With the news that ARK: Survival Evolved is heading to the Nintendo Switch, we thought it a good time to make sure gamers are aware of the most useful and amazing prehistoric beasts available in the awesome game. There are many, many to look out for, and while some would love to turn you into lunch without a second thought, if you’re quick enough to tame them, these creatures can become your BFF.
ARK has come along in leaps and bounds in recent years. Starting out as a somewhat quirky and fun survival game, it has quickly turned into a heavyweight open-world title where anything is possible: think Minecraft but less blocky and with dinosaurs. You build camps, maintain relationships with your crew, fight off enemies, and shoot guns whilst riding a T-Rex. The game has thrived largely due to the fact that dedicated servers have allowed players to take ARK in a direction of their choosing. If you haven’t set up this option yet, it can be found here in the servers section, so you and only those people you know can play together – great when you distrust strangers.
However, no matter if you’re playing with some close buddies or with people you’ve never met before, you’re still going to need the biggest and baddest animals to have on your side. It sure beats farming!
Quetzal
The what now? Unusual name aside, the quetzal is an invaluable beast in your creature arsenal. This is not only due to the fact that it can fly, but if you create a platform saddle on its back, you’ve now got a portable base. You can arm it with turrets and use it to move resources across the map. Taming this animal is admittedly quite hard because, well, it’s flying around the lands 99.9% of the time, meaning that you’ll probably have to use a different flying creature to hit it with tranquilizer darts and use raw mutton when it’s down. Not easy, but worth it.
Therizinosaurus
Those claws aren’t just useful in an attack on your enemy base, but also very useful for collecting berries, wood, and thatch. The therizinosaurus is incredibly dangerous and very fast, which means you’ll spend a great portion of ARK using it. When trying to tame it, be sure not to get too close, as it certainly knows how to defend itself. Stock plenty of tranquilizer darts (because it’s fast!) and feed it vegetables once it’s out cold.
Mammoth
The mammoth will become a huge favorite of yours once you tame it, but that’s not exactly simple because there are plenty of dangerous animals to avoid when you’re in the north – its home. Vegetables and tranquilizer darts will need to be stocked aplenty when attempting to tame this beast. Once it’s yours, however, the mammoth can take many hits and is terrifying to fight against, but additionally, it is incredibly valuable for gathering wood. It’s also much faster than it looks.
T-Rex
You didn’t think we would forget, did you? The king of lizards is one of those beasts you love to have on your team, but despise to battle against. It’s massive, ferocious, has a great deal of stamina and can take a lot of damage. Your best bet is to build a platform and fire tranquilizer darts from a height, then feed it raw mutton once you’re on the ground. It’s hard not to love having a T-Rex to call a pet.
