Awesome Axe-tion!

Introduction

Axe is a melee strength hero who has amazing health regen to withstand light damage, but sometimes lacks mana. This guide may improve how you use Axe and some techniques.

Pros/Cons

Pros

-High health regen
-Rather high health during early game
-Gains bonus armour when using Berserker's Call
-Has a passive ability which damages enemies around you
-Has a kill threshold with ult
-Short ult cooldown with Aghanim's Scepter

Cons

-Rather slow base movement speed
-No stun mechanise
-Sometimes has mana problems

Skills

Berserker's Call
Axe taunts nearby enemy units, forcing them to attack him, while he gains bonus armor during the duration.
Ability: No target
Affects: Enemies
Radius: 275
Bonus Armour:30
Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Mana cost: 80/90/100/110


This ability lets you take in lots of damage with out losing much health, this used with Blade Mail is deadly for creep waves and enemies. When an enemy is targeting a low health hero on your team, use Berserker's Call when you are close enough to the enemy to delay him/her.

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Battle Hunger
Enrages an enemy unit, causing it to be slowed and take damage over time until it kills another unit or the duration ends. Axe gains movement speed for each unit affected with Battle Hunger.
Ability:Target Unit
Affects:Enemies
Damage:Magical
Duration: 10/13/16/19
Movement Slow: 10%
Bonus Movement Speed: 4%
Damage Per Second: 15/21/27/33


This ability is most effective in early game to gank. This is because of the DoT if the enemy doesn't attack an enemy creep.When this ability is maxed out, it would cause 627 damage to the enemy. When you see an enemy hero going back to base, cast this ability on them. New players will panic and avoid battle. This causes them to have less farming time. This ability can also be used to kill low to medium health enemies early to mid game and also successfully kill enemies when they go invisible as the DoT still applies to them.This ability is therefore first priority to gank enemies to get more gold.

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Counter Helix
When attacked, Axe performs a helix counter attack, dealing damage to all nearby enemies
Ability: Passive
Affects: Enemies
Damage:Physical
Radius: 275
Chance to Helix: 17%
Damage: 100/130/160/190
Cooldown: 0.65/0.6/0.55/0.5


This ability is the 2nd priority to do a large amount of damage to the enemy. This ability, when used with Berserker's Call, causes the enemy to take in more damage while you suffer less.

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Culling Blade
Axe spots weakness and strikes, dealing moderate damage but instantly killing an enemy unit with low health. When an enemy unit is killed in this way, Axe and nearby allied units gain bonus movement speed.
Ability:Target Unit
Affects:Enemy Heroes
Damage:Magical
Kill Threshold: 300/450/625
Damage: 150/250/300
Range: 150
Bonus Movement Speed: 25%
Movement Speed Radius: 600
Movement Speed Duration: 6
Cooldown: 75/65/55 (6*)
* upgradeable by Aghanim's Scepter
Mana: 120/160/200


The ult for Axe is very effective against most intelligence and agility heroes early to mid game due to their low health. This ability has a kill threshold of 300 damage at level 6. But because the ability deals 150 damage at level 6, the enemy is usually killed when they 450 health or less.It is best to kill the enemy at level 6 when they have 400 or less in case of their lifesteal or health regen. this ability loses effectiveness at late game due to obvious reasons. Get as many kills as you can to gain a gold boost.

Item Choice

Vanguard is a core item as it provides health,health regen and a damage block,also these factors benefiting Axe.I use Power Treads as it has bonus attack speed and can switch attributes when you need it. Aghanim's Scepter is used so Axe can gank like crazy with a 6 second cooldown ult. I also gives a nice stat boost.Hood of Difiance gives 8 hp regen with 30% magic resistance for extra sustainability and remain standing from strong nukes.The Hood of Difiance can be later upgraded to Pipe of Insight. Finally, my last core item I have chosen is Blade Mail, so you can return any damage taken as pure damage.

For late game, I chose Blink Dagger, Soul Booster and Skull Basher. Blink Dagger because when at late game, and you are perceived as a threat, enemies would flee as soon as they see you, so Blink Dagger can solve this problem by blinking next to them. Soul Booster is fore late game as it grants bonus health,mana,health regen and mana regen for sustainability. It can be later upgraded to Bloodstone. Skull Basher is the last of my late game items as it provides a stun which Axe does not normally have. It also gives strength and damage.

Heart of Tarrasque is luxury as it gives insane health regen and stregth. Assault Cuirass is also luxury as it gives attack speed aura,positive and negative armour aura and lots of armour. Pipe of Insight is a great item as it gives lots of health regen and 30% magic resistance. It also gives an active ability which casts a magical shield. Bloodstone is used if you want extra health and mana or if you are ganking like crazy. Shiva's Guard is my last luxury item as it gives a slowing ability,a freezing aura,intelligence and lots of armour.

Arcane Boots is a situational item if you have mana problems and Helm of the Dominator is used for bonus sustainability as it grants lifesteal,armour,damage and an active ability which allows you to control a creep.

Allies/Enemies

Allies

Allies are heroes who can help you to get first blood with heroes like Tiny, Omniknight and Sand King.

Enemies

Because you have little mana, stay awy from heroes who drain mana like Keeper of the Light, Anti-Mage and Lion. If you get too tanky, heroes like Enigma and Necrolyte can kill you due to their abilities.

End

Axe is overall an easy hero to use who plays many roles. Feel free to add any comments so I could add or change some things.Thank you for reading my guide!