Hero Spotlight: Slardar (6.87)

In Dota 2, Slardar is not known as a terribly hard carry, as even though his skill set is excellent, he does not scale as well as some of the harder carries (like Anti-Mage, Spectre, and Phantom Assassin), 

Pros:

• Excellent stat gain
• Good Blink-Initiator
• Sprint gives good mobility
• Excellent Physical-Damage dealer
• Abilities pierce BKB (physical)
• Built-in Bash
• Needs very few items to "come online" and start ganking or fighting

Cons:

• No teamfight ultimate
• Needs attack speed items
• Sometimes hard to find a place to lane him

Item Build Ideas:

Slardar Pushing Carry:

Start: Tango, Mango, Quelling, Circlet

Early:  Boots, Wand

Core:  Powertreads, Maelstrom, Blink, TP

Situational:  BKB, Desolator, Vlad’s

Lategame:  Mjolnir, AC, Heart, BoT, Moonshard

Slardar Offlane / Ganker

Start:  Tango, Mango, Shield, Potion, Branches

Early:  Boots, Wand/Stick, Infused Raindrop, Bottle

Core:  Blink Dagger, Power Treads, Echo Sabre

Utility:  Blade Mail, Pipe, Vlad’s, Crimson Guard, Lotus Orb, Halberd

Luxury:  AC, Heart, BoT

Teams w/Slardar:

#1: Armor Reduction

Tri-Safelane:  Slardar, Dazzle, Venge

Mid:  Shadowfiend / DP / DK

Solo Offlane:  Elder Titan / Bounty / Lone Druid / Enchantress

Ban:  Omni, Viper/OD

#2: Snowball

Dual Safelane: Ember + Jakiro

Mid:  Viper

Dual Offlane: Slardar + Lion

Ban:  Doom, OD?

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Spotlight on Naga - how to abuse Song

A brief list of abilities you can use while Song is active, or just before cancelling Song:

Warlock – Upheaval channel

Undying – Tombstone spawns zombies during Song

Elder Titan – Set up an Earthsplitter

Enchantress/Chen – get Creeps in position

Brood – surround with spiderlings

Shadow Shaman – easy surround with Wards

Jakiro – pre-drop Macropyre, then quick Ice Path after Song cancelled/ends

KotL – charge up an Illuminate for when Song ends

Techies – lay mines right on top!

Enigma – easy setup for Black Hole (Naga must cancel Song)

Dazzle – allow Weave to tick a bit longer on your team before engaging

Invoker – drop an Ice Path perfectly
Phoenix - Supernova channel, cancel Song before it pops
Kunkka - Cast Ghost ship, cancel Song before it hits

AA – Drop a few Vortexes on enemies

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Spotlight on Zeus 6.86

Spotlight on Zeus

Zeus is a hero who seems to dominate the lower brackets, but is rarely picked in the pro scene. Let’s look at pros and cons first:

Pros:

• Extremely high magic damage
• Can snowball heavily

Cons:

• Poor mobility
• No lockdown
• Squishy
• Slow attack animation / difficult to last-hit without Arc Lightning spam
• Falls off lategame / no lategame synergy
• Easy to steal kills from carries

How to Play Zeus

You need to like playing from the back lines.

Use your ult at the start of a teamfight, as the first blows are struck, not at the end. Not only does this make the enemy team less likely to be aggressive, but it also allows your carries to get the kills rather than you stealing them all later.  

Stealing kills is bad because Zeus is mediocre in late game when nukes do less against high health pools, and BKBs are commonplace.  Yes, Zeus has static field, but that's more about chip damage than serious wounds.

Ground-Targeting Lightning Bolt can check high ground, and also reveal hidden enemies.  It's an under-used and highly useful application of the ability. You can also kill enemies by ground-targeting the lightning bolt - it actually has a 325 search range, and will hit the closest enemy in that area.  You can also get extra range out of this (700 cast range + 325 search range).

How to Counter Zeus

Items

• Magic Stick/Wand:  Zeus relies on spamming his spells, both in lane and in teamfights.  You are almost guaranteed to get a ton of charges.
• Buy a Pipe. This is almost non-negotiable if you ever want to teamfight – starting teamfights at half health is not fun.
• Supports buy cloaks / glimmer capes:  it's almost always worth buying even just a "casual cloak" against Zeus. Even a L2 ult + L4 Lightning Bolt = 700 damage.  A cloak brings you innate magic resistance from 25% to 36.25%,   Instead of 525 dmg from the combo, you take 446, or 80 less damage - that's pretty good for a 550-gold item.
• Smoke to avoid Thundergod's Wrath when running away – it will reveal but not damage you if you are “invisible”.
• Blade mail can be good if you are tanky, or are a high-priority target that people tend to jump on. It may not save your life, but at least it hurts Zeus!

Heroes

• Gap-closers with decent Hp are very good (Spirit Breaker good, Storm Spirit ok),
• Burst heroes (Skywrath, Spectre, Lina, QoP), to prey on squishy Zeus.
• Silences (Death Prophet, Drow, Skywrath, etc)
• Pugna, because Zeus wants to be able to spam his spells without getting zapped.
• Anti-mage, 'cause... he's an anti-magic hero.

Tactics

• Gank him frequently, especially if he goes mid. He has no escape or stun, and only gets stronger once he has items (mana regen, mobility, hp)
• If you find that teamfights aren’t quick, decisive affairs, try targeting Zeus earlier, so he can’t spam his spells.
• Jumping on Zeus and killing him before he can ult greatly increases your chances of teamfight success.

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Spotlight on Vengeful Spirit (6.85)

I'm writing this article with a hypothesis:  Vengeful spirit could and should probably be played more often as a carry.
Updated for 7.05 on April 26, 2017

Venge as a hero

• 3rd Highest starting Agility in the game (after Riki and Phantom Lancer)
• 2nd Highest Agility growth in the game (after Morphling)
• 2nd Highest overall stat growth in the game (2.55, after Silencer's 2.57) 
• Higher base attack damage and attack speed than Phantom Assassin (levels 11 & 16).
• Low-cooldown stun (10s at L4)
• Powerful skills that scale well with right-click damage (armor reduction, % damage aura)
• Ultimate that allows re-positioning of self and of allies/enemies, and also acts as a interrupt. 

Pro players have been valuing Blink Daggers and the Force Staff more and more lately - realizing that positioning in Dota 2 is key, and the more the better.  Perhaps it's a holdover from old patches, but Vengeful Spirit didn't used to be able to use a Blink Dagger, which might still be clouding the thinking of some long-time players.

Except for  Pudge (skillshot) and Batrider (Blink + Lasso + Forcestaff), Vengeful Spirit is the only other hero who can literally move an enemy hero into an ambush.  Now that she has the ability to use a Blink Dagger, she can also get HERSELF out of the bad spot that Nether Swap usually puts her in, and rejoin her team, instead.

What Limits Venge As a Carry?

1) Farming Speed
There's a trend lately, towards fast-farming carries, namely Alchemist, Shadowfiend, Queen of Pain, and Sven.  Venge does not have any innate farm-boosting skills, although Wave can help her farm neutrals and push waves a bit faster.  She's also not typically itemized with a Maelstrom for faster farming (but she could be!).

2) Skills:  Self vs. Team
Venge's skills will benefit her team regardless of whether she's the carry or not.  Thus, there's no reason not to take another hero as a carry that synergizes well with Venge, instead of making Venge herself the carry.

How Carry Venge Could Be Itemized

Most players build Venge with a Desolator, to allow her to snowball as a semi-carry, and also to synergize with her Wave for additional armor reduction.  While this is not "wrong", there are other possibilities:

1) Illusion-based Venge
Since Venge's aura doesn't affect illusions, it's not optimal to build Manta first.  However, items that boost base damage such as Skadi, DO take advantage of Venge's aura.  So, if you're adding stat-based damage anyway, why not add some illusions that also benefit from stats?  This results in a Aquila+Yasha into Manta/Skadi type of Venge build, which is pretty decent.

2) Damage-based Venge
Since Venge has better Str-gain (2.6) than some Str-based carries, as long as she has time to get some levels and possibly a minor hp-boosting item (Treads, Aquila) (Drums, or casual Ogre Club, perhaps), Venge can focus on damage.  Items such as Chrystalis, Shadowblade and S&Y come to mind.  Like most Agility-based carries, she also benefits from a Poor Man's Shield in early game.

3) Maelstrom for Farming / Pushing Venge
I think the Maelstrom is an underrated early item.  The proc alone is almost worth a nuke, and it's mana-free on a really low cooldown.  Better yet, it allows faster wave-clear and farming of neutrals!  The only downside is that it doesn't boost Venge's low early hp pool - so buy a casual Ogre Club (you can turn in into an S&Y or BKB later). Also, if you buy the Mithril Hammer first, it doesn't give away your item build - you could be going for a Desolator or BKB, too.

4) Utility-based Venge
While I don't recommend a neither-support-nor-carry build for Venge, because this type of role usually falls to the 3-position, Venge COULD be itemized with utility items, such as an Agh's (low-cooldown swap), Vlad's (team damage boost), or Solar Crest (single target armor reduction).  She could also boost her hp pool and stats by getting an early Mekanism for her team, which has been done in the past by mid-carries such as Shadowfiend and Viper.

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Spotlight on Venomancer (6.85)

Venomancer is currently being picked as a semi-carry or a greedy support hero.  With powerful teamfight and push/anti-push, the hero can be a great asset to a team... if you can find somewhere to lane him.

My own experience with Veno is that without farm priority, the hero is extremely slow and squishy, similar to Crystal Maiden (CM), but without the early-game power that CM gives.  This basically means that Veno ISN'T a support, and other than trying to get a very-early kill with, for example, Venomous Gale + Blade Flurry, the hero should be played as a snowballing semi-carry.

Nerfs to Venomous Gale:
It should be noted that Venomous Gale's early damage, and Veno in general, has been severely nerfed in recent patches.  Check this out:
6.85:  Damage = 75/250/425/600 (or 56/187/319/450 after typical magic resistance)
6.80:   Reduced base attack damage from 24-26 to 19-21 (total attack damage is now 41-43), and reduced base health regeneration from 0.75 to 0.25

6.79:  Rescaled damage over time from 15/30/45/60 to 0/30/60/90 (total damage from 250/500/750/1000 to 25/500/975/1450)
6.76:  Reduced initial damage from 50/70/70/100 to 25/50/75/100,  and increased damage over time from 10/20/40/50 to 15/30/45/60 (total damage from (200/370/670/850 to 250/500/750/1000)

What do these changes mean?
6.76 - Veno's Gale initial damage decreases, but total dmg increased.  Target can be denied more easily.
6.79 - L1 Gale damage drops from 250 to 25. Veno a lot less relevant until Level 3.  Midgame damage increased.  Veno moves from a support to a greedy support or midgame semi-carry.
6.80 - Once again, Veno's ability to support is nerfed.  Moves further towards semi-carry.
6.81 to 6.84 - little to no change.  Poison Nova ultimate improved due to DoT change.
6.85 - Massive damage nerf to Gale.  Total dmg decrease from 25/500/975/1450 to 75/250/425/600.  While this brings Gale in line with a regular ability (rather than an ultimate), it further hurts Venomancer as a nuker-support.

How is Veno used now?
In pro games, Venomancer has been used in almost any lane, from solo offlane, to mid, to safelane carry.  He is rarely used as a support - and if so, he gets a Midas ASAP.  One mistake some teams make when using Venomancer is not allowing him to get the levels to get his ultimate online soon enough, or to get enough levels to keep his ultimate's scaling relevant.

However, Venomancer can shut down many mid-lane farming carries with a mixture of Plague Wards and Poison Sting (poison sting can deal 32/90/176/288 after reductions, with Wards dealing 16/45/88/144 after reductions, over 6-15 secs).  Unfortunately, Veno's own Sting DoT does NOT stack with the DoT from his wards, nor with itself (if you want an obscene stacking DoT, I recommend Huskar...)

Veno as Ganker
What's interesting about Veno is that, by Level 9 (Max Sting, Max Gale, L1 Ultimate), you can do 288+(600*0.75)= 738+auto-attack damage to one target with 1 cast and 1 auto-attack.  Add a Shadowblade onto this, and you get 175 extra (physical) damage, plus the auto-attack (assuming attack damage of 84 with L9 and only the shadowblade, and enemy phsyical resist of about 25%), for a total of 932 damage (over 15 secs).

Veno as Support
The problem with Veno as support is that you need levels, and you're very slow and squishy.  To me, this says "Blink Dagger", or perhaps "Midas into Blink".  However, you still don't want to jump into the middle of the fray - just close enough to get off your ultimate, and then perhaps catch a couple of heroes with Gale.  Throw down a few Wards to slow fleeing enemies, and your job is done.
As support, you will generally Max Gale and 1 point in Poison Sting, then Max Wards, and always prioritize your ultimate.

So how should I build Veno?
There are two popular skill builds:
1) Sting + Wards (anti-mid or support)
2) Gale + Sting (semi-carry)


Good Luxury Items for Veno:
Aghs:  Ultimate damage is already disgusting.  This makes it more disgusting, and reduces the L3 cooldown.
Octarine Core:  Again, you're trying to get your ultimate cooldown lower, and a lower cooldown on both Wards and Gale is nice, too.
Shadowblade:  As a mid-game item, you can gank quite effectively.  L4 Gale damage is very high for a non-ultimate, and combined with the slow + Shadowblade bonus damage + auto-attacks, you can solo-gank quite well.
Boots of Travel:  Veno also makes a respectable split-pusher, but I'd recommend a Blink Dagger or Shadowblade for escaping.  BoTs allow you to be where you need to be on the map.

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Spotlight on Chaos Knight (6.85)

Chaos Knight is a powerful carry, with both mid-game and late-game strengths.  Unfortunately, he's not terribly strong in the early laning phase (no spammable nuke, no escape skill, not ranged), and can be countered by several currently-popular heroes, including Ember Spirit.  He also lacks the ability to flash-farm and get the lead that he needs to dominate.

However, he's been given small buffs lately, namely that his Chaos Strike passive now gives armor reduction when it crits, and a few patches ago, his Phantom Steed ability also has a 50% chance to give an extra illusion.

This doesn't change Chaos Knight all that much, however - he still needs to be itemized the same way, for the same reasons, and his skill build is also unlikely to change much.

Spell Combo:

Chaos Knight's spell combo is:

Phantom Steed + Rift + Chaos Bolt + Rift.  

Done correctly, this should net him a kill in the early and mid game.  The problem is that CK doesn't have enough mana from stat gain to cast this combo!  This often leads to people delaying skilling up his ultimate until he can be itemized for additional mana.
 
At L1 Ult = 125 + 50 + 140 + 50 = 365 mana (CK barely has enough mana if he has Treads on Int)
At L2 Ult = 200 + 50 + 140 + 50 = 440 mana ( "  " )
At L3 Ult = 275 + 50 + 140 + 50 = 515 mana ( "  " )

Itemization:

Chaos Knight suffers from a small mana pool and terrible Int growth.  This means that if he wants to cast his spell combo he needs some Int from items.  He ALSO needs teammates with Arcane Boots or Mekanism, if he wants any sustain - otherwise he's back to the fountain after each fight.

Early Items for consideration include:

• Wand - some stats, but not a lot; wand charges accumulate usually AFTER the combo.
• Bottle - replenishable regen, but no stats or mana pool gain.
• Null Talisman - cheap early mana, but no upgrade path.
• Power Treads - switch to Int before casting Phantom Steed, then switch to Str.
• Drums - solid midgame item, also benefits illusions (stats).

Of all these items, I believe Power Treads should be your first go-to, although it's more expensive than Wand, Null, or Bottle.  Because of that, you should buy a Robe of the Magi after brown Boots, instead of a Belt of Strength - this will allow you to go for that early kill.

Big Items:

Items that CK really wants include:

• Heart
• AC
• Manta
• Skadi
• (Boots of Travel)

Situational Items:

• Armlet (really good early damage, but needs a "health recovery" item)
• BKB (if lots of magic damage or stuns)
• S&Y (good only if finished early - can be disassembled for Manta + Halberd) 
• HoD (good for early lifesteal if no Vlad's on team, Alpha Wolf companion)

Laning:

Because CK needs a good start, you should lane with a support that combos well with him, such as AA, CM, SS, Lion, Lina, Disruptor or Jakiro.  I feel that using defensive supports with him (such as Dazzle) are a mistake, because it reduces the chance that CK can get kills and the early boost in farm that he needs to dominate other carries and snowball.

Pro Scene

Roaming Support:
CK saw a little bit of play in October 2015 as a roaming support.  This choice is a high-risk, high-reward play that didn't pay off in the game I watched (link TBD), and leaves CK without any contribution in the mid and late game, and no catch-up mechanism.  I think the issue is that CK really needs at least level 2 before he even starts to roam, and level 7 before he becomes truly dangerous.

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Spotlight on Doom - 6.85

With a recent buff to Doom's Scorched Earth, I expect to see him played quite a bit more in the 6.85 patch.  His increased base attack damage and survivability give him a much needed boost as an offlaner, and while he makes a terrible mid, he could still be run as a jungler or safe lane farmer.

Doom Build (Solo offlane)
Doom as a utility hero (offlaner) is mainly about removing a high-impact enemy hero from the fight, using Doom.  After the ultimate is cast, it doesn't even matter if Doom himself survives, although if he does well, he can easily move into a semi-carry role, or become even more annoying with a Refresher Orb and/or Agh's Sceptre.

Start:  Tango, Boots
Early:  Basilius or Stout Shield
Core: Power Treads, Halberd
Late:  Refresher

Skill Build:
Scorched Earth
Devour
Scorched Earth

Doom Build (Solo Safelane)
Start:  Tango, Health Potion, Branches
Early:  Boots, Midas
Core:  Phase Boots, Drums

Doom Build (Jungler)
Start:  Tango, Stout Shield
Early:  Quelling Blade, Basilius
Core:  Phase Boots,Vlad's, BKB
Lategame: 

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Spotlight on Legion Commander - 6.84c

I submit that Legion Commander can be used as a carry, a support, an initiator, a mid, a ganker, and a jungler, and as such, is one of the more flexible heroes around.  He's also quite good at Level 1 (see Level 1 Brawlers), and can snowball quite heavily.

Unfortunately, poor use of the Duel ability can lead to a quick loss.  Thus, it is better to Duel dangerous but squishy supports, such as Zeus, Lina, or Pugna.

Recently, if you look at dotabuff, LC has been having a rough time lately, due to being counter-picked, although still picked 18th overall at the time of this writing.  The recent popularity of certain heroes, such as Lina and Wyvern, have also hurt LC's win rate lately.  It is also suicide to Duel against the recently-popular Leshrac, if he has his Pulse Nova and/or Edict active...

Insane Items for Legion Commander:

Silver Edge - a new item perfectly suited for the ganking LC; disabling your opponents' passives can be a massive benefit.  Just make sure to attack once to get the bonus before you trigger Duel!

Desolator - This beautiful item has recently come down in price slightly, and is perfect for a 1v1 where nukes aren't involved.  This item also allows ranged teammates to contribute significant damage to the Duel because of the armor reduction (Sniper, Viper, etc become VERY good teammates!)

Darn Useful Items for Legion Commander:

Blink Dagger - a useful item on any melee initiator, LC is no exception.  Just don't blink too far ahead of your team, or you might be Duelling your enemies 1v5.

Black King Bar - it's very frustrating as LC to never be able to Duel because of Silences or Stuns.  Opponents like Drow or Death Prophet often require LC to have a BKB to have much chance of initiating.

Pipe of Insight - Believe it or not, this is a Dueling item.  Not solo-dueling of course, but it helps against heavy-nuke teams where opponents can't easily nuke LC down once he begins a Duel.  LC can usually afford a support item like Pipe because of her decent farming ability.

Assault Cuirass - like the Desolator, this item's armor reduction gives great benefit, but it also gives something LC lacks - attack speed.  As you gain bonus damage, gaining attack speed gives more and more benefit to your DPS.

Team Building Suggestions

Despite LC's versatility, certain heroes really help her to shine (or suck, if on the other team):

• Vengeful Spirit:  More armor reduction and boosted attack damage?  And a Swap to get her out of a losing Duel?  Yes, please!
• Sniper:  Long-range, reliable damage to help win duels is GREAT.
• Enigma / Tidehunter / Dark Seer / Winter Wyvern / Magnus:  All of their ultimates make great distractions to help win Duels.
• Dazzle / Omni:  Well-timed Repels or Graves help win (or lose) clutch Duels.
• Lion / Lina / Zeus / Nature's Prophet / Ancient Apparition:  Why win a Duel fairly if your teammate can nuke heavily, possibly with a Global range?

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Spotlight: Winter Wyvern - 6.84 Builds

Winter Wyvern is still trying to find its place in most line-ups, but almost everyone agrees that the hero's main purpose is lane support and teamfight.  It's the kind of hero that wears the enemy team down, with a possible burst initiation using her ultimate.

Here are some build ideas, based on the new items:

Lane Harass:

Ability build:  1-2-1-3-1-4-1 (to level 7, early Arctic Burn)
Starting Items: Wardx2 or Courier, Tangos x 2, Clarity, Ring of Protection
As Needed:  Wards, TP Scrolls, Health Pot for carry, Flying Courier
Core Items:  Tranquil Boots, Medallion
Luxury:  Solar Crest

Team Support

Ability build (early Splinter Blast): 2-1-2-3-2-4-2 (to Level 7)
Starting Items:  Wardx2 or Courier, Tango, Health Pot, Clarity, Ring of Protection
Early:  Basilius
As Needed:  see above
Core Items: Boots, Vlad's
Luxury:  Veil of Discord

Team Ideas:

Safe: Gyro + Wyvern + Treant
Mid: QoP
Offlane Solo: Axe or Bristleback
Idea:  Two initiators with a Taunt, and followup from Overgrowth and AOE damage

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Spotlight on Bane: The Tough Support

Intro to Bane

Bane has higher starting damage and EHP than any other ranged support.  He (it?) can also make enemy’s life in lane into a living hell with Enfeeble and Brain Sap.  He is one of the most aggressive laning supports in the game as of 6.82b, on par with Skywrath Mage and Lion.  He can also one of the support heroes that can be played as a mid semi-carry, and scales well until lategame, but still has Fiend's Grip, and thus will stay relevant even after BKBs become prevalent.

Needs mana to sustain casting-harass (clarities or Soul Ring), and is weak against push lineups (where he needs a Necronomicon ASAP).

Support Bane

As a support Bane, you will almost always start with a point in Nightmare to set up aggression in a tri-lane.  After that, you'll either choose Brain Sap (defensive tri-lane) or Enfeeble (aggressive tri-lane, to shut down enemy carry's farm, when you don't think you can outright kill them). An early 1-1-1 build sounds okay on Bane, except that you won't have mana (short of chugging Clarities) to continually spam abilities.  Given that your right-click harass is pretty good, I favour a 0-2-1 build, where you can harass and then recover a good chunk of your own hp with a Brain Sap (and possibly get a kill, too).

Mid-Late Game Blues

Bane's main problem mid to late game is that he's such a good controller, that he tends to get focused heavily, but usually only get Position-4 or 5 level of farm, so he starts to be squishy despite his decent Str gain.  Thus, positioning becomes all-important with Bane.  If you are without a Force Staff or Blink Dagger, it is better to hang back at the start of the fight, coming in to use Nightmare, Fiend's Grip, or an Enfeeble after all the nukes and big ults have been cast.  Brain Sap can be used for burst, but again, you shouldn't be going first...

Counters

Bane is countered by multiple stunners on a team, which make his Fiend's Grip useless in teamfights, since it is channeled.  A draft-counter to Bane could be Rubick, as it becomes very easy to steal Fiend's Grip.  Pushing line-ups can also "counter" Bane, as he has virtually no push or counter-push.

Items:

Bane benefits from most typical support items, but the following are built especially often on him, because of synergy with his abilities or stats:

• Soul Ring (Laning)
• Necronomicon (Luxury)

Builds:

Typical Support Bane (defensive tri)

L1 - Nightmare
L2 - Brain Sap
L3 - Brain Sap
L4 - Nightmare (for increased range)
L5 - Brain Sap
L6 - Fiend's Grip
L7 - Brain Sap
L8, 9 - Nightmare
L10 - Stats or Enfeeble*
L11 - Fiend's Grip
L12 to 15 - Stats or Enfeeble*
L16 - Fiend's Grip
* if the enemy team is relying on magic damage, and doesn't have a right-click carry that has become dangerous, stats (for survival) might be a better choice than Enfeeble.

Support Bane (aggro tri)

L1 - Save point - spend on Brain Sap for aggression, Nightmare for setup stun, Enfeeble for laning


... I tried to create the rest of this build, but it's too situational.  All his abilities are good - you just have to know which ones to prioritize by situation.

Bane Mid (ganker & semi-carry)

You MUST be able to either shut down the enemy mid, kill the enemy mid, or go ganking after L6 to make a mid-Bane work.  He does NOT benefit from "afk farm", and should be active after L6.  Once Fiend's Grip is active, and with a full mana pool, Bane should be able to 1v1 kill almost any hero.

L1 - Enfeeble
L2 - Brain Sap
L3 - Brain Sap Rank 2
L4 - Nightmare
L5 - Brain Sap Rank 3
L6 - Fiend's Grip
L7 - Brain Sap Rank 4
L8 - Nightmare Rank 2
L9 - Nightmare Rank 3
L10 - Nightmare Rank 4 (mostly you level this up for the increased range)
L11 - Fiend's Grip
L12 - Enfeeble (or stats if enemy team is magic instead of right-click focused)
L13 - Enfeeble (or stats)
L14 - Enfeeble (or stats)
L15 - Stats
L16 - Fiend's Grip
L17+ Stats

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