I finally tried this hero out today in vs AI, got him to level 2. I mean this in the most non-pejorative way possible: what a ridiculous hero! 
I must admit, I had a good time. (Really, I’m sold: this is just a fun hero!) His kit and play-style are absolutely on point with his lore, but…are they really as straight-forward as they appear (now having played a bit as Butcher, in addition to facing him many times)? Are there any pro-tips to be aware of?
I’m all ears! Teach me…The Butcher.
Play him like a solo laner and don’t force fights, even though you have your E. He has good wave clear and nice cc and late game you are killing machine on your own.
I like to roam lanes with him. Moving lanes and check if you can get someone offguard then go back to laneing rise and repeat. But also remember to check if enemy players are missing so you dont get ganked yourself.
His Q and W are AA resets.
E, AA, Q, AA, W, AA.
He is very decision making dependant, so you need to master awareness. I don’t play butcher at all but I think your choices are limited before you are stacked, so don’t go for risky plays, play patently! Playing the hero yourself is the only way you can actually get good at him anyways so don’t be scared to do so.
It’s obvious, because The Butcher is a hard carry and this type of heroes are supposed to be weak early, but even though he is weak early, he has still nice wave clear with Chop meat (1) that makes him even able to dual soak or doing camps, which is nice, because he is a) level dependent and b) stacks dependent.
As an Artanis player, I noticed Chop Meat right away and it was my pick in all my games so far, without regret. And yeah, his wave clear is surprisingly good, as is the default range on Hamstring if you need to get out of lane.
And weirdly enough, as with Artanis, a lot of good butcher skill is knowing when not to go in.
Always play with Fireblast. Only damage can kill heroes and win the game. 
Lamb to the Slaughter actually has pretty long cast range, so you can easily snare someone before they even see you.
Of course! You have to cut proficiently to get that ribeye from ETC, for example, and then sear it just right for that medium-rare finish. It’s a very different scenario from the fish you get from someone like Murky. Then you have to pair it with the right wine, tastefully garnish your meat with some herbs. If this were easy, everyone would do it.
True, but The Butcher cries against any cleanse-able hero or Medivh. Or just Leoric, who timed his E. 
Oh I have a subtlety worth sharing:
When Butcher lands his charge he stuns his target. However, his first AA doesn’t actually land until after the stun wears off.
Not knowing this hidden mechanic, most people charge in then just stand there doing nothing. The target then wakes up from the stun and tries to run away. The butcher spends the rest of his time trying to stay in melee range of a hero trying to run.
Instead what you should do is after completing your charge, youre not going to AA anyway so spend that first second walking beside your target. Once the target wakes you’re semi- cutting off his path allowing 3 or 4 easy AAs.
Lvl 7.
Insatiable BladeWhile facing a branded enemy, The Butcher’s Movement Speed is increased by 25%.
Most people use this talent to chase. But if you’re in danger, you can brand something then walk away with extra move speed.
Butcher’s combo is E-W-Q. But you don’t always have to W. Save it for if you know you’ll be taking damage. Also, remember that. Q and W, will cancel your animation to automatically auto attack. So if you do it too fast, you lose damage by canceling your previous attack before it lands.
Play a lot of games with him so you can get a really good feel for what fights you should and shouldn’t pick.
Being too passive as butch is just as detrimental to the team as being too aggressive, need to find that sweet spot of choosing all the right times to go in.
Also Invigoration at 1 is my go-to talent. I think a lot of his Q talents are great and it’s weird to me how everyone else I see skips them. 1 second CDR means you get your next Q 25% faster and it’s real nice for making sure people don’t run away.
Most pubs take block but honestly I never see how it helps anyone. A stacked Butch is one of the strongest duelists in the game so block is superfluous there and it’s impact is really minimal when you’re still stacking.
don’t force anything. know when to disengage or engage. don’t play aggressive until you secure your quest. minions are your friend. don’t dive unless you have a good reason too and completed your quest. move between lanes occasionally in the beginning to jump the enemy. know your enemy and beware of silences, stuns, roots, blinds.
This may seem really obvious, but you can cancel his charge by pressing E a second time, similar to Anub’arak’s E. I like to use this to bait out defensive CDs or dashes, or even as a way to cleanse stuff with the Unstoppable. I will E at something (you can E minions and mercs too, btw), then cancel my E when I have gone far enough. If you can get someone to waste a heroic or a talent with a long CD, it is worth it.
Butcher is similar to Kerrigan (imo) in that using some pve talents/options can help offset pvp weaknesses. Kerri is not strictly defined by her combo, and butch doesn’t have to only just charge in on a target to engage in a fight. Yea, he does lack out-of-combat sustain (compared to a tank) and he lacks other mobility options, but some heroes do actually just walk back and forth and don’t need a jump, slide, pounce, etc etc cooldown to get into a battle.
Similarly, I think it’s too common that players just use all their buttons at one time so they don’t pace aa resets (as mentioned before) but then they’re using brand on a target that’s going to die soon, so they don’t get the healing they need to live through all that focus fire that’s probably going to come their way.
While some players will complain if you aren’t magically hard carrying and topping super stats as a butcher, a lot of melee assassin generate value/contribution by staying alive; sometimes branding a pve target to hit that for hp is better than hoping for trading up in kills attempt to get more meat than you lose.
Not losing meat is better than trying to offset the meat loss, but one doesn’t actually need to complete the meat quest to end the game.
Here’s another one but it sounds very unintuitive:
The best way to contribute to early game fights is to smack the tank.
Sounds like strange advice but here me out. Most people contribute by hiding in the bush for that perfect moment (i.e. making no contribution). When they finally charge in on that squishy, even if you do kill them there’s no real exit strategy causing you to potentially die.
The benefits to smacking the tank are as follows: