Bane

 is a hero in Art of Conquest. Bane saved his barbarian tribe from oblivion with the help of Avril, braving the stormy seas to lead his people to salvation in Nore.

Bane is the only Hero so far to unlock a new type of unit for training, the Berserkers! Unfortunately, he only unlocks the Silver Tier of Berserkers, the Thanes. This means that in order to make full use of this, you need to get Bane after you can make Silver Troops, but before you start making Gold Troops. Even then, you are unlikely to use Thanes as much as Hoplites. Why? Because there is no research bonus for these troops, making them drastically underpowered in comparison to Hoplites who have much better defenses and offenses. The Berserkers may get stronger as they take damage, but the Thane's lower Health value means that they will usually die just as they get their boost. Fortunately, they fused the abilities of Berserker King and Berserker Specialist, so you don't have to spend 2 points like that.

The above notwithstanding, Bane is a very potent tank, capable of taking a huge beating from a multitude of melee foes. Barbaric Blessing is the cream of the crop, providing an increase in Stamina and damage mitigation while Provoke not only forces enemies to target him for a couple of seconds, but also increases his damage mitigation even further! A point in Spinning Axe allows him to pretty much counter melee range enemies, slashing them with every hit he receives and damaging all enemies that are surrounding him due to his Provoke!

Bane has one lethal weakness though, MAGIC. He does not last long against enemy casters, so it's best to use Rufio against those since he can get the drop on them or Virion who has better protection against magical attacks.