Axe

Axe is a strong and hardy melee strength Hero, infamously known to create chaos in the battle while gaining buffs in the process and commonly played as an initiating tank. He can force an enemy to attack him and endure a lot of attacks while countering them with a devastating strike that can bring more damage to his enemies than he usually takes, thus, items that give survivability are a must. Axe is infamous for finishing off weak heroes with his ultimate when they are low on life.

An example of how to play Axe can be found here.

Tips

 * Items such as the Vanguard, Hood of Defiance and the Shiva's Guard are essential as they help reduce the damage being dealt to Axe while he tanks and initiates a battle.
 * Blink Dagger is a commonly built item to help with initiating as Axe.
 * During the starting and early phase of the game. Buy a Stout Shield, this cheap little item is effective enough to survive the lane. If necessary, instead of fighting along with your allied creeps, try to go and clash with the enemy creeps all by yourself in a safe enemy lane. Make sure you don't go to the path where the tower can see you. Your Counter Helix allows you to damage creeps fast.
 * While buying two Stout Shields can give you a much higher block chance than one, it is usually a bad idea to have more than two upgraded shields (Vanguard or Poor Man's Shield) as the benefits from stacking those two shields is far lower because of their cost.
 * Aghanim's Scepter can be purchased and will reduce the cooldown of his Culling Blade to an incredibly short 6 seconds, allowing you to quickly dispatch multiple enemy heroes as long as you have enough Mana and Health.
 * A more advanced technique used by players is to max out Battle Hunger by Level 7. This enables Axe to constantly deal dot [damage over time] in the lane, dealing significant damage during early game. This comes with Axe capability to tank and keeping the enemy at bay, while stopping them from last hitting creeps or denying creeps, which would let Battle Hunger deal its full damage.

Trivia

 * Axe's alternate/Fun name was "Mogul Kahnt Touch This" is a reference to a song by MC Hammer "U Can't Touch This"
 * Axe, Disruptor, and Warlock all are related as they come from the Oglodi tribe.
 * Two of Axe's deny phrases is a reference to infamous rage scene from 1971 movie "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory"
 * Axe will be often says "Axe is not Axe" everytime he is transmuted. Either by Scythe of Vyse, Lion's Hex and Shadow Shaman's Hex