Unlocking Tek Engrams
You cannot unlock Tek Engrams simply by leveling up. They are tied directly to Boss Fights. Defeating a boss unlocks a specific set of Tek Engrams for your character permanently. The difficulty (Gamma, Beta, Alpha) determines which engrams you get.
The Tek Replicator
The first thing you must build is the Tek Replicator. Defeating ANY boss on ANY difficulty will unlock it. You must craft it inside an Obelisk terminal or a Supply Drop, as it requires 100 Element and a massive amount of metal, polymer, and crystal.
The Tek Suit Abilities
The Tek Suit is a 5-piece armor set that transforms how you play the game. It requires Element in your inventory to power its abilities.
- Tek Helmet: Hold Reload ('R') to cycle vision modes (Night Vision, and a Pulse mode that highlights enemies in red, your tribe in green and neutrals in white). Grants infinite oxygen underwater.
- Tek Chestpiece: Hold Jump to fly! It acts as a jetpack. With the Tek Leggings also equipped, hold Ctrl (RB / R1) in midair for a fast forward boost.
- Tek Leggings: Hold 'Ctrl' (or crouch key while running) to engage superspeed. You can run across the surface of water and destroy rocks/trees by simply running through them.
- Tek Gauntlets: Hold right-click to charge a super-punch that can harvest materials, damage structures, and send enemies flying.
- Tek Boots: Negates ALL fall damage, no matter how high you drop from. Allows you to walk up steep cliffs.
Element Farming (All Maps)
Element cannot be transferred between servers natively. You must farm it on the map you are playing on.
| Map | Best Method | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| The Island | Defeating the Alpha Megapithecus / Dragon. | 220 Element from the Alpha Megapithecus, 440 from the Alpha Dragon (ARK Official Community Wiki). |
| Scorched Earth | Defeating the Alpha Manticore. | 285 Element. (No native nodes exist). |
| Aberration | Crafting at Charge Nodes (Element Ore + Gems + Gas). | Infinite, but requires heavy manual labor and battery charging. |
| Extinction | Defending Element Veins (Purple / Red). | Mostly Element Dust, sometimes Element Shards and rarely Element per defended vein. Only metal tools (a Pick or Hatchet, also on a Mantis) can harvest matured nodes; the Mining Drill and Chainsaw cannot. |
Essential Tek Structures
Endgame PvP and PvE rely heavily on these advanced structures.
- Tek Generator: Powers all electrical items in a massive radius without needing cables. It runs on Element. One piece of Element lasts roughly 18 hours at minimum radius.
- Tek Transmitter: A portable Obelisk. Allows you to transfer items, dinos, and your character to other servers from inside your own base.
- Tek Teleporter: Place two of these down and you can instantly teleport yourself and your dinosaurs across the map at no cost, as long as a Tek Generator powers them.
- Tek Forcefield: Projects a massive bubble shield around your base. It is not impenetrable: explosives, Titans, Titanosaurs, corrupted creatures and Tek weapons can damage it. It uses 1 Element per hour at its smallest radius and 10 at its largest (ARK Official Community Wiki).
- Cloning Chamber: Allows you to duplicate a dinosaur exactly as it is (including its stats and mutations), at the cost of Element Shards based on its level.