What makes Ark: Survival Evolved so unique is that you are able to tame creatures for your own gain. They can be ridden, or simply follow you around to help with harvesting or to keep you safe from harm. It is a gamechanger the second you tame your first creature, which is why you should do it as early in the game as possible.
Many have struggled with this mechanic as beginners, but it is an easier process than you may think. All it takes is the right tool and a bit of knowledge about the creature itself in order to have a successful tame on your first try!
Pick A Creature, Any Creature
First and foremost, you need to decide what type of creature you want to tame. This is usually based on what purpose you need it to serve. Do you want a form of transportation or something to carry all of your supplies while you harvest? It is best to start with something simple, like a Dodo for example, as this will help you understand the process before moving on to bigger and more aggressive creatures.
Choose Your Knockout Method
The next step is to knock the creature unconscious, and there are a few ways in which you can do this.
The methods to knock out a creature include:
- Force-feeding it Narcoberries, Narcotics, Bio Toxin, or Ascerbic Mushroom
- Punching it with your fists
- Wooden Club
- Electric Prod
- Slingshot
- Loading your Bow with Tranquilizer Arrows or Toxicant Arrows
- Putting Tranquilizer Darts or Shocking Tranquilizer Darts in your Rifle
- Scorpion
- Frog
- Boomerang
If it is early on in the game then your best bet for more aggressive species is to unlock the Tranquilizer Arrows or slingshot engrams, as using fists or clubs can end in your demise. Craft a few of the items you plan to use so you make sure you have enough to successfully knock it out in one go.
Find A Secluded Location
One thing to keep in mind is that unconscious creatures can be attacked by other players or creatures, so you want to knock it out in a safe spot in order to tame it. The taming process can take time, and you don't want something else killing it off or waking it up before it is tamed.
You want to lure it to the area, either a secluded spot or taming pen, before starting the process to knock it unconscious.
Open Its Inventory
You can access each creature's inventory once it is unconscious, and you need to add Narcoberries or Narcotics to it, along with its preferred food. A general rule of thumb is that herbivores will eat berries, while carnivores prefer meat, but all creatures will take kibble.
You will see a tame bar and an unconscious bar when you approach the unconscious creature, but the taming will not begin until its preferred food is added to its inventory. However, make sure you add enough to tame it, otherwise, it will wake up and you will have wasted your time.
The taming level will slowly increase as they eat the food, but their unconscious level will also decrease. You will need to highlight the Narcoberries or Narcotics in their inventory and click the button that allows you to use an item in order to force-feed it to them to keep them asleep.
Use The Creature However You Like
Once the taming bar fills up you will be prompted to name it, and then it will follow you to the ends of the Earth. If you can create a saddle, then you are able to ride it by simply equipping the creature with it by accessing their inventory.
You can also add harvested materials or anything too heavy for you to carry to their inventory to make your adventures into the unknown more worthwhile. Just remember to feed it in order to keep it alive and take it with you to new servers.
Exceptions To Traditional Taming Methods
While this is the basic way that you can tame most beasts, there are exceptions to this process for certain creatures and you should be aware of what they are.
These exceptions for the base game include:
- Non-Violent Taming
- Temporary Taming
- Turret Taming
Non-Violent Taming
Sometimes a creature cannot be tamed by knocking it unconscious, rather, you must meet certain conditions while it is awake.
The creatures and the methods to tame them are as follows:
- Basilisk: eats fertilized Rock Drake Egg you put on the ground
- Pegomastax: put berries in the far right slot of your hot bar for it to steal
- Titanoboa: drop it fertilized Egg
- Troodon: kills tamed dinos
- Bloodstalker: eats blood packs from your inventory when latched on
- Tropeognathus: pin it with the Chain Bola and then feed it
- Roll Rat: throw Giant Bee Honey at it when it is buries underground
- Equus: feed it Rockarrot to calm it then ride it to tame it
- Gacha: drop it structure items in stacks of ten
- Liopleurodon: drop a Gian Bee Honey
- Phoenix: use a Fire Wyvern or Flamethrower to burn it
- Hesperornis: drag dead fish over to it for it to eat
- Ferox: consumes element
- Heyaenodon: pet it without spooking or aggravating it
- Otter: eats dead fish that you drag over to it
Temporary Taming
There are times when creatures cannot be fully tamed, and either render as wild or only the survivor who tamed them can interact with it.
The three creatures who can be temporarily tamed include:
- Giant Bee: spawns by a Giant Queen Bee and acts as the guardian for this creature
- Forest Wyvern: spawns by a Forest Titan and can be ridden as long as it has a flame
- Carnotaurus: temporarily command it for 60 seconds after recruiting it with a Yutyrannus
Turret Taming
Some creatures are so buff that they are unphased by tranquilizers, so you have to use something that packs a bigger punch. This is when you need to pull out a turret weapon and either mount it to a saddle, a boat of some kind, or simply place it on the ground and then shoot it repeatedly in the head.
The turrets you can use are:
- Rocket Launcher (for the Rock Elemental)
- Catapult Turret (for the Karkinos)
- Cannon
The creatures that must be tamed using this method are as follows:
- Rock Elemental
- Karkinos
- Astrocetus
- Titanosaur (however, cannot be force-fed and will eventually starve to death)