Bane - Your Worst Nightmare

Nice guide, now I really want to play mid with Bane

Playing against drow the blink is super helpful. She has really low hp, so pulling your combo on her should kill her every time. especially in a gank when other people can hit her.

I just hate playing against a good drow, her silence recks bane hard.

Doom Bringer is something of a funny one for guide writers - technically he counters everyone with Doom...so you tend not to include him unless you're talking about a mobility hero - Puck, Weaver, Anti-Mage etc.

Obviously he can shut you down hard if he wants to, but I'd argue that's not necessarily a bad thing - it means he isn't shutting down your carry or team fight heroes instead. He also doesn't tend to BKB so a well placed Nightmare can remove him from the fight for a significant time.

For another counter, I believe you should include Doom. I mean, his entire weakness is silence, and Doom has one that lasts SIXTEEN SECONDS! As long as the Doom is half competent and knows who to cast his ulti on in fights, Doom is like a perfect counter to Bane.

Absolutely, the BKB busting stun of Fiend's Grip is one of the main reasons for picking him up, being able to disable the main enemy carry for up to 7 seconds is pretty immense late game. And yes, timing your ult is both tricky and important in team fights - although you have to be aware that Enfeeble will stay in effect even if they become magic immune, provided you managed to cast it first. This can have a huge effect midgame. Thanks for your input.

Might I just briefly add that the disable aspect of Fiend's Grip goes through magic immunity; you are a great counter to opponents like Omniknight, Lifestealer, and those that carry a Black King Bar, as you can hold them in place after they activate it. The mana drain also goes through the magic immunity.
Check the wiki here.

I would also like to say that the best way to participate in a team fight is to start at the back. Wait until initiations are over, and then move or blink in to the fringe of the battle, and do your combo. If you stand at the far side of the battle while you have your ultimate activated, you will be a lot safer than if you were standing anywhere else, even if you do have a Black King Bar. I find the best heroes to use Fiend's Grip on are both carries and those that have magic immunity.

I know that a lot of this is common knowledge, but there are a lot of people, both new and experienced with Dota, that know little about this hero.

Bane makes a lot of sense mid - quick levels in Brain Sap and early access to Fiend's Grip makes him an awesome ganker, and as Peppo said, Nightmare often means you can get runes.

I usually find one set of tangos and Brain Sap to be enough, but wouldn't argue with a Healing Salve if you thought you'd have to take a lot of harassment without being able to sap regularly. An early Soul Ring can be a real problem for enemies (possibly even better than Bottle), being able to regularly sap and Enfeeble can make laning against you pretty horrific.

Had a game the other day where I was supporting Anti-Mage and the opposition Bane had randomed and bought a Soul Ring - AM just couldn't farm and was next to useless. Nightmare vs Enfeeble is a tricky one - more enfeeble can be very useful, but so can those extra seconds on Nightmare (watch the vid, there's one moment where I Nightmare a DD Luna and then kill the Razor right next to her - less time on the disable and she would have stunned me out of channelling).

And you're absolutely right Peppo, he's got a fantastic setup for any unreliable stun or skillshot (probably better than Shadow Demon, as you don't need to time it). Personally I prefer two clarities as your spells are so expensive and can make such a big difference. As always, there's no set rules on all this stuff - it's situational.

From my experience, when mid laning you should never start with consumables (except for a Tango) and rush a Bottle as soon as possible: even though Bane is not a common mid laner, he can handle it pretty easily and steal runes using Nightmare on the enemies; I had to try it once and it does work.

About the lane support Bane, I think one Clarity is enough: get a courier, a set of wards and fill the rest with branches and a few consumables. I think you can keep your mana regen under control with the typical Magic Wand and Arcane Boots duo, which I usually get in ~10-15 minutes considering the money spent on wards and the gold gained by pulling and ganking.

Also, you forgot a couple of friends of this Hero: Lina (which you talked about), Leshrac, Jakiro and Clockwerk benefit a lot from his Nightmare which can be used to set up easy kills in trilanes. Kunkka is a nice ally, too.

I had never thought of what a Bane would do mid... that is interesting.

I disagree with getting 1 tango as it often times should not be enough regeneration (yes even with brain sap since... you have to hope you have the mana and your enemy doesn't try to nuke you down)

I also believe strongly that adding points into enfeeble over points in nightmare past the first point is a better route to go. 1 second of nightmare added per level is pretty minuscule compared to 30 damage reduction per level (and an additional disable)

Other than that, and your choice of possibly getting a null talisman start mid, I have no problems with the decision making portrayed in this guide :D

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A note: Bracer >> Null Talisman for stats on a support hero

and it would also be good to mention there is a 1 second period of time on Nightmare in which the person who becomes nightmared is invulnerable, so you can use it to dodge nukes and save yourself in fights... and if you can you are even potentially able to commit suicide with it.

Added video demo to this guide - hope it's useful!