Dung Beetles Taming and Use in Ark Survival Evolved

Dung Beetles are a very useful creature in Ark Survival Evolved.  They make fertilizer and oil for very little work, plus they look cool while doing it.  The Dung Beetles are a passive tame.  Put poop in your far right slot on your hot bar and walk up to them to feed.  Give them a taste and reload your hot bar with dung. There is no need to tame a high level one, it will mostly just make the process longer than it needs to be.  I usually wear a ghillie suit and use some bug repellent to make it less likely that I will aggro the other creatures that are around.  The Dung Beetles themselves don't aggro very easily.  

Once the dung beetles are tame you will have to have a place for them to wander.  Only when the dung beetles have been enabled to wander, do they produce fertilizer and oil.  After you enable wandering you will need to put poop in their inventory, and that's it.  I put all the dung beetles experience points into weight, so I can load them up with more poop, and tend to them less frequently.  Now you will have fertilizer to place in crop plots.  Dung beetles eat spoiled meat once they are tame, so make sure to have some in the feeding trough.  

Adding fertilizer to crop plots, and placing them in a greenhouse will make gardening easier and the greenhouse effect will increase crop yields.  A greenhouse is also a good place to have the dung beetles on wander.  

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How to Tame a Ferox and Ferox Locations

The Ferox is a cool little creature that turns into a monster.  You can find the Ferox in the Artic Biome of Ark Survival Evolved Genesis Part 1 dlc.   Right now there is a Ferox cave where you can find the little guys and a lot of Polar Bears too.  It is located right by the  Searching the Frozen Zone mission at 70.8  26.2  .  There are tons of Ferox spawns there, and I wouldn't be surprised if they nerf the Ferox Cave soon.  If they do I have found a few locations where the Ferox spawn in the open.  They are in eastern section of the Artic Biome where there is a constant blizzard.

Free Roam Ferox 80.8  43.6
61.6  50.4

Cute freshly tamed Ferox at the Ferox Cave in Ark Genesis

Good luck taming, a Ferox,  the only thing hard about it is not getting killed by all the dangerous creatures or freezing to death.  One or two darts will knock them out and feed them a few berries, and they are yours.  You can also passive tame them, which is just a waste of element.

Bloodstalker Locations and Taming in Ark Genesis

The Bloodstalker is a game-changer in the Genesis dlc since it is the fastest way to get across most maps without fliers.  They are relatively easy to tame, you just need to craft a syringe and make lots and lots of blood packs.  It might be helpful for you to also have a preserving bin to store the blood packs in.  Then you need to find the bloodstalkers.  They hang out in the massive trees in the bog biome.   

I have found them at the following locations:

72.3   75.2

68.4  77.9

74.3  75.7

68.0  77.7

After you find one, put your blood packs in the far right slot of your hot bar ("0" slot on PC).  Get underneath the bloodstalker.  If you are close enough it will send out a web and drag you to it.  Then the bloodstalker starts feeding your blood packs instead of you!  Taming the bloodstalker doesn't take a lot of time, but it can take a lot of blood packs.  As I write the game hasn't been out long and people say it takes a lot of packs, maybe a 100 or more to tame a high level. 

With my slightly boosted rates it took a short while and 12 packs to tame a level 20 bloodstalker.  Good luck taming a blood stalker, or should I say getting enough blood packs, either way, once you get one of these creatures the new Genesis dlc will get much easier, but it will still be hard.

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Ovis Taming - Stupid Sheep in Ark Survival Evovled

The Ovis is a type of sheep in Ark Survival Evolved.  These beasts are very rare, probably for two reasons.  The first is they don’t spawn very often, I have only seen one so far.  The second is that they are useless in a fight.  Pretty much any predator can kill an Ovis, and I’m guessing the stupid creatures are killed by wild dinos within a couple of minutes of spawning.  The first one I tamed, tamed out at 92 and was terribly wounded by a compy or two and then finished off by some stupid titian bugs, more on that later.

The Ovis is really only good for two things.  The first is probably the only thing that it should be used for and that is for growing wool.  Wool can be used to craft a number of things, and I am assuming the developers will be adding more.   Wool is harvested with scissors you craft in the smithy.  Like a real sheep the ovis will grow more wool to harvest later. 

The second thing you can use an ovis for is climbing cliffs, and this virtual creature can climb them as well as any mountain goat.   The main problem with that is you might get your Ovis killed, like I did, on your way to a cliff.  I think it would be best to leave the Ovis back at base.  If you are one of those that like having the challenge of not using fliers, this sheep might be a good way to get at resources high up in the mountains, as long as there is nothing dangerous nearby.

The Ovis is a passive tame and requires sweet vegetable cakes, which you can make in a cooking pot, or industrial cooker.     

Ovis can be harvested for mutton!

 My Tame Ovis my Dead Ovis

Me and my tame Ovis - Ark Survival Evolved

As I said I tamed the first Ovis I saw. I was able to rescue one from the harsh reality of Ark Survival Evolved.  I dropped her off in my T-rex taming pen and passively tamed her in no time.    Shortly after I decided to take her to a nearby cliff to test out those climbing skills.  She was at 100% health, but that didn’t last long.  We were attacked by a couple of compies and they did mad damage to her.  I tried to fight back, but the Ovis is so slow, has a terrible turn radius, and barely any stamina, so I couldn’t get any hits on the damn compies with her.  I jumped off and started to stab at my feet with my pike to avoid hitting the Ovis.  When I saw that she was extremely bloody I whistled for her to follow and I thought we’d make a mad dash back to base, but in my panic, I didn’t whistle passive so the dumb sheep was killed by some bugs seconds later while her dumb tamer watched in horror and then began harvesting mutton. 

The Ovis is super cute, and as soon as I can I am going to tame another one, but when I do it is not leaving the barnyard!

Baryonyx Taming in Ark Survival Evolved

In my quest to add to my egg production at the farm I went out looking for some of the newer dinos to add to my collection and the first one I found was the Baryonyx.  The Baryonyx are mostly aquatic creatures like the Sarco and the Kaprosuchus in Ark Survival Evolved.  I found about five Baryonyx spread out along the northern river of the Center Map.

I wasn’t looking for a high level one to start out with, I just wanted them for the eggs, but I eventually found a respectable level 90 and decided to try it out. I found them to me much like carnos, which are my favorite land dinos.  They aren’t extremely powerful, but they are easy to maneuver, and better in the water.  However I wouldn’t use them specifically for the water because they are very slow.  Unlike carnos they can also jump, which can come in handy when you need to escape in a hurry.  I recommend you give them a try.

How to tame a Baryonyx?

 You can tame a Baryonyx from thee the ground.  Try to get to a cliff or tall rock where the creature can’t leap up and get you.  Then simply rain tranq arrows or darts down on it.   Unfortunately, it will eventually try and run away, so you’ll likely have to pursue it on foot.  In the video I grabbed mine and dropped them in a taming pen. 

To tame the  Baryonyx you will need to feed it Pachyrhinosaurus kibble, raw prime fish meat, or fish meat.  Tame or wild they will not eat regular raw meats. 

Terror Birds Taming and Using in Ark Survival Evolved

Terror Birds are flightless predatory birds with huge heads and an appetite to match in Ark Survival Evolved.  Terror Birds by themselves are not too dangerous to the advanced player in Ark, but they can be a real menace in groups, which is usually the way that you find them.  Terror Birds are a lot like raptors.  They have similar base stats, and attack with speed, this can make them a real problem when there are three or four of them.  I have a fear of Terror Birds in game, and I can’t imagine what it might be like to meet a real one.  This is one species I am thankful is extinct. 

On my island in the Center map a group of four or so Terror Birds spawns in now and again and it is interesting to watch the AI at work.  Within a half-hour or so they are all dead because they take on something that is too big for them to handle.  Most of the predators in Ark Survival with the Dilos seem to last longer than even high-level Terror Birds.  I guess Terror Birds have an even more aggressive or perhaps dumber AI. 

Terror Birds don’t have very good weight, but they can run and attack fast, which can make them somewhat useful.  They have one distinct advantage over Raptors, and that is the ability to flap their tiny wings and slow the decent from any high point, so you don’t have to worry about fall damage.  Other than that, the creatures are pretty much a horse apiece

Easy Way to Train a Terror Bird

In the accompanying video, I tame a level 150 Terror Bird.  It was an ugly creature I picked up with my Argentavis and prepared to kill, but I saw it was a level 150 so I carried it over to my T-Rex Taming pen, and eventually, I got around to trapping it with a bola, and shooting it with tranq darts.  Even on foot in the wild, it is easy to take down a Terror Bird with a bola.  Then it is just a matter of knocking it out, a low-level one will go down easy with your fists for anything else tranq arrows or darts will work just fine. 

Terror Birds taking out a T-Rex in Ark Survival Evolved. 

The Terror Birds preferred kibble is Gallimimus Egg and is made with Savoroot and regular cooked meat jerky with the always required water, fiber, and mejoberries.  It is always worth making kibble if you have the eggs on a high-level dino because it greatly shortens the taming time and increases taming effectiveness.  If you don’t have the Galli kibble then prime meat is the next best thing. 

The level 150 male I tamed joined a high-level female I already had.  This mate-boosted pair made quick work of everything on my little home island, even a level 115 T-rex.  Like most of the creatures in Ark Survival Evolved, Terror Birds are fun to have around, but you will find there are lots of other dinos with better utility.  

T-Rex Taming Pen Video

Diplocaulus an Early Friend in Ark Survival Evolved

One of the dinos recently released in Ark Survival Evolved is the Diplocaulus, which is an amphibian and not a dino.  This creature is of limited use to the high-level player who has learned to craft scuba gear, but for a player that has not reached a high enough layer to craft scuba gear, or wants to keep it primitive, the Diplocaulus is a great friend.  The reason it is great, it is a good swimmer, does not require a saddle and most importantly you can use it like a living oxygen tank.  It will allow you to dive deep to harvest oil nodes, silica pearls and other resources, without having to worry about running out of oxygen.  There is a limit to the oxygen of the Diplocaulus and so eventually you and your tame can suffocate and drown.

 

The Diplocaulus resembles a giant newt and lives in the swamps of the Island and Center maps.  This is the biggest problem for a low-level player, because the swamps are probably the most dangerous place next to caves.  Expect to encounter: Sarcosuchus, Kaprosuchus, mega-piranha, leeches, Titian Boas, and clouds of Meganeura. Not to mention there are plenty of friendly creatures that will also kill you if your swings or shots go astray.  If you are going to be chasing the Diplocaulus it would be a good idea to bring friends, whether they are tribe members, or tames.  It is said that you can use the bola to stop them in their tracks, but I have not tested this.

I tamed my Diplocaulus by picking it up with a Quetzal and dropping it into a taming pen.  This option seems easy, but on my second attempt I was attacked by a Kaprosuchus, nocked of the Quetzal and died in the swamp. 

Since my Ark survivor is a high level one, and I have learned the scuba gear engrams, I really don’t have much use for the Diplocaulus, so it will just be another tamed creature in my collection.  It would be a little different if these giant newts were great fighters, but they are not. 

Solo Taming a High Level Giga! Giganotosaurus on Ark Survival Evolved

I ran across a level 140 female giga while traveling across the center map of Ark Survival Evolved.  Now I never really had the intention of solo taming a giga, but suddenly seeing such a high level giga in an area where I might be able to trap it, made me think I could do it solo.  A 140 giga might be fun to have, and since it was a female I might get an egg or two for making kibble. 

Giga Tame Preparation

Looking at the taming calculator I could see it was going to take hundreds of tranq darts to bring the beast down, and then thousands of narcotic to keep it under while I fed it.  In addition to the darts and the narcotic I was going to need to make a metal behemoth gate to trap the sucker in the canyons and ruins of the center map.  In order to cover my butt and not run out of materials I made a lot of extra materials

750 tranq darts (2,250 narcotic, 4,500 metal 4,500 gunpowder)

 6 rifles

900 additional narcotic (if taming rates were set to defult I would have needed about 3,000 to be safe)

12 Quetz kibble

I think I only ended up using about 400 darts and it took about 25 minutes to bring down.  I started with my apprentice longneck rifle, and broke that, and nearly broke my ramshackle longneck rifle.

 Torpor of Gigas drops like a stone, and it will wake up in a matter of minutes if you don’t feed it a nearly constant stream of narcotics.  After spending hours prepping for the giga tame,  felt like it was reasonable to crank up the taming multiplier and avoid the four plus hours it was going to take to tame, not to mention the thousands of narcotic.  So with the taming rate on super speed I tamed it in four feedings of Quetz kibble. 

Giga Results

Playing PVE and in single player in Ark Survival Evovled I found the giga fun for a short time.  It can pretty much one hit 2/3 of dinos and bring the others down with 2-10 hits.  I think I’m going to use the giga for killing alpha dinos and getting some good items from them (hopefully).  I’ll probably park the giga on half burnt island and take it for a spin now and then.  I don’t need it back at base.  If it got agroed by a dilo it would probably destroy the place trying to kill it.  Would I solo tame a giga again, sure why not, it’s worth it  for the challenge. 

Tapejara and Archaeopteryx: New Dinos Ark Survival Evolved

New dinos, Tapejara and Archaeopteryx dropped this week with the latest Ark Survival Evolved update.  Both of these creatures fly, well sort or.  I play on single player, and I looked for these guys, but I couldn't find them after a few hours, going afk, and restarting the game.  Eventually I resorted to spawning some in to test them out and make the video. 

Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx is an early bird-like dinosaur that may have flown, or may have just been a glider.  In Ark Survival players, can hang in the air by holding the feet of the animal.  You can control direction of the glide, while slowly, I mean painfully slowly descending.  On PC hit the R key and you'll drop like a stone while still holding on to the bird, probably to your death.  This tame is a lot of fun, but I'm not sure it has any real utility. 

Tapejara

The Tapejara is the big brother of the Pteranodon in Ark Survival Evolved.  The coolest thing about this flying reptile is that three people can ride at the same time.  The two passengers can equip ranged weapons, so they can attack others in PVP, or tame dinos with tranq arrows and darts. 

Ark Survival Evolved: Xbox One Early Access

Currently you can only get Ark Survival Evolved for one console, the Xbox One, but there are plans to make it available for PS4 in the not so distant future.  I would much rather play a game like Ark Survival Evolved on the PC, but my computer is in the crapper, and I currently don’t have the funds to upgrade or replace it, so Ark Survival Evolved Early Access on the Xbox for me.  The main reason for me to play on PC vs. console is the interface is much easier to navigate with a mouse than move through each option in the menu with a controller.  It is still worth playing on console if you can’t on PC.

The menus of Ark Survival Evolved are slow to navigate on Xbox One.

Ark Survival Evolved Xbox One Glitches

There are a few glitches and bugs on the Xbox One for this early access version.  Most of the bugs I have encountered in single player so far are just a bit annoying, but not game breaking.  There is one however that is both a blessing and a curse.  I’m not sure if it’s only in single player or if it also occurs in multiplayer.  Quite often animals get stuck on, or in rocks and trees.  This is a gift from the gods of Ark, especially if you are starting out, because you basically get free raw meat and hide, or the ability to tame some tough beasts on day one.  The tame dinos, and kills will get you lots of XP you couldn’t get otherwise in the first few hours on the island. 

For example, within one small area of the beach I found two Dilophosaur (Dilos) stuck in driftwood, and a Triceratops stuck in a tree.  The dilos I could just punch out and then tame.  The Trike took some more work to knock out because it can still strike you, even in its compromised position, so be careful to avoid the front end of the trike if you don’t want to get Triceratops horns in your gut.  After the tame begins you can free the animals by destroying the wood or rock they are stuck in, but occasionally the act of knocking it out is enough to free them.  Be very careful when taking down the trees they are stuck in because you can harm the dino if you hit it by accident.  I use my fists to hit the tree because they are more precise and will do less damage to the animal in case you hit it by accident.  I even encountered a Brontosaurs stuck in some rocks, but I wasn’t ready to deal with an animal that size. 

Building a dock for my raft in Ark Survival Evolved

The tree glitch in the early access version is like getting mana from heaven, but it is also a real pain when traveling with your new friends, because the large ones such as the trikes and Parasaur get stuck frequently.  This is can be fatal for you and your tame animals if you have to flee from a dangerous dinosaur.  I lost my first Parasaur when it got stuck in tree while we were fleeing a Spinosaur.  I also lost my highest level dilo at the time, which was a bummer.  I assume the developers will get this fixed before the full version is launched, but in the meantime tame some animals and get some food and hide. 

Game Breaking Bug

After writing the rest of this post a few days ago I have encountered a very big problem that is going to halt my progress with this game.  Every time I use my engram points and learn a new skill, that skill does not show up in my craftables tab. In my current game I am stuck on  nice little stretch of beach with few major problems, but not too far down on each side are some major dinos that I can't deal with without upgrading my weapons, armor etc., and I can't do that right now.  I'm pretty much stuck walking down the beach collecting wood etc. and when I get to a certain point I have to look at the spino and the glowing alpha raptor, and head back home to build up my base.  That will get boring pretty soon.  Hopefully this bug gets fixed soon.  

The other main glitch is more annoying than anything is the lag I experienced.  On one of the multiplayer servers it was pretty bad, but even on the single player it stutters occasionally, but only for a brief period of time.  There are also some minor rendering bugs, but they are no big deal. 

Hopefully by the time you read this, these early access bugs will have been fixed.I’m finding Ark Survival Evolved to be very addicting.  Currently I am playing the single player, and have the Ark world all to myself, but sooner or later I’ll probably be renting a server and playing with a few friends PvE.  I really have no desire to play PvP right now.