Questions and Answers
Q: This guide is TL;DR.
A: I'm not going to make a short summary of this guide. You should read it whole to understand it well and be able to perform at a decent level. Nobody appreciates raid members who get carried in Primal without contributing anything to the party. There's a few months until we get Primal dungeon, so you should take your time to understand this guide and also watch some videos on youtube/twitch to get used to boss' attack animations and range of his attacks.
Q: Portal to Primal is greyed out and I can't enter it.
A: Read the section below, "How to access Primal".
Q: I die in 1-2 hits.
A: You need to have full 4-piece set of Aurite armor or 4-piece Primal armor equipped to give you about -85% damage reduction from Primal enemies (if you add up all bonuses, you will arrive at -100% damage reduction, but that value is later "normalized" using an unknown mathematical formula which results in about -85% damage reduction). If you dropped some Primal armors, DON'T mix and match Aurite armors with Primal armors. Only equip Primal armors if you have a full 4-piece set of Primal armor, otherwise if you have, for example, 3 pieces of Primal armor and 1 piece of Aurite armor, you will take much more damage than if you had 4 pieces of Aurite armor.
Q: Primal keeps breathing on the whole map.
A: Primal does this attack when no one is within a 10-15m radius of Primal. Always have at least one person standing close to Primal to prevent him from breathing. That person must be alive, too (dead body right next to Primal will still trigger his big breath attack). Primal will, though, always do a big breath attack when his HP reaches x72 and x42 bars, and you must hide behind the rock when that happens (you can try to dodge it as well if you're confident).
Q: Big tentacle keeps charging and dealing damage to everyone on the map.
A: Similarly to the point above: all big tentacles must have at least one player within a short distance, or else they will start charging up and will do a powerful attack across the whole map.
Q: We die inside the Core.
A: Read the sections below.
Q: It's too hard.
A: Read the sections below to learn attack patterns and how to avoid getting hit.
How to access Primal
Complete all casual raid quests and complete Golden Citadel quest, then visit Xenia in Grace City to accept a new quest. You must kill mobs in District 6 until you get 20 of the quest items. Only the person who does the final hit has a chance to receive a quest item. The drop rate of those items isn't 100%. Completing that quest will make the portal to Primal become accessible. The portal is located in the Golden Citadel lobby (use Azin to get to that area).
You need at least 4 party members to enter Primal. Up to 8 people can be in a Primal raid. You MUST form a "Force" raid party instead of a normal party to enter Primal. To do that, leave your current party, right click on a player and select "Invite to Force".
Recommended Gear/AR Cards/Party Composition
Minimum requirement to survive hits in Primal is having a full 4-piece Aurite armor set from Golden Citadel. This set will greatly reduce the damage you take from Primal, by about -85%. If you try to go with only 3 or less pieces of Aurite armor, you'll still get killed in 1-2 shots.
It's recommended for beginner players to have at least 40k HP, preferably above 50k if you can. Keep crafting Aurite armors until you get lucky with HP rolls on at least 2-3 pieces of armor.
For weapon, you should craft the Aurite weapon for your class. It'll give you +100% damage against Primal enemies.
For accessories, you should try to drop a few pieces of Aurite accessories. Each piece will increase your damage to Primal by +25%. Those accessories cannot be crafted - they must be dropped by doing Golden Citadel dungeon. Once you start doing Primal, you can mix and match Aurite accessories with Primal accessories. They all have the same +25% damage bonus to Primal enemies.
As for AR Cards, you should take (if you can) Big Puppet, Rita, Glutton Army, Deus Ex Machina, Megiddo Maker MK2 (2-star version) or Cell (2-star version), Temptation Stone or Asphalt Golem (3-star version). Please note that you only need 1 Temptation Stone or 1 Asphalt Golem in the whole party. You also don't need everyone to have Deus Ex Machina. Make sure at least 2 people who go inside the Core have this card.
Deus Ex Machina is used to clear off small tentacles outside and inside the Core.
Megiddo Maker or Cell are recommended for beginner players to restore more Stamina so you don't run out of dodges. Experienced players will be fine without them if they know when to use dodge and when dodging is not necessary.
Temptation Stone is used at x21 phase to protect players near the device, so that they don't get knocked up while the device is being activated. If they are knocked up during the activation of the device, they will not receive the protective buff, without which they'll die very quickly.
Asphalt Golem is used to distract small tentacles from knocking up players, especially during the x21 phase when trying to activate the device.
It's recommended to take some consumable items purchasable from Yomi in towns.
While it's possible for ungeared parties to clear Primal with 4 or 5 members, it's generally not recommended, as it requires skill and good coordination. You should get full 8 party raid while learning to do Primal.
Have at least 1-2 Stellas in the raid to heal party members. You can revive up to 3 times in Primal.
Drops
Items you can drop in Primal:
- Primal weapons, armors and accessories (can be dropped by Primal and very rarely by small tentacles)
- BP (Booker Points), you get more BP with better rank
- BP boxes (very rare)
- Blueprints and materials to craft Primal costumes
- Unique familiars (rare)
Mechanics of the dungeon
I'll first give a thorough explanation of the mechanics and phases of the dungeon, then proceed to describe the attacks of Primal and Big Tentacles. Please use the picture at the very bottom of this guide to act as a visual help to better understand this fight.
Primal has 555,555,584 HP.
Big Tentacles have 11,250,010 HP each.
Primal Core has 56,172,840 HP.
Small Tentacles and mobs have less than 1 million HP each.
Primal has only 3500 defense, which means you won't really get that much of a damage boost by building yourself for max penetration (apart from Erwin class). It's better to focus on crit rate. Penetration will, of course, increase your damage, but if you have the choice between 10% additional crit rate or 10% additional penetration, the crit rate option will give you better overall damage.
You start the fight at a balcony on the bottom of the map. The fight begins once 1 person jumps down from the balcony. Alternatively, you can use Unstuck feature to do it as well .The main boss, Primal, is at the northern end of the map. Once the fight begins, 4 Big Tentacles will spawn in each corner of the map.
The most important thing you need to know: ALL of the Big Tentacles and Primal himself must be tanked at all times. This means at least 1 player must be within a 10-15 meter range of each Big Tentacle and Primal.
If a Big Tentacle gets lonely, it will start charging up a deadly attack (you will see a purple glow at the top of the tentacle), and then slam the ground and deal massive damage to everyone on the map. It's possible to iframe it, but the timing to dodge it is difficult. The charge takes about 9-10 seconds.
Similar thing for Primal - if no one is close to him, he will start charging up a Big Breath attack (he will lean his body to the back, then come forward and unleash the breath). This attack hits everyone on the map multiple times for massive damage. It's also possible to dodge, but you'll have to chain your dodges perfectly for about 2-3 seconds.
That's why it's so important that the party splits up to give attention to every Big Tentacle and Primal on the map.
Before you enter the dungeon, assign positions for each player:
- The tentacle in top-left corner of the map is number 1,
- The tentacle in top-right corner of the map is number 2,
- The tentacle in bottom-left corner of the map is number 3,
- The tentacle in bottom-right corner of the map is number 4,
- Primal is number 5.
(The tentacle that spawns after the Core is killed on the left is marked on the picture below as symbol A, while the tentacle that spawns at x34 HP bars is marked on the picture below as symbol B.)
x100 - x72 HP bars phase
Make sure to send a person who knows how to dodge Primal efficiently to tank the boss, while the rest of the party splits up to kill the tentacles. I'll describe Primal and Big Tentacles attacks and how to deal with them later on.
After the Big Tentacles are killed, proceed to damage Primal until he reaches x72 HP bars. When Primal reaches x72 HP bars, he will lean back and start to perform his Big Breath attack. You should hide behind the rock that spawned in the middle of the map. This rock will (usually) protect you from the Big Breath. However, sometimes you might be hiding behind the rock and still get hit by the attack. It's a bug that hasn't been fixed to this date even in other offiicial servers. The best way to protect yourself from dying is hide behind the rock, then keep dodging to the front and to the back (alternate between those 2 directions to stay behind the rock and relatively close to it) while the breath attack is taking place.
x72 - x42 HP bars phase
After the Big Breath attack, 4 Big Tentacles will spawn again. Repeat the same pattern as in the beginning of the dungeon. You'll also have to take care of small tentacles that will spawn in the middle of the map. It's recommended for people doing the tentacles number 1 and 2 to step away from their tentacles for a moment (but not too far off, otherwise they'll trigger the big AoE of the Big Tentacles) and cast Deus Ex Machina to kill the small tentacles. The reason why it's recommended to kill the small tentacles, is that they'll perform a long-range small AoE puddle attack that will knock you up in the air. Not only you cannot attack or dodge when you're knocked up, but you also take more damage from attacks if you get hit in the air. This is especially dangerous if you're fighting Primal himself, as his attacks deal a lot of damage.
After killing the Big Tentacles, proceed to damage Primal until he reaches x42 HP bars, then repeat the part where you hide behind the rock. While you damage Primal from x72 to x42 HP bars, you will see mobs and small tentacles being spawned. Make sure to take care of the small tentacles, as they will knock up players into the air and make the fight longer and more dangerous.
Core phase
After the second scripted breath attack finishes, a portal will open at Primal's body. The portal leads to Primal's Core. Only 4 people can enter inside, afterwards the portal will close. Make sure that people who are going to enter inside the Core have good AR Cards (most importantly, have at least 1-2 Big Puppet cards to reset the cooldown of Stella's AoE heal). Make sure that you enter the portal at full health (have Stella use the healing ghosts and healing orbs to heal those party members - save up Stella's healing AoE skill for when you are inside the Core).
Inside the core, you must kill the Core to proceed with the fight. Everyone inside the Core will lose their HP at set time intervals. The HP drain is a percentage of your maximum HP. Gather up when HP is below 25% and let Stella heal you up with AoE. It's important to stay together when that happens. If everyone is separated, then your Stella cannot heal everyone with AoE. Make sure to kill all small tentacles that spawn inside the core with Deus Ex Machine to prevent your party members from being knocked up. This is especially dangerous when trying to pick up Big Puppet's gold ball, or when Stella is trying to use AoE heal. If Stella gets knocked up while casting the heal, the skill will go on 45s cooldown, and no one will get healed. Be aware that Glutton Army AR Card is bugged inside the Core. You must summon it by standing as close to Core as possible. Otherwise, the gluttons will just stand idly and not attack anything.
People outside the Core cannot damage Primal until the Core is defeated. One person should tank Primal so that he doesn't use Big Breath. Other people should kill off small tentacles and mobs that spawn outside.
After killing the Core, have party members inside use Unstuck feature to get out of the Core area before the cutscene begins. It saves a bit of time over going to the portal manually.
x42 - x21 HP bars phase
Primal will enter a weakened state after the Core is killed. He will be slower and less aggresive. His attack patterns change too. He'll do a very slow smash with his right hand (on the left of your screen), a very slow swipe attack with his left hand (on the right of your screen) and will sometimes puke poison that will eat away a portion of your health. He'll use this puke attack right when the Core is killed, and randomly throughout the fight.
A few seconds after the Core is killed, a Big Tentacle will spawn on the left side of the map (marked with letter A on the picture shown at the bottom of this guide). A second Big Tentacle will spawn symmetrically on the right side when Primal's HP is about x34 bars. Beginner parties should kill off the two Big Tentacles before trying to kill Primal. Bring down Primal's HP to x21 to enter the last phase of the fight.
Advanced parties can either:
- skip killing all tentacles - and concentrate on nuking Primal down to x21 HP bars; they'll have to dodge the Big Tentacle charge at least once or twice - it happens about 10-11 seconds after the first tentacle spawns, then it happens every 12-13 seconds for each tentacle,
- have one person tank the left tentacle - while the rest of the party DPSes Primal normally to x34 HP bars, then quickly nukes him to x21 HP bars before the 2nd tentacle can do its AoE attack; alternatively they can count to about 10-11 seconds from the moment the 2nd tentacle spawns, then dodge its attack once.
Any Big Tentacles that weren't killed off will disappear once the cutscene at x21 HP bars starts.
x21 - x0 HP bars phase
Before Primal reaches x21 HP bars, make sure to heal everybody up to max! You will now receive a very strong debuff that will drain your HP to zero in a matter of seconds. To counter this debuff, you must activate one of the 2 devices on the pedestals. One device is on the left, and one device is on the right. I've marked those devices with an exclamation symbol on the image at the bottom of this guide.
Everyone MUST go to the same side! Decide before entering the dungeon if the party is going to the left device, or to the right device. Make sure everyone is standing close to the device before activating it! Also make sure no one is knocked down or knocked up when the device is being activated. The small tentacles that spawn in the middle of the room will knock up your party members, which can prevent some of them from getting the healing buff from the device.
There are multiple ways to deal with this situation:
- cast Temptation Stone near the device to protect everyone in range from getting knocked up for a few seconds,
- cast Asphalt Golem at the small tentacles so that they concentrate their attacks on the summon,
- cast one or two Deus Ex Machina on the small tentacles to kill them, but make sure to do it quickly before the debuff kills you.
The protective buff will heal up the same amount of HP you lose from the debuff. It will keep doing so for 45 seconds. Try to finish off Primal before this buff runs out. If you notice there's less than 10 seconds remaining of the buff, and Primal is nowhere near dead, have everyone to move to the 2nd device and activate it for a second buff. This should be enough even for beginner parties to finish off Primal. Be aware that the debuff doesn't eat away your HP if you're dodging or using ultimate attack.
Primal attacks and how to fight him efficiently
I'll only go in-depth for Primal's attacks when his HP is between x100 and x42. The attacks he does after the Core is killed are so slow and easy to dodge that it's not worth explaining it further than it has already been explained two paragraphs above.
Primal does a few attacks at random:
- Small Breath - he pukes out a pink breath close to him, starting from the players' right and going to the left. He leans his body to the back for a fraction of a second, then leans his head to players' right before starting to puke.
- Big Breath - this happens when no one is tanking Primal, also it always happens when Primal reaches x72 and x42 HP bars. Primal will charge up his breath for about 8-9 seconds, then unleash a big AoE attack that hits everyone on the map for very high damage. He will lean his body backwards for a long time, then lean forwards and unleash the breath. It will deal multiple hits over 2-3 seconds, so you'll have to either hide behind the rock at x72 and x42 HP bars, or try to time your dodges perfectly to avoid taking damage. Even when hiding behind the rock, you can still sometimes get hit, so keep dodging while standing behind the rock.
- Grab - Primal will randomly use his right hand (on the left of your screen) to try to grab someone in front of him. You will see a message appear on the screen when Primal is using this attack. The grab deals moderate damage (it won't 1-shot you if your HP was high) and it gives a debuff for about 45-60 seconds. This debuff doesn't do anything by itself, but if you get grabbed the 2nd time while you have this debuff, you will instantly die. The grab is easy to dodge.
- Falling Rocks - Primal will lean back a bit and start shouting, afterwards he will rise his hand into the air. Rocks will start falling randomly all over the map. The rocks can even hit people fighting off Big Tentacles, so be careful and inform your party members if this attack is taking place. You'll see red circles on the ground a fraction of a second before the rocks hit the ground. Dodge out of them, they deal moderate damage. You can die from it if multiple rocks spawn around the same area.
- Hand in the Ground - Primal will put his right hand (on the left of your screen) into the ground, then spawn multiple damaging AoE circles all around the map in 3 waves. The circles can overlap and easily kill you if you get hit by multiple of them. Be very careful about this attack. Make sure to stop DPSing and dodge it. The first wave usually concentrates around Primal. The second and third wave usually go further back into the map, but sometimes they can still hit you if you're close to Primal. This attack can even hit people taking care of Big Tentacles, so make sure to inform your party members if this attack is taking place.
- Smash and Swipe - Primal will use his left hand (on the right of your screen) to smash the ground multiple times, and very often follow it with a swipe attack. This attack is what kills newbies the most. It's very easy to deal with once you read this paragraph and memorize the patterns. The range of each smash attack is huge, but it's also easy to position yourself to avoid getting hit. The biggest mistake people do, is try to run away from Primal to avoid the smashes. Don't do that. Instead, stay close to Primal and stand in the correct spot to be safe from this attack. Primal can smash in 3 directions: in the middle, to player's left and to player's right. The middle smash can be either dodged or avoided if you stand close to Primal's left or right side. I like to dodge it and stay in the middle. The left and right smashes can be completely avoided simply by standing very close and in the middle of Primal. Simply hug Primal while standing in his middle, and those smashes won't hit you. You can keep attacking while Primal is doing the left or right smash, and when he does the middle smash, simply dodge it. Always stay in the middle of Primal, as it's the easiest way to dodge the smashes.
How to know where Primal is going to smash? It's very easy
1. Watch the space between Primal's ribs when he's doing the smashes. Primal will turn his body in the direction where he's going to smash. If the space between his ribs doesn't move, he's smashing middle. If you see it moving to the left, he's smashing left. If you see it moving to the right, he's smashing right.
2. Primal has 3 different smash patterns (please note that when I say "right smash" or "left smash", I mean that the smash will happen on the players' right or the players' left):
- middle smash, left smash, middle smash
- middle smash, right smash, right smash, middle smash, left smash
- right smash, middle smash, left smash
So, if Primal begins with a Right Smash, you're 100% guaranteed that he'll do Middle Smash, then Left Smash. If Primal begins with a Middle Smash, his next smash will be either left or right. So, observe the 2nd smash to know which pattern he's on. This also means that after dodging the 1st Middle Smash, you're safe to DPS Primal in the middle, as the next smash (right or left) will not hit you if you stand close to Primal and in the middle of his body.
His smashes are often followed by a Swipe, where he'll drag his hand from players' right to players' left. He can also do a Small Breath attack after finishing a smash pattern, and follow it up with a single Middle Smash, then Swipe.
Big Tentacle attacks and how to fight it efficiently
First of all, you should always stand behind the tentacle when fighting it. The area of what I consider "behind the tentacle" is marked in orange color if you look at the picture on the bottom of this guide. By standing behind the tentacle, you won't get hit by some of its attacks.
Every Big Tentacle has 4 possible attacks it can do:
- Spin attack - it will tilt its head to its right side, then it will do a 360 degree spin. Simply dodge it.
- Frontal attack - it will tilt its neck very aggressively to its back, then it will do a frontal attack. Simply stay behind the tentacle to completely avoid it.
- Smash into ground, then AoE pools where you stand - it will tilt its head to the back slightly, then slam to its front and insert its head into the ground. Then, it will cast a few AoE circles to where you currently stand. The first part of the attack is completely ignored if you stay behind the tentacle. The AoE puddles need to be dodged.
- Charge, then whole-map AoE - as described earlier, it will only do this attack if not a single player is within 10-15 meter range of the tentacle. If you see the tentacle charging, make sure to inform your party members about it on voice chat, so they know they have to dodge it.
Random notes and advice
1. Please learn to dodge the attacks. Don't put too much strain on your Stellas - if they have to keep healing you, they won't be able to use SG Buffs.
2. Please ALWAYS try to stay in the middle of Primal's body and very close to Primal. This is because that's the safest spot to be during the fight (as explained before), and it also means that a Stella can have an easier life of giving everyone SG buff or AoE heal. If everyone is separated on the left or right side of Primal, then your Stella's AoE isn't big enough to give everyone SG buff or heal.
3. Always take care of the small tentacles, especially inside the Core. Those small tentacles will do long-range AoE puddles that will knock party members into the air. This is especially troublesome for Stella, because it can interrupt her SG buff or AoE heal, both of which have 45s cooldown.
4. Don't activate the device at x21 phase until everyone is gathered at the device, and everyone is standing up. If you activate it while someone is knocked up or knocked down, he will not receive the protective buff and will die a few seconds later.
Here is the supplementary help in a form of an image file.
great guide.
