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Dota 2 axe.png
Axe
Base stats and attributes
Strength 25 + 2.5
Agility 20 + 2.2
Intelligence 18 + 1.6
Base damage 24-28
Move speed 290
Armor 1.8
Statistics
Level 1 16 25
Hit Points 625 1290 2145
Mana 234 525 993
Damage 49-53 84-88 129-133
Armor 2 6 12
Sight Range 1800/800
Attack Range 128
Missile Speed N/A

"No business but war. No family but death. No mercy but the grave!"

Axe is a melee strength hero who is usually played as a jungler, a ganker and an initiator. Axe is a hero that requires boldness and calculated aggression. His innate survivability, having slightly high HP regen than his Strength will normally allow, as well as solid abilities, he can thrive in large battles and get key kills. Axe's signature ability is arguably Counter Helix, letting him shrug off attacks and do tons of damage to nearby opponents, making it advantageous to get involved in heavy skirmishes and greatly enhances Axe's survivability. Axe's main damage spell will be his Battle Hunger. While it is similar to most damage over time spells, its low cooldown and great cast range lets Axe cast it on enemies continuously in a teamfight, giving a helpful movement speed boost for Axe to chase down his target. If Axe needs to force a battle, he can rely on Berserker's Call to do the job. It taunts enemies into attacking him while giving him near physical invulnerability, drawing foes away from more important targets like the team carry and forcing them into fights they can't win. Finally, Axe has a powerful finishing ability with his ultimate, Culling Blade. Not only will it instantly kill any enemy below a certain hp threshold, it also grants him and his allies a quick speed boost, letting him build up more momentum after a kill or retreat before enemy reinforcements arrive. With abilities focused on surviving battles and picking off enemies, Axe can jump right into a fight aggressively, take down several key targets and leave barely injured.

Abilities[edit]

Berserker's Call[edit]

Dota 2 axe berserkers call.png
  • Ability: No Target
  • Radius: 300
  • Bonus Armor: 40
  • Duration: 2 / 2.4 / 2.8 / 3.2
  • Mana Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110
  • Cooldown: 16 / 14 / 12 / 10

Berserker's Call forces all nearby enemies to attack you while giving you 40 bonus armor. Since the armor gain is so high, you won't have to worry about calling an enemy that's too strong for you. It can be a good way to initiate a battle by calling a bunch of heroes to attack you while your allies focus on them. You can also use it to call enemies pursuing a wounded ally to save him.

Battle Hunger[edit]

Dota 2 axe battle hunger.png
  • Ability: Target Unit
  • Affects: Enemy Heroes
  • Damage Type: Magical
  • Damage: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30
  • Duration: 10 / 12 / 14 / 16
  • Movement Slow: 10%
  • Speed Bonus: 10%
  • Mana Cost: 75 / 85 / 95 / 105
  • Cooldown: 20 / 15 / 10 / 5

Battle Hunger will enrage the target, slowing it and making it take damage over time until it kills a unit or the debuff ends. The ability's usefulness is dependant on the situation. If you are fighting near a lane then the affected target can just kill a lane creep to dispel the debuff. If you are fighting far from any creeps, it can be very powerful since they can't kill anything other than your team's heroes. Just the slow itself is good enough for catching up to fleeing enemies, and you can force them to try and kill you with Berserker's Call or get in range for a Culling Blade.

Counter Helix[edit]

Dota 2 axe counter helix.png
  • Ability: Passive
  • Damage Type: Physical
  • Damage: 100 / 135 / 170 / 205
  • Radius: 275
  • Chance To Helix: 17%
  • Cooldown: 0.45 / 0.4 / 0.35 / 0.3

Counter Helix gives you a chance to counter an attack with a swirl of the axe, damaging enemies around you while leaving you unharmed. It makes you much more durable, letting you tank large teamfights and emerge almost unscathed while dishing out a lot of damage to enemies around you.

Culling Blade[edit]

Dota 2 axe culling blade.png
  • Ability: Target Unit
  • Affects: Enemy Heroes
  • Damage Type: Magical
  • Kill Threshold: 250 / 350 / 450
  • Damage: 150 / 250 / 300
  • Speed Bonus: 40%
  • Speed Radius: 900
  • Speed Duration: 6
  • Mana Cost: 60 / 120 / 180
  • Cooldown: 75 / 65 / 55
  • Scepter Kill Threshold: 300 / 450 / 625
  • Scepter Speed Duration: 10
  • Scepter Cooldown: 6

Culling Blade makes you jump towards the targeted enemy and strike, doing relatively low damage for an ultimate but instantly killing the target if they have low health. If you killed the enemy with it, you and nearby allies will gain bonus movement and attack speed for a short period, while the cooldown of Culling Blade will be reset. You should always save it as a finishing move, searching for wounded foes to end their lives. Don't be afraid to steal kills with it, since you are also buffing your teammates anyway. You can also rack up a chain of kills quickly if there are multiple wounded enemies, as you can keep refreshing Culling Blade's cooldown with every kill.

Aghanim's Scepter can be bought by Axe and will reduce Culling Blade's cooldown to a mere 6 seconds, increases the duration of the speed bonus granted by a kill as well as increase the kill threshold required for an instant kill.

Skill and Item Builds[edit]

Suggested Skill Build[edit]

Suggested Item Build[edit]

Starting items[edit]

Early-game items[edit]

Core items[edit]

Luxury/Situational items[edit]

Strategy[edit]

Gameplay[edit]

Laning/Early-game[edit]

Mid-game/Teamfights[edit]

Late-game[edit]

Synergies[edit]

Skill synergies[edit]

Hero synergies[edit]

Countering Axe[edit]