ARK: Survival Evolved – How to Tame Dinosaurs

ARK – HOW TO TAME DINOSAURS GUIDE

ARK offers many grand adventures as players travel across new worlds meeting exciting creatures of all shapes and sizes. Some of these magnificent beasts include the deadliest dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus Rex, while others are gentle plant eaters like the Bulbdog. The dinosaurs encountered throughout your adventures can assist with nearly anything from fast travel to gathering items, and even fighting other creatures when they’re tamed and brought on your team.

Taming dinosaurs in ARK can be quite a complicated process depending on the dinosaur, where some creatures will need to be knocked out while others will need specific foods. Since every dinosaur and creature requires different methods to tame them, knowing the exact steps you’ll need to take to achieve the tames is vital. In the quest to tame them all, learn about taming and how you can tame your favorite dinosaurs for your ARK: Survival Evolved server!

ARK TAMING TYPES & HOW TO TAME DINPOSAURS USING THEM

KNOCK-OUT TAMING

1. 1. Start by knocking the creature unconscious. There are various methods you can use to accomplish this in ARK: Survival Evolved:

1. 1. • Hit the creature with your hands and other equipment, including a slingshot, wooden club, electric prod, bow, crossbow, compound bow with tranquilizer arrows, harpoon launcher with tranquilizer spear bolts, and a longneck rifle with tranquilizer darts or shocking tranquilizer darts.
      • Bite the creature with a Basilisk or Titanoboa tame.
      • Kick the creature with an Equus or Unicorn tame.
      • Head-butt the creature with a Pachy tame.
      • Sting the creature with a Scorpion tame.
      • Shock the creature with an Electrophorus tame.
      • You can continue punching a creature while it is unconscious to increase its torpor. Doing this will lower that creature’s taming effectiveness.
   2. After knocking out the creature, open that creature’s inventory and feed it the correct food by placing that food within its inventory. You’ll then need to wait for the creature to eat that food. Continue to give that creature food throughout the taming and ensure the food never runs out. If the food runs out at any point during the taming process, the taming bar will begin to go down until it’s fed food again.

1. • Creatures will raise their head to eat, indicating their taming bar is increasing.
   • A creature will only eat once it becomes hungry enough.
   • If that creature’s favorite food is within its inventory and the creature is not yet hungry, once it is hungry it will eat that food rather than eat anything else.
   • The creature Royal Griffin is an exception to the normal rules, requiring that a survivor meet its requirements before it will eat the food placed inside its inventory. Those requirements are that your survivor needs to be level 95 or higher, you’ll need to wear a Gold Crown, or you’ll need to have the same surname as the Royal Griffin and your survivor will need to be level 40 or over.
2. The creature will need to be kept unconscious throughout the taming process. You can use narcoberries or narcotics to refill a creature’s torpor, increasing the time that creature is knocked out. Narcoberries and narcotics require force feeding by using the following keys/buttons while hovering over those items in the inventory of that creature:
   • PC keyboard: E key
   • Xbox One controller: Y button
   • PlayStation controller: Triangle button

NON-VIOLENT TAMING

In ARK, many of the creatures you’ll encounter can be tamed and brought on your team without using violent methods. When you first begin a non-violent tame, feeding that creature links that tame to the Survivor or their tribe. This link allows the creature’s hunger to start dropping so that you can continue to give the creature food throughout the taming process. From there, taming effectiveness and the progress gained from taming will only drop if that creature takes damage or begins to die of starvation. While taming, if you move too far from the tame during the start of the taming process, this can result in the tame unlinking and resetting all taming progress. Now that you know the basics, it’s time to tame the non-violent creatures of ARK!

Below you’ll learn how to tame ARK dinosaurs non-violently, including a list of those creatures tamed without using violence and their favorite foods:

1. 1. To begin a non-violent tame, place their food in the very right slot of your item hotbar.
      • Araneo | Spoiled Meat
      • Arthropluera | Broth of Enlightenment
      • Basilosaurus | Exceptional Kibble
      • Chalicotherium | Beer
      • Charged Light creatures | Plant Species Z Seed from the Aberration DLC
        • Bulbdog | Aquatic Mushroom
        • Featherlight | Auric Mushroom
        • Glowtail | Ascerbic Mushroom
        • Shinehorn | Aggeravic Mushroom
      • Crystal Wyvern | Primal Crystal from the Crystal Isles DLC
      • Diplodocus | Regular Kibble
      • Dung Beetle | Feces
      • Giant Bee | Simple Kibble
      • Gigantopithecus | Regular Kibble
      • Ichthyosaurus | Simple Kibble
      • Lystrosaurus | Rare Flower
      • Manta | AnglerGel
      • Mantis | Deathworm Horn
      • Mesopithecus | Basic Kibble
      • Moschops | randomly asks for Cooked Prime Fish, Cooked Prime Meat, Giant Bee Honey, Mejoberry, Organic Polymer, Rare Flower, Rare Mushroom, Raw Prime Fish Meat, Raw Prime Meat, or Tinotoberry.
      • Onyc | Meat and Fish (Raw Mutton)
      • Otter | Raw Fish Meat (Sabertooth Salmon)
      • Sinomacrops | Chitin
      • Vulture | Spoiled Meat
   2. It’s now time to feed that creature to begin the taming process.
      • If possible, approach that creature and feed it by pressing the use key.
        • PC keyboard: E key
        • Xbox One controller: Y button
        • PlayStation controller: Triangle button
      • If you cannot approach the creature without it running away, attach Ghillie Armor.
        • The Diplodocus will play and move you around during taming.
        • Touching Gigantopithecus and Manta during taming will cause them to attack.
        • Touching a Mesopithecus during tame will cause it to run.
        • Use Bug Repellant when you’re around Araneo, Arthropluera, Dung Beetles, Manta, and Onyc, as these creatures will attack the moment they see you or are touched.
   3. Once a creature has eaten, wait until that creature is nearly at full hunger again. This wait time can vary greatly depending on the ARK dinosaur you’re trying to tame.
   4. Continue to repeat this process until that creature is tamed!

UNIQUE TAMING

A handful of the many ARK creatures and dinosaurs require rather unique methods to tame them. Here is a list of those creatures and how you can tame them for ARK:SE!

• Amargasaurus | To learn how to tame these ARK dinosaurs, you must first be synchronized with its temperature through insulated armor and Calien Soup or Fria Curry. Then, feed the creature Exceptional Kibble. During taming, this creature will attempt to prove itself to the survivor by killing off any aggressive creature nearby.
• Astrodelphis | Requiring it be fed and pet with Element, this creature will regularly flee and must be followed during the taming process.
• Basilisk | An egg eater, the creature will need to be fed a fertilized Magmasaur Egg, Rock Drake Egg, Voidwyrm Egg (Genesis II DLC), or a Wyvern Egg that’s on the ground.
• Bloodstalker | Holding a black pack in your inventory, the creature will need to latch ahold of you and drain the blood. It will take five blood packs for every level the creature is to complete the taming process. A parachute is recommended for descending after being freed by the creature.
• Dinopithecus | Since these creatures roam in packs, all other Dinopithecus will need to be killed in the pack and the creature will need to be fleeing to tame it passively.
• Equus | Ride this creature and, when it starts to kick you off, feed it Rockarrot to calm it.
• Ferox | Feed this creature Element and then step away. The Ferox will become larger and more aggressive for a while before returning to normal. You can then feed it again.
• Gacha | This creature prefers structure items in stacks of tens.
• Hesperornis | Enjoys eating dead fish that is dragged to the creature by the player.
• Hyaenodon | Ensuring you do not scare or anger the creature, pet it.
• Liopleurodon | A temporary tame that only lasts 30 minutes, this creature can be tamed by dropping Giant Bee Honey in the water near it. It will swim towards and eat the honey.
• Megachelon | While in the ocean, lure a Parakeet Fish School toward this creature allowing it to eat. The Megachelon cannot take any damage during the taming process.
• Noglin | This dangerous creature will need to mind-control your other tamed dinosaurs, with its taming bar increasing with each session. Low-damage durable tames are recommended to ensure they do not kill each other.
• Otter | Prefers eating dead fish that the player drags to the creature.
• Pegomastax | While you have berries (prefers Fresh Barley) in the very right slot of your inventory, allow the Pegomastax will steal them, deal a small amount of damage, and run away. Repeat this to tame the creature.
• Phoenix | During a heat wave, this creature needs to be burned constantly with either a Fire Wyvern or a Flamethrower weapon.
• Roll Rat | Throw Giant Bee Honey on the ground and while borrowed, the creature will eat it.
• Shadowmane | While the creature is resting during the afternoon, you’ll need to feed it with a filled Fish Basket (Aberration DLC). After eating, the Shadowmane will teleport away to a random location requiring constant tracking.
• Tek Stryder | Hack this machine with Mutagel (Genesis Part II DLC).
• Troodon | During the taming process, this creature will kill your other tames for fun.
• Tropeognathus | This creature must be pinned down with a Chain Bola and then fed Exceptional Kibble.
• Voidwyrm | Weaken the creature until it can be force ridden and then ride it. Before it performs a barrel roll, use Mutagen (Genesis Part II) to calm it.

FISH-BASKET TAMING

The Fish Basket taming method was introduced in the Aberration DLC and is a useful method to use as you learn how to tame ARK dinosaurs that prefer fish. By adding a Fish Basket that can be set up in the water, the basket will work to capture smaller creatures. These creatures can then be tamed or the Fish Basket can be fed to other creatures to tame them. If the Fish Basket sits for too long though, the creatures captured in a Fish Basket will spoil. Once a creature has been tamed using a Fish Basket it will be set as force-tamed causing them to behave differently than normal.

TEMPORARY TAMING

A temporary tame is a creature that will only accompany you for a short while after taming and will not count as an official tame for your tribe if you’re a part of one. The temporary creature tames you can find on an ARK server include:

• Amargasaurus | Requiring synchronization with the Survivor taming it, once that synchronization is lost, it’s fully tamed, or it’s dead, it will stop following that Survivor.
• Carnotaurus | Carnotaurus can be recruited by a Yutrannus as a tame temporarily for 60 seconds and during this time, you can command it.
• Forest Wyvern | Spawned by a wild Forest Titan, you can ride a Forest Wyvern for as long as it has its flame.
• Giant Bee | Acting as temporary guardians, they are sometimes spawned by Giant Queen Bees to protect them.
• Titanosaur | This creature is tamed using turret taming, a method of using a cannon to shoot the creature in the head until it is ready to place a saddle on it. Once a Titanosaur is tamed and a saddle is placed on it, the creature will no longer eat. The creature will then only have around 16-20 hours before it starves to death.

RAISE-ONLY TAMING

A handful of the creatures inside ARK can only be tamed by raising them from birth. These are the creatures you’ll need to raise from birth to tame them:

• Deinonychus | A species located in The White Cliffs of the Valguero DLC, you’ll need to steal an egg from a Deinonychus nest and raise it to an adult.
• Magmasaur | Located in the Volcanic Cave of the Genesis Part I DLC, steal an egg from its nest and raise it to an adult.
• Reaper King | Found in Rockwell’s Proliferation in Genesis Part II DLC, fight a Reaper Queen until it is down to less than 2,000 health points and ensure any charge light is turned off. Once done, get the Reaper Queen’s attention and allow it to impregnate you. You’ll give birth to a baby Reaper King which you can then raise to an adult.
• Rock Drake | In the Aberration DLC, find a Rock Drake nest and steal one of its eggs. Hatch and raise the Rock Drake to an adult.
• Wyvern | With any Wyvern type, steal an egg from its nest and raise it to an adult.

CRAFT-ONLY TAMING

• Enforcer | Destroy Enforcers roaming around the Sanctuary to find Blueprints. Use these blueprints at either a City Terminal or Tek Replicator to create your Enforcer.
• Mek | Unlocked with a level 51 engram, you can then craft level 51 Meks. You can find better Mek blueprints in hard and legendary Orbital Supply Drops.
• Scout | Take out Scouts found around the Sanctuary to gather Blueprints. These blueprints can then be used to create a Scout at a City Terminal or Tek Replicator.

MEGA MEK TAMING

A Mega Mek is a powerful suit that can only be used properly while battling the Alpha King Titan boss. Crafted by using a MegaMek Operational Materialization Interface or M.O.M.I. for short, combine four Meks while in the area of the Alpha King Titan and get ready for an epic battle!

TURRET TAMING

Several of the creatures found in your ARK server require a special type of taming known as turrent taming. This method requires using a turret weapon to damage the head of the creature you’re looking to tame. Here is a list of the creatures that are tamed with this type of taming:

• Astrocetus
• Karkinos
• Rock Elemental
• Titanosaur

TITAN TAMING

There are four Titans found in the ARK Extinction DLC. Of the four Titans, you can tame the Forest Titan, Desert Titan, and Ice Titan. You can tame those three Titans by doing the following:

1. Begin battling that specific Titan.
2. Locate corrupted spots on the creature. The spot locations can vary with each Titan, but they will appear temporarily on the body.
3. Attack these spots using a fast shooting weapon such as an Assault Rifle.
4. There will be three groups of spots that appear on a Titan’s body. Each of the spots will need to be destroyed.
5. Once destroyed, continue to the next spot while trying to do as little damage to the Titan as possible. The less damage you do, the higher that Titan’s level will be once it’s tamed.
6. After all of the spots are removed, the Titan will become tamed and saddled.

EERIE TAMING

An Eerie creature, exclusively found in ARK Mobile, has Creature Implants in them that do not allow for taming. That said, it is still possible to tame one of these creatures. Kill the creature, remove the implant in its inventory, and revive it at an Obelisk or Revival Platform to tame it.

ARK ADMIN COMMAND TAMING

By using ARK admin commands on an ARK game server, you can instantly tame any creature that you run into on your adventure. To tame a creature using admin commands, you will need to do these steps:

1. Join your ARK server and ensure you are an ARK admin.
2. Get close to the creature you’re looking to tame and look at it until its name tag appears.
3. Once done, open the in-game ARK console:
   • PC keyboard – Tab key
   • PlayStation controller – L1 + R1 + Square + Triangle buttons while in the pause menu
   • Xbox controller – LB + RB + X + Y while in the pause menu
4. Type the command “cheat ForceTame” and send the command to tame that creature!
   • To tame all dinosaurs in a given area, stand at the center of those creatures and type the command “cheat ForceTameAEO <radius>”. It’s recommended to use a radius between 1000 to 4000.

UNTAMABLE CREATURES

While most of the creatures seen in ARK can be tamed, some cannot be tamed unless you force tame them using ARK commands. These are the creatures you cannot tame in ARK using normal methods:

• Alpha Creatures
• Ammonite
• Bosses | Alpha King Titan, Broodmother Lysrix, Dragon, King Titan, Manticore, Megapithecus, Overseer, and Rockwell.
• Boss minion creatures
• Brute creatures
• Cnidaria
• Corrupted creatures
• Deathworm
• Enraged creatures
• Eurypterid
• Ferox (mutated form)
• GachaClaus
• Genesis DLC mission creatures
• Glowbug
• Jug Bug
• Leedsichthys
• Meganeura
• Nameless | This is the only creature in ARK that cannot be tamed, even with force taming. If a force tame is attempted through admin commands, the Nameless will burrow and disappear.
• Reaper Queen
• Seeker
• Summoner
• Titanomyrma

ARK – HOW TO TAME DINOSAURS TODAY

Bringing in so many wondrous creatures, ARK provides quite a variety with many unique and fun ways to tame those dinosaurs for your team. Each creature in ARK provides survivors with a lot of benefits once tamed, whether that is flying high across the sky, assisting in deadly boss fights, or even a movable location for your house! With so many ARK dinosaurs all with their own abilities, which creature will you be taming for your team as you explore the world of ARK with friends? When you and fellow ARK players begin taming dinosaurs, the game experience will be enhanced for all players on your dedicated ARK server!

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