Anub'arak Build Guide “Time is fleeting.”

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Free Hero Rotation

Free Hero Rotation

Free Hero Rotation

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Last updated on Mar 15, 2017 at 12:21 by Oxygen 13 comments

General Information

Welcome to our Anub'arak guide for Heroes of the Storm. Here you will learn everything you need to know in order to play Anub'arak in a competitive environment, whether you play on your own or with a team.

About the Author

Oxygen is a veteran of the MOBA genre, which he has been playing for nearly 15 years. He has coached some of Heroes of the Storm's most prominent North American players and teams alike, including Team Liquid. As a Master player, he enjoys playing all Heroes and roles.

1. Quick Reference

Balanced Build (talent calculator link)

This Balanced Build seeks to provide Anub'arak with a healthy mix of offense, defense, and crowd control. Key defensive aspects of the build lie in Nerubian Armor Icon Nerubian Armor, and the synergistic interaction between Subterranean Shield Icon Subterranean Shield and Epicenter Icon Epicenter to readily generate powerful Shields. Offensively, the build exploits the movement speed reduction and stunning effects provided by Impale Icon Impale, Bed of Barbs Icon Bed of Barbs, and Burrow Charge Icon Burrow Charge to reliably trigger Acid Drenched Mandibles Icon Acid Drenched Mandibles. For crowd control purposes, most of the aforementioned Talents come into play, with Epicenter making team-wide hits with Burrow Charge particularly debilitating. At Hero Level 20, Rewind Icon Rewind more or less allows you to double any of the above tricks for one of the game's most powerful power spike.

See our Talents page for further information Create your own build and share it with friends!

Synergies and Counters

Anub'arak synergizes with

Anub'arak's aggressive crowd control-oriented Ability set makes him particularly useful to any Hero who is able to follow up on said crowd control with their own Ability combo.

Anub'arak is countered by

Although very well rounded, Anub'arak may struggle against Heroes that have ways of avoiding his skillshot based Abilities or otherwise kiting him.

Maps

Anub'arak's stronger maps Dragon Shire

Anub'arak's average maps Blackheart's Bay

Anub'arak's weaker maps Battlefield of Eternity

Having a well-rounded Ability set, Anub'arak works well on most Maps. His sub-par PvE damage dealing capacity, however, makes him a poor choice on any Map featuring Objectives that need to be taken out quickly.

TL;DR Tips

Exploit Scarab Host Beetles to soak damage from Structures and Mercenaries, and to intercept skillshots.
Use Burrow Charge to close up on a target, then follow up with Impale for much crowd control.
Harden Carapace should be used on-Cooldown during fights due to its low Mana cost, and ability to summon Beetles.
Use Locust Swarm with caution; it heals for a large amount, but does not make you invincible, especially versus burst damage.
Hold onto your Cocoon's Cooldown to interrupt and deny strong enemy Heroic Abilities.

See our Abilities page for further information

2. Introduction

Anub'arak is an aggressive anti-caster Warrior. His strongest points are his long-range disruption and high resistance to Ability-based damage. Although considered an archetypal tank, his Health pool is significantly lower than that of other tanks; Anub'arak must therefore rely on his summons and Abilities to survive in battle.

3. Strengths

Excellent initiator
Flexible Talent choices to adapt to opponents' strategy
Several long-range crowd control and interruption Abilities

4. Weaknesses

Relatively fragile
Limited damage dealing potential
Main Abilities are skillshots that can be avoided

5. Role in the Current Meta

Anub'arak is a unique tank that sacrifices raw durability for Spell Armor and long-range crowd-control-based utility than other tanks. As such, Anub'arak players are expected to aggressively provide crowd-control (through Impale Icon Impale and Burrow Charge Icon Burrow Charge) for their teammates to follow up on with their own Abilities, and then pressure fragile backline Heroes. Finding the right time to initiate, peel, and pressure isolated Heroes while avoiding dangerous situations are the skills that one should develop in order to become a strong Anub'arak player.

6. Reading Further

To take things further, we have 2 more pages that you can read:

Abilities and Strategy: an overview of your hero's abilities and how to use them;
Talent Build: a detailed rundown of your talents and how to choose them.