Axe + Broodmother

Why this works

Playing against this pair feels like the map is shrinking around you. Broodmother’s webs create a massive zone of vision and control that Axe uses to find his perfect initiation. He can hide near her territory, waiting for an enemy to wander into a bad position. Once Axe lands a Berserker’s Call, the taunted heroes are sitting ducks for Broodmother and her spiderlings to swarm. The lockdown prevents enemies from using area-of-effect spells to clear the spiders, allowing them to deal a surprising amount of damage to the helpless targets.

This pressure starts early and often forces opponents into a dilemma. They either have to dedicate multiple heroes to contain Broodmother’s lane, leaving the rest of the map vulnerable to Axe, or they group up to avoid ganks and give Broodmother free rein to take objectives. Fighting into them is difficult; the best response is usually to try and get a lead before Axe gets his Blink Dagger and Brood starts to build her spider army. If they fall behind, it becomes incredibly hard to contest any area where the spiders and webs are established.