Counters
Contents
Bad against...[]
- Infernal Blade'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 Devour, 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.
- Doom makes Axe less disruptive, preventing him from using his skills or items. With Aghanim's Scepter, Counter Helix is also disabled, making him effectively useless for a lengthy duration.
- Ice Path neutralizes initiation attempts with Berserker's Call, and its long area of effect discourages follow-ups from Axe's teammates.
- Ice Path serves as a large obstacle to stop Axe from chasing down fleeing stragglers to kill with Culling Blade.
- Jakiro's many damage-per-second skills prevent Axe from initiating with his Blink Dagger. And since Axe rarely buys Black King Bar, he's vulnerable to Jakiro's abilities and counter-initiaions.
- Frequent healing from Death Pulse and Mekansm makes it difficult for Axe to finish off targets with Culling Blade.
- Ghost Shroud'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 Heartstopper Aura's percentage-based health degeneration.
- Reaper's Scythe 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.
- Crippling Fear makes it so Axe might use Blink Dagger right into an AoE silence in the middle of everyone.
- Void cripples Axe's already bad movement speed and attack speed.
- Hunter in the Night makes it impossible for Axe to catch up to a fleeing or escape from Night Stalker during the night.
- Lastly, Dark Ascension 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 Blade Mail 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.
- Astral Imprisonment is an excellent way to defend against an initiating Axe.
- Sanity's Eclipse deals high damage to Axe due to his low mana pool.
- Sun Ray allows Phoenix to heal any allies caught in Berserker's Call, while burning away Axe's high HP at the same time.
- Icarus Dive and Fire Spirits puts Axe's Blink Dagger on cooldown.
- Axe's slow attack speed makes it difficult for him to destroy Supernova on his own.
- Decrepify 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.
- Life Drain 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.
- Disruption will save Shadow Demon's teammates from being killed by Counter Helix or Culling Blade.
- Soul Catcher and Shadow Poison can put Axe's Blink Dagger on cooldown.
- Demonic Purge slows Axe to a crawl, making him nearly useless after initiating. If Shadow Demon has Aghanim's Scepter, it will also break Counter Helix.
- Whirling Death reduces Axe's strength by 15%, making him much less durable, especially in the early game. It is also stackable.
- Axe's Blade Mail is ineffective against attribute changes, and Timbersaw's mobility with Timber Chain means he can wait out Blade Mail's duration.
- Reactive Armor's armor and regeneration makes it much harder for Axe to finish Timbersaw with Culling Blade.
- Chakram disarms Timbersaw, making Counter Helix less effective.
- Enrage reduces the damage from Blade Mail and Counter Helix to a minimum, forcing Axe to play around Ursa's ultimate ability.
- Overpower and Fury Swipes tear through Axe's low armor, even if he has relatively high health.
- Venomancer's slows and magical damage-over-time work well against Axe's complete lack of mobility.
- Plague Ward is especially useful for slowing down Axe, and revealing him before he initiates, as well as putting his Blink Dagger on cooldown.
- Poison Attack and Viper Strike slows Axe significantly, and puts his Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from initiating.
- Nethertoxin can break Counter Helix.
Others[]
- Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Bristleback, Crystal Maiden, Batrider, Arc Warden, Winter Wyvern, Clockwerk
- Ranged heroes that can easily harass Axe: Drow Ranger, Sniper, Lion.
Items[]
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity wastes the duration of Berserker's Call when used on Axe.
- Vladmir's Offering and Satanic's lifesteal makes it impossible for Axe to kill enemies with Culling Blade
- Force Staff can help dodge a Berserker's Call, or push an ally out of its radius.
- Silver Edge breaks Counter Helix.
- Mekansm keeps allies' health above Culling Blade's threshold, and can be used at the last moment to bait Axe into an overly long initiation.
- Ethereal Blade can be used on an Axe to prevent any allied unit from attacking him.
Good against...[]
- Culling Blade ignores Borrowed Time should Abaddon's health falls under the threshold.
- Aphotic Shield 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 Blinking away.
- Anti-Mage's high attack speed, along with illusions from Manta Style, triggers Counter Helix continuously.
- Axe's low mana pool and high health pool makes Mana Void 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.
- Berserker's Call and Counter Helix makes short work of Chaos Knight's Phantasms.
- However, Reality Rift when initiating onto Axe can make very small work on him if he's far ahead or after he initiates.
- Culling Blade ignores the protection from Shallow Grave, 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 Berserker's Blood, and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
- Berserker's Blood 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 Burning Spears.
- Jumping on Axe with Waveform 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 Attribute Shift (Agility Gain), and also because his abilities cost health to use. This makes him especially vulnerable to Culling Blade.
- However, Morphling is common Linken's Sphere carrier to block Culling Blade forces Axe to use Battle Hunger to pop the Spell Block first.
- Attribute Shift (Agility Gain) 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 Sprout.
- 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.
- Phantom Strike's extra attack speed causes Phantom Assassin to proc Counter Helix more often. Using it on Axe also makes Phantom Assassin an easy target for a counter-initiation with Berserker's Call and Blade Mail.
- Most of Axe's abilities pierce Black King Bar, 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 Blade Mail.
- 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 Shadow Dance, wasting its duration and preventing him from escaping to regenerate.
- Unlike most disables, Dark Pact cannot dispel Berserker's Call, and the output damage would be returned by Blade Mail.
- 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 Blade Mail means Axe can easily solo kill Troll Warlord even in later stages of the game.
- Battle Trance 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 Time Lapse. It can also catch Weaver in Shukuchi.
- Weaver's high attack speed, along with high attack damage from Geminate Attack, triggers Counter Helix continuously and the output damage would be returned by Blade Mail.
Others[]
- Melee heroes who rely on summons, illusions or clones will trigger Counter Helix more often, thus taking more damage: Meepo, Lycan, Chaos Knight, Phantom Lancer
- Heroes who rely on fast attack speed will also trigger Counter Helix frequently: Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Anti-Mage, Juggernaut, Arc Warden, Morphling
- Abilities that provide attack speed bonus: Alacrity, Bloodrage, Inner Beast.
- Heroes with low health and high attack damage can easily kill themselves against the Berserker's Call and Blade Mail combo.
- Heroes with gap closing abilities will be easy targets for Berserker's Call: Phantom Assassin, Faceless Void, Slark, Chaos Knight, Morphling, Queen of Pain
- Battle Hunger can be used to disable a Linken's Sphere due to its low cooldown.
Items[]
- Black King Bar is nearly useless against Axe, as his abilities go through spell immunity.
- Blink Dagger can be put on cooldown by Battle Hunger for a lengthy duration.
- Manta Style's illusions will trigger Counter Helix more often.
Works well with...[]
- Ice Blast 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.
- Vacuum sets up enemies for Berserker's Call.
- Ion Shell helps Axe deal more damage when enemies are taunted and attacking him.
- Surge helps Axe chase down enemies during the early game for a Berserker's Call.
- Dazzle helps Axe survive the initiation by providing armor, heals and using Shallow Grave to save him or delay his death.
- Axe's initiation will give Enigma enough time and room to set up Midnight Pulse and Black Hole, 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 Kinetic Field and Static Storm combo for Disruptor, locking down mobile heroes like Storm Spirit or Anti-Mage.
- Reverse Polarity 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 Epicenter.
- Berserker's Call prevents enemies from moving out of Mystic Flare's small radius, forcing them to take full damage.
- Tiny can Toss Axe into a group of enemies for instant initiation. This is especially useful before Axe has a Blink Dagger.
- 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 Maledict's small AoE, and usually ensures at least one kill with Death Ward.
