Level 3 Buff
Duration:
Damage Bonus:
Damage Reduction:
Armor: In addition to the effects of Level 1 Venom, Bane's armor now ignores all projectiles, no matter how many hits he takes (i.e. he may Raging Charge right through Deathstroke's Machine Gun special). He also gains armor on two of his normals: f2 and f2d. Also provides armor breaking properties on hit and block on all armor-enhanced specials as well as f.2 and f.2.d.
One important detail to note is that anytime Bane enters an animation (such as a Clash, Stage Transition, or Super) he will only keep his Venom buff until the end of the animation, at which point he will be put into the debuff level accordingly. However, when he enters an animation in cooldown, regardless of debuff intensity he will be reset to level 1 at the end.
Because of the pros and cons of using Venom, it is imperative that you have a game plan in place before going higher than Level 1. The ideal situation is to use the level of venom appropriate to your need, and end your combos with a full-screen option such as meter-burned Venom Uppercut to create distance for the cooldown to wear off. If you can continue pressure, you can feel free to increase the venom dosage to its maximum so long as you can give yourself some kind of advantage upon entering cooldown to avoid a large amount of your vulnerability.
Movement
Bane's mobility is probably the best out of the non-teleporting characters. Along with having a walk speed within the top 10 of the game, his front and back dashes cover insane distance at lightning speed, allowing him to quickly close in on his opponent or feint in and out of striking range to bait out attacks.
Some players use his Raging Charge special to cover space, but this is not always a good idea since it can be easily jumped and punished or teleport-punished.
His jump arch is a little floaty and doesn't cover a lot of horizontal space, so you won't find yourself using it to close in on an opponent very often. However, this can be abused for the sake of cross-ups as some moves such as Body Splash further stunt your jump arc while moves like j.2 increase it slightly.
Normals
Bane has a pretty limited set of useful normals, but the ones he does have are incredibly useful. Here are some descriptions of his best normals:
d1: Bane's d1 is one of the best d1's in the game. It comes out a little slowly at 11 frames, but it has amazing reach and advantage.
Sample Combos:
d1-DP 7%/8%/9%/10%
d2: Bane's d2 is also one of the best normal attacks in the game. While being a 12-frame move, it covers an enormous amount of space and can be cancelled to make it safe on block, as it is -7 otherwise. On hit it can be confirmed into Body Press for a quick 16% damage. It is also one of Bane's most reliable moves that can link into Body Press on block. This is huge, because it allows you to d2-Body Press as an option. If the opponent blocks, they get Body Pressed for 16% (though this can be escaped on read by jumping). If they don't block, they get d2'd, and the Body Press will whiff but Bane will still be left at advantage. This is a great tactic to use against opponents who tend to block against Bane at d.2's further ranges or those expecting a double punch, because if they jump they will get hit by the d2 and if they don't jump they will eat the Body Press. Just make sure you have Venom up to give the Body Press armor.
B.1 : His back 1, while being a slower option, provides huge benefits on block and on hit. With a +12 when blocked, this can set up for many frame traps as well as normal throw set-ups. On hit, the +16 will allow you to maintain pressure freely. Whats more is this move has 9 frames of recovery but is active for about 12, making the move more or less +3 on whiff. It can stuff a lot of wake-ups safely because of it, and its frame window is one of the easiest to time with.
f.2.d: Bane's overhead option outside of double punch. Auto-tracks opponents who switch sides, gains all of the venom benefits at level 3, and can be canceled into many specials and even bounce cancels making for a hard-to-clash normal the opponent must respect. The range is also huge, with the upwards hitbox expanding past d.2's hitbox, and the forward hitbox coming second only to the massively unsafe f.2.
Specials
Body Press (16/18/20/22% damage): Bane's heavy-damage command throw. This thing is a beast, and you'll want to get the input down cold. You can throw this out naked, link it to d2, or use it as a combo ender. It can be a little tricky to use raw as a missed input will result in a useless standing 3. Just practice the timing and don't try to do it too fast. An easy method is to do your combo, followed by down-back, and then do forward-3. To link it to d2, just press d2-back-forward-3.
MB Body Press (% damage): This does quite a bit more damage than the regular version, but the animation is much longer. This is very important, because MB BP can be a great tool to run down the timer when your Venom is on cooldown. Also provides huge amounts of advantage when done into the back-throw version. Usually the Bane can get a dash off before the camera is even fully done panning back out.
Raging Charge (% damage): This is the bread and butter of every scrubby Bane. Don't get me wrong, this is an amazing move, but improper use will get you blown up by any halfway-decent player. You will almost exclusively want to use RC with Venom active, which will allow you to charge through projectiles and single-hitting normals (watch out for double-hitting projectiles, such as Batman's Batarangs, Nightwing's Wingdings, and Deathstrokes Quick Fire). It's mostly safe on block, so it never hurts to link into from your normals or strings (for instance, d2-RC is a solid footsie tool). It's also great for blowing up jump-happy opponents, since the hitbox is so big. Just try not to use it from full-screen since the opponent can easily punish it with MB.b3 (unless you go Level 3 Venom), jumping over you, or using certain specials.
MB Raging Charge (% damage): This is just like normal RC, but with a bit of extra damage. The 2nd hit can sometimes whiff if the spacing is off, though, resulting in a total waste of meter.
Double Punch (% damage; % chip): This isn't the most damaging move out there, but it becomes a frightening tool when combined with any level of Venom. It's a quick, safe, 2-hit overhead that leaves Bane at enormous advantage on hit. Linking into this from d1 is a nice, easy, long-range mix-up.
MB Double Punch (% damage, % chip): This does a bit more damage than the normal DP, and provides Bane with a unique knockdown timing, allowing for tricky throw set-ups in the corner such as the Double Punch -> Body Press or the DPBP for short.
Venom Uppercut (% damage): This is one of the best anti-airs in the game. It's got an enormous hit-box, does respectable damage, and can be confirmed into the MB version if blocked in order to make it safe.
MB Venom Uppercut (% damage): This does a bit more damage than the regular VU, but it's somewhat safer, which is really what makes it useful but punishable by characters with low-hitting fast normals. It also has an even bigger hitbox that stays active for longer, allowing it to catch opponents off guard quite a bit of the time. It also allows for Bane to get a large amount of distance, which helps him to run down some time of venom cooldown.
Ring Slam (don’t bother): I'm honestly not a big fan of this move, and I don't really see a lot of Bane players use it except in swag combos. It's hitbox is pretty small, which limits its use as an anti-air, it's recovery is pretty long making it deadly to whiff, and it seems to be close to neutral advantage on hit, meaning it halts your momentum. It can sometimes be used as a combo-ender to throw your opponent back into the corner, but you have to make sure to set it up correctly, since different combos cause it to behave differently, thus making it quite situational at best. However, it does have its moments as a maximum-damage ender. Some combos can only be linked into Ring Slam, and as such it provides a fair amount of meterless damage while earning a good amount of meter back and setting you about Body-press distance from your opponent. Use only when the combo would kill, or you have a reason to conserve the meter but need more damage. Also takes a fair amount of time animation wise.
Wakeup Options
Bane has amazing WU options to cover almost any situation. While some of his specials have natural WU invulnerability, Bane can activate Venom to give a hit of armor to all of his WU's, which also means he doesn't have to worry as much about correct WU timing.
If you have meter, MB VU is usually your best bet. It does solid damage, has a giant hitbox, and is mostly safe on block.
DP is a solid choice if you don't think your opponent is going to jump, but it can get blown up by cross-ups. Its also very punishable on whiff.
You can also use Body Press as a surprise option if the opponent is blocking in order to bait your wake-ups.
Raging Charge is good against command grab characters because its grab immune and has a decent amount of invulnerability to boot. Be mindful its start-up might make it less useful.
The last option you have is back-dashing. Bane's back-dash covers a lot of ground, causing a lot of attacks to whiff. Even in the corner, back-dash invincibility can cause single-hitting normals and specials to whiff, allowing you a free punish if your reactions are on point.
