Five reasons Primal Beast is dominating TI12

Five reasons Primal Beast is dominating TI12

Otomo

23 Sep, 2023, 10:09

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Last updated: 11 Apr, 2025, 02:30

Primal Beast has emerged as one of the strongest heroes at The International 12 (TI12). At the end of the "Road to The International" he is the sixth most contested hero of the tournament, with 27 picks and 68 bans.

The hero's popularity is well warranted, as he stands head and shoulders above most others, with a 63% win rate.

This article will discuss why Primal Beast is so popular and why you should add him to your hero pool.

Five reasons Primal Beast is dominating TI12

High durability

Primal Beast loading screen
Primal is nearly unkillable. (Credit: Valve)

The current meta in Dota 2 focuses on picking durable strength heroes and buying Blademail to use a hero's health to deal damage. HP is a resource pros are happily utilizing to bring down their enemies.

Can you guess which hero has the highest strength growth in the game right now?

That's right, it's Primal Beast.

With 4.3 strength gain per level, Primal gains approximately 94 health a level, which is absurd. It's nearly two strength more than Lifestealer gains per level.

That bonus health translates to one of the hardest heroes in the game to bring down, especially when his stacks of Uproar. A maxed-out Uproar with level 20 talent provides a bonus of 60 armor.

Overall, Primal is incredibly hard to bring down and he is the best fit for the current overpowered items (Blademail, Heart).

Strong laning phase

Thanks to being a melee hero with high strength gain and free damage from Uproar, Primal Beast tends to do very well in the laning stage.

A Quelling Blade and one level of Uproar provide the hero with a bonus 13 damage. Combine that with his solid attack animation and the hero can contest anyone in the lane.

Primal Beast shines against melee opponents, as he can Trample over them and force them away from creeps. Uproar's slow ensures nearby enemies will be stomped to death with no chance of escape.

If things get dicey for Primal, he can use Onslaught to escape hairy situations. Not only does Primal tend to dominate early on, but he can also escape when outmatched.

Fast farmer

Primal Beast Dark Behemoth
That is some dark set art I must say. (Credit: Valve)

Sometimes a strong laning phase isn't enough. Players can get rotated on a few times, or dive a tower and lose their life. Nobody will always win their lane, even with Primal Beast.

Several heroes in the current meta are amazing late-game but tend to have poor farming abilities. Dazzle and Dark Willow both scale amazingly well but without a Hand of Midas, they both easily fall behind.

Primal Beast has no such issues, he can farm exceptionally well at all stages of the game.

Trample can be used to clear creep camps or push out lanes and only takes a couple of seconds to do so. People can combo it with Onslaught to farm even faster, though that is fairly mana-intensive.

Versatile pick

Primal Beast Prestige Set
Getting a high GPM is no problem for this guy. (Credit: Valve)

One of the nice things about Primal Beast is his role flexibility. Teams can first pick him during the draft and decide later on which lane is best suited for him.

This flexibility allows teams to adjust their draft on the fly and counter the enemy's lineup. Picking up Primal Beast also doesn't reveal what the team is thinking, unlike a Chen pick.

Whether it's a space-making mid, a tanky offlaner, or a high-tempo support, Primal Beast can do it all.

Incredible spell damage

Three out of four of Primal Beast's spells do damage and plenty of it.

Onslaught deals 360 damage which can be buffed to 450 with the level 10 talent. Pulverize deals 435 damage at level one and 855 (2050 with the talent) when maxed out.

With just Phase Boots active, Trample can proc three times a second, each dealing 100 magic damage. Even Rock Throw deals 325 damage.

In short, Primal Beast can dish out an enormous amount of pain to his enemies, and a lot of it is Area of Effect as well. And if players want more, they can add an Aghanim Scepter as well.

It's due to his high spell damage and incredible durability that Primal Beast can be played in any role at TI12.

READ MORE: Boxi, miCKe, and Insania are the most experienced Dota 2 trio

Featured Image Source: Valve

 

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