Bane's Nightmare

How should this spell be used correctly and in what situations?

Basically to take an enemy out of combat for a few seconds to focus on other enemies or on yourself/allies to save them with the temporary 1 second invulnerability. You can also deny yourself/allies with it.

Additionally, Nightmare can be used to allow your team to get in position for a gank and/or to set up some form of disable (especially unreliable stuns, such as  Sacred Arrow or Split Earth).

Some of the main uses and a few examples of each:

1. Set-up

   • See someone out of position in lane? Nightmare --> other support stuns and carry attacks
   • Good for ganking too. Mid extends into river --> Smoke gank --> Nightmare --> everyone gets in position --> ez rares
   • Some split pushing --> Blink --> Nightmare --> wait for teammates to catch up --> Fiend's Grip him

2. Escape

   • You/an ally is trying to GTFO --> someone Blink in and starts their animation to stun --> Nightmare him and run

3. Control

   • You're in a team fight --> they have only 2 heroes that can stun or 2 heroes you care about --> sleep one, grip the other
   • You're on the fringe of a fight that your team is winning --> see Tidehunter approaching --> sleep him so your team can finish the fight, then take Tidehunter 1v5

4. Defensive

   • Dodging : in the first second of  Nightmare, you become invulnerable, so you can use it dodge like Lina  Laguna Blade. However, if you mess up, you're a sitting duck (though you can always wake yourself up)
   • Self Deny : if you're super low on HP and going to absolutely die, you can cast the spell on yourself to deny and at least do some damage control of a bad situation

Main things to watch for when using it:

• Ranged Heroes : they can easily kite around the Nightmare if needed since they can transfer it from a distance
• Stuns : if you cannot use the spell in lane to single a hero out, you can use it to remove a troublesome hero (usually stun) in lane so your team can take out the primary target
• Allies : you want to use the spell to set up kills or remove secondary targets until the primary one is dead. Don't cast it on heroes that allies are attacking. Auto attacks will cause the spell to transfer, and the target is also invulnerable during the 1st second.

If you are on a pubs, the worst thing you can do is Nightmare the first person you see because most people are going to attack that guy right away. Nightmare someone in the back to take them out of the fight, or Nightmare your teammate who is stunned and being attacked (or self  Nightmare).