Pugna
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Version Control
This article is mostly accurate for the latest version of the game (7.38), in which this hero/item was changed.
It has no changes in the current game version — 7.38b.
Pugna
19 + 2
21 + 1.3
26 + 5.2
| Grants the following bonuses per level: | |
|
+44HP and +0.2HP regeneration |
|
+0.22 armor and 1.3 attack speed |
|
+62.4MP and +0.26MP regeneration +0.1% base magic resistance +5.2 Main Attack Damage |
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900 Projectile Speed
| ||
100 (121)
(1.7 BAT) | ||
0.5 + 0.5
| ||
0.6
| ||
Default
Gib Type | ||
2011-05-20
Released | ||
2004-02-03
(v5.62) | ||
Competitive Span
2011-05-20 — Present |
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| Drains enemy life to heal himself. | |
|---|---|
| A crafty trickster, Pugna turns the enemy's power against itself as he Blasts their defenses. While his Nether Ward strikes nearby foes that dare to cast a spell. He Decrepifies his target, temporary banishing them to another realm, and Drains Life from his enemies while replenishing himself with their vitality, ensuring that he will be ready for the next assault. | |
      | |
| Roles: |  Nuker  Pusher |
| Adjectives | Cape, Green, Horns, Undead, Nose Legs ( 2 ) |
Facets[edit]
Siphoning Ward
Nether Ward now heals and restores mana to Pugna based on the damage dealt.
Rewards of Ruin
Grants Pugna spell damage amplification per Tower destroyed in the game.
Upgrades[edit]
Aghanim's[edit]
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
While channeling, Life Drain periodically grants Pugna outgoing spell damage amplification per affected hero.
Applies a debuff that reduces the affected enemy hero's outgoing spell damage while channeling.
Reduces cooldown.
Applies a debuff that reduces the affected enemy hero's outgoing spell damage while channeling.
Reduces cooldown.
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:
When Life Drain is cast on the ward, the magic refracts to enemy heroes within the radius and leeches their health for a portion of its damage.
Increases cast range.
Talents[edit]
 | ||
|---|---|---|
| +1.9 Mana Flare Mana to Damage Factor | 25 | +180 Nether Blast Damage |
| +1.5s Decrepify Duration | 20 | +20% Life Drain Heal |
| +350 Health | 15 | +30% Decrepify Ally Speed |
| +2 Nether Ward Hit Count | 10 | -1s Nether Blast Cooldown |
| ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ +2 All / / Attributes | ||
Bio[edit]
Who needs a blade when you have oblivion?▶️Pugna
Lore:
In the realm of Pugna's birth, near the vents of the Nether Reaches, there stood a lamasery devoted to the Arts of Oblivion, which drew its power from the nether energies. The Grandmaster of the temple compound had himself passed into Oblivion several years prior, leaving his academy without a leader. From the moment of their master's death, the regents of the temple began rites of divination to identify their master's reincarnation, and eventually all signs converged on the immediate neighborhood. Several villages squatted in the shadow of the temple, their alleys and plazas full of the laughter of squalling children.
Pugna, a mere thirteen months of age, was but one candidate among the local brats, and on the appointed day he was presented at the temple alongside two other promising tots. The lamas offered a jumble of worn relics to the children, treasured possessions of their former grandmaster. One boy reached for a porphyry wand that had belonged to the lama...and put it in his nostril. An impish girl pulled out an amulet that had also been the lama's, and immediately swallowed it. Pugna regarded the other two coolly, gave a merry laugh, and blasted them with gouts of emerald flame, reducing them to ashes in an instant. He then snatched up the wand and amulet, saying 'Mine!' The regents hoisted the beaming Pugna on their shoulders, wrapped him in their grandmaster's vestments, and rushed him to the throne before his mood could change. Within five years, the temple itself was another pile of ash, which pleased Pugna to no end.
Pugna, a mere thirteen months of age, was but one candidate among the local brats, and on the appointed day he was presented at the temple alongside two other promising tots. The lamas offered a jumble of worn relics to the children, treasured possessions of their former grandmaster. One boy reached for a porphyry wand that had belonged to the lama...and put it in his nostril. An impish girl pulled out an amulet that had also been the lama's, and immediately swallowed it. Pugna regarded the other two coolly, gave a merry laugh, and blasted them with gouts of emerald flame, reducing them to ashes in an instant. He then snatched up the wand and amulet, saying 'Mine!' The regents hoisted the beaming Pugna on their shoulders, wrapped him in their grandmaster's vestments, and rushed him to the throne before his mood could change. Within five years, the temple itself was another pile of ash, which pleased Pugna to no end.
Voice:
Innate[edit]
Oblivion Savant[edit]
Oblivion Savant 
Passive
Affects
Self
Pugna can cast any abilities, including item abilties, while channeling.
Rewards of Ruin
Grants Pugna spell damage amplification per Tower destroyed in the game.
Max Stacks: 22
Spell Damage Amp per Tower Destroyed:
1.25%
Spell Damage Amp per Tower Destroyed:
1.25% 
- All Pugna's ability casts have the following properties while channeling:
- Does not interrupt the current channeling source.
- Have an
instant cast time. - Neither requires
turning nor 
facing the targeted location or unit to cast, as long it is within the 
cast range.
- Pugna cannot channel another ability while already channeling.
- All Pugna's ability casts have the following properties while channeling:
-
- Grants self generic
outgoing spell damage amplification that affects 
spell damage sourced to Pugna.
- Stack additively with other generic outgoing damage sources.
- Does not affect
HP Removal sources.
- Grants self generic
modifier_pugna_oblivion_savant
Hidden Modifier
- Rewards of Ruin grants up to 27.5% outgoing spell damage amplification with all towers destroyed.
Hero Model[edit]
Details
Hidden Innate Abilities
Tap on the 
innate abilities for more details.
innate abilities for more details.- Oblivion Savant notes apply.
Abilities[edit]
Nether Blast[edit]
An exploding pulse deals damage to enemy units in the area.
Cast Animation: 0.2 + 0
Cast Range: 600
600 Effect Delay: 0.8
Effect Radius: 
400
400 Damage: 95/170/245/320 (
275/350/425/500)
275/350/425/500) 
Nether Blast is less effective on buildings.
Damage Factor: 0.65
0.65 
5 (
4)
4)
100/115/130/145
The Arts of Oblivion include a deafening blast of emerald flames from the Nether Reaches.
- Both the ability's visual and sound effects during the effect delay are visible ally-only.
modifier_pugna_nether_blast_thinkerOn hidden entity
- Deals 61.75/110.5/159.25/208 (
178.75/227.5/276.25/325) 
magical spell damage to 
buildings.
Decrepify[edit]
Unit
Affects
Units / Nether Ward
Slows an enemy unit and reduces its magic resistance while rendering it ethereal.
Cast Animation: 0.2 + 0.4
Cast Range: 475/550/625/700
475/550/625/700 Move Speed Slow: 45%/50%/55%/60%
Magic Resist Reduction: 20%/30%/40%/50%
Debuff Duration: 3.5 (
5)
5) 
For affected allied units, Pugna grants them incoming heal amplification without slowing their movement speed.
Heal Amp: 
10%/15%/20%/25%
10%/15%/20%/25% Buff Duration: 3.5 ( 5)
5)Move Speed Bonus: (
30%)
30%)16/13/10/7
80
A now-mastered relic from his childhood, Pugna delights in banishing others into the Nether Realm, whether for good, evil, or simple enjoyment.
-
Doubletap casts the ability on Pugna.- Disable Help on Pugna prevents Decrepify from affecting the allied hero.
- The affected unit now has the following properties:
- Attack immune
Disarm
Ethereal
- Grants 100%
physical damage resistance as a secondary effect. - Multiple ethereal-based
magic resistance reduction sources do not stack, the higher multiplier takes precedence. - However, it stacks multiplicatively with other magic resistance sources.
- Grants 100%
- Applies a
movement speed slow.
- Applies a
- Applies the following ability effects:
- Incoming
heal amplifcation. - Movement speed bonus.
- Applies the following ability effects:
- Recasting the ability on the same unit updates the ability values of the current instance regardless of factions.
- Affects the following units:
- Allied Nether Ward.
- Allied Tombstone.
- Does not affect the following units:
- Buildings
- Enemy Nether Ward.
- Enemy Tombstone.
- Other
ward-type units.
modifier_pugna_decrepify
Decrepify: Slowing movement by x% and increasing spell damage by x%.
modifier_pugna_decrepifyDecrepify: Slowing movement by x% and increasing spell damage by x%.
- heal math
-
- The affected enemy now has 10%/2.5%/-5%/-12.5% magic resistance.
- Decrepify reduces the total magic resistance by 0.2%/0.3%/0.4%/0.5% per 10
intelligence points.
- The affected enemy now has 10%/2.5%/-5%/-12.5%
Nether Ward[edit]
Places a Nether Ward at the target location.
Cast Animation: 0.2 + 0.4
Hit Count: 4 (
6)
6) Duration: 18/22/26/30
The ward passively Mana Flares enemy heroes, dealing damage proprotionally on the mana cost per enemy ability cast within the radius.
Although the ward flares the affected enemy units within the radius, all ability effects are sourced to Pugna.
Although the ward flares the affected enemy units within the radius, all ability effects are sourced to Pugna.
Effect Radius: 1400
1400 Base Damage: 50/70/90/110
Enemy Used Mana to Damage Factor: 1/1.2/1.4/1.6 (
2.9/3.1/3.3/3.5)
2.9/3.1/3.3/3.5)Aura Linger Duration: 0.5
Creeps' attacks are less effective on the Nether Ward.
Creeps Attacks to Destroy: 16 ( 24)
24)
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade
Increases cast range.
Increases cast range.
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade
When Life Drain is cast on the ward, the magic refracts to enemy heroes within the radius and leeches their health for a portion of its damage.
When Life Drain is cast on the ward, the magic refracts to enemy heroes within the radius and leeches their health for a portion of its damage.
Refract Radius: ( 700)
( 700) Damage Factor: ( 0.75)
0.75) 
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
The self spell damage amplification and enemy reduction via the Nether Ward refraction is less effective to Pugna and all affected enemy heroes respectively.
The self spell damage amplification and enemy reduction via the Nether Ward refraction is less effective to Pugna and all affected enemy heroes respectively.
Spell Amp Change Factor: ( 0.5)
0.5) 40
80
While at the lamasery for the Arts of Oblivion, Pugna learned to dominate his classmates with a simple ward charged with Nether magic.
Siphoning Ward
Nether Ward now heals and restores mana to Pugna based on the damage dealt.
Damage to Heal Factor: 0.3
Damage to Mana Restore Factor:
0.4
0.3 Damage to Mana Restore Factor:
0.4 
16
-
The Nether Ward is an immobile ward-type unit and has the Mana Flare ability.
-
-
-
Lvl
0
0
0%
600
This unit does not attack.
0
20/40/60/80 (x̄)
Towers do not attack the ward.
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Life Drain can be cast on any Nether Wards, regardless of factions.
Multiple different Life Drain sources can be cast on the same Nether Ward as well, creating independent Life Drain refraction instances.
Life Drain can be cast on any Nether Wards, regardless of factions.
Multiple different Life Drain sources can be cast on the same Nether Ward as well, creating independent Life Drain refraction instances.
- The Nether Ward additionally has the following properties:
- Doubletap places the ward-type unit 150 ( 500)-distance in front of Pugna.
- Considers attacks from
clones as heroes, attacks from 
illusions and 
creep-heroes as creeps.
- The Mana Flare ability effects are applied as follows:
- The negative aura affecting enemy units within the radius.
- Although the aura debuff lingers, Mana Flare can only damage enemy units within the radius.
- Applies its magical spell damage instance before the enemy's ability cast.
- Deals spell damage before the ability is cast, if the enemy unit
dies to the damage instance, the ability is unused. - Certain sources that usually prevents damage do not save the enemy caster if the damage instance is lethal. This includes the following sources:
Damage negation sources with mana cost.
Spell immunity sources with mana cost.
- Deals spell damage before the ability is cast, if the enemy unit
- The original ability cast.
- Mana Flare procs per enemy mana cast event per enemy ability cast, sourced to the Nether Ward itself, and is defined as:
- EXPR
SpellDmg = BaseDmg + (Enemy AbilityMPCost × ManaFlare Factor) - Procs from the following enemy ability cast sources:
- Item abilities.
- Per instance of ability mana cost.
- Per instance of
ability mana cost per interval. - Deals a 0-damage instance on abilities with 0-mana cost.
- Does not proc on the following sources;
- Mana Break sources.
- Removing mana sources.
- Sources that do not proc on-cast effects.
- Affects the following units:
Fogged units.
Invisible units.
Invulnerable units, but does not apply the spell damage component on them.
Neutral creeps, despite not applying the debuff on them.
- Enables Life Drain
unit-targeting on the Nether Ward.
- Life Drain now refracts to all enemy heroes within 700 radius centered around the ward, with all ability effects sourced to Pugna.
- The ability upgrade considers clones, illusions, and creep-heroes as heroes.
- The search radius is defined as:
- EXPR
SearchRadius = LifeDrain CastRange - An enemy hero may only be affected by the ability upgrade once per Life Drain cast and upon cast.
- Enemy heroes entering the refract radius after the ability cast are not affected.
- Other Life Drain notes apply.
- Life Drain now refracts to all enemy heroes within
modifier_pugna_nether_wardHidden modifier
modifier_pugna_nether_ward_auraNether Ward: Affected by Nether Ward
Life Drain[edit]
When cast on an enemy unit, Life Drain damages the enemy unit and self-heals.
When casting on an allied unit, Life Drain succors the allied unit while damaging Pugna.
When casting on an allied unit, Life Drain succors the allied unit while damaging Pugna.
Cast Animation: 0.2 + 0
Cast Range: 700
700 Link Break Distance: 900
900 Max Channel Time: 10
Damage per Second: 150/250/350
Heal per Second: 150/250/350 ( 180/300/420)
150/250/350 ( 180/300/420) Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Applies a debuff that reduces the affected enemy hero's outgoing spell damage while channeling.
Reduces cooldown.
Applies a debuff that reduces the affected enemy hero's outgoing spell damage while channeling.
Reduces cooldown.
Max Spell Amp Reduction: 
( 75%)
( 75%) Spell Amp Reduction per Second: ( 8%)
8%) Debuff Duration: ( 8)
8) 
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
While channeling, Life Drain periodically grants Pugna outgoing spell damage amplification per affected hero.
While channeling, Life Drain periodically grants Pugna outgoing spell damage amplification per affected hero.
Max Spell Amp Bonus: ( 100%)
( 100%) Spell Amp Bonus per Second: ( 8%)
8%) Buff Duration: ( 8)
8) 7 ( 3.5)
3.5)100/150/200
Pugna has truly become more powerful than even the grandmaster of Oblivion.
or
- The primary link does not break in the following conditions:
- Upon the affected unit entering the Fog of War.
- The link still affects the unit if they are either invisible or
untargetable after being affected by Life Drain.
- Upon the affected unit entering the
- Applies all ability effects in 0.25-second intervals, starting 0.25 after cast, over a max 40 instances.
-
- Applies the following ability effects on the affected enemy unit(s):
Exposes and grants 
True Sight over the unit.
- Hence, the link still affects the unit if it becomes invisible after being affected by Life Drain.
- A 10-second 200-radius caster vision centered on the affected enemy location upon cast, independent of the channeling time.
- The caster vision radius does not follow the affected enemy.
- A 10-second 200-radius caster vision centered on the affected enemy location upon cast, independent of the channeling time.
- Deals 37.5/62.5/87.5 magical spell damage in 0.25-second intervals, starting 0.25 seconds after cast.
- Applies the following ability effects on the affected enemy unit(s):
-
- Heals for the full value regardless of the damage instance value.
- The primary link does not break in the following conditions:
- The link breaks on the affected hero in the following conditions:
- When the hero is no longer in vision.
- When affected by the following sources:
- Upon the hero's death.
- When the hero exceeds the link break distance.
- The effective area for the link break distance is a half-sphere
and not a flat circle. Hence, the link can be broken with 
upward movement sources as well.
- The effective area for the link break distance is a half-sphere
- When the hero is no longer in
- The ability has three unit-targeting functionalities:
- Life Drain enemy Heals Pugna.
- Life Drain ally Deals self- magical spell damage Heals ally
- Hence, casting Life Drain on allied targets works akin of the ally casting Life Drain on Pugna.
- The self-damage is lethal.
- Life Drain Nether Ward Affects all enemy units within the search radius.
- Life Drain enemy
- The link color changes as follows:
- Enemy unit Pugna:
- Red ➜ Green; Pink ➜ Blue on full health.
- Pugna allied unit:
- Green ➜ Green; Blue ➜ Green on full health.
- Enemy unit
- Considers clones as heroes, illusions and creep-heroes as creeps.
- Grants a 2% buff or applies a 2% debuff stack on Pugna and the affected enemy unit respectively in 0.25-second interval over the channeling duration.
- For Pugna, the buff grants outgoing spell damage amplification.
- For the affected enemy hero, the debuff applies an outgoing spell damage reduction.
- Both modifiers applied are independent of each other.
- Stacks addtively with other outgoing damage manipulation sources.
- Does not affect HP Removal sources.
- For Pugna, the
- True Sight affects debuff immune units.
-
Spell Block procs on the primary target nullifies the ability.
- The Life Drain refraction component does not proc Spell Block sources on secondary targets.
- The Life Drain refraction component does not proc
Spell Reflection sources on secondary targets.
- Life Drain on the primary target ends when the secondary target is no longer affected.
- However, ending the channeling on the primary target does not affect the channeling duration on the secondary target regardless.
- However, ending the
modifier_pugna_life_drain
Life Drain: Draining Life.
modifier_pugna_life_drain_spell_ampSpell damage changed by x%.
-
- The ability's particle effects continue to draw toward Pugna's last known location for enemy units when affected by the following sources:
- Fogged sources.
- Invisible sources.
- The ability's particle effects continue to draw toward Pugna's last known location for enemy units when affected by the following sources:
- The ability effects are applied as follows per interval:
-
- The magical spell damage.
- The unique incoming spell damage amplification debuff.
- The
- or
- Multiple Life Drain sources can be cast on any Nether Wards, including the same Nether Ward, regardless of factions.
Recent Matches[edit]
Main Article: Pugna/Matches
| Date | Tier | Tournament | Picks | Score | vs. Picks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 10, 2025 - 10:00 EET | Tier 1 |  | PGL Wallachia S3 |      |   | 0 : 1 |  |      |
| Mar 10, 2025 - 10:00 EET | Tier 1 | | PGL Wallachia S3 |     |  | 1 : 0 |  |     |
| Mar 09, 2025 - 14:40 EET | Tier 1 | | PGL Wallachia S3 |    | | 1 : 0 |   |     |
| Mar 08, 2025 - 18:15 EET | Tier 1 | | PGL Wallachia S3 |    |   | 1 : 0 |  |     |
| Mar 08, 2025 - 13:00 MSK | Showmatch |  | BB Egoisto Cup | | 1 : 0 | |
Recent Changes[edit]
Description
- Life Drain
- No longer instant kills enemy illusions.
- Reduced mana restore factor on full health from 0.5 to 0.
- Increased heal per second from 120/210/300 to 150/250/350.
Talents:
- LVL 25 +1.75 Nether Ward damage per used mana increased to +1.9.
- LVL 25 +160 Nether Blast damage reduced to +180.
- Increased Nether Ward Siphoning Ward spell damage to mana restore factor from 0.3 to 0.4.
- Reduced Life Drain damage per second from 160/240/320 to 150/250/350.
Dota Plus Progress[edit]
Main Article: Hero Challenges
Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.
| Relics | Voice Lines | |
|---|---|---|
 Bronze |
||
 Silver |
||
 Gold |
||
 Platinum |
| |
 Master |
| |
 Grandmaster |
| |
Equipment[edit]
| Sets | |
|---|---|
| Weapon | |
| Head | |
| Nether Ward | |
| Taunt | |
Trivia[edit]
- According to Alchemist's rivalry responses, Pugna is composed largely of phosphorus. Being a skeleton, he would be made of the phosphorus-containing mineral hydroxyapatite, a major component of bone.
- Several of Pugna's voice lines reference Viper being his pet, before he was summoned from the Nether by a wizard.
- "Pugna" is a Latin word that translates to a few meanings, namely "fight", "dispute", or "conflict".
- Pugna's unused response ▶️ "First, do no harm." is a reference to the medical principle "Primum non nocere", which is latin and translates into "First, do no harm".[1]
- Warcraft 3 similarities:
- Pugna uses the model of the Skeletal Mages, an Undead unit summoned by the Necromancers.
- In DotA, Pugna's title is Oblivion. Although Oblivion is still relevant to his lore, it is not his title in Dota 2.
- In earliy versions of DotA, Pugna's title was Tormented Soul, which eventually was given to Leshrac.
- Decrepify's original iteration is identical to the Blood Mage's Banish.
- Nether Ward's original iteration is identical to the Faerie Dragons' Mana Flare.
- Life Drain's original iteration is identical to the Dark Ranger's Life Drain.
Gallery[edit]
Model
Low Violence model
Ability icon progress
Hero icon progress
Bone Harvest sprite - alive
Bone Harvest sprite - dead
_model_dota2_gameasset.jpg)
