Assassin's Creed Origins: Trials of the Gods - how to beat Anubis
Assassin's Creed Origins: Trials of the Gods challenges players to take down Anubis. Have you got what it takes?
The first Trials of the Gods event is live in Assassin's Creed Origins, and will run until November 14.
If you manage to defeat Anubis in the first Trials of the Gods, you'll receive the Conductor of Souls legendary sword, a level 40 weapon with critical hit rate up, combo chains and health on kill - and if you take down all four gods over the next few months, you'll get a special outfit. As part of our Assassin's Creed Origins guide, we'll talk you through this challenging event.
First of all, make sure you have the November Assassin's Creed Origins patch - you can't access Trials of the Gods without it.
Gear up for Trials of the Gods
Next, get prepared. The recommended level for Trials of the Gods is 40 - in other words, end game - and you'll definitely want to bring legendary weapons and fully upgraded equipment.
The Anubis Trial of the Gods is primarily a ranged battle. We recommend a good hunter bow, or if you're not very confident and don't mind a drawn out battle, try a quick bow. If you have a second bow slot, bring both. We don't especially recommend predator or warrior bows but skilled players can make it work; see below for details.
Melee wise, you'll need something reasonably deadly and agile to use against unshielded foes - we always recommend a sword or perhaps a sickle sword, but you may prefer a different weapon if you are especially skilled with it. Since you cannot break combat throughout the boss fight, any equipment that restores health on hit or kill is worthwhile.
How to start Trials of the Gods
When you're all set, fire up Assassin's Creed Origins with the latest patch installed and you'll notice a new event quest in your journal guiding you to investigate a "glitch in the Animus". Activate to drop a waypoint down southwest of Siwa, where you can enter the Trials of the Gods and fight Anubis. Just enter the beam of light to kick things off.
How to beat Anubis in Trials of the Gods
The battle takes place in a circular arena, so you can strafe around Anubis, who turns to face you. In general, it's easier to avoid damage the further you are from Anubis, as his attacks radiate towards you. Be careful not to stumble out of the arena, though; you'll get a warning message if you stray too close.
The battle rotates through two phases - the ranged phase and the mob phase - with difficulty escalating on all but the final round. You'll need to fight through four ranged phases and three mob phases to triumph.
Ranged phase #1
When the battle begins, you're in ranged phase and Anubis has two primary attacks. In one, he sends two giant jackals to attack you. A red targeting beam appears on the ground at Bayek's feet so you know they're coming. This will track you as you run around, so either dodge at the very last moment or put an arrow in the jackal to immediately disperse it.
The other attack has a much broader targeting beam, which thankfully won't follow you around, making it easier to avoid. This shoots out a wall of dark fog that lightly damages Bayek, staggers him, and makes it very difficult to see any incoming jackal attacks.
Your goal is to shoot Anubis in his glowing heart. The easiest tactic we found was to dodge the smoke attack, use the first few shots of the quick bow to take down the incoming jackals, then to quickly fire the rest into Anubis in the break between his attacks.
A more efficient strategy is to use a quick bow or warrior bow on the jackals, then switch to a hunter bow (or maybe even predator bow if you're very good) to blast Anubis. You can also use a hunter bow for everything, taking down the jackals and damaging Anubis alike, but you'll be refreshing your ammo all the time.
In any case, do damage until you need to dodge his smoke attack when he kicks off again, and just rinse and repeat. You'll soon see that even with tip top gear your bow does very little damage, but the good news is that arrows can be found all around the arena and constantly refresh - so just keep pinging away.
Mob phase #1
After you whittle Anubis down to three-quarters health, Anubis's heart will vanish, and a wave of level 40 humanoid enemies will rise - this is the mob phase. These jackal-headed foes carry swords and are very aggressive (be careful where you charge your heavy attacks!) so focus on dodging and quick combos. Each one you kill takes a slice off Anubis's health bar.
During the mob phase, Anubis will also summon pools of red and black smoke that deal heavy damage if you step into them, so keep away. Occasionally, Anubis will also summon a barrier of bones around you, walling you in with a couple of baddies so you're forced to fight them rather than run away - so don't rely on having time to recharge your health mid-battle.
The mob phase is the best place to use your collected adrenaline, but be sure to trigger overpower attacks that target an enemy rather than rage mode; the screen colour change in rage mode reduces visibility in this battle considerably. Chain overpower attacks with combos and weapon throws if you have those skills, and be sure to dodge away immediately after an overpower attack to avoid the smoke pool Anubis begins to summon under you while the animation plays.
Ranged phase #2
When all the jackal-headed enemies are down you begin the second ranged phase shooting Anubis in the heart while avoiding his attacks, but with an additional hazard - Anubis will send out four jackals, appearing in slightly staggered pairs, in each attack. You'll definitely want to shoot at least one and dodge the other in each pair, rather than hope to dodge both.
Mob phase #2
After chipping Anubis down to two-thirds health, you'll begin a second mob phase - but this time, Anubis will send jackals to attack you while you're fighting.
Ranged phase #3
After the second mob phase Anubis will be at half health and you'll enter the third ranged phase. From here on, he'll send six jackals at you in each attack, again coming at you in slightly staggered pairs. He can also summon his bone circle at any time, trapping you so he can hit you with his fog waves and jackals. Luckily, two melee attacks will break the bone circle. Bash your way out as soon as you can.
Mob phase #3
When Anubis is down to one third health you enter a new mob phase in which you'll be attacked by normal jackals instead of the humanoid enemies. Killing them off drops Anubis to one quarter health and triggers another ranged phase.
Ranged phase #4
Anubis doesn't have any new tricks here, thankfully, so just persist.
It takes a long time to take down Anubis, so grit your teeth for a long grind and focus on staying alive over getting every possible shot in. These are supposed to be among the hardest fights in Assassin's Creed Origins, after all. The good news is you can try each Trials of the Gods battle as many times as you like while the corresponding event is live. Good luck!