Axe is a tanky initiator who is capable of mowing down entire teams by himself. He relies on some items to be effective, but he doesn’t need much to have a very strong impact in the game.
Berserker’s Call is an AoE disable that is able to pierce spell immunity, which makes it incredibly powerful in the late game when combined with a Blade Mail. Axe is able to jungle very effectively if he is unable to get much farm from his lane.
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[/column]Axe Skill Build Order
- Counter Helix
- Berserker’s Call
- Counter Helix
- Battle Hunger
- Counter Helix
- Culling Blade
- Counter Helix
- Berserker’s Call
- Berserker’s Call
- Talent
- Berserker’s Call
- Culling Blade
- Battle Hunger
- Battle Hunger
- Talent
- Battle Hunger
- –
- Culling Blade
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Axe forces all nearby enemies to attack him and gains massive armor. This spell is usually maxed secondly as it increases the taunt duration and reduces the cooldown. One point of this is gotten early because the extra armor it provides remains at 40 at all levels and can help you to survive ganks. Get as many people in the Call as possible, including creeps because each one will increase your chances of procing a Counter Helix. You can use Berserker’s Call to catch enemies out of invisibility. You can also it use to prevent enemies from stunning you and allowing you to teleport away if you chain the 2 fast enough.
Axe curses the target, causing them to be slowed and take damage over time while Axe gains movement speed for each affected unit. It’s dispelled when the target last hits an enemy. Aghanim’s Scepter causes this spell to reduce the target’s damage by 30%. One value-point of Battle Hunger is gotten at early levels to help you to chase down enemies but is ignored until after maxing the other 2 spells. This is because Axe doesn’t really have the mana to use this spell often and it dispels simply by last-hitting a creep or hero.
It can be quite effective to use Battle Hunger on supports as they will have to attack or deny a creep to get rid of it, but generally it’s not very effective as it won’t deal that much damage at level 1 anyway You might also need the mana to cast a Call in order to survive.
Axe has a chance to deal damage to all nearby enemies whenever struck by an attack. This is always maxed and skilled first because you can use it to jungle more effectively, harass enemies in lane and get kills. The damage from Counter Helix is Pure and pierces magic immunity, which means that it will always be effective in the game, even during the late game, as enemies will have no way to reduce the damage it deals. This ability is why Axe is one of the hardest Dota 2 heroes to beat in a fight.
If you’re against a good lane for you, perhaps a melee carry with a weak support, you can be quite aggressive whenever the creeps are nearby. As long as you stand near creeps, the enemies shouldn’t be able to trade hits with you because they will always end up taking more damage, unless you mess up. If you’re 1 vs 1 against a melee carry, you may also be able to cut the creep wave behind their tower to push it down much faster and force the enemy carry into a really bad position. This can be a bit risky, especially if you don’t see the enemy supports, although it’s very rewarding when done well. If you’re against ranged heroes, who pose a threat to you, it might be better to turn to the jungle and farm some camps for a while.
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Axe instantly kills the target if they are below the kill threshold and grants nearby allies increased movement and attack speed, otherwise this spell just deals some damage. Aghanim’s Scepter causes a successful Culling Blade to cast Battle Hunger on all nearby opponents. Using Culling Blade will guarantee you the kill, and it’s important to keep this in mind when you cast it, because it may be an unnecessary mana cost which just prevents your carry the chance to get more farm for example. Culling Blade ignores Dazzle’s Shallow Grave and Abaddon’s Borrowed Time. It’s most effective to use this spell at the beginning of a team-fight.
The strength adds 160 HP, which is pretty helpful, especially if you’re a bit behind and are taking a lot of damage in fights or even if you’re ahead and just want to tank up. The increased attack speed can be good if you are having a good game and can afford to skip out on the extra HP and farm a bit more instead.
Axe really suffers from mana issues which the mana regeneration really helps with. However, it’s not very practical because it doesn’t help much in team-fights which is when you need the most, and you don’t really use mana to farm. It does allow you to regenerate it faster without having to go back to base, and if you have Tranquil Boots you can regen to full HP and Mana before long in between fights. The extra movement speed will help you to catch heroes that are hard to lockdown or have high movement speed.
The extra health regeneration will help you to tank a lot more damage, although if you are already tanky enough, then the extra damage can be very good. It’s a great option against creep and illusion heroes, as they will usually not attack you in order for you to get your Counter Helix procs off normally and with this talent you will be able to clear them much more easily.
The extra Battle Hunger DPS will make it a serious threat in the late game, potentially being able to deal up to 1920 magic damage before reductions with a 5 second cooldown. The increased Berseker’s Call will help you to catch enemies more easily in the late game, which is very helpful because heroes tend to have much more mobility at this point due to high movement speed and/or items. If your team needs more lockdown, then the increased call range is probably better. If the enemy team have lots of self-dispels, then it may be better to get the increased Call range as thy can just purge themselves of Battle Hunger.
Axe really needs a Stout Shield to reduce the damage you take when being attacked in order to get more Counter Helixes off. You can get a Healing Salve, some Iron Branches and 1 or 2 sets of Tangos, depending on how much harass you think you’ll take and how much you’ll need to jungle
Tranquil Boots will almost always be the boots of choice for you. They give you some movement speed to close the gap, but mostly they give you massive HP regen which will let you jungle very easily and regain your lost HP. In order to use them effectively, you should place them in your backpack before attacking the creeps so as to not disable them for 13 seconds. When the creep camp is getting low, you should move them back into your inventory in time for them to activate again right as the camp dies. This will increase the healing you get from them in between each camp. Many players place the boots on the ground and this is another way of toggling them between camps, and arguably more effective. However it’s a bit less safe, and should never be done against heroes like Bounty Hunter or Riki.
If you’re playing against a lineup that casts many spells, you can get a Magic Wand. This is a great pickup which increases your sustainability and helps with early game mana issues.
If you are able to dominate your lane, you can get an Orb of Venom to harass your enemies and potentially get kills more easily.
This is great for early game mana regeneration and makes you much more durable against nukes.
This is one of the cores items on Axe. It allows you to land Berserker’s Call much more easily and use it to initiate team-fights. If you get several heroes in one Call, the enemies will likely take a massive amount of damage from Counter Helix. If you have a Blade Mail on top of that, you will be able to destroy entire teams almost by yourself.
Ring of Health is a good early game pickup as it can be built into either a Hood of Defiance or a Vanguard. It will delay your Blink Dagger by quite a lot if you get it before the Blink, however if you are able to farm your lane very well and can potentially build a very fast Vanguard, you should do that.
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If you can farm your lane very well, you can rush a Vanguard. If you can get it around 8 minutes, you will be incredibly tanky and be able to do a lot more in the early game. Otherwise, you should get it after your Blink Dagger. If you’re facing a lineup with mostly magical damage you can ignore a Vanguard as it won’t do much for you.
Blade Mail is your second core item on Axe. A Blade Mail will give you helpful stats, but most importantly the ability to reflect damage. When combined with Berserker’s Call which forces enemies to attack you, you will be able to deal a massive amount of damage to entire teams and enemy carries in particular.
A Hood is a great pickup against magical damage and should be gotten in place of Vanguard if you’re facing mostly magical damage. However, it’s less strong in the early game than a Vanguard is, and therefore you should get a Blade Mail before the Hood.
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AC will let you tank more physical damage, but will also tank your team up a bit and is great if your team also has lots of physical damage due to the minus armor aura. The attack speed is a bit less useful, although if you took the damage talent at level 15, you will probably be able to dish out a respectable amount of right-click damage.
A Shiva’s Guard is another great option if you want to tank up against physical damage. A Shiva’s Guard is better suited against illusion/creep heroes due to the AoE damage and the fact that it reduces enemy attack speed.
A BKB is a great option if you find yourself getting disabled, easily kited or are being killed by magic damage.
A Lotus Orb will force enemies to deal damage to themselves through any single-target spells they have. This will let you initiate team-fights more easily, as enemies will find it harder to disrupt you while you assault on the front-lines of a team-fight. It also gives you more armor which is exactly what Axe needs.
A Heart of Tarrasque will give you a massive amount of HP. If you already have some tanking items that provide either armor or magic resistance or both, you may just need to tank up. This is when a HoT is a great item for you.
A Crimson Guard will tank your team up a lot against physical damage dealers. It’s generally only worth getting this if you’re upgrading into it from a Vanguard.
A Pipe of Insight is a great item on Axe because it massively tanks him up against magical damage. This means that he can survive on the front lines of his team for longer and get more spins off in Dota 2 esports.
Some games you’ll need a Linken’s Sphere. Spells that Hex or banish you can be problematic for you to deal with, as they prevent you from being able to spin. There are also some strong ultimate abilities in the game that can mess with you as well, such as Sunder.
If there are many slows on the enemy team for example, you may want a Force Staff so that you can better position yourself and avoid being kited by the enemy team. A Force Staff can also be good against heroes that are vulnerable to being kited, such as Ursa.
Some games may be really hard to win, and can go either way. A Shadow Blade will give you much stronger initiation ability, presuming the enemy team doesn’t have detection, and may be able to swing the fight in your favor. The enemy team shouldn’t be able to see you coming as easily, especially if you don’t reveal to them that you have the item.
Certain heroes like PA or TA hit very hard but are useless when disarmed. This makes an item like Heaven’s Halberd a great option against certain lineups. The item will also tank you up through the extra HP and evasion.
A Nullifier is a very situational item to get on Axe. If you’re facing a hero like Omniknight, then it can be used to kill enemies much more easily. The armor and damage are decent stats for Axe, although ultimately it’s a very situational pickup.
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Axe’s Culling Blade ignores Dazzle’s Shallow Grave. This means that you will be able to kill an enemy that is under its effects, as long as the enemy is low enough.
Axe is naturally very strong against illusion and creep heroes as he can Call a large group of enemies and get several procs of Counter Helix off. A Shiva’s Guard is also a great pickup against these heroes.
Timbersaw deals almost entirely Pure damage which is very effective against Axe. He is also physically unable to attack while his Chakram is active, and even when he can he deals very little damage with a slow animation. This makes Axe’s Berserker’s Call and Blade Mail combo very ineffective against him.
Berserker’s Call affects heroes that are invisible in any way. This makes it a great spell to catch them if you can predict where they will go. Carrying Dust of Appearance is a good habit against invis heroes as well, because you may not necessarily kill them, even if you do catch them with a call.
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