DOTAFire is a community that lives to help every Dota 2 player take their game to the next level by having open access to all our tools and resources. Please consider supporting us by whitelisting us in your ad blocker!
Want to support DOTAFire with an ad-free experience? You can support us ad-free for less than $1 a month!
Go Ad-Free
Tango
Sage's Mask
Mantle of Intelligence
Boots of Speed
Soul Ring
Null Talisman
Arcane Boots
Necronomicon
Aghanim's Scepter
Black King Bar
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Orchid Malevolence
Scythe of Vyse
Shiva's Guard
|
4 | 8 | 9 | 10 |  |
|
2 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
|
1 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
|
6 | 11 | 16 |  |
|
15 | 17 | 18 |
When the gods have nightmares, it is Bane Elemental who brings them. Also known as Atropos, Bane was born from the midnight terrors of the goddess Nyctasha. A force of terror too powerful to be contained by sleep, he surfaced from her slumbers, fed upon her immortality, and stole his vaporous form from her inky blood. He is the essence of fear. Mortals who hear his voice hear their darkest secrets whispered in their ear. He calls to the hidden fear in every Hero's heart. Wakefulness is no protection, for Bane's black blood, continuously dripping, is a tar that traps his enemies in nightmare. In the presence of Bane, every Hero remembers to fear the dark.
Bane is a very powerful hero, especially at early levels. He is able to deal out massive amounts of damage while incapacitating enemy heroes or healing himself. Bane rocks early levels but can fall behind late game due to no AOE skills and little pushing power.
Enfeeble: Weakens an enemy unit, reducing its physical damage. Lasts 20 seconds.
Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Unit
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units
Range: 1000
Duration: 20
Attack Damage Reduction: 30/60/90/120
Mana Cost: 95/105/115/125
Cooldown Time: 10
Enfeeble works wonders against any auto-attack hero. At level 4 you see a massive 120 damage reduction! Let's say an enemy hero ganks you with an attack of 200, and you have 1400 health. 7 hits and you're done. With Enfeeble you can survive 17 hits. Don't underestimate the usefulness of this skill.
Brain Sap: Feasts on the vital energies of an enemy unit, dealing damage and gaining health equal to the damage dealt.
Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Unit
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units
Range: 600
Health Absorbed: 90/160/230/300
Mana Cost: 125/150/175/200
Cooldown Time: 14
Brain Sap is Bane's nuke, and a very powerful one. This skill is rushed because it not only deals heavy damage, but also heals you for the same amount. Early game this skill is unmatched. Once you have Arcane Boots this skill is a great harass and can keep you in lane for an incredibly long time. Try not to kill steal with this one too much, remember that Bane is support and your carry will need that money for late game!
Nightmare: Puts the target enemy or friendly Hero to sleep and deals damage per second. Sleeping units are awakened when attacked, but the Nightmare passes to the attacking unit.
Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Unit
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units
Range: 500/550/600/650
Duration: 4/5/6/7
Health Drain per Second: 20
Mana Cost: 165
Cooldown Time: 15
Nightmare is a wonderful disable, but your team mates need to recognize this skill to be effective. Nightmare is useful in so many scenarios: escaping, team fight disable, interrupt, and an immobilize until backup arrives. Despite its many uses, unknowledgeable team mates can easily ruin the effectiveness. When used in a team fight, if a team member strikes the Nightmared enemy the effect is interrupted and now your team mate is potentially disabled instead. Another issue with Nightmare is that the enemy hero's health bar will temporarily disappear once affected, which can cause some confusion among team mates. Despite these issues Nightmare is an amazing disable. Don't bother putting in points past 1 until your other skills are maxed, leveling it is much less effective than leveling your other skills.
NOTE: Ignore the tiny amount of damage this skill does, its only purpose should be for disabling, if you are using this to damage an enemy past level 1 you should be slapped.
Fiend's Grip: CHANNELED - Grips an enemy unit, disabling it and causing heavy damage over time, while stealing mana every second based on the unit's maximum mana. Lasts 5 seconds.
Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Unit
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units
Range: 625
Duration: 5(7*) seconds
Damage per Second: 100/155/215(155/215/270*)
Mana Transfer per second: 5%(10%*) of target's maximum mana
Mana Cost: 200/300/400
Cooldown Time: 100
*Starred values are Scepter values
Fiend's Grip is what makes Bane a very scary early game hero. At level 6 Bane will be dealing a massive 500 damage over the full duration, which can be followed up with a Brain Sap to clean up the mess (and healing you to top it off). Combined with Nightmare Bane can easily win a 2v1 fight, assuming you get the first strike. In team fights this skill takes an enemy out of the picture for 5(7*) seconds, while dealing heavy damage. If you can manage to get an Enfeeble, Nightmare, AND Fiend's Grip off in a team fight, you've (temporarily) made 3 enemies useless. Though Bane has little power in team fights he can be VERY useful when used correctly. Though the skill has a relatively high mana cost, don't be afraid to use it as you will be getting 25%(70%*) of the targets maximum mana over the full duration, so the net loss is much less. The only downfall to this ability is that it is channeled, meaning unless you have a Black King Bar it can be interrupted.
TIP: Know your enemies; If you go into a team fight and know 2 enemies have stuns, throw Nightmare on one and Fiend's Grip on the other, eliminating the chance that you will be interrupted.
Wrapping Up: Bane's skills are meant to be used all together. An easy way to get all of your skills working is to start with Enfeeble, then to Nightmare, followed by Fiend's Grip. Enfeeble has a massive range (1000), making it an easy start up skill, Nightmare has the next largest range at 650, and Fiend's Grip comes in last at 625. Using this order will effectively use Bane to his greatest potential. Use Brain Sap as needed and tear things up out there!
Starting:
For many this may seem to be a very odd starting set, but I find it to work extremely well. Tango and Mantle of Intelligence should be self-explanatory. Sage's Mask may need some explaining: Bane has mana problems early game, so mana regen is good, but why this over another mantle and 
Clarity? It builds into Soul Ring so you'll have that a bit earlier, which I find helps massively to have early. 3 int and a couple mana pots don't seem to make a significant difference to me, I'd rather have a fast Soul Ring. Play safe early on, once you hit level 6 you can start worrying about item significance.
Early Game:
Boots are self-explanatory.
Soul Ring's on use effect can give you a free spell cast, which is a massive help to Bane's mana problems. However: use it or lose it, after 10 seconds you lose the bonus mana(if you don't use it). Cooldown is relatively short also!
Null Talisman puts your mantle to use and gives you some stats.
Core:
The Core section is small because this is really all Bane needs to be a beast.
Arcane Boots will nearly end your mana problems. Without them you will not have enough mana to be useful throughout the game. Also useful to give mana to team mates (support!).
Necronomicon Can be a really fun item. Use this guy then Fiend's Grip and grab some popcorn (as much as you can in 5 seconds) while you watch the enemy drop. Necronomicon shouldn't only be used with Fiend's Grip but this is when it is most effective.
Late Game:
Late game is also a small section because you probably won't be building much past these items. Late game you will see little to no creep farm and you should be giving your kills to allies as much as possible so income will be low. This is not a bad thing, this means you are doing your job as a support.
Aghanim's Scepter Will make your ult last longer and deal more damage, can't go wrong there. The extra health is also very nice, Bane is squishy and needs some extra cushions.
Black King Bar lets you use your ult worry free! Also adds some survivability
Luxury:
I won't go into much detail here as this is where you need to pick what will work best in your current situation. I chose these particular items because they added to Bane's arsenal of disables or give some extra survivability. When you reach luxury items always remember that you are a support!
Lane:
I find bane to be fun in both mid lane and side lanes. Mid lane means early ult which means enemies start dropping quick. However in a side lane bane can be the ultimate laning partner. Harass enough to make the enemy start a retreat then lock one in place with Nightmare while your team mate runs in for some beat down. Once you get ult in a side lane its easy to Nightmare one and Fiend's Grip the other for an easy kill. Early game remember to manage your mana wisely. Do some harass but be sure to save mana for level 6 when the real attacking should start. Be sure to play it safe until level 6.
Ganks:
Once you hit level 6 ganking should start. Bane is such a powerful hero at this stage in the game so take advantage of it while it lasts. My general strategy is to ping my target -> Nightmare the second target -> Fiend's Grip the ping. Brain Sap as needed. Early game this should be a guaranteed kill at minimum, if you're fast enough to kill the ping before Nightmare is over you can easily grab the second kill.
Mid-Late Game:
Bane is often looked down upon in team fights, but that doesn't have to be the case. Bane can be a very effective team member if used correctly in team fights. Always start with Enfeeble, then drop a Nightmare, follow it up with Fiend's Grip, and Brain Sap as needed. Be sure to use your disables on different targets. This strategy will completely disable 2 targets and leave 1 dealing very little damage. The trick to a good Bane player is being quick about which targets you choose for your skills. Enfeebling a caster isn't going to do anything. Disabling the targets without stuns and letting the stunners run free leaves you vulnerable to interrupts. Know your enemies, choose your targets wisely. If you have Necronomicon and/or Black King Bar use them just before your ult for maximum efficiency.
NOTE: Bane is squishy, you will often be a high priority target. Disabling the wrong targets will often lead to your immediate death
DOTAFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite DotA hero’s build and strategy.
Copyright © 2019 DOTAFire | All Rights Reserved
Quick Comment (17) View Comments
You need to log in before commenting.