Anubis - Towards the new Season (S3 Guide & Strategy)

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Greetings traveler, I'm glad that you decided to take a look at this guide about Anubis, my favorite character in Smite. When I first played as Anubis, I just couldn't make a good use of this god, and it took a substantial amount of practise before I felt quite effective with him. Since then I have achieved a decent quality of gameplay and am confident enough as to share my experiences. Hopefully some of the information provided about various issues mentioned below will prove useful to you and, who knows, maybe you'll also fall in love with this character.


Feel free to message me should you have any further questions or feel like discussing some topics. My in-game name is Daelinn as well.





Anubis was designed for ancient times in Smite, back when it wasn't common for every character to have multiple crowd control or escape abilities like nowadays, and his damage was way easier to confirm. The damage though, is the thing Anubis excels at- he is the god of the dead after all, and not without reason: he'll gladly introduce his enemies to their afterlife given the chance.

Yet, as everyone, he has his flaws- he belongs to the mage class, having extremely weak defensive capabilities and low health, furthermore he has very limited movement potential, partially on account of his low base speed, but also because of lack of any escape abilities.

Thus, he'll often be forced to stand his ground, and not to run away from his foes. Thanks to his high damage combined with lifesteal though, he has the potential of surviving scenarios in which
a typical mage would have died.

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P R O S

extraordinary combo damage potential + splendid objective damage (gold fury, fire giant, titan) + has the potential of snowballing out of control + has long range stun which can serve multiple purposes + great voice +

- no escape potential - absolute lack of mobility - roots himself for the duration of 2 out of 4 abilities - very easy to gank and shut down - has a depressing defeat screen

C O N S

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It is Anubis' passive, being additionally amongst the best ones in the game. It serves 3 purposes split into 2 main segments:

First of all, it passively reduces the duration of all Crowd Control effects on Anubis by 30%, which is an useful bonus allowing better chance of survival against stuns and all the pesky roots/snares, however it has no effective impact on displacement abilities like for example Ares' or Xing Tian's ultimates.

Secondly, every time Anubis deals damage with an ability (every tick counts) or uses Mummify, he gains a stack of Sorrow, stacking up to 3 times for 5 seconds or until refreshed. With every stack, 7 points of magical and 7 physical protection are stolen from the affected target (which equals 21 protections stolen at 3 stacks), meaning that Anubis gains them at the cost of his enemy for the duration.

Last but definitely not least, mentioned above Sorrow stacks also increase Anubis' magical lifesteal from items by 33% per stack, effectively doubling his lifesteal at 3 stacks; for example with Bancroft's Talon at 3 stacks of Sorrow Anubis has 24% magical lifesteal instead of the default 12%.
All things considered, his passive is meant to help him with survivability, which he lacks, by raising his protections and improving sustain, thus allowing for better 1v1 fight potential.

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Anubis' first ability is an interesting, yet risky one. It comes in form of an about 120 degrees wide cone with limited range which lasts for 3 seconds and has a tick every 0.5s, allowing to rotate during the cast, but in turn roots Anubis in place for the duration.

Due to its range and the self root it forces, Plague of Locusts makes Anubis even more susceptible to the enemy damage, allowing for certain confirmation of most of their abilities, thus requires practise with proper positioning.

But here comes the favorable part: it has the potential of being the most damaging non-ultimate (in fact, it can deal more damage than some ultimates) ability in the game, with 35/50/65/80/95 (+40% of magical power) damage every tick, and up to 210/300/390/480/570 (+240% of magical power) if all ticks hit, which stands for A LOT of damage. (in comparison, Poseidon's Release The Kraken! deals (in center): 180/220/260/300/340 (+60% of magical power))

Last thing worth noting about this ability is the knockup immunity for its duration, which makes it impossible for some other mages' abilities, like Poseidon's Tidal Surge, He Bo's Waterspout or Vulcan's Magma Bomb to interrupt it. Furthermore, when timed correctly it can deny some of the enemy's kill setups, with for example Hercules' Earthbreaker, or Awilix Moonlight Charge into Gravity Surge combo.

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Here we are, one of the Anubis' most recognisable moves: Mummify. Being a long-range bandage projectile, it belongs to the best single target stuns in the game, and provides that much needed bit of utility in Anubis' kit.

At maximum rank its duration equals 2 seconds, which provides a considerable amount of time for an offensive setup, or serving the purpose of an "escape".

Its only downside is the fact of being a narrow skillshot, on the other hand providing much satisfaction upon succesfully landing it (aspecially when predicting the direction of an invisible target), and being able to reliably hit it is the main requirement for efficiency with Anubis.

It is commonly used as a part of the ability combos; having placed Grasping Hands beneath an enemy into a Mummify makes him suffer the damage from more, at best all, ticks. This combo can be further improved by the usage of Anubis' ultimate, Death Gaze, to drastically increase total damage done.
Nevertheless, Mummify has a considerable cooldown and is not to be wasted without reason. Additionally, Mummify passes through minions but doesn't go through walls.

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It is the safest of all Anubis' abilities. Not only does it have a long range, with itself being a placable on the ground circle with considerable radius, but it also applies a 25% slow to every enemy standing or passing through it, allowing for better damage confirmation and easier Mummify aiming. It lasts for 2 seconds with a tick applied every 0.5s.

From non-ultimate abilities, this is the one that is recommended to level up with the highest priority, for it offers good wave clear without stress, as opposed to using Plague of Locusts.

Its damage is also not to be underestimated, with 25/40/55/70/85 (+35% of magical power) every tick and up to 100/160/220/280/340 (+140% of magical power) provided that all ticks hit.

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The in-game tooltip for this ability simply does not express its brutality. It is what Anubis is known for- a long range laser lasting for 3 seconds and (suprise) dealing damage based on ticks, with a tick every 0.1s which means 30 ticks dealing 23/28/33/38/43 (+15% of magical power) each, and up to 690/840/990/1140/1290 (+450% of magical power) damage, being the most damaging ability in the game.
Used at the right time it simply deletes the health bar of enemy squishies, and has a huge impact on tanks' and objectives' health as well.

That being said, it has a crucial flaw which prevents it from being the ultimate ability of Smite- as in case of Plague of Locusts Anubis roots himself in place for the duration (fortunately allowing to rotate), becoming very susceptible to any counter fire, this time however he also becomes totally immune to crowd control while casting. Thanks to that fact it also has a defensive potential; it can deny displacement by various enemy abilities, some of the most notable being Ares' No Escape, Xing Tian's Whirlwind of Rage and Steel and Fenrir's Ragnarok.

Additionally, Death Gaze passes through EVERYTHING, be it minions, walls or multiple enemy players, so it's impossible to bodyblock it.

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The name of this section will probably be self-explanatory to anyone familiar with games in general; some abilities will be yielding wonderful results when used in conjunction with the others- it all comes down to their sensible usage at the right time.





It is the safest mean of confirming damage on the opponent- to immobilize him with Mummify under the influence of Grasping Hands, and can be cast from quite a long range. There are 2 ways, depending mainly on preference but also on other circumstances, how to perform this combo.


All in all:
If the opponent doesn't have escape abilities available and/or you don't feel confident in landing Mummify- perform the combo in order: Grasping Hands + Mummify

If you can trust your aiming skills and/or the enemy target has the potential of dashing/jumping: use Mummify + Grasping Hands to ensure at least some of the ticks.







It is a serious improvement over the poke combo in terms of pure damage, but that's compensated by the dangers Anubis has to put himself into in order to perform it.

The reason being Plague of Locusts' short range, paired with the self root it forces- you might want to restrain yourself from using it in big teamfights, aspecially when being in the center of attention- it will do more harm than good, as every enemy will switch his damage to poor, rooted Anubis, almost in melee range.

However, do not hesitate to use it as a serious harassment should you catch an enemy alone and off-guard.







Basically- the hard poke combo on steroids (which itself has some kill potential); it is the crowning achievement of Anubis' damage capabilities.

Use it preferably on high priority targets, after making sure they don't have their Sanctuary available- lategame it has the potential of deleting someone's full HP bar, and having a big impact on tanks and objectives.

The combo itself has a decent range, as it doesn't include Plague of Locusts, but it still roots Anubis in place for the duration- take care of your surroundings first before attempting it.

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This item is crucial on Anubis. It offers lots of raw stats, including substantial amount of HP which is a thing Anubis definitely lacks, as well as a good chunk of magical power.

On purchase it provides 300 HP, 400 mana and 50 magical power, but also starts the progression of earning stacks. 1 stack is gained every minion or jungle monster kill, and delivering final blow to the enemy player grants 5 stacks, with every stack giving additional 3 points of HP and 0.6 points of magical power.
Stacks cap at 100, at which point Warlock's Sash is providing 600 HP, 400 mana and 110 magical power.

I would strongly recommend getting used to this item on every mode that isn't extremely fast paced like Arena or Assault, as the advantages it gives are well worth their price. Also, Sash is at best bought quite early into the game, in order to start stacking it as soon as possible.

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It is a stacking item like Warlock's Sash with the same way of gaining stacks, but instead of being a Jack-of-all-Trades, it simply increases magical power and mana. However, the increase is a drastic one, and can serve as a part of glass-cannon one-shot builds. Upon purchasing, it gives 100 magical power and 125 mana, with + 10 mana every stack, stacking up to 75. Oh, and it also gives a passive which grants additional magical power equal to 3% of maximum mana.

On lvl 20 with maximum stacks Anubis will have 2315 mana (can be more of course if one decides to buy more mana increasing items) which will mean an additional 69 power from the Book's passive, giving 169 magical power from a single item.

There's an option of combining this item with Warlock's Sash, called double-stacking which is an extremely late-game oriented tactic providing a great deal of power upon completing all stacks.
Its downside on the other hand is the fact of these items being very expensive, and buying them will put you in a disadvantage as the opponent will most likely have finished 1 or even 2 more items already. Only attempt it if you feel confident at efficient farming and know for sure that you won't lose your lane.

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Its stats are beneficial for Anubis; it offers raw 100 Magical Power and 12% magical lifesteal, + a situational passive. The way the passive works is that it increases owner's magical power by 1 point per every 0.75% of health missing (giving additional 100 power when being at or below 25% HP).

Sounds good doesn't it?
The only problem is that for the passive to become relevant Anubis must have lost a lot of his HP, at which point he is an easy prey for the enemy jungler. But there's always a possibility of it being extremely useful, for example when ganked, with most of the HP gone- the only option for Anubis is to stand his ground, which might result in killing the attacker due to increased power.

However, Bancroft's is quite cheap and thus can, depending on the situation (like for example when starting with Talon Trinket) provide an early power spike granting the possibility of starting overwhelming the opponent. I wouldn't recommend this tactic for beginners though.

On the other hand, Bancroft's Talon has proven extraordinary helpful on Arena (Great guide to which mode has been provided by Branmuffin17)- due to its layout Anubis has even less chances to escape than normally, which forces him to put up almost every fight. Because of that he'll often find himself lacking HP, which increases the Bancroft's passive value.

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This item is most of the time a better option than Bancroft's Talon (even more with its buffs- now it is even as cheap as Bancroft's) simply because of its reliability and utility. It offers 60 magical power, 15% magical lifesteal and 10% cooldown reduction.

At this point it would already be totally worth buying, but it also applies an aura giving additional 30 magical power and 15% magical lifesteal. Aura is definitely a subtle help to every magical based ally nearby, but it applies to the wielder as well. Remember Anubis' passive, Sorrow which increases magical lifesteal from items?

It means that this single trinket will effectively give Anubis 60% of magical lifesteal, since its buff to lifesteal in 3.16 patch, giving him a lot of sustain and incomparably greater 1v1 potential. It is worth mentioning that the quite popular tactic of buying double-lifesteal items is probably no longer worth it, as 65% is the cap for ths stat.

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This item is best bought on modes like Arena and Assault as a substitute for the Warlock's Sash, as it provides 250 HP, 250 mana and 90 magical power, but doesn't require any stacking.

However, its main asset is the passive: every time an enemy is damaged by Gem owner's ability, he suffers from a 25% movement speed slow for 2 seconds. Ouch. Just imagine how it works combined with the 25% slow from the Grasping Hands- it means that your victim will move with approximately 56% of his unhindered movement speed (as the penalties are multiplicative, not additive).

Buy this if you want to cripple enemy's mobility, granting your team positioning advantage, need a mean of "escaping" or just feel like watching everyone trudge trough your abilities.

The 25% slow provided by the Gem of Isolation can additionally have a great positive impact on confirming the damage from Death Gaze and Plague of Locusts, making it a lot harder for the enemies to escape their areas of influence- it'll be refreshed with every single ability tick.

( Gem of Isolation is also a core item on Anubis jungle build- yes, it is a viable strategy, and a fun one also. It requires a good deal of practise with Mummify, though)

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Even more with the cooldown reduction nerfs at the beginning of Season 3, and their Shoes of Focus counterpart providing only 10% cooldown reduction, Shoes of the Magi are in general the best choice for a pair of boots for Anubis, aspecially in the early to mid game phases.

They provide solid 45 points of magical power (5 more than Shoes of Focus), but their main asset is the 10 points of magical penetration, which is quite a valuable stat, cooperating well with Sorrow stealing enemy's protections.

Shoes of Focus are still a solid choice though, what is even more true if Anubis' penetration item happens to be an Obsidian Shard (more below).

With the increase to magical power by 10 points in patch 3.17 though, Shoes of Focus can ultimately replace Shoes of the Magi in the late game build, as the utility provided by 10% of cooldown reduction will probably be more helpful than 10 flat points of penetration, considering percentage penetration is generally preferred after opponents reach high enough defence levels.

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With the Spear of the Magus nerf in patch 3.2 (it no longer reduces target's protections by a percentage, but only by a flat amount) it is no longer the best penetration item for every single scenario, but thanks to the Anubis mechanics it still remains a preferable choice in many cases.

It gives 50 magical power and 15 magical penetration, and further reduces enemy magical protection by 10 points for 5 seconds every time they are hit with your ability, up to 3 times- what works well with all of Anubis abilities being tick-based, meaning that the 3 stacks of debuff on the enemy are going to be very easily achievable.

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It is more of a late-game and anti-tank option for a penetration item, providing 60 magical power and 33% of magical penetration (it means that an enemy with 100 magical protection will take damage as if he had only 67, with 200 as if he had 134 and so on).

As a side note, Obsidian Shard will provide noticeably more damage against structures (towers and phoenixes).

Considering its efficiency against players, take a look at a little theorycrafting paragraph at the bottom of the section.

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Well, this item is a mage's best friend. It gives 125 magical power on its own, as well as passively increasing total magical power by 25% (and because of that its base magical power increase is actually 156), + regenerates 15 mana per 5 seconds.

There's absolutely no reason not to buy it, as after the purchase damage done by all abilities is going to be vastly improved, what is an even more desirable outcome on Anubis, who is all about the damage.
Its only downside is quite an exorbitant price, so it's best to wait until late game before buying it (as it will also provide the best effects from its passive then).

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Gives 75 magical power, restores 25 mana per 5 seconds and lowers the cooldown on all abilities by 20% (take care, as more than 40% cooldown reduction cannot be achieved). Useful on hectic modes based mainly around constant fighting like Arena, Assault or Clash.

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Gives 75 points of physical protection, 300 mana and reduces cooldown on all abilities by 20%. Extremely useful against physical damage-heavy teams, as suddenly Anubis has 135 physical protection taking thus considerably lower damage. (which is even more true since the initial levels of protection are giving the most percentage damage reduction, as visualised on this graph:


-defence is a subject to diminishing returns, meaning that the higher the current damage reduction, the more protection points will it take to further reduce damage taken by 1%)

With 135 protection (achieved purely by buying Breastplate of Valor, which also offers some helpful utility stats) enemies with no penetration would deal only about 43% of their damage against Anubis, and a typical hunter with common Season 3 build with Titan's Bane providing 33% of physical penetration would deal about 54% of his potential damage.

One thing is certain, if there's a Loki on the enemy team, I would strongly recommend buying Breastplate of Valor, in order for him not to be able to just one-shot Anubis with his ultimate combo.

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I have to admit that defensive items on mages are quite a debatable topic as many people have the opinion that they're supposed to build pure damage, but I'll try to provide some reasonable explanation regading this item choice.

This life-saving cloak gives 40 points of physical and magical protections, as well as reducing duration of crowd control effects on the owner by 20% (which with Anubis' passive achieves the 40% cap of this stat), but also reduces the cooldown on all abilities by 10%.

Yet the main asset of Spirit Robe is its passive: every 15 seconds, whenever you're hit by a hard crowd control effect (these are stuns, silences, fears and all displacement abilities- basically everything excluding slows, roots and cripples) your damage taken is reduced by 15% for the next 3 seconds.
This passive can easily mean the difference between life and death in current crowd control-heavy meta.

Let's imagine: Ares hits you with No Escape and is about to pull you to his team, but both your beads and ultimate are down so you're inevitably going to be displaced to an unfavorable spot. But you then gain the effect from Spirit Robe's passive, and who knows, maybe are even given a Geb's Stone Shield. The considerable amount of HP in that moment paired with the fact of taking 15% less damage greatly increases chances for survival by raising the total effective health.

Another example: even though Serqet's ultimate, Last Breath, deals true damage thus ignoring target's protections, it still is a subject to damage reduction effects,
and because of also being a hard crowd control, you'll take 15% less damage during those 3 seconds.

All things considered, Spirit Robe is my personal favorite choice for a defensive item against a balanced team, providing various utility stats and increasing survivability.
After all, you're not going to be dealing any damage while being dead, are you?

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An honorable mention; Mantle of Discord can be considered as a late game defensive item, potentially as a replacement for Spirit Robe due to its increased protections (60 physical and 60 magical) and cooldown reduction (15% as opposed to 10%).

Yet its passive isn't always a straightforward upgrade over Spirit Robe, I'd consider it more of a sidegrade- instead of providing damage mitigation when hit by hard CC effects, this cloak grants CC immunity for a short while and unleashes a small radius AoE stun when its owner's health goes below 30%. Cooldown on this passive is pretty high though, activating only every 90 seconds- but it can prove really helpful during that last late game teamfight; allowing to survive an otherwise fatal situation.

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Situational lifesteal item, bought when countering a healer like Aphrodite, Guan Yu or Hel is necessary, and no one in the team built healing reduction items like Pestilence or Brawler's Beat Stick.

It gives 65 magical power, 15% magical lifesteal and 150 mana, but the only reason why you should ever consider buying it is its passive: whenever you damage an enemy with one of your abilities, it reduces all healing and regeneration effects on them by 40% for 8 seconds (this includes lifesteal effects).

Purchasing it can also be considered when enemy team has many characters with self heals like Hercules or Tyr as it will cripple their sustain. It used to be a very inefficient item regarding pure stats until its buff in 3.16, but now with 15 additional power it probably won't give the feeling of having an almost empty item slot in a finished build. Nevertheless, the issue of healing reduction should still be first handled by supports buying Pestilence and/or warriors with Brawler's Beat Stick as these items are well itemised, providing the valuable passive at the same time.

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All in all, Spear of the Magus is still the first choice for a penetration item for Anubis, unless the enemy frontline builds more than one magical protection item and contains the majority of the enemy team, or happens to be a greater threat that must be dealt with with a higher priority than the typical damage dealers like hunters and mages. However, in case of a prolonged game where every enemy built defence items Obsidian Shard will provide better overall damage thanks to its percentage scaling, and increased power over the Spear.

Therefore, my recommendation would be to replace Spear of the Magus with Obsidian Shard as one of the last item purchases late into the game.

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Anubis does not have a really weak phase in the game; actually on levels 1 to 2 he is amongst the best gods, with a lot of damage potential. His main weakness comes from his absolute lack of mobility- and if he falls behind, it'll take a lot of time for him to become relevant again.

The enemy jungler will try his best to make a good use of this fact, and is likely to show up in your lane quite often. That's aspecially the case when you are given an unfavorable matchup like against Eset or Janus- all you can do in such case is to play a safe, farming game until the teamfight phase begins; other times you'll have an easy lane and will be able to push your lead over the opponent.

Nevertheless, whatever you do, always, ALWAYS keep an eye out on the minimap. It can provide you with information where the enemies, aspecially their jungler currently are.

Furthermore, your gameplay will become better the more you know about your opponents and their possibilities; so don't get discouraged and just keep training!



Or laning phase- basically all you want to do is to farm, preferably more efficiently than your opponent. It can be achieved by helping your jungler in clearing experience camps, as well as preventing the enemies from doing the same.

As you might have noticed, it is recommended to put a point in Plague of Locusts on the very first level instead of the safer Grasping Hands, and that's because Plague of Locusts has higher base damage, sufficient to clear a full minion wave on the first level already- which opens possibilities for poking the opponent.

If you happen to win a lane against your opponent; and he is forced to go back to base, you can consider a quick rotation to one of your teammates' lanes to hopefully help them secure a kill- but minion waves and experience camps should be given the priority most of the time, as when you fail to kill an opponent during your gank all you have done was to waste time and possible gold and experience that could be gained when staying in lane.



It is the time when you hopefully have bought and progressed a bit on your stacking item, and have a pair of boots and some lifesteal aswell. You should still farm lane when possible, but now it will be a lot easier, probably feasable to clear a whole minion wave by putting a single Grasping Hands.

It is when the teams will start grouping up more, creating the possibilities for teamfights. In such cases, you'll want to stay behind and wait until the fighting begins- then you'll have the chance to catch somebody off-guard and out of position creating thus a kill possibility with a Mummify, that can be followed by damaging abilities. You should save your ultimate to combo it with your team in order to secure a kill on high priority target, like an enemy mage or hunter.

If your team happens to win a fight and most of the enemies are waiting for respawn or were forced back to their base, it is a great moment to attempt a Gold Fury takedown- it'll provide your team with considerable amount of gold, and if you still have your Death Gaze available; do not hesitate to use it on Gold Fury; thanks to its damage you'll be able to kill it a lot faster and be on your way back to the lane or base.



Now is the time for Anubis to shine- he can provide his team with that needed damage to either wipe out the enemy team or smoothly secure a Fire Giant or even Titan kill.

Even though you have the potential of sending everyone to the underworld, you're still extremely susceptible to enemy damage. Never go on your own crusade thinking you can cope alone- you simply can't. Stay with your team and wait for the fight to begin. In a sense, you can serve as a defensive tool for your allies:
Someone hastily engages on you? Too bad for him, he's literally deleted by your abilities.

As long as you're alive your team is likely to win most of the damage races, and has the potential of rushing the Titan given the chance. In case your team storms into the enemy base hoping to end the game- do not try to get kills, just treat the Titan with Grasping Hands and Death Gaze; you're able to do damage equaling more than half of his HP with this combo.



Even more when queueing alone, you can't always rely on your teammates informing about their lane opponents missing- though it's a kind gesture if they do. With that in mind, it is you who have to be responsible for your own safety regarding potential ganks and suprise rotations. Here are examples of decent spots to place wards during the laning phase: more information about warding in general can be found in the Overaching Conquest Guide.


Defensive wards - can be considered when being outpushed by the lane opponent, as to avoid gands and further falling behind

Offensive wards - can be placed to ensure lane dominance over the opponent, and to gain knowledge about his and enemy jungler's whereabouts

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These are some examples of popular mid-lane opponents in Conquest game mode with tips, adressed mainly to beginners, what to watch out for when facing them.

Keep in mind though, that the gameplay will be also affected by both teams' junglers, as mid lane is a common stop for them.

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Here are some examples of Tips & Tricks that you may find useful on your quest of becoming a respected Anubis.

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• Probably the most important thing to remember, not only as Anubis but in general: when trying to get a kill, and provided that considered enemy has such ability in their sleeve, unless you saw them using their escape ability always assume it's available for them to use instantly, in order not to waste an ultimate on an enemy that will simply jump out of its range. When you saw them using it recently however, paired with the fact that their relic like Sanctuary is on cooldown as well- then you can attempt trying to score a kill; this time is commonly called Kill Window.
  
  
• If you find yourself out of position while using Death Gaze or Plague of Locusts, you can right-click to cancel them early and move to a more preferable spot.
  
  
• If you're chasing someone with low HP through a narrow path, for example in the jungle, put your Grasping Hands a bit ahead of your prey, that way you'll cut his escape route and he will be forced back by this fact- you can easily finish him with Plague of Locusts then.
  
  
• If you see a Hercules running towards you willing to knock you up to his team using Earthbreaker, you can time your Plague of Locusts to gain knockup immunity for that crucial moment, right click to cancel it right away and retreat.
  
  
• You can use Death Gaze defensively to gain crowd control immunity for example not to get pulled by Ares' No Escape or catched by Fenrir's Ragnarok.
  
  
• Anubis definitely should not be the character responsible for engaging the enemies; keep your distance and strike when the fight has already begun.
  
  
• Sometimes, you're going to find yourself in a scenario where you don't have any chance of escaping, what's even more true because of your limited movement. In such case you have to stand your ground and deal as much damage to the enemies as possible, with Grasping Hands + Plague of Locusts or Death Gaze, sometimes you might be able to win such fight, and even if you fall, you hopefully have dealt enough damage to the enemies that it'll be possible for your team to chase them down and avenge you.
  
  
• You're a walking defence turret for your team. If you see an enemy doing something stupid very brave, like a hunter jumping onto you with his escape ability, you're free to wipe him out instantly with your ability combos.
  
  
• If you see an enemy assassin preparing to strike; like Loki going invisible and heading towards you, or Thor in the air looking at you, you can put Grasping Hands beneath yourself what will either discourage them from doing so, or deal a bit of damage to them and heal you slightly thanks to your lifesteal in case of an attack. Sometimes it might mean the difference between dead Anubis and a dead assassin.
  
  
• Death Gaze pierces through everything including walls, you might be able to kill a low health enemy in such way.
  

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• Grasping Hands have quite a long range, and can be cast through walls. You can put them over the wall to help your jungler in clearing experience camps in middle lane.
  Similarly, you can try to cast them over the wall if you're certain enemy team is clearing the camp at given moment, for a chance of stealing some experience and gold or at least poking your enemies without leaving the safety of your lane.
  
  
• There's an option for an advanced, very aggresive start resulting in good first blood potential. Purchasing Talon Trinket as a starting item, which provides 60 magical power right away as opposed to typical 20 from Vampiric Shroud. It all comes down to clearing first 2 waves; as soon as you and your opponent get there you quickly kill all the minions with Plague of Locusts, hitting level 2 and having the option to make a fast decision. Whether to put a point in Mummify, so that your own minions will be dealing serious damage to the opponent, or in Grasping Hands which deal considerable damage while also slowing him, allowing your minions to also make a few attacks- it depends on the opponent's position, and intuition about it comes with time.
  
  
• Thanks to Anubis' high damage it is entirely possible to score an extremely early Gold Fury kill with the help of the jungler without enemies even noticing this fact.
  A good time to attempt it, to make sure no one will interfere, is when enemy mid laner is going to help his jungler on their back experience camps. Full ability combo including Death Gaze can provide enough damage that the jungler will be able to finish the kill.
  
  
• In case of performing a jungle Anubis game, a thing worth considering is to buy a Blink relic- it'll greatly improve Anubis' ganking capabilities as he does not own any gap-closing abilities. In such case though, ganks are always all-in fights- there's no option to retreat.
  
  

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Well, the skins won't give you much of tactical advantage but appearance also matters, aspecially in games. That's how I discovered Anubis at least. Take a look whether you'll like any particularly.

10.12.2016
- updated Obsidian Shard information (now provides 60 magical power instead of 70)

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As you can see, Anubis is quite an underrated character nowadays as there are more utile and safe options to pick over him, but it doesn't mean he is anywhere close to being useless. Given enough time, as your confidence with Anubis grows you'll learn how to punish your opponents for underestimating you.



If you menaged to reach this section it hopefully means that you found some of the information and my comments regarding it useful, and if you learned even a single new curiosity I'm happy that I spent my time on this overview. In case you knew most of the information provided already, let it serve as a comparison to your gamestyle and knowledge.

I would also greatly appreciate constructive feedback, be it positive or negative, for example if I forgot to mention some crucial fact.