In ARK Survival Evolved (PS4, Xbox One, PC) you have the chance to tame and ride dinos. With this guide, you will learn how to effectively tame dinos.
ARK is full of prehistoric creatures – there are also fantasy beings like dragons among them. The creatures can sometimes pose a danger in the fight for survival, as they can be highly aggressive and attack and kill you. Other dinos are peaceful and will only attack if you provoke them.
Many of the dinos can be tamed and provide you with support in gathering resources, traveling, or fighting. A tamed herd of raptors, for example, is capable of defending your base and driving off any intruders. A tamed dino can often be ridden with the right saddle.
ARK: Taming for Beginners – How to Tame a Dino
If you want to learn about taming, you should start with a simple target. A Dodo or small Dilo are suitable dinos for beginners. In the following section, you will find methods for taming, including what weapons you need and what food you should use. Additionally, “Tame Effectiveness” will be explained.
ARK: Taming with Tranquilizers
To tame the dino of your choice, you need to knock it unconscious. Then, you will stun it and give it its favorite food. To do this, simply place the food in the dino’s inventory.
With these methods and weapons, you can knock out dinos:
Hit the dino with your fists. This is still feasible for small creatures like the Dodo. Overall, this is the least effective method.
It is easy to accidentally kill the dino when you only want to knock it out. Be careful not to injure it too much. No unnecessary dino cruelty!
The dino must remain unconscious during taming
Make sure the dino stays unconscious while you tame it. The dino has a bar that indicates how close it is to waking up.
This bar decreases along with the “Torpor” of the creature. To keep it unconscious, feed it narcoberries or use narcotic ointment. The narcotic ointment is more effective than the berries. The dino will not eat these voluntarily. You will need to force it to take the narcotics. Place them in its inventory and click “use item” or “remote use item”.
The dino will eat food willingly; you just need to put it in its inventory. What food the dino likes best varies from creature to creature. If the dino raises its head, it eats, and the “Taming Bar” increases. When the animal’s hunger reaches a certain value, it will start to eat. The dino will always wait long enough until the bar is depleted to its favorite food.
You can watch the process described above in this video by “LostAiming”.
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A major factor in the success of your taming is the food that the dinos prefer to eat. Each species has its specific preferences regarding food.
Herbivores prefer vegetarian food. They eat:
Berries when hunger drops below 20 points (30 for Mejo-Berries).
Advanced Crops when hunger drops below 40 points.
Carnivores prefer meat and eat when hunger is below 50:
Raw Prime Meat
Cooked Prime Meat
Raw Meat
Cooked Meat
Raw Fish Meat
Meat Jerky
Cooked Meat Jerky
Taming Dinos with Kibbles – The Most Effective Method
All creatures in ARK Survival Evolved prefer to eat Kibbles as soon as their hunger drops below 80. Kibbles are recipes that you create in a Cooking Pan.
Typically, Kibbles consist of:
Eggs from a specific species
Fiber
Mejoberries
Water
Another ingredient like meat, jerky, or fruits
There are a few exceptions of dinos that do not have Kibble as their favorite food. However, this is a very small percentage.
ARK: Taming Effectiveness – The Taming Effectiveness Determines the Strength of Dinos
The “Taming Effectiveness” indicates what bonus the creature receives after you have successfully tamed it. Every dino starts with an effectiveness of 100% and loses percentages every time it eats food from its inventory. The Taming Effectiveness also decreases when the dino takes damage while unconscious.
The percentages of Taming Effectiveness remain highest by giving the dino its favorite food. So it’s worth making Kibbles. The taming effectiveness determines the number of bonus levels and statistics of the dino after taming. If you achieve an effectiveness of over 90%, you will get a strong companion.
Using the Taming Calculator – Calculators Help with Taming
There are various tools that show you what a dino prefers to eat and how to tame it most effectively. Here, you can simply enter which creature you want to tame.
You love dinos and have always wanted to face them, tame them, and even ride them? Then ARK: Survival Evolved could be your game. Here you explore a wild world ...
