Aghanim’s Labyrinth: Primal Beast

Here is a guide for you to defeat the Primal Beast in the Aghanim's Labyrinth! This is the final boss of the game mode and playing against this guy can be pretty frustrating. So here's an in-depth guide that will tell you:

So let's get started!

The Primal Beast is the final boss of Aghanim Labyrinth's: Continuum Conudrum and all of his attacks are likely to one-shot you. So the best way to deal with this is SPEED. 

If you want tips and tricks to reach the Primal Boss in the first place then check out our Aghanim Labyrinth tips.

First, he picks a target and charges at them. If you are being charged, just step to the side. A lot of people instinctively run away to the edge of the room, or blink away but the beast will continue to follow you anyways. And blinking to another side of the room would only harm nearby allies. So make him as predictable as possible and only dodge him by stepping aside.

Second, is rocks. Rocks are the easiest ones to dodge and this attack is a huge opening for your team to deal damage to the Beast. When he is throwing rocks, once again, people would naturally just run back. But that only GUARANTEES that it will hit you.

You can walk to the sides, although it’s a little risky to estimate the rocks’ AoEs. So what should you do? Walk towards the Beast and while up close, you can deal a lot of damage to him as he can’t throw rocks in his own radius.

Then, the Primal Beast will walk towards a hero and slam the ground - with every slam, rocks fall and golems spawn.

This attack will instantly kill you if you can’t run away and that’s why movement speed is your savior. So just do this: run.

And then comes the ground pound. The Beast jumps at an ally and slams them against the ground. This attack will never kill you because it deals a health percentage-based damage, leaving you with tiny HP at the end. "If you're the one who's grabbed, you're actually the lucky one as your allies will have to deal with this AoE physical damage attack," said SirActionSlacks.

This wave can be countered with spells or items like: Omniknight’s ultimate, Ghost Scepter, Eul’s Scepter, Wind Waker. However, Ghost Scepter isn’t recommended.

The shockwaves have three types: the yellow one, the red one, and the gold-ish one. The gold-ish circle doesn't actually deal damage and in the Apex level, it doesn't even appear. The red one will explode, while the yellow one will turn into the red circle - which will also explode.

The best way to avoid this attack is with team coordination:

The AoE for the waves, even for Apex Mage, is not large enough to cover the whole room. So run to the edge of the room and it will deal zero damage. You can also take this time to clear the mobs while you wait for the slams to end.

After this set of moves, he will repeat the pattern until he reaches half HP.

After falling to half health, the Primal Beast will get really scary. He does this type of attack we call the splitter.

He hits the ground with each of his fists and with every single slam, a deadly, splitting shockwave travel throughout the room - and they’re very hard to dodge. These waves slice through your HP and mostly will one-shot you with magical damage.

A lot of people buy BKB just to deal with this attack but it won’t mean much as it only lasts half the duration of the attack. Some will even tell you to stand right in front of his face and dodge the fists, which is ballsy but if you want to, go nuts! Another method is to slowly walk towards the Beast with every break and walk between the waves to dodge. But all in all, you should feel familiar with the pattern and be pretty good at dodging this spell after a while. 

What else can counter this attack? Undying’s Tombstone can block the splitters and Bane’s Nightmare can also save allies. 

So the point is: get yourself an item or a buff that can get you through this magical damage attack, then you should be fine.

Before building items, you need to ask yourself what your focus is going to be. Is it to avoid physical or magical attacks? When you have a clearer goal of which future attacks and bosses you want to counter, then you can start getting items.

Once again, prioritize movement speed and lives.

"A lot of people go for a Heart, Boots of Travel, Ghost Secpter.. err personally I think these are garbage." said SirActionSlacks.

Item suggestions would be a Wind Waker - this provides movement speed AND a reliable dodging mechanic. A BKB is very good for most of the dangerous stages. Boots of Travel is a good option but it’s too expensive, so getting a Blink Dagger would be so much better, especially because you can upgrade it later. And if you don’t already know, in this game mode, the Blink Dagger won’t be on cooldown when attacked - so it's an easy escape!

You can read more in our Guide to Aghanim Labyrinth Items.

The Primal Beast doesn’t have a lot of HP, he is just one tanky boy with high armor. So itemize to lower or negate his armor, items like Desolator or Solar Crest are very valuable. But again, the best item to go for is definitely the Wind Waker. Get speedy, dodge spells, save allies!

If you have a lot of gold, you can also buy items for your allies from Roshan. 

If you haven’t already heard, Undying is the best hero to cheese with because he has the most broken shard: Bury the Living. With this shard plus high enough cooldown reduction, you can literally solo the boss if all your allies die. 

Simply put down a tomb, hide inside, and then jump out to put another tombstone.

The Primal Beast won’t be aggroed onto the tombstone and he will never hit it. Because there won’t be any target, he will stay still while the zombies eat his brains away.

"If this is too pathetic for you, just pick Juggernaut." said SirActionSlacks. By buffing up his Blade Fury and reducing the cool down, this spell will always be available. This means that during the Shockwave phase, you are INVINCIBLE. This hero is neat and he is the only hero besides Undying that can easily solo the Primal Beast - even on Apex!

Have you heard about the Eul’s cheese? During the rock throwing phase, the boss needs to hit the 2nd rock to a target before he continues to other phases. And if you Euls yourself while the 2nd rock is mid-air, it screws up the Beast and somehow he reverts back to his original attack cycle - the Charge.

Let’s recall: the Beast’s attack pattern is Charge, Rocks, Tantrum, Ground Pound, Shockwaves. So by repeating this exploit, it basically means you get to skip the deadlier attacks and prevent mob spawns, and all you have to deal with is Charge and Rocks. "This only works if you're alone - if you're the last guy there. I mean, technically, it could work if everybody in your party Euls at the exact same time.." said SirActionSlacks. However, with this cheese, there is never really enough time to hit him, so if you’re not a fire-and-forget, magic damage type of hero - this will be tough.

Another way to cheese through this same opening is using heroes like Tusk, Bane, and Phoenix. These heroes can make their allies non-targetable which can reset his attack phase as well. But what about the Winter Wyvern and Bane cheese?

And also, "Bane players will try to convince you they will solo the final. Do not believe them, they are liars." said SirActionSlacks.

And finally, remember that the Primal Beast doesn't heal. Every bit of damage counts and be prepared to deal against his dangerous attacks.

Now, go ahead and play Aghanim's Labyrinth and march towards the Primal Beast!

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