Anub'arak Build Guide “Time is fleeting.”
Welcome to our guide for Anub'arak, a Tank in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.
Anub'arak's Overview
Anub'arak is an aggressive anti-caster Tank. His strongest points are his long-range disruption and powerful on-demand resistance to Ability-based damage. Although considered an archetypal Tank, Anub'arak's Health pool is considerably lower than that of other Tanks. He relies on opportunism and teamwork to survive, exemplifying the adage "the best defence is a good offence."
Anub'arak's Strengths and Weaknesses
Excellent initiator
Access to
Cocoon, a valuable Heroic AbilitySeveral long-range interruption Abilities
Fragile for a Tank
Limited damage output and waveclear
Main Abilities are skillshots that can be avoided
Anub'arak's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Beetles Build
RecommendedAnub'arak's Beetles Build increases his sustain damage and self-sustain during prolonged team fights and when pushing. In the mid game you also gain some waveclear.
The increased damage and waveclear mainly
come from
Burning Beetles at Level 13.
The survivability comes from
Leeching Scarabs at Level 7
and potentially from
Legion of Beetles at Level 1
blocking skillshots.
Last but not the least,
Legion of Beetles at Level 1
spawns additional Beetles and makes them harder to kill,
allowing you to get more value from the rest of the Build.
Burrow Charge Build
AdvancedAnub'arak's Burrow Charge Build increases his burst damage, range,
and survivability while using
Burrow Charge aggressively, either
immediately after
Impale hits an enemy Hero or from over
impassable terrain to take opponents off guard.
The survivability mostly comes from
Subterranean Shield at Level 7
and the damage comes from
Urticating Spines at Level 13,
which is the best option when it comes to burst damage.
Harden Carapace Build
SituationalAnub'arak's Harden Carapace Build increases his mobility to reposition in team fights and dodge skillshots, burst damage to secure kills, and survivability against Spell Damage.
Consider going for this Build when playing against Heroes who can deal
Spell Damage with high tick rate (like Tassadar)
or as damage over time (such as Lunara).
This will trigger
Chitinous Plating at Level 7
and thus allow you to get more value from
Harden Carapace-related Talent.
ARAM Build
ARAMAnub'arak's ARAM Build increases his sustain damage and self-sustain during prolonged team fights and when pushing. In the mid game you also gain some waveclear.
The increased damage and waveclear mainly
come from
Burning Beetles at Level 13.
The survivability comes from
Leeching Scarabs at Level 7
and potentially from
Legion of Beetles at Level 1
blocking skillshots.
Last but not the least,
Legion of Beetles at Level 1
spawns additional Beetles and makes them harder to kill,
allowing you to get more value from the rest of the Build.
Anub'arak's Synergies and Counters
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's aggressive game plan is difficult to execute against Heroes that have ways of avoiding his skillshot or becoming immune to crowd control on-demand.
Anub'arak's Maps
Anub'arak can be played without major issues on most Maps because he has access to powerful engage and peeling tools.
His best Map is Alterac Pass because, by using his Trait to keep Guards busy, he can capture the enemy Objective all by himself as long as the enemy Heroes are busy somewhere else.
Maps where aggressive plays are rewarded (notably Dragon Shire) are great for Anub'arak because, when the enemy team is split into small groups, he can make high-risk high-reward plays to gain an advantage.
He does not excel on Maps where the Tank has to posture in vision for long (for example Braxis Holdout) because Anub'arak is not that durable against Basic Attacks or where those Heroes are popular.
Anub'arak's Tips and Tricks
Burrow Charge is your only way out, so you should choose wisely when to use it aggressively.
Impale is your primary engage tool but it can also be used for peeling.- Try to hold
Harden Carapace for when you will be hit by enemy Abilities. - Exploit
Scarab Host Beetles to gain vision, intercept skillshots, or tank Structures and Mercenaries (especially Bosses). - Use
Locust Swarm before your Health becomes too low because the healing it provides is not instant. - Be creative with
Cocoon: use it to setup engages or to isolate powerful enemy Heroes.
Anub'arak's Role in the Current Meta
Anub'arak is a unique Tank that sacrifices raw durability
for powerful on-demand initiations. In general, Anub'arak players are
expected to look for opportunities to lock down isolated targets (through
Impale and
Burrow Charge)
to allow their teammates to follow up.
In the early stages of the game, Anub'arak is well-suited for roaming
and protecting teammates in lanes. Burrow Charge lets him effectively scout
with very little danger. This task is just as important as initiating throughout
the entire game. As Heroic Abilities become available,
Cocoon is the
expected choice to catch and aggressively collapse on rotating opponents
on top of being generally useful.
Changelog
- 11 Jul. 2026 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 11 Jul. 2026 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 11 Jul. 2026 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 28 May 2026 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 28 May 2026 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 28 May 2026 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 31 Jul. 2025 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 31 Jul. 2025 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 31 Jul. 2025 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 18 Apr. 2025 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 18 Apr. 2025 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 18 Apr. 2025 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 22 Jun. 2024 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 22 Jun. 2024 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 22 Jun. 2024 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 12 Dec. 2023 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 12 Dec. 2023 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (talents page): ARAM Build addded.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (this page): ARAM Build addded.
- 30 Mar. 2022 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 30 Mar. 2022 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 30 Mar. 2022 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 28 Jan. 2022 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 28 Jan. 2022 (this page): Builds and Maps updated.
- 18 Nov. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 18 Nov. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 20 May 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 20 May 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 22 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 22 Mar. 2021 (abilities page): Cocoon's Description updated.
- 22 Mar. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Builds and Talents updated.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 25 Feb. 2021 (talents page): New layout.
- 15 Dec. 2020 (talents page): Builds fixed.
- 15 Dec. 2020 (this page): Builds fixed.
- 04 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 04 Nov. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 04 Nov. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 28 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds fixed.
- 28 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds fixed.
- 10 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 10 Oct. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 10 Oct. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 30 Aug. 2020 (this page): Role in Current Meta section updated.
- 19 Aug. 2020 (talents page): Burning Beetles added.
- 19 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Talents reviewed and updated.
- 20 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Talents reviewed following June 3 balance patch. No changes to Talent recommendations.
- 05 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Description reviewed for Bed of Barbs.
- 27 Jan. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed following January 22 balance patch. No changes to Talent recommendations.
- 15 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added a note about current Anomaly.
- 26 Jun. 2019 (talents page): Guide reviewed and updated.
- 26 Jun. 2019 (this page): Guide reviewed and updated.
- 05 Feb. 2019 (talents page): Talents and recommendations updated following Legion of Beetles rework.
- 20 Jan. 2019 (talents page): Build recommendations updated.
- 30 Jun. 2018 (talents page): Updated for the latest Balance update.
- 14 Jan. 2018 (talents page): Updated Balance build.
- 15 Mar. 2017 (this page): Guide updated.
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Elitesparkle has been hooked on Heroes of the Storm since day one in 2015. Over the years, he has consistently competed at Master level across multiple Seasons and has even climbed into Grand Master a couple of times. Known for his logical mindset and love for theorycrafting, he thrives on breaking down the game's mechanics and engaging in high-level strategy discussions with the community.
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