I recently started playing him and he seems to be at an in-between. Doesn’t feel as tanky as others, but has too many tanking tools and lack of damage to be a bruiser. As the main tank I struggle to make it work, but as a 2nd tank he seems much stronger. Does he require dps teammates to be more on-point than other tanks to be effective?
Also, buff beetle friends plz
The trick to Anub is using his abilities wisely. Using W when he is about to take damage, rather than on CD, makes him surprisingly tanky. Preventing people from hitting you and peeling with Q means he takes less damage overall. And save your E for an escape, or when you know there will be follow up and can guarantee a kill.
I’ll try these things more. I tend to play more offensive than defensive, expecting maybe more follow up than I should.
How aggressive we’ve talking
Trust me when I say It is easy to dive long past your teams capabilities to follow you with Anub, I’ve seen this more then enough times to hate the tank when in pugs.
The build I usually use on him in SL is:
Any, depending on the enemy comp. If they had a lot of ability damage, like a mage + Alarak or double mage, I take Nerubian Armor. If it is a lot of AA damage, Regeneration Master. If they have a very balanced mix, but are heavily dependent on skill shots, like Stitches, Ming, or Tracer, I let the beetles do my work.
Bed of Barbs if I need more AoE damage or slows, or if they have a stealthy, otherwise I always take Shed Exoskeleton. I am a huge fan of move speed, and taking Underking means it is likely I am diving too hard and will get myself killed. If I do have a full dive comp, especially with a second front line like Tyrael, I may go Underking.
Chitinous Plating. Always.
Cocoon. What, he has another level 10? Use it wisely.
Uriticating Spines, usually. If it is a map like Infernal Shrines, or we need more wave clear, Burning Rage.
Epicenter. Always.
Rewind. Always.
webs, webs, and more webs. did i mention web (it’s one of his ults)
As a solo tank/front line he can struggle because his CC is tied to how well the player is at skill shots. The only point and click is his web but depending on the team you might want to take Locust Swarm.
Anub requires patience too. Blowing all your CC right off the bat leaves you with no peels for your allies or tools to lock down anyone and at that point you’re just a good punching bag for the enemy. He’s pretty decent with a second frontliner with you that has some form of CC, they don’t even have to be stuns because roots and slows help you hit your stuns easier and can usually secure kills a lot easier too.
Personally I would want a Jaina and a Dehaka or Imperius on my team because Jaina has a passive slow and decent roots and she can combo her spells of your CC and vice versa. And I like Dehaka and Imperius because they have good stun follow up and can also take a beating, taking some of the heat off of you. I would second guess taking him against AA heroes because then your spell armor is not as effective. Take Anubarak against high damage mages like KTZ, Chromie, Kael, and even Orphea.
You should be careful about taking web if the enemies can burst it down really quickly. Its not always the best choice.
so you web their best web-destroying hero.
I’m speechless.
Honestly in SL, it really is always the best choice. You don’t have to have it run the full duration to get value, and it is outstanding for punishing positioning mistakes. Although you could simply Cocoon the Ming or Tass, I will more often use it as a counter, rather than as an engage.
If their Muradin or Mei dives wildly into my back line, they get a 7 second time out to ponder their life choices. If their Tass pops Archon, he will lose at least a little of its duration while his team mates break him out, or I will put enough pressure on them without their heavy damage dealer. A Dragonblade Genji is a non-issue. Against Ana or Morales, save it for their Nano/Stim target. If the enemy tank is an ETC, good luck with getting a Mosh Pit off.
While traditional targets are the healer, main damage dealer, or sometimes the tank, Cocoon doesn’t have to be used that way to be effective, and I have yet to see a comp where I regret picking it. As with all things, timing and target selection is key, but Cocoon isn’t simply good for only turning a fight into a 4v5.
I have had good experiences with Locust as well. Sometimes the healing is more beneficial. A lot of times the timeout won’t mean much if you can’t do something during that time. If no one dies and it expires, what exactly was the benefit? Healing is always beneficial and at level 20 it becomes passive, although rewind is arguably better.
I didn’t say the web wasn’t strong, it is very strong. I just think sometimes you can get more value off of Locust.
I have never felt the need for more healing on Anub, but I play a W build, and will let my beetles take hits for me. When I take Locust Swarm in QM, it is always for the extra damage, never the healing. Usually when I die, it is because I screwed up, or its a team wipe, and Locusts would not have saved me, or extended the fight noticeably. In addition, taking the upgrade, which does improve self-healing, means not having Rewind, which is far more of a game changer than the extra sustain.
And I just stated and gave examples, I don’t always use Cocoon as a time out, but sometimes even just as an interrupt for abilities like Mosh Pit. I am willing to agree to disagree, but outside of playing full beetles for the memes, I have never regretted picking Cocoon, and have regretted taking Locust Swarm, to the point I just simply pretend it doesn’t exist when I am drafting Anub in ranked.
I think we just have different ways of playing Anubarak, and that’s fine. I don’t wanna agree to disagree because I agree with you but I also think Locust is good.
I think what matters most here is what is efficient when we play them. You might play Anub one way and I might play another, but if it works I mean you can complain right?
I think locust swarm can be fine for good anubaraks that know what theyre doing. If you’re less than good with him and go locust swarm you’ll get Eye daggers from me.
Locust swarm is good when their team has a good burst for your cacoon like Dot or a very fast dmg vs cacoon. But for 80% of the times cacoon is better
I don’t go straight to the back, but use burrow as an engage, which sounds like an issue. I’m used to playing Johanna and nose diving in.
Thanks, everyone. I’ll make some notes.
Keep in mind I’ve seen this happen, even if you’re only stunning the enemy frontline it is still very possible to ive further then your team can follow up,
Best method I can think of, in solo queue assume if you’re burrowing for longer then a full second and a half that you’ve overhsot your teammates.
I wasn’t trying to say Cocoon wasn’t the better pick. But saying that Cocoon is the only pick is wrong, because LS has value too and I think the OP shouldn’t be scared to pick it if the enemy has heroes that can easily pop anyone out of the Cocoon. In that situation I think there might be more value with LS.
I don’t like anub. He’s too squishy, and cocoon isn’t that good for his team because players are still too scared to dive in
He’s better against mages for his spell armor. He can be squishy against Physical damage heroes, because the armor won’t protect for jack.