ATROPOS GUIDE (by UnsereRettung)

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ATROPOS GUIDE (by UnsereRettung)

Tittle: Be your enemy's worst Nightmare!
Author: UnsereRettung

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Pros:

A great support hero that all the teammates love
A great disabler hero that all the opponents hate
Strong early and mid game, (especially early-mid game)
A strong ganker from level 6 on (and probably the best ganking partner in game)
Not item-dependable
Good Strength grow and starting Strength (for an Intelligence hero)
Has a pure-damage nuke, which is a heal at the same time (Brain Sap)
Has one of the best anti-carry spells in the game (Enfeeble)
Ranged
Cool backstory

Cons:

Like most intelligence heroes, not that powerful in late game
No AOE spells, thus sucks at pushing and at clearing creepwaves
Relatively weak in large teamfights
Mana problems early game
Silencers are a pain in the ass
Team-dependent

It's not a good idea to pick Bane if

-Enemy team has a lot of silencers
-Enemy team has a lot of aoe/long range/spammable stuns
-Enemy team has a lot of heroes with magic immunity or magic resistance
-Your team lacks aoe/teamfight presence
-Your team lacks pushing/counter-pushing potential (compared to the enemy team)

Feel free to pick Bane if most of the stuff mentioned above isn't true

Skills

Enfeeable

Greatly reduces an enemy unit's ability to participate in combat by reducing its attack damage. Lasts 20 seconds.
1. Mana 95 / Cooldown / Duration 20 seconds / Reduces attack damage by 30
2. Mana 105 / Cooldown / Duration 20 seconds / Reduces attack damage by 60
3. Mana 115 / Cooldown / Duration 20 seconds / Reduces attack damage by 90
4. Mana 125 / Cooldown / Duration 20 seconds / Reduces attack damage by 120

Undispellable.

Brain Sap

Feasts on the vital energies of an enemy unit, absorbing some of its hit points.

1. Mana 125 / Cooldown 14 / Absorbs 90 HP
2. Mana 150 / Cooldown 14 / Absorbs 160 HP
3. Mana 175 / Cooldown 14 / Absorbs 230 HP
4. Mana 200 / Cooldown 14 / Absorbs 300 HP

Damage type: pure
Gives the full hp amount to Atropos, regardless of the amount of hp the target lost.

Nightmare

Puts another unit into a fitful slumber, filled with horrifying nightmares. It takes 20 damage per second. If that unit is attacked while it slumbers, the attacking unit comes under the effect of Nightmare.

1. Mana 165 / Cooldown 15 / Duration 4 seconds / Sleeps the target and takes 20 HP per second from it
2. Mana 165 / Cooldown 15550 / Duration 5 seconds / Sleeps the target and takes 20 HP per second from it
3. Mana 165 / Cooldown 15600 / Duration 6 seconds / Sleeps the target and takes 20 HP per second from it
4. Mana 165 / Cooldown 15650 / Duration 7 seconds / Sleeps the target and takes 20 HP per second from it

Damage type: HP removal
Nightmare can damage allies (and Atropos), and can thus be used to deny hero kills.
If the target recieves any type of damage except Nightmare, then it will wake up.
The use of spells on the affected units can wake the target up without the caster falling asleep.
In the first second of Nightmare the target will be invulnerable.
The -disablehelp command will prevent an allied Bane Elemental from casting this spell on you.
If Atropos is under the effect of Nightmare, he can wake himself up.

Fiend's Grip

Uses dark magic to grip a target enemy unit and damage it heavily. It cannot move or attack. Transfers 5% of the target's max mana per second. Lasts 5 seconds.

1. Mana 200 / Cooldown 100 / Duration 5 (7*) seconds / Deals 100 (155*) damage and transfers 5% (10%*) of the max mana of the target per second. Target is disabled for the duration of the spell
2. Mana 300 / Cooldown 100 / Duration 5 (7*) seconds / Deals 155 (215*) damage and transfers 5% (10%*) of the max mana of the target per second. Target is disabled for the duration of the spell
3. Mana 400 / Cooldown 100 / Duration 5 (7*) seconds / Deals 215 (270*) damage and transfers 5% (10%*) of the max mana of the target per second. Target is disabled for the duration of the spell

Damage type: magical
Using Fiend's Grip on a magic immune unit will still disable and drain mana, but no damage will be dealt to the targeted unit.
Fiend's Grip is a channeling spell.
Can be improved by Aghanim's Scepter (* shows the improved values).

Hero's Skill Build

Standard build

Level 1: Nightmare
Level 2: Brain Sap
Level 3: Brain Sap
Level 4: Stats
Level 5: Brain Sap
Level 6: Fiend's Grip
Level 7: Brain Sap
Level 8: Nightmare
Level 9: Nightmare
Level 10: Nightmare
Level 11: Fiend's Grip
Level 12: Enfeeble
Level 13: Enfeeble
Level 14: Enfeeble
Level 15: Enfeeble
Level 16: Fiend's Grip
Level 17+: Stats

Stats build

Level 1: Nightmare
Level 2: Brain Sap
Level 3: Brain Sap
Level 4: Stats
Level 5: Brain Sap
Level 6: Fiend's Grip
Level 7: Brain Sap
Level 8: Stats
Level 9: Stats
Level 10: Stats
Level 11: Fiend's Grip
Level 12: Enfeeble
Level 13: Enfeeble
Level 14: Enfeeble
Level 15: Enfeeble
Level 16: Fiend's Grip
Level 17: Nightmare
Level 18: Nightmare
Level 19: Nightmare
Level 20+: Stats

Enfeebling build

Level 1: Nightmare
Level 2: Brain Sap
Level 3: Brain Sap
Level 4: Stats
Level 5: Brain Sap
Level 6: Fiend's Grip
Level 7: Brain Sap
Level 8: Enfeeble
Level 9: Enfeeble
Level 10: Enfeeble
Level 11: Fiend's Grip
Level 12: Enfeeble
Level 13: Stats
Level 14: Stats
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Fiend's Grip
Level 17: Nightmare
Level 18: Nightmare
Level 19: Nightmare
Level 20+: Stats

Nightmare - Efeebling build

Level 1: Nightmare
Level 2: Brain Sap
Level 3: Brain Sap
Level 4: Stats
Level 5: Brain Sap
Level 6: Fiend's Grip
Level 7: Brain Sap
Level 8: Enfeeble
Level 9: Enfeeble
Level 10: Enfeeble
Level 11: Fiend's Grip
Level 12: Enfeeble
Level 13: Nightmare
Level 14: Nightmare
Level 15: Nightmare
Level 16: Fiend's Grip
Level 17+: Stats

Justification:

As you can see, there is no fixed skill build for Bane.
We always take Nightmare at level 1, because aside from the obvious first blood prevention, it is a nice skill to have. It doesn't benefit very much from leveling, but extra duration is quite useful in teamfights. Stats can be taken insted of Nightmare at levels 8-10 if no teamfight occur.
Brain Sap is maximized as fast as possible (at lvl 2,3,5,7) because it works wonders early and mid game.
Enfeeble can be taken as early as level 8 if there are a lot of DPS'ers in enemy team, but generally enemy dps starts to get dangerous around level 12. In an unlikely situation, it is possible not to skill Enfeeble until level 22 if there are no dps'ers at all in the enemy team (unlucky '-ar' for them, for example).
Fiend's Grip is taken whenever possible for obvious reasons.

Hero's Item Build

Starting items

This one is my personal pub favorite.

If no one gets a chicken, guess what? You get it (or get some wards instead).

The ultimate ward-bitch support. I mostly use this one when I'm playing with friends or competitive.

Make sure you get at least 2 of

, don't forget to buy some

or

. The rest you can spend on circletes, mantles, gauntlets, branches, it's up to you really: there are to many good starting builds for me to name them all. Circlet and Mantle/Gauntlet can be later transformed into a Null Talisman/Bracer.

Don't forget that every team needs a

. You starting stats are quite high so you should really consider buying it!

Starting optional items are:

(get the last two if you are planning on getting a Soul Ring or buy a Soul Ring Recipe).

And last but not least, do consider buying

Observer Wards as a starting item as well.

Core items

Boots of Speed: are an obvious choice, no comments.

Null Talisman can be crafted from Circlets/Mantels that we got earlier. Null Talisman gives us some viable stats and is a good cheap all-round item.

is a good item on Bane. It helps us deal with our mana problems, makes us more durable and you can always share it with teammates. I prefer it over Soul Ring because it's more reliable, shareable and has more uses (healing). If you get it, don't forget about runescouting and that you can use a to refill the bottle. Here's a good guide on how to use the courier btw.

Necronomicon: Bane Elemental is THE best Necronomicon carrier in the game (okay, maybe second best after Lycan). It's like it was created specially for him. Those two little dudes can pwn so much shit out of enemies, they are just so bad-ass. Use it before Fiendsgripping someone, and let the dudes help you take the target down. So I'd say 9 times out of 10 the Necrobook should be your first big item (if you can afford it of course). The only scenario when you probably shouldn't get a Necro is when you're playing 100% support.

Note that Necronomicon received a considerable buff in 6.73, so now it's even more viable!

Don't forget to keep a

TP scroll and to

ward .

Get

or

if there are invis heroes in enemy team, don't be greedy, you're no carry, you can afford to spend your money on stuff like this. It's better you spend 180 gold on Dust rather then an opponent Riki has a wonderful mid game thanks to no anti-invis in your team. Remember that lvl3 Necronomicon dude has true sight btw.

Optional core

Magic Stick /

Wand: The famous Magic Stick. An obvious must-have against spell-spamers like Bristelback or Zeus. It can save your ass, it helps with mana problems. I think that Bottle is enough though. Get this instead of Bottle or in addition to it if you want.

Arcane Boots: What can I say.. Get this if you are laning with some always-out-of-mana dude like King Leoric, Dragon Knight, Necrolyte, Zeus etc. I wouldn't advice to get it solely for yourself because it will delay your precious Necrobook and you are not likely to have mana problems in late game, so it's kind of a waste then... Get Arcane boots only if your team needs it, it's not a must-have.

They got a bit nerfed in 6.75, think twice before getting them.

Soul Ring: A nice item on Bane: sacrifice 150 hp, get 150 mp, use Brain Sap, regenerate hp, damage the enemy... Gives nice lane control. Needless to mention that if you're going for Soul Ring, you need to rush it fast, like when you reach level 3 or faster. As I said, I like Bottle more because it's more reliable and you don't have to make sacrifices. Besides, Soul Ring is truly useful only in early game (during laning). Still a great item though, get it if it suits your playstyle.

Void Stone: This item deserves a mention here. You can get it prior to Necronomicon to help you with mana problems. Buy if you are planning on getting Guinsoo's or Eul's after the necrobook. (Note that Void Stone is sharable).

Tranquil Boots: Ah, the new 6.73 boots. Cheap and efficient. Looks like a very nice upgrade to the normal boots, but I haven't tested them out enough yet.

On the first glance it may seem like 'Why on earth would I need those when I can regen my HP by using Brain Sap'? The fact is, often you might simply not have enough mana for Brain Sap. So this additional source of HP regen can be quite useful. Besides, Tranquil Boots offer a very nice MS boost of 80! So this item is definitely worth a consideration.

If you get those, I think it might be a good idea to get a Ring of Protection as a starting item so that the Tranquil boots can easily be assembled using the side shops.

Urn of Shadows: A viable alternative to bottle, suits a ganker like Bane perfectly. Extra strength and mp are very useful. Feel free to get it if nobody else already got it on your team.

Note that a nightmared target will still get healed by Urn.

Post - core items

Aghanim's Scepter: Does someone survive your ulti? Feel like you will benefit from an extra second of Fiend's Grip? Want to drain even more mana? Then Aghnim's Scepter is for you! The stats bonus is nice as well. Great item to get, especially if there are tough bitches in enemy team whom you want to make sure are dead after Fiend's Grip.

In 6.75, duration is increased to 7 seconds! Looks appealing, especially in combo with Necrobook, right?

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse: I am yet to see an Intelligence hero who wouldn't benefit a lot from Guinsoo. It's like Butterfly for agility heroes or HoT for Strength. The only drawback is of course it's high cost, but hey, it's worth it's money as the ability of turning enemy heroes into sheeps can't be overestimated. The mana regen and stats bonus are nice as well.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity: Much like Guinsoo, it's a very nice item to have and it is a lot cheaper. Sure, being invulnerable and disabled for 2.5 seconds isn't as annoying for your enemies as being disabled and vulnerable for 3.5, but Eul is an acceptable alternative to Guinsoo. In fact, if you buy both those items, you can actually get the entire enemy team! Cyclone on one, Hex on the other, Enfeeble the dps'er, Nightmare someone, Fiend's Grip and tah-dah! All five disabled.

Force Staff: A very underestimated item in pubs. If you watch a pro game, I can guarantee that you'll see at least 2 Force Staffs in almost any game. It's useful as shit, seriously. Cheap also. By all means consider getting it especially if things aren't going to well for you.

Boots of Travel: The best boots out there. Expensive as shit for a hero with no farming mechanism, but invaluable, especially in late game, when mobility is very important. It might be sensible to rush BoT straight after your core items if you fell that mobility is needed and you haven't upgraded your boots.

Luxury

Shiva's Guard: A good survivability booster, a nice item for any mage to have. It's active (Arctic Blast) can be used during a Fiend's Grip without interrupting it. Also it compensates our lack of AOE skills (clearing creepwaves with Shivas? Drastic times call for drastic measures!). Anyway, get it if there are a lot of physical dps'ers in enemy team.

Heart of Tarrasque: Pure healthpoints, a luxury item for any hero. No comments.

Linken's Sphere: A nice item against heroes like Lina or Doombringer. Stats and regen are good too. Basically another survivability booster. Good but situational. Btw, if your interested in Linken, check this article out.

Heaven's Halberd: "A dps item on bane? WTF have u been smokin, dude?" A dps item? Not so much if you take a closer look. It's true that the maim as well as damage are kinda wasted, but additional strength and evasion boost Bane's survivability quite a lot (evasion can be really effective against enemy dps'ers). And it's active 'Disarm'!.. laugh in the face of this Faceless Void when he uses his ultimate and then just helplessly wonders across his bluish sphere! Get this if you feel that your team may use another anti-carry instrument aside from Enfeeble, or hell, get it simply for survivability or to disarm Roshan

Black King Bar: Tiered of your ult being interrupted? This thingy will help. Activate it prior to Fiend's Gripping and don't worry about you ult being interrupted (well, actually do worry because there are some skills that go trough magic immunity). +10 STR is nice, the damage from Mithril Hammer is kinda wasted, overall a good item.

The reason why I decided to move BKB to the luxury section is because by the time you can afford it you usually already won or already lost. In both those cases a BKB won't do much difference as in late game you will be unfortunately sorta useless (if your losing, BKB or no BKB, you won't make a difference; if you're winning, your carries shine in late game, not Bane).

Lotar's Edge or Shadow Amulet: Tiered of your ult being interrupted? This thingy will help. Activate it... wait a minute, I heard that already. But seriously, if you active Lotar's Edge while channeling Fiend's Grip you will get invisible without your ult being interrupted (ninja-style ). Not to mention that you can use Lotar's to escape ganks and to do other stuff (initiator Bane ftw). Watch out for dust/wards/gem and AOE stuns like Ravage though. Lotar is a bit cheaper than BKB, but the damage and attack speed are wasted. Take your pick between those two items depending on the situation.

Rejected

Ethereal Blade: Extra agility is wasted (aside from armor). Using Ether Blast to amplify Fiend's Grip damage is totally wasted, as your little Necronomicon-dudes won't be able to attack your target. Paying 3300 for Eaglehorn when you don't need the attack speed? Just no.

Reworked in 6.75? Now makes more sense to get it? Still no.

Manta Style: So you use Manta, then cast Fiend's Grip and your illusions kick the shit out of your target? Not really. Much like Ethereal Blade, Manta offers a lot of unnecessary agility, and your images won't do much damage as Bane is no dps'er. There are much better items to get for the same price.

Eye of Skadi: This item might look as a universal item for any hero, but considering it's high cost I think Eye is a waste on Bane. Again, you won't be having mana problems in late game (especially with the right items), so we don't benefit that much from +25 INT and +200 mana. +25 agility is also wasted, so is the cold attack. +25 strength is nice, as survivability is never redundant, but go for HoT instead! It's even cheaper and provides a better bonus.

Bloodstone: Heroes who buy Bloodstone hunger for mana constantly. That means that they have low-cd spammable spells. All Bane's spells have long (12+) cooldowns, thus we won't be able to spam them, and so we don't need the mana regen that much. There are better/more useful items (like HoT or Shiva) for survivability and (Guinsoo/Eul) for mana regen (which ain't that useful anyways).

DPS items: Please stay as far away as possible from all DPS items. Bane is no carry, and not even a semi-carry. He lacks a farming mechanism for that and his attack range is too short. Don't embarrass yourself and don't even try to make a semi-carry out of Bane.

Items to consider

Ok, just gonna list a bunch of situational items that you might consider getting and comment on each one briefly.

500 gold spent on Gloves of Haste is wasted, but +8 STR/INT is nice. Probably not worth 950 gold in total.

Extra chasing/escape power alongside MS is quite useful but raw damage is redundant. I wouldn't advice getting those but I suppose you can if you really want to..

Get it if enemy team consists of some nukers or mass ulters and no one is getting a Pipe on your team.

Cheap and useful. Will delay core a bit though.

If your playing as a pure support - by all means get a Mech. Note that you manapool will take quite a blow so usually I would be against getting it.

Fairly cheap and efficient. But Eul's and Guinsoo are superior to Rod of Atos IMO.

Another support item. Get it only if you team consists of a couple nukers or mass-ulters like SK and Shake.

I suppose you can try it for fun. But not a very good idea if you ask me.

If you like killstealing - go for it! Besides, an extra nuke in the team would never go amiss.

Another support-oriented item. I suppose you can give it a try.

Expensive, especially when the DPS part is wasted. Get it only if you badly need to shut down heroes like Harbinger and Storm.

F*uck you Ursa/Lycan/Naix/...

Helps with ganks and is overall a very good item, but quite expensive and not as useful once you recall that all your spells have a 600+ casting range. Also, Force Staff is superior on Bane IMO.

Just don't forget to activate it and it might payoff.

Dream item build

If things went really well for you, Bane's end game items would look something like this:

Just kidding, lol

Here's the real deal:

Map mobility? Check. Nobody survives our devastating ult? Check. Nobody interrupts our devastating ult? Check. An extra disable? Check. Survivability? Check.

Hero's Strategy

Laning

Bane is a strong laner, thanks to his Brain Sap and Nightmare. Whatever happens, you can quickly put your opponent to sleep or heal yourself by brainsapping someone. Manage your mana carefully. Your starting INT and INT growth are rather low, while your spells cost a lot of mp to cast. Bane can go solo or dual lane, but solo is of course more preferable.

Note: I'm not gonna mention triple lanes as they are very uncommon at casual level. So, lets discuss in detail our options:

1. Solomid. Your best option if you are playing alone in a pub. Being a ganker, Bane is a very nice candidate for solomid, coz once he reaches level 6, enemy sidelaners are gonna be around lvl4, and Bane can just gank the shit out of them. So farm-farm-farm until you hit level 6. Now it's Gank time! Go gank someone, return back to mid and farm, then gank again 100 seconds later (Fiend's Grip cd) and keep the cycle running for the next few minutes until the laning stage of the game ends.

2. Solo short (easy) lane. This is your best bet if you are playing with a friend, if he is willing to take a jungling hero like Lycan or Naix. Once you hit level 6 (jungler being usually ~lvl5 at this point) you can easily kill 1 enemy, and often 2. Just call the jungler in for a gank on your lane, Nightmare one, take down via Ulti the other (often you can even do it alone). Remember to leave the lasthit to your carry if possible.

Caution! Be careful not to be too aggressive as laning alone versus 2 heroes can be very dangerous sometimes as early game deaths can be extremely costly on Atropos.

3. Dual lane. The least preferable scenerio, but still tolerable. If you go dual, remember that Atropos is a support hero, and thus you should focus on denying rather then lasthitting creeps, as your lane partner is likely to need gold more than you do. Try to harass enemy heroes, though Atropos' attack range is only 400, he still can do that if there are melee heroes laning against him.

Ganking

Bane is a very strong ganker from level 6 thanks to Fiend's Grip, but he often requires a partner. Baisically, 2vs1 or 2vs2 you should always get a kill.
If you are ganking one person, simply cast Fiend's Grip on him and watch him go down while your ult and your partner eat his health. And I strongly recommend you taking someone with you, because Fiend's Grip+Brain Sap combination of course does deal a lot of damage, but most heroes can withstand that.
Ganking 2on2 is similar, only you have to Nightmare someone first. Then you can take down the Fiend's Gripped one, and after that, if you still have the ability, deal with the one that woke up after Nightmare.

5 steps to a successful gank:

1. Check cooldown. Fiends Grip is your main ganking tool. If it's on cooldown you can't gank anyone, obviously. If it's not, you should gank someone. A few successful ganks can be game-breaking. To reach the maximum efficiency, you should in theory gank every 100 seconds starting the moment you've got level 6.
2. Chose a target. Preferably a carry, but any hero thats not tower-hugging would do really.
3. Check mana. A really simple yet important step. You don't wanna sleep someone, summon neco-dudes and find out that you don't have mana for Fiends Grip.
4. Notify your teammates. Another simple but very important step. Pinging (alt+g+left mouse button) on the minimap or writing something (e.g. "ganking bot in 20 s") to notify your teammates about the incoming gank is crucial. Allied players often won't notice you approaching and react slowly (if at all) when you start channeling Fiends Grip, resulting in failed ganks. We don't want that to happen.
5. Do not fuck up. Just do your stuff. Do not missclick, forget to use an ability/item or accidentally cancel your channeling... and pay that your teammates aren't morons.

Numbers to remember:

Lvl 3 Brain Sap+Lvl 1 Fiend's Grip: 230+100*5*0.75=605 points of damage (magic resistance included).
Lvl 4 Brain Sap+Lvl 1 Fiend's Grip: 300+100*5*0.75=675 points of damage.
This is ypur killing potential on levels 6 and 7. If the target has less than this amount of hp, you can kill him 1 on 1. Otherwise you require your allies help.

Pushing

Bane sucks sooo hard at pushing, I cant even begin to tell you. Seriously, that's just not his thing. If you need to push really badly (like whentaking down enemy barracks) - summon the Necronomicon dudes to help. And, of course, contribute with your basic attack.

Teamfights

Unfortunately, large teamfights isn't Bane's strong side either. Not until he collected all the right items. Small teamfights (like 3 on 3) is another pair of shoes though, but I'm not sure that it's correct to actually call a '3on3 fight' a 'teamfight' (it is often reffered to as "skirmish").

Anyway, prior to using your devastating ult in a teamfight, you should try to use all your items and abilities. Usually you would start by Enfeebling someone, as this spell has the longest range. Then you should put somebody to sleep (someone who can potentially interrupt your ult), use items like Eul's and Guinsoo, then, just before casting your ult, summon Necro-dudes and activate BKB (or activate Lotar right after casting FG).

This is the case when things go well, Bane has most of the items he needs, he doesn't get focused and taken down quickly and has the time to do all his stuff. In reality, Bane is a big target in teamfight's and often gets raped pretty fast. Even if you survive to do your stuff and start casting your ult, you are very likely to get interrupted, coz when Bane starts Fiend's Gripping, he becomes target number one. And every single bitch in the opponent team will try to end your ult as fast as he can.

Anyway, even if you got raped, you are likely to have contributed to you team because you Enfeebled someone, disabled via Nightmare somebody else and tanked the damage! You are a support hero, not a carry, your goal is to ensure that they do well, get all the kills and the gold, not you. Believe me, on Atropos it's better to have 1-10-15 stats than 13-10-3 or something, you get the point.

Additional Strategy

+

Using Brain Sap after Fiend's Grip

1. Cast Fiend's Grip (F+left click on your target)
2. Hold Shift. Press B (Brain Sap hotkey) and left-click on the Fiend's Gripped target.
3. Release Shift. Now Atropos will cast his Brain Sap right after he finishes casting Fiend' Grip.
It's an easy technique that I'm sure most of you know, but still it's better to make sure.
Note! Fiend's Grip range is 625, while Brain Sap's is 600. That means that you have to get closer to your target before casting your ult to make sure that it has no time to escape before you finish him off with Brain Sap.
Reminder! You shouldn't killsteal. If after your Fiend's Grip the enemy can be quickly finished by one of your more item-dependable teammate (a carry), then it's better not to use Brain Sap and let your carry get the kill.

+

Using Necronomicon to good effect

1. Position yourself carefully: get close (200-500 units) to an enemy hero
2. Activate Necronomicon.
3. Cast Fiend's Grip (F+left click on your target).
4. Select your Necronomicon-dudes and order them to attack your target (it is possible to select all 3 of you (including Atropos) and order to attack. That way the necro-dudes will attack the target and Bane will still be Fiendsgripping).
5. Order Necro-dude (the red one) to manaburn your target. You can do it right after you ordered the necro-dudes to attack your target by R+left click on the target. (If you have Atropos and the 2 dudes selected you should press Tab to switch to the ranged necro-dude and then press R+left click on the target).
6. Finish off the target using Brain Sap if necessary.

Abusing Nightmare's 1 second invulnerability

In the first second of Nightmare the target will be invulnerable - says the spell note. This is as good as it sounds: you can use the spell to make yourself/your ally invulnerable for a full 1 second, and then easily wake yourself up thanks to the new sub-ability! This technique is very useful when dodging slow projectiles or delayed delayed spells, such as Sniper's Assassinate, Gyrocopter's Homing Missile or Dragonus' Arcane Bolt. With good timing and a bit of luck, you will save many lives of your allies and yourself.
Keep in mind that it is true for opponents too, though, so be always careful with who and when you Nightmare!

Warning! Do not overestimate this technique: Bane's 0.5 second cast time+your ping limit the use of it badly. It's not Puck's Phase Shift nor Shadow Demon's Disruption. Don't try to use it as such, or you will very often end up wasting invaluable 165 mana and a cooldown.

About your casting animation and why is this important

If your not too experienced with dota, you probably never payed attention to a very important number: Bane's Casting Animation: 0.5 / 0.51.
0.5 seconds is the time between you issue to cast a spell and the moment when Bane actually lifts his hand and casts it. Bane animation is longer than on most heroes, and this can be quite a big disadvantage.
Okay, why is this so goddamn important? Say you are killing a Harbinger who has 600 hp. You should be able to kill him via Fiends Grip+Brain Sap combo. You start channeling FG, shift-que Brain Sap, everything should be fine. But right after you stop channeling, before Bane casts Brain Sap, Harby uses his Astral Imprisonment on you and safely escapes. Why was he able to cast his spell faster? Because his casting animation is 0.25 which is less than Bane's 0.5. Same is true for almost all heroes with escape mechanisms (like blink or windwalk).
Things aren't that bad for you of course. What saves you? First of all, mana drain, so your target might not have enough mana to escape. Secondly, noobs, who might not be fast enough or smart enough to escape from you in this manner.
Keep your casting animation in mind when trying to kill somebody.

Support Bane mini-guide

/

or

This guide has been more sololane-ganking Bane oriented. Often, especially in the pro scene, Bane is played as a pure support. If you are playing as pure-support your main goals:

Roam and gank as much as possible, without spending much time on lanes killing creeps (that's you carry's mission). Try to find as much kills as possible, or at least put preassure on opponent heroes. Use your Nightmare to set up kills in the early game; once you get Fiends Grip - use it instead.
Ward (and probably counter-ward) a lot. Every support loves to ward, no?
Aim for cheap (supporting) items like Arcane Boots, Magic Stick/Wand, Force Staff, Bracers and Drums. Getting cost-efficient items is crucial.
If things are going relatively well for you and you can afford a more expensive item, going for something defensive like a Ghost Scepter or a BKB is your best bet as a support. Supports are a somewhat easy target in teamfights, and opponents will usually try to focus you rather then anyone else. So make it hard for them to kill you! Get a Ghost Scepter if you fear scary right-clickers such as Naix or Sven or a Black King Bar against casters-stunners.

Edited by basicdotaguide.blogspot.com

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