A Guide to Getting Good
On the surface, Exoprimal might look like a mindless shooter, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. There’s actually a ton of nuance to its gameplay and a pretty high skill ceiling for each of its 10 exosuits. In fact, I could dedicate a separate guide to each individual exosuit. But you have to walk before you sprint headlong into the jaws of a T-Rex. So let’s get started with some tips and tricks to help your overall gameplay.
A copy of Exoprimal was provided by Capcom.
You can find a video version of this article on YouTube!
Tip Number 1: Pick Your Targets
There is an unwritten rule about which exosuits should target what Dinosaurs. But it’s an important one, especially during missions where you have to kill a certain number of specific dinosaurs. Every player can’t be everywhere at once and there are times when the team needs to split up their focus.
Flying Dinosaurs
Many exosuits have trouble targeting flying dinosaurs at all which can slow down the entire mission. Deadeye, Vigilant, and Nimbus are the best at bringing down flyers, followed by Kreiger using a missile swarm. If you’re playing one of those four exosuits, you need to switch priorities as soon they appear. A crafty Witch Doctor can also bring them to the ground with his bug zapper, especially as they exit the vortexes.
Sniper Neosaurs
Amid the chaos, Sniper Neosaurs often live outside the immediate awareness of most players, but deal a lot of damage, especially to the squishier exosuits. When playing as Vigiliant, these should be your number one priority. Failing that, Deadeye and Nimbus should target them, or a Zephyr can break from the front line and hunt them down.
Large Dinosaurs
Zephyr, Murasame, Barrage, Vigilant, and Deadeye are the most effective at taking down the large dinosaurs when they are able to focus on that task. This means that Roadblock should be trying to hold the large dinosaur’s attention, while other exosuits hold back the swarms.
The Swarms
During a fight with a large dinosaur, not every exosuit should be focused on attacking that dinosaur unless it’s the only target. Keeping the swarms off of your other damage dealers so they can stay focused is far more effective. These roles fall to Krieger, Nimbus, Witch Doctor, and sometimes Barrage, Deadeye, or Zephyr. Kreiger can single handly hold back swarms with his minigun and bubble, Nimbus has one of the best crowd-clearing abilities in the game with spread shot, Witch Doctor can stun a bunch of them at once and the assault classes excel at dealing with hordes, aside from Vigilant.
Tip Number 2: Understand the Exosuits
Whether you play all of the exosuits, or just main a couple of them, you need to understand how they work so that you can mesh with your teammates and know how to approach the enemy exosuits. I’ll run through some key points for each.
Roadblock
Roadblock should almost never punch the smaller swarms, it doesn’t deal enough damage to kill them outright and just scatters them, making it harder for the damage dealers to nuke them. Roadblock should stuff himself in choke points and allow the hordes to pile up on his shield, making them easy to blow up. failing that, he can taunt the hordes to him which allows his team to take them out as they pile on him.
If there is a roadblock on your team, you should NEVER be in front of him, even if you’re a melee Exosuit. Stand just behind his shield and let him bring the fight to you.
Murasame
Murasame has a counter move that deals a ton of damage and temporarily buffs himself when he uses it. Most players use this ability completely wrong in both PvE and PvP. You should never just stand there in counter stance waiting for enough damage to trigger it. If you’re waiting, you messed up, pull out of the stance and continue fighting. You need to time that stance to trigger within a second of you pushing the button. Treat it like a parry, rather than a block.
If you have a Murasame on the team, you need to be aware of how your abilities impact his counter timing. As Witch Doctor, you need to stay away from him altogether, as the paralyzing effect of your bug zapper will cause him to mistime the counter. Likewise, Skywave should be wary of dropping gravity wells in front of him.
Nimbus
Nimbus’s hologram actually revives downed players if it runs into them, use it to pick up your teammates while focusing you’re healing and damage elsewhere, it’s not just a simple teleportation move. Additionally, Nimbus also deals great damage and has a long range. She is a switch hitter and should be used as one, never staying in a single mode for the whole game.
Krieger
Krieger isn’t as straightforward as his giant minigun would imply. His minigun is made for crowd control. In most instances, he should be focused on holding back the hordes of smaller dinosaurs rather than attacking the larger ones. The exception is his missiles can help stun them.
Kreiger’s bubble shield can stave off small dinosaurs for a bit and while larger ones will break it, it does cause them to flinch when they do. You should strive to never waste your bubble shield. It has countless applications from protecting your Vigilants, Witch Doctors, or defense points, to blocking choke points and holding back swarms. With a Krieger on your team, you should be fighting from inside the bubble, not outside it.
Barrage
Roadblock is your best friend, allow him to draw in the hordes, or let them pile up on his shield and then blow them up all at once. Depending on your team composition, you may need to switch focus when the big dinosaurs appear. If the swarms are breaking through and slowing the whole process down, focus on them for a while.
You can also launch yourself in the air by standing on your remote bombs before detonating them, which gives you extra mobility. Also bear in mind, that the Baryonyx swarms are immune to your fire.
Skywave
Since Skywave can practically fly you have a couple of distinct advantages. You rarely have to worry about dinosaurs aside from pteranodons or Snipers (both of which will rip you up fast) and you have a bird’s eye view of the battle.
In addition to healing, you should time your gravity wells at the right moments to pull the largest number of swarms together to be destroyed by your team. You might also consider taking a more vocal role, either with your microphone or by pinging. You are much more aware of what’s happening and can call out targets to your team.
Witch Doctor
Don’t get overly reliant on your area heal. You need to keep your eyes peeled for an injured teammate and dive in to use your close-range quick-heal. It’s also important to note that you aren’t trying to kill anything.
Your bug zapper quickly stuns smaller dinosaurs and that needs to be your intention, figure out where and what needs paralyzing for your team to deal with. Don’t be afraid of PvP either, zapping enemies is shockingly effective. Especially if you jump in with a healing circle amid your Murasame and Zephyr allies.
Vigilant
You need to be a lot farther back from your team to be the most effective. However, don’t make the mistake of going up high, unless it’s to snipe enemy players. Vigilants’ charge shots pierce through multiple enemies, if you perch up high you will only hit the one you’re aiming at and then the ground. Skywave tends to be you’re friend as they are likely the only support to actually notice you being so far back. Do them a favor and keep the Pteradons off of them.
Try to be deliberate with your charged shots. When you’re forced to be up close, don’t try to snipe, use your burst shot to fight the hordes and provide some utility by freezing the larger dinosaurs. Keep in mind, the Suchomimus swarms are immune to being frozen.
Zephyr
Zephyr is definitely newbie bait and is by far the most misplayed exosuit. He is a speedy damage dealer that explodes if so much as a light breeze hits them. You have many jobs such as dealing damage to large dinosaurs and hunting down enemy players (Vigilants and Supports in particular) but you’re also something of a bodyguard. Being the fastest member of the team means you can close in and help out the Supports and Vigilants when they get swarmed.
One cool trick you should be using against the larger dinosaurs is to get an angle on a Gas Neosaur and then slam into them with a linear strike. You will slam them into the big dinosaur for a lot of damage and sometimes a stun.
As much as you think you should, you do not need to run in front of Roadblock’s shield, stop it. Also, you deal a lot more damage when you’re alive, so use your dash move to dodge the attacks of large dinosaurs rather than simply mash the attack button over and over again.
Deadeye
Deadeye is an all-rounder in every sense of the word. He can deal damage to big dinosaurs, clear swarms, and wreck other players. One of his main strengths is his ability to adapt on the fly depending on the team’s composition. If your team has a Krieger, focus on the large dinosaurs. If you lack crowd control, fight off the swarms instead. You also have the ability to easily switch your focus to flying dinosaurs, or snipers.
By equipping the shield rig, Deadeye can even function as an off-tank, and letting a horde pile up on the shield and then blast them away with a powered thrust is really effective.
Deadeye’s long range means you can also turn around to help out a friendly Vigilant if a swarm gets to her. You should also be one of the most aggressive members of your team when it comes to PvP.
Tip Number 3: Understand Attack & Defense
How some of the objectives work can be a little obtuse in Exoprimal which makes it even less clear how they should be approached. The unique blend of PvP & PvE can further muddy the waters. I’ll run through some general principles.
Area Defense
Plenty of otherwise good players completely drop the ball during area defense. The glowing square zone needs four players inside for maximum effect. This does leave a fifth person free to exit the area, and you definitely should take advantage of that, as fewer dinosaurs in the small confines of the area usually means less player death and less damage to the point you’re protecting.
The player fighting outside of the zone should almost always be Roadblock or Murasame, if neither of them are available, Zephyr can go and disrupt the swarms. Once the big dinosaurs spawn it is crucial to handle them correctly, and the player who is able to leave the zone may shift.
You want the big dinosaurs OUTSIDE the zone, not inside it. This ideally means that Roadblock or Murasame taunts them away from it. They should never EVER draw them to the zone. If neither one is on your team, whoever the big dinosaur is angry at, should bail out a bit and lure it away from the zone while the other four remain and support them. Once it switches its attention to another player, swap in and out.
A large dinosaur in such a confined space is very dangerous and can lead to the entire collapse of the team as people get downed and batted around, which prevents them from stopping the swarming dinosaurs from coming in.
Data Transport
With Data Transport, only three players need to be near the cube for it to move the fastest. This frees up two other players. Ideally, two players need to go and harass the other team while three defend. However, it’s crucial that the attacking players ensure the cube is gonna be okay before they leave. Some swarms are harder to deal with than others, and not all team compositions are viable for them.
The attacking Exosuits should be any combination of Deadeye, Vigilant, Zephyr, Barrage, Murasame, and Nimbus. However, Nimbus should not go if they are the teams only support. The other tanks should never go, at least until the cubes are much closer together.
When attacking, try to time your assault to coincide with a large wave of dinosaurs, however, be very careful not to actually draw the dinosaur’s attention or slaughter them, or you will actually be helping the enemy team. Aim to take out the supports and assaults, but don’t sleep on the cube itself, destroying it can slow down the enemy team a great deal.
When protecting your own cube, keep an eye behind you, raptors and pteranodons like to sneak around and latch on to its back, and you might not always notice them. If you’re playing Krieger, it can be helpful to deploy your barrier out in front of the cube instead of directly on it, so it will protect from frontal attacks longer before the cube exits its protection.
On some maps, you can see the enemy’s cube early on. Vigilant players should take advantage of this opportunity to harass the enemy without ever leaving their cube.
VTOL Defense
VTOL Defense is a bit different from your standard defense missions. You have to protect the VTOL from damage, but there isn’t a set area you need to remain in. In this instance, you shouldn’t actually huddle around the VTOL. The hordes tend to spawn further off and there are often choke points you can utilize, especially if you have a Roadblock or Krieger.
Use the map to your advantage rather than allowing the swarms to form a hodgepodge of chaos around the VTOL.
Tip Number 4: Dominators
It’s pretty easy to view Dominators as a big stompy mindless power-up, but it’s pretty easy to completely waste them, and as the player base improves at the game, that will become more common. Using the dominator at the correct time is the most crucial part of being effective with them.
Essentially you don’t want the entire enemy team to be able to focus on you. If they have their overdrives ready, you will melt in an instant. In a PvP situation, the best time to use a dominator is when your team is attacking. For example, in Data Cube, use it as an ally is going over to attack.
In a PvE situation, you need to time it to coincide with a nasty horde or other large dinosaurs, that way the team’s attention is split between them and you. It’s difficult to focus on the dominator when there’s another trike, carno, or rex breathing down their neck.
Once you use the dominator, don’t just spam your main attack, you have to fight smart just like in any other situation. Most players expect you to charge straight ahead and spam, you would be surprised how many you catch off guard just by changing direction or using an alternate attack.
One common tactic I use is to aim for the supports first, then peel off to attack another. However, most of the time someone will attempt to revive the player you downed. Instead of going for the kill on your second target, use it as a feint, whip around, and take down the one that inevitably went for the revive.
Final Thoughts
This guide is meant to offer a baseline level of strategic effectiveness, but the nature of Exoprimal means there is rarely a one size fits all situation. For example, a Zephyr that uses the melee enhancer mod is much stronger against large dinosaurs, but far less effective at dealing with swarms, and that can change your given role on the team.
You also always have the ability to switch both, Exosuits and rig mid-mission, don’t be afraid to do so if the situation becomes less efficient for you.
In any case, hopefully, you find these tips helpful. If the demand is there, I’ll put out more specialized in-depth guides for Exoprimal. Happy dino hunting!
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