That line of thinking was once used by some very misguided fixed wing pilots who in the interest of "saving their engine(s)" would take off using "cruise power" (say 23/23) . That kind of thinking has been put paid except for the near criminally foolish among our starched wing brethren and it is max T/O power every time...(That does not mean necessarily Max power...)
In a lightly loaded aircraft with tons of excess power like a UH-60 significantly less than max T/O power is fine, she'll still go vertical @ 2,000 fpm... But in something like a loaded BK coming off a helipad I'll take max T/O pwr 'til VY as per the book, then reduce to max cont til cruise altitude. Using less to "save your engines" is a lot of hoooey...IMHO...
I also don't buy that engines are most likely to fail under T/O power. It's anecdotal of course but that just has not been my experience...recips or turbines...