Primal Beast counter and synergy picks
Pick Primal Beast with Wraith King to increase win-rate from 47.2% to 52.7% or against Bristleback to increase win-rate to 55.4% in Patch 7.39c.
Good with...
...based on stats [7.39c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▼ |
|---|---|
5.6% | |
4.2% | |
3.7% | |
3.6% | |
3.6% | |
3.6% | |
3.6% | |
3.5% | |
3.4% | |
3.4% | |
3.4% | |
3.3% | |
3.3% | |
3.3% | |
3.2% |
...based on gameplay [7.39c]
Snapfire’s Mortimer Kisses follow up Primal Beast’s Pulverize perfectly. The lockdown from Pulverize gives time for all kisses to land. Both heroes excel at controlling large teamfights with high Area of effect damage. They dominate midgame engagements when paired.
Grimstroke's Soulbind synergizes with Primal Beast’s Onslaught and Trample. Double Onslaughts and Pulverizes crush enemy backlines. Ink Swell turns Primal Beast into a blinking bomb of crowd control. Their pairing is excellent for picking off two heroes simultaneously.
Primal Beast pulls enemies into Bramble Maze with Onslaught. Terrorize sets up a perfect combo into Trample and Pulverize. Dark Willow provides defensive counterplay while Primal Beast dives. They work best in chaotic teamfight settings with lots of vision.
Tusk protects Primal Beast’s dives with Snowball and Ice Shards. They both excel at tower dives and early skirmishes. Tusk sets up Pulverize by locking down enemies in place. Their synergy thrives in fast-paced aggressive drafts.
Dazzle’s Shallow Grave prevents Primal Beast from dying mid-Trample. Shadow Wave heals during brawls, enhancing his sustain. Poison Touch adds damage over time during chaotic engagements. Dazzle enables Primal Beast to stay longer in extended fights.
Frost Shield reduces incoming damage while Primal Beast dives into enemies. Chain Frost bounces around while Pulverize locks enemies down. The slows from Lich’s kit help Trample connect more hits. Lich provides great backline stability during dives.
Vengeful Spirit sets up kills with Magic Missile that lead into Onslaught. Her Wave of Terror amplifies Trample and Sun Ray damage. If Primal Beast overcommits, Vengeful Spirit can swap him out. They both work well in pick-off centric lineups.
Centaur’s Stampede allows Primal Beast to reposition or re-engage. Double front-line heroes with crowd control dominate lanes. Centaur tanks hits while Primal Beast provides most of the damage. Together, they collapse onto squishy heroes with ease.
Pugna’s Decrepify enables Primal Beast to survive burst while diving. Life Drain sustains him while enemies are held by Pulverize. Pugna’s Nether Blast clears waves alongside Trample. Their pairing overwhelms weak early-game defenses.
Clockwerk traps enemies with Power Cogs, keeping them in Trample’s path. Hookshot initiates chaos where Primal Beast excels. Rocket Flare provides vision for Onslaught angles. Clockwerk supports Primal Beast’s dive-heavy tempo excellently.
...core items [7.39c]
A core 
Boots of Speed upgrade to boost damage and tankiness while allowing you to close the gap on enemy heroes and stay on top of them during Trample with the Phase active.
A core item that helps with mana sustain to spam Onslaught and Trample for fighting and farming. Also makes you tanky with armor and HP pool.
A core item that uses your high HP pool to reflect damage back to enemy heroes. When you choose to build Blade Mail, get it as your first major item and rush 
Black King Bar or 
Eternal Shroud afterwards to make it more effective.
A core item that lets you avoid most disables and silences on the enemy team to maintain your Pulverize channel and not get kited during Trample. Also improves your right click damage and tankiness through HP pool and magic resistance.
A core mobility item to quickly close the gap on enemy heroes and lock them down with Pulverize. Gives you much more reliable initiation and have versatility with Onslaught usage.
An upgrade for 
Veil of Discord that gives you tankiness with armor and reduces healing in an AoE around you. Works well against illusions and summons along with your AoE damage spells. Also increases the outgoing damage of all your spells.
A core item to significantly increase your damage output in teamfights and have the break effect for passive abilities and innates on enemy heroes.
A late game pick up primarily for a second Pulverize and
Black King Bar charge. Lets you stun lock and delete an enemy core in fights if they cannot cancel your ultimate through BKB.
A core
Boots of Speed upgrade that provides some much needed mana sustain to spam your spells for fighting and farming. Can be upgraded to 
Guardian Greaves later in the game.
A core item to have another long range disable on enemy heroes with Rock Throw. Also lets you clear creep waves safely and reliably.
Good against...
...based on stats [7.39c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▼ |
|---|---|
8.2% | |
7.5% | |
7.4% | |
7.3% | |
5.7% | |
5.2% | |
5.2% | |
4.8% | |
4.5% | |
4.3% | |
4.1% | |
4.0% | |
3.9% | |
3.7% | |
3.7% |
...based on gameplay [7.39c]
Primal Beast can outmuscle Earth Spirit in early skirmishes. Onslaught punishes Earth Spirit’s slow repositioning and channels. Earth Spirit cannot interrupt Pulverize once he is caught. Primal Beast snowballs hard through Earth Spirit’s weak laning phase.
Razor struggles to Static Link Primal Beast due to his mobility. Onslaught cancels Razor’s attempts to position and link efficiently. Primal Beast outtrades Razor early due to high damage spells. Trample easily bypasses Razor’s movement-based defense style.
Sniper has no defensive tools to escape Onslaught initiation. Primal Beast closes the gap quickly, preventing Sniper from outputting damage. Pulverize locks Sniper down for guaranteed kill combos. Sniper becomes food without heavy front-line or crowd control.
Trample outdamages Troll Warlord during his early laning phase. Pulverize disables Troll Warlord before he can ramp up damage. Troll Warlord cannot handle the lockdown once caught. Primal Beast punishes him if he uses Battle Trance too late.
Primal Beast’s spells break Pangolier’s momentum in fights. Onslaught and Trample bypass Pangolier’s mobility tricks. Pulverize interrupts Rolling Thunder and any escape attempts. In sustained brawls, Primal Beast simply outdamages and outcontrols him.
Spectre is a slow-scaling carry that struggles against early aggression. Primal Beast forces fights constantly before Spectre is ready. Trample destroys her in lane while Pulverize denies escapes. Spectre cannot fight back without farm or backup.
Primal Beast has higher burst and scaling damage than Axe early on. Onslaught dodges Berserker’s Call and avoids counterattacks. Trample and Pulverize deal more reliable damage in skirmishes. Axe gets outpaced quickly if he cannot snowball.
Pugna’s squishy frame makes him a free kill for Onslaught and Trample. Nether Ward is ineffective against physical-based Primal Beast spells. Pulverize disrupts channeling of Life Drain or Decrepify plays. Pugna’s support potential is nullified in close-range fights.
Primal Beast destroys Treants and escapes Sprout easily with Onslaught. Nature’s Prophet has no way to stop Pulverize without items. He is vulnerable to early ganks and lane pressure from Primal Beast. Trample clears waves and punishes split-push hard.
Primal Beast outdamages Spirit Breaker in every phase of the game. Onslaught and Charge of Darkness collide, but Primal Beast always wins the trade. Pulverize is more reliable than Spirit Breaker’s bashes. In a head-to-head duel, Primal Beast wins decisively.
Bad against...
...based on stats [7.39c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▲ |
|---|---|
-5.3% | |
-4.9% | |
-4.6% | |
-4.6% | |
-4.4% | |
-4.4% | |
-3.9% | |
-3.5% | |
-3.4% | |
-3.3% | |
-2.9% | |
-2.9% | |
-2.7% | |
-2.7% | |
-2.7% |
...based on gameplay [7.39c]
Anti-Mage blinks out of Onslaught and avoids Trample entirely. Mana Break weakens Primal Beast’s ability to spam spells. Pulverize is hard to land reliably due to Anti-Mage’s mobility. In late game, Anti-Mage outscales and deletes Primal Beast effortlessly.
Undying out-sustains Primal Beast in early fights with Decay spam. Tombstone forces Primal Beast to reposition instead of diving. Undying’s tanky build slows down Primal Beast’s snowball potential. Teamfighting against Undying becomes difficult without backup.
Doom completely disables Primal Beast’s entire kit during fights. Once Doomed, Primal Beast cannot Trample, Pulverize, or escape. Doom’s tanky presence also survives Primal Beast’s burst. One well-timed ultimate can shut down Primal Beast’s game plan.
Spirit Siphon heals through Trample and punishes Primal Beast’s aggression. Exorcism zones him out of objectives where he excels. Death Prophet outlasts him in every extended brawl. Primal Beast cannot break her scaling without assistance.
Outworld Destroyer banishes Primal Beast during Onslaught, wasting his initiation. Arcane Orb deals massive damage to his large mana pool. Pulverize is easy to interrupt with Astral Imprisonment. Outworld Destroyer wins mid lane and teamfights with ease.
Huskar shrugs off Primal Beast’s initial damage and punishes dives. Once his Burning Spear stacks build up, Primal Beast cannot fight back. Primal Beast’s long cast animations make him an easy target. Huskar dominates small-scale skirmishes.
Leech Seed slows and drains Primal Beast during his dive attempts. Living Armor slows down any attempts to snowball through towers. Treant Protector can lock Primal Beast in place with Overgrowth. He delays tempo and denies early objectives.
Grimstroke’s Ink Swell ruins Onslaught paths and punishes dive attempts. Soulbind disables Pulverize mid-cast and traps him with another target. Grimstroke’s long-range nukes chip away before Primal Beast can engage. Primal Beast struggles to find clean openings.
Zeus can poke from a distance while avoiding close contact. Primal Beast cannot punish Zeus’s low health if he ever gets close. Lightning Bolt cancels Blink Dagger and chips away at him constantly. Zeus snowballs while Primal Beast is forced to disengage.
Io sustains teammates through Primal Beast’s early combos. Relocate saves squishy cores from Pulverize. Overcharge buffs allies to out-damage Trample and Onslaught. Io hard counters Primal Beast’s burst timing and momentum.
...counter items [7.39c]
Helps you sustain HP and mana as Primal Beast frequently uses his spells to harass, secure last hits, and move around.
Gives you movement speed to kite Primal Beast and outrun him during Trample as well as dodge Onslaught. Also counters the movement slow from Uproar.
Gives you magic resistance to significantly reduce the damage taken from Primal Beast's magic heavy toolkit.
Provides magic resistance and reduces the damage dealt by Primal Beast from all his spells to nullify his burst potential.
Gives you and your team magic resistance and barrier to significantly reduce the damage taken from Primal Beast's magic heavy toolkit.
Lets you reflect damage back onto Primal Beast and potentially kill him from the massive burst from all his spells.
Gives you magic resistance to significantly reduce the damage taken from Primal Beast's magic heavy toolkit.
Gives you debuff immunity and magic resistance to avoid the Onslaught stun as well as reduce the damage taken from Primal Beast's magic heavy toolkit.
Lets you silence and kill Primal Beast in its duration without letting him get away through Onslaught or turn the fight with Pulverize.
Lets you stop the Onslaught charge by pushing Primal Beast with Hurricane Thrust. The distance also keeps you out of range of his other damage and control spells.
Reduces the duration of Pulverize and the Onslaught stun with status resistance.
Gives you magic resistance and barrier to significantly reduce the damage taken from Primal Beast's magic heavy toolkit as well as save yourself or an ally caught by his control spells.
Gives you a repositioning tool to kite Primal Beast and push yourself or an ally hero away from him during Trample as well as dodge Onslaught.
Gives you an instant silence and massive burst damage against Primal Beast to kill him before he can get away through Onslaught or turn the fight with Pulverize.
Gives you an instant disable against Primal Beast to burst him down in its duration before he can get away through Onslaught or turn the fight with Pulverize.
Helps lower Primal Beast's HP regen to reduce his tankiness as well as slow him down with Arctic Blast to keep him off you and your team during Trample.
Bad with...
...based on stats [7.39c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▲ |
|---|---|
-6.0% | |
-5.9% | |
-5.6% | |
-4.9% | |
-4.7% | |
-4.1% | |
-4.1% | |
-4.0% | |
-3.8% | |
-3.8% | |
-3.5% | |
-3.5% | |
-3.5% | |
-3.2% | |
-3.2% |
