Battle Axe - Budget Build

Battleaxe

HUNTER HOOD - ASSASSIN JACKET - ANY PLATE BOOTS - TORCH - CAPE

C tier

While the battle axe itself is a powerful weapon, this build is a budget version, it’s more about being cost effective, and it’s not the most well-rounded battle axe build.

Awakening trats:

This is a budget build so it is unlikely that you will run this with an awakened weapon. But if for some reason you want to do this, HP, DEF, Life Steal would be your top choices.

Default Abilities and Passives:
Battleaxe:

Q3, W2, Passive 1

Hunter Hood:
Retaliate, passive 1

Assassin Jacket:
Infernal Shield, passive 1
Any Plate Boots:
Rejuvenating Sprint, passive 2

Explanation:

This is a common budget build, popular because it offers great value for how cheap it is. Battleaxe is a weapon that requires some good understanding of the game to make it really shine, however, doing the “noob strat” of hitting 3 qs then hitting E gives you plenty of value and will win you a lot of low tier fights. But the proper way to play axe involves a lot of kiting, holding your E so it doesn’t get dodged, and baiting high mobility targets to over commit. W3 is often better when you have to kite more (for example, against 1h dagger), and also against builds that would kite you a lot (for example Chillhowls). When kiting, simply keep your distance and hit your Es to get an HP lead. Since your E has a very short cooldown if you don’t use the 2nd part, you can basically play like a warbow until your enemy is low enough for you to commit. The Assassin Jacket is mostly used for infernal shield, which is an ability that is available on all leather jackets. However, Assassin Jacket is preferred because it offers the highest offensive stats among all the non-artifact jackets, and the ambush ability is also very useful for timing out big enemy buffs such as Mercenary Jacket and Wanderlust. Keep in mind that your DPS out put will be higher if you never use the 3rd hit of your Q or the 2nd hit of your E. Use those only if you need the snare and the heal.

Strengths and weaknesses:

Great at brawling, can kite very well for a melee weapon.

Not the best at chasing down high mobility weapons, and not great for dismounting.

Variations:

Mercenary Jacket for more sustain.

Fiend cowl will take away from the “budget” aspect of the build but will give you a much easier time chasing people down if you can purge their boots.

Muisac offers great value for a battle axe, and is definitely a better choice than a torch, but it does add to the cost of the build, making it less “budget”.

If you run Muisac, you will need to change your boots to any cloth sandals for Energizing Sprint to make up for the increased mana cost.

Mistwalker Jacket is a big upgrade from Assassin Jacket as it offers you something the battle axe does not already have - an iframe - this allows you to play much more aggressively against things like curse and fire, but it’s one of the most expensive Jackets at the time, so definitely not an budget option.

If you can afford a real cape, Martlock is a good budget option. Martlock cape makes it a lot safer for you to try baiting higher mobility builds to over commit against you when you appear to be low HP.

Main Food:

Beef stew / roast pork

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