Hello! I'm Fred "NorthSwed" Olsson Forsberg and I'm going to give you a guide on how you play Anub'Arak, the Traitor King. Anub'Arak is a melee warrior that can fill many different roles within a team. His high mobility makes him really strong at engaging fights and picking off enemies that are far away from their teams. I usually play him as a tank so I can take fights with several enemies without being one-shot.

His abilities are:

Trait: Scarab Host. Whenever you use an ability, spawn a beetle that fight for you for 8 seconds, attacking nearby enemies for 20.80 (+4% per level).

Q: Impale. Anub'arak send spikes in a straight line, dealing 104.00 (+4% per level) and stunning enemies for 1 second whenever you hit a enemy. This is your main source of CC, which isn't that much. It has a pretty long range but travels quite slow so you need to aim it right to get the most of it. you can use it over walls and you'll be granted vision if you hit an enemy on the other side. Triggers Scarab Host once. Cooldown: 12 seconds

W: Harden Carapace. Gain a shield that absorbs 251.68 (+4% per level) damage over 3 seconds. This ability is really strong. 261.68 bonus health in the early game is usually more than what any assassin can get through. This ability alone makes Anub'Arak a super strong early game fighter. Use it whenever it's off cooldown and don't be afraid to take fights, you'll win most of the skirmishes that you'll be forced to fight due to this ability. Triggers Scarab Host once. Cooldown: 8 seconds.

E: Burrow Charge. Burrows to a location, dealing 111,28 (+4% per level) damage and briefly stunning enemies in a small area upon surfacing. You can reactivate the ability to surface early. This is why you have so much mobility. With a really long range for a dash that can't be stopped, Burrow Charge is really strong when engaging enemies that have some distance from you, even those on the other side of the wall or under their turrets. It's an ideal engaging and escaping ability that also deals some damage. Triggers Scarab Host once. Cooldown: 16 seconds.

R: Cocoon. Wraps an enemy target in a cocoon, rendering them unable to act or be targeted for 8 seconds. Allies of the cocooned hero can attack the cocoon to break it and free them early. Cocoon is a strong ability if your team are lacking CC, otherwise it's quite weak. I'd use it to wrap up their tanks so you can get to their assassins easier. Triggers Scarab Host once. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

R: Locust Swarm. Summon a swarm of locust around you, dealing 68.64 (+4% per level) damage per second in an area around yourself. You'll get healed for 18.72 (+4% per level) per enemy per. Locust Swarm lasts for 8 seconds. This is the ultimate team-fight ability. You'll be pretty much unkillable if there are 2 or more enemies around you. Locust Swarm combined with Harden Carapace makes you incredibly hard to kill and makes to deal a lot AOE (area of effect) damage that most healers won't be able to keep up with. Towers counts as enemies so you'll get healed if you are damaging enemy forts. Triggers Scarab Host once. Cooldown: 100 seconds.

Pros with Anub'Arak

He's tanky
Have some CC
Mobile
Can spawn minions that tanks towers
A strong duelist
Good sustain

Cons with Anub'Arak

Lowest health of all warriors (not including Rexxar/Misha)
Can get nuked if enemy team has a lot of burst damage
Don't have any escapes if Burrow Charge is on cooldown
Scarabs are prone to AOE damage

Talents:

Tier 1: Extended Spikes. Increases the max range of Impale by 25%. It's pretty simple, you'll add range to your main CC ability. This allows you to snipe enemy heroes that are hiding behind turrets or to check bushes from a safer distance. Although I prefer Extended Spikes, Regeneration Master is also a viable choice if your team are more of a late game team and you'll have time to get some health globes.

Tier 2: Underking. Increases the range of Burrow Charge by 20% and lowers the cooldown by 2 seconds. This talent is by far the best tier 2 talent that Anub'Arak can pick. This allows you to cover even further distance with your Burrow Charge, making it easier to hunt down fleeing enemies or get away from tricky situations. The lowered cooldown allows you to pick fight more frequently. This is the only talent that I value from tier 2 because it brings more impact to the game than what any of the other talents does.

Tier 3: Urticating Spines. Whenever you cast Harden Carapace, deal 109.20 (+4% per level) to nearby enemies. This will help with the low damage output in the early game. Urticating Spines combined with Burrow Charge can surprise ranged assassins like Valla, Nova or Falstad that wants to have some distance between them and their enemies. You'll gain the shield from Harden Carapace, which makes you harder to kill and with Urticating Spines also deals some AOE damage.

Tier 4: Locust Swarm. I tend to pick Locust Swarm over Cocoon just because I want the extra damage and healing. But as I said earlier, it's all on what team you have around you. Cocoon can be amazing if you manage to hit their main tank or support. They'll lose their frontline if you lock down their tank, making it easier for your assassins to go after their backline. Hitting their healer is just as good.

Tier 5: Chitinous Plating. Increases Harden Carapace's shield amount by 40.00%. This makes an already strong ability even stronger. Chitinous Plating will help dealing with the low health pool that you have at your disposal. The increased shield often allows you to tank most of the mercenary camps and objectives without losing all of your health.

Tier 6: Imposing Presence. Enemies that attack you have their Attack Speed slowed by 40.00%. I'd pick this talent up whenever the enemies have ranged assassins on their team, so basically all the time. This lowers their damage output considerably and will make your team last longer in drawn out fights. Really strong versus heroes like Valla, Raynor and Illidan.

Tier 7: Rewind. Activate to reset the cooldown of your basic abilities. I'd advise you to pick this one up. The long cooldowns on his Impale and Burrow Charge make him vulnerable when they are on cooldown. Keep in mind that you can't stack Harden Carapace, so using Rewind to cast Harden Carapace twice to gain a bigger shield won't work. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

Strong matchups:

Diablo: Diablo really can't do too much to cause problem for Anub'Arak. If you get flipped, just use Burrow Charge to get away.
ETC: No threat really. Mosh Pit can very easily be interrupted by Anub'Arak.
Rehgar: Other than a slight snare, Rehgar isn't a major problem for Anub'Arak.
LiLi: LiLi can't harm Anub'Arak, and you can easily interrupt Jug of 1,000 Cups.

Weak/hard matchups:

Thrall: If you Burrow Charge in, you're in trouble. Thrall will beat you in a straight 1v1 fight and your beetles will help him with his sustain.
Valla: Lane against Valla and she will devastate you. Difficult to close onto due to Vault (her dash) and she can keep her distance while kiting. making her tough to chase down. You can poke at Valla, but don't hard engage.
Tychus: A little less difficult than Valla but still in the same window of kiting Anub'Arak. Proper poking will help.
Sylvanas: Her AoE and escape abilities can render Anub'Arak rather useless. You can interrupt her escape with well-timed stuns, but it's really difficult.

Playstyle

Anub'Arak requires a confident engagement with a team that is willing to follow up. If you go too deep you'll just get destroyed, but if you don't go deep enough, your team may get pushed in by the enemies. I like to have another tank in the team that can follow me during engages, like Muradin or Chen. If you are running Anub'Arak as the only tank on the team, I'd try to have 2 supports in the team, one full healer like Malfurion or Lt. Morales and one utility support like Tassadar or Brightwing.

Thanks for reading my Anub'Arak guide and good luck in future matches with him!

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