Summary
ARK: Survival Ascendedhas a huge catalog of interesting dinosaurs, each with their strengths and weaknesses, making it easy to overlook some creatures. Swamped bythe existing dinosaur meta, which is defined by high stats, utility, and gathering rates, several dinosaurs fail to stand out amongARK: Survival Ascended’s dense roster of dinos despite their unique traits and abilities.
With so many changesas well as new dinosaurs on the way, taking a look atARK: Survival Ascended’s existing, under-appreciated dinosaurs can provide a new adventure for old players. While these dinosaurs may not be as versatile in their craft as the Argentavis, or as strong as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, they each come equipped with an exclusive set of skills that makes them worthy of taming for a fun and unique experience.
1Terror Bird
Can Glide With Its Tiny Wings
Kitted with extremely long and powerful legs, the Terror Bird has little need to rely on its tiny wings. However, inARK: Survival Ascended, these tiny wings allow the Terror Bird to glide through the air in a slightly goofy fashion. This gliding ability can make the Terror Bird efficient at clearing jumps – such as the deadly drops within caves.
The Terror Bird is a fantastic land mount that often gets overlooked in favor of the Raptor, despite having both better base health and melee damage stats. With relatively good speed, a quick attack pattern, and okay melee damage, the Terror Bird is a great early-game mount that can easily beat or evade most threats. With a relatively low-level saddle and easy crafting requirements, players looking for a simple travel mount should look no further than the Terror Bird.
2Pachyrhinosaurus
Uses Pheromones To Manipulate Targets
The Pachyrhinosaurus is a smaller but much friendlier-looking version of the Triceratops, with a similar shielded head that reduces incoming damage by 75%. However, the primary reason for taming a Pachyrhinosaurus is to use its quirky ability to release special pheromones that control the behavior of nearby creatures. With access to two types of Pheromones, the Pachyrhinosaurus can either calm hostile creatures or induce rage, inciting even typically passive creatures like the Dodo to attack.
Its Calming Essence is extremely useful at taming difficult passive tames like the Hyaenodon or evading dangerous dinosaurs. Alternatively, players can easily create chaos by using the Raging Essence around nearby wild dinos. If bred with plenty of health mutations, and at a high level, players can effectively use the Pachyrhinosaurus in place of a Triceratops to disrupt enemies in PvP.
3Chalicotherium
Acts As A Living Catapult
The Chalicotherium is a quirky-looking creature with a unique taming method. Amusingly, survivors are only able to recruit a Chalicotherium through the non-violent method of sharing a beer with it. Once tamed, the Chalicotherium can function as a living catapult, able to throw rocks and mud at enemies. If impacted by one of the Chalicotherium’s boulder projectiles, the target will be struck for 100 damage at base level.
Players can set their tamed Chalicotherium in a special turret mode that will target any hostile creatures of players once in range, making them great at defending bases. In PvP, players can set multiple Chalicos in turret mode atop platform saddles to unleash a rocky hell on unsuspecting enemies.
4Archaeopteryx
Can Be Used As A Parachute
The Archaeopteryx isa small, unique creaturethat acts much like a parachute, allowing players to glide through the air, slow their descent, and land harmlessly. Held at length above the survivor’s head, the Archaeopteryx looks extremely awkward when in use.
Despite its goofy appearance, its use as a hang-glider is extremely helpful in several scenarios, such as safely dismounting tall mounts or escaping from dangerous dinosaurs by running over large drops. Perhaps the Archaeopteryx’s greatest use is allowing players to hop off their aerial mount midair to provide a much-needed break. Players can simply hover in the sky nearby while allowing their flier to recover stamina, before gliding back over with the Archaeopteryx and remounting.
5Procoptodon
Places Survivors In Its Pouch
An extremely cute and useful mount, the Procoptodon is fantasticat traversing The Islandthanks to its impressive jump height, base movement speed, and low stamina drain. On top of this, the Procoptodon has the quirky ability to pick up an additional survivor in its pouch, making it a fantastic multi-person mount.
The Procoptodon can also stash helpless babies in its pouch to protect them, or safely transport the infant from one location to another. Once the baby reaches 10% maturity it’ll automatically hop back out of the pouch, which can make traversing long distances somewhat dangerous. Still, the kangaroo’s unique ability to carry multiple survivors makes it a fantastic land mount.
6Gigantopithecus
Can Throw Allies Great Distances
The Gigantopithecus is an extremely odd-looking fellow, with an appearance quite similar to that of a bigfoot, or yeti. When mounting the ape-like dino, Survivors will perch atop its humanoid shoulders. If players activate the alt-fire button while mounted on the Gigantopithecus like this, they will be thrown quite some distance.
In PvP, this ability can be a great way to invade enemy bases, allowing players to launch over tall walls. Although the ability has little use in PvE, it can be a fun way to wander The Island or a reckless wayto traverse dangerous caves. Lastly, the Gigantopithecus has relatively decent stats, making it functional as a battle mount so long as it’s high-level.
7Megalosaurus
A Monster Lurking In The Dark
Found primarily within theCentral Cave on The Island, the Megalosaurus is a powerful creature with a very situational passive. During the day, the Megalosaurus is extremely lethargic and vulnerable, often found curled up sleeping. At night, the Megalosaurus unlocks its full potential, becoming a terrifying nightmare for any survivors unlucky enough to encounter it.
During the nighttime, all the Megalosaurus’ abilities get a significant boost in damage. Able to pick up creatures with a drag weight of 150 or less, the Megalosaurus can be used to transport slower dinosaurs from one place to another. Alternatively, the Megalosaurus can use this grab ability to pick up and shake its prey to death. When used at night, the Megalosaurus can be an extremely powerful dinosaur touse during PvP raids, having an extremely high base melee damage.
