Anub'arak Talents

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Quick Reference
  • 2. Introduction
  • 3. Strengths
  • 4. Weaknesses
  • 5. Role in the Current Meta
  • 6. Reading Further
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Abilities and Strategy
  • 1. Tips on Ability Usage
  • 2. Impale
  • 3. Burrow Charge
  • 4. Harden Carapace
  • 5. Locust Swarm
  • 6. Cocoon
  • 7. Scarab Host (Trait)
• ×Talent Build
  • 1. Talent Build
  • 2. Common Talent Paths
  • 3. Level 1 Talents
    • 3.1. Discussion
  • 4. Level 4 Talents
    • 4.1. Discussion
  • 5. Level 7 Talents
    • 5.1. Discussion
  • 6. Level 10 Talents
    • 6.1. Discussion
  • 7. Level 13 Talents
    • 7.1. Discussion
  • 8. Level 16 Talents
    • 8.1. Discussion
  • 9. Level 20 Talents
    • 9.1. Discussion

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for playing Anub'arak in a competitive environment in Heroes of the Storm. For each talent, we explain what they do and why they should or should not be taken.

The other pages of our Anub'arak guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

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. Talent Build

Level	Choices
1	✘ ✔ ?
4	✔ ✘ ✘ ✘
7	? ✔ ✘
10	✔ ✔
13	? ? ✔
16	✔ ? ✘
20	? ✘ ✘ ✔

Create your own build and share it with friends!

2. Common Talent Paths

3. Level 1 Talents

3.1. Discussion

Resilient Scarabs provides an insignificant and situational survivability increase to your Beetles. Their Health pool is so small that despite such a large Spell Armor gain, they will still die to incidental area of effect damage.

Nerubian Armor stacks up with Anub'arak's natural 20-point Spell Armor to make him unnaturally difficult to take down for Ability-reliant Heroes. Even against Heroes that do not rely on Abilities as their main damage source, Nerubian Armor will find a way to passively improve your survivability.

Regeneration Master is the alternative to Nerubian Armor. Although it is more versatile, in that its Health Regeneration and later Health bonus "mitigate" more damage types, it needs to be built over time, whereas Nerubian Armor pays off right away. Pick Regeneration Master if the opposing team features absolutely no Ability-reliant Heroes.

4. Level 4 Talents

4.1. Discussion

Bed of Barbs greatly improves Impale by adding a respectable area of effect movement speed reduction effect to it. The value of this Talent becomes particularly noticeable after picking up Acid Drenched Mandibles, which will trigger repeatedly against any foe caught by Bed of Barbs. The Talent also helps with early-game waveclear; simply aim right down a Minion wave with Impale.

Shed Exoskeleton provides Anub'arak with a strong and reliable movement speed increase effect. It does, however, compete with Bed of Barbs, which, for the reasons described above, is an outstanding Talent.

Underking's main factor of appeal is the additional range it provides to Burrow Charge, although the damage increase is not bad by any means. Underking may have situational uses against Heroes with potent channeled Abilities that must be interrupted by a Hero.

Legion of Beetles unconditionally provides you with more Beetles, which translates into a bit more damage and skillshot denial power. However, other Talents available on this tier are simply more impactful.

5. Level 7 Talents

5.1. Discussion

Chitinous Plating has the potential of nearly halving the Cooldown of Harden Carapace. This translates into more survivability, more Beetles, and, later on, more damage, through Urticating Spines. This Talent is a versatile alternative to Subterranean Shield, when combined with Urticating Spines, if the opposing team relies on Abilities to inflict their damage, and would prevent you from landing Basic Attacks to benefit from Acid Drenched Mandibles.

Subterranean Shield provides Anub'arak with a substantial survivability increase that is conveniently located on his main initiation tool. Subterranean Shield becomes particularly potent when combined with Epicenter.

Leeching Scarabs offers a mediocre amount of self-sustain while out of Player combat. In combat, however, Beetles often die quickly to incidental area of effect damage, making the Talent less than effective then.

6. Level 10 Talents

6.1. Discussion

At this level, Heroic Abilities become available. Both Heroic Abilities have already been described in the abilities section; refer to it for more information.

Locust Swarm makes Anub'arak extremely difficult to take out for its duration, on top of making him impossible to ignore due to the Ability's sheer area of effect damage output. Locust Swarm's only downside is a lengthy Cooldown that reflects its power and versatility. Pick if you do not have an important target to use Cocoon against.

As of the current metagame state, many teams elect to pick a single, powerful single-target healer such as Malfurion or Rehgar. Cocoon can make it difficult for such team compositions to survive, as instantly disabling these Heroes can essentially negate the usefulness of their defensive Heroic Abilities. Avoid picking Cocoon against Tracer and Valla, however, as they possess means of very quickly destroying the Cocoon.

7. Level 13 Talents

7.1. Discussion

Burning Rage offers less damage and utility than Urticating Spines and Acid Drenched Mandibles, respectively.

Urticating Spines is the alternative to Acid Drenched Mandibles should you have opted to pick Chitinous Plating at Hero Level 7.

Acid Drenched Mandibles provides Anub'arak with some of the single-target damage potential he so sorely lacks. You need to use as many Basic Attacks as possible against enemies that are affected by crowd control whenever you can to really make the best of this Talent.

8. Level 16 Talents

8.1. Discussion

The potency of the Cooldown reduction provided by Epicenter cannot be understated, as Burrow Charge and its other related Talents are key to Anub'arak. The increased area of effect is also extremely helpful in reliably hitting more targets, making the Talent synergise with itself.

Debilitation has niche usefulness against team compositions that feature two or more Ability-damage reliant Heroes, such as Alarak, Cho'gall, Gul'dan, Jaina, Kael'thas, Li-Ming, Nazeebo, or Ragnaros. Otherwise, you are likely to get more out of Epicenter.

Beetle, Juiced requires an unnaturally large amount of Basic Attacks to truly see any effect. Even when this is possible, the Talent fails to impress, and pales in comparison with Epicenter.

9. Level 20 Talents

9.1. Discussion

Although Hive Master adds a significant amount of damage and self-healing, making Anub'arak one of the strongest duelists, the Talent typically comes into play so late that team fight-oriented talents should be prefered. Still, if you feel that your team sorely lacks damage, Hive Master may be the way to go.

Cryptweave requires Anub'arak to remain relatively close to Cocoon's target for to see any value. However, the Ability is often used specifically against Healers, whom tend to remain away from combat. The only exception to this would be Kharazim, against whom the Talent may be viable as a counter to Divine Palm.

As if Anub'arak was not geared enough to deal with Ability-based damage, Nullification Shield comes to overkill any chance you might have had of dying to Abilities.

Rewind is outstanding and versatile, allowing you to double your short term damage, survivability, and crowd control on demand. Double-casting Impale and Burrow Charge can lead to some of the game's longest crowd control chains, and the possibility of quickly summoning six Beetles to assist you is significant. Simply make sure that you have used all of your Basic Abilities before using Rewind, so as to not waste its effect entirely.