and farm your blink as soon as possible. Optimal blink timing is around 15 minutes or so. Try to initiate team fights with blinking in, Silencing a few heroes and then using your Dream Coil. Then use your Orb to escape from the middle of the fight along with your phase shift. If you don't need to run away, stay and use an Orb to nuke down a hero that is running away.


Late game-
By this time, your phase shift should be level 4 and you should be close to a sheepstick. Killing you takes a lot of resources by the enemy team. Be careful for Sheeps that they have since you can't dodge those with phase shifts. Your job will be similiar to the Mid game since Puck is a Mid-game Caster. Initiate fights with Coil and be careful!

Laning Phase tips:

Use phase shift depending on the enemy hero.
Versus QoP:
Time phase shifts when QoP uses her shadow strike. Try not to get juked by the Shadow strike animation and phase shift when the missile is in the air.
Versus Invoker:
Phase shift whenever Invoker casts Cold Snap on you to dodge the hits. Phase shift is an amazing spell versus Cold Snap.

Versus right clicks-

Puck has a tremendous skill in Phase shift because he can dodge attacks in lane. Trade hits with enemy heroes and phase shift on the second hit. This gives you an extra hit whenever you harass the enemy hero in the middle lane and he attacks back.

In order:
Attack- Attack
You attack - Dodge enemy's attack
Attack - Attack

the ratio is a 3-2. Remember to shoot orbs along with your right clicks.

Nightstalker is one of the best heroes versus Puck because of his silence.


Doom bringers will always use their ultimate on you! Be careful. Your low hp means that you can die early with just One doom and Level Death.


Notice a trend? Heroes that have silence are frustrating to play versus with Puck!


Lion is one of the best disables in the game and has Hex and impale! Two spells that are difficult to time Phase Shift versus.


Glimpse and Static Storm go through phase shift and makes pucks life a living hell.



Summary:
BE WARY OF HEROES WITH SILENCE ABILITIES! This limits your ability to use phase shift and Phase shift is Puck's main escape ability.

- Puck is a mid game hero. Your main job should be to gank with Runes as soon as you hit level 6. Try to get Waning Rifts off on enemy blinkers like Anti-Mage or Queen of Pain.
- Remember that your priority item is Blink Dagger. With it you can initiate fights and chase/escape enemy heroes.
- Try to practice a lot with phase shift. The spell is hard to master and has a high skill ceiling. Puck is one of the hardest heroes to play because of Phase shift. She is also fragile