"Axe is not stupid!" - The Int Axe Compendium

It's true. Lasthitting with Axe is very important. But good Axe players will position themselves in the creep wave such that going for a lasthit to cancel a Battle Hunger puts the enemy in jeopardy of taking a thrashing from Counter Helix. That's why Tranquils are such an asset on Axe - he depends on his health to be aggressive and deal damage just as much as he relies on his mana.

why is Axe so effective in low level pubs, you ask?

Because new players cant last hit/ deny

^ What the OP is (very correctly) saying is that you use Berserker's Call, then Blade Mail AFTER it ends. Blade Mail returns damage, but when Berserker's Call is active you're not taking enough damage to warrant the usage. Using both at the same time would be like using a stun on someone and then immediately hexing them - a complete waste.

Well it really depends of the enemy hero...An Axe shutted me down hard with that tactic when I was playing with Kunka as a carry, I just couldn't afford to eat 1 or 2 of my own crits.

+1. the idea is pretty awesome, albeit humorous. never thought of playing axe this way, and to be quite honest i probably never will... but im not going to say it doesnt work. from the read, it seems pretty solid. oh and i hate the people who say "this will never work in higher level play..." it just seems so redundant, because you wouldnt be looking for guides if you were at that level of play to begin with... again, seems like an honest fun build so you get +1 from me.

Yeah, but you also have to consider utility over time while acquiring that gold. The first 1480 is a Null Talisman and a Staff of Wizardry, which is a grab bag of stats Axe benefits greatly from early game. The next 1300 for Dagon 1 is a massive utility spike because you can nuke whereas you couldn't before.

All the items you list are big ticket, with extremely cost-inefficient components. The Reaver for a heart is 3200 for 25 STR - more than 100g per point of strength. This is not a good point of comparison for what utility you should expect out of 1300 gold for a Dagon upgrade. Instead, let's look at what else ~1300 gold gets you compared to everything listed in my last post:

Staff of Wizardry + 2x Mantle of Intelligence - +16 Int
Point Booster - +200 HP +150 mana, 100g change for a TP or something

It is also worth considering that item slots are a resource, and upgrading Dagon is free in terms of inventory space. Just off the top of my head, a circumstance Int Axe with Dagon 3 would be a surefire choice is against stealthies, who tend to be low HP and easy to nuke down, but require an additional inventory slot to detect. You best believe I'm going Dagon 3 on PL and Bounty Hunter's ***es.

Don't get me wrong - nowhere in the guide do I say "Level 3 Dagon err' game", I just find that 1-2 levels added on in the midgame is often worthwhile. It's basically a matter of whether you need more DPS or more survivability whether you should buy more Dagon or one of the survivability items listed.

Well, I can see you're not going to change your mind on this, but I would strongly recommend that you try out some other options. Dagon is a situational enough item as it is, and the upgrades very rarely bought at any kind of higher level play - put it this way, the upgraded nuke damage can be easily neutralised with just a Bracer, for a fraction of the cost - never mind the better scaling items you could have bought instead. (for the same price as a lvl 3 Dagon you could have a Heart of Tarrasque or Assault Cuirass)

Every time you buy another Dagon recipe:

+2 int
+100 damage
+50 range (!)
-20 manacost
-5 sec CD (!!)

Stronger nukes more often from further away for cheaper. In testing this out, I discovered it is worth 1300 gold.

To add onto your point about Counter Helix not scaling: its damage is decreasing all game too. It's physical, so as everyone gains armor it hits for less and less.

Uh...1300 gold is a lot to pay for 2 intelligence and 100 nuke damage - you'd need to get 5-6 kills that you wouldn't have got otherwise just to make this pay for itself. How about a Health Booster or an Ogre Axe instead?

Totally agree with your point about Blade Mail with Berserker's Call btw - seems much better to wait until it's worn off. And yeah sorry Axe doesn't really scale late game:

- Berserker's Call, yes, scales as it's as it's effectively a disable.
- Battle Hunger, nope, it might still net you kills as it potentially does a lot of damage, but everyone else's increased damage makes it very easy for them to kill a creep quickly. Enemy heroes all have more health too.
- Counter Helix, not really, might proc more often due to increased enemy attack speed, but that's it.
- Culling Blade, fixed damage thresholds, nope, it's a 300-600 damage nuke.

Verified: It is loads of fun.

This looks like loads of fun....That, and i like Axe in general. +1 from me at least for the idea.

It largely comes down to the rhythm of the game. Sometimes you get enough peace and quiet to farm up another full item, but sometimes, you've only got 1450 in your pocket and there's a teamfight brewing mid. L3 Dagon isn't for every game but L2 Dagon is almost always a good idea somewhere around 25-30min.