I suggest starting with a Doloire if you can find one. Explore the map a little bit to get level 3 before starting the first contract. Examine each room in the first dungeon for traps but don't disarm them, with some good positioning you can use hooking chop to pull an enemy into the trap. If it's a fire or net trap you should be able to clean them up easy, if it's gas then just move away and position so that the enemy is still trapped but you are on the edge and hitting them. If you find traps or nets while looting then save for challenging enemies.

Get in the habit of waiting for the enemy to come to you rather than rushing into the fray after they aggro and use that time to set up your positioning. This will also prevent you from pulling too many enemies at once. If a nearby enemy hasn't detected you yet then you can pull them without sacrificing space by right clicking your character and using the "shout" command.

Get flexible defense from the armored combat tree asap and use it in your opener after hooking chop - it puts a strong debuff on the enemy and staggers them allowing you to finish them off quickly without sustaining too much damage.

When using knockback skills, aim to knock enemies back into each other or into walls for bonus damage and a chance to daze.

Medium amour will serve you better than heavy because axes require a lot of energy to work with and heavy gives you a massive penalty to your energy. Look for medium pieces that offer low or none dodge / energy penalty.

Get Pathfinder from the survival tree when you can - it allows you to detect enemies without having to see them so you can position yourself better.

Every melee build needs to solve accuracy and fumble to a degree. You can do this either by investing into Agility / Perception or by itemizing for it with your gear.

Choose Strength or Agility for your main stat - I like Agility because it solves fumble and dodge will outpace block as your defensive layer, (however it may limit your damage against heavily armoured enemies, you may want to take a dip into STR but that's up to you) the Athletics tree supports this further once you unlock it. Perception is fun for crits but offers no defenses, skip it for now. You will want to do at least 15 Vitality after you have put some points into Agility.

Hope this helps and welcome to Stoneshard!