Knockout Taming (K.O.)
The most common method of taming in ARK. It involves rendering a creature unconscious and feeding it while keeping it asleep with Narcotics.
- Weapons: Never use a slingshot past level 20. Upgrade to a Crossbow with Tranq Arrows, then a Longneck Rifle with Tranq Darts. The ultimate weapon is the Tek Bow.
- The "Starve Taming" Method: Do not feed the dinosaur immediately! Let its food stat drain until it is hungry enough to eat all the required food at once. This ensures that if it wakes up accidentally or takes damage (which lowers Taming Effectiveness), you haven't wasted your precious Kibble.
Passive Taming
Some creatures cannot be knocked out and must be fed while awake. Put the taming food in the last slot of your hotbar and approach them carefully.
- Ghillie Armor: Essential for passive tames (like the Chalicotherium or Gigantopithecus). It reduces your aggro radius by 50%, letting you walk right up to their backs without angering them.
- Bug Repellant: Mandatory when taming Mantis, Araneo, or Arthropluera.
Trap Blueprints
Trying to knock out a Rex while running backward across the beach is a recipe for disaster. Building a trap guarantees a safe tame.
Cost: 4 Stone Foundations, 4 Stone Doorframes, 4 Stone Pillars, 2 Wooden Ramps
A cheap, highly efficient trap. Place the foundations in a 2x2. Surround 3 sides with doorframes (dinos cannot fit through doorframes but you can shoot through them). Place ramps on the 4th side. Lure the Rex up the ramp and it falls into the box!Cost: 4 Stone Dinosaur Gateways, 2 Reinforced Dinosaur Gates
Place the 4 gateways in a row with a small gap between them (small enough that a Pteranodon can fly through, but an Argy cannot). Put doors on the two end gateways. Leave one door open, fly your Pteranodon through the trap, let the Argy follow you inside, then dismount and quickly shut the door behind it.Cost: 4 Metal Dinosaur Gateways, 1 Large Bear Trap
Giganotosaurus can destroy stone, so you MUST use metal. Place 3 gateways in a U-shape. Put the Bear Trap in the center. Lure the Giga into the trap. Once it is stuck in the Bear Trap (you have 10 seconds), quickly place the 4th metal gateway behind it to lock it in.The Kibble Chart
Kibble is the ultimate taming food. It tames creatures 5x faster than raw meat/berries and preserves 100% of the Taming Effectiveness (giving the dino maximum bonus levels when it wakes up).
| Kibble Tier | Color | Egg Size Required | Recipe / Extra Ingredient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | White | Extra Small (Dodo, Dilophosaur) | 10x Amarberry, 1x Cooked Meat, 5x Mejoberry, 10x Tintoberry |
| Simple | Green | Small (Raptor, Pteranodon) | 1x Cooked Fish Meat, 2x Rockarrot, 5x Mejoberry |
| Regular | Blue | Medium (Ankylo, Stego) | 1x Cooked Meat Jerky, 2x Longrass, 2x Savoroot |
| Superior | Purple | Large (Argentavis, Spino) | 1x Prime Meat Jerky, 2x Citronal, 1x Sap, 1x Rare Mushroom |
| Exceptional | Yellow | Extra Large (Rex, Therizino) | 1x Focal Chili, 1x Rare Flower, 10x Mejoberry |
| Extraordinary | Cyan | Special (Yutyrannus, Wyvern) | 1x Lazarus Chowder, 1x Giant Bee Honey, 10x Mejoberry |
Note: All recipes require 1x Egg of the specified size, 1x Fiber, and 1x Water in a Cooking Pot or Industrial Cooker.
ASA Tracking System
ARK: Survival Ascended introduced a built-in tracking system, removing the need to craft physical Transponder Nodes.
- Wild Dino Tracking: When you open your inventory and go to the "Tracking" tab, you can select any wild dinosaur you have looked at recently and place a persistent waypoint on it. This is incredibly useful for finding a high-level tame after you return to base to grab supplies.
- Tamed Dino Tracking: You can track any of your tamed dinosaurs globally. If a dino runs off fighting a Pteranodon or you die and forget where you parked it, simply open the tracker to instantly see its location on the map.
- Death Caches: Your death bag is now automatically tracked on the map with a glowing green beam, making body recovery much easier.
💬 Community Strategies & Discussion
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