theHunter: Primal Guide
!!!WIP!!! I am still working on this page... Collecting media from in game and such!
- Introduction
- Dinosaur Index
- Survival Aspect
- Tracking (if you can be bothered)
- General Tips
- Video
- Gallery
Introduction
theHunter: Primal is a spin-off from the original theHunter online pay to win game. It is sold as a Hunting / Suvival simulation as a single purchase (no real money subscription or buying kit just in game money and shop), they got the hunting part right but the survival aspect is somewhat lacking! You spend your in game time walking around a rather large open world that contains a spattering of bases with respawning loot crates. Lots of non-respawning dinosaurs that want to eat you and one speices of dino that does not want to eat you it'll just trample or spike you to death for a laugh!
The game runs pretty smoothly at max resolution on both my PC and my toshiba laptop, I do have to turn scene detail down a notch though to avoid noisey fan syndrome.
If you are someone who enjoys a proper gaming challenge this game is for you, if you prefer an easier dino killing game get ARK or Primal Carnage!
A word of warning! The videos you'll see for this game are mostly from the early access version of the game. The dino's were much easier to kill back then. Since the game made full retail release they are much harder to kill! The ones on this page are from the full retail version and are made by me with over 100 hours of game time. I can kill most animals with 1 or 2 shots...
Dinosaurs
[ Velociraptor | Utahraptor | Triceratops | Tyrannosaurus Rex | Quetzalcoatlus ]
Velociraptor
When you hear them, stand still! They will come to you much like ALL dino's in theHunter: Primal.
If you can see them (depends on scene detail) you can sprint towards them but,
where you find Velociraptors you will probably find their bigger more lethal siblings Utahraptors.
When it comes to killing them one shot from anything should do it but the basic bow can need two
shots if you don't hit the center of mass! It takes about 10 hits from a Velociraptor to kill you!
Targeting:
Basically just hit them, they are not hard to kill at all!
Dino Index | Page Top
Utahraptor
Utahraptors are very VERY dangerous, especially at the start of the game when you have little in the way of
equipment. They generally hunt in packs and walk slowly around calling the whole time. Some of them growl like
a lion, some shreik. A pack can contain 8 individuals spread out over a 50 meter or so area so be careful,
when you attack one the others may well come to the rescue of their fallen comrade. You'll also come across lone
Utha's that sneak right up on you without making a sound until their footsteps give them away! Three or four hits
from a Utahraptor is enough to kill you!
Targeting:
When they see you they scream and charge but run straight past. This is your chance to get the shot, raise your weapon
and follow them until they stop then bam! Alternatively, keep you weapon down until they charge, run side step,
turn 90 degree and let them have it! Try to hit the top edge of their neck where their spine runs along with buckshot or slug.
A .44 will do it but you have to be much more accurate. That will drop them with one shot
from just about any weapon in the game. Using a machete? Hack away and hope for the best, I've killed
a few like this but it's not easy and definately not reliable. The best you can hope for is to scare them
off!
Dino Index | Page Top
Triceratops
Triceratops is a huge animal. Sadly theHunter: Primal does nto really do it justice. Trike skeletons have been found that indicate that they commonly
reached 6 to 8 meters long and up to 3 meters tall! In theHunter: Primal they are a semi-passive creature that wanders around eating and calling out
for a mate. They won't attack you on site but they will attack if you get too close. Again, they charge at you and try to impale you on their spikes.
They also do a swing attack where they attept to side swipe you with their spikes, they save this attack for when you are in close. They are easily
dissuaded from attacking by putting some distance between you and them at which point they go back to foraging. If you sprint for a full stamina bar
(remembering to check for plants or other dinos so you don't run into trouble) they'll leave you alone! Two hits from a trike is enough to kill you!
Targeting:
The Trike's heart is between its shoulders so aim there no matter what angle you are at. If you are behind them you can down them with one shot providing
you aim for the middle of the shoulders _throught_ the animal! Just behind the top of the front legs is normally an almost sure one shot kill too. Also,
if you hit them for afar they will run at you then stop and lift their head to sniff you out, at that point one shot, again, between the shoulders will
bring them down. The best angle I have found is at about 45 degrees to the rear of the animal and aim through it's side.
Dino Index | Page Top
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Tyrannosaurus Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex, TYRANNOSAURUS REX! Listen for the booming foot steps and gutteral growl. If you can hear the growl they can close
in on you in about 20 seconds and they will kill you if you don't hide. I don't take them on out in the open, I'll only take them on if I have the tactical
advantage IE; WALLS! Any settlement with walls will give a massive advantage. They do have the advantage that they will scare off the Utah's if you can call
it an advantage. The best I've managed against a T-Rex so far is 5 shots with a .308... Rex knows where you are all the time and just pretends to _find_ you!
One attack from the Rex will kill you stone cold dead and you'll get to hear it eating you too!
Targeting:
Target the rex just above it's front "legs" from the side. With a .50 a back of the head shot or two might get to the brain but probably not. Rex's can't
be one-shotted any more and normally take 5 to 10 from a .308. One of the best tactics I've found with a Rex is to hit it once from range with the best shot you can
then, when it charges at you, slap it in the chest with 3 slugs from a shotgun! I've had more success with that tactic than trying to snipe it with a .308. I will add,
my first rex kill was one that got stuck in a tree, I slashed it to death with a machete. It took me about 100 swings and 2 minutes to kill it!
Dino Index | Page Top
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzlcoatlus is a huge soaring bird type dino who's call sounds a bit like a GAU-8. They circle at high
altitude and drop down slowly but surely to attack. The dive straight at you like a Stuka leaving themselves
open for a well aimed shot from quite a distance. Once you get down to about half health they will pick you up and fly off with you then drop you.. Strangely, given how
easy fall damage kills you in theHunter: Primal the fall from being dropped by a Quetz does very little damage!
Targeting:
Wait for them to fly straight at you then let them have it straight in the head. I find buckshot to be the best but have downed them with one shot from a basic bow.
It's ALL about timing with these rather than shot placement. They are moving pretty fast when they dive but after a few practice runs you'll get it, aside from baby
raptors they are the easiest kill in the game!
Dino Index | Page Top
Rare Dinosaurs
There are some rare dinosaurs in the game and a recently added Primal Rex, I've not seen a primal rex yet but I've seen the other rare ones, and killed a few of them too. With the latest update the rares drop loot boxes that have speacial and rare equipment in them! Once you've found a bit of rare equipment it'll always be in the in game shop when you respawn.
Survival
I don't understand why this game was marketed as a survial game because it just plain isn't!!! The ONLY part of the game that could even be considered survival is
the fact that you can eat both mushrooms and dino eggs. Mushrooms can give or take health, the green ones always give a little bit of health. The red ones can either
poison you a bit, KILL you or ... give you a bit of health or ALL your health! Eggs just raise your scent rating by a bit for a set time and top up some health.
Maybe the devs have something bigger planned for the survival aspect but I doubt it!
Tracking
You have a Settlermate in your hand that serves as a map reader, waypoint guidance, loot id gadget and more importantly, a tracker to keep a tab on animal signs.
Small red (the default colour) arcs appear over animal signs, they change to larger full domes when they belong to the animal you are tracking!
So, the wedge shape means the animal is moving in that direction.
The solid circle means the animal is within that circle, when it turns to a dotted circle the animal is ouside of the circle.
The [!] symbol means the settlermate has found a sign be it a call, poop, a foot print or blood (blood gives you an idea of how close to death the animal is).
The X marks are confirmed signs for that animal.
The funny looking loop with a pot on the bottom of it is a dropped bag or second generation corpse.
The skull and cross bones is my dead body (6 Utah's with only a bow.. You're gonna die!)!
The red dot is a waypoint that is placed on the main map (M) with a left click, you can only have one waypoint!
I have found the settlermate to be completely useless most of the time. Especially when it comes to the black circle. The animals can be long gone by the time you get to the next sign.
I have found however, that the blood trails give a good indication of whether or not it is worth persuing the signs. If the blood splat says the animal is 1 - 20% Health it'll probaly
die within a minute or two! Settlermate also tells you have far you've wallked this session and what the time is! Time is relative in this game, I think it's about 2 hours real time
for a full day/night cycle, not too sure yet though, have not counted! As far as I can work out the grid on the settlermate AND the main map is 500 meters.. Not sure though!
General Tips
Starting Out
Expect to die! You will die and die and die and then die some more!!! This is NOT and easy game!
It took me, an experienced gamer, about 10 hours and 20 deaths to start getting kills without
dying. Contrary to what the media for this game - and even the game makers - might say, it is
NOT a survival game, not by a long shot! If you want a survival game try Minecraft on hardcore
skill or Skyrim with a set of strict self imposed rules. When you spawn at the pod you'll have some clothing,
a map section (little chip looking thing) and a machete. Keep the machete, drag the map section onto the map SettlerMate box and put the clothes back into the pod, they are useless!
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
The Artifical Intelligence in theHunter: Primal is a bit off to say the least. If you have a cat
you'll understand what I'm about to say. A cat likes to pretend it hasn't seen a mouse, or the
treats you put down for it. It knows they are there but wants to act like "Ha! I found it!". This
is what the AI feels like in theHunter: Primal. By the time you hear a T-Rex or a Utahraptor it
already knows EXACLY where you are and it'll just pretend to wander around slowy but surely working
it's way to you! To that end hiding, throwing rocks and other diversionary tactics is probably
pointless, to say it's never worked for me. Espcially if you have already taken a shot at the
creature. Hit T-Rex in the eye from 200 odd meters and it'll normally run STRAIGHT at you and
bite your head off, once dead it'll proceed to stuff it's face on your corpse!
A rock, pick it up then throw it, you'll still die!
Loot
In the early part of the game, until you get to about level 20'ish, you are going to be reliant
on loot boxes so, to make sure you can survive do single player games and completely empty the boxes
each time you visit. You can force them to respawn (I only do this if I'm really short of ammo)
by walking away until the map marker has gone off the settlermate screen and waiting for a few minutes
then returning. I say do single player games because in multiplayer games people tend to only take
ammo so it's difficult to keep stocked up. Once you get to level 20 odd you can buy buckshot which is
the lowest kind of ammo I would call usefull!
Equipment
There is a variety of equipment in the game, most of which can be found in the loot crates and, once you reach the right level, can be bought in the in game shop.
After the recent update in Jan 2016 some equpiment has to be dropped by rare creatures (when you kill them they drop a crate) but once you've aquired it, it
stays in the shop.
In Game Shop
As you progress through the game you'll increase in level by getting XP for killing dino's. You'll also get paid, quite handsomely. When you die you'll
have the option to buy stuff from the in game shop. At first it'll only be bow, arrows, basic camo gear and basic medical gear but as you get to level 30, 40 and 50 you
can grab yourself much better, or, level dependent, top quality gear... A .700 Double Rifle and Ammo, Noble camo gear - I don't rate the camo gear in this game much, it doesn't seem
to make much difference to how easily animals spot you - and some other bits and bobs. I would advise you always stock up, never repsawn with just the default Machete, if you come a cross a pack of
velociraptors the machte will do fine, utahraptors ... that's a different story altogether. I normally stock up on a pump shotgun and 10 of each type of shotgun ammo plus anything else I might need.
Route
Once you are established in the game the lower class settlements aren't really worth the bother of visiting. They
generally only contain basic bows and arrows and low grade health items. You might find the odd bit of .44 ammo if
you are really lucky. To that end it is best to follow a route around the map visiting only the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tier
settlements. Sticking to a route such as the one laid out below will net you some decent gear and ammo, especially
when you come across lots of boxes inbetween the settlements.
- Site D
- Meteoralogical Control Station 1
- Sir Arthur's Folly (Compound Bow + Noble)
- Mt Sysiphys Research Station (.50 Rifle + Noble)
- Cape Trihorn
- Bushwack Meadows
- Skyfall Basin
- Site A
- Site Z
- Site B
- Madame Celest's Lab
- Site C
If you get killed or quit just start the route again from whereever is closest to your current position. The military sites do tend to be good for ammo and certain items are only found at certain settlements.
Video
Some footage grabbed from in game! Mostly kill shots but there is a typical T-Rex hunt included to give you an idea of what
hunting a T-Rex is really like! (it's low res because I have a really sloooooow upload speed on my connection)
Gallery
A gallery of some screen shots from theHunter: Primal:
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