theHunter: Primal Survival Guide v2.6 – Queen Expansion

Overview

A complete and comprehensive guide to theHunter: Primal, with detailed information and strategies for being the best hunter out there. Updated regularly with new information and strategies as the game updates.

Introduction

You’ve been sent down to Primal Eden by the Expansive Galaxies Corporation (not willingly, I might add) as a Pioneer to aid in the eradication of the native species. However, if you die, your body feeding the inhabitants of the island will be seen as treason and your close family will be volunteered to be pioneers as well.

If you want to dive straight into the game, you can either select ‘Start Game’ or ‘Join Game’. Your progress and items will carry over (as long as you don’t die or lose it, or leave it lying around for anyone to steal) in any game you play, be it offline or online. However, I would strongly reccomend having a peek at the options menu first. It can be accessed from the game menu or the pause menu (accessed by pressing the [ESC] key), however the game is never truly paused once you are in the world and you never know what might be stalking you while you adjust your keybindings. The options aren’t very expansive and fairly easy to understand.

To start with, I would reccomend sticking with the settings I have chosen here, which are more or less default anyway. When you are ready to play the game, as mentioned previously you have two options.

JOIN GAME
In the Join Game menu you will be shown a list of servers and games (with additional details like whether PVP is enabled, the game is hard enough as it is!) – use this menu if you want to just jump right in to the multiplayer experience of theHunter: Primal.

START GAME
In the Start Game menu you can host your own game for other people to join, or for just you alone if you’re not in a friendly mood. The settings here are fairly self-explanatory. Whilst you are still getting used to the game, I would reccomend keeping PVP off.

Primal Eden

A barely inhabitable planet filled with dinosaurs! What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, a lot of things can go wrong, including but not limited to: death by dinosaur, death by plant and death by cliff that you didnt see. Navigation is key to getting around this harsh planet.

Whilst wandering around Primal Eden, chances are you are going to experience some dynamic weather. There are several types of weather in the game, ranging from light fog to a furious thunderstorm. Fog limits your visibility, making it more difficult to spot potential kills or dangers at a distance, whereas rain limits your hearing, it’ll have to be a lot closer before you hear a dinosaurs footsteps. Thunderstorms are even worse in that regard, as there is even more noise pollution. You’ll have to deal with the rain, lightning and thunder.

While the dinosaurs inhabiting Primal Eden are not exactly friendly, the planet itself isnt particularly welcoming either. It is littered with steep cliffs, ravenes and poisonous plants and mushrooms (however the poisonous ones of these are very rare).

MUSHROOMS
If you are at full health, you can definitley afford to leave these alone. The mushroom on the left has a 50/50 chance to give you either a small amount of health or twice as much as that small amount. The mushroom on the right; commonly found near marsh or coastal areas albeit rarer than other mushrooms, has a 50/50 chance to either damage your health or heal you for a small amount, a mushroom health boost can make all the difference next time you are attacked so do not ignore these whenever you are in need of health.
POISONOUS PLANTS
Poisonous Plants are dead looking bushes covered in purple flowers and as such are fairly hard to miss. They give out poisonous spores when touched. They can be found in a variety of sizes and are normally found in groups, however, the size of the bush will adjust the damage it inflicts. You will know you have absorbed some spores if you hear your character cough and a small purple mist appears on your screen for a second.

Gameplay Basics

If you have played any kind of PC Game before, the controls should seem fairly normal to you. Use [W] [A] [S] and [D] to move forward, left, right and backwards respecitvely. You can press [Q] to toggle auto-movement, so you dont have to hold down [W]. You can press [X] to toggle ‘free head movement’ where you can look around your surroundings without the rest of your body moving and creating noise. Great for looking around when a T.rex is behind you.

The HUD is always present in your adventures on Primal Eden. Reference the image above to see where the various sections of the HUD are.

1# – Dinosaur Species, Gender and Weight
This shows the statistics of the dinosaur that you are currently looking at. It can help you identify whether the dinosaur is a heavyweight dino, or how many points you are going to get for the kill, which weight contributes to. Female dinosaurs tend to be heavier in weight than male dinosaurs.

2# – Health Bar
The Health Bar shows you how your pioneer is doing. When the green starts to empty out of the bar, its time to worry, as it means you could die soon. Once the bar is completely empty, you die. You regenerate your health using health canisters, more information on them can be found in the Inventory section of the guide.

#3 – Stamina Bar
Your Stamina Bar shows how much energy your pioneer has and is depleted by sprinting. It will recharge slower the faster you’re moving, and faster still if you stop moving all-together.

#4 – Equipped Item/Ammo Type
When equipping an item this short text will appear detailing the name of the item you have equipped. It dissappears after a short time but will appear just before the item comes into view. If carrying a weapon it will show the type of ammo loaded into the weapon.

#5 – Ammo Counter
This shows you the ammount of ammunition you have currently loaded into the equipped weapon’s weapon slot. The number on the left being the amount in the current clip, the number on the right being the amount of ammo on reserve.

#6 – Number of Rocks
This shows you the number of rocks your pioneer has on him. They can be picked up off the ground using [E] and thrown using [C] on the default control scheme. They are lost forever when you die though. Rocks are commonly found on beaches or in volcanic biomes.

#7 – Walking/Crouching/Prone Status
This simply shows if you are walking, crouching, prone or sprinting with small icons. It can be handy for checking you are properly hiding from dinosaurs.

#8 – Look Mode Status
This simply shows you wether you are using the free look mode with [X] or are using default look mode. Free look mode means you can move your head without your body moving. This can be helpful for when you are hiding and cant risk movement.

To use and fire a weapon, you must first press [R] to load the gun if you have any ammo equipped in that gun’s slot in the inventory. Then you must click [RMB] to ready the weapon (assuming it is loaded) and then press [LMB] to fire the weapon. Different sights can be attached to some weapons to make aiming much more accurate, such as the Marksman’s Scope for the .308 Marksman’s Rifle or the Shotgun Red Dot Sight for the 12GA Crowd Control Shotgun.

Settler Mate

The Settler Mate is a truly invaluable piece of technology for your time on Primal Eden. You will use it to detect dinosaurs nearby and signs that they have left behind. Under the default control scheme, you can equip the Settler Mate using [TAB].

On the defualt settings, tracks and signs of dinosaur activity will have a small red highlight, either as an outline or a shape above the item. These signs include dinosaur faeces and footprints. When you are close enough, a small exclamation mark will appear in the top left corner of the Settler Mate display. When this appears you can press the Left Mouse Button, this will examine it and possibly point you in the direction the dinosaur went, as well as telling you how old the track is (in-game time mind you, moves quite a bit faster than real time).

Depending on how many tracks from the same dinosaur you have discovered, it will display a search area on the Settler Mate screen, either to look for more clues as to where the dinosaur is, or the dinosaurs location itself. Whilst most of the dinosaurs on Primal Eden are fairly large, you would be surprised how well camoflauged they can be.
You can press H at any time in the game to holster your weapon/settlermate to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Primal Eden.

Using the Settler Mate you can interact with dinosaur tracks to show different information about their location or where they came from/are headed. If the Settler Mate detects a dinosaur call, a radar-like symbol will appear on the Settler Mate map that pinpoints its exact location.

If you discover dinosaur tracks or faeces, then different information will appear on the Settler Mate, a cone shape with the point on the track you analysed shows the direction in which the dinosaur was moving at the time of this track, you can use this to follow where it went.
If a solid-lined circle appears on the Settler Mate at any point, then the dinosaur will be inside that circle on the map. If a dashed-line circle appears, then it means the dinosaur has left the area inside the circle. X’s on the Settler Mate show the position of any tracks that have been analysed.

Loot and Settlements

When you first spawn onto Primal Eden, you will only be equipped with a simple Improvised Machete and a Map Fragment. Strangely enough, this map fragement reveals an area (…or, fragment) of the map to you. The map can be accessed by pressing [M] or by pressing [RMB] when the Settler Mate is equipped.

Loot Crates come in three different sizes, small, medium and large. The larger the crate, typically the more items you’ll find within. Loot Crates are the only way of collecting weapons or items in the game. If a Loot Crate contains a weapon, there will always be at least a small amount of ammunition that works with that weapon in the same crate. However, crates with weapons can only be found in the Primal Eden’s Settlements.

Settlements are the best places to find loot in the game and the only place where weapons spawn. There are 25 of them spread out across the map and there are 5 different types.

[Notice] Offline Mode/Carry Weight

As of 10/01/2017, player stats and inventories are no longer stored on servers, and they are saved locally, meaning the game can now be played offline. This update also came with the removal of a carry weight limit, meaning that the weight of individual items and weapons/ammo is now pretty much redundant, never-the-less it has been kept in this guide as a sort-of record, ‘this is what it used to weigh when weight was a thing that was used’.

Inventory – Weapons

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The Wooden Bow is the weapon you will find a lot in lower level settlements. The bow has much less impact damage than other weapons but it has much higher bleeding damage. If you attack an enemy with a bow and it flees, it will likely die from bleeding out. It can be equipped in item slot 1 or 2.

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The .308 is a solid, reliable weapon that has the longest range in the game. It uses .308 rounds and can be equipped with a marksman scope. While it is a powerful weapon at long range, it does not match up to other weapons in terms of power at closer ranges. Each shot is also automatically readied so there is a short delay. It can be equipped in item slot 1 or 2.

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The .44 is small and light, and can hold 5 shots before a full reload is needed. Each shot needs to be readied but it is only a short delay, pretty similar to the time the shotgun takes. The handgun, if used in the correct way, can be a deadly and accurate weapon, however it is not advised at long ranges, it is a personal, self-defence weapon anyway. You can attach a handgun scope to it aswell which can make it much more deadly and accurate, especially for sneakier hunters. It can be equipped in item slot 1, 2 or 3 and is one of only two weapons that can be placed in all slots.

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The 12GA is a very reliable weapon and will likely claim as many kills as the .308 Marksman Rifle will on your time with this game. It is one of the best weapons for close quarters damage and at the moment is the only gun (other than the other shotgun) with two types of ammo equippable. You can equip buckshot ammo, better for smaller dinosaurs and also having a wider spread, or slug shots, much better for damaging a certain area of a dinosaur. Slug shells also have a longer range. The only downside to this weapon is that it takes by the far the longest time to reload of any weapon in the game, because you need to load every round individually. The next shot must also be readied for a short time after firing. It can be equipped in item slot 1 or 2.

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The .700 Double Rifle is a legendary weapon, with extreme stopping power and a decent range. It can fire 2 shots right after another, but will need to reload over that. Unlike all other weapons, the shot does not need to be readied individually. Despite is amazing power, the .700 Double Rifle can take up a fair amount of your inventory space and the ammunition is both rare and heavy, this is a weapon I reccomend you take if you find it with about 4 or so bullets, but when you have used those and find another gun, ditch it for something better as it limits your carry weight substantially.

Inventory – Weapons II

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The .50 Spec Ops Sniper Rifle is only found at one settlement, the one on the volcano [Mount Syphys Research Centre] and the Sniper Scope it can be fitted with can only be found there too. Ammunition is very rare and the weapon is extremely heavy compared to other weapons and will take up almost half of your inventory (and thats after the weight nerf update), cool if you find it but probably not a weapon you are going to keep around for very long.

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The Improvised Machete replaced the Improvised Bow and Basic Arrows as the initial spawn equipment as of the 19/03/2015 update. It is a melee weapon made from scraps of the ship that you came down from. It can be a suprisingly effective weapon if you know how to use it. When you click to ‘fire’ with [LMB] on the default controls, you slash the machete twice in front of you, both hits capable of inflicting damage on a dinosaur. However, with each use of the machete it also uses up your stamina, so it is unwise to be sprinting if you feel you are about to come into a situation where you might need it, such as when you can hear Utahraptor calls. The best strategy is to stand still to regen stamina and sidestep n’ slash. It can be equipped in the first 3 item slots but is most suited to the third slot.

Inventory – Weapon Pack I

With the 23/04/2015 update a new ‘weapon pack’ has been added to the game containing 4 new weapons! Future post-release weapon packs will be published in different sections (unless there is like, one at a time).

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The Talon Hunting Bow is essentially the ultimate upgrade to the Wooden Bow. Being an ‘ultimate upgrade’ and like most of the other weapons in Weapon Pack 1, it is decently rare. The Talon Bow uses different arrows from the standard (and awfully common) Basic Arrows that are used in the Wooden Bow. It requires Compound Arrows and these are much sturdier, resulting in it dealing out a lot more damage than the Wooden Bow ever could, especially at close ranges. Also, unlike the Wooden Bow, the Talon Bow comes with a sight already attached to it (which doesn’t take up any extra weight as it isn’t removable) which means right from the start your shots are going to be much more accurate. Similarly to the Wooden Bow again, the Talon Bow does not have great range compared to other weapons and is comparable to the .44 Handgun, you will also have to account for the arrow falling as it flies through the air towards your target. Because of this, this weapon works well with the Merc Binoculars.

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The .308 Duelling Pistol is basically an alternate weapon for the .44 Disceplinary Handgun and the one you should choose probably depends on your hunting style and the ammunition you have at that time. If you are using either of the .308 Rifles (because 3 weapons use .308 Ammo now) then it probably isnt the best idea to use this weapon as it will just eat away at all of your ammo for most of your weapons. It goes without saying that if you have lots of Handgun ammo, you should probably stick with or swap out for the Handgun. Other than that, the Duelling Pistol is a solid hunting weapon that has a decent range and is fairly powerful, however it is brought down by the fact that you will need to fully reload after each shot. I reccomend turning auto-reload off in the gameplay options menu so you arent stuck into a reload after shooting at the raptor coming to eat your face, especially so if you don’t kill it.

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The .308 Anti-Personnel Rifle is almost identical to the .308 Marksman Rifle in terms of power and rage, it can also be equipped with the same Marksman Scope that was until now, exclusive to the Marksman Rifle. In all honesty, the main differences between the two sniper rifles are the fact that this one weighs less, as well as being a lot rarer. It works similarly to the way that the Talon Bow and Riot Shotgun replace their original weapon counterparts. This rifle is exactly the same in its stopping power and awesome range but has several small benefits, such as a larger Mag Size and the weapon itself simply being lighter. If you ever find this weapon out in the wilderness, be sure to swap it out for the Marksman if you currently have it.

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In much the same way that the .308 Anti-Personnel Rifle is the superior to the .308 Marksman Rifle, the 12GA Riot Shotgun is certainly the superior to the 12GA Crowd Control Shotgun. Upon first glance they may appear similar, just with a slightly different colour scheme. You should also notice that the Riot Shotgun has a smaller clip size than the Crowd Control. The Riot Shotgun’s main strength is that it is Semi-Automatic, meaning you can fire all 3 shots as fast as you can pull the trigger. It has the same reload speed as the Crowd Control but you only need to load 3 shells, so you do actually get ready quicker and you are also able to fire quicker, meaning you have an advantage. Great for shooting lots of pain into a dinosaurs heart. This is going to be the go-to weapon for dealing large amounts of damage, very quickly, to larger dinosaurs.

Inventory – Expansive Galaxies Corp. Weapons

New in the 17/12/2015 update are super rare weapons and items that can only be found from harvesting Rare (Gold Level) dinosaurs or the Primal Rex.

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The Raven Tactical Axe is a powerful melee weapon that has arrived in the Queen Expansion. It functions in the exact same way as the Improvised Machete and can fit in Item Slots 1-3, making it a great back-up weapon. It not only swings faster than the Machete but also deals a bunch more damage, allowing you to down your melee targets with much higher stamina efficiency. Once the item has been picked up, it is unlocked on the in-game store.

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The Fang Hunting Crossbow is one of the two weapons that the player will be exclusively rewarded with for managing to kill and harvest a Primal Rex. It is slow to load a bolt and even slower to reset the Crossbow afterwards, however it is a completely silent weapon and packs a big punch, perfect for getting a few early hits against an animal. Hunting Raptors with this weapon would not be advised, as due to the long priming time you’ll likely end up dead if you miss. This weapon is best suited to being shot until you are noticed, then its advisable to switch to another.

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Special thanks to Exhumed for the Assault Rifle information and image, killed my second Primal Rex now so I’d have the information but still, credit to him.
The 5.56 Assault Rifle is a strange weapon, its amazingly light however the ammo it uses is ridiculously heavy. Just carrying the weapon and 3 clips is going to use almost 8/20kg.
However, the Assault Rifle is, as of the Queen Expansion, the only fully automatic weapon in the game and this does come with its benefits. It has a large, 20 round clip so it’s great for dealing with packs of Utahraptors. It’s a great weapon for that actually, as it can easily one-shot both Utahraptor and Quetzalcoatalus, however you’ll certainly have trouble with it if you try to kill anything larger. This is a weapon that I would reccommend you carry with just a single clip of ammo and just buy another to replace it if you die, because of the weapons light weight.

Inventory – Scopes

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The Marksman Scope is a very useful scope for the .308 Marksman Rifle as well as the .308 Anti-Personnel Rifle. Like the very similar Sniper Scope for the 50 cal, there are 3 levels of magnification. It is not reccommended if you do not plan on using it as a sniper, as the scope makes close range shots much more difficult. It can be wise to remove the sight if the dinosaur you are attack makes it to you before it falls.

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The Handgun Scope is very similar to the Marksman Scope for the .308 rifles however it is fitted with the .44 Handgun instead. There is no zoom feature however it makes long distance shots easier and transforms the handgun into more of a stealthy weapon.

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The Red Eye Shotgun Sight can be equipped on the 12GA Crowd Control Shotgun to make your shots more accurate. The Red dot signifies the centre of the blast from the shotgun, so you can use it quite easily to plan out which organs you hit with Buckshot ammo, for example. The Red Eye Shotgun Sight cannot be equipped with the 12GA Riot Shotgun.

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The Sniper Scope is very similar to the Marksman Scope for the .308 rifles however it is fitted with the .50 rifle instead. When this scope is equipped you can zoom in up to 3 times to make long distance shots very easy.

Inventory – Ammo

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Basic Arrows are the only ammunition the Wooden Bow will use and provide little immediate stopping power but considerable bleeding damage.

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Compound Arrows are the only ammunition the Talon Hunting Bow will use and provide much more immediate stopping power than Basic Arrows, which would be used with the Wooden Bow, but still offer the considerable bleeding damage that Basic Arrows are known for.

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Simple ammunition for the .308 Marksman Rifle, the .308 Anti-Personnel Rifle as well as the .308 ‘Rival’ Duelling Pistol, commonly found in stacks of 3-10.

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One of the two types of ammunition available for the 12GA Crowd Control Shotgun, more effective at hitting a large area and hitting multiple organs. Reccommended for smaller dinosaurs. It is possible to hit multiple dinosaurs with one shot.

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Slug ammunition does more damage but in a smaller area than buckshot ammo, instead of firing lots of little pellets it fires one single, heavy round that does more damage to a single area. Because of this Slug Ammo has a slightly longer range than Buckshot Ammo.

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.44 ammo can only be used with the .44 Handgun and is commonly found in larger stacks than other ammunition types. Like other types of ammo, it can be found in random crates as well as settlements.

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Ammunition for the .700 rifle is almost as rare as the weapon itself and is mainly found in settlements however it has been known to appear in random crates.

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This ammo is exceedingly rare and can only be used with the .50. It looks a lot like the .308 ammo but is bulkier and shinier. It is often found in groups of 2-5.

Inventory – Ammo II

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Ammunition thats used for the 5.56 Assault Rifle, fairly heavy and is practically chewed up by the Assault Rifle, but dishes out high amounts of damage. Unlocked in the in-game store after it has been added to your inventory.

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Crossbow Bolts are used in the Fang Hunting Crossbow and deal a high amount of damage whilst being completely silent. They can be found as a reward for hunting Rare Dinosaurs or the Primal Rex and once they have been collected are unlocked in the store.

Inventory – Camoflauge

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CAMO: –
RARITY: –
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Pioneer Hunting Gear cannot be found in the environment, and it is the equipment you have automatically equipped at the start of the game. It offers no camoflauge what-so-ever and it is actually better off to ditch it in the drop pod to save up some carry weight. Not worth anything. Only has top, boots and pants.

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CAMO: I
RARITY: I
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Settler Hunting Gear is the second worst equipment in the game, but is handy for the new pioneer. It is easily stinguishable by its thrown together, mucky look and will fill all clothing slots (apart from glasses).

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CAMO: II
RARITY: III
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Merc Navy Hunting Gear is the next step up from the settler gear set, and is actually a lot rarer and is a lot less often found at settlements. It will fill all clothing slots (apart from glasses) and is distinguishable by the grey and black colour scheme.

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CAMO: III
RARITY: III
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Merc Grunt Hunting Gear is the next step up from the merc nacy set. It is generally found equally as often though, so never discard merc grunt gear in favour of merc navy gear. It will fit all clothing slots (apart from glasses) and is easily distinguishable by the green camo patterns and boonie.

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CAMO: IIII
RARITY: IIIII
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Merc Spec Ops Gear is just below the Noble Hunter’s Gear in terms of camoflauge rating but is very rare, roughly on par with how rare the noble hunter gear is. It will fit all clothing slots (apart from glasses) and is easily distinguishable by the brown camo patterns and boonie.

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CAMO: IIIII
RARITY: IIIII
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Noble Hunting Gear is the best camoflauge in the game and gives you the best chance of not being seen by the inhabitants of Primal Eden. They can be equipped on the equipment section of the inventory and will fit all clothing slots (apart from glasses). It is easily distinguishable from the green colour theme and the hat. The Noble Hunting Hat can be found in green and khaki colours.

Inventory – Items

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Restore roughly 20% of your health at a very slow rate.
Health Canisters use advanced technology to heal you after almost any injury, and will be vital for your time here hunting on Primal Eden. The three different grades of canister correspond to how effective they are, and how fast they will heal you.

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Restore roughly 50% of your health at a decent rate.
Health Canisters use advanced technology to heal you after almost any injury, and will be vital for your time here hunting on Primal Eden. The three different grades of canister correspond to how effective they are, and how fast they will heal you.

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Restore all of your health at a much faster rate. A new health canister that has never been used.
Health Canisters use advanced technology to heal you after almost any injury, and will be vital for your time here hunting on Primal Eden. The three different grades of canister correspond to how effective they are, and how fast they will heal you.

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The Merc Binoculars can only be found at settlements and allow you to scan the environment even if you do not have a scope. It is used in item slots 4 or 5 much like health canisters and the Triceratops Caller. However, unlike a scope, they will have a small HUD displayed on them, showing the distance to the section of land you are currently looking at (with on-screen crosshair). They can also be used to set custom map markers by pressing [LeftMouseButton] on default controls. The marker will be placed where the crosshairs are. It can be equipped in item slot 4 or 5.

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Triceratops callers are a horn that can be used multiple times to attract a Triceratops to your location, annoyingly they do not go to where you used the horn, but rather straight to you, so keep that in mind when you use the horn next.

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Map fragments will highlight an area on the full Primal Eden map (accessed by pressing [RightMouseButton] on the settler mate. These dont take up any carry weight in your inventory if you drag it to the settler mate icon on the main inventory screen. These aren’t particularly useful if you have a full map from online but dont take up any weight once you’ve used them in the inventory, so you might as well pick them up.

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Drop Pod Beacons are very useful tools that can be placed on the ground and are basically used as a spawn point for when you die in-game. On death, the beacon will be used to guide the drop pod onto its location, unfortunatley, that also means destroying the Beacon. Only one can be active for any single player at any time. Useful for T.Rex hunting!

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T.Rex Scent Glands can only be found upon killing a Rare (Gold Level) Tyrannosaurus Rex and is the only way to summon the Queen Rex, otherwise known as the ‘Primal Rex’. It can be placed on the ground in a very similar way to how Beacons are placed. Make sure that you are completely prepared for the Primal Rex before you place it, and make sure you place it in an area with known T.Rex activity.

Experience and Levels

New to the 23/02/15 update of theHunter: Primal is the XP and Levels system along with the in-game shop. This section of the guide will teach you all you need to know about it.

Experience Points; or XP, will be earnt as you kill and then harvest dinosaurs throughout the game, please note that a dinosaur must be harvested to count as a kill and to claim your score and XP rewards. The amount of XP relies on the amount of damage you as an individual have caused to the dinosaur, the dinosaurs base score (which is determined by weight and trophy integrity) and the player survival bonus.

Survival Bonus
Survival Bonus is a small but helpful boost to XP and gets higher and higher the more dinosaurs you kill in one life. It’s important to note that the survival bonus is completely reset upon death.

Kill Assists
Whilst Kill Assists are not counted in the game in any way, when an animal falls that you helped bring down it will display a piece of text telling you how much damage you contributed (it’ll be a percentage), you will then be given an appropriate amount of XP and EG for helping in the hunt.

Levels have no bonuses to your player statistics but they do allow you to purchase rarer and more valuable items from the in-game store which is accessable upon death. To level up you need XP. Your level can always be viewed from the player statistics screen on the pause menu. The developers have said that there is no level penalty from dying, however this may only be true for dinosaur-related deaths, as when I killed myself via poisonous plants to get to see the in-game store, I was put back to level 2 whereas I was previously level 6.

The in-game store is where you can buy items using tokens that you recieve from harvesting dinosaur kills. The amount of tokens you get from any kill are also based on dinosaur score and damage percentage. (Feel lucky I managed to get all this information for you – I had to kill myself to get it) Information for the cost of the items on the store can be found in the inventory section of the guide.

Bestiary – Carnivores

Tyrannosaurus Rex is the deadliest dinosaur on Primal Eden and is able to down a player with just a single bite or smack of its head (or stomp for that matter). They are an aggresive and imposing opponent but can actually be brought down fairly easily once you know where to shoot. The best angle to shoot the Tyrannosaurus from is from the front (not too close to the head…), inbetween its two arms. There are 5 variations of Tyrannosaurus including the Primal Rex.

Unlike most other species in the game, it is good to get the T.Rex‘s attention before properly beginning the attack (long range weapons work well here). Once it has noticed you, it will run over to your position, make sure you don’t get caught up in shooting it here, as it will just stand in front of you and bite you, put yourself a good 5-10 metres back from when it stops and unload at its heart, try not to hit its head or it may frenzy and charge at you early. You only have a few seconds to shoot at it before it charges, so make the shots count, once it charges at you, you may be able to quickly sidestep its attack or block it by moving behind a tree or similar structure, allowing you more time to fire at it.

The Tyrannosaurus is the largest carnivore on Primal Eden, but by no means the most inteligent. Utahraptors are smart and agile pack hunters and will commonly attack you in packs of 2-7 (higher pack numbers do occur). They are capable of detecting you from a long distance away, possibly not even when they are in sight.

If the Utahraptors find you before you find them, quickly scan the landscape to see if you can find any environmental advantages, climbing ontop of a rock or fallen tree is often a good way of maintaining a killing vantage point and of limiting their access to you. When attacking, they will charge at you repeatedly, dealing around 25% health damage each bite, which may not seem like much, but they have a very high rate of attack, meaning being attacked by a group can be a death sentence. Try to shoot at the base of their neck (or their neck as a back-up) after they run past from a sidestepped attack (you’ll want to be doing that). This is almost always a lethal shot, especially if taken from above.

Velociraptors are by far the smallest and weakest animals that inhabit Primal Eden, with one hit from every weapon almost always securing an instant kill. They often travel in packs of 3-10 and their strength certainly lies in numbers, it can get dangerous even with the tiny amounts of damage they deal when there are a whole pack of Velociraptors attacking you at once.

Similar to how you would approach hunting a Tyrannosaur, it is best to wait for the Velociraptors to attack you, however that will almost always be the case as they are very small and hard to see hidden in the vegetation. Once you hear their high, purring calls, move towards them or stop on the flattest, most open ground you can see and wait for them to catch up to you. Commonly, they will circle the player, and one or several will then attack at once, you can either run up to them as they observe you before the attack and kill them, or wait for them to pounce on you and slice them off with a melee weapon.

Bestiary – Herbivores

Triceratops is the only herbivore currently inhabiting Primal Eden, but that doesn’tmean its a pushover. Whilst it may seem like a docile species at first, get too close or attract too much attention and you might end up on the wrong end of its horns.

Triceratops is most easily killed when you have the element of surprise and can be fairly easy to get a one-hit-kill with. To have your best chance at netting the kill, you’ll want to be standing crouched a short-ish distance away from the trike (depends really on what weapon you are using). Ideally, wait for the Trike to stop moving and feast on some foliage or to look around the environment, take aim at the Triceratops’ throat, a little bit behind the chin and fire, the best position to take the shot is from a diagonal angle between the front and side of the animal.

Alternatively, you can reserve your ammunition and walk towards the Trike (make sure you have full stamina), when it runs to you and lowers its head, quickly dash and ‘hug’ toitsside and slash at it with the Improvised Machete or Raven Tactical Axe, the Trike will become stuck in an infinite turning loop as it tries to turn and position itself in front of you. If you use the Raven Tactical Axe, the Trike will probably run off when enough damage is sustained and probably run 100-200m before dropping. If you use the Improvised Machete, it may run off to beyond your viewing range before it drops, making the machete a useful Trike deterrant, but not a killer.

Bestiary – Pterosaurs

Quetzalcoatalus are the kings of the skies and soar above almost every part of Primal Eden, scanning the kingdom below for intruders. When they spot you, they will dive down to attack repeatedly, which can be avoided by going prone just before they reach you. If enough attacks are avoided in a row, they will eventually lose interest. It will attack you until you reach about 25% health, where it will swoop in and lift you into the air before dropping you to your doom.

It’s very unlikely you’ll be able to shoot a Quetzalcoatalus out of the sky before it’s diving at you to attack, so you shouldn’t waste your ammunition beforehand. As it dives down to attack, it will reach its claws out to you, exposing its body and the place to get a successful kill shot, a shot to anywhere in the body or the head of the Quetzalcoatalus is usually an instant kill, but every now and again you’ll run into a stubborn one who’ll just refuse to die. If it reaches a certain damage threshold it may fly off into the distance, never to be seen again.

Bestiary – Primal Rex

The Primal Rex is the ultimate challenge to the pioneer on Primal Eden, a ruthless killing machine. Killing the Primal Rex is seen as a great achievement by the Expansive Galaxies Corporation and you will be rewarded for killing one with high quality weapons and gear to help you on your hunting and give you an edge over your fellow pioneers.

To summon a Primal Rex, you’ll need to obtain the T.Rex Scent Gland item, which can only be obtained from a Rare (Gold) T.Rex. Once you have killed the Rare T.Rex you can take the Scent Gland from the loot crate it drops. Before summoning the Primal Rex, make sure you have tons of equipment, ammo and good weapons (.700 is preferable) and travel to an area that will give you an environmental advantage (i.e. Settlements). However, make sure that where-ever you do go is normally inhabited with Tyrannosaurs, otherwise the Scent Gland wont work and the Primal Rex will not be summoned onto your server. Only one can exist at any time on a single server. Make sure that you have at least one Beacon when starting the battle! Place it near by!

If you’re expecting the Primal Rex to behave simply like a more powerful Tyrannosaur then you would certainly be mistaken. Primal Rexes are much more aggressive and will often begin their charge at the player upon first sighting, meaning you need to either block its assault or hope to kill it before it reaches you (most likely a foolish hope). This is where beacons come into play, the best strategy is to have a beacon set up before you summon the Primal Rex, and to always spawn in with one (which you would place immediatley), this way you can get straight back into the hunt, provided you have enough EG. Your best chance at defeating the Primal Rex is to lure it to a location where it cannot reach you atall or very easily, an ideal situation would be the broken wall on Bushwhack Meadows, for example. Keep unloading into the beast’s heart as it pursues you, it’ll take a hell of a lot of punishment but it will go down eventually.

Taking down a Primal Rex is an impressive feat, one recognised by the Expansive Galaxies Corporation. As a reward for this, you are sent down rewards for each Primal Rex kill. After you kill your first Primal Rex, you will be rewarded with the Fang Hunting Crossbow.
After you kill your second Primal Rex, you will be rewarded with the 5.56 Assault Rifle.
After you kill your third and onwards, you will be rewarded with only a beacon for your troubles.

Dinosaur Anatomy/Killshots

When hunting dinosaurs it is very important to take each species anatomy into account when hunting it. Getting a shot into the heart or brain of an animal will guarantee its death (for all but the Tyrannosaurus Rex, it deals about 60% damage), but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best or most practical way to bring it down.

Dinosaur Specifics

This section goes over the more specific details that apply to all dinosaurs.

Each dinosaur has different behaviour patterns and may not get on in some biomes or with other dinosaur species. Here is a list of the different dinosaur behaviours.

PACK HUNTING
Utahraptors will often hunt in packs of 2-10+ raptors. With larger packs they are more likely to see you but in turn you are more likely to see or hear them. Whilst hunting in packs, a lone raptor or two may be scared off after the rest of its pack has been killed.

AVOIDANCE OF LARGER DINOSAURS
Utahraptors will always steer well clear out of the path of a Tyrannosaurus, which can be useful if you are being hunted by them (the only problem then is to deal with the Rex of course).

An uncommon male Triceratops kill…

DEFENSIVE ATTACKS
Some dinosaurs are more passive than others and won’t always attack you on sight, however they can certainly be unpredictable. If you frighten them, they may run off, however there is also a fairly good chance they will turn and attack you. Because of their size, Triceratops are pretty hard hitting, so it is only reccommended to approach them if you have the intent of hunting them. Otherwise, stay well out of their way.

FLEEING
All dinosaurs will flee after having taken a certain amount of damage, and this can be a very serious situation for a hunter. If you lose the dinosaurs tracks after it escapes there is not much hope in finding it, so try to keep up with it/attack while it’s on the run. It may eventually stop running away, particularly if it stops bleeding.

Dinosaur eggs can be rarely found around the enviroment and spawn fairly randomally in the environment. You can eat these to gain health, but it will give you a rather strong dinosaur odour for roughly 1-2 minutes (it varies depending on what type of egg you devour). Certain eggs will decrease your scent camoflauge by different amounts, as well as heal you for different amounts. Generally, the bigger the egg, the bigger the bonus, but also, the bigger the stench. Dark brown eggs are the biggest, and smelliest.

Player V Player

Despite the game’s great dinosaur hunting, there is also a PVP mechanic in the game, which also includes teams. In this section of the guide it will explain the details of the PVP system present in theHunter: Primal.

When in a game in theHunter: Primal, if you pause the game using [ESC] on the default control scheme, you can see the TEAMS tab in the top right corner. If you select this it will take you to the teams menu, where you can join one of four different teams. You can choose between Alpha (Red), Bravo (Green), Charlie (Blue) and Delta (Yellow). Once you have joined a team, you can only see the markers and names of other members of your team on the map and HUD, whilst members of other teams are hidden from you. You can also see other members of your team’s destination markers.

TEAM LEADERS
The first player to join a team will automatically become the team leader and have the ability to kick other members. They are also able to lock the team so that no-one is able to freely join.

Fighting other pioneers in theHunter: Primal works in exactly in the same way as attacking dinosaurs, however this time the difficulty is assessed by player skill and the gun they hold in their hands. When you have killed a player in PVP Combat, a burial mound will be placed where they died, along with their loot. You can then take their stuff, and interact with the burial mound to harvest a kill in much the same way as you would a dead dinosaur. It will also show you where you hit and how many times you hit. Be careful of staying in the same area for too long though, as they will probably come back to try and re-claim their items.

Sometimes the danger of the hunt can make typing in the chat feed or accessing the steam overlay to send a message to your friends difficult. This can be avoided by holding the [T] key and selecting one of the player actions there. These include, Move, Listen, Stop, Wave, Thumbs up and Thumbs down.