Axe

Hero

 

Strategy

 

Equipment

 

Gear

 

Talents

 

Relics

 

Responses

 

Sounds

 

Animations

 

Lore

 

Old Abilities

 

Changelogs

 

Known Bugs

 

Axe #2 25 + 2.8 20 + 1.7 18 + 1.6
Level 0 1 15 25 30 Health 20 570 1428 2308 2660 +2.5 +5 +8.92 +12.92 +14.52 Mana 80 296 560 896 1016 +0 +0.9 +2.02 +3.42 +3.92 Armor -1 2.33 6.3 11.13 12.88 Magic Resist 25% 26.8% 29.04% 31.84% 32.84% Damage Block 16 (50%) Damage 30 34 55 59 94 98 134 138 150 154 Attack Rate 0.59/s 0.71/s 0.85/s 1.02/s 1.08/s Attack Range 150 (400) Attack Speed ▶️ 100 (1.7s BAT) Attack Animation 0.4 + 0.5 Projectile Speed Instant Move Speed ▶️ 315 ( 345) Turn Rate 0.6 Collision Size 27 Bound Radius 24 Vision Range (G) 1800 ( 800) Gib Type Default Internal npc_dota_hero_axe

This article is about the hero. For other uses, see Axe (Disambiguation)

Taunts and forces enemies to attack him.
One by one the soldiers of the Red Mist fell, some in battle, others to Mogul Khan's ambitions, until the self-declared general found himself a commander without troops. "No matter", Axe thought, "For a one-man army is the best army of all." — Leaping into battle, Mogul Khan compels nearby foes to attack him with a taunting Berserker's Call. Absorbing blows from every direction, the indomitable Axe reacts by swinging his axe full circle in a Counter Helix, easily dispatching the swarm he had gathered. But alas, not all stay long enough to meet their end. The few limping away from Mogul Khan feel an inexplicable Battle Hunger, a hunger never sated before Axe slams his Culling Blade through a weakened enemy, sending them to an early grave. Axe, Axe is always charging onward.
Roles:	Initiator Durable Disabler Carry
Complexity:
Adjectives:	Bearded, NicePecs, Red, Nose Legs ( 2 )

Bio

Mogul Khan, the Axe

▶️ "Axe is all the reinforcement this army needs!"

Lore:

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.

Voice:

Jon St. John (Responses)

Abilities

Berserker's Call

▶️QE

Ability
No Target

Affects
Enemies / Self

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

Cast Animation: 0.3+0.5

Radius: 315 ( 415)

Armor Bonus: 25 ( 29)

Duration: 1.8/2.2/2.6/3

 17/15/13/11 ( 14/12/10/8)

 80/90/100/110

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Berserker's Call applies Battle Hunger to affected units and reduces Berserker's Call cooldown.

Spell Block / Reflection Notes:

Battle Hunger applied by Berserker's Call is not blocked.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_axe_berserkers_call_armor

Death

modifier_axe_berserkers_call

Death

Ability Draft Notes:

Battle Hunger must be drafted as well for it to get applied.

Mogul Khan's warcry taunts opponents into engaging in an unconquerable battle with the Axe.

• Taunts affected enemies, forcing them to attack Axe.
  • Has the same taunt priority with Little Friends, Life Break and Winter's Curse, but lower than Duel.
  • Does not silence, so active attack modifiers with Autocast on are still applied.
  • Affects invisible units and units in the Fog of War. Does not affect towers, wards, invulnerable or hidden units.

• Does not affect the following units:
  • Lane creeps from the first creep wave that spawns, until they meet the opposing creeps in the lane.
  • Couriers.
  • Applies the debuff to uncontrollable units (e.g. Undying Zombies), but the taunt does nothing.

• Successive taunts on units under the taunt effect of Berserker's Call refreshes the duration.

• When Axe dies, the taunt ends immediately.

• Berserker's Call effectively increases Battle Hunger's damage per second by 25 ( 50) for its duration.
  • Can increase Battle Hunger's total damage by up to 25/50/50/75 ‒ 50/75/75/75 ( 29/58/58/87 ‒ 58/87/87/87), depending on the tick timings.

• SCEPTER
  Battle Hunger of its current level is now applied to all enemies within 315 ( 415) radius upon cast.
  • Both the taunt and Battle Hunger debuff are applied at the same time.
  • Battle Hunger notes fully apply. If it is not leveled, Battle Hunger is not applied.

Battle Hunger

▶️WR

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies
( Self)

Damage
Physical

Enrages an enemy unit, causing it to take damage over time until it kills another unit or the duration ends. The damage is increased by a factor of Axe's armor. The enemy is also slowed as long as he's facing away from Axe.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0.5

Cast Range: 700/775/850/925

Base Damage per Second: 12/16/22/26

Armor as Damage per Second: 100% ( 200%)

Move Speed Slow: 11%/19%/27%/35% ( 23%/31%/39%/47%)

Creep Speed/Armor Multiplier: 0.5

Facing Angle: 90°

Duration: 12

 Enemy Armor Reduction: 7

 Self Armor Bonus per Affected Enemy: 7

 Self Move Speed Bonus per Affected Enemy: 12%

 20/15/10/5

 50/60/70/80

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Battle Hunger also reduces enemy armor and grants Axe armor per affected target.

Spell Block / Reflection Notes:

Blocked upon cast.

Not blocked when applied by Berserker's Call.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_axe_battle_hunger_self

Undispellable

modifier_axe_battle_hunger

Any

Ordinary heroes cannot withstand Mogul Khan's rage for battle, such that it injures them until it is satisfied.

Battle Hunger's angle visualised

• The debuff can be removed by killing any unit that is not an illusion, in any way. This includes buildings, wards, and denying allied units.
  • The affected unit has to make the kill to remove the debuff. Summons, player-controlled units, and illusions owned by the same player do not remove the debuff when they make a kill.

• Enemies are not slowed when they have Axe within 90° in front of them, regardless of distance or Fog of War.
  • This does not apply to the movement speed bonus granting talent.
  • Reduces non-hero units' movement speed by 5.5%/9.5%/13.5%/17.5% and armor by 3.5, while granting self 6% movement speed bonus per affected non-hero units.
  • Treats creep-heroes and illusions as creeps.

• Deals damage in 1-second intervals, starting 1 second after the debuff is placed, resulting in 12 instances.
  • Can deal up to 144/192/264/312 + 12x ( 24x) armor as damage (before reductions) when lasting its full duration.
  • Axe's armor is checked periodically and the armor-based damage is updated immediately.
  • The armor-based damage is not capped at 0 armor, meaning if Axe has 12/16/22/26 ( 6/8/11/13) negative armor, it deals 0 damage per second.

• Leveling up Battle Hunger does not update both the movement speed slow and base damage values of already placed debuffs.

• Re-casting Battle Hunger on the same target refreshes and updates the debuff.

• SCEPTER
  Battle Hunger has a passive modifier that is present on Axe at all times, but hidden when no enemies are debuffed. By default, this modifier serves no purpose.
  • With Aghanim's Scepter, this modifier now grants Axe the armor bonus and movement speed bonus for each debuffed enemy. This means, acquiring Aghanim's Scepter immediately updates the current instance.
  • Effectively increases Battle Hunger's damage per second by 7 ( 14) and total damage by 84 ( 168) per affected hero.

• TALENT
  The armor multiplier increasing talent immediately updates already placed debuffs as well.
  • Both the self movement speed increasing and the slow increasing talents do not update the value of already placed debuffs.

Counter Helix

▶️EX

Ability
Passive

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Physical

After a set number of attacks, Axe will perform a helix counter attack, dealing Physical damage to all nearby enemies.

Radius: 300

Incoming Attacks: 7/6/5/4

Damage: 95/120/145/170 ( 125/150/175/200)

 Max Debuff Stacks on Enemy: 6

 Damage Reduction per Stack: 15%

 Stack Duration: 6

 0.3 ( 0)

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Counter Helix now applies a stacking debuff to enemies hit by it that causes them to deal less total attack damage to Axe. Counter Helix no longer has a cooldown.

Break Notes:

If Break is applied by an attack, Counter Helix may trigger on that attack before getting disabled.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_axe_counter_helix

Undispellable

modifier_axe_counter_helix_damage_reduction

Any

Axe is the only reinforcement this army needs.

• The attack counting buff starts at 7/6/5/4 and lowers by 1 when Axe is hit by a basic attack regardless of distance. This includes secondary attacks from other instant attacks.
  • The buff is always present, but it is hidden when the ability is not learned.
  • When the counter reaches 1, the next attack to hit Axe will proc Counter Helix and reset the counter to 7/6/5/4.
  • Attacks will not reduce the counter under the following conditions:
    • Missed attacks.
    • Attacks from allies.
    • Attacks from wards and buildings.
    • Instant attacks that cannot proc attack modifiers: Split Shot (without the Split Shot uses modifiers talent), Flak Cannon and etc.
    • Spell damage sources.

• The attack counter has no duration and lasts indefinitely, and persists death.
  • However, when respawning, reincarnating, or leveling up Counter Helix, the counter is reset to 7/6/5/4.

• Despite the visual effects, the damage is applied instantly within the radius.

• SHARD
  Counter Helix now places a debuff that refreshes on successive procs on enemies within its radius.
  • Successive procs also refresh the entire stack's duration.
  • The debuff can stack up to 6 times. A number on the icon shows the current number of stacks.

• Applies a unique outgoing damage reduction debuff on affected enemies that reduces attack damage.
  • Only affects the target's attack damage against Axe. Neither reduces any other damage types nor attack damage against other targets.
  • Can reduce an enemy's attack damage by 15%/30%/45%/60%/75%/90% with each amount of stacks.

Culling Blade

▶️▶️RC

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies / Allies

Damage
Physical / Instant Kill

Axe spots a weakness and strikes, dealing Physical damage. When an enemy hero is killed with Culling Blade, its cooldown is reset, Axe gains bonus armor permanently and all nearby allied units gain bonus movement speed and armor.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0.5

Cast Range: 175

Damage: 275/375/475 ( 425/525/625)

Current Health Kill Threshold: 275/375/475 ( 425/525/625)

Armor Bonus per Kill: 1/1.5/2 ( 2/2.5/3)

Kill Speed Radius: 900

Kill Move Speed Bonus: 20%/25%/30%

Kill Armor Bonus: 20/25/30

Buff Duration: 6 ( 10)

Cooldown Skip on Target Death: 100/85/70

 100/85/70

 100/125/150

Modifiers [?]

modifier_axe_culling_blade_boost

Any

modifier_axe_culling_blade_permanent

Undispellable

modifier_axe_culling_blade_jungle_weapon_gesture

Death

Mogul Khan is the embodiment of battle and fury, launching into a gruesome fatality against those who dare engage the Axe in combat.

• Checks the target's current health upon cast.
  • If the current health is lower than the final outgoing damage of Culling Blade, it results in an instant kill.
  • The kill threshold can be increased by the following sources:
    • Incoming damage manipulation the affected target has.
    • Outgoing damage manipulation sourced to Axe.
  • Incoming damage reduction sources on the target do not prevent Culling Blade from killing it this way.
  • Does not instantly kill Tormentors.

• When the target dies to Culling Blade's damage, the following effects are applied:
  • Removes all death preventing modifiers (e.g. Borrowed Time, Shallow Grave, False Promise and Battle Trance).
  • However, Wraith Delay is not removed.
  • As long as the target dies, Culling Blade applies the movement speed and armor bonus to all nearby allies, excluding invulnerable and hidden ones.
  • Treats kills against clones and illusions as heroes, creep-heroes as creeps.

• Upon culling an enemy hero for the first time, Axe gains a permanent buff that grants armor. Following successful kills on enemy heroes update this buff.
  • Treats the Tempest Double, illusions and creep-heroes as creeps.
  • Does not gain a stack if the culled enemy is affected by Wraith Delay.
  • Gains a stack even when the culled enemy has Reincarnation.
  • The number of stacks is visible on the ability icon, while the armor bonus is visible in the buff's description.
  • The armor bonus is retroactive, leveling up the ability and learning the armor per kill increasing talent update the value.
  • The armor bonus effectively increases Battle Hunger's damage per second by 1/1.5/2 ( 2/3/4) permanently.
    • TALENT
      With the armor per kill increasing talent, this further increases to 2/2.5/3 ( 4/5/6).

• Fully affects couriers.

• Cannot be cast on units under the effect of Wraith Delay.

• COSMETIC
  The jungle weapon gesture modifier is responsible for the sound effects and ability animations used by Fists of Axe Unleashed.
• SPELL STEAL
  The armor bonus per kill buff is not lost upon losing the ability.
• SOULBIND
  Culling Blade's cooldown reset depends if the primary target dies to the damage. If only the secondary target dies to the ability's damage, Culling Blade grants only the speed bonus with the ability going on cooldown.

Battle Hunger Calculations

• The values below are to be considered as the minimum damage per second values lasting for its full duration, they do not include armor bonuses or reductions from items or other abilities.

Ability Level	Battle Hunger Total Damage Calculations Base Damage + Main Armor
	Level 10	Level 15	Level 20	Level 25	Level 30
Level 1 Σ Dmg	144 + 62 ( 124)	144 + 79 ( 158)	144 + 96 ( 192)	144 + 113 ( 226)	144 + 130 ( 260)
Level 2 Σ Dmg	192 + 62 ( 124)	192 + 79 ( 158)	192 + 96 ( 192)	192 + 113 ( 226)	192 + 130 ( 260)
Level 3 Σ Dmg	264 + 62 ( 124)	264 + 79 ( 158)	264 + 96 ( 192)	264 + 113 ( 226)	264 + 130 ( 260)
Level 4 Σ Dmg	312 + 62 ( 124)	312 + 79 ( 158)	312 + 96 ( 192)	312 + 113 ( 226)	312 + 130 ( 260)
With Aghanim's Scepter	+ 84 damage per Hero affected.

Talents

Hero Talents
2x Battle Hunger Armor Multiplier	25	+100 Berserker's Call AoE
+1 Bonus Armor per Culling Blade Stack	20	+150 Culling Blade Damage
+30 Counter Helix Damage	15	+12% Battle Hunger Slow
+12% Movement Speed per active Battle Hunger	10	+4s Culling Blade Speed Bonus Duration

Recent Changes

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore

<div> <div class="updatetablehead"> <div id="version">Version</div><div id="description">Description</div> </div> <div class="updatetablebody">

7.35

• Increased base armor from -1 to 0.
• Reduced Berserker's Call armor bonus from 25 on each level to 16/19/22/25.
• Culling Blade
  • No longer grants 20/30/40 kill attack speed bonus.
  • Now grants 20/25/30 kill armor bonus. [?]

• Talents:
• LVL 10

   

  +10 Berserker's Call armor ➜ +4s Culling Blade buff duration.

7.34c

• Increased Berserker's Call radius from 300 to 315.
• Culling Blade
  • Increased damage from 250/350/450 to 275/375/475.
  • U
    Increased current health kill threshold from 250/350/450 to 275/375/475.

• Talents:
• LVL 10

   

  +8 Berserker's Call armor increased to +10.

7.34

• Reduced agility gain from 2 to 1.7.
• Increased Counter Helix damage from 80/110/140/170 to 95/120/145/170.

</div> </div>

Recommended Items

Starting items:

• Tango is needed for every hero to slowly regenerate lost health in lane.

• Healing Salve regenerates most of the health lost to enemy harassment, giving you a very big edge on heroes who don't buy one.

• Iron Branch builds into a Magic Wand which you will want at some point in the early stages of the game, as Axe likes to be in the thick of things.

Early game:

• Bracer should be considered as a small item as it allows Axe to gain some additional health and health regeneration. It's especially useful when you are ahead and doing well, as it buffs your strength.

• Ring of Health grants much-needed regeneration early on, and builds into several useful items later.

• Boots of Speed without upgrades is often sufficient for Axe in the early game, as rushing Vanguard and Blink Dagger is usually more important than boot upgrades.

• Phase Boots is an excellent alternative with 4 bonus armor and an active ability to improve his chasing ability.

• Magic Wand allows Axe to gain burst health and mana while in the middle of fights, where he excels at most.

Mid game:

• Blink Dagger is the most important item for Axe as it allows him to initiate and counter-initiate for his team.

• Aghanim's Shard significantly improves Counter Helix's damage output by removing its cooldown, particularly against illusion-heavy opponents, and makes Axe more durable with its debuff.

• Blade Mail it provides Axe some damage and armor. The active gives a real punishment for any hard hitting hero caught within your Berserkers Call.

• Town Portal Scroll is necessary for allowing Axe to be present at teamfights and ganks. His powers as an initiator can set up fights decisively for his team.

• Vanguard gives Axe even more survivability against physical damage by giving him increased damage block, more HP and HP regen. If bought early enough, it allows him to bully lane opponents with ease and shrug off harassment, while also retaining its utility in the jungle later on, and can be disassembled for stronger items later or kept for Crimson Guard.

Late game:

• Black King Bar can be a necessary purchase if he is facing a very disable-heavy lineup, due to Berserker's Call's noticeable cast time making it interruptible. Because he jumps right into the middle of the enemy to initiate, he is a prime target for focusing down with magic nukes and stuns, so having spell immunity can allow him to do more in fights and get more uses of Berserker's Call.

• Crimson Guard, upgraded from Vanguard, is a strong utility item that provides Axe with even more survivability against physical damage. The extra armor and attributes on top of the existing damage block and bonus HP can make him extremely tanky, and he can augment it even more and protect his allies with the active.

• Pipe of Insight allows Axe to initiate without fear of hard magical damage and allows him to march on the front lines and support his team against said magical damage.

Situational items:

• Soul Ring is an early-game option to keep Axe supplied with mana if he is called on to gank frequently. His high innate regeneration, paired with a Vanguard, offsets the health cost.

• Urn of Shadows is a good ganking item early game that gives Axe many benefits. The extra strength increases Axe's HP and base damage, and the passive mana regen helps with his mana problems. This should usually be gotten by a teammate however.

• Arcane Boots can be built as an intermediate item that sustains Axe's mana, before being disassembled for Lotus Orb or Octarine Core.

• Lotus Orb provides armor and mana, improving Axe's sustain and durability, and Echo Shell further improves his initiation by punishing enemies that target Axe with single-target abilities.

• Heart of Tarrasque greatly increases Axe's health and provides base damage, giving him much more power as an initiator, since he can continue disabling the enemy during fights so long as he is alive. As well, if he manages to survive fights and escape, he can quickly regenerate his HP and jump straight back into battle.

• Shiva's Guard drastically boosts Axe's intelligence and armor, giving him yet more survivability against physical damage while also eliminating his mana problems. The attack speed slow aura can greatly hinder the enemy from making physical attacks during fights, while the active can be used as a damage nuke and a slow to hinder their mobility.

• Boots of Travel gives Axe additional battlefield and global mobility. The global teleport allows Axe to show up to fights to initiate for his team more easily, while the increased movement speed allows him to be more mobile on the battlefield, chasing enemies down and inflicting them with Battle Hunger to slow them.

• Assault Cuirass is a strong teamfight item that greatly increases Axe's armor and attack speed. The armor provides yet more resistance against physical damage, and the attack speed allows Axe to become much more threatening with his right-clicks. The allied armor and attack speed aura is a strong edge in teamfights.

• Heaven's Halberd is a strong survivability and utility item that can help Axe if the enemy's physical damage output is more than he can handle. The additional strength and evasion give him more health and survivability against physical attacks, respectively, and the active disarm allows Axe to completely stop an enemy from attacking.

• Aghanim's Scepter gives Axe excellent area-of-effect damage by applying Battle Hunger in an area and improves the uptime of Berserker's Call.

• Octarine Core gives a good bonus to Axe's health and mana while letting him use Berserker's Call and his items more often.

Dota Plus Progress

Main Article: Hero Challenges

Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.

Relics	Voice Lines
Berserker's Call Damage Done Battle Hunger Kills Near Death Kills Enemies Culled Blink Berserker's Calls Berserker's Call Damage Taken Teleports Leading To Kills Pure Damage Blade Mail Damage Blink Leading To Kills Triple Kills Mega Kill Streaks Kill Assists Kills	Bronze	▶️ Ha ha ha ha ha ha! ▶️ Axe likes this very much.
	Silver	▶️ You deserve nothing! ▶️ You fought badly—died worse.
	Gold	▶️ I said good day, sir! ▶️ Axe misjudged?
	Platinum	▶️ Axe has no time for all this jibber jabber.
	Master	▶️ What happened? Axe happened!
	Grandmaster	▶️ Axe-actly!

Equipment

Axe Equipment (expand sets) Sets Armor of the Shattered Vanguard   Axe Unleashed   Black Orc Warboss   Bloodmist Armor Set   Carnage of the Endless Hunt   Days of the Demon   Forged in Demons' Blood Set   Harbinger of War   Heavy Steel Armor Set   Lineage The Ram's Head Armaments   Red Mist Reaper Set   Saberhorn's Armor Set   Shackles of the Enduring Conscript   Snowblind Survival   Snowpack Savage   Supreme Black Orc Warboss   The Axecutioner Set   The Berserker's Blood Set   The Defiant Axe Set   The Forgemaster's Tools Set   The Ram's Head Armaments   The Red Conqueror Set   Undefeated General   Wrathful Annihilator Weapon Axe of Phractos   Battleaxe of the Basilisk   Berserker's Witchslayer   Corpsemaker   Corruptor   Guillotine   Half Measure   Headhunter   Kingslayer Axe   Mountain Splitter   Nightmare Blade   Ragestone Axe   Reaver   Red General's Soul Splitter   Skullsplitter Axe   Sylnashar the Winged Axe   Vindicator   Wyvernguard Edge Head Berserker's Nethersteel Barbute   Crucible of Rile   Edgebearer's Helm   Golden Crucible of Rile   Rampant Outrage Armor Molten Claw Belt Little Blink Dagger Misc Guard of the Red Mist   Mantle of the Cinder Baron Taunt Taunt: Come and Get It!

Trivia

• Axe's alternate/fun name was "Mogul Kahnt Touch This", a reference to MC Hammer's famous song - U Can't Touch This.

• Axe, Disruptor, and Warlock are all related as they come from the Oglodi race.

• Axe's phrase ▶️ "Better red than dead!" is a reversed reference to an American Cold War slogan.

• Several of Axe's deny and Culling Blade killing blow responses (e.g. ▶️ "You get nothing. Good day, sir!") are references to Willy Wonka's infamous rage scene in the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

• Axe's name, lore, and "one-man army" image may have been inspired by Khan Noonien Singh in the "Star Trek" series, who was also described as a "one-man army" and killed uncooperative subordinates, along with used-to wearing a red shirt.

• Axe was once the mascot of Dota 2, featuring only himself in several Dota 2 pages and game arts. This was removed in November 2013 for unknown reasons.
  • Such was his popularity that Valve once considered creating a Dota 2 spinoff RPG, before coming up with a single-player RPG featuring him as the main character, dating way back in 2013 when Valve was preparing new games for the Source 2 engine. This never left the conceptual stage, however.

• In The Lab, a VR game by Valve, there are some Bendies who wield Axe's war axe, along with other Dota 2 weapons like a Stout Shield, Huskar's spear and Legion Commander's sword.

Gallery

• 

  Crystal Maiden and Axe cartoon art

• 

  Model and icons before November 21, 2013 Patch

• 

  Ability icon progress

• 

  Hero icon progress

• 

  Axe illustration

• 

  Axe T-shirt design

• 

  Axe on the Replay Takeover splash art in the New Bloom 2014 update.

• 

  Axe on Ringmaster's teaser trailer.