What players buy
The items bought most in each of Valve’s four game stages
Public matches · each item’s own count
1stMost bought
154 buys
2ndSecond most
143 buys
3rdThird most
68 buys
4thFourth most
52 buys
5thFifth most
32 buysBy GamGem ResearchLast updated 22 Sept 2026
Axe
Melee · Strength
- Win rate
- 50.4%
- Pick share
- 1.7%
- Matches
- 805,773
- Patch
- 7.41f
Draft coverage
BringsInitiatorDurableDisablerCarry
NeedsSupportBurstTower damageEscape
Recommendation
Pick
- The game is heading for 40–50 min — that is where this hero measures best, at 52.4% over 2,014 matches.
- You are playing around Herald — its strongest medal, 52.7% over 19,382 picks.
Avoid
- Bane is on their side — this hero wins 31.1% of 103 matches against it.
- Ember Spirit is on their side — this hero wins 40.0% of 205 matches against it.
- Monkey King is on their side — this hero wins 36.5% of 104 matches against it.
154 buys143 buys68 buys52 buys32 buys
Skill Order
Which ability to max first, and where each point goes — what most league players on Axe took at each level.
QBerserker's Call
Axe taunts nearby enemy units, forcing them to attack him while he gains bonus armor during the duration.
No Target
WBattle Hunger
Enrages an enemy unit, causing it to take damage over time until it kills another unit or the duration ends.
Unit Target · Pure damage
ECounter Helix
After a set number of attacks, Axe will perform a helix counter attack, dealing pure damage to all nearby enemies.
Passive · Pure damage
RCulling Blade
Axe spots a weakness and strikes, dealing pure damage.
Unit Target · Pure damageMax Order
EWQ
Max E first, then W, then Q. Most took R at 6 / 13.
Level-up Order
- QBerserker's Call
- WBattle Hunger
- ECounter Helix
- RCulling Blade
- TTalent
| Ability | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QBerserker's Call | Q | Q | Q | Q | ||||||||||||
| WBattle Hunger | W | W | W | W | ||||||||||||
| ECounter Helix | E | E | E | E | ||||||||||||
| RCulling Blade | R | R | ||||||||||||||
| TTalent | T | T |
Matchup map
How Axe performs against every opponent with 30 or more counted games
118 opponents · public matches40%60%Axe's win rate
≥ 60%Very favorable
55 – 60%Favorable
50 – 55%Even
45 – 50%Unfavorable
40 – 45%Hard
< 40%Very hard
If this happens, use this
- They are running away
Something that holds them still, or closes the gap yourself. Matched on “slow”.
- Kill them in one window
Damage that lands now rather than over a minute. Matched on “pure”, “damage over time”.
By medal
- Herald52.7%19,382
- Guardian51.6%69,046
- Crusader51.2%122,392
- Archon50.4%171,022
- Legend50.1%179,328
- Ancient49.6%116,678
- Divine48.7%72,189
One count per medal, not one rate split across them; a medal with no counted matches is left out.
By match length
- 0–20 min41.7%3,773
- 20–30 min47.1%9,460
- 30–40 min48.8%5,177
- 40–50 min52.4%2,014
- 50 min +48.5%977
Bands under 120 matches are absent rather than shown small.
Learning Axe
Abilities
Berserker's Call
No TargetAxe taunts nearby enemy units, forcing them to attack him while he gains bonus armor during the duration.
Battle Hunger
Unit Target · Pure damageEnrages an enemy unit, causing it to take damage over time until it kills another unit or the duration ends. The enemy is slowed as long as they are facing away from Axe.
Counter Helix
Passive · Pure damageAfter a set number of attacks, Axe will perform a helix counter attack, dealing pure damage to all nearby enemies.
Culling Blade
Unit Target · Pure damageAxe spots a weakness and strikes, dealing pure damage. When an enemy hero is killed with Culling Blade, its cooldown is reset, and all nearby allied units gain bonus movement speed and armor. Axe permanently drenches his blade every time he kills an enemy Hero with Culling Blade, gaining bonus armor for each stack.
One Man Army
Passive · HiddenAxe gains Strength based on 50% of his Armor as long as there are no allied heroes within 700 distance from Axe. The effect fades over 3s after approaching an ally.
Base attributes
- Strength
- 25 +2.7
- Agility
- 20 +1.7
- Intelligence
- 18 +1.6
- Move · range
- 315 · 150
Talents
- 4Berserker's Call AoECulling Blade Damage
- 3+15 StrengthCounter Helix Damage
- 2Battle Hunger Damage Per SecondBerserker's Call Armor
- 1Culling Blade Kill Buff Bonus DurationMovement Speed per active Battle Hunger
Aghanim’s Scepter
Changes Counter Helix
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 and its counter advances when Axe attacks.
Aghanim’s Shard
Changes Battle Hunger
Multiple instances of Battle Hunger can stack on a single target.
Sources
- Kit, talents and upgrades · mechanicalread 22 Sept 2026
Ability names, icons, behaviour, damage type and text, plus the Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard descriptions — as the game itself ships them. Nothing here was counted over matches.
- Win rate by medal · countedread 15 Sept 2026
The same hero at each of Valve’s eight medals, over 4,610,063 public matches. Each medal carries its own sample, because the eight buckets are nothing like the same size.
- Matchups and match length · counted, on a narrower windowread 16 Sept 2026
Win rate against each opponent and across five match-length bands. This channel reports far fewer games than the medal figures above: the median hero pairing is 51 matches and the largest on the whole roster is 707. Rows under 30 games are absent rather than shown small, and the ones that remain are ORDERED by a figure shrunk toward even by its own sample — the rate you see is the real one, the ranking is the careful one.
- What players build · countedread 15 Sept 2026
The five most common items in each of Valve’s four game stages, with each row’s own pick count.
- Skill order · counted, in league matchesread 3 Oct 2026
Where skill points go, read off every player's own learning order in premium and professional league matches on patches 7.41 and 7.40. Each level shows the ability most players took there and the share that did — a column only a third agree on is printed as a third, not as the rule. Heroes under 30 counted games show no path.
- Situation index · derived, and checkableread 22 Sept 2026
Each situation is a phrase match against Valve’s own ability text, and every row shows the phrases that matched. No win rate is attached, because nobody counts one per situation.
Mechanics are the ones Valve publishes for patch 7.41f. GamGem is not affiliated with or endorsed by Valve Corporation.