Puppet Master

Skill Build
1 – Puppeteer’s Hold
2 – Puppet Show
3 – Whiplash
4 – Whiplash
5 – Whiplash
6 – Voodoo Puppet
7 – Whiplash
8 – Puppet Show
9 – Puppet Show
10 – Puppet Show
11 – Voodoo Puppet
12 – Puppeteer’s Hold
13 – Puppeteer’s Hold
14 – Puppeteer’s Hold
15 – Stats
16 – Voodoo Puppet
17 – Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Get one level of Puppeteer’s Hold and Puppet Show early to have some pseudo disables just in case (they hold pretty long for one level). Then Max Whiplash to farm up. Puppet Show is better than Hold in almost every aspect (except maybe the cooldown) and has to be maxxed first.

Lane Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Pretenders Crown, Minor Totem

Core:
Whispering Helm (>> Fortified Bracelet) >> Steam Boots

Whispering Helm can be gotten asap from the outpost and is needed to start stacking ancient creeps. If you don’t know how to do that, I recommend you read up on it as it is essential to play a good Puppet Master. Steam Boots are easily better than Ghost Marchers due to the survivability they provide. Get 0-2 Bracelets if the game goes rough.

After Core:
Shrunken Head >> Harkon’s Blade >> Charged Hammer

The new build for puppet. Shrunken Head and Harkon’s Blade are insanely powerful and will boost your survivability and damage through the roof.

Alternative Items:
– Assassin’s Shroud: Situational Item, can be gotten even in higher team games if your farm is good.
– Kuldra’s Sheepstick: This item becomes very interesting if you are not taking the carry role. If you have at least one very capable Hard Carry in your team you probably wanna pick up this item right after the core and lay low on the pure damage items.
– Puzzlebox: Same as Sheepstick, but this item is seen more often in competitive play due to its counter-warding potential probably.
– Hellflower: Not often seen but can be a solid first choice after the core if you need to deal with an evasive opponent carry like Madman, Magebane, Scout, etc. Don’t get this if you are the only carry though.

Information:
Roles: Hard-Carry, Disabler
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 4 – Hard
Farming capabilities: 5 – Excellent (Whiplash is amazing)
Item dependancy: 5 – Very Heavy
Power:
– Early Game / Lane Control: 3 – Medium (Pesudo disables)
– Mid Game / Ganks: 3 – Medium
– Late Game / Team Fights: 5 – Very Strong (If well farmed)

30-Seconds-Guide:
– Don’t forget the ancient creep stacking. Every minute at x.50 to x.56 you have to aggro the ancient creeps with your minion and draw them out of their spawning area for an additional set of creeps to spawn.
– Farm the ancients once you reach 4-5 stacks. Then continue stacking.
– Focus on last hitting over harassing, because harassing is not a good idea when you have pseudo-disables and no nukes.
– If the enemy is slow to retreat from a creep wave, cast puppeteer’s hold or puppet show.
– Your bread and butter: Open with puppet show if there is someone for the target to attack, and then chain with puppeteer’s hold. Ult if needed (before puppeteer’s hold but after puppet show) and auto-attack till dead.

Counters:
– Most Puppet Master will eventually go for Harkon’s, shifting their damage from physical to magic. Also with shrunken they are not squishy at all. It is a very balanced hero that has no obvious hard counter.
– Once he has Harkons, a Shrunken Head will force him to use his normal attack instead of the magic attack, this does still horrendous amounts of damage though. At least Shrunken will remove the disables and is a start to countering him.
– A lot of PMs also stack ancients with an early whispering helm. Ward their ancient spot and go steal it or gank him when he is doing them