Puck

When to Pick Puck?

Tips & common mistakes

• Witch Blade first, Blink Dagger second—not the other way around. The Witch Blade Phase Shift interaction is the reason Puck is strong right now, and most pub Puck players still rush Blink Dagger first out of habit from older patches. Blink gives initiation, but Witch Blade gives you the Phase Shift proc damage that makes Puck's right-clicks during the laning phase genuinely threatening AND sets up the Parasma upgrade that defines the mid-game. Get the damage item before the initiation item, and your laning phase becomes significantly more impactful.
• Phase Shift now instantly attacks all nearby heroes on every activation—which means staying within attack range of multiple targets during fights specifically to proc Phase Shift repeatedly is a correct and intentional play. Most Puck players use Phase Shift purely defensively as a dodge and retreat. The correct use in the current patch is to walk close to grouped enemies, activate Phase Shift to apply Witch Blade procs on multiple targets simultaneously, then immediately follow with Waning Rift and Illusory Orb while the targets are silenced and taking damage over time from the Witch Blade tick.
• Waning Rift's silence applies dust on targets in the current patch, which means invisible heroes within the radius get revealed automatically when Waning Rift connects—use this proactively when you suspect an invisible hero is nearby rather than waiting for a confirmed visual before casting. A Riki or Clinkz who is invisible in the area gets revealed and silenced simultaneously by a single Waning Rift cast.
• Dream Coil requires enemies to stay within a leash radius to avoid breaking it—position Dream Coil at the CENTER of a fight rather than at the edge, because enemies standing near the leash break distance will naturally drift out during the chaos of a teamfight and break the coil accidentally, which costs Puck the stun proc. A Dream Coil placed directly on top of the grouped enemy team means they need to actively move a significant distance to break it rather than passively drifting.
• • The Illusory Orb travels in a straight line that Puck can teleport to at any point during its travel—use this both offensively as a gap closer through terrain AND defensively as an instant repositioning tool away from a fight that went wrong. Most pub PUCK players use Orb purely offensively and then have no escape when the initiation fails. Always throw the orb in the direction you want to escape BEFORE committing fully to an initiation so the retreat path is already available if Phase Shift alone is not enough to survive.
• Parasma reduces magic resistance by 20% on every hero hit by the Phase Shift instant attack proc—which means the correct order before using Dream Coil in a teamfight is Phase Shift first to apply the Parasma debuff on all nearby targets, then Dream Coil, then Waning Rift silence, then Orb. Every ability in the burst combo benefits from the reduced magic resistance that Phase Shift's Parasma proc applied at the start of the sequence.
• Aghanim's Scepter adds a passive component to Dream Coil that instantly attacks all linked heroes regardless of distance—which means a Dream Coil with Aghanim's continues applying right-click damage to Coil-linked heroes even if they successfully retreat outside the leash radius. This is a massive power spike in the late game and should be prioritized as the third item in games where the draft allows Puck to extend fights rather than relying purely on the burst kill window.