The long GRB 180728A, at a redshift of z=0.1171, stands out due to its high isotropic energy of E_gamma,iso_~2.5x10^51^erg, in contrast with most events at redshift z<0.2. We analyze the properties of GRB 180728A's prompt emission, afterglow, and associated supernova SN 2018fip, comparing them with other GRB-SN events. This study employs a dense photometric and spectroscopic follow-up of the afterglow and the SN up to 80 days after the burst, supported by image subtraction to remove the presence of a nearby bright star, and modelling of both the afterglow and the supernova. GRB 180728A lies on the E_p,i_-E_gamma,iso_ plane occupied by classical collapsar events, and the prompt emission is one of the most energetic at z<0.2 after GRB 030329 and GRB 221009A. The afterglow of GRB 180728A is less luminous than that of most long GRBs, showing a shallow early phase that steepens around 5 hours (0.2 days). The GRB exploded in an irregular, low-mass, blue, star-forming galaxy, typical of low-z collapsar events. Because of the relatively faint afterglow, the light curve bump of SN 2018fip dominates the optical emission already after ~3 days and is one of the best sampled to date. The strong suppression below ~4000 angstrom and a largely featureless continuum in the early 6--9 days spectra favor aspherical two-component ejecta with a high-velocity collimated component (>20000km/s), dominant early-on, and a more massive, low-velocity component, which dominates at much later epochs. Our findings indicate that asymmetries need to be considered in order to better understand GRB-SNe. In any case, SN 2018fip shares many characteristics with typical GRB-SNe. Its kinetic energy is below the common range of 10^52^-10^53^erg and does not correlate with the high energy of the GRB, highlighting the diversity of the GRB-SN energy budget partition.