Understanding the Ankylosaurus
The world of ARK: Survival Evolved is a savage land teeming with prehistoric creatures, each with its own unique purpose and value to the survivors who brave its dangers. Among these behemoths roams the Ankylosaurus, a heavily armored herbivore renowned for its exceptional resource gathering capabilities. Possessing a robust build and a wrecking ball of a tail, the Ankylo is the go-to tame for efficiently harvesting metal, crystal, obsidian, and more, making it an indispensable asset to any tribe striving for dominance on the ARK. However, successfully acquiring this walking fortress requires patience, strategy, and, most importantly, knowing the best ARK Ankylo tame food. This guide will provide a comprehensive overview of taming the Ankylosaurus, focusing on optimizing your food choices to maximize taming efficiency and secure yourself a powerful ally.
Before embarking on your Ankylosaurus taming adventure, it’s crucial to understand the creature’s inherent strengths and weaknesses. Ankylos are not particularly fast or aggressive, making them relatively easy to approach compared to other dinosaurs. Their strength lies in their resilience and their ability to efficiently extract resources. Their base stats should be considered during taming, as the higher the stats, the harder it is to knock out. The most important ability, however, is its unique resource-gathering skill, especially when it comes to metal. The Ankylo’s tail can extract pure metal from rocks far more effectively than a pickaxe or even other dinos, making it a cornerstone of metal farming operations. Besides metal, its proficiency extends to crystal, obsidian, flint and stone, allowing the Ankylo to act as a mobile mining unit.
This dino is not only a resource gathering powerhouse, but it also possesses natural armor, reducing incoming damage and making it more durable than many other herbivores. This durability is crucial both during the taming process, when it can withstand more attacks before succumbing to torpor, and in its post-tame role, where it can operate in more dangerous areas without being easily dispatched by predators. While Ankylos generally maintain a passive disposition unless provoked, it’s essential to approach them with caution and awareness. A direct confrontation can quickly turn sour, especially if you’re unprepared or under-equipped.
Taming the Ankylosaurus: A Step-by-Step Guide
Taming an Ankylosaurus involves a series of steps that require careful planning and execution. Rushing the process can lead to failure, wasted resources, and even potential death.
Preparing for the Tame
This dino will make a great addition to your team. It’s important to select a dino that is a good level. A high level dino with high stats is key for a successful journey. It is also important to know where to find these dinos. They are usually located near mountains and rocks. Before approaching any wild Ankylosaurus, ensure you’re adequately prepared. This includes acquiring appropriate gear, selecting a suitable location, and potentially constructing a taming pen. For gear, you’ll need armor to protect yourself from potential attacks, ranged weapons like a bow or crossbow, and tranquilizer darts or arrows to induce torpor. Narcotics or Narcoberries are essential for maintaining the creature’s torpor levels once it’s unconscious. Building a taming pen, although optional, significantly enhances your chances of success. A simple enclosure made of stone or wood can prevent the Ankylo from wandering away and protect it from opportunistic predators.
The Taming Process
Locate a suitable Ankylosaurus and initiate the taming process. The goal is to increase its torpor level until it passes out, allowing you to feed it the ARK Ankylo tame food of your choice. Approach with caution, keeping a safe distance to avoid provoking it. Begin firing tranquilizer darts or arrows, aiming for the head or body. Monitor its torpor level, as indicated by the rising torpor bar. If the bar depletes too quickly, it will wake up, and you’ll have to start over. Once the Ankylo is unconscious, carefully approach it and access its inventory. Place your chosen food, such as kibble or crops, into its inventory. The Ankylo will automatically consume the food over time, gradually increasing its taming progress. Keep a close eye on both the taming progress bar and the torpor bar. If the torpor bar starts to decrease, administer narcotics or narcoberries to prevent it from waking up.
The Best Tame Food for Ankylo
The choice of ARK Ankylo tame food plays a pivotal role in the taming process. The better the food, the faster the tame and the higher the Taming Effectiveness, which directly impacts the stats of the tamed creature. While various options exist, some are significantly more effective than others.
Preferred Foods
Kibble reigns supreme when it comes to Ankylosaurus taming. Exceptional Kibble is the best, followed by Superior and Regular Kibble. This is because it provides the highest taming effectiveness and reduces taming time. Exceptional Kibble is crafted using ingredients and takes time to make, but is most definitely worth it to tame the highest level dinos. Superior Kibble is the second best option if you don’t have Exceptional Kibble. Regular Kibble is an acceptable option but nowhere near as good as Exceptional or Superior.
Crops
if you don’t have any kibble, crops are the next best option. Mejoberries is going to be the least effective choice. Amarberries, Azulberries, and Tintoberries are going to be a slightly better option than Mejoberries.
Berries
While technically viable, using berries to tame an Ankylosaurus is highly discouraged. The taming process will be significantly longer, and the Taming Effectiveness will plummet, resulting in a poorly statted creature.
It is important to remember that food choice impacts the Taming Effectiveness of the creature. Taming Effectiveness determines how many bonus levels the tamed dino will receive on top of its base level. Therefore, it is always best to use Kibble to tame an Ankylosaurus.
Advanced Taming Strategies
Beyond basic taming techniques, several advanced strategies can further optimize your chances of success. Utilizing Taming Calculators can help you estimate the amount of food and narcotics needed for a particular Ankylo, taking into account its level and the chosen food. Taming calculators take the guess work out of how much to bring to tame an Ankylosaurus. You can find calculators on websites or apps.
Securing a safe taming location is paramount. Build a sturdy taming pen to protect the Ankylo from predators and unwanted player interference. Clear the surrounding area of any hostile creatures before initiating the taming process. Predator attacks can severely disrupt the tame, potentially leading to the death of the Ankylo or yourself. Always be vigilant and prepared to defend your taming subject. Be on the lookout for any unwanted visitors who are trying to sabotage your tame. This can be done by watching the area or having team members helping you defend your Ankylosaurus.
Finally, to maximize taming speed, always take advantage of any Taming Bonus multipliers active on your server. These multipliers can significantly reduce taming times and food consumption.
Post-Taming: What to Do with Your Ankylo
Once your Ankylosaurus is successfully tamed, the real fun begins. Leveling up your Ankylo strategically is crucial for maximizing its utility. Prioritize increasing its Weight stat to allow it to carry more resources, its Melee Damage stat to enhance its harvesting efficiency, and its Stamina to prolong its work sessions. A good base stamina is key to being able to travel long distances.
The Ankylo truly shines when used for resource gathering. Metal runs are a staple activity for any ARK player, and the Ankylo is the perfect tool for the job. Target metal-rich locations like mountains and caves, and utilize the Ankylo’s tail attack to efficiently extract vast quantities of metal. You can then haul the resources back to your base, provided you leveled up the weight stat, or are able to use another team member to help transfer the goods. The Ankylo’s versatility extends beyond metal farming. It can also be used to harvest crystal, obsidian, and other valuable resources, making it a true all-rounder.
Conclusion
Mastering the art of Ankylosaurus taming is essential for any aspiring survivor in ARK: Survival Evolved. By understanding the Ankylosaurus’s strengths and weaknesses, following a strategic taming process, and utilizing the best ARK Ankylo tame food, you can secure yourself a powerful ally capable of revolutionizing your resource gathering operations. Remember, the choice of food is paramount, with kibble being the undisputed champion. Embrace the knowledge and strategies outlined in this guide, and you’ll be well on your way to taming your own Ankylosaurus and dominating the ARK.
