Beginner’s Guide: How to Play Primal Beast (TI11 edition)

It is finally time for a Primal Beast guide, ladies and gentlemen. If you've missed it, Patch 7.31 brought a handful of changes to Dota 2, and arriving with it is a ferocious new hero, the Primal Beast. What's more, Patch 7.32 added Primal Beast to Captain's Mode, just in time for TI11. Now the hero is under the spotlight as it is one of the hottest picks at TI11. Here's how you can play the beast like the pros.

We all had a glimpse of what this creature can do, but here is a more elaborate description that will make you understand how you can play him better.

The first skill is Onslaught.

This ability makes the Primal Beast charge to a point target, damaging and stunning enemies in his path. It is a strong mobility spell that not only allows easier movement but also a good fight or gank initiation. Onslaught is similar to Earth Spirit's Rolling Boulder and Magnus's Skewer in a way that you can close a gap fast enough to chase enemies or escape from a deadly fight. The downside to this skill is it also knocks back allies alike, so be alert of when to or when not to charge in.

The distance of the charge depends on the charge time. The longer you channel the charge, the further the distance you travel. This also means that if you want to just stun enemies nearby and not travel too far, you can channel for a short duration.

What is not revealed on paper is that Primal Beasts' charge trajectory can change after the channeling is done. While you're charging using Onslaught, right-click on another direction and the Primal Beast will slowly drift to the new direction. This perk is useful for a lot of purposes such as hitting a moving target, or if you simply change your mind.

The second skill is Trample.

Trample causes the Primal Beast to go on a tantrum-like rage, stomping his feet on enemies while moving. This ability provides the Primal Beast a good AoE damage that's useful to clear creep waves or to farm. However, activating this spell causes him to be disarmed which makes it situational to use. You might not want to be caught pressing this spell while enemies are using BKBs or when it's necessary to attack the target.

This skill is similar to Juggernaut's Blade Fury and there is a distinct way of controlling its movement The duration of the spell is 5.5 seconds which is relatively long in the game. So Trample is very good to deal a load of damage but it also disarms you for longer than you'd prefer.

The third skill is a passive ability, Uproar.

Uproar is a great passive that allows Primal Beast to convert damages taken to his own advantage. For every 35 damages taken (which is usually one hit per hero), Primal Beast gets one stack of Uproar. You can accumulate up to 5 stacks and the more stacks you gain the more amplified your benefits become.

This ability allows you to trade hits and turn the tides around during laning or teamfights. The Beast is naturally tanky so sacrificing some health for a burst of armor and damage works for the hero. The Uproar duration is very long but while it's active, Uproar doesn't accumulate stacks.

Buying an Aghanim's Scepter upgrades Uproar. When Uproar is activated, it releases 3 waves of 2 projectiles per stack of Uproar around the Primal Beast. The projectiles deal damage and Break enemies hit. After a short duration, the projectile splinters in two.

The ultimate ability for Primal Beast is Pulverize.

This ultimate ability is not incredibly powerful but it does deal huge AoE mini-stuns. Pulverize lets you select a target enemy and the Beast will grab and disable them, thumping them to the ground about 3 times. Each thump deals a mini-stun - which can be very disruptive to enemies. It deals great magical damage at 270 per hit (810 total damage).

When you're using Pulverize, you're vulnerable to stuns or silences so a Black King Bar might be needed at some point. The mini-stuns also mean there are small windows for the enemies to quickly press their BKBs or escape the AoE.

Aghanim's Shard grants the Primal Beast a new ability, Rock Throw.

Rock Throw allows you to target any enemy and toss a rock that will stun enemies in a small AoE. This ability is pretty useful but it has a slow projectile that is easily dodgeable. It also has quite a long cooldown of 25 seconds.

Other than that, you also can't throw the rock near your hero's radius. This means enemies can just close the gap in order to not get stunned.

But, if you manage to land a rock where there are a lot of enemies, the 2s stun can be useful.

The Primal Beast is designed with the traits of an initiator, a disabler, and a durable hero. His tanky nature makes him suitable for the offlane and he can frontline for his team. The Onslaught ability can be charged outside of view range which makes Primal Beast a great ganking hero as well. His gank ability and mobility make him a viable support hero. You can possibly make him a carry hero by utilizing his Uproar and bumping up his agility. To sum it up, the beast is VERY flexible and that is one of the core reasons this hero is a hot pick at TI11.

At TI11, Primal Beast is mainly played in the midlane. In 100 games of TI11's first two days, Primal Beast was played in the midlane (11x), as a soft support (9x), as an offlaner (7x), as a carry (1x), and hard support (x1). But Primal Beast in the midlane has the highest win rate at 90.9%.

Let's take a look at the most popular item builds for Primal Beast throughout TI11 so far.

Evil Geniuses' Abed currently has a 100% win rate for Primal Beast, winning 3 games with the hero so far. Abed's K/D/A in all 3 games are absolutely monstrous: 12/1/13 (Game 2 vs OG), 10/0/14 (Game 1 vs PSG.LGD), and 6/2/13 (Game 1 vs Soniqs).

His item build for Primal Beast mid is Phase Boots, Black King Bar, Blink Dagger, and a Shiva's Guard. He usually throws in a Wind Lace to amplify PB's Trample damage.

Secret's Resolut1on played the Primal Beast in the offlane once so far during TI11 Group Stage. In Game 1 vs Fnatic, Resolut1on scored 7/6/12, accumulating a higher net worth than Crystallis' carry Viper. The match extended for a long period, only ending at minute 50.

Here is a breakdown of Resolut1on's offlane Primal Beast item build: Phase Boots, Black King Bar, Kaya and Sange, Linken's Sphere, Blink Dagger, Refresher Ord, and Overwhelming Blink.

There aren't too many supports playing Primal Beast at TI11 so far. One of the exceptions is PSG.LGD's XinQ who picked up this hero twice with a 50% win rate. In Game 1 vs OG, XinQ scored a 2/1/15 KDA.

XinQ's support Primal Beast opts for the Tranquil Boots and a Wind Lace on top. He then purchases a Soul Ring and a Black King Bar. If it stretches to the late game, XinQ gets himself a Shiva's Guard.

That's all for our Primal Beast guide based on the ongoing TI11 Group Stage! Now crack your knuckles and get roaring in pubs.

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