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~Table Of Contents

1. Hero's Introduction

This is my first guide I decided to write it because Atropos is one of my favourite heroes in DotA and the only guide about him on this website is badly outdated. I hope you have fun reading it and that it will help you improve your skills. Please feel free to comment, rate, criticize and what not on this guide
Thank you very much for getting this guide over 100 000 views (not to mention the 9.04 rating)! This really means a lot!
Atropos the Bane Elemental is a disabler, whose role in team is centralized on ganking and supporting. Although being a powerful hero, he is unfortunately not a top pick in neither public, nor competitive games. If you want my opinion on why doesn't Atopos get too much play in pro games, I believe the following explanation would be not far from the truth. There are two most important aspects a hero should have to be a popular pick amongst the pros: pushing and teamfight. Bane kinda sucks at both. And the stuff he is really good at (ganking) - some heroes can do it relatively better. He can gank truly effectively only from lvl 6, and only every 100 seconds. Compare it to a Nerubian (Nyx) Assasin or a Shadow Deamon who can gank from the very start and much more often. Some teams started to pick Bane somewhat often since the 6.75-6.76 patches, but he is always played as an under-leveled under-farmed support. And this guide will not be about the pure-support Bane. This guide is about the bad-ass ganking kill-them-all Bane.
So, let's get started then!

2. Hero's Story

Cool backstory, ain't it lads?

3. Pros/Cons & When (not) to pick

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

When to pick/not to pick Bane:

Find all the information about Bane Elemental and his skills here.

4. Hero's Skills

Enfeeble
Description: This is a rather powerful skill. It has a long range of 1000, which is very nice, and it's duration (20) is longer than it's cooldown (10), so two enemies can Enfeebled at a time. If cast at a right time, it renders one of the enemy heroes absolutely useless. However, it doesn't scale too well into lategame, so don't overestimate it: a lvl 25 Drow Ranger with MKB, Buriza, Butterfly and some other nice items will still rape your team, even if Enfeebled.
It's generally not such a good idea to cast Enfeebly in the middle of a teamfight (unless all your other skills are on cooldown) because it's usually more usefull to Grip or Nightmare someone. Try to rather use Enfeeble before the fight starts, with Enfeeble's long range it's not that hard.
Good targets of this spell are: and other damage-dealing carrys/DPSer's, I'm not gonna name them all.

Brain Sap
Description: I dare to say, this is one of the best (if not the best) non-ultimate spells in the game.. but only at early levels. It simply works wonders: it heals you, it damages enemies. This spell often turns 'you die, enemy survives' situation into 'you survive, enemy dies' situation. You know Sunder? Terrorblade's ultimate? This is our mini-Sunder. It's simply priceless.
The damage type is pure, so no matter how much magic resistance the enemy has, 300 hp (at lvl 4) will be removed from him.
There are two problems with this spell though: first, it's high mana cost which is, coupled with Atropos' low INT gain, the main cause of our mana problems in early game. Second, it doesn't scale into late game, coz when both you and your opponent have 2500 hp, you will hardly notice a difference after casting Brain Sap.
Use this spell to lasthit an enemy hero, to heal yourself (feel free to cast it on a creep if your hp are low and no enemy heroes are in range) or just as a nuke. I wouldn't advice to use it during early game to harass, because it will eat your mana very fast.
The cooldown is relatively long (14), so keep an eye out on it!

Nightmare
Description: Another very useful spell. Simply put, it completely disables an enemy hero for 4-7 seconds. Great spell for setting up kills or for disrupting enemy's kill set-ups. Don't be deceived by it's damage - it's symbolic (unless the hero level is very low).
The Nightmared hero generally shouldn't be attacked, because if he takes damage, he wakes up. This actually can be a problem, coz if you teammates are morons, they will often wake up a Nightmared enemy hero. Here I just wish you luck with your teammates.
About denying with Nightmare. It's very hard (as it requires perfect timing) and you have to be very lucky. Still it's worth a try, especially at early levels. Try to cast Nightmare on yourself(ally) when you(he) has below 20 hp. Otherwise it gives opponents time to react and to finish you(ally) off (and they will no doubt do so, unless they are complete idiots). Lasthitting with Nightmare is similar, but a bit easier. If there are no better options, cast Nightmare on a dying enemy hero. If possible, reposition so that if he wakes up alive you can finish him off with your basic attack (obvious things are obvious, lol).
The new 6.76 sub-ability is really useful. Not only when you accidentally attacked a Nightmared target (yep, even I sometimes fail like that) you can wake yourself up, but also this means you have much more control: if you want someone woken - friend or foe - simply attack him and press T to wake yourself up. Note that you can't attack invulnerable heroes (first second of Nightmare).
Be careful when using Nightmare with guys like these on your team: as their AOE skills are likely to wake up the Nightmared hero. Radiance is especially annoying *sigh*. Please note that I put Necrolyte on this list because of his Death Pulse. Heartstopper Aura does NOT remove Nightmare.

Fiend's Grip
Description: Ah, the lovley Fiend's Grip, Bane Elemental's signature skill. This it what makes him such a wonderful disabler. Nobody likes to be standing still for 5 (7 with Aghanim's Scepter) seconds, being raped by the spell itself and Atropos' teammates. And as if that is not enough - it also drains mana! Wonderful spell.
But then again, it has two drawbacks: first, the manacost is rather high, but that is compensated to some extent thanks to the mana drain. And the biggest, the most annoying drawback: Fiend's Grip is a chanelling spell. That means that you can do nothing while Fiend's Gripping, but the worst part is actually the fact that it can be interrupted via stuns and ministuns (and other stuff that interrupts channeling spells like silences and some spells like Vengeful Spirit's Nether Swap).
Before casting Fiend's Grip, if possible, try to make sure no one's gonna interrupt it. Because if you don't - well, have fun seeing how you held someone in Fiends Grip for one or two seconds. That means Fiend's Grip isn't as useful in teamfights as in ganks and other situations where you don't have to deal with an entire enemy team.
The cooldown is, I would say, not too long and not too short: 100 seconds. Don't be afraid to use the spell, but keep an eye out on the cooldown!

5. Hero's Skill Build

Skill Build


Skill Build 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.

6. Hero's Item Build

Final words about item build:

7.Hero's Strategy

8. Hero's Hero Synergy

9. Hero's Screens and 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.
Some numbers:


Using Necronomicon to good effect
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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.
An example:

Some numbers:

Last but not least! The most important thing when using Necronomicon is...


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

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 spendig much time on lanes killing creeps (that's you carry's mission)
-Ward (and probably counter-ward) a lot
-Get cheap (supporting) items like Arcane Boots, Force Staff, Bracers and Drums

10. Additional

1. A quite good Dota 2 videoguide by SUNSfan. Although not exactly perfect in my opinion, provides a lot of useful information and playstyle tips.

2. A discussion about Bane in Luminous' "Top5: Underrated Heroes". Bane starts at 6:54.

3. Dota 2 Advanced Guides - Bane by Luminous. A really well-done guide that covers all the points and puts a lot of emphasis on important details. There are however 2 things that would I disagree with: firstly, early Enfeeble extremely situational and is highly discouraged. Secondly - not skilling the second level of Nightmare until level 23 is quite stupid - yes, it does not scale THAT well, but it's still a +1 second and +50 cast range per level which can be crucial. So please, even if you adore stats, consider finishing maxing it by no later then lvl 19.



FAQ
OMG I'm feeding! What do I do!?
Well, first of all, stop feeding (quite obviously). Play as careful as you can, and if it means tower-hugging and not getting exp or gold - so be it.
It's best not to go for expensive items like Necronomicon in this case - get something cheaper instead. Wards, Bracers and Null Talismans are probably your best friends at the moment as they are cheap and efficient. Force Staff and Eul's Scepter are also quite cheep and if you manage to get them and use them efficiently afterwards it will be very nice.
You are no carry, so even underleveled and without much items you should be useful. Adjust your gameplay to a supporting style and hope for the best.

Is early Enfeeble such a bad idea? Rockha
Yes, it is. The only place when you can squize a level of Enfeeble is when you hit level 4 (1 is for Nightmare, 2,3,5,7 are for Brain Sap and it is set in stone). Your Manapool in early game will take a huge blow if you cast Enfeeble every 20 seconds. Denying an opponent a few lasthits won't be worth spending all your mana and not being able to cast Nightmare/Brain Sap when you need it. Besides, -30 dmg isn't that big of a problem. While -95 mana is.

Is a semi-carry Bane such a bad idea?
Yes it is. Period.

Replays
1. Empire vs Dignitas (v. 6.76). DreamHack Winter 2012, Quarterfinals Game 2. Bane, drafted by Goblak, played by Goblak, did a really good job this game. The game is commentated by Draskyl and Tobi.

2. AL Academy vs VirtusPro (v. 6.77). The Defense Season 3 groupstage tiebreaker. Bane, played by KSI, was one of the key figures in this quick VirtusPro victory. He went for Phase Boots + massive stats build that I would generally disagree on, but in this case, considering clumsy play from AL, this aggressive build was a good option. The game is commentated by Tobi and Ham.

3. Empire vs VirtusPro (v. 6.77). The Defense Season 3 playoffs. Bane was played by NS and contributed quite a lot to a fast VirtusPro victory. Note Bane's item build: Strength Threads+double bracer. The game is commentated by Tobi.

4. DD vs VirtusPro (v. 6.77). 4PL Cup. I hope you're not tiered of VirtusPro games yet. Bane, again played by NS, did a very good job, especially in the early game, showing us the full power of Brain Saps, Nightmares and Wand. He went for wand+pt+agahnims build and ended up with 13 killsteals kills with 11 assists and just 2 deaths! The game is commentated by Tobi.

5. Empire vs iCCup (v. 6.77). Techlabs Cup Grand Final. Silent was playing the support Bane, did a lot of roaming, set up lots of kills and had a very good game overall. He went for wand>bracer>forcestaff build, skipping the arcane boots. The game is commentated by Tobi (or watch the same game casted by Sheever if you want).

6. Virtus Pro vs Fnatic (v. 6.77). Starladder Season V Conceder's Final. Yep, you've guessed, another VP game, but this time Bane is actually played by H4ann1 of Fnatic. Again, suporting Bane, set up a lot of kills during the whole, managed not to die a single time and overall did a great job. The game is commentated by Tobi (same game casted by Sheever, V1lat and Casper, Maelstrom).

11. Conclusion

Bane Elemental is one of the most feared enemies and one of the most valued allies in DotA for a reason. So make a good use of him and be your enemy's WORST NIGHTMARE!!!

12. Credits

Thanks to:
IceFrog and other guys who have developed DotA for developing such a wonderful game
MP for the cool artwork
All previous guidewriters for inspiration and for helping me to learn how to play dota
The whole dota community for creating such a friendly atmosphere, especially TobiWan, SUNSfan and Purge.
You for reading

THANKS FOR READING, GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!!!