Guides
How To Increase the ARK: Survival Evolved Server Difficulty Level
ARK Difficulty Level – Introduction
As you take different approaches with your friends on the maps in ARK: Survival Evolved you’ll uncover hopeless ravines, great valleys, and swampy mangroves in the search for hidden discoveries and rare loot to further advance your ARK adventure! In searching for the ultimate challenge to enhance your ARK journey, increasing the ARK difficulty level offers much more difficult creatures with the benefit of improved loot to make for a hard but very rewarding time for you and your fellow ARK comrades as you play together!
By adjusting two quick options on an ARK server, the server difficulty can be adjusted slightly for minor changes or set to the max to offer an insane survival experience for everyone playing on your server. Take a ride on the back of our Triceratops as we explore and learn how to increase your ARK difficulty level on your own ARK server!
How to Change Your ARK Difficulty Level
- Enter your ARK server control panel.
- In the left navigation bar under “SETTINGS”, press the “General” option.
- In your ARK settings, scroll down until you see the ARK difficultly level settings “Difficulty Offset” and “Override official difficulty”.
- Adjust both of these options, increasing their values to increase the ARK server difficulty.
- In our example, we are setting the “Difficulty Offset” to 1 and “Override official difficulty” to 4 which will give us creatures at a maximum level of 120 with 400% loot. Below, we will explain how these settings work and provide a chart to help you with changing these options.
- After making those adjustments, press “Save changes” at the bottom of your settings page and then restart your ARK server.
- Lastly, all non-tamed dinosaurs currently on your server will need to be wiped to allow for higher-level dinosaurs to spawn. Make yourself an admin on your ARK server and then run this command to clear the dinosaurs off of your server:
cheat DestroyWildDinos
The ARK difficulty level on your server will now be ready to challenge your players and bring them better rewards in return!
Setting the Correct Levels for Your ARK Server
The ARK difficulty level including the maximum level of creatures and the loot scaling percentage are all based on the values set for the “Difficulty Offset” and “Override official difficulty” and so adjusting these to fit the correct difficulty for your server is important.
An easy method to setting the correct values for these options is to first change the “Difficulty Offset” to 1.0. Then determine what you’d like the maximum creature level to be divided by 10. Change the “Override official difficulty” to that value. As an example, if we were looking to set the maximum level to 200, we can set the Difficulty Offset to 1.0 and the Difficulty official override to 5.
ARK Difficulty Level Chart
To ensure you can set the correct ARK difficulty level for your server, this chart provides examples so that you can scale your server difficulty to the exact level you and your ARK players prefer as you adventure together! If the difficulty level is too hard, you are able to adjust the level and wipe dinosaurs to change that.
| Maximum Creature Level | Loot Scale | Override Official Difficulty | Difficulty Offset – The Island |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 50.00% | 0.5 | 0.01 |
| 30 | 100.00% | 1 | 0.1428 |
| 45 | 150.00% | 1.5 | 0.2857 |
| 60 | 200.00% | 2 | 0.4285 |
| 75 | 250.00% | 2.5 | 0.5714 |
| 90 | 300.00% | 3 | 0.7142 |
| 105 | 350.00% | 3.5 | 0.8571 |
| 120 | 400.00% | 4 | 1.0 |
| 150 | 500.00% | 5 | 1.2857 |
| 180 | 600.00% | 6 | 1.5714 |
| 210 | 700.00% | 7 | 1.8571 |
| 240 | 800.00% | 8 | 2.1428 |
| 270 | 900.00% | 9 | 2.4285 |
| 300 | 1000.00% | 10 | 2.7142 |
Enjoy ARK with Friends on Different Difficulties
ARK offers an endless variety of different experiences to be had with different maps, mods, and most importantly the settings that let you change and evolve your server! ARK difficulty level is one of the most vital of those settings, ensuring you and your companions can enjoy the experience to the fullest whether that’s an easier challenge or changing the difficulty to be brutal. In only a few short seconds, use your custom server panel to modify the difficulty of your ARK: Survival Evolved server and experience a whole new level of fun!
FAQ – ARK Difficulty Settings and Configuration
How do I change the difficulty on my ARK server?
To change the difficulty, log into your server’s control panel and go to Settings > General. Locate the two key settings:
- Difficulty Offset
- Override Official Difficulty
Set Difficulty Offset to 1.0 for full scaling and then choose a number for Override Official Difficulty based on your desired max wild dino level. For example, setting Override Official Difficulty = 5 results in level 150 max creatures. After making changes, click Save Changes, restart your server, and use the command cheat DestroyWildDinos to remove all existing wild creatures so new ones can spawn with the updated levels.
What’s the difference between Difficulty Offset and Override Official Difficulty in ARK?
- Difficulty Offset adjusts the base scaling of creature levels. The default is usually 0.2.
- Override Official Difficulty directly sets the max level of wild creatures by multiplying it by 30.
To get accurate difficulty scaling, set Difficulty Offset to 1.0 and use Override Official Difficulty as the main controller. For example, Override = 4 leads to max wild levels of 120, and Override = 5 enables level 150 creatures.
How does ARK determine loot quality and creature level based on difficulty?
Both creature levels and loot quality scale together with the difficulty settings. Higher Override Official Difficulty values lead to:
- Stronger, higher-level wild dinosaurs
- Better quality loot drops from supply crates and bosses
A level 150 max dino setting (Override = 5) corresponds to 500% loot quality. This makes difficulty tuning ideal for balancing challenge with reward.
What’s the best difficulty setting for multiplayer ARK servers?
Most multiplayer ARK communities prefer using Difficulty Offset = 1.0 and Override Official Difficulty = 5 to spawn up to level 150 creatures. This provides a well-balanced experience, especially for PvP and PvE environments. For more intense survival, you can push the override higher (e.g., 6, 8, or 10)—just ensure players are prepared for the tougher wildlife and risks.
I increased difficulty but still see low-level dinos. Why?
Changing difficulty doesn’t affect existing creatures. After updating your server settings, run the in-game admin command:
cheat DestroyWildDinosThis will wipe all untamed wild creatures. The server will then begin spawning new dinos at the new difficulty level cap based on your settings.
How do I increase the level cap of wild dinos using difficulty settings?
You increase the wild dino cap by setting a higher Override Official Difficulty. For example, setting it to 6 spawns wild dinos up to level 180 (6 × 30). This is the standard method to scale wild creature levels without editing experience or level curves in Game.ini.
Where are ARK difficulty settings saved on my Nitrado server?
Difficulty settings are stored in the GameUserSettings.ini file. On a Nitrado server, these can be adjusted either through the Web Interface (General Settings tab) or manually via Expert Mode > File Browser > GameUserSettings.ini.
ARK Difficulty Level – Introduction
- How to Change Your ARK Difficulty Level
- Setting the Correct Levels for Your ARK Server
- ARK Difficulty Level Chart
Enjoy ARK with Friends on Different Difficulties
FAQ – ARK Difficulty Settings and Configuration
- How do I change the difficulty on my ARK server?
- What’s the difference between Difficulty Offset and Override Official Difficulty in ARK?
- How does ARK determine loot quality and creature level based on difficulty?
- What’s the best difficulty setting for multiplayer ARK servers?
- I increased difficulty but still see low-level dinos. Why?
- How do I increase the level cap of wild dinos using difficulty settings?
- Where are ARK difficulty settings saved on my Nitrado server?
