The Wolf boss in the Primal Lord challenge in AFK Journey
Screenshot by Dot Esports

AFK Journey: Primal Lord complete guide

The Primal Lord is the most generous event in AFK Journey.

Fighting a Primal Lord in AFK Journey is a great way to get lots of Training Manuals for hero experience, as well as Diamonds and Essence from a fairly easy fight. The best heroes to use depend on the Primal Lord you’re fighting.

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Best heroes to use against the Primal Lord in AFK Journey

The best heroes to use against the Primal Lord in AFK Journey depend on which boss you’re fighting. So far, only the giant wolf Lone Gaze and the winged beast Alpha Bear have been revealed, and it’s unclear if a third Primal Lord is coming in the future.

Best characters to beat Alpha Bear

TankDamageSupportUtility
ThoranValaKokoRowan
LuciusCeciaSmokey & MeerkyLyca
AntandraFlorabelleReinierKorin
Screenshots by Dot Esports

My best team against Alpha Bear consisted of Thoran, Odie, Vala, Florabelle, and Cecia. With this lineup at level 150 and only Vala at Mythic tier, I managed to inflict almost two million damage on Alpha Bear and ranked in the top 200 players on my server on the first day.

Use only one melee hero because of Alpha Bear’s third skill, which pours honey on heroes adjacent to itself. Since its ultimate deals massive damage once all five heroes are covered in honey, it’s crucial to ensure no more than one hero is hit by these skills at any given time. That’s why you’ll mostly use ranged heroes throughout this fight.

While my best attempt included Vala, Cecia, and Florabelle as ranged carries, you should also consider testing heroes like Marilee and Odie, especially if they are at Legendary+ or Mythic+. In this fight, it’s more important to use your strongest ranged heroes rather than sticking to a specific composition.

The healing heroes on this list are not there for their healing capabilities, but for their buffs. Alpha Bear’s honey significantly reduces the healing your allies receive, and there’s no way to avoid it. The fight will likely end with all your heroes marked by honey. That’s why we choose heroes like Smokey & Meerky, Koko, or Reinier, who also increase the damage of allies they interact with and can keep them healthy before they are hit by honey.

In terms of utility, we aim to select characters who enhance either the damage or survivability of our allies. Rowan is exceptional for generating more Ultimates during the match, while Lyca can enhance the damage of ranged heroes, and Korin can shield our weakest allies to compensate for the healing debuffs.

Best characters to beat Lone Gaze

TankDamageHealingUtility
Thoran Odie Smokey & Meerky Rowan
Kruger Vala Koko Niru
Lucius Shakir Hewynn Korin
Screenshots by Dot Esports

Your goal against Lone Gaze is to have all five characters stay alive throughout the entire fight. This way, you’ll deny it the defensive buff it gains from killing your heroes, which otherwise will make you deal way less damage to the boss. That’s why heroes with constant healing like Smokey & Meerky and Hewynn work so well, since they keep your team alive for long periods. I highly recommend you pair them with another support or utility hero, like Rowan, so they can use their Ultimates often and guarantee the health of your squad.

I personally found my best team to be Thoran, Kruger, Odie, Koko, and Rowan, with decent damage output and good sustain through Koko’s life drain and Rowan’s potions. I also did a few runs with Shakir and Vala as the damage carries instead, but I dealt about the same damage as with the original composition.

What is the Primal Lord in AFK Journey?

Lone Gaze standing in the Dark Forest in AFK Journey, showing its fangs.
Lone Gaze in the overworld. Screenshot by Dot Esports

The Primal Lord is an AFK Journey server boss with a massive health bar that players can fight three times per day. Each fight allows players to contribute damage and work together to defeat the boss as every player’s damage accumulates. The damage you deal adds to that of other players in your server until the health bar hits zero and the boss is defeated.

Every player who has fought the Primal Lord at least once will receive bonus rewards once it’s defeated, and the quicker the players in the server defeat the boss, the better the rewards everyone receives.

How to unlock and where to find the Primal Lord in AFK Journey

The AFK Journey Dark Forest map showing a big indicator of the Lone Gaze location.
Primal Lord is in Dark Forest 5. Screenshot by Dot Esports

You encounter the Lone Gaze Primal Lord in the Dark Forest Five area, which is part of the regular story progression. Your hero resonance level should be between 90 and 100. You will find the Primal Lord in the southeast part of Dark Forest Five, near the eastern border of the land. Walk up to it to reveal the Battle icon and tap it to start setting up your fight. Unlike the Dream Realm bosses, you must walk to the Primal Lord on the world map to initiate the fight; you cannot start the battle automatically.

Alpha Bear is in Vaduso Mountains Five, and you’ll most likely reach this point around resonance level 150. You can also fight it by walking up to it and interacting with its model.

Every known Primal Lord and their attacks in AFK Journey

Alpha Bear attacks

SkillDescription
UltimateSummons a swarm to attack the enemy covered in honey. When all enemies are marked, the power of the swarm will be enhanced.
Skill OneThrows honey to mark an enemy.
Skill TwoPours honey on himself to mark the enemies in adjacent tiles. If there are no enemies nearby, a powerful earthquake will be unleashed.
Skill ThreeMakes and pulls a Terraball to deal damage to all enemies in its path.

Lone Gaze attacks

SkillDescription
UltimatePeriodically, the mist shrouds the Wolf King in battle, allowing him to summon wolf packs to attack mist-covered enemies. The Wolf King has a chance to dodge attacks within the mist.
Skill OneCharges towards the farthest target and strike. Summons spectral wolves to attack the farthest target when the mist exists.
Skill TwoDeals damage twice to the targets within a one-tile arc. Then, deals damage to the enemies within one tile and inflicts an interruption effect.
Skill ThreeGains stat boost when defeating a non-summoned enemy.

Primal Lord rewards in AFK Journey

Every Primal Lord offers three kinds of rewards:

  • Individual rewards, which are given after each attack against the boss and depend on your own performance against it
  • Server rewards, which are given to all players who fought the Primal Lord, but only after the boss is defeated. The amount is based on how many days the server took to collectively defeat the boss.
  • Ranking rewards, given to players who deal the most damage to the Primal Lord in a single attempt.

Individual rewards

  • Training Manuals (experience points)
  • Gold
  • Essence
  • Equipment chests

Server rewards

  • Diamonds
  • Equipment Chests
  • Invite Letters
  • Soulstone (A-Level)
  • Essence
  • Singular Title (boss-related)

Ranking rewards

  • Ranks 1-20: 10 Twilight Essence, Frame, special Singular Title, and their names permanently recorded in the Eternal Inscription.
  • Ranks 21-50: eight Twilight Essence, Frame.
  • Ranks 51-100: six Twilight Essence, Frame.
  • Ranks 101-200: four Twilight Essence, Frame.

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Author
Bhernardo Viana
Guides writer and strategist working in the gaming industry for over 9 years, with works published on Destructoid, Prima Games, ESPN, and more. A fan of Pokémon since I was 6 and an avid Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch player. Now hooked by Balatro and working on AFK Journey.