Axe vs Dazzle

How this matchup plays

Watching an ally get caught by Berserker's Call is a terrible feeling for Dazzle. The main issue is that Culling Blade completely ignores Shallow Grave. If a hero's health drops below Axe's threshold, they are executed instantly, making Dazzle's signature save spell useless. This fundamentally undermines Dazzle’s purpose in a teamfight. Axe's entire kit is built to dive in, lock a target down, and guarantee a kill on a low-health enemy, which directly counters what Dazzle is trying to accomplish.

This pressure becomes immense once Axe gets his Blink Dagger. Dazzle himself is a prime target for initiation; if Axe can remove him from the fight early, there's no one left to sustain the team. This forces the Dazzle and his cores to play reactively, always worried about a sudden jump. Their main hope is to use vision and positioning to prevent Axe from getting a clean initiation, whereas Axe's team can play aggressively, knowing they have a reliable way to secure kills even through Dazzle’s saves.