Anubis: The Underrated Beast of Mid Lane

Hey guys, and welcome to my first guide! My name is Raptorsalad, and I really have no excellent credentials to tell you why you should listen to me or not, but I've been playing for about 2 years at the time of writing this, and I know quite a lot about the game. I am a mid/jungle main, and I've always loved Anubis. SO HERE WE GO!!

About Goobis here. He's constantly trash talked by players, saying he's just a pubstomp god and nothing more. And what do I have to say?! ...they're pretty much right. Anubis doesn't see practically any ranked play, and nearly no competitive play. BUT! This doesn't mean he's a bad god! See the pros and cons section to see why!

• STUPID amounts of damage
• Extremely good early game bully
• Destructive ultimate
• Survivability through lifesteal
• Scales immensely with lifesteal
• Innate penetration and protections
• Tank melter
• FACE LASER!!!

• No escapes (besides his stun)
• His only "escape" is his initiation
• Squishy and can be bursted easily
• Slow early game
• Item dependent (has to be fed to be relevant late game)
• Is a dog, requires regular petting and treats

So as you can see, his pros and cons are just about balanced. Anubis is extremely good at what he does: DAMAGE. Anyone who tries to fight an anubis without any backup will get completely melted, but he is very vulnerable while his abilities are on cooldown. Basically, play safe and you should be fine.

Anubis is EXTREMELY item dependent after about 10 minutes. This means if he isn't fed by then, he'll be practically useless by 15. To avoid this, you MUST build correctly and efficiently.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

VAMPIRE GOOBIS

To start, you MUST rush Bancroft's Talon!! The amount of power and lifesteal that Talon Trinket will give you is far better than any starter item, minus the mana sustain. However, if you play smart, take at least one mid camp, and get an early kill, you should be able to get Bancroft's Talon by the first back.

Bancroft's Talon is the quintessential Goobis item. You NEED this as soon as possible. A nice amount of lifesteal combined with a very nice amount of early magic power and Anubis' natural lifesteal scaling makes for a fearsome power spike early game. Anubis doesn't exactly need cooldown, plus the increased amount of power on Shoes of the Magi makes these boots impossible to pass up.

If you follow this build and play smart, you should be far enough ahead to pick up another lifesteal item to really boost Goobis' scaling damage. Divine Ruin is essential if they have any (significant) healing on their team. If not, Pythagorem's Piece is very nice; giving you a nice boost in power, an impressive amount of lifesteal, and even a bit of CDR! Polynomicon just isn't as good in any aspect. You're gonna want to go with either Pythagorem's Piece or Divine Ruin.

If for some reason you are behind in farm or kills as the God-bis, you should probably go for Spear of the Magus. This item is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL on Anubis!! You NEED to get this item on ANY Anubis build, as it plays on his damage and kit perfectly. Goobis is all about damage over time, and Spear of the Magus will reach full stacks in no time. This is what makes Anubis such a great tank melter.

Late game, it's really up to you. You should almost always eventually get a Rod of Tahuti, as this is the quintessential magic damage item. However, Anubis has a lot of late game options.

Gem of Isolation is an all-around excellent item for Anubis. He already has a potent slow on Grasping Hands, and has a semi-reliable stun, but people and their pesky CC cleanses will still find a way to get out of your damage. Gem of Isolation throws ANOTHER slow on there to really keep them where you want them, as well as a nice boost in power and some survivability! They can't ALL have beads... right?

Magi's Blessing Magi's Blessing. You know exactly why this is here. Sometimes, your beads just aren't enough, and let's face it... Anubis needs some help with his daring escapes.

Void Stone is a nice item if 3 or more enemies have built magic protection. It's not too effective damage-wise, and you generally shouldn't couple protection reduction with penetration, but hey. This can be nice for your teammates too.

Mail of Renewal isn't something I'd normally consider on Anubis, but if you're just wrecking face and killing hunters and assasssins in a couple of abilities, you might need it. Let's face it, those guys (and gals) know how to pack a punch. If you need that little boost after a tasty ult, go for it. That extra health is always handy.

Soul Reaver: for when your tank-melting ult just isn't enough! Is that Sylvanus over 4000 health and building full magic protection in a feeble attempt to keep you away? Just grab a Soul Reaver, and all your tank problems will just melt away!

Hunters are annoying. Hypercarries are annoying. Hide of the Nemean Lion. 'Nuff said.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

CDR GOOBIS

Pretty much exactly the same as Vampire Goobis, but if you just can't get enough of spammy mages!

Start him the same way as Vampire Goobis: RUSH BANCROFT'S. This is going to give you a huge early power spike so you can thrash that Scylla even harder!

Here's pretty much the only difference between Vampire Goobis and CDR Goobis: don't get a second lifesteal item (unless you want to later). Forget the extra damage from Shoes of the Magi, go for Shoes of Focus and Chronos' Pendant. They're cheap, and you can make up the lost damage potential with your newly spammable Grasping Hands! Death Gaze (a.k.a. FACE LASER) is also on a 42 second cooldown at max rank, so you can melt faces twice every teamfight!

GET Spear of the Magus!!!

Late game items - see the Vampire Goobis section.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

JUNGLE GOOBIS

WAIT WAT

Yes, Anubis can jungle. He's slow, but that damage and lockdown potential is formidable, and his clear speed is honestly terrifying.

The build here would be a mix between Vampire and CDR Goobis, but with a much different start.

To start, get Bumba's Mask. It's not going to help your scaling, but Anubis needs that early mana sustain in jungle, and it can make up for your lack of early lifesteal. You'll get your Bancroft's Talon power spike soon enough. You also want to buy Shoes and Blink for mobility, and some pots for jungle sustain. Blink is very important for Anubis jungle, because he doesn't have any initiation techniques otherwise. It's very easy to spot a ganking Goobis, so getting the jump on your opponent with Blink is a nice way to secure a kill. WARNING!! Anubis still doesn't have any escape abilities! If you're going to gank with Anubis, you're ALL IN. If you don't get a kill, you're most likely dead.

Afterwards, you need Shoes of the Magi for the mobility and small power spike. If you play smart and use Blink] well, you should be able to afford it on your first back, along with [[Tiny Trinket, hopefully. If not, get a health pot or two and some wards.

RUSH Bancroft's Talon. Then worry about Greater Blink. You've put off your power spike long enough, it's time to get that Goobis going. After that, it's really up to you. If you need CDR to deal with counterjunglers, go for Chronos' Pendant. If you need penetration to gank solo lane more effectively, go for Spear of the Magus.

I'd get Mail of Renewal sometime to help with that late game survivability, but again, it's situational. Otherwise, see Vampire Goobis for late game options.

All of Anubis' abilities steal Physical and Magical Protection from the target and he gains increased Scaling to his item-based Magical Lifesteal. In addition, Sorrow grants Anubis an additional 30% reduction to all Crowd Control durations.

Basically, Anubis will scale off of lifesteal, and he has innate protections stealing for penetration and survivability.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

A plague of locusts bellows forth from Anubis' mouth, smothering all enemies in the area and doing damage every .5s for 3s. Anubis is immune to Knockback while channeling.

This. This is where I see people mess up ALL THE TIME. Yes, you max Grasping Hands first, but you RANK Plague of Locusts right out of base!! The damage on Plague of Locusts is much better than Grasping Hands in the early ranks, and scales better throughout the game. At level 1, Plague of Locusts almost clears an entire wave. The fact that you cleared the damage camp so quickly almost ensures a safe first wave clear to get your main wave clear skill: Grasping Hands.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Anubis fires a bandage projectile, mummifying and Stunning his target.

This is why Goobis is so scary. It's a bit tricky to hit sometimes, but if you do, you have a kill almost guaranteed. A 2 second stun at max rank ensures that you can melt a squishy with one Death Gaze, unless they have those pesky beads or Magi's Blessing.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Anubis calls for help from the underworld as hands penetrate the ground and claw at his enemies, doing damage and Slowing every .5s for 2s.

You max Grasping Hands first because it's safe, and a nice setup tool. It's your poke, your wave clear, and the second part of your lockdown. Combine this skill with any of your others and Spear of the Magus, and you'll be shredding through anyone easily. Except for Chang'e. She's a slippery one.

While Grasping Hands is your wave clear, Plague of Locusts is your CAMP CLEAR. This is why you rank Plague of Locusts first as Jungle Goobis.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Anubis focuses all of his energy into a piercing gaze, doing damage to all enemies in the path, every 0.1 seconds for 3 seconds.

FACE LASER!!!! This thing will MELT anyone who's unlucky enough to stand near you! Rank this thing whenever possible!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

TL;DR:
MID LANE: 4 -> 3 -> 1 -> 2 (rank 1 first)
JUNGLE: 4 -> 1 -> 3 -> 2

COORDINATION

Anubis is all about team coordination. Goobis thrives against passive laners and uncoordinated enemy teams, which is what makes him such a massive pubstomper. However, even against a coordinated team that camps his lane and denies him farm, he can still pull ahead if his team is at least equally as coordinated. Anubis can be a terrifying hyper-carry late game, if his team allows him to be fed and works together well.

Jungler: KEEP AN EYE ON MID. In Ranked matches or in higher MMR casuals, Anubis will be focused HARD early game in order to shut him out. How do you prevent this? Ganking mid lane at the right times! Try to pick early game oriented junglers with an Anubis mid, so you can help him more than the enemy jungler can hurt him.

WARD.

Support: Rotate to mid after your adc is decently fed on farm and/or kills. You should be able to rotate around 3-5 minutes, but you should be leaving duo lane about the same time as the other support if he/she leaves before you do. Try to CC the enemy, bodyblock abilities or autos, or heal for Anubis as much as possible. Your pain and suffering during the laning phase will pay off greatly later on.

WARD.

Solo: Don't be afraid to rotate to mid every once in a while. A goobis who is ahead should be ganking for you, so remember to reciprocate if you're ahead. An early gank from solo is one of the least expected occurrences in a smite match, and can definitely throw the enemy mid or jungler off just enough for goobis to snag a kill!

WARD. YES, YOU TOO.

ADC: WARD. WE ALL KNOW YOU CAN AFFORD THEM.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

MATCHUPS

Coming soon!

DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE GOOBIS

Anubis, while not the most popular god, is extremely powerful and very underrated. This is mostly because people don't play him right. You need to BULLY early game and build a ton of lifesteal to really capitalize on his passive scaling.

GET Spear of the Magus!!!!!

I hope this helped, and have fun pubstomping!

If you have any questions about this guide or about other gods, shoot me a message through Smite, Steam, or Twitch!

IGN: Raptorsalad
Steam: [NaNO2] Raptorsalad
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/raptorsalad6133