A Useful Axe: No business but war. No family but death. No mercy but the grave!

Arcanes are much more than just mana regen they also boost your mana pool quite a lot. Since I have found building Mek helps your team and your survivability a ton you need the mana pool that Arcanes provide to be able to use it effectively. Additionally since arcanse and tranq can be disassembled i situationally build both arcanse and tranquils. But honestly I have found tranquil boots are not longer necessary after 15-20 mins into the game, especially once you get the armor and regen from a Mek.

Another nice thing about Arcanse is if you have a fantastic laning stage and get or help get 2-4 kills in the early game, Arcanes can be disassembled into bloodstone. Then you can build phase or travels.

Pre-nerf tranquils were much better on axe, but Axe's tranquils get broken so easily I've found them a liability more than anything.

If you haven't tried Arcane boots on axe, I suggest you give it a shot.

Edit- and on the topic of Soul Ring on axe, I just don't see any real good reason to get it on him. Battle hunger is very spamable and while soul ring will allow you to get a "free" one every 30 seconds, it won't allow you to spam it like you ideally will be wanting to do. For just about 200 more gold you can get the Booster portion of the arcane boots which boost your tiny mana pool considerably and allow you to replenish your own mana pool and your lane partners / teams. Even if you elect to build tranquil boots, you can really have both, and honestly you don't need Tranquil boots past 10-15 mins in my experience, though I suppose your results may vary.

I personally think Arcane Boots are only "core" when there is no one on your team that would otherwise build it, and even then, I wouldn't recommend it. Tranquil Boots + Soul Ring offer MUCH better ovrall mana regen, plus the armor and natural regen of tranquil boots + soul ring, plus the added movement speed to chase enemies to get that last ditch battle hunger while they run away with no life. And the two are not that much more expensive than Arcane Boots, and include smaller components so you don't have to sit around with ~1000 gold lying around before you finally go from Boots of Speed to Arcane Boots.

On the other hand, Manta Style is an interesting addition to Axe. I thought of it the other day when I noticed my illusions from a rune proccing counter hex, but wasn't sure if the damage was mitigated (sounds like it does full damage, which is awesome).

Still, I have a hard time replacing what I consider to be ABSOLUTELY core on Axe:

Heaven's Halberd, Blink, Blademail, Heart, Boots (either Tranquil or Arcane), and one free slot for a TP scroll or dust. For that reason, I'm not sure if I'd consider Manta as anything but situational.

Thanks! What people don't realize is that even alone and without your team Mekansm adds a TON more survivability than Vanguard, not to mention the team utility, it not falling off an usefulness so early, and how acquiring a Mekansm as early as Axe can farm one will increase your teams push and effectiveness in early team fights a TON.

+1 Just for adding Mekansm as Core, if you have money for Vanguard, you have money to help your Team.

With Arcanes Axe has plenty of mana to use Mek as well as his other skills, I wouldn't of posted this build if it wasn't tested.

SnY is merely a buildup to Heavens Halbred and Manta both excelent items on Axe (illusions helix for full damage)

Vlads is just a utlity item that helps your team. Perfect because you are a melee support.

I do build perseverance if the situation calls for bloodstone (re: i dominated my lane).

One reason why Mek isn't much used by Axe even with Arcane because he lacks the mana. Unless you are not planning to spam Battle Hunger.

I gotta agree with the Vanguard issue though. That aside, never ever build SnY on this dude. Note that he relies on Culling Hex to dish out damage so you won't be relying on your auto-attack. Same goes for Vlads. If you really need hp regen, rushing a heart would be better.

A perseverance could also replace VG, too.

Axe is one of my favorite heroes and I never really considered a manta on him. Definitely an interesting choice I think I'll give a try.