Elven axe has pretty good stagger even on light attacks and the worst movement speed while attacking on the elf. Unfortunately, the staggers push enemies far enough away that sometimes the followup hits will completely miss with its terrible movement speed (even while holding w the whole time).
My suggestion is to buff the movement speed a little while attacking and nerf the staggers on the elven axe. A lot of people say that the elven axe feels bad to play and this might alleviate that.
Buff the movement speed for sure, but keep the stagger if possible.
Removing/reducing the movement speed penalty is an absolute must, and I would also consider giving it an actual movetech. But seriously, the terrible movement speed in combat is on top of the list of reasons why this weapon is bad and doesn’t have a role that a different melee weapon doesn’t do better at.
However, I don’t see a reason to lower the stagger. It’s not like the MS improvement will upset the balance so much as to warrant a nerf alongside a buff, and the stagger on Lights is maybe Axe’s best feature.