Time to Kick Some Axe.

Mogul Khan the Axe

"As a grunt in the Army of Red Mist, Mogul Khan set his sights on the rank of Red Mist General. In battle after battle he proved his worth through gory deed. His rise through the ranks was helped by the fact that he never hesitated to decapitate a superior. Through the seven year Campaign of the Thousand Tarns, he distinguished himself in glorious carnage, his star of fame shining ever brighter, while the number of comrades in arms steadily dwindled. On the night of ultimate victory, Axe declared himself the new Red Mist General, and took on the ultimate title of 'Axe.' But his troops now numbered zero. Of course, many had died in battle, but a significant number had also fallen to Axe's blade. Needless to say, most soldiers now shun his leadership. But this matters not a whit to Axe, who knows that a one-man army is by far the best." -DotA 2 Lore


"Axe chopped off their heads. Good day sir!" -tl;dr version

Skills (taken from the Wiki)

BERSERKER'S CALL

"Axe taunts nearby enemy units, forcing them to attack him, while he gains bonus armor during the duration."

Radius: 275
Bonus Armor: 40
Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Mana Cost: 75/85/95/105

Notes:
- Berserker's Call affects invisible units, as well as units with magic immunity.
- Enemies who are taunted by Berserker's Call will be frozen for the duration if Axe dies.



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."

Duration: 10/13/16/19
Movement Slow: 8%
Bonus Movement Speed: 8%
Damage Per Second: 15/21/27/33
Cooldown: 20/15/10/5 seconds
Mana Cost: 75/85/95/105

Notes:
- Heroes affected with this buff cannot be denied when their HP is low.
- Killing illusions, destroying buildings, or denying will also remove the spell.
- Has a maximum range of 900.



COUNTER HELIX

"When attacked, Axe performs a helix counter attack, dealing damage to all nearby enemies."

Radius: 275
Chance to Helix: 17%
Damage: 100/135/170/205
Cooldown: 0.65/0.6/0.55/0.5 seconds

Notes:
- Counter Helix checks for triggering whenever an attack against Axe begins, not when Axe is actually damaged by said attack.
- Does not affect mechanical units.



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."

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 seconds
Mana Cost: 120/160/200

Aghanim's Scepter: 6 sec cooldown (all levels)

Notes:
- Damage type: magical (regular), 100000000 physical (killing blow)
- The killing blow goes through magic immunity.
- The killing blow removes all buffs (*-even Shallow Grave) from the target unit before killing it.

Pros / Cons

Pros:
- Extremely Durable
- Great Initiator
- Snowballs Well
- Counter Helix
- 627 Battle Hunger Damage
- He's here to Kick Axe and Chew Bubblegum

Cons:
- He's all out of Bubblegum.
- Situational Pick
- Poor Late-Game
- Requires Farm/Gold
- Strength Hero with THREE Active Abilities
- Illogical Play-style
- Pubs Only Hero
- Has Legs

Basic Summary aka TL;DR Version

Skills:
Start with a level of Counter Helix.
Max Battle Hunger by Level 7.
Max Counter Helix second.
Get Culling Blade at 6, 11, and 16.
Max Berserker's Call last.

There is no need to level Stats early.

For an Advanced Breakdown (including Berserker's Call at Level 1) see the SKILLS OVERVIEW Section.


Items:
1. Rush Vanguard.
2. Get Arcane Boots.
3. Blink Dagger.
4. Make a Soul Booster by breaking down your Arcane Boots.
5. Bloodstone***.
6. Boots of Travel.
^- Situational Items can be bought when necessary at any point.

Help your support when you have an excess of gold especially after you have Blink Dagger.
Wards are essential to your ability to track enemy movements and that helps you better determine the best time to initiate a big team fight.
So helping your support with wards (when possible) will greatly benefit Axe in the end.
That does not mean buy wards every single time they're up!

***-(if you'd like to know my thought process PLEASE read the ITEM BUILD tab below BEFORE posting a comment about Bloodstone on Axe)


Laning Phase:
You are about to fulfill a semi-jungler role. Head to your safe lane (Radiant Bottom Lane or Dire Top Lane) and DO NOT block the creeps on your way to the tower. At 0:40 game time leave lane and head to your pull camp. At 0:52 stack the creeps. Then at 1:15 pull the lane. Start your game this way EVERY SINGLE TIME.
At every appropriate X:40 time interval leave the lane to stack and pull your camp.

After your Blood Hunger is Level 2 start using it aggressively on the enemy heroes AFTER the creeps have fought and there's no readily deniable creeps within their range.

See that enemy creep wave heading towards you?
By playing Axe you should also hear a submarine alarm in your head...
Along with the Captain screaming "DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!"
Every chance you have to aggro the enemy creeps and move in on an enemy hero DO IT!

Try to rush a Vanguard as soon as possible.
When you have it play more aggressively in lane and farm neutral camps when the enemy heroes are dead or missing UNLESS there is no carry in your lane. In that case farm the enemy creeps by leading just ahead of your own creep wave.

When you get Arcane Boots spam Battle Hunger reasonably often to keep your movespeed high enough to charge the enemy heroes when they start to get low.

For more Advanced Tips See the STRATEGY Section.


Mid-to-Late Game:
BLINK DAGGER! THE END. Just kidding. But not really.
Do everything in your power to get Blink Dagger! BD is absolutely essential to catch enemy heroes out of position and force team-fights that end in your favor.
DO NOT blink in and expect your team to come to the rescue. Ping about 10 seconds before.
Get Vitality Booster and Point Booster. Then disassemble your Arcane Boots and grab the Energy Booster to make Soul Booster.
Use your Soul Booster along with a Perseverance to make Bloodstone***.
Now that you can survive initial damage a little longer than you could before start being much more bold with your initiations. By this point your team should be roaming freely.
Be the head of the spear. ALWAYS be the first one in when the time comes.

***-(if you'd like to know my thought process PLEASE read the ITEM BUILD tab below BEFORE posting a comment about Bloodstone on Axe)

When you see an Enemy
SPAM BATTLE HUNGER.
Let me say it again
SPAM BATTLE HUNGER.

In a big team-fight when your team is with you and an enemy hero's HP falls below the Kill Threshold use Culling Blade on them.
Watch your team go ZOOM ZOOM ZOOOOOOOOM for 6 seconds and catch all the stragglers.

Get Boots of Travel next and roam with your team or high-DPS heroes.
NEVER go by yourself, EVER.

For more Advanced Tips see the STRATEGY Section.


PvE... errr Jungling:
This is (in my opinion) the most conservative and therefore weakest way to play Axe.
Skills are different. Max Counter Helix ASAP. Get two levels of Berserker's Call early.
Then get three levels in Battle Hunger to help you gank the lanes.

Jungling with Axe IS NOT like jungling with Ursa, Lycan, etc.
After you've farmed a Vanguard you have to come out of the jungles and gank your lane if you want to win.
Axe is not a "let my team 4v5 all game and we'll win at 40 minutes" hero
COMING OUT OF THE JUNGLE IS NOT OPTIONAL.

At the start move to the easiest creep camp in the jungle.
At 0:52 stack the easy neutral camp and use that to level up.

Try to get your lane to set up a quick gank if you can before 1:40.
At 1:40 stop what you're doing and head to the pull camp.
Tell your allies you're going to pull.
At 1:52 stack the pull camp.
At 2:15 pull the creeps.

When the enemy heroes come to harass you at the pull try to get them with Berserker's Call.
If your allies set up properly you should be able to get First Blood if it hasn't happened by now.

This basically outlines the whole jungle strategy.
1. You stack the neutral camps.
2. You kill the neutral camps for gold.
3. You look to your lane to try to get ganks.
Rinse & Repeat.

Skills Overview

BERSERKER'S CALL

Lane Harass Build:
Let's start with the most obvious question

WHY NOT GET THIS SKILL EARLY?
This is one of the most unreliable disables in the game.
- Axe only has 290 base movespeed. Most heroes are faster than him especially with no boots.
- Berserker's Call's AoE is only 275. Odds of catching more than one hero are minimal without Blink Dagger.
- Most of the time at level 7 heroes will be doing more magic damage than physical damage.

WHEN SHOULD I GET ONE LEVEL OF BERSERKER'S CALL DURING LEVELS 1-9?
There are two different circumstances I get Berserker's Call early on.
1. If the ally in my lane has NO crowd control (slow, stun, etc)
2. If there's an enemy hero that has a channeling ability (Pudge, Bane, etc) that I can cancel.

USING THE SKILL CORRECTLY
- This is pretty easy to explain. Get close to an enemy hero and cast.
- With a Blink Dagger just blink into an out-of-position hero or into an enemy team and they will be forced to attack you for 1.5 to 3 seconds. This will give your team a window of opportunity to follow through.
- An advanced tactic one can pull off is if an enemy invisible hero gets away one can predict his movements and Call to reveal him.

Jungle Build:
One gets this skill early to make one as durable as possible for the neutral camps.
Call the neutral creeps after you stack them to get the +40 armor buff.

It is also used for when Axe comes out of the jungle to gank.
Most of the time Axe will need a setup stun or slow from an ally to ensure Call works correctly.
Other than that it is basically the same as above.

BATTLE HUNGER

Lane Harass Build:
Battle Hunger is a great harass tool when used correctly.

WHY MAX BATTLE HUNGER FIRST?
- A full Battle Hunger will do 627 Magic Damage. That is A LOT of damage at Level 7.
- Axe can effectively force the enemy heroes to NOT attack the ally in his lane.
- If you right-click the enemy hero and aggro the creeps the enemy hero is forced to ignore you while they take tons of Counter Helix damage OR run away from you and take tons of Battle Hunger damage.

USING BATTLE HUNGER CORRECTLY
Early Game DO NOT just throw out Battle Hunger as soon as you see the enemy heroes come into your view. Your mana pool will not support this and the enemy heroes will quickly last-hit a creep to take off the Battle Hunger.
The earliest Axe should start casting Battle Hunger is probably when the skill is level 2.
Wait for a point in time when the enemy heroes have no readily available creeps to last-hit or deny.
For example - the creep wave finishes fighting and enemy creeps are coming straight at you. Only one of the enemy creeps can be denied. Deny the creep and cast Battle Hunger immediately after.
Another example - the creep wave has just started fighting. Move towards the enemy hero then right-click the enemy hero to pull the creeps toward you. Once the creeps start triggering Counter Helix immediately cast Battle Hunger. You now force them to make a choice. Either stand there and try to last-hit while taking Counter Helix damage OR run away from you and take tons of Battle Hunger damage.
At some point I will add pictures to explain this better.

After you have your Arcane Boots start using Battle Hunger a little more liberally.
Every fight or gank that Axe starts there should be at least ONE target that is Battle Hungered.
The only exception to this is if you have established good lane control by this point. Axe can continually bombard the enemy heroes with Battle Hunger to force them to come into conflict or just sit at their tower and take damage plus gimp their own farm and XP.

Once you get to the point that you have Bloodstone (or even a Soul Booster) fire off Battle Hunger like it was going out of style.
Every 5 seconds you need to make sure you're hitting a different hero with Battle Hunger.
Keep in mind that if you do manage to hit five heroes that is a 40% boost to your movespeed. That is HUGE.
Even just four is 32%! Three is still 24%.
The point is if you're constantly using this spell your initiation power is a lot higher than it would be without this skill.


Jungle Build:
You won't be using this skill as much with the Jungle Build because most of your mana will be reserved for Culling Blade and Berserker's Call. Most of the time you will use it to ensure the kill or to add more damage to a disabled opponent. The best time to use it is when the enemy heroes are running away or when they're disabled.

COUNTER HELIX

Lane Harass Build:
Passive ability that causes you to do damage in an AoE when attacked NOT when you're damaged. That is a big distinction.
With Axe it is not about how much damage you can take but how many attacks you can force to happen (via creeps or right-clicks from heroes).
This means Evasion WILL STACK with Counter Helix.

Jungle Build:
Step 1: Walk up to those Neutrals.
Step 2: Breathe heavily.
Step 3: Roll face on keyboard.
Step 4: SPIN 2 WIN!
Step 5: Nature's Profit (her da herrrr see wut i did thur).

CULLING BLADE

This applies to both Builds.

Culling Blade is a skill you should use to kill low HP heroes. NEVER use this skill just to do magic damage; it is not worth it.
Culling Blade instantly kills a hero that is below 300, 425, or 625 health.
This skill will go through magic immunity or buffs.
That means it will ALWAYS kill a hero through skills like Omniknight's Repel or Guardian Angel, Dazzle's Shallow Grave, etc.

USING CULLING BLADE CORRECTLY
First of all you usually don't want to use this skill just to Kill Steal (KS).
What I mean by this is don't sit in the back breathing heavily with a menacingly huge grin and jump out at the very last second to ultimate an enemy hero.
However if you've done damage to the enemy hero or you've helped someone gank then by all means use this skill every time it's available.
The ONLY exception to this is if you are facing a hero with an escape mechanism (blink, windwalk, etc). After your team bursts them down always use Culling Blade even if you have to kill steal. DO NOT let them get away.

The BEST time to use Axe's Ultimate though is at the start of a team-fight.
Use Axe to initiate the start of a team-fight and by the time your team comes to your aid your primary target should be low enough HP to Culling Blade.
This is the best time to use Axe's Ultimate because your team gets a 25% movement speed boost for 6 seconds. Even if people don't realize it that 25% ms boost will help your team with positioning or chasing; both are VERY important.

Generally speaking you can't keep clicking an enemy hero to check their health during a fight.
So my rule of thumb is when you see the enemy hero's health bar get to about 10% - 25% of their health start thinking about using Culling Blade.

Item Build

I know what you're thinking.
"Kasan0va, I should get 5 Battlefuries and a Quelling Blade because those are all axes!"
No fellow Dota Players, you shouldn't.

For reference - https://dotabuff.com/heroes/axe/items

EARLY GAME ITEMS:
Vanguard, The End.
Seriously you have to rush Vanguard. You don't need anything more than basic Boots of Speed at first but you DEFINITELY need Vanguard. It is hands down Axe's most important item. DO NOT go for anything else except Vanguard at first NO MATTER WHAT.
This should always, Always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be the first item you make.

ARCANE BOOTS vs TRANQUIL BOOTS
Before we go any further let's discuss Win Rates on both of these items.

Arcane Boots: in 82,647 games this month it won 55.94% of the time.
Tranquil Boots: in 416,084 games this month it won only 46.46% of the time.

Why does an Axe with Arcane Boots win almost 10% more often than an Axe with Tranquil Boots?
I think this is for a couple reasons.
- Arcane Boots helps out a lot with Axe's very, very limited mana pool.
- Arcane Boots refills 135 mana which is 30 more mana than you need for either Berserker's Call or Battle Hunger
- Arcane Boots helps your allies too!
- Tranquil Boots does give 80 movespeed until you're hit THREE times... Axe NEEDS to get hit to proc Counter Helix. So this will not help you initiate because as soon as the creeps start hitting you there is no way for you to chase down heroes.
-Tranquil Boots WILL NOT heal you when you need it to in a fight. You have to stand away from the fray for 10 seconds (standing away from combat is bad on Axe).
-Tranquil Boots only heals 170 health over 10 seconds. To put this in perspective a Healing Salve heals 400 health over the same time frame.
- Neutrals and regular creeps will not stop Tranquil's heal so for that reason it is the better jungling item.

For lane harassment purposes Arcane Boots is better.
If you're in the jungle Tranquil Boots is better.

CORE ITEMS:
By 'Core Items' I mean the Items that you should generally go for every game.
You don't have to have them (except for Vanguard) but 80% of the time you should be going for these items.
Always remember I have Situational Items too that you can grab if you need them.

Let's start with the item that I feel will be the most controversial.

BLOODSTONE

Cost: 5050
+500 HP
+400 Mana
+9 HP regeneration
+200% Mana regeneration

Passive: Bloodpact - Starts with 6 charges. Gains 1 charge each time an enemy hero dies within 1675 range. Each charge bestows 1 mana regeneration per second, reduces gold lost from death by 25, and reduces respawn time by 4 seconds. When the bearer dies, restores 400 HP + 30 HP per charge to allied units within 1675 range, then loses a third of its charges. While dead, the bearer continues to receive experience at the death location and gives 1800 unit vision there.

What is the Win Rate for Bloodstone on Axe?
In 11,125 Games this month it won 79.57% of the time. (10/24/2012)
So the idea that you can't win with Bloodstone on Axe is WRONG!

Why would I make this a Core Item on Axe?
- With three active abilities (two have 5-10 second cooldowns) this item lets you spam them as often as possible which is CRITICAL on Axe.
- Still gives you 500 bonus health and 9 HP Regen PLUS more Regen the more charges you amass.
- Reduces gold lost on death by 25 for each charge. When you do finally die from initiating it will not affect you hardly at all.
- Reduces respawn time by 4 seconds per charge. If you're doing great on Axe you will get to respawn and get into the fight FASTER. Which means you'll be much more useful to your team.
- When you are forced to initiate on the high ground... Should you die, your allies will gain the critical vision they need AND you will heal all your allies for 400 + 30 per charge. This often means the difference between raxing or just getting the tower.
- If you initiate successfully, even if you die this item will make sure that you get XP for your troubles.
- EXTREMELY easy to farm the components. This is probably one of the more important points. The most gold you'll have to save is 1200.
- If you have Arcane Boots you can disassemble them and use the Energy Booster towards Soul Booster to save 1000 gold.
- Did I mention the almost 80% Win Rate?

To me this item is the dark horse of Axe items.
Nobody realizes its potential on Axe but IF ONLY THEY KNEW... (The Power of the Dark Side?)

One of the big reasons I mentioned above is the component cost.
You're an Initiator. One of the few leather wearing, motorcycle riding tough guys that is supposed to be on the front lines.
But what if you have 2600 gold? 3000 gold?
Will you be as willing to initiate if you're really close to an item like Reaver?
No, of course not.
Those kinds of situations rarely emerge when you only need to save 1200 gold.


VANGUARD


Cost 2225
Chance to Block: 70%
Damage Blocked (melee wielder): 40
+250 HP
+6 HP regeneration

You really just have to have this FIRST!
I won't be spending a lot of time on this because I think it's pretty self explanatory why Axe needs this.
Damage Block? GOOD.
Health? GOOD.
Health Regen? GOOD.


BLINK DAGGER


Cost: 2150
Active: Blink - Teleport to a target point up to 1200 units away. If damage is taken from an enemy hero, Blink Dagger cannot be used for 3 seconds.
Cooldown: 14
Mana Cost: 75

This is generally the third or fourth item you should be going for (after Arcane Boots and Vanguard OR possibly Soul Booster).
You NEED this to initiate especially if the other team has even one hero with an escape mechanism. This basically eliminates Axe's penalized movespeed because you can close the distance between yourself and your target in a split-second.
Blink in and use Berserker's Call immediately after. This is pretty much the only time Berserker's Call actually becomes a reliable disable because there's not a big chance you're going to miss.


BOOTS OF TRAVEL


Cost: 2500
+100 Movement speed
Active: Teleport - Teleports you to an allied non-hero unit or structure. While channeling, gives 200 range vision on the target and pings your allies' minimaps.
Teleporting to a non-fountain building takes additional time if any allies have also teleported within a 1100 radius of your target within 25 seconds.
Cooldown: 60 seconds

With the 6.76 changes I think these Boots will be even better because everything else got slowed down by 5.
In any event you want to be able to be in the front-line of the battle as often as possible. If you just respawned teleport to an allied push and help them out.
If you're in the jungles or in another lane and see some allies going for a gank...
Teleport in!
The 100 movespeed doesn't hurt at all either.

WHY NOT BLADE MAIL?
I've never liked Blade Mail on Axe because a lot of people misunderstand its use.
Blade Mail does have Damage Return... but the damage returned is the damage that you took AFTER it has been mitigated.
The Popular use for this item is to pop it and then use Berserker's Call.
Berserker's Call gives you 40 Armor. Which means the enemy heroes are taking the damage you took AFTER it has been mitigated by BC's 40 Armor.
So what I'm trying to say is that this item does not actually stack with Berserker's Call the way most people assume it does. You're really not putting out that much damage with Blade Mail if you use it like that.
However you can use Blade Mail AFTER or BEFORE you Helix...
BUT then the enemy heroes will be even less likely to attack you
AND any creeps attacking you will kill themselves even faster (which is bad you want them to get as many attacks on you as possible).


SITUATIONAL ITEMS:

WHEN DO I GET ---

AGHANIM'S SCEPTER? (upgrades Axe's Culling Blade)
- The game is a completely and utterly one-sided. I tend to not like this item because while the 6 second cooldown is nice Axe does not have the mana pool to sustain 200 mana every 6 seconds.
- If you already have Bloodstone you can get this item to start using your Culling Blade for the 300 damage AND for finishing heroes off. This is HIGHLY situational in my opinion.

ASSAULT CUIRASS? (gives Axe tons of armor... and attack speed?)
- You have a hard carry on your team that could benefit from the extra attack speed and negative armor to enemy heroes.
- They have Slardar or Bounty Hunter and you need the extra armor to negate their ultimates.
- Don't get this item if another player on your team is going for Assault Cuirass.

BLADE MAIL? (gives a little armor and a pretty good Active)
- They have a low-hp high damage carry like Sniper or Anti-Mage and you're under-farmed.
- You have lots of spare gold and need the extra damage.

HEART OF TARRASQUE? (moar HP den Ahnold Schwarzeneggar)
- You have gold bleeding out of your every orifice (in other words you're EXTREMELY fed).
- You really, really need the extra HP to tank a lot of burst damage.
- All the towers are down and you are sick of returning to base to heal yourself.

PIPE OF INSIGHT? (most underrated item... Ever?)
- The Evasion DOES stack with Helix. The enemy hero does not actually have to damage you to trigger Counter Helix.
- I usually go with this item if I'm against a bashing hero.
- This item counters Huskar and N'aix pretty well. You can use the active to stop them from doing tons of damage to you or regenerating their own health with life leach - although picking Axe against N'aix or Huskar is very risky in the first place.
- If you do get Heaven's Halberd DO NOT USE THE ACTIVE unless you're using it to save a teammate.

PIPE OF INSIGHT? (magic against me? trolololololol!)
- You have at least a Soul Booster and can manage to the mana cost to help your team.
- If you don't have a Soul Booster just grab a Hood of Defiance and finish Pipe later.
- The other team does A LOT of magic damage.
- Enemy team has tons of Area of Effect spells that they're using to defend against your initiation.

SHIVA'S GUARD? (ICE to meet you)
- This item is superior to Assault Cuirass in my opinion.
- Get this item when you really need armor.
- You're having a tough time with the initial physical damage from initiating.
- The extra damage from Arctic Blast can be surprisingly nice to have AND stops your targets from running away too quickly.

WARDS & DUST & SMOKE? (Yup. That's right. I said it.)
- After you get Blink Dagger you can help the Support ward.
- You're jungling. Don't depend on the Support for everything you're NOT a carry.
- Only 150 gold now so I don't want to hear you junglers QQing.
- You have no Support heroes at all (in pubs especially with BR or RU it happens).
- If you buy Smoke it basically forces your team to come initiate with you. Which is good.
- You're the first one in so Dust of Appearance can really help reveal those pesky invis heroes that like to try to escape and reposition during team-fights.

Strategy

I will eventually add helpful pictures and what-not here when I manage to get some more time.
I'll also start expanding all of this stuff out more.

WHEN DO I PICK AXE?!
Axe doesn't get picked in tournies because as a whole he's really not a good hero.
In Pubs!
Axe is a good hero if you need a beefy initiator.
He can fulfill the role of a jungler BUT! I prefer to play him as a lane harassment pseudo-jungler.

In other words I like to sit in lane about 80% of the time so I can make use of Battle Hunger and Counter Helix harass. The other 20% of the time I am in the jungle stacking creeps to pull or to get that last bit of gold towards a Core Item.

Axe isn't necessarily a hard-lane (Top for Radiant, Bottom for Dire) hero but in Pubs he can do it.
You just need a good nuker in your lane to help set you up.

Do not lane him against Windrunner, Dark Seer, Keeper of the Light, or anyone else that can easily get creep kills with long-range nukes.

You can use him to harass melee hard carries in the early game! Just make sure you make it extremely taxing for them to try to last-hit. In other words keep rushing them at the creep line and DO NOT let them get into a comfortable rhythm.

He doesn't always do well against Ranged heroes but he can if you know what you're doing. Two ranged heroes in a lane can be pushing it unless you have someone like Dark Seer or Wisp in your lane.


Match-Ups - https://dotabuff.com/heroes/axe/matchups

COUNTERS TO AXE
- Jakiro. The Mother of all Axe counters. If you look closely at Axe you can see him shed a single tear when Jakiro is picked. You effectively depend on standing in one place for Berserker's Call to work; Jakiro will just use Macropyre to take advantage of this and now your initiation is ruined because you're going to have to run away. He'll usually hit you with Ice Path at that point and his team will easily finish you off.
- Dazzle. He will watch you run up to the creep waves and laugh as you take tons of Shadow Wave damage. Weave makes you lose A LOT of armor as well.
- Dark Seer. He'll use Ion Shell on the creeps and there's no way you'll be able to get close to him.
- Silencer / Obsidian Destroyer. Pure damage hurts Axe a lot and there's no way for him to counter it. In the WC3 days I remember I could press W and use that to attack and it would force Counter Helix not to proc. I have no idea if that works anymore.
- Necrolyte. He says "Look at all that damage you're taking! LOLOLOLOL REAPER'S SCYTHE."
- Ancient Apparition. If he hits you with his ultimate you can't regenerate or be healed.


HELPFUL ALLIES
- Dark Seer. If you look closely after picking you will see Axe bro-fisting Dark Seer. Seriously one of the best lane wombo combos in the game. Dark Seer casts Ion Shell and you just murder the enemy lane with Counter Helix and Berserker's Call. This is one time where I would max Call first because Dark Seer can vacuum the enemy heroes close to you OR use Surge to speed you up.
- Wisp. Tether will help you in the lane tremendously. Charge straight at them with your buffed movespeed and roll face on keyboard as the enemy heroes die. This is another combo where Call first might not be a bad idea especially when Wisp starts Relocating you to gank other lanes OR to initiate.
- Disruptor. I love this combination for the spam. Thunder Strike and Battle Hunger is usually way too much damage for any hero to handle early. If they come in to last hit the creeps usually Disruptor will just Kinetic Field them. He can also bring a fleeing hero back to you with Glimpse.
- Jakiro. Hey look my dragon friend! I stuck everyone in one place for you!
- Magnus. His ultimate and Berserker's Call both stack quite nicely.
- Witch Doctor. Another great lane partner who benefits from at least one level of Call. Battle Hunger + Maledict = dead hero.

Guide Changelog

10/24/2012
Published
THINGS TO ADD:
- Pictures.
- Make the Hero Matchups less text and more pictures.
- Add helpful advice from the comments.
- More jungling info.
- Add deeper explanations and descriptions of aggroing creeps and diving to Strategy tab.
- Mudkips, Old Gregg, etc
- LOLOLOLOLOLOL!