Axe/Counters

Bad against...

 * 's damage is calculated by percentage of maximum health, meaning that it will hurt Axe more than most normal attacks, negating some of his durability.
 * Doom can pick up several different abilities from neutral creeps using, some of which can be annoying to Axe.
 * Mud Golem, Dark Troll Summoner, Harpy Stormcrafter, Satyr Mindstealer or Satyr Tormenter are good examples.
 * Doom's naturally low attack speed makes Counter Helix less likely to proc, and his high base health allows him to take a few Helixes with no danger.
 * makes Axe less disruptive, preventing him from using his skills or items. At level 25, there is a branch of the talent tree that makes apply Break, allowing Doom to disable Counter Helix, making Axe effectevely useless for a lengthy duration.


 * is a great stun for Berserker's Call and with a can really catch Axe off guard.
 * and can be a devistating combination for Axe (especially if he takes Battle Hunger at level 1) before he has any natural regeneration sustain from items.


 * Frequent healing from and  makes it difficult for Axe to finish off targets with Culling Blade.
 * 's instant cast time allows Necrophos to turn ethereal before being initiated on by Berserker's Call. This prevents him from attacking Axe while taunted, thus lowering the chance to proc Counter Helix.
 * Axe's high health is relatively ineffective against 's percentage-based health degeneration.
 * stops Axe's game plan of using Berserker's Call multiple times and since he's in the middle of the fight, this spell is very easy to grab kills onto him.


 * makes it so Axe might use right into an AoE silence in the middle of everyone.
 * cripples Axe's already bad movement speed and attack speed.
 * makes it impossible for Axe to catch up to a fleeing or escape from Night Stalker during the night.
 * Lastly, gives full vision over Axe before he initiates, making the opponents all recognise his location immediately and allowing Night Stalker to prevent it or vocally tell his team if needed.
 * Night Stalker has very high strength gain, even in lane, so a successful Culling Blade is very unlikely.
 * Axe's will likely do nothing to Night Stalker because of his high health and certain requirements for him to do the most damage to be true.


 * Outworld Destroyer's pure and magical damage is particularly effective against Axe.
 * is an excellent way to defend against an initiating Axe.
 * deals high damage to Axe due to his low mana pool.


 * allows Phoenix to heal any allies caught in Berserker's Call, while burning away Axe's high HP at the same time.
 * and puts Axe's Blink Dagger on cooldown.
 * Axe's slow attack speed makes it difficult for him to destroy on his own.


 * can be used on allies to prevent them from attacking Axe and triggering Counter Helix during Berserker's Call. He can also cast it on Axe to prevent anyone from attacking him.
 * can be used to heal himself or allies caught in Berserker's Call, preventing them from dropping low enough for Axe to kill them with Culling Blade.


 * will save Shadow Demon's teammates from being killed by Counter Helix or Culling Blade.
 * slows Axe to a crawl, making him nearly useless after initiating. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter, it will also break Counter Helix.
 * clears Battle Hunger and Aghanim's Shard Counter Helix Damage Reduction, both allowing targets to escape, and reducing your own survivability.


 * reduces the damage from and Counter Helix to a minimum, forcing Axe to play around Ursa's ultimate ability.
 * and stacks damage overwhelming for Axe, despite his high health.


 * Venomancer's slows and magical damage-over-time work well against Axe's complete lack of mobility.
 * is especially useful for slowing down Axe, and revealing him before he initiates, as well as putting his on cooldown.


 * and slows Axe significantly, and puts his  on cooldown, preventing him from initiating.
 * can break Counter Helix.

Others

 * Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights:, , , , ,
 * Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe:, ,.
 * Special mention to as he has a way to deal with Axe in the laning stage, but still needs to be careful about Berserker's Call stun, the pure damage from Counter Helix and Culling Blade finishing him off before he can escape or heal from his passive.

Items

 * wastes the duration of Berserker's Call when used on Axe.
 * and 's lifesteal makes it impossible for Axe to kill enemies with
 * can help dodge a Berserker's Call, or push an ally out of its radius.
 * breaks Counter Helix.
 * keeps allies' health above Culling Blade's threshold, and can be used at the last moment to bait Axe into an overly long initiation.
 * can be used on an Axe to prevent any allied unit from attacking him.
 * can be used on Axe to reduce his health regen.
 * can reduce axe's high health regen gain from heart of tarrasque and his natural high strength

Good against...

 * Culling Blade ignores should Abaddon's health falls under the threshold.
 * does nothing against Berserkers Call and has to be used constantly to remove the very small mana cost of Battle Hunger in lane.


 * Berserker's Call is one of the most reliable ways to lock down Anti-Mage, preventing him from ing away.
 * Anti-Mage's high attack speed, along with illusions from, triggers Counter Helix continuously.
 * Axe's low mana pool and high health pool makes deal very little damage to Axe.


 * Berserker's Call can catch Broodmother in her web, as well as groups of spiderlings. This is particularly effective when Broodmother attempts to push towers with her spiderlings.
 * Counter Helix destroys spiderlings very quickly, and earns Axe a good deal of gold.


 * Culling Blade ignores the protection from, and will kill any target whose health is low enough. This makes Axe one of the hardest counters to Dazzle, and he neutralizes one of Dazzle's most important abilities.


 * Huskar is often played at low health to maximize the bonuses from, and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
 * gives Huskar no protection against the pure damage of Culling Blade. Its attack speed bonus also means that Counter Helix will proc more often.
 * Axe's tankiness and base health regeneration makes it hard for Huskar to take him down with s.


 * Jumping on Axe with will make Morphling an easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call.
 * Morphling is often played at low health to maximise the bonuses from, and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
 * However, Morphling is common carrier to block Culling Blade forces Axe to use Battle Hunger to pop the Spell Block first.
 * gives Morphlig no protection against the pure damage of Culling Blade. Its attack speed bonus also means that Counter Helix will proc more often.


 * Berserker's Call and Counter Helix will still hit targets inside of a defensive.
 * Counter Helix clears treants in no time.
 * Nature's Prophet's low damage is unlikely to hurt Axe until the very late game.
 * Nature's Prophet's low mobility makes him very easy for Axe to chase down or initiate on, especially when affected by Battle Hunger.


 * 's extra attack speed will cause Phantom Assassin to trigger more often, which can be fatal for Phantom Assassin. Jumping on Axe with  is not a good idea for Phantom Assassin at all as it makes her a seriously easy target for a counter-initiation with  and.
 * Most of Axe's abilities pierce, allowing him to lock down Phantom Assassin at any time.
 * Berserker's Call greatly reduces Phantom Assassin's ability to crit hard against Axe, and may cause her to kill herself when used with . can also affect Phantom Assassin even if she has  active as  can fully pierce spell immunity, making  one of the best abilities in the game against heroes like Phantom Assassin who wants to kill opponents quickly without being interrupted.
 * can often kill Phantom Assassin before she can do anything due to her low health and strength gain. And every time  successfully kills Phantom Assassin or any of her teammates, Axe gains permanent armor from it, which in combination with armor items that Axe often purchases like, ,  and  can make Phantom Assassin's attacks only tickle Axe.
 * upgraded can weaken Phantom Assassin's damage output, and if her attack damage is weak,  will also suffer from attack damage reduction as well.


 * Berserker's Call catches Phantom Lancer when he is hidden among his illusions.
 * Counter Helix quickly destroys Phantom Lancer's illusion army. The more illusions there are, the more often Counter Helix is triggered.
 * Phantom Lancer's low early game health makes him an easy target for Culling Blade.


 * Berseker's Call catches Slark in, wasting its duration and preventing him from escaping to regenerate.
 * Unlike most disables, cannot dispel Berserker's Call, and the output damage would be returned by.


 * Terrorblade's low base health and lack of mobility make him an easy target for Axe to initiate on, and kill.
 * Counter Helix will trigger from, and destroy many of Terrorblade illusions.


 * Troll Warlord's high attack speed means Counter Helix will proc extremely frequently even without creeps near him. This, combined with a means Axe can easily solo kill Troll Warlord even in later stages of the game.
 * does not save Troll Warlord from a Culling Blade.


 * Berserker's Call is one of the best ways to lock down Weaver before he has a chance to use . It can also catch Weaver in.
 * Weaver's high attack speed, along with high attack damage from, triggers Counter Helix continuously and the output damage would be returned by.

Others

 * Speical mention to as Berserker's Call can make quick work of . However, if Axe doesn't manage to destroy the illusions within the duration of call,  will make very quick work of Axe in the mid and late game.
 * Melee heroes who rely on summons, illusions or clones will trigger Counter Helix more often, thus taking more damage:, ,
 * Heroes who rely on fast attack speed will also trigger Counter Helix frequently:, , , , ,
 * Abilities that provide attack speed bonus:, ,.
 * Heroes with low health and high attack damage can easily kill themselves against the Berserker's Call and combo.
 * Heroes with gap closing abilities will be easy targets for Berserker's Call:, , , , ,
 * Battle Hunger can be used to disable a due to its low cooldown.

Items

 * is nearly useless against Axe, as his abilities go through spell immunity.
 * can be put on cooldown by Battle Hunger for a lengthy duration. Alternatively, reckless use of  can make it's owner a very easy target for counter-initiation with Berserker's Call.
 * 's illusions will trigger Counter Helix more often.

Works well with...

 * prevents healing, allowing Axe to easily kill his enemies with Culling Blade. Should Axe fail to cull his enemies, the Shatter may help secure the kill.


 * sets up enemies for Berserker's Call.
 * helps Axe deal more damage when enemies are taunted and attacking him.
 * helps Axe chase down enemies during the early game for a Berserker's Call.


 * will prevent the opponent from killing Axe for a set amount of time, unless they also happen to have an Axe on their team.


 * Axe's initiation will give Enigma enough time and room to set up and, dealing massive damage to his enemies and disabling them for a very long duration. This also works against spell immune enemies, as the mentioned abilities all pierce spell immunity.


 * Berserker's Call sets up an easy and  combo for Disruptor, locking down mobile heroes like  or.


 * is a perfect setup for Luna's, and multiple heroes affected by will cause them to suffer great damage from.
 * can give Axe bonus attack damage to help him farm during the laning phase.
 * upgraded can be casted on Axe before and after he initiates with  and.


 * puts all affected enemies onto a single point, giving Axe the perfect opportunity to use Berserker's Call.


 * Berserker's Call allows Phoenix to easily land all of it's abilities, particularly Sun Ray and Supernova.


 * Berserker's Call gives Sand King the time to channel and land.


 * Berserker's Call prevents enemies from moving out of 's small radius, forcing them to take full damage.


 * Tiny can Axe into a group of enemies for instant initiation. This is especially useful before Axe has a.


 * Venomancer's numerous slows and damage over time can turn multiple enemy heroes into vulnerable targets for Culling Blade.


 * Berserker's Call makes it much easier to target 's small AoE, and usually ensures at least one kill with.

List of heroes that counter Axe, and list of heroes that work well with Axe.

Axe/Neutralizações Axe/Противостоящие