Axe counter and synergy picks

Ink Swell is one of the best spells for Axe. It provides him Movement Speed for easier initiation and a follow up stun that has the opportunity to build up during Berserker's Call. Soulbind allows Axe to CB 2 targets at once. Aghanim's Shard gives Ink Swell a heal and strong dispel.

Aphotic Shield and Mist Coil provide Axe with healing, sustain, damage mitigation and dispels, allowing Axe to play even more recklessly and jump into the midst of battle more freely. The damage of Aphotic Shield provides him an extra source of damage to secure the kill with CB.

Earth Spirit is Axe's parthner in war. His versatile kit supplies Axe with that extra bit of damage he needs to Rampage a fight. His great mobility allows him to be a consistent follow up to Axe's Blink initiation. The both of them should parthner up and just scour the map for any targets.

Chen secures the lane for Axe, making sure that he can get to his initial core items consistently and as fast as possible, so he can start roaming and doing what Axe loves to do the most - fight. He achieves this by applying early game pressure with his creeps so Axe can farm undisturbed.

Omniknight's kit covers any weak points Axe has. Too much magic damage? - Repel provides you with a BKB. Not enough damage? - Purification and Hammer of Purity deal pure damage. Dying on the other side of the map by yourself? - Aghanim's Scepter gives Guardian Angel global cast range.

The 2 pair well together in lane as they are melee/ranged. Axe has infinitely scaling armor, well Oracle gives him a 100% magic resistance on top of that. Fortune's End can be used both to dispel Axe or set up his Call. Additionally, the healing and sustain keeps Axe active on the map and False Promise can either save Axe or allow him to go all out.

Being essentially 2 heroes LD is able to output more damage than most heroes as early as level 1. However, he lacks lockdown and is mainly countered by kiting. Axe's BKB piercing Call is perfect set up for LD to follow up with a root and dish out damage.

Axe's Call is a perfect set up for KOTL's Illuminate as he forces enemies to group up. Additionally, KOTL supplies Axe with much needed Mana in order to get multiple Culling Blades off and reduces the cool downs of all his basic abilities for more frequent initiations.

Axe's Call is a perfect set up for Techies' high magic damage combo, as he forces enemies to group up. Techies' massive AOE damage allows Axe to get multiple Culling Blade's off in a fight, which further buffs him and his team to keep snowballing the engagement.

Lifestealer can use his ultimate Infest on Axe to greatly empower Axe's initation and mobility. Allows LS to close the gap on his enemies easily. LS can additionally Infest purely for the instant heal and keep Axe alive and fighting.

Troll is one of the highest damage dealing carries in the game, however he needs time to ramp up. Axe's BKB piercing Call is perfect set up for Troll to set his focus on a target and chain ensnare him to death.

Axe's Call is a perfect set up for Skywrath's Mystic Flare. He serves as a natural frontline and setup for Skywrath allowing him to cast multiple volleys of his high damage spells and for Axe to get off multiple Culling Blades.

Axe's Call is a perfect set up for Leshrac's Split Earth as he forces enemies to group up. Leshrac's massive AOE damage allows Axe to get multiple Culling Blade's off in a fight, which further buffs him and Leshrac to keep snowballing the engagement.

Antimage's strengths are his high Attack Speed, high magic resistance and mobility - Axe turns all of those against him. The high Attack Speed procs Axe's Counter Helix, the magic resistance does not mitigate Pure damage and Call locks down AM.

A huge component of Broodmorther's play style is having as many spiders as possible. Axe wipes them in under a second and provides a reliable lockdown for the elusive Broodmother.

Morphlings want to stay low HP for maximum damage and Axe loves jumping and bursting low HP targets. Forces Morph to adjust his optimal item build entirely in order to adress Axe specifically, leaving him vulnurable to other heroes on Axe's team.

Naga being an Agility Illusion hero means she dishes out a large number of attacks with lower,relative to other heroes, damage per hit. This means you get Counter Helix procs like crazy and should consider an Aghanim's Scepter to remove it's Cooldown.

Berserker Calling a PA at almost any point of the game with Blade Mail usually means her death as she is 1 big crit away from just killing herself. Axe's natural scaling Armor mitigates PA's entire kit as it's purely Physical Damage.

PL being an Agility Illusion hero means he dishes out a large number of attacks with lower,relative to other carries, damage per hit. This means you get Counter Helix procs like crazy and should consider an Aghanim's Scepter to remove it's Cooldown.

Axe's Pure damage does not get mitigated by TB's high armor. Due to TB's naturally low HP and high Attack Speed Axe is able to burst him down in a single Call+Blademail+Culling Blade combo not giving TB the chance to get Sunder off

Blademail is a Core item for Axe, which is a core counter-item to WR as she either has to kill herself or cease attacking altogether. His high armor makes him survive WR's ult better than most heroes and gives him many Countere Helix procs.

A huge component of Visage's play style is outputting damage with his Familiars. However, Familiars have the lowest BAT in the game, attacking twice per second unbuffed, and attack range shorter than Axe's Counter Helix AOE

Axe's infinitely scaling armor renders him impervious to BB's fully Physical damage output. Additionally, Berseker's Call forces BB to face Axe making him unable to block damage with his Bristleback passive.

CK's total damage output is mostly physical, trough his and his Illusions' attacks, which get greatly mitigated by Axe's infinetely scaling Armor and trigger Counter Helix. Berserker's Call can lock down both CK and his Illusions and Aghanim's Scepter can reduce CK's right-click damage significantly, which is most of his total damage output.

Huskar wants to stay low HP for maximum damage and Axe loves jumping and bursting low HP targets. A Call+BM+CB combo usually results in Huskar's death due to his high Attack Speed that proc CH and Pure damage not being mitigated by his natural Magic Resist.

Irrelevant of whether she's built as a rightclicker or caster odds are Lina is walking around with at least a 200 Attack Speed buff on her. This in combination with her general squishines makes her burstable with a single Call.

Dark Willows like to fight by activating Shadow Realm for protection in combination with Bedlam. Axe's Call forces her to attack essentially interrupting Shadow Realm and the uncontrollable damage of Bedlam makes her a perfect target for Blademail.

Meepos primary source of damage is physical relying on a large number of fast attacks. Axe's scaling armor mitigates a huge portion of Meepo's damage output and the large number of attacks cause him to dish out a lot of damage with Counter Helix procs.

Marci's main strength in terms of damage is bursting heroes with her Ultimate - Unleash. Axe takes that strength and turns it against her as his armor makes him quite survivable versus the burst giving him time to kill her with Blademail and CH.

Weaver is a squishy hero that relies on elusivness for survivability. Axe's Call deals with that elusivness on multiple levels as he can both lock Weaver down as well as force him out of his Shukuchi by forcing him to attack Axe.

Void Spirit relies greatly on his Ultimate in fights for both offensive and defensive purposes. Being a Universal hero he generally goes for stat items, which empower his rightclicks, which in return procs CH more and Blademail damage during a Call.

Storm Spirit relies greatly on his mobility for survival. A single Call+BM+CB combo would usually result in his death as he favours building Mana and Attack Speed items to compliment his kit, which do little for survining Axe.

Muerta's Pierce the Veil ult is amazing against Physical damage, but does little versus the Pure damage of Axe. Her passive Gunslinger provides her with extra attacks, which also provides Axe with extra Counter Helix procs.

Axe's Culling Blade kills any target within it's threshold and that includes a Troll Warlord during his ult Battle Trance. Troll's passive provides him with a huge amount of Attack Speed, which makes him a great target for BM and CH procs.

Abaddon's ulti can be used DURING Berserker's Call.Despite Culling Blade going trough Borrowed Time, Abaddon still provides barriers and healing for allies caught out by Axe's Berserker's Call. His Aphotic Shield additionally dispells Battle Hunger.

SD can use Disruption on Axe to interfere with his with Berserker's Call, or an ally to provide them with invulnerability during it. Aghanim's Scepter gives Break to his ultimate, which greatly cripples Axe's capabilities.

Tuskar can use Snowball to save his entire team from Berserker's Call and provide them with invulnerability. Additionally, his Aghanim's Scepter allows him to reposition Axe a great distance away from his Called targets.

Bane's Nightmare provides 1 second of invulnerability that could be more than enough to save his allies from Berserker's Call. Addiotionally, if timed accurately Nightmare can completely dodge Berserker's Call taunt effect altogether.

Doom's ultimate essentially takes Axe out of the game for a period of time. When put on autocast his Infernal Blade can trigger during Berserker's Call stunning Axe briefly and doing Max HP percentage damage.

Pugna's Decrepify can be used both on Axe to prevent allies from attacking him or on allies to prevent them from attacking Axe during Berserker's Call. Additionally, he can use Life Drain on Taunted allies to sustain them trough it.

Witch Doctor's ultimate - Death Ward is great at killing Axe as it does Pure damage, which is not mitigated by armor. Despite Death Ward attacking quickly it does not trigger Counter Helix. Voodoo Restoration provides healing for his allies.

A natural counter to Axe as he has built in Lifesteal that scales with Axe's high HP, making him significantly difficult to burst in a single combo. Additionally, Rage causes him to avoid BM damage and Open Wounds provides him even more Lifesteal.

Spectre's Dispersion reduces all types of damage, including Pure Damage, which makes her a hard target to burst in a single Axe Combo. Additionally, her other passive Desolate deals Pure damage, which does not get mitigated by Axe's armor.

Leshrac consistent output of Magic and Pure damage do not get mitigated by Axe's armor. His low Attack Speed and general tanky itemization make him impossible for Axe to kill him on his own. This relegates Axe to using his Call for Crowd Control.

Necro's kit leaves Axe in shambles. He deals exclusively Magic damage, which also scales with % Max HP that does not get reduced by Axe's armor. He provides hefty AOE healing, which helps keep his team topped up. His low attack speed barely procs Counter Helix.

Primal's natural large HP pool and slow attack speed make him a poor target for for Berserker's Call in terms of bursting him. His ult pierces BKB and his Aghanim's Scepter gives him an AOE Break, which further limits Axe's damage and kill potential.

Pudge's natural large HP pool and slow attack speed make him a poor target for for Berserker's Call in terms of bursting him. Additionally, he can hook Axe or any of his allies to disrupt his Combo. Aghanim's Shard allows him to Dismember a teammate and save them.

Bulldoze provides SB with a large amount of Status Resist, which mitigates the duration of Berserker's Call greatly. Planar Pocket prevents Axe from casting CB on his targets as it redirects it to SB. SB has low cooldown BKB piercing Crowd Control to interrupt Axe consistently.

Whirling Death reduces a percentage of Axe's total Strength, for scaling damage troughout the game. All his spells are Pure damage, which do not get mitigated by armor. He generally has low Attack Speed and his ultimate prevents him from attacking, making it hard to get CH procs.

A natural counter to Axe as he has built in Lifesteal to sustain trough his Berserker's Call. Additionally, he can deal Pure damage to Axe, which does not get mitigated by armor and has at least 1 extra life, making it impossible to kill him in a single Call+BM+CB combo.

Venomancer's overwhelming Magic damage does not get mitigated with armor. In lane, Veno has constant poke, slow and harass to prevent Axe from cutting creep waves or sustaining. Plague wards do NOT take damage from Counter Helix nor do they proc it.

OD's ability to deal heavy Pure and Magic damage naturally counters Axe as it doesn't get reduced by armor. Astral Imprisonment can be used both on Axe and allies to disrupt his Call. If set to autocast Arcane Orb persists during Call.

Ursa's ultimate 'Enrage' allows him to mitigate all damage by 80%. Aghanim's Scepter further allows him to even use it during Berserker's Call. His infinitely scaling damage would eventually overwhelm even Axe's high armor and HP.