Axe Hero Analysis
Our previous article in the series analyzed Luna. This time we are speaking about Axe - 8th in Dotabuff’s win rates.
Axe is holding steady in the Dota 2 meta, particularly in patch 7.37d, where he is positioned as a powerful off-laner. While he doesn't top the tier lists, Axe maintains a respectable place, hovering with a 53-54% win rate across various brackets, making him a reliable pick in the right hands. His primary role remains an initiator, excelling in disrupting enemy formations and punishing melee carries. Players often rely on him as a lane bully, capable of snowballing into the mid-game with items like Blink Dagger and Vanguard to stay relevant throughout matches.
Axe Stats and Attributes
Description
Axe is a momentum-based hero who thrives on early aggression and quick item timings to snowball through the mid-game. His role shifts across phases, from lane dominator to initiator and eventually a utility tank. Each game phase requires precise itemization and tactical awareness to maintain relevance, as Axe's effectiveness diminishes in the late game without proper planning. Below is a breakdown of every phase's tactics, builds, and item choices.
Early Game
Tactics
In the early game, Axe should focus on disrupting the enemy safe lane, especially against melee carries. By pulling creeps and cutting waves, he can maximize the efficiency of Counter Helix and pressure the enemy core. This aggressive playstyle forces the enemy to farm under the tower and creates opportunities to kill squishy supports. Farming neutral camps while tanking creeps ensures Axe remains farm-efficient.
Itemization
- Phase Boots: Provides armor and mobility, essential for chasing down fleeing enemies or repositioning.
- Magic Wand: Ensures Axe has mana and health during extended fights in the lane.
- Vanguard: This item offers early tankiness, allowing Axe to dive supports or sustain harassment in the lane. Ring of Health can help if the lane is difficult until Vanguard is completed.
- Blink Dagger (situational priority): If the game requires immediate playmaking, rushing Blink Dagger over Vanguard may give your team an early lead by enabling initiations.
Mid-Game
Tactics
The mid-game is where Axe shines as a playmaker. With Blink Dagger, he can initiate fights on high-value targets using Berserker's Call and control the battlefield. Rotations are crucial at this point—Axe should frequently gank, secure kills, and force team fights to deny farm from enemy carries. Securing Roshan becomes a priority since Axe's initiation can deter enemies from contesting it.
Build
- Blink Dagger: The core item for initiation allows Axe to engage from unexpected angles.
- Aghanim's Shard: Enhances Battle Hunger, adding damage and movement speed boosts upon kills.
- Blade Mail: Synergizes with Berserker's Call, reflecting incoming damage, making it a great tool against high-damage carries like Sniper or Drow Ranger.
Itemization
- Crimson Guard: Useful against physical damage-heavy teams, mitigating AoE damage for your team.
- Force Staff (situational): Helps reposition or escape if the enemy comp slows or turns off, threatening Axe's mobility.
Late Game
Tactics
Axe's impact can wane in the late game as enemies obtain Black King Bar (BKB) or other mobility items that counter his initiation. To remain effective, Axe should transition into a tank role—absorbing damage, baiting abilities, and initiating key objectives like Roshan or high-ground fights. Securing kills with Culling Blade becomes even more critical, as the bonus speed from a successful execution can turn the tide of engagements.
Build
- Black King Bar (BKB): Allows Axe to initiate without fear of being disabled by stuns or silences.
- Lotus Orb: Provides spell reflection and removes negative debuffs from Axe or his teammates.
- Heart of Tarrasque: Grants a large HP pool, ensuring Axe stays in fights longer.
- Aghanim's Scepter: Upgrades Culling Blade to pierce magic immunity, keeping Axe relevant even against BKB carriers.
Talent Choices
Axe's talents should be picked according to game context, ensuring maximum impact in fights:
- Level 10: +10 Strength (if you need survivability) or +30 Movement Speed (for better ganks).
- Level 15: +10 Armor for Berserker's Call is effective against physical damage lineups.
- Level 20: +25 Counter Helix Damage to increase his AoE impact during mid-to-late game fights.
- Level 25: +100 Culling Blade Damage ensures Axe can execute enemies more reliably in the late game.
Lore
Axe's backstory paints him as a ruthless warrior from the Red Mist army who sought to claim power through brute force. Though once a low-ranking grunt, he rose to prominence by eliminating his rivals—quite literally—and establishing himself as a legend. His thirst for battle and glory mirrors his in-game persona, where he thrives on drawing attention and dealing massive damage.
Latest Updates
As of Patch 7.37d (released in early October 2024), Axe did not receive direct nerfs or buffs but remains indirectly affected by broader changes in itemization and the game meta. The patch, focused on balancing the TI 2024 meta, included nerfs to several aura items and tank-centric builds that impact heroes like Axe, particularly during mid-to-late game stages.
Crimson Guard and Pipe of Insight, core survivability items often built on Axe, saw reduced effectiveness, with lower active durations and diminished regen bonuses. These changes make Axe slightly less durable when engaging in prolonged teamfights, forcing players to adapt item build.
Changes to Bracer, Null Talisman, and Wraith Band further weaken the early-to-mid-game efficiency of these cheap items by removing their bonus scaling beyond 25 minutes. This affects Axe's ability to stack survivability or snowball with cheap items in the early game.
With Gleipnir becoming more expensive and less effective, heroes who relied on this item for rooting—like Nature's Prophet or Windranger—may fall off, giving Axe more breathing room to initiate without being kited as quickly.
These shifts in item strength suggest that Axe players must prioritize fast item timings and aggressive map play to maintain momentum. Crimson Guard's nerf might encourage builds focusing more on Black King Bar (BKB) or Shiva's Guard to compensate for reduced team-wide durability. While these changes don't directly affect Axe's abilities, they influence how players manage their roles as an initiator and frontline tanks in evolving matchups.
The patch adjustments highlight a key takeaway: heroes reliant on momentum, such as Axe, must accelerate their game plans. Adapting to the shifting item meta will be crucial for maintaining Axe's relevance across all stages of play.
Benefits
Great Initiation: Berserker's Call catches enemies off guard, forcing focus on Axe while allies deal damage.
Lane Dominance: His tankiness allows him to bully most melee carries.
High Mobility: Blink Dagger and Phase Boots make him excellent at engaging and escaping.
Strong Synergy with AoE Damage: Combines well with magic-heavy teams or other AoE-based abilities.
Downsides
Falls off late-game: Axe's impact diminishes once enemy heroes have magic immunity or scaling damage.
Item Dependent: Without core items like Blink Dagger, his initiation potential is limited.
Mediocre against kiting heroes: Mobile heroes or ranged carries with slows can outmaneuver him easily.
Abilities
Berserker's Call – Forces enemies in a radius to attack Axe while granting him bonus armor.
Battle Hunger – Deals damage over time and slows enemies; empowers Axe's movement speed when enemies are killed.
Counter Helix – Passive ability that triggers a spinning attack when Axe is attacked, dealing AoE physical damage.
Culling Blade – An execution ability that instantly kills low-health enemies, granting a movement speed boost on successful kills.
Hints and Tips to Master
Time Your Calls: Use Berserker's Call right after blinking in to ensure enemies are caught off-guard.
Don't Tunnel-Vision Blink: If the game isn't going well, build survivability items like Vanguard first to sustain in fights.
Effective Culling Blade Usage: Wait until enemies hit the health threshold to guarantee kills; missing Culling Blade can leave you vulnerable.
Control the Early Game: Take aggressive trades and push for kills during laning to snowball.
Recommended Allies
Crystal Maiden
Crystal Maiden provides a global mana regeneration aura with Arcane Aura, allowing Axe to sustain his spell usage throughout the early and mid-game. With Frostbite and Crystal Nova, she offers solid crowd control that works well with Axe's Berserker's Call, ensuring enemies stay in place long enough for Counter Helix to deal damage. Her ultimate, Freezing Field, synergizes with Axe's initiation, enabling a deadly combo in teamfights.
Phoenix
Phoenix's Sun Ray offers percentage-based healing and damage, which amplifies Axe's survivability during extended engagements. Additionally, Supernova (Phoenix's ultimate) forces enemies to scatter or commit, perfectly fitting Axe's strength as a chaotic initiator. When Axe uses Berserker's Call, it locks enemies near the Supernova egg, ensuring it successfully detonates.
Zeus
Zeus thrives when enemies are clumped together, and Axe's Berserker's Call sets up the perfect opportunity for his Lightning Bolt and Thunder God's Wrath. Zeus also benefits from fights being forced early and often, aligning with Axe's aggressive playstyle. His burst damage can help soften up targets, ensuring that Axe's Culling Blade lands for instant kills.
Warlock
Warlock's Fatal Bonds links enemies, amplifying the damage output from Axe's Counter Helix. In addition, Warlock's Chaotic Offering (Golem) is another AoE initiation tool that works well with Axe's playstyle, forcing enemies into chaotic fights where they struggle to focus down the frontliners. Warlock's heal, Shadow Word, also helps Axe sustain through the laning phase.
Snapfire
Snapfire's Mortimer's Kisses ultimate rains damage over a large area, synergizing perfectly with Axe's ability to lock enemies in place with Berserker's Call. Her Scatterblast and Cookie provide additional crowd control and burst damage to help Axe secure kills or set up fights. This duo can dominate teamfights, especially with Snapfire's ability to reposition Axe using Gobble Up.
Counters
Timbersaw
Timbersaw's Whirling Death and Chakram deal heavy pure damage and punish Axe for relying on physical durability. His high armor and innate tankiness make it nearly impossible for Axe to burst down in Timbersaw, especially in prolonged engagements. Timbersaw's reactive armor stacks also negate the effectiveness of Counter Helix.
Venomancer
Venomancer's Venomous Gale and Poison Nova apply long-duration slows and damage-over-time effects, crippling Axe's mobility. Venomancer can kite Axe, making it difficult for him to reach key targets. Venomancer's Plague Wards also act as barriers, blocking Axe from finding easy blink initiations.
Leshrac
Leshrac's ability to deal massive area magic damage with Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova makes him a tough matchup for Axe. Even when caught by Berserker's Call, Leshrac can still output damage over time, forcing Axe to absorb more damage than he can handle. His tanky build path and the use of Bloodstone make Leshrac challenging to burst down with Culling Blade.
Phantom Lancer
Phantom Lancer is a nightmare for Axe, as his illusions make it difficult for Counter Helix to deal meaningful damage consistently. Even with a perfect Berserker's Call initiation, Axe struggles to isolate the real Phantom Lancer, and the illusions' overwhelming numbers exhaust Axe's mana and resources. PL can also dodge initiations with Doppelganger.
Outworld Destroyer
Outworld Destroyer's Astral Imprisonment makes him an effective counter to Axe's initiation. OD can disrupt Berserker's Call combos by banishing himself or a teammate mid-fight. Furthermore, OD's burst from Arcane Orb and Sanity's Eclipse punishes Axe's relatively low intelligence, melting his health pool even if he builds magic resistance.
18 October 2024, 18:15