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 tankiness.
- 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 makes Axe less disruptive. With Aghanim's Scepter, Counter Helix is also disabled, making him effectively useless for a very long duration.
- Ice Path neutralizes initiation attempts with Berserker's Call, and its long area of effect discourages follow-up from Axe's teammates.
- Ice Path serves as a large obstacle to stop Axe from chasing down fleeing stragglers to kill with Culling Blade.
- Feast's lifesteal makes it nearly impossible for Axe to initiate and bring Lifestealer's health low enough for Culling Blade, even with many procs of Counter Helix.
- Feast's damage is calculated as a percentage of health, turning Axe's high health against him. This allow Lifestealer to hit Axe much harder than most other heroes.
- Frequent healing from Death Pulse and Mekansm makes it difficult for Axe to finish off targets with Culling Blade.
- Reaper's Scythe negates Axe's tankiness, and can kill him quickly after initiation.
- Outworld Devourer's pure and magical damage is particularly effective against Axe.
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Astral Imprisonment". is an excellent way to defend against an initiating Axe.
- Axe has mana troubles, and Outworld Devourer's abilities can press this by stealing intelligence, therefore depleting his mana pool and mana regeneration.
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Sanity's Eclipse". deals high damage to Axe, due to his low intelligence.
- Disruption will save Shadow Demon's teammates from being killed by Counter Helix or Culling Blade.
- Demonic Purge slows Axe to a crawl, making him nearly useless after initiating.
- Dispersion makes Spectre very tanky, making it much less likely for Axe to bring her low enough for Culling Blade.
- Whirling Death reduces Axe's base strength by 15%, making him much less tanky, 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.
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Enrage". reduces the damage from Blade Mail and Counter Helix to a minimum, forcing Axe to play around Ursa's ultimate ability.
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Enrage". and Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "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.
Others
- Heroes who can slow and kite Axe will severely inhibit his presence in fights: Drow Ranger, Bristleback, Venomancer, Viper, Crystal Maiden, Batrider, Arc Warden, Winter Wyvern
Items
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity wastes the duration of Berserker's Call when used on Axe.
- Force Staff can help dodge a Berserker's Call, or push an ally out of its radius.
- Silver Edge breaks Counter Helix.
- Diffusal Blade depletes Axe's already low mana pool.
- 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.
- Eye of Skadi's slow makes it hard to Axe to be effective in teamfights after his initiation.
Good against...
- 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.
- 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.
- Berserker's Call has wider cast radius and a faster cast time than Duel. This allows Axe to use Berserker's Call first, trapping Legion Commander in a fight with him. Blade Mail then reflects her massive damage mid and late game and kills her quickly. The bonus armor from Berserker's Call also allows Axe to tank her bonus damage.
- 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. Jumping on an enemy 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.
- 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.
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
- Melee heroes who rely on fast attack speed will also trigger Counter Helix frequently: Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Anti-Mage, Juggernaut
- 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
Items
- Black King Bar is nearly useless against Axe, as his abilities go through spell immunity.
- Manta Style's illusions will trigger Counter Helix more often.
Works well with...
- 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 magic 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 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.