ReTro.Death`Note Axe guide 06/08/2014

sorry, i really have to disagree with some points... after that i quit reading this guide.

WTF why no Vanguard? here is why and proof that Pipe of Insight is better than Vanguard on Axe. compare the win rate between Vanguard and Pipe of Insight http://dotabuff.com/heroes/axe/items

the "dotabuff"-statistics are complete nonsense to make decisions in item choice.
but if you want:
why no dagon 4? -> 81.96% winrate
why no refresher ? -> 81.58% winrate
divine rapier ? -> 81.90%
eu's scepter !? -> 71.75%

pipe only got 60,xx %, i would say, every single one listed by me is better, cause dotabuff says so.
even skullbasher (wtf?) is better.

this statistics are completely screwed since they are based on:
- mass pub games
- mass noobs
and finally and the most important fact: if you are already winning, ppl are buying everything. situational usefull or not -> doesn't matter.
they have money for a pipe ? they buy it.
but the game was technically won BEFORE they buyed it.

sorry, but it can't be serious if your build relies on this statistic.
statistics are nice - if someone reads it correct and know how it's made.

Good starting items, though I for one usually start with stout/ror, rarely go with rop/ror however it fastens to get my tranquils earlier. And then dominate enemy softlane with my good partners like Undying, Warlock, Silencer besides boosting me with arcane boots.

I also don't buy vanguard on Axe, but straightforwardly go for BM, followed by dagger and then tarrasque most of the time which brings me wins.

You mention that bm doesn't work well with Berserker's Call, well you should not have to activate BM on every Berserker's Call, you know :P When situations like you have to disable/tank enemy carry, then you must do eventually, no way around. You shouldn't worry about reducing the effectiveness of BM, since you already choose Axe to distract enemy's interest so that your team could finish them off quickly, even to the point of taking all damage till you die. So in that case, while reconsideration is neccessity, when your Berserker's Call is on cd you may need to activate BM at the time or vice versa.

The time when BM becomes useless for me if enemy team starts to build more than 2 bkb, then both BM and Halberd becomes useless anyway.

Well, I can correct you. I don't play axe, actually I'm just starting so I was reading your guide but I was also baffled by the justification of not getting certain items because of win rate.

So let me explain. According to your justification, you shouldn't even look at tranquil boots, because travel boots has much higher win rate than any other boots there. And you know what is wrong with that? It's the number of matches where those boots where bought. The same apply to your other items which you prefer. This is caused because these items are built at the end of the game, where axe is clearly farmed and the game is in most cases won anyway.
And even if you don't take that as a good argument, the comparision between two winrate where one is from 4M sample while the other is from 300k is not correct.

But hey, I don't want to judge which item should be build, because I'm trying to learn him. I was just confused, why you didn't explain it with some arguments than statistic, because as somebody already mentioned, the vanguard is early game item and synergize with berseker's call really well.

You should mention getting blink dagger and force staff. Its pretty funny when you blink + call + force staff and they chase you to some obscure place.

well, it means that it is a better item in general "stats/utility". i dont care what you build as long as it gets you the game won. am just saying why x item is better than y item thats all.

feel free to correct me / discuss :)

cheers

I'm sorry I don't see why win rate ever justifies an item's superiority.
Dagon has a higher win rate than ghost Scepter. Does that justify building Dagon over Ghost Scepter on a support?

I'm sorry I don't see why win rate ever justifies an item's superiority.
Dagon has a higher win rate than ghost Scepter. Does that justify building Dagon over Ghost Scepter?

Agreed :D

Well, the point of Axe is to dominate the early-game and leave the opponents killed much and underleveled, so getting a Bloodstone will be fine if you did it all right.

@tenshin, lol yeah i did my fair share of trolling players with Aghanim's Scepter Bloodstone but to be honest axe should be played as a tank :p.

Aghanim can be ridiculously good, if you opted for a Bloodstone before, can even make you carry hard sometimes.

@Rocky, thank you :).

@TMGames, i used to get Aghanim's Scepter alot like you but then i realised you dont need to ult twice, one ult is all you need to give them the boost. + its not that good, you can get better stats with less gold