ARK: Taming basics ARK Survival Evolved guide, tips
Last update: 12 June 2020
Creatures found on the island can be tamed and their abilities used to make the game a lot easier. Those allow you move around the map quicker, transport items, hunt, collect items and defend your base when you are logged out of the game.
To start the taming process you must stun the target you've selected or feed it, although the latter one is associated with smaller and more peaceful monsters. Let's start with the brute way.
- Taming by stunning
- Materials needed to maintain food and torpor
- Taming by feeding
- Creature that can be tamed with both methods
- Abilities of a tamed creature
Taming by stunning
Taming by stunning starts by using a specific type of weapon and ammo. Below you can find all of the possible weapon and ammo combinations that will allow you to perform this feat.
Item name | Icon | Required ammo | Description |
Slingshot + Stone |  |  | The first weapon used to tame. It uses an ammunition that is easy to acquire, making it a perfect tool to tame dinosaurs during the early phase of the game. Characteristics: Short range Generates weak torpor Most effective when used against small creatures Engram unlocked when the character reaches 5th level |
Wooden Club |  | The first short ranged weapon that can be used to stun the enemy. Very effective against small creatures such as Dodo. Characteristics: Melee weapon Most effective when hitting the enemy in the head. Engram unlocked when the character reaches 3rd level | |
Electric Pod |  | A weapon generating a huge amount of Torpor. After a single use it discharges, making it difficult to maintain. Characteristics: Melee weapon After each use you have to charge it with 8 units of Angler Gel in the Fabricator. Engram unlocked after reaching 80th level of experience. | |
Bow + Tranquilizer Arrow |  |  | Long ranged weapon, used both to hunt and to tame animals. It uses three different types of ammunition, but for now we will focus on the most important one: Tranquilizer Arrow - the arrows are unlocked when the character reach level 20. Those generate torpor equal to 200% of weapon's damage - the effect lasts for 4 seconds, giving you even more bonus torpor. When using a long range weapon you should aim for the head and make sure that you won't kill the enemy before stunning it. Characteristics of the bow: Ranged weapon It uses three different types of ammunition: Stone Arrow, Tranquillizer Arrow and Flame Arrow. Engram unlocked when the character reaches 15th level |
Crossbow + Tranquilizer Arrow |  |  | A weapon capable of dealing more damage than a bow, but the reload process takes a longer time. By using this firearm you gain the ability to attack underwater, making it an ideal choice when taming and hunting for creatures found there. Tranquilizer Arrow - the arrows are unlocked when the character reach level 20. Those generate torpor equal to 200% of weapon's damage - the effect lasts for 4 seconds, giving you even more bonus torpor. When using a long range weapon you should aim for the head and make sure that you won't kill the enemy before stunning it. Characteristics of the crossbow: Ranged weapon The ability to shoot underwater Deals more damage than a regular bow, but reloading it takes more time. Engram unlocked when the character reaches 25th level |
Longneck Rifle + Tranquilizer Dart |  |  | A very powerful ranged weapon, capable of dealing large amount of damage while using the regular ammo - Simple Rifle Ammo. You can attach a scope to the rifle, but if you want to use it to tame creatures you can't do that. Tranquillizer Dart - darts are unlocked when the character reaches level 65. Torpor is increased by 600% and you additionally get 250% for the next 5 seconds. Thanks to that this method of taming is the quickest and best one. Rifle characteristics: Large damage with the regular ammo type Tranquillizer Darts make it the best weapon used for taming Engram unlocked when the character reaches 35th level |
Compound Bow + Tranquilizer Arrow |  |  | An upgraded version of the bow, but still weaker than a crossbow. Tranquillizer Arrows scale with the weapon damage, but those aren't as effective as darts used with the rifle, making this weapon ineffective. Characteristics: Engram unlocked when the character reaches 70 level Weapon stats won't convince you to use it. Very expensive to craft. |
When you finally have one of the weapons to stun enemies, all there is to do is to find your target. Remember that the higher the level of the creature, the higher its resistance to stun - you will need to use more arrows / darts or hit it more times with a melee weapon. Additionally, it also generates longer tame timer and its harder to keep the dinosaur unconscious - a detailed description of times and requirements for each dinosaur can be found in the Most useful dinosaurs chapter of this guide.
When you stun the enemy you've selected and approach it, a menu with the creature's inventory will appear, provided that you press the E button.
The most important information about taming:
- There's an information about all of the creature's stats on the right side of the screen.
- The most important stat during the taming process is torpor - when it reaches zero the creature will wake up, forcing you to start the process from the beginning.
- You can't let the tamed monster die - it can die either from starvation or from damage taken from another source.
- Food placed inside of the creature's inventory will be used automatically, but you can do that yourself by clicking on it.
- Narcotics and Narcoberry must also be put in the creature's inventory, but you must also remember that you have to use it manually with the "remote use item" button.
The violet bar indicates the time until the creature will wake up - it is closely related to the amount of torpor. The yellow bar located below the violet one indicates the progress of taming - if it reaches 100% the creature will be tamed.
Aside from using weapons there are three creatures in the game that, once tamed, can generate torpor on their own, making them extremely effective aid when stunning monsters. Each one of those creatures have a different method of stunning. Those are as follows:
- Scorpion - it uses its sting to poison and stun enemies, but you must wait for it to take effect. Constant attacks on the enemy creature might cause its death.
- Pachy - hits the enemy with its head, increasing torpor with each strike.
- Beelzebufo - stuns enemies with its tongue.
Detailed description of taming those creatures can be found in the Most useful dinosaurs chapter.
Materials needed to maintain food and torpor
To maintain a creature with the highest torpor you will need a certain amount of Narcoberry or Narcotic. Below you can find descriptions and materials required to craft the latter.
Icon | Description |
 | Narcoberry Narcoberry is the basic material used to tame creatures. One piece of Narcoberry generates 7.5 points of torpor in 3 seconds. Those are also used as a component in crafting Narcotic, which are more effective at keeping the creature unconscious. You can collect them from bushes - you have to approach them and press the E button. |
 | Spoiled Meat Spoiled meat can be acquired by, quite obviously, spoiling meat - not eating it when it's still edible. The best method to gain a considerable amount of this item quickly is to divide each piece of meat into a single one. Thanks to that the time needed for the meat to spoil will be counted for each piece separately. Spoiled Meat should then be placed in the fridge to prevent it from decomposing. You can (and should) process it into narcotics which don't have any shelf life. |
 | Narcotic A single piece of this resource generates 40 points of torpor and for the moment this is the only taming item that can be crafted. It's also used in creation of Tranquillizer Arrow and Dart. To create one piece you must have: Narcoberry - 5 units Spoiled Meat - 1 unit |
To prevent the creature you're attempting to tame from starving to death you will need food. Each type of dinosaur has its own favorite food type. Dinosaurs are divided into carnivores and herbivores. Additionally, each creature has its own favorite type of food (kibble) that is most effective during the taming process.
Icon | Description |
 | Raw Meat Acquired by killing most types of animals. Eaten raw will regenerate some of the hunger, but at the same time will decrease your character's health by 5 points. It's used to tame and feed carnivorous creatures - it regenerates 50 points of hunger and 5 health points for them. Raw meat can be roasted on either a campfire or a grill, increasing the regenerative capabilities of it. Additionally, it won't damage your character's health. |
 | Raw Prime Meat A rarer type of raw meat. After acquiring it will have a very shot spoil time - 2 minutes and 20 seconds. To prevent it from happening you will need a fridge. It's a better taming material, as it speeds up everything by three times. |
 | Berry All of the berries can be used to lower hunger and thirst. The only type of berry that will negatively influence your character is the narcoberry which increases torpor. Stimberries on the other hand will dehydrate the character, but also negate the effects of stun. You can collect them from bushes - you have to approach them and press the E button. Those are used to tame herbivores. |
The most effective nourishment for all of the creatures is fodder (kibble), but creating it will require a lot more time and work.
 | Kibble There's almost exact same amount of different types of kibble in the ARK as there are monsters. Each one of them requires a different ingredient to be crafted. You can create it by using the Cooking Pot, or the Industrial Cooker. The required crafting materials are as follows: Majoberries - 2 units Fiber - 3 units Waterskin - 25% of water Additional crafting ingredients: A certain dinosaur's egg One of the vegetables A specific type of meat or something else associated with different creature. Eggs can be found throughout the map, but the game will limit those occasions. Another and more time-consuming is taming two dinosaurs of the same race but different genders and let them "produce<br> eggs for you. Vegetables are acquired from vegetable seeds. You must make sure that plants should be properly hydrated. Seeds can be acquired by searching through bushes. |
Below you can see a sample of creating kibble to quickly tame a Doedicurus.
Icon | Description |
 | Majoberry Primary ingredient You need two of those. You can acquire the item from plants which can be found pretty much anywhere. |
Fiber Primary ingredient You need 3 of those. You can acquire fiber from plants as well. | |
 | Waterskin Primary ingredient Waterskin must be crafted with:
When you have it the only thing left to do is to fill it with water. You don't use the item when creating kibble. |
 | Citronal Unique ingredient One of the four fruits found in the game. You can acquire it by planting a citronal seed which can be found by searching through berry bushes. Plants must be kept in Crop Plots - engrams for them can be acquired on 25 and 35 level. After planting the seeds you must still keep the humidity of the ground. Additionally, fertilizers must be used. You will need 1 piece of this unit. |
 | Cooked Meat Jerky Unique ingredient You can get it by combining three different ingredients and putting them into a cooking machine - Preserving Bin (engram for it unlocks at 20 level). Ingredients: Cooked Meat - 1 piece Oil - 1 piece Sparkpower - 3 pieces You will need 1 piece. |
 | Dilo Egg Unique ingredient The third and the last unique ingredient will be the Dilo Egg. You can only get it from a couple of Dilophosaurs or by sheer luck. You will need a single piece. |
All of the above ingredients must be cooked in the mentioned machines. Thanks to that, after only 30 seconds you will receive kibble for the Doedicurus
Taming by feeding
The second method of taming is doing that without harming the creature. Unfortunately, not all types of dinosaurs can be tamed with this method, making the previously described one the only viable one. To begin taming by feeding you will need a preferred resource of a given creature you want to tame.
Below you can find all of the dinosaurs that can be tamed by feeding with the following resources.
Creature name | Icon | Resource name | Preferred resource | Additional resource |
Araneo |  | Spoiled Meat or Raw Meat |  |  |
Arthropluera |  | Broth of Enlightenment or Spoiled Meat/Raw Meat |  |  |
Dung Beetle |  | Feces or Spoiled Meat |  |  |
Ichthyosaurus |  | Kibble or Raw Meat/Raw Fish Meat |  |  |
Mesopithecus |  | Kibble or Berries |  |  |
Gigantopithecus |  | Kibble or Berries |  |  |
Onyc |  | Raw Meat/Raw Fish Meat |  |  |
Manta |  | Angler Gel |  | |
Mantis |  | Deathworm Horn |  | |
Lystrosaurus |  | Rare Flower or Berries/Vegetables |  |  |
Vulture |  | Spoiled Meat/Raw Meat |  |  |
Creature that can be tamed with both methods
Creature name | Icon | Resource name | Preferred resource | Additional resource |
Diplodocus |  | Kibble or Berries/Vegetables |  |  |
To start taming by feeding you must place the preferred type of food into the last selection slot on the quickbar.
Afterwards, you must approach the creature you've decided to tame and if you have the food you want to tame with selected on the quickbar an option to start the process will appear - like, for instance, "Feed Raw Meat To Tame". You now have to press the E button to start the process. The taming process bar will increase automatically and you just need to wait for the creature to be hungry again and repeat the activity until the dinosaur is tamed.
Important information:
- You must remember that once you start taming the creature, you must stay near its vicinity.
- Waiting for too long until you feed the creature again will reset the whole process.
- The taming progress bar won't start dropping until the creature is attacked.
Abilities of a tamed creature
After taming a dinosaur you will gain access to different abilities / activities associated with it. The first screenshot shows you the state of the tamed creature, which level it has, to which tribe it belongs and of what gender the dinosaur is. The yellow arrow shows the amount of experience remaining till the creature advances to the next level.
The second screenshot shows the commands and actions that can be issued when "using" the tamed dinosaur.
Ride - allows you to mount and ride on top of the tamed dinosaur.
Access Inventory - gives you access to the creature's inventory.
Change Name - allows you to change the name of the dinosaur.
Unclaim ... Lvl ... - releases the dinosaur.
Order: Enable Following - forces the dinosaur to follow your character.
Set Aggression to: Aggressive - makes the dinosaur aggressive, forcing it to attack anything in its vicinity.
Cycle Aggression to: Passive - turns off the aggressive mode of the dinosaur's behavior.
Enable Wandering - allows the dinosaur to move around the area on its own.