Ark Survival Guide: Top 50 Tips, Secrets and Tricks

Updated:

23 Aug 2024

Outsmart your enemies before they outsmart you with these Ark Tips and Tricks

Tired of spending countless hours farming for materials? Finding it difficult to build a base and get the resources you need? Just want to tame that first dinosaur and make life a little bit easier for your in-game experience? Good, because we’ve got all the best tips and tricks you could use to make your adventures a success!

1. Having the right tools for the job

When you first begin Ark, you’ll have next to nothing (at least useful) on your person. While you can very well walk up to a tree and punch it, it’ll quickly drop your health down low and cause you to lose most of the other stats too. Let’s start by trying the following:

Pick up rocks off the ground
Pick up sticks off the ground
Approach plants lying around and harvest the fiber off them
Make sure you have points in to the Ingram when you level up
Craft your harvesting tool

2. Don’t use your bare hands to harvest nodes

When you harvest something, in the beginning you won’t have anything to help with the nodes. Instead, you’ll just have you and your bare hands to get the job done. While it might be tempting to walk up to the nearest tree and punch it to death to get precious wood, you’ll want to think again about this strategy. If you use your bare hands to harvest nodes, you’ll experience a few unpleasant side effects such as

Lowered health which can drop pretty fast. As you’re meant to gather your materials using weapons instead of your hands, and you won’t have a dino yet to help you, you’ll have to use your hands. However, the more you hit trees the faster your health will lower which can lead to death.
Decreased stamina is another fairly common issue that those who don’t have proper tools will face. As it takes more out of you to exert your body to take down a tree for the wood and thatch than it would with a tool, you’ll lose stamina fast.
Be prepared to have food and water on you during this time. If ever there is something, you’re going to be needing a lot during the beginning stages of the game, it’s food. Since you’re working your body so hard to gather these resources, be prepared to have a very hungry person.

3. Rocks, Rocks, and More Rocks!

If you’ve played this game before, you’ll know that rocks are everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING! Almost anything you need or want to make will require an obscene amount of rocks, so the more you make the better. If you’re playing on the Island, in the start off zone there are tons of rocks to harvest off the beach so you’re in luck if that’s the map you chose to go with. If you’ve not played Ark before, then there are somethings you should know about these rocks

You’ll need rocks for basic weapons when you start off in the game and likewise can be found all over the beach.
The more rocks you have, the better but also be aware that they will encumber you, so it’s best to keep points in your weight.
Make a higher-grade tool to farm rocks you’ll get more return per hit upon a rock.

4. Stay home when you can

This probably isn’t obvious to everyone, but honestly, learn to love your home and stay there when you can. When you’ve crafted a home in Ark, it serves a multitude of purposes.

Homes will keep you from being killed by other players depending on the server settings.
Dinosaurs will be prevented from eating you when you log off, since where you log off is where your body remains.
Stash all your goodies in your home. Naturally, you won’t want to or even need to carry everything you find on your body. For this reason, most players will build a chest or variety of storage units to store all their important stuff from resources farmed to armor, weapons and so on.
In almost any home you venture in to, you’ll see crafting tables. This is where specific items can only be crafted such as at a smithy, fireplace, and so on. Most people keep crafting tables full of their most valuable items within the confines of their home.
Depending on how you choose to build your home, it may have a green house in which you can not only make special food specific to some dino breeds, but also to grow and make food for your person.

5. Be mindful of your stats

You need to be extremely cautious when it comes to your vitals and pay attention to the icons in the right-hand size of your screen. Each of these icons represents something important when it comes to your vitals and the lower the icon shows as being empty (or full) the more your person is lacking something significant.

Cross symbol for vitals indicates the fullness of health. If it drops too low, you could die and lose all your hard-earned loot or whatever items you had on your inventory. This also means that if you want them back, you must go to the extent of finding your body and recovering the items off it again.
The lightning bolt symbol indicates your stamina levels. Of course, if you’re trying to out run something, once that’s empty you no longer will be able to run. If you try to move once it indicates your out of energy you can also cause your character to become exhausted and eventually pass out which will also result in loss of items in the inventory and require you to recover them from your dead body.
Tear drop symbol is indicative of how thirsty your person is, again just like with the other vitals, if you become dehydrated too bad, this can cause you to pass out and die due to lack of water. Either carry a container that can hold water on you or stay close to clean water sources will allow you to avoid any issues involved dehydration
The weight symbol is exactly what it looks like, this lets you know just how heavy the things are you’re carrying about in terms of impacting your movements and how much more you can carry before you won’t be able to move. Keep in mind that when it comes to riding a dinosaur, anything you have on you that counts against your weight will also count against what that dinosaur can carry as well.
The arrow symbol on your screen is tracking your experience from what you get when you harvest nodes, kill other players and dinosaurs as well. When it’s full you will gain a level and of course the lower the bar is on that arrow, the further you are from leveling up.
If you open your main inventory screen, you’ll notice these same symbols are represented in bar form on there. There are additional bars for different vitals in there as well. Make sure you keep track of the progress of these items and be sure to comply with whatever they want. You may notice in colder areas you can freeze to death where as hotter maps can cause dehydration quicker. Keeping tabs on these will help you to optimize your experience.

6. Learn to pick your battles wisely

While it can seem appealing to collect every dino you see while you’re out adventuring, that’s probably not the best idea. There will be dinos that look like they should be easy to tame and come with a hidden surprise. Be cautious with the dino’s around you and make sure you do your research before taking one head on.

Most creatures found in the swamp area while they seem like they would be an easy target can often take you down with abilities involving tupor and knocking you out in one go.
Some of the veggie eating dinosaurs hit like a mac truck, much like the long-necked titan for instance.
While some dino’s may not be strong, they travel in packs which makes them just as much as a foe as some of the stronger dinosaurs.
Aquatic creatures such as the large jellyfish you might run across not only paralyze but deal a ton of damage and can easily take down some of the large dinosaurs you might have tamed.
Know when to pick a battle and when to avoid them or make sure you have someone else helping with taming.

7. Know your easy food sources

Nobody wants to spend forever out and about gathering millions of berries just to keep your health and hunger where they need to be. The best thing any player can do regardless of how long they’ve been playing is find a good food source. There are a couple ways you can get meat and not risk becoming somethings dinner in the process.

Dodo’s are a quick and easy way to get a little meat that will stack up and keep you fed. Dodo’s are about the only thing in game that won’t attack you regardless of you being a bully and beating it up first. Not only will they give you hide which is great for clothes, they’ll also give you meat. It might not be much at first, but the meat you get can quickly stack up as you’ll never find yourself short of supply when it comes to a Dodo.
No matter if you’ve been playing for a while or you’re new at the game, killing fish is one of the best ways to get a lot of food that will last a while and help a lot. Seasoned players might try their hand at getting bait, making a fishing pole and cracking open a cold one while waiting for the fish to bite however, there are other options for less seasoned players or those who just don’t fancy fishing. If you can get a decent dinosaur tamed, taking it in to the water to kill fish is a quick way to get a lot of food and fast. Not only does it restore quite a bit of health, but it’ll also give you a bunch which can last a while and save you time in between food runs.
If you fancy yourself more of a vegetarian than a meat eater, there of course is always the ability to go from plant to plant and take on the daunting task of plucking berries. While this will do the job of restoring health, it takes many more berries and there are some that you shouldn’t consume such as the Norco berry which will render you temporarily unconscious.

8. To preserve or not to preserve, that is the question

You’re going to need meat or at least some form of meat to survive while you’re out exploring. Not just for yourself, but for some of the meat-eating dinosaurs you’ll be taming too. There are multiple ways to preserve meat, but keep in mind that some dinosaurs will only eat spoiled meat. For this reason, it’s best to break up some of the meat you gather and let it spoil for those that do eat rotten meat.

Preserving salts is just one of the many ways you can keep your meat from spoiling.
Preservation bins as seen above, will not keep your meat from spoiling indefinitely, but will allow it to stay fresh just a bit longer. You’ll also have to add spark powder in the preservation fridge to keep it from spoiling.
Tech preservation bins are the best way to go if you don’t want meat you gathered for yourself to spoil. These operate off tech generators and will keep meat at a much longer rate than the normal preservation bin.
If you’re looking to keep meat fresh for dinosaurs then use tech food troughs is the way to go. Much like the tech preservation bin, food placed in the tech feeding troughs won’t spoil nearly as fast and operate off tech generator technology.

9. Location, Location, Location

While it may not seem like much, the map you get while playing ark is going to be your biggest asset.

Maps can allow you to mark your location in the even that you die, you can come back and pick up anything you may have lost including dinosaurs.
Maps also let you put color specific indicators on them, so you can come back and revisit an area later.
Specific dinosaurs may only be found in certain areas, by remembering the coordinates on your map, you can visit those areas to get more of that type of dino.

10. You made your bed, now lie in it

One of the very first things you need to do when you create a new character is to craft a bed. While it may not be as grand as the one in this picture, you’ll be able to eventually craft this one.

Crafting a bed allows you to quickly return to your home in the event of fast traveling.
Depending on the type of bed crafted, you can leave your items from your inventory on it before traveling elsewhere. However, you won’t be able to retrieve those items unless you return to the bed that you left them at.
There are multiple types of beds ranging from the bunk beds pictured above which allows two players to sleep on them, to singular wooden beds that are much simpler or bed rolls on the ground. Bed rolls however, are easily destroyed and will only allow you to travel back to them once before you’ll have to replace it.
Use caution when setting down bedrolls as other players can travel to your bed where ever you placed it.

11. Lock everything down

Storage containers are great for holding all that loot you found while out exploring. There are a few different types that can be crafted depending on what Ingram’s you have learned.

Storage containers range from a simple looking wooden box that holds a few items to a closet looking storage chest that holds more items than the box, on up to a vault.
While these storage units are great to hold all your fancy stuff, if you don’t lock them other players can help themselves to your loot without having to ask permission.
Locking your storage boxes are as simple as walking up to them, pressing the action button and pressing lock. This can also be customized to just allowing people in your tribe to use them and no one else or locking them with a pin.

12. A happy stomach is a full stomach

While keeping yourself fed is important so is making sure your dinosaurs are fed. Depending on the type of dinosaur will determine what they eat.

Most dinosaurs will eat either meat or berries. There are instances in which you’ll find that there are some dinosaurs who will eat both.
To find out what the dinosaur will have in food preference, take in consideration as to what type they are. For instance, more docile dino’s tend to eat vegetables or in this case berries, and more aggressive dino’s such as the T-Rex among others, eat meat.
Just as dino’s have a preference to eating meat or berries, some dino’s even have a preference to the type of meat they enjoy.
If you’re unsure as to what food exactly your dinosaur may prefer, try using helpful tools such as the dododex which can be downloaded for free on your mobile device.
When dino’s go to long without being fed, just like you can starve in the game, so can they. Typically, a dino can go about a week without being fed. If you your tamed dino’s aren’t being used, usually their hunger meter won’t go anywhere.
Feeding your dinosaurs can help restore their health while in battle so it’s a good idea to keep enough in their inventory when you take them out adventuring.
Just as meat and berries can spoil in your inventory, meat left on a dinosaur or in a feeding trough can spoil as well.

13. Find a friend, ask for help

Tribes are a great way to get things done and help each other out. The best way to make your life easier when playing Ark is to create a tribe and get others to join or find someone who has a tribe and join up.

Tribes allow other players the ability to help in daily tasks that can include feeding the dinosaurs, taming, helping to hatch eggs, access to inventory and much more.
Ark is possible to play solo, but you’ll find things like making sure all the dinosaurs are fed as well as gathering for themselves is much easier when you have a team to work with you.
Tribe mates can help you gather crafting materials faster and in a great quantity. Likewise, they can help keep your crafting stations full and keep your camp working in better operation.

14. Shortcuts to Taming

One of the hardest parts of this game is dealing with taming. Depending on the level of the dinosaur, you may have to literally spend hours trying to tame it before you get to take your new large friend home. Thankfully, there are some steps that can be taken to speed this along a little faster.

Dino’s can be tamed much faster with their preferred food choice. This might include having some of their favorite kibble on hand to give them while they’re rendered unconscious.
There is some speculation, but it seems that if you starve a dinosaur out until you have a mass of their preferred food, it’ll cause them to tame faster since you can force feed them.
The other option when it comes to fast taming is going in to creative mode and using a command that allows you to instant tame the dinosaur without having to continuously feed the dinosaur and wait out the process.

15. Meat is meat

Cooking is a large part of the game both for yourself and for the dino’s that you’ve tamed, after all, everyone needs to eat right? With that being said, you’ll find that your meat-eating dinosaurs aren’t so picky about what they eat. There are a few things to keep in mind about our friendly, or not so friendly carnivores

Carnivores will eat any type of meat in most cases
While they might have a preference, raw meat is raw meat and they’ll eat anything meat related that you offer them.
Prime meat is the best selection for your meat-eating friends, however it does spoil fairly fast. To make them happy and keep from losing your meat, it’s best to cook it immediately and then feed it to the dinosaur.

16. Shoulder pets are more than just something to look at

While they’re extremely cute to look at, shoulder pets aren’t just there for appearance. Many players don’t find out right away that shoulder pets can have a purpose and can be of use to anyone who knows the skills that lie behind the pet.

Pets such as the featherlight can provide protection against certain things while also being capable of lighting up the way in dark places where you can’t see on your own.
Pets can be used to help when it comes to gathering certain items or resources
Learning what the pets in the map area you’re playing do and how they can be of use can be a game changer.

17. Knowing which tool will give you what resource

Using the right tool for the right job is extremely important. If you don’t use the right tool on the right resource, you won’t get the correct resource that you’re after.

You can use an axe on a tree and a rock. While it might gather wood when used upon a tree, using on a rock will give you metal instead of the rock that you’d usually get.
The same can be said for using pick axes. Used on one type of resource will grant you one type of node while using it on another may yield different results.

18. Choose your location carefully

It’s best to be aware of what to expect from the different areas of the map. While the starting zones are typically easier, this doesn’t apply to the entire map.

For the most part it seems that the North areas of the map are among the hardest areas to travel through. This isn’t so much as a result of the climate changes as much as some of the creatures that can be found in the area.
One way to know which areas harder and which ones are much easier to travel through, take a good look at the map locations. Whenever you get knocked out, if you happen to take a good look at the map, you’ll notice each region is labeled from easiest to hardest.

19. Place your Ingram’s wisely

When you first start leveling, you’ll gain points to place in Ingram’s like no tomorrow. This is both a good and bad thing. For experienced players, you’ll know where to place the points. However, for new players, you might be tempted to just put points in everywhere without realizing the effects it can have.

Only put points in to the useful items. Most things you can skip over and don’t have to waste points in to. Some of these things include skipping over building over thatch buildings and the cloth armor.
Focus on building buildings made of things like stone and begin with hide pants. If you gather enough resources from the beginning, then you’ll have more points to spend later in things that matter.
Thatch building materials are fairly weak and easily destroyed and the same can be said of the armor you can first craft in the beginning.

20. Be your brother’s keeper

Nothing is more important than your home, as this is where you sleep, stay safe, keep all your important items and so forth. However, things go just a bit beyond that when it comes to staying safe.

Alliances are a big part of this game and more so if you’re playing PVP (Player versus Player)
This means gaining allies may just be the one thing that keeps you alive or at least for a bit longer.
When you’re on a server make sure to make friends, offer to help them out in exchange for being able to call in a favor when you need it. By being your brother’s keeper so to speak, you’ll stay alive a lot longer and have a strong suit of allies to help you when the time comes to needing them.
The more willing you are to do something for someone and form an ally, the more likely they are to return the favor.

21. Learn how to level your dino’s

Just as placing your points in to your character are important when it comes to placement so is that of your dino’s. Unlike your character however, dino’s have a little less room for error when it comes to properly placing the point’s they earn from leveling

The first thing to consider when placing points into leveling your dino’s is to decide what the dinosaur is being used for.
For PVP dinosaurs, you’ll want to put points into things like strength, stamina, and things that would help you in battle.
For those who’ll be doing PVE (player versus environment,) you’re better off placing things in to carry weight, stamina, and so forth that would be more beneficial to exploring.
Whether or not you are doing PVP or PVE there are some things that will need to be placed for both. For instance, while you may be a PVE type person, you’re going to run in to some more challenging to fight dinosaurs while exploring and will still need to have your strength and defenses up along side your carry weight being maxed out.

22. Check the settings of your dino’s

Properly being able to utilize the shortcut bar is going to be crucial and beneficial to exploring. There are settings that will need to be adjusted after you tame a dinosaur that could overall impact game play.

Whistling the dinosaur to aggressive and the level of passive or aggressive will determine just when and how they will attack when you’re out adventuring or playing against other players.
The whistle command will also determine if just one of the dino’s you brought with you will follow or not follow you, or if all of the dino’s you’ve brought along will.
Whistling neutral will prevent any of the dino’s you’ve tamed from fighting or actively going after other dino’s in the area.
There are other similar options in the bar that will allow you to alter things like their name, keep them from breeding, stop them if they’re wandering away and so forth.
Some dino’s even possess special abilities on this bar that can be turned on and off such as healing itself automatically.

23. Speed up or Slow down

Some dino’s are naturally faster than others and this will depend not only on how much you put point wise in to their stamina, but also based on your weight. While you will be putting points into your weight as well as the dino’s separately, your weight will count as theirs when you have stuff in your inventory and are riding around with them.

Some dino’s are naturally fast while others are slower. In some cases, this can be improved with points placed in to their speed and stamina, while some dino’s are rather slow regardless of how much you put in.
When a dinosaur runs out of stamina it’s going to naturally be slower. If you stop moving, they can regain stamina and get back to moving at a decent rate again.
The large land looking turtles that you can tame are naturally slow regardless of how many points you put in to them. However, if you hop off them and have their settings changed to follow you, you’ll notice that they’re rather fast despite not being able to carry very much.
For dino’s that are slower to move, make sure you don’t over burden them with items to carry as it’ll make things worse. Instead, bring with you dino’s that are rather larger such as the Rex or the mammoth that have decent movement speed and can carry quite a heavy load of items without losing speed or losing too much in stamina.

24. Carry weight is important

No matter if it comes to you or the dinosaur you want to take with you for a grand adventure of gathering and exploring, being mindful of your weight is one of the most important things you can do for yourself.

Once you start picking up items, your weight carry meter will begin to fill. The more points placed in your weight the more items you’ll be able to carry.
If you are carrying more items than you have weight for, you’ll have an over encumbered message come across the screen and movement may stop or significantly slow down.
If this happens you can become easy prey to other plays or to other creatures in the area. To relieve some of the weight and become encumbered you can either drop some of the items on the ground or move them to the dino’s inventory.
Just as you can become over encumbered so can your dinosaurs. While you’re not riding the dinosaur, your personal weight won’t matter towards what the dinosaur can carry. However, the moment you begin to ride the dinosaur around, your weight will be combined with that dino’s carry weight.
If a dinosaur becomes over encumbered, just like you they may not be able to move, or you’ll notice a significant drop in their speed.

25. Be aware of your drop zones

While it will be up to you to gather, explore and make the most of what you can get from hard work, there is one major exception to this rule and that’s the drops you get from the sky.

As you travel, you’ll notice these bright beams of light coming down from the sky. These lights come in different colors.
The color of the light indicates the type of loot that it’ll offer. Green is the lowest type and provides the materials that you can likely make easily on your own. From there you’ll see things like blue lights, purple, and gold. Gold of course provides the rarer items you can get in game and don’t appear as often as some of the other lights.
When you approach one of these lights, it’ll prompt you to hold the triangle down and then it’ll open and reveal what the light holds. You can either pick up everything, pick up only what you want or throw everything on the ground.
Once you’ve taken action with the light, they’ll disappear and eventually cause it to respawn elsewhere with new stuff.
These lights are an easy way to obtain free things some of which you may not be able to craft and some of which will allow you to craft them with a free Ingram to make things you may not have placed points into yet.

26. The best offense is a great defense

As soon as you get the chance, you need to learn how to defend and arm yourself. While it sounds like you are entering a war zone, to an extent you may very well be. This not only means getting the proper armor for yourself but making sure your home is protected too.

Part of protecting your home from invades both human and dino’s means leveling up your Ingram’s as far as you can so you can have stronger home base.
There are weapons and defense systems that can be placed around your home to protect it from being attacked or people breaking in and stealing your hard-earned stuff.
High-level gear and weapons are valuable resources to keep you safe and prevent others from taking you down so easily.
Some dinosaurs such as the Quetzal can be fitted with platforms that may also be fit with weapons to protect your home.
If they’re strong enough and placed properly, if you have enough dinosaurs they can be used as a powerful defense against anyone who might try to attack your home.

27. Learning value in Norco berries and tranqs

While we’d all like to believe that just giving someone a dirty look and a strong dinosaur is enough to take someone down, it’s going to take more than that to learn how to tame a dinosaur or take out a formable opponent.

In the beginning using Norco berries will be one of the many ways in which you’ll knock other creatures out in the game.
As you progress further, you’ll be able to use arrows and a bow to upgrade the arrows to a tranq arrow to knock other creatures out from a distance.
The further you get along in the game there are other types of things like a gun that you’ll be able to use to knock out targets in the area.

28. Untamable Alphas

An alpha dinosaur will be easy to spot as they’ll have what appears to be a red cloud around their bodies.

Alpha dinosaurs are among the strongest creatures you’ll find in the game and can be found randomly wandering around the map area.
While you can knock them out and take whatever loot you might discover on their bodies, these dino’s are not tamable and can be better to just avoid in general.
If you can avoid alpha dinosaurs it might be best to do so. They’re fairly aggressive and will go after anything in the area that comes too close and with high defense and offense, they offer very little beyond some experience in return.

29. Explorers notes

Explorers notes are hidden randomly around the zones and map area. Finding these can prove to be valuable.

If you’re looking for a quick way to level up, then these hidden gems are great as they give you a large XP (experience) gain for a short amount of time while you have them.
These notes also provide valuable information in regard to the creatures you’ll encounter around the map.
For those who enjoying getting everything in a game to complete collections then this is also a good thing to have.

30. Build a teleporter

Building a teleporter and learning how can be one of the most powerful and life changing things that you can do for yourself with this game.

Building a teleporter will allow you to travel anywhere that they’ve been built at.
You can use them to transport not only yourself with the items you carry but your dinosaurs that you’ve brought with you or tamed along the way as well.
Typically, it’s best to build one at the main area that you’ve built your base and then build some in different areas to allow easy travel back and forth.
Transporters can be attacked by dinosaurs and sometimes are, for this reason it’s important to put up a shield around them or turrets to protect them.

31. Don’t forget your body

When you get killed in this game whether or not it be by player or by dinosaur, you have a short amount of time to recover your body. You want to be sure to remember where you died so that you can retrieve it ASAP.

Your body contains all the items you had on you while you were alive. By looking at your map you can go back to the location in which you die and get the items from your inventory back.
If you had a dinosaur with you, it can likely be found in the same area that you died, so it’s really important that you remember where you died so you can get them back as well.
A large green beam will help you locate your body if you can remember the coordinates of where you died, allowing you to quickly recover anything that was lost.

32. Start Local

It can be tempting to just jump into the game on one of the unofficial or official servers, but it’s not recommended that you start there.

When you join a server that is operated by someone else, all rules and bets are off! Players are capable of altering server experience and thus what you get from nodes, and how much XP you may get will vary from server to server.
Most servers are a free for all. This means that unlike if you play solo or on your own private server, you may be subject to constant attacks or find it a harder experience with things like higher level dinosaurs.
Solo play allows you to play without worry of being attacked by other players or things being harder than they need to be.
While playing solo you’ll be able to experience the same maps and dinosaurs as you would on a player ran server.

33. Keep the poop!

Poop, poop, and more poop! It’s kind of funny when you’re out and about and you’ll seen your character just pause and poop. Dinosaurs will often do the same thing especially the more you feed them. While it might seem better to just walk past it and ignore the giant pile of manure, you’ll want to pick it up.

Both animal and human poop can be kept in fertilizer bins to be used later for planting.
If you build a green house and learn to master the art of growing plants, you’ll be able to put the fertilizer to good use and breed better plants.
Poop can be obtained from your character, your dinosaurs or even from out in the wild while exploring.

34. Be mindful of where your home is

Home is where the heart is, or the frustrations depending on how you look at it. While you may be tempted to build a home just any old where, you want to be mindful of where you place your home.

Building too close together can cause issues when you want to expand your base bigger. There are limitations on each server that prevent players from building too close together and for obvious reasons.
While the map is huge, you want to be mindful of the difficulty levels in each area. While you might want to build your base somewhere harder, remember there are stronger dinosaurs that might make farming or doing basic tasks a lot harder to do.
Certain creatures seem to have a specific spawn point. If you build on that particular spot, that creature will not be able to spawn which can make it difficult if they’re not found in abundance.

35. Choose your target carefully

It might be tempting to go out and tame all the dinosaurs that you come across, you definitely don’t want to use this strategy.

Some dinosaurs or creatures travel in a pack and in doing so, they get a damage bonus boost.
Even some of the smaller appearing dinosaurs that appear wandering out by themselves can be harder to fight then you would think.
Crafting a spy glass so you can check out dinosaurs from a distance and learn about their level will give you a huge advantage in things when it comes to fighting them or even taming.
This same technique should be used when going after other players. Be mindful that traps can be crafted and take you down easily.

36. Results may vary

Depending on which version of the game you purchase will depend on what maps you have access too.

What applies on one map isn’t going to apply on the other. This means that while a shoulder pet might work one way on The Island, different rules will apply on scorched earth.
Each DLC offers a different game experience and you will have to start over every time you change which map you want to play with.
Don’t be afraid of exploring the DLC’s until you find one that you like the most. In personal experience, I find that The Island is best for new players as it tends to be far more forgiving than scorched earth or aberration.

37. Enter God-Mode

If ever you get to run your own server or be a part of someone else’s, then you may see them doing some pretty strange things.

Creative mode is a great thing to utilize if you enjoy building large bases and find it hard to place specific pieces of the structure.
Creative mode defies most of the rules that are regularly set out in the game. This means that you’ll be able to fly, no carry weight, and other changes.
Creative mode also means that you’ll have access to all Ingram’s whether or not you have learned them already or not. It gives you the ability to explore, build and make mass number of items with little effort.
The only people who will have the ability to enter creative mode are those who either own and operate their own server or those who are given the admin password that is currently being operated by server owner.

38.Learn the art of painting

Painting can be something that is done just for fun, but it can also serve a much greater purpose in the game. If you’re going to be on a PVE server, it’s recommended that beyond establishing a small starting base, you put the points in to learning how to paint.

Painting is a great way to add expression to your base and make it stand out from others. That exact thing is great for a PVE server, but the one thing you want to avoid on a PVP server.
PVP players look for others who are easy to spot, have weak bases and are an easy target. If you learn how to paint and utilize that well, then you can paint your base to blend in with the surrounding area and make it harder to discover.

39. Get some guardians for your base

Much like a fancy place might want a guard to protect it from intruders, you should have the same mind set when it comes to your base.

While traps are a great way to go with protecting your base, it’s better to have some dinosaurs that can guard and protect it.
Using dino’s to protect your base and its belongings will make it harder for people to raid it or break in.
Of course, you’ll want to use some of the stronger dinosaurs that can be found in the game such as the T-Rex’s, Giga’s, and so forth. The more dino’s that are used, the harder it’ll be to get past them. Of course, if you use

40. Plant Wisely

Greenhouses are a valuable tool when you are feeding your dino’s. While they will eat just about any meat or berry you bring them depending on the dino’s type, they’re going to prefer kibble much more than what you’ll kill and bring back.

Greenhouses are a great asset to have for your base. Not only can you use them to breed plants that can make special kibble for your dinosaur, but there are some tips and tricks that come with the watering system in play.
At first you might find yourself with just a few plots and running back and forth between your water source and the plot. Things don’t have to be nearly this complicated. Reservoirs and other water containment systems can be built and used to water your plants.
There are options that range from running pipes from a beach to the plants on up to having a full-on irrigation system. Depending on what type of system you use, you may even be able to fill up your canteen from the irrigation system.

41. Use your environment to your advantage

It doesn’t matter what map you play on, remember to use your environment to your advantage over others in PVP based settings.

The best place you can find an advantage to using your surroundings to your advantage is with The Island map and The Center maps.
In areas that offer a lot of trees, you can find better cover and camouflage when building a base among the trees
When built correctly, you can have your base blend in with the surrounding and make it much harder for people to find you. Likewise, you can come out, attack smaller bases and then retreat back to your base in the trees before anyone is none the wise.

42. Avoid going out at night unless you’re PVE’ing

Depending on what type of server you’re playing on (PVE or PVP), you may want to avoid coming out at night at all costs.

Night time provides great cover if you’re trying to sneak up on other players in a PVP setting. The dark nights that can last a while (depending on server settings,) to plenty of things to hide around and behind, people will have trouble seeing you coming.
On the other hand, if you’re on a PVE server the last thing you want to do is go out at night as you’re more prone to being attacked by dino’s.
There are certain dinosaurs that are fairly strong and dangerous that are only awake during the night and will target you as soon as you’re within close enough range.
Learn how to use the night to your advantage and you’ll go far on the PVP servers, but otherwise we recommend staying home at night otherwise.

43. Have a well-formed strategy

Learning the best way to handle each situation is the best way to go about having a successful adventure.

If you’re going to engage in player versus player adventure’s, then simply approaching a base willy nilly isn’t going to cut it. You need to have a well-planned out strategy to get up to the base without taking a ton of damage.
Due to most bases being armed with traps, you won’t be able to just walk up on them unless they’re new to the server/game. In this case you can use wild animals such as Dodo’s as a shield to dodge being hit by turret damage and then take the turret down.
Pillars can be similarly avoided when it comes to damage which will allow you to remove these obstacles without being killed.
If you enjoy PVE more than PVP, the same sort of theory applies. There are going to be specific ways to approach wild dino’s you want to tame. Sometimes this involves building a random taming pen out in the wild and sometimes that combined with bringing tribe mates are the key to success.

44. Get yourself a Triceratops

Trike’s are a valuable asset in this game and is one of the most recommended dino’s you’re going to want to tame immediately.

Trike’s have a heavy carry weight which means that they can hold quite a large portion of materials that you gather from nodes.
They can also gather nodes off just about any source. While most dino’s are specific to one or two types of nodes they can gather from, Trike’s aren’t limited to anything except for stones/rocks. This means you can pick up berries, thatch, wood, and fiber with them.
Trike’s are also fairly sturdy when it comes to defenses against other dinosaurs which means not only are they going to be carrying all your stuff around, but they can handle their own well too.

45. Don’t be afraid to die often

There are numerous ways anyone can die in Ark and it’s an inevitable part of the game, so you might want to get used to it.

There are numerous ways anyone can die in Ark which can include drowning/suffocating, death by another play or dinosaur, dehydration, starving, falling too far and so on.
When you begin to lose health, your screen will get a red hue around the borders to indicate that you’re severely hurt along with an icon on your screen that will also show in the health bar that you’re low on health.
Most players when they first play Ark die a lot and mostly due to things like hunger and dehydration as well as not having shelter to protect themselves from the elements or wild dino’s.
While dying can be aggravating and more so because you have to go back and get all your inventory off your old body, it is a big part of the game. We recommend you get use to dying and come to terms with it because it does happen to all of us and is just another aspect of the game—learn to be okay with it.

46. Be cautious when traveling on the water

Water can be avoided altogether by using a dinosaur that is capable of flying. Getting a flying dinosaur right away when you first begin may be easier said than done, so you’ll have to find another way to deal with the water.

If you can avoid swimming in the water altogether, we definitely recommend it. While the water does hold a vast variety of fish for you to kill and eat, there are also other dangers that lurk in the water.
Large creatures such as jellyfish type creatures and large sharks and whales can be found traveling in the waters at any given time. In some cases, depending on the map you’re using, you can even find things like squid lurking around.
Most sea creatures are not friendly and will try to devour you the first chance they get. Jellyfish are strong enough that they can take down ever stronger water type dinosaurs that you’ve tamed.
If the waters are so dangerous, you’re probably wandering besides flying how is best to navigate them. The answer is quite simple—a boat. There are different types of boats that can be crafted to get you across the water. Unfortunately, the weaker of the boats are easy to destroy by sea animals unlike the sturdier versions that you’ll want to build and use to travel. Even with some of the best sea vessels, you’ll want to steer clear of the water when possible.

47. Get the Ark app immediately

When you first start this game, you’re going to have a lot of questions and possibly no one to answer them, this is where the Dododex app comes in to play.

If you’re ever stuck with endless questions about what to feed what creature, how long it’ll take to tame or breed, and what kibble they prefer, you’re not alone.
In fact, this app is not only free, but can answer this question and so many more. It’s a guide that was built in order to make sure that you have a complete pocket field guide in one spot to help you on your adventures.
Some useful information that is provided consists of:

1.What type of kibble each dino will eat

2.Where specific dino’s can be found on the maps

3.How long a specific dino takes to tame

4.How long it takes to breed specific dinos.

5.What the dino looks like

6.Timers to let you know when you feed your dino’s again

7.Timers to let you know when to imprint and when to perform specific dino related tasks and more.

48. Learn to breed your dino’s

It’s entirely possible to go out and just catch a bunch of the same dino’s and tame them, but there are much more effective ways to get what you want without wasting quite so much time.

Breeding dino’s can cut out the middle man of constantly having to catch the same types of dino’s and taming them. Instead, you can simply go out and catch two different gendered dino’s of the same species and breed them.
First, you’ll need a dino pen to hold the dino’s in, which needs to be relatively small for the two. Place the male and female in the small enclosure together and make sure that their settings are set to being able to search for a mate.
It’s also best to make sure there is a feeding trough full of food for both male and female and a separate one for the babies once they’re born.
The time for breeding will rely on how high level the creatures are you’ve placed together and will indicate this time with a bar above their head counting down.
After a successful breeding, they will produce a replica of the parents with a combination of looks and stats. Once the baby is here you need to imprint and name the baby as soon as you can and make sure you keep up with care as they can easily die.
Breeding allows you to make much stronger dinosaurs if you know what you’re doing and in the long run prevents you from having to go on dino runs to get multiple dino’s of the same species.

49. It’s okay to start over if you’re unhappy with your stats

It’s not uncommon for beginning players to place points where they don’t need to go or be unsure of what they want to do with their build. Thankfully, there is a solution for both these issues.

There are a few different ways a player can get what is known as a mindwipe. A mindwipe is a way in which you get your points back and your stats are reset.
Mindwipes are often done on new players who’re finally getting used to the game and starting to establish themselves.
We all make mistakes and that’s okay, just a single serving of the correct consumable will allow you to reset your points and replace them how you want to make for a more effective build. This can either be established by making the potion yourself or having another player make it for you. Of course, this can also be done if you’re on a server belonging to another player and they do so through creative mode.

50. Carry sleeping bags and fire places with you

Two of the most valuable items you can own in this game and craft are the fireplace and sleeping bags.

Anytime you think you’ll be out traveling and exploring around the maps, it’s safe to say you should have a fireplace (or a few) and some sleeping bags in your inventory. There are a few good reasons for both of these.
Sleeping bags allow you to drop your stuff and keep it with the sleeping bag and then travel to any location that has a bed down. This is great if you’re needing to travel often between places and need somewhere to keep your stuff temporarily.
Fireplaces are just as important as they’ll keep you warm in places that are mildly cold and of course provide you with food. Fireplaces are great to start with as they’ll be your primary source of warmth and of course light. If you’re unable to get back to your base before nightfall, simply craft a fireplace and place it down and light it using either thatch or wood.
Having fireplaces and sleeping bags could be the difference between life and death.

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