Introduction
“Axe is all the reinforcement this army needs!”
Axe is a popular initiator whose popularity is based largely on his play-style, which necessitates close ranged combat and provoking enemies into attacking him before finishing them off with one of the most satisfying death blows in the game.
You can find Axe's complete character profile here.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Versatile laner – can jungle, solo lane, dual lane, and even offensively offlane
- Strong initiator
- Disable that goes through spell immunity
- Can insta-kill heroes that fall below certain health
- Naturally quite tanky and item progression makes him even more so
Cons
- No escape mechanism
- Item dependent
- Mana issues
- Needs follow-up on his initiation
- Falls off late-game
Item Build
In public matchmaking Axe is usually played as a jungler. Axe is far from the easiest hero in the game to jungle with because unlike a lot of dedicated junglers he actually has to tank the creeps himself and depends largely on luck to deal enough damage to quickly clear camps with the help of Counter Helix.
If you decide to jungle with Axe there are a handful of techniques that will make life easier for you:
- If your safe lane could do with someone stacking and pulling creeps you can do this yourself. This gets you off to an easier start, especially if you pull through to a second or third camp.
- Counter Helix will proc more frequently the more units there are attacking you, so favour taking on creep camps which have a lot of creeps (e.g. Kobold Camps, Satyr Camps, and Ogre Camps).
- For the same reason it’s good to stack camps whenever possible – they’ll deal more damage but they’ll also fall a lot faster
- An early point in Berserker’s Call can help when taking on stacked camps thanks to the 40 bonus armor it grants.
- Tranquil Boots are still great boots for a jungling axe, you just have to drop them when actually fighting the creeps, then pick them back up in-between fights to gain instant access to the health regeneration. Do not risk this if, for example, the enemy team has an offlane Bounty Hunter!
- An early Ring of Health will make life in the jungle a breeze. Consider getting this before Blink, but get Blink before you buy a Vitality Booster.
Starting Items
Typical starting items for Axe look something like this:
- 2x Tangos, Stout Shield, 2x Iron Branches
If you’re jungling 2 sets of Tangos are more effective than a set of Tangos and a Healing Salve – they offer greater healing for the cost but that healing is done over a longer period of time, so you should almost always have a Tango being consumed early on. If you’re laning the standard Tangos + Healing Salve combo is better.
The Stout Shield is a must, even if laning – it’ll block a huge chunk of damage over time and can later be upgraded into a Vanguard (Axe being one of the few heroes for whom a Vanguard is still a good pick-up).
Finally, a couple of Iron Branches round out your inventory, giving you a small amount of stat gain. They’ll also come in handy a bit later on when you come to purchase a Magic Wand.
Early Game
Tranquil Boots are still the go-to upgraded boots of Axe, despite the rework in patch 6.79 which made them much less useful on junglers. The difference, essentially, is that the incredible health regeneration effect of Tranquil Boots is removed for 13 seconds if you take damage or attack.
This is a major pain in the backside, but there are workarounds – most notably you can drop your Tranquil Boots prior to tackling a creep camp and then pick them back up once you’ve cleared it. You’ll instantly regain the health regeneration effects while travelling to the next camp, rather than having to wait 13 seconds.
Of course, the risk you face is an enemy hero destroying or stealing your Tranquil Boots. For this reason the tactic is not advised when the enemy line-up contains a hero with early access to invisibility (such as a Bounty Hunter), and it is ill-advised to do it past the laning phase as well, since aggressive warding of the jungle becomes commonplace at this point and if any of the enemy heroes opt for a Blink Dagger they can steal them before you even see them coming if they have vision of your jungle.
An alternative to the traditional Tranquils into Blink and Vanguard build is an Arcane Boots into Blink and Mekanism build. This is much less common (hence why I’ve listed these items as situational), but it is worth considering. The main reason Mekanism is not bought on Axe is because he has severe mana issues and the 150 mana cost for using Mekanism simply becomes too great a burden on his tiny mana pool. If you opt for Arcane Boots you open up the possibility of buying the team’s Mekanism.
Mekanism actually has a lot to recommend it over Vanguard on Axe:
- Vanguard grants you 250 health, 6 health regeneration and 10-20 additional damage block
- Mekanism grants you an identical 250 health, 4 health regeneration, 5 all stats, 5 armor, and an additional +2 armor aura active.
As you can see, the health benefits are identical, and the 7 armor and 5 all stats is a lot more useful than the bonus damage block (basic Stout Shield offers 10-20 damage block already). AND Mekanism is an amazing item for the entire team, allowing your team to push earlier and engage more confidently in teamgfights, whereas Vanguard’s benefits are felt solely by Axe himself.
The other reason Mekanism isn’t typically purchased by Axe is that it sets his progress on a Blink Dagger back quite substantially. If you need the early Blink Dagger then consider settling for just the Headdress component initially, rushing Blink, and then going back to complete the Mekanism.
Core Items
Blink Dagger is Axe’s highest priority purchase. It allows you to better fulfil your role as an initiator, Blinking into multiple enemies, activating Berserker’s Call, casting Battle Hunger, and then finishing heroes off with Culling Blade once their health reaches critical levels. Without a Blink Dagger, setting up for a good Berserker’s Call against multiple heroes is virtually impossible unless the enemy team have terrible positioning.
Vanguard is your other core item (unless you opt for the Mekanism build, in which case Mekanism and Arcane Boots are your core after Blink Dagger). As explained in the section above, Mekanism offers virtually identical health benefits and a lot more besides when compared to Vanguard, and for this reason Vanguard is viewed as being a very inefficient item purchase in general nowadays.
That said, Axe is one of the few heroes for whom Vanguard is still a good pick-up, not just because his mana pool makes Mekanism a demanding item to purchase but also because the components for Vanguard make for natural pick-ups early on – a Stout Shield is a core starting item for Axe, and a Ring of Health makes jungling much easier early on. At that point a Vitality Booster is a natural addition and your Vanguard is born.
Luxury Items
Once you have your core (be it Tranquils, Blink & Vanguard or Arcanes, Blink & Mekanism) you can move onto your luxury items. Common luxury pick-ups on Axe include:
Aghanim’s Scepter – Aghanim’s Scepter is great on Axe and not to be under-estimated. The +10 all stats, +150 mana and +200 health are all great to have on a hero whose role will often be that of an initiator and tank, but the key reason for purchasing Aghanim’s on Axe is for its buff to his ultimate: the cooldown is reduced from a lengthy 75/65/55 seconds to just 6 seconds (or 0 if it successfully kills a hero), increases the duration of the move speed buff from 6 seconds to 10 seconds, and most importantly increases the kill threshold (i.e. the point at which you can insta-kill a hero) from 250/350/450 health to 300/450/625 health.
Crimson Guard – A good defensive/utility item. If you decide to opt for an early-ish Vanguard then later upgrading it into a Crimson Guard is a good way of buffing your inventory in the late game when Vanguard’s usefulness tapers off and inventory slots are at a premium.
So you get a nice chunk of flat health (250), +2 all stats, +5 armor and 6 health regeneration. On top of that you gain a passive Damage Block ability, which gives an 80% chance to block 20-40 damage, and an active Guard ability, which allows you to create a shield which applies to yourself and allies in a 750 unit radius that grants everyone affected by it +2 armor and a 100% chance to block 50 damage.
Crimson Guard is somewhat comparable to Mekanism, but more suited to heroes like Axe with low mana pools (following Patch 6.82’s hefty increase in Mekanism’s mana cost). It performs a similar protective and +armor role (albeit granting damage block rather than direct health). If you fear being unable to sustain a mana pool for Mekanism but want to add utility/tankiness to your teamfight then a Crimson Guard is a great option.
Heart of Tarrasque - Will make you a full on tank. Your health pool will be enormous and you’ll be hard to take down. A good luxury item if you feel you’re falling in teamfights too quickly, although I prefer…
Heaven’s Halberd - Halberd will help you to tank up even more whilst also providing utility for your team. 20 strength is a nice boost to your health pool, whilst 25% evasion means you'll mitigate a lot of damage. The main reason I prefer it over Heart is that it also has good overall utility for your team, thanks to the ability to Disarm an enemy physical DPS'er for 3.0-4.5 seconds.
Assault Cuirass - The plus amour and attack speed auras for allies and minus armour for enemies makes Assault Cuirass a good luxury item on pretty much any core in the game. You become a lot tankier whilst at the same time weakening the enemy team and providing auras for your own team.
Don't go for an AC though if someone else on your team already has one or is working towards one. The auras won't stack and so the item becomes really cost inefficient at that point - you're better off using the gold on one of these other luxury items.
Blade Mail - If you have a poor game it can sometimes be the most cost-effective item to get which helps prevent you feeding and gives you the confidence to continue initiating (falling behind as Axe is often a complete deathblow for your entire game – it’s hard to initiate as Axe from behind without being killed off quickly, which puts you even further behind).
Even if you’re not actually playing from behind, it can still be a great pick up if the enemy team consists of fairly squishy heroes with high damage output (such as Phantom Assassin, or Skywrath Mage). Blink > Berserker’s Call > Blade Mail can destroy right-clickers like Phantom Assassin.
Shiva’s Guard - It will make you more durable thanks to the armour buff, and the aura will also provide utility for your team by slowing the attack speed of enemies. The Arctic Blast active also has amazing synergy with your own hero role, as it can be cast in the middle of your initiation to hit as many enemies as possible and thus further increase the impact your initiation combo.
Situational Items
Pipe of Insight - If you didn’t purchase the Mekanism for your team then that opens up the possibility of going for Pipe later on, when you’ll have a large enough mana pool to utilise it. 30% magic resistance and 400 spell damage block in a 900 unit AoE makes your entire team much stronger in teamfights and will help greatly when it comes to attempting to break the enemy base.
Boots of Travel - When you are at that stage of the game when you’re becoming 6 slotted, swap out your initial set of boots for Boots of Travel. It frees up a slot you would otherwise have reserved for a TP Scroll and makes you much less susceptible to split-push.
Vladmir’s Offering – Worth considering for the utility it provides your team, especially if any of the team’s cores are also melee heroes. Even if they’re not, your entire team will benefit from the bonus damage, mana regeneration, and armour auras.
Skill Build
Berserker’s Call is a unique disable which causes units to turn and attack Axe. It is usually skilled and maxed last, but is sometimes maxed second. Berserker’s Call forces enemy units within a 300 unit radius around Axe to attack him for 2/2.4/2.8/3.2 seconds. Additional levels reduce the ability’s cooldown from 16 to 10 seconds, and increase the mana cost from 80 to 110 mana.
For the duration it lasts, Axe gains a bonus 40 armor, which, alongside Culling Blade, is the reason why Berserker’s Call is a strong disable as Axe takes little in the way of damage whilst dishing out a lot of damage himself for its duration.
Battle Hunger is a magic damage over time ability. It is usually skilled and maxed second. It deals 16/24/32/40 magic damage per second to the chosen target for 10 seconds, unless that unit manages to kill or deny a unit during that time, in which case the ability ends. During this time the unit is slowed by 12% and Axe gains a bonus 12% move speed.
Additional levels reduce the ability’s cooldown from 20 to 5 seconds.
Counter Helix is a passive ability which grants Axe a chance to perform an attack that deals damage to nearby enemies whenever he is attacked. It is skilled and maxed first. The chance to perform a Counter Helix is 20%, and will hit enemies within a 275 AoE of Axe, dealing 100/135/170/205 physical damage.
Additional levels both increase the damage dealt by Counter Helix and also reduce the cooldown between potential Helix’s, from 0.45 seconds to 0.3 seconds.
Culling Blade is Axe’s ultimate and it is always skilled (levels 6, 11 and 16). Culling Blade deals minor magic damage to a single target – 150/250/300 magic damage, unless the target in question has less than 250/350/450 health, in which case it instantly kills them.
If Axe kills an enemy hero using Culling Blade, he and allies in a 900 unit radius gain 40% bonus move and attack speed for 6 seconds. The ability’s cooldown is also reduced from 75/76/55 seconds to 0 seconds if he manages to kill a hero using it.
Gameplay Tips
Berserker’s Call goes through Spell Immunity. As one of the few disables in the game that affects spell immune units, it’s a powerful disable at all stages of the game. It also affects invis units, forcing them to break invisibility.
Berserker’s Call grants you a bonus 40 armor for its full duration. At level 4 that’s 3.2 seconds of high physical resistance, so if you’re taking a lot of physical damage you can cast Call for the armor buff alone if necessary.
| Warning: Berserker’s Call has a fairly small 300 unit radius, meaning it only disables units that are within a 300 unit AoE of Axe when it’s cast. It’s short range is one of the key reasons Blink Dagger is considered a core item on Axe – without this superior positional ability it can be very difficult catching multiple units within your Call. |
Battle Hunger is a high damage over time ability – it deals a total of 60/240/320/400 magic damage if it lasts the full duration. But because it is removed if the unit in question kills or denies a creep, it is best used either on support heroes (who will not want to ‘steal’ creep kills from their carry) or those heroes that are not close to a creep wave. It is generally ineffective against carries as they will be constantly last hitting.
Battle Hunger is especially useful as a harassment tool during so-called Mexican stand-offs or tentative engagements where teams have grouped up but are reluctant to fully commit to a fight. In such circumstances you can cast Battle Hunger on multiple heroes, abusing its low cooldown and high cast range (750 units) to deal significant harass damage over time.
| Tip: If you’re jungling as Axe you should pop out of the jungle occasionally to attempt a gank if you spot an opportunity to do so. Even if unsuccessful in your gank attempt your presence alone will likely have zoned the enemy out of the lane, and so it’s well worth casting Battle Hunger on them to deal good harass damage. |
The most reliable way to deal solid damage with Battle Hunger, however, is at the start of your initiation as soon as you’ve cast Berserker’s Call. During this time the enemy will not be able to last hit or deny any creeps, and once ‘freed’ from your disable they will typically either attempt to retreat (in which case you can pursue them) or they will man up and fight you. Either way they’ll take a lot of damage from Battle Hunger during this time.
Remember that Battle Hunger slows – if your team is pursuing an enemy hero you should cast Battle Hunger on them in order to slow their move speed by 12%. Doing so will also boost Axe’s movespeed by 12%, which is often enough to allow you to catch up and use Berserker’s Call on them.
Counter Helix allows Axe to thrive off of combat with multiple units, which makes him good at clearing stacked creep camps, packed teamfight engagements, and also at ‘cutting the creep wave’. This tactic is often used in combination with a healing support, such as Dazzle, and involves Axe starting the game between the enemy tier 1 and tier 2 towers in one of the lanes. The AoE damage of Counter Helix allows him to quickly kill off creep waves without taking too much damage – the 20% chance of it triggering being greatly increased by the fact that multiple units will be hitting him when he takes on creep waves on his own.
Culling Blade only deals very minor magic damage (150/250/300) and so should not be used unless the hero you’re fighting with is below the kill threshold. In the heat of the moment, knowing whether a hero is below the kill threshold is a mix of experience and guesswork, since you’re unlikely to have time to check their health.
Culling Blade goes through spell immunity if it is a killing blow (otherwise it does not). It also goes through Dazzle’s Shallow Grave, and can even be used on enemy couriers (and it is well worth doing so if an opportunity presents itself).
| Note: If you do manage to kill a hero using Culling Blade, not only do your gain 40% bonus move speed and attack speed for 6 seconds, the cooldown is reset, allowing you to use it again immediately. This makes Culling Blade extremely powerful when enemy teams survive an engagement but only on low health – Axe can coming it and cull as many heroes as are below the kill threshold. |
Axe’s bread-and-butter combo is: Blink Dagger initiation on as many heroes as possible > Berserker’s Call (with Counter Helix passive) > Battle Hunger > Right clicks > Culling Blade (if you think a hero is below the kill threshold).
Last Updated - Patch 6.83.
