Taming

From ARK Wiki
(Redirected from Capture & Affinity)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This article is about the process of taming a creature. For the uses of a tamed creature, see Domestication.

How to Tame a Dinosaur

Creatures on ARKs can be tamed and used for various purposes. Uses for tamed animals include riding, item transportation, storage, hunting, harvesting, resource production, and defending property while you are offline. Items placed in a tamed creature's inventory usually take much longer to spoil than they would otherwise.

Taming Basics

Knock-out Taming (KO)

  1. First, render the creature unconscious. This can be achieved through the following methods:
  2. Once the creature is unconscious, open its inventory and feed it an appropriate food item by dragging food into its inventory and waiting for the creature to eat it. The food needed to tame it will vary based on the creature you are trying to tame. Keep plenty of food in the animal's inventory while taming; if the creature runs out of food, the taming bar will begin to go down until it gets more food. Force feeding them anything other than  Narcoberries or  Narcotic will fill their hunger but will not affect the taming bar, effectively making the tame take longer.
  3. Keep the creature unconscious throughout the process. The Unconscious bar decreases with the creature's  Torpor, and can be refilled with  Narcoberries,  Narcotic or  Bio Toxin. Narcoberries will raise torpor by 8 points over 3 seconds, Narcotics will raise it by 40 points over 16 seconds, and Bio Toxin raises it by 80, over 16 seconds. It also stops the creature's fight against the torpor in this time, so torpor will not fall in addition to the raising. The creature will not voluntarily eat these items, and so they must be force fed by hitting the use-key (E, Y, Triangle, X) in the creatures inventory when hovering over the item. If the creature wakes up any items in its inventory will be lost.

Turret Knock-out Taming

For certain creatures, such as the  Titanosaur,  Rock Elemental,  Karkinos and  Astrocetus, tranquilizers are ineffective. In order to inflict torpor on them, you will need to do damage to their head using a turret weapon. Because turrets themselves are immobile, one may have to mount said turret upon a platform saddle, usually the  Bronto Platform Saddle,  Paracer Platform Saddle, or  Quetz Platform Saddle, or utilizing  Unassembled TEK Hover Skiff. The most efficient weapon is the  Cannon, as it's torpor-to-damage ratio will be the highest. Although you can also use the  Rocket Launcher on  Rock Elemental, and the  Catapult Turret on the  Karkinos. Although related,  Rubble Golem can't be tamed.

* = Tamed  Titanosaur will refuse to eat anything, and will not regain hunger through any methods and will eventually starve to death. But if the private server or single player runs with AllowRaidDinoFeeding setting it can be force-fed.

Titan Knock-out Taming

Extinction DLC.jpg This section is about content exclusive to the DLC: Extinction

3 of the Titans can be temporarily tamed by attacking corruption nodes on their bodies in a designated sequence. Each Titan is different at where the corruption exist, and thus requires different strategy to eliminate the corruption.

All Corrupt tumors found at its body always take one damage per hit, which makes high damage ranged pointless. Rather, utilizing rapid-firing ranged like  Assault Rifle or creatures like  Velonasaur will help.

Based on how much damage it takes, the titan type when tamed will change, each with higher stat. These are denoted as its prefix when it is first tamed.

Unique Knock-out Taming (ASA)

With ASA, some of the new creatures can only be knocked out through special methods.

  • (ASA, BTT) Plant a  C4 Charge near a buried mound containing  Fasolasuchus, and ride it to a rock to gain torpidity until its downed.
  • (ASA)  Yi Ling need to be disoriented while its diving down towards you after flying for a while with  Plant Species Z Fruit and fed with narcotic-related items until its downed, then it can be fed as if its a knockout tame.

Non-Violent Taming (NV)

Most of the creatures below can be tamed non-violently. Diplodocus can be tamed with both methods.

  1. Put the food you plan to feed to the creature in the far-right slot of your hotbar.
  2. Approach the creature and press the use key (default: E, Y, Triangle, X) to feed it when prompted.


  1. Wait for the creature to become hungry enough up to roughly 90% of its hunger ex:36000-40000 to eat again. This can take varying amounts of time depending on the creature in question and the food you are feeding it.
  2. Repeat this process until the taming bar is filled.

Note that the first instance of food you feed to the creature is akin to knocking it unconscious with a violent tame - it binds the tame to the Survivor (or their tribe) and the creature's hunger will begin decreasing. At this point - the taming effectiveness and taming progress will not begin to diminish unless the creature starts taking damage (i.e. enters combat or starts dying of starvation). The initial delay between the first and second feedings compared to all subsequent feedings is also greater. Once fed a second time, progress will begin to reset if you take too long to feed. Moving too far away before a second feeding will also un-bind the tame - resetting everything (although its food may take a few moments to update). As with violent tames, you can bulk-feed a starved creature with an approximately 5-10 second delay between feedings. Due to the complete reset if you move too far away and the fact most long-duration non-violent tames don't have sufficient food to be substantially starved: this trick is only really helpful for taming skittish Ichthys or monkeys.

Unique Non-Violent Taming

Some dinos must be tamed with unique methods.

  •  Equus will be hand fed it's taming food. You then need to ride it, calming it with the said food when it starts its attempt to kick the survivor off.
  •  Andrewsarchus must be distracted with  Giant Bee Honey and forcibly ridden on, ensuring to keep the momentum with the right directional button and getting ready to flee when it decides to kick the survivor off and come back later.
  •  Hyaenodon needs to be pet without being spooked or aggravated.
  •  Liopleurodon can be hand fed  Giant Bee Honey. Remember that it will automatically disappear after 30 minutes.
  •  Pegomastax steals  Berries from survivor placed in the far-right slot of hotbar and it will need to have enough of them to feed on until the next steal.
  •  Titanoboa eats fertilized  Egg from the ground, note that they need to be dropped by the player, not from a creature.
  •  Troodon kills tamed dino for thrills and sports.
  •  Basilisk eats fertilized  Rock Drake Egg,  Wyvern Egg, Voidwyrm Egg or  Magmasaur Egg from the ground.
  •  Gacha takes just about anything that is dropped by the survivor, but prefers Structure items in stack of 10 over anything else.
  •  Phoenix needs to be constantly burned during a Heat wave, either through  Fire Wyvern or  Flamethrower
  •  Roll Rat automatically eats thrown  Giant Bee Honey whilst its buried underground.
  •  Hesperornis and  Otter eats  Dead Fish that the player drags to the creature.
  •  Ferox eats Element. However, it becomes aggressive for a while after feeding and is best kept away from it until it returns to its small size.
  •  Bloodstalker and  Desmodus eats  Blood Pack from the latched victim's inventory if one is present.
  •  Megachelon will follow/consume a  Parakeet Fish School, ensuring it does not take any form of damage during the process.
  •  Tropeognathus must be pinned down with a  Chain Bola to be fed with its preferred food.
  •  Noglin control tamed creatures for taming.
  •  Tek Stryder must be hacked with  Mutagel Genesis Part 2 Icon.png. The amount needed varies on its level.
  •  Astrodelphis must be fed and pet with  Element. It will flee for a short while after the interaction.
  •  Shadowmane can only be fed with filled  Fish Basket while its resting at afternoon. It will teleport a few distance after the interaction and requires constant tracking via the HUD as the location it warps to are random.
  •  Voidwyrm needs to weakened before it needs to be force ridden on, calming with  Mutagen when it is about to do a barrel roll.
  •  Amargasaurus wants to prove the survivor that synchronized its temperature that its worthy to be tamed by killing off any aggressive creature (and taking foods in between).
  •  Dinopithecus's alpha in a pack can only be passively tamed as normal after every others on its pack are dead and its trying to flee.
  •  Fjordhawk devours fresh carcasses killed by survivor.
  •  Carcharodontosaurus only trusts survivors that gave it enough tribute and see if they are worthy by bringing them out temporarily to kill off any creatures (via riding on it).
  • (ASA) Attract the attention of  Shastasaurus with a nearby tamed File:Icthyosaurus.png Icthyosaurus until it requires all leeches to be removed with a  Sickle equipped. Then feed it and repeat the steps.
  • (ASA, BTT)  Oasisaur is only tamable if a deceased creature's Death Essence used to tame it is protected from the spawned aggressive Vultures.
  • (ASA, FT)  Pyromane need to have its health lowered below 50% while affected by Doused effect, then kill off any creature with it and "absorb" the flames from its corpse (via riding on it).
  • (ASA)  Ceratosaurus can only be fed while drunken from attacking tamed creatures under the effects from  Hemogoblin Cocktail.
  • (ASA)  Deinosuchus can only be fed its food while its large jaw is wide open without getting too close.

With the exception of  Hyaenodon,  Pegomastax,  Phoenix, and  Troodon, they too follow the same process in waiting to become hungry enough to eat again.


Fish Basket Non-Violent Taming

Aberration DLC.jpg Valguero DLC.jpg Genesis Part 1 DLC.jpg Crystal Isles DLC.jpg Genesis Part 2 DLC.jpg This section is about content exclusive to the DLC: Aberration, Valguero, Genesis: Part 1, Crystal Isles, Genesis: Part 2

For more details, visit  Fish Basket

With introduction to Aberration, it is possible to tame certain aquatic creatures using  Fish Basket (which must be learned in Aberration map to utilize in other maps). While it requires time for the basket to set up, it can be utilized to capture and tame smaller creatures. Bear in mind it has a certain lifespan while being trapped; letting it "spoil" to zero will kill them. Creatures that have been tamed using the  Fish Basket are considered force-tamed and don't behave normally.

Wild Baby Taming (ASA)

Other Taming Types

Temporary Taming

Some creatures can be considered "temporarily tamed/commandable" (but not fully temporary tame like Liopleurodon or Titan), but either does not show up as part of the tribe (still rendered as wild), or are only interact-able as survivor.

  •  Carnotaurus - Can be temporarily commanded after being "recruited" by, and with a  Yutyrannus for 60 seconds.
  •  Giant Bee - Periodically spawned by  Giant Queen Bee. Acts as temporary guardian for the queen who spawned it.
  •  Forest Wyvern - Periodically spawned by wild  Forest Titan. Can be ridden long as it still has its flame.
  •  Amargasaurus - Temporarily follows the survivor until its no longer synchronized with him/her, its fully tamed or its dead.
  •  Carcharodontosaurus - Temporarily allows the survivor to ride on it after giving it enough carcass to feed on (with Friend Buff) until it no longer trust them, its fully tamed or its dead.

Raise-only Taming

Scorched Earth DLC.jpg Ragnarok DLC.jpg Aberration DLC.jpg Valguero DLC.jpg Genesis Part 1 DLC.jpg Crystal Isles DLC.jpg Genesis Part 2 DLC.jpg Lost Island DLC.jpg Fjordur DLC.jpg This section is about content exclusive to the DLC: Scorched Earth, Ragnarok, Aberration, Valguero, Genesis: Part 1, Crystal Isles, Genesis: Part 2, Lost Island, Fjordur

Due to the nature of these creatures, they cannot be tamed as adults unlike most other creatures. In order to 'tame' the said creatures, they have to be raised from birth. Following creatures can only be tamed from birth.

Except for Reaper Kings, all of the raised creatures here can be bred (Wyverns can only breed with ones of similar type). However, getting an egg from two raised Magmasaur requires them to breed in a lava pool/puddle.

Craft-only Taming

Extinction DLC.jpg Genesis Part 2 DLC.jpg This section is about content exclusive to the DLC: Extinction, Genesis: Part 2

Three Creatures can only be "crafted" rather than through regular taming, through acquisition of its Blueprint, or crafted as level 1 (or 51 for the  Mek) at either a  City Terminal in Extinction or  Tek Replicator.


In the case of both  Enforcer and  Scout, these can both be found roaming around the Sanctuary. Destroying them will drop Blueprints related to their level, possibly ranging from Primitive to Ascendant based on their level, with random percentage of stats.


In the case of the  Mek, these can be crafted with a Level 51 Engram. They only come out as Level 51 and unlike the  Enforcer, these cannot level up. Better grade, higher level  Mek Blueprints can occasionally be obtained either from Hard or Legendary  Orbital Supply Drops.

Reward-only Taming

Extinction DLC.jpg Fjordur DLC.jpg This section is about content exclusive to the DLC: Extinction, Fjordur

There are two known creatures that can only be obtained or assembled with rewards only found from the world's boss/guardian.

  •  Fenrir can be obtained with random stats from beating  Fenrisúlfr under any difficulty every time as repeatable reward. However, these creatures cannot breed.

Taming Effectiveness

The taming effectiveness indicates the amount of bonus the creature gets once it is successfully tamed. It does not have any effect on the taming speed of the dinosaur. The initial taming effectiveness is 100%, and decreases whenever the creature eats the food left in its inventory or takes damage while unconscious. Taming effectiveness decay is reciprocal, meaning that the lower it is, the less it drops. Basically the formula is TE = 1 / ( 1 + [number of food eaten] + [damage taken]), with some additional weighting multipliers, depending on the species and kind of food.[1] Feeding a creature their preferred food will not only tame them faster, but also reward you with a higher taming effectiveness percentage. Most creatures also have a preferred Kibble, which will be the fastest taming food while only slightly decreasing the taming effectiveness. (Side note: Efficiency is not a synonym for effectiveness. The efficiency (how economical a method is) is not taken into account for the taming effectiveness.)

  • In the case of Reaper King, Taming effectiveness also applies, but through a different method. While it is still not born, killing dinosaur will absorb experience like effectiveness, affecting its bonus stat when it is born. No other method of earning experience will increase it however.
  • In the case of  Bloodstalker, Taming effectiveness always starts at 30% regardless. Instead of decreasing, letting it feast on tamed creatures and killing it actually increases its effectiveness, and will never drop once it is raised.

Effect of the Taming Effectiveness

Taming Effectiveness (TE) determines the number of bonus levels that a creature will gain upon completion of the taming. Each level is another point in a random skill. These bonus levels are considered "wild levels" for the purposes of post-tame level-ups (e.g. +4% per level refers to 4% of the post-tame value) and breeding, and so maximizing TE is vital for procuring the best creatures.

Contrary to a popular belief, stat points gained like this are assigned completely randomly, and no stat is prioritised over other.

At 100% TE, a creature will get 50% of its wild level as bonus levels. The amount of bonus levels gained is proportional to the TE (so 50% TE is 25% bonus levels). Where L is the creature Wild Level, the amount of bonus levels is L × TE / 2 (rounded down). For example: a level 90 Rex with a TE of 85% will get 90 × 85% / 2 = 38.25 → 38 bonus levels.

With a maximum wild level of 150 and a maximum TE of 99.9% for all creatures that have to eat at least once (creature such as the  Troodon and  Pegomastax retain 100% due to not technically "eating") - the maximum amount of bonus levels you can achieve is 150 × 99.9% / 2 → 74 (rounded), for a total level of 224.

In addition to bonus levels, most creatures have at least one stat that has a Taming Multiplier that is based on TE - e.g. the Rex has 17.6% multiplier on its  Melee Damage. The multiplier is applied after bonus levels and any additive bonuses (e.g. the Rex also has a +7% additive bonus). As an aside, the additive bonuses are unaffected by TE. Similarly to bonus levels, the multiplier scales proportionately to the TE. Using the rex as an example again, the full 17.6% multiplier is only achieved with 100% TE. At only 50% TE, you will only get 8.8% bonus melee damage. Use the external taming calculators to know which method is more cost/effective for your situation.

When breeding, newborns are considered to have 100% Te regardless of the TE of the parents. While this will not cause them to gain bonus levels, this will cause them to gain the maximum stat multipliers. This is why bred creatures will often have higher melee or food stats than either of their parents.

Food Value[2] Speed[3] TE[4] Used To Tame
 Broth of Enlightenment 20 50× [5] ★★★★★  Arthropluera
 Rare Flower 60 25.1× ★★★★★  Microraptor
 Raw Mutton 50 7.5× ★★★★☆ Carnivores
 50 Black Pearls 1500 6.6× ★★★★★  Tusoteuthis [6]
 Preferred Kibble 80 ★★★★★ All kibble tames, except those listed below. This does not apply after the Homestead update on PC and Console.
 Kibble (Archaeopteryx Egg) 120 3.33× ★★★★★  Diplocaulus
 Kibble (Carbonemys Egg) 53 7.55× ★★★★★  Brontosaurus
 Kibble (Lystrosaurus Egg) 53 5.2× ★★★★★  Diplodocus
 Kibble (Mantis Egg) 20 20× ★★★★★  Rock Elemental
 Kibble (Megalosaurus Egg) 120 3.33× ★★★★★  Therizinosaur
 Kibble (Moschops Egg) 53 7.55× ★★★★★  Purlovia
 Kibble (Oviraptor Egg) 135 2.96× ★★★★★  Megalosaurus
 Kibble (Pelagornis Egg) 25 16× ★★★★★  Archaeopteryx
 Kibble (Quetzal Egg) 80 6.875× ★★★★★  Mosasaurus,  Giganotosaurus (5x Speed)
 Kibble (Tapejara Egg) 120 3.3× ★★★★★  Kaprosuchus
 Kibble (Terror Bird Egg) 53 7.5× ★★★★★  Woolly Rhinoceros
 Kibble (Titanoboa Egg) 80 3.75× ★★★★★  Gigantopithecus,  Dunkleosteus,  Thylacoleo (5x Speed)
 Kibble (Therizinosaurus Egg) 320 1.56× ★★★★★  Basilosaurus
 Giant Bee Honey 80 4.9× ★★★★☆  Dire Bear
 Rare Flower 35 4.55× [5] ★★★★★  Lystrosaurus
 Bio Toxin 45 4.46× ★★★★★  Electrophorus
 Large Animal Feces 37.5 4.27× [5] ★★★★★  Dung Beetle
 Cooked Lamb Chop 50 ★★★★★ Carnivores
 Giant Bee Honey 80 3.72× ★★★☆☆  Megatherium
 Raw Prime Meat 50 ★★★☆☆ Carnivores
 Raw Prime Fish Meat 25 2.4×[5] ★★★☆☆ Carnivores
 Rare Flower 75 ★★★☆☆  Giant Queen Bee
 Spoiled Meat 50 ★★★☆☆  Araneo,  Arthropluera,  Dung Beetle,  Pulmonoscorpius and  Vulture
 Cooked Prime Meat /  Prime Meat Jerky 50 1.5× ★★☆☆☆ Carnivores
 Rare Mushroom 75 1.3× ★★☆☆☆  Procoptodon
 Beer Jar 45 ★★★★★  Chalicotherium
 Stimberry -15 ? ☆☆☆☆☆  Chalicotherium
 Raw Meat 50 ★☆☆☆☆ Carnivores
 Cooked Meat /  Cooked Meat Jerky 25 ☆☆☆☆☆ Carnivores
 Crops 40 ★★☆☆☆ Herbivores
 Chitin 50 ★☆☆☆☆  Archaeopteryx
 Mejoberry 30 ★☆☆☆☆ Herbivores
 Sulfur 25 ★☆☆☆☆  Rock Elemental
 Other Berries 20 ☆☆☆☆☆ Herbivores
 Plant Species X Seed 50 ☆☆☆☆☆  Procoptodon
 AnglerGel 24 N/A[7]  Manta
 Sweet Vegetable Cake 20 N/A[7]  Ovis
 Sweet Vegetable Cake 500 N/A[7]  Achatina
 Giant Bee Honey 300 N/A[7]  Roll Rat
 Giant Bee Honey 200 N/A[7]  Liopleurodon
 Deathworm Horn 300 N/A[7]  Mantis
 Woolly Rhino Horn 200 N/A[7]  Mantis
 Raw Fish Meat 25 0.8×[5] ☆☆☆☆☆ Carnivores
 Cooked Fish Meat 12 0.8× ☆☆☆☆☆ Carnivores
 Cooked Prime Fish Meat 25 0.8× ☆☆☆☆☆ Carnivores
 Other Kibble 80 0.66× ☆☆☆☆☆ Anything other than the creature that prefers the type of Kibble.
 Stone 50 0.14× ★☆☆☆☆  Rock Elemental
 Giganotosaurus Egg 300 ? ★★★★★  Oviraptor
 Fertilized Giganotosaurus Egg 900 ? ★★★★★  Titanoboa
 Rock Drake Egg 262.5 ? ★★★★★  Basilisk
 Magmasaur Egg 262.5 ? ★★★★★  Basilisk
 Plant Species Z Seed 75 ? ★★★★★  Bulbdog,  Glowtail,  Featherlight, and  Shinehorn
 Dead Fish N/A ? ☆☆☆☆☆  Otter and  Hesperornis
  1. Calculation of the taming effectiveness
  2. Note that the food values depend on the combination of food and creature, but most creatures share the same value for a specific food. Exceptions apply especially to the preferred food of a creature.
  3. Taming Speed is derived from Taming Affinity Per Consumption / Food Value Per Consumption of a particular food versus the baseline (usually Raw Meat or Other Berries).
  4. Taming Effectiveness is derived from Number of Consumptions, where the fewest consumptions is the most effective. The most effective may not always be the fastest.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Estimated.
  6. Note that this is compared to 20 Raw Meat, rather than 1 Raw Meat.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 This is the only valid food item for this tame.

Dino Level and Stats

Spawn level 1-150 (official servers)
Taming effectiveness bonus levels +0-50% - 1 of spawn level (+74 max)
Max level increase after taming +88
  • Dinos/Creatures spawn with a level of 5 to 150 in official, or different depending on the difficulty level of the server. The following dino/creatures are an exception: (Other levels applies like every other dino based on difficulty setting however.)
  • For every level above 1, the animal has an improvement made at random to one of its base stats. Usually one stat in particular will have been upgraded naturally.
  • Any animal, once tamed, can be leveled up manually up to 88 times (Except for Titans and  Mek). This means if you tame a level 1 animal, it will cap at level 89 and not level up anymore, but an animal tamed at level 30 may reach level 118.
  • Lower level animals are generally easier and less dangerous to render unconscious, and it is faster (and requires less food and drugs) to tame them.
  • Beginning players may want to target lower level animals to save time and resources, especially for early game mounts and pack animals such as  Phiomias.
  • Established players may want to target higher level animals, as their beginning stats (and thus max-level stats) will be higher. It is common for 'end game' hunters to stalk specific dinos (sometimes with specific colors) within a few levels of a server's cap, knock them out, and then inspect their stats. If their random improvements have gone to less useful stats (such as Food), the hunter may kill or abandon the unconscious dino and search for another.
  • Which improvements are desirable will depend on the animal's species and intended use. For instance, it is usually pointless to level up melee damage on a  Parasaur intended as a pack animal, while this may be the most important stat for a hunting  Raptor or a siege  Rex.
  • The amount of XP an animal needs to earn to level up is the same, regardless of the level it was at when tamed. E.g., the same amount of XP will take an animal tamed at level 1 to level 2, or tamed at level 26 to level 27, etc.
  • Tamed animals will earn XP slowly even while doing nothing, just like the player. The player gets additional XP equal to half the XP earned by an animal they are riding, so it's a good idea to sit on a dino while AFK.
    • Tamed creatures in a  Cryopod receive more passive XP.
  • The max dino level (without breeding) after taming and leveling is 312 on an official or non-modded server (i.e. 150 wild level + 74 level taming bonus + 88 domesticated level ups). There are a few exceptions to this rule:
    • Tek creatures - As stated above, they can naturally spawn up to 180 with a maximum taming efficiency of +89 levels and up to 88 levels after taming, making their max possible level 349 outside of breeding.
    • Reaper Kings - Queens spawn at a maximum level of 150, but their offspring can recieve up to 75 additional levels during pregnancy and another 88 once matured, making their max level 313.
    • Enforcers and Scouts - Spawn naturally up to level 150 and can receive an addition 88 levels after being assembled, making their max level 238.
    • Deinonychus - Eggs naturally spawn up to 150 and can receive an additional 88 levels after maturation, making their max level 238 outside of breeding.
    • Wyverns and Rock Drakes - Eggs can spawn naturally up to 190 and can receive an additional 88 levels after maturation, making their max level 278.

Taming Hints

  • One  Narcoberry will increase an animal's  Torpor by 7.5. One  Narcotic increases  Torpor by 40. A  Tranquilizer Arrow fired by an ordinary bow will increase  Torpor by about 100 (dependent on the body region), but deals damage and decreases Taming Effectiveness.
  • To feed  Narcotics or  Narcoberries, use the E, Y, Triangle, X. -> R2/RT not triangle/Y
  • In an emergency, if you run out of  Narcotics and  Narcoberries, you can punch or  Slingshot the animal in the head to keep it unconscious, or shoot it with a  Tranquilizer Arrow. However, this will damage the creature, thereby reducing taming effectiveness and the amount bonus levels gained. It could also kill the creature if you aren't careful.
  • Be sure they have food at all times. If they run out of food, their taming meter will fall rapidly until it reaches zero.
  • An unconscious animal will remain unconscious until the  Torpor reaches 0. If it wakes up, you will lose all taming progress, plus any items that were in the animal's inventory(If an unconscious tame is killed however it will drop an Item Cache with all the items you had on it when it died).
  • Different animals lose  Torpor at different rates (for example, a  Spino loses  Torpor very quickly) and because taming takes longer for higher levels, more  Narcotics are needed.
  • Taming can take up to several hours. Keep an eye out for other players or predators, as they may try to harm your unconscious creature.
  • Your tamed animals can die from starvation even while you are offline, so be sure there is enough food in their inventory. However, like players, inactive animals will use food very slowly.
  • If your tame has low health you can force feed it so that it will regain some HP. This will not decrease taming effectiveness if the creature's food is maxed out. This only works on carnivores.
  • If your tame gets hit you can let it wake up to reset the taming effectiveness.
  • During Valentines Day event,  Box o' Chocolates can be used to quickly knock 40% off taming progress of any knockout tames. However, these can only be used once per wild unconscious creature.
  • If you are taming a lot of creature, utilize the taming list to keep track of unconscious tameable dino to check how long before their torpidity runs out, or how long to taming it.

For Carnivores

For Herbivores

  • Unlike carnivores, there are no foods you can feed a herbivore to increase its taming speed except for Kibble (with exception to Primitive Plus, which certain crops on certain dinos will very quickly tame), and herbivores also often require significantly more Kibble than a similarly levelled and sized carnivore. Thus - you should set aside a lot of time for taming herbivores, particularly if you've got your eye on a high leveled one.
  • Herbivores will eat  Crops, while this will not speed up the overall time to tame, it will result in a higher taming effectiveness.
  • Herbivores will not voluntarily eat  Narcoberries.
  • Unlike with tamed dinos where  Stimberries will cause them to become hungry, force feeding an unconscious dino will only have their torpidity decreased - causing them to wake up sooner. However, herbivores will eat a  Stimberry if there is no other food in their inventory. Although  Stimberries drastically reduce tame effectiveness, they add a very small amount of taming affinity with no food gain. Therefore, they will eat the  Stimberries at a constant rate. This can be a way to increase taming affinity while starve taming a herbivore at cost of a 0% taming effectiveness.

For Most Creatures

  • Most creatures have a preferred  Kibble that will raise the taming meter much faster than their favorite foods while almost halting the Taming Effectiveness decay. Each quality of kibble requires different ingredients, and you can find how to make each type  Kibble here
  • Kibbles make taming 5 times faster for every creature that prefers one except for  Brontos, which are tamed 8 times faster using kibbles.
  • New players will notice that some taming times will be very high without the use of kibble, and be rightly discouraged. Generally, if a tame takes longer than 3 hours without kibble, it should probably not be attempted. Taming high level creatures without kibble greatly decreases taming effectiveness, negating the advantages of taming a high level creature.
    • This is especially true for herbivores; while there are many types of meat in the game, allowing for most carnivores to be tamed quickly without kibble while still retaining decent taming affinity, herbivores do not get this luxury. Outside of berries, the only other foods most herbivores will accept are  Crops and their preferred kibbles, both of which are generally not utilized by players until the more mid-to-late-game. Because of this, taming high level herbivores will almost always require their preferred kibble, and even then, may still take a considerable amount of time and  Narcotics to keep asleep. For example, taming a level 150  Doedicurus on official settings would take 34 kibble and 130  Narcotics, and would still take 1 hour and 42 minutes. If one were to try and tame and same  Doedicurus using normal berries, it would require nearly 700 berries and almost 900  Narcotics, with the entire process taking nearly 6 hours and 38 minutes, only for the creature to receive 17 bonus levels due to the subtantial loss of taming effectiveness.
  • A  Cryopod allows the ease of moving dinosaur from one point to another, especially freshly tamed. Just be mindful not to die as anyone can steal the filled  Cryopod for their tribe from a dead body (If a plan is made to breed, it might be advised to find another way of moving, unless the player is fine with waiting at most 2 days for cooldown).
  • If the player has access to  Snow Owl, they can use it to heal up wounded unconscious dino to ensure that they continue to live in case it somehow lost too much taming effectiveness.
  • Due to the amount of food some creatures need to eat in order to be tamed, there are some animals that, even with kibble, can never reach 100% TE. A way to tame these creatures at higher efficiency is to wait for an event that boosts taming speeds, such as the ARK: Evolution Event. During these events, less kibble is needed, and therefore it is possible to tame creatures at higher levels of efficiency that otherwise would be impossible on standard official settings. A good example of this is the  Woolly Rhino, which can only reach a maximum TE level of 95.8% on standard official settings, but can reach 98.9% during such events.
    • There are some creatures, however, that cannot hit maximum TE even on x2 rates, such as the  Basilisk. These creatures can only hit maximum TE during events where rates are booster even further, such as during ARK: Eggcellent Adventure.

Speeding up starve taming with Battle Tartare

This method is no longer effective.

There are ways to speed up taming using Battle Tartare. However its not an easy technique, and you need to be aware of several things:

  • It should only be done during starve taming. Force feeding anything other than  Narcotics or  Stimulant to a tamed creature during normal taming will cause a massive drop in taming effectiveness. This doesn't apply to starve taming though. Force feeding anything during starve taming will not cause a drop in taming effectiveness.
  •  Battle Tartare inflicts damage. Even though it actually doesn't cause any taming effectiveness drop (even during normal taming, although force feeding it still does), it still increases the risk of killing the creature. One battle tartare does a low amount of damage. To be precise 90 damage over 200 seconds. But you will likely need to feed multiple sometimes around ten and sometimes even over a hundred  Battle Tartares to really make it matter.
  • As each  Battle Tartare works only for 200 seconds, and it cause the food meter drop 50% faster, the amount of  Battle Tartares you need can be calculated by this formula: normal total taming time(in seconds)/3*2/200, which simplifies to normal total taming time/300. For example: Taming a 150  Castoroides with kibble will normally take one hour, 19 minutes and 10 seconds, or 4750 seconds in total. Thus total amount of  Battle Tartares you need is 4750/300=16(rounded up), and it will take 16*200=3200 seconds (53 minutes) of force feeding  Battle Tartares. At that time  Castoroides should get hungry enough to eat the required 22 Gallimimus kibble, thus saving you a 23 minutes of taming. During that starve taming, the  Castoroides will take 16*90=1440 damage.
  • If tamed creature is on very low health already, and thus Battle tartare can potentially kill it, you can instead force feed it  Enduro Stew. It will not speed up taming on its own, but will restore 1080 health over 15 minutes during the duration of the  Enduro Stew. But just as the  Battle Tartare, only force feed  Enduro Stew during starve taming. Force feeding it during normal taming will cause a massive drop in taming effectiveness. Although force feeding  Battle Tartare will instantly cancel the effect of  Enduro Stew, and vice versa. Thus you can't have both active at the same time.
  • Be aware that even though  Battle Tartare can potentially speed up taming by 50%, Its not the same as having a 1.5x taming multiplier. It will simply cause a creature to get hungry 50% faster, but it will still need to eat the same amount of food to be tamed.
  • Cooking  Battle Tartare is quite tricky, as it requires three portions of  Raw Prime Meat for each portion of tartare. Its recommended to do it only with the  Industrial Cooker, with everything (besides  Raw Prime Meat) already put in it. Thus you only have to bring a large amount of  Raw Prime Meat to be able to cook some of the  Battle Tartare. Killing Alpha Creatures provides very high amounts of  Raw Prime Meat. Another way to get high amounts of it, is by killing  Paracers,  Diplodocus, or  Brontos.

Taming Table

These tables give an overview of the needed resources to tame the Dinosaurs and Creatures of ARK. The numbers in these tables are meant to give a first impression on the needed resources and to compare to other creatures and so are only for a level 30 creature, fed with the standard food (i.e.  Mejoberry for Herbivores and  Raw Meat for Carnivores). For the  Tranq Arrow number it is assumed they hit the body, if there are no other annotations, using a  Crossbow. Targeting the head is more effective for most creatures.

For additional info on the food and time needed for each creature, visit their individual pages, as the needed resources vary largely depend on the level and used food.

Note that the values are for optimal cases, always bring extra supplies!
For a level-dependent count of resources needed, try an external taming calculator.

Herbivore Taming Table (Level 30)

Creature Rideable  Narcoberries Needed  Narcotics Needed  Mejoberries Needed  Tranq Arrows Needed**
[body;head]
Preferred Food Time Needed
[hh:mm]
Level for
Saddle
 Achatina No (Sweet Vegetable Cake.png)  Sweet Vegetable Cake N/A
 Ankylosaurus Yes 640 132 250 8  Regular Kibble 03:45 40
 Brontosaurus Yes 650 89 834 34  Exceptional Kibble 05:00 63
 Carbonemys Yes 340 62 250 5 (body); 10 (tail); 25 (shell)  Regular Kibble 01:52 25
 Castoroides Yes 547 167 7  Superior Kibble 03:45 55
 Chalicotherium Yes N/A N/A N/A  Beer Jar 42
 Diplodocus Yes  Regular Kibble 32
 Dodo No 22 4 38 1;1  Basic Kibble 00:08 N/A
 Doedicurus Yes 1600 390 284 14  Regular Kibble 04:15 30
 Equus Yes N/A N/A N/A  Simple Kibble 20 / Not Needed
 Gallimimus Yes 1461 550 169 8  Simple Kibble 01:41 30
 Gasbags Yes  Superior Kibble 43
 Gigantopithecus Yes N/A N/A 139 N/A  Regular Kibble 03:10 Not Needed
 Iguanodon Yes  Simple Kibble 30
 Jerboa No*  Plant Species Y Seed N/A
 Lymantria Yes  Regular Kibble 36
 Lystrosaurus No N/A N/A N/A  Rare Flower N/A
 Mammoth Yes 786 150 417 10  Superior Kibble 04:23 40
 Megaloceros Yes 221 41 100 4;2  Superior Kibble 01:15 30
 Megatherium Yes  Superior Kibble 52
 Mesopithecus No* N/A N/A 84 N/A  Basic Kibble 00:33 N/A
 Morellatops Yes  Simple Kibble 11
 Ovis Yes N/A N/A (Sweet Vegetable Cake.png) N/A  Sweet Vegetable Cake Not Needed
 Pachy Yes 121 22 100 3;23 (especially resistant head)  Simple Kibble 00:50 15
 Pachyrhinosaurus Yes 50 18 163 8  Bug Repellant 01:13 25
 Paracer Yes 1506 373 542 23  Superior Kibble 03:56 30
 Parasaur Yes 102 17 125 3;2  Basic Kibble 00:38 10
 Pegomastax No N/A N/A N/A  Mejoberry N/A
 Phiomia Yes 45 3 250 5;2  Basic Kibble 00:25 5
 Procoptodon Yes 653 151 167 (Plant Species X Seed.png) 5  Rare Mushrooms 01:51 50
 Roll Rat Yes N/A N/A (Giant Bee Honey.png) N/A  Giant Bee Honey 58
 Stegosaurus Yes 646 127 500 9;6  Regular Kibble 03:45 30
 Therizinosaurus Yes  Exceptional Kibble 69
 Triceratops Yes 306 64 250 5  Simple Kibble 01:53 16
 Woolly Rhino Yes 11  Superior Kibble 45

* These tames ride on the player's shoulder.

** Number of tranq arrows shot by a 100% crossbow.

Carnivore Taming Table (Level 30)

Creature Rideable  Narcoberries Needed  Narcotics Needed  Raw Meat Needed  Tranq Arrows Needed***
[body;head]
Preferred Food Time Needed
[hh:mm]
Level for
Saddle
 Allosaurus Yes  Superior Kibble
 Archaeopteryx No (Chitin.png)  Simple Kibble N/A
 Angler Yes 3513 1153 90 16  Regular Kibble 04:30 Not needed
 Araneo Yes N/A N/A 38 (Spoiled Meat.png) N/A  Spoiled Meat 0:21 40
 Argentavis Yes 648 120 100 7;3  Superior Kibble 03:45 55
 Arthropluera Yes N/A N/A ? (Spoiled Meat.png) N/A  Broth of Enlightenment 50
 Baryonyx Yes  Regular Kibble
 Basilisk Yes (Rock Drake Egg.png), (Magmasaur Egg.png)  Rock Drake Egg and  Magmasaur Egg
 Basilosaurus Yes  Exceptional Kibble
 Beelzebufo Yes 349 70 81 4  Regular Kibble 00:54 25
 Carnotaurus Yes 663 133 100 7  Regular Kibble 03:45 50
 Compy No* 11 2 5 (Raw Prime Meat.png) 1  Raw Prime Meat 00:01 N/A
 Daeodon Yes  Superior Kibble
 Dilophosaur No 33 4 23 2;1  Basic Kibble 00:13 N/A
 Diplocaulus Yes  Simple Kibble
 Dimetrodon No 4755 2528 84 14  Regular Kibble 04:12 N/A
 Dimorphodon No* 76 16 45 2;1  Raw Prime Meat 00:11 N/A
 Dire Bear Yes 18  Superior Kibble 06:54 35
 Direwolf Yes 498 100 60 8;4  Superior Kibble 01:52 Not needed
 Dung Beetle No N/A N/A 16 (Feces.png) N/A  Large Animal Feces 00:13 N/A
 Dunkleosteus Yes 21  Superior Kibble 40
 Electrophorus No N/A N/A N/A  Bio Toxin N/A
 Giganotosaurus Yes 8716 5071 196 174  Exceptional Kibble 07:21 85
 Griffin Yes  Extraordinary Kibble
 Hesperornis No* N/A N/A (Coelacanth.png) N/A  Dead Fish N/A
 Ichthyornis No*  Regular Kibble N/A
 Ichthyosaurus Yes N/A N/A 32 N/A  Simple Kibble 01:22 10
 Kairuku No 200 35 45 6;2  Basic Kibble 00:25 N/A
 Kaprosuchus Yes  Regular Kibble
 Karkinos Yes  Exceptional Kibble
 Managarmr Yes  Exceptional Kibble
 Manta Yes N/A N/A ? (AnglerGel.png) N/A  AnglerGel 25
 Mantis Yes N/A N/A (Deathworm Horn.png) N/A  Deathworm Horn
 Megalania Yes  Extraordinary Kibble
 Megalodon Yes 509 102 100 14  Superior Kibble 03:45 45
 Megalosaurus Yes  Superior Kibble
 Microraptor No*  Rare Flower N/A
 Mosasaurus Yes 9611 4627 580 53  Exceptional Kibble 08:57 75
 Otter No* N/A N/A (Coelacanth.png) N/A  Dead Fish N/A
 Onyc No N/A N/A 57 N/A  Raw Prime Meat 00:28 N/A
 Oviraptor No 180 35 247 (Eggs.png) 3;2  Giganotosaurus Egg 01:22 N/A
 Pelagornis Yes  Regular Kibble
 Plesiosaur Yes 3377 1030 250 28  Superior Kibble 05:00 60
 Pteranodon Yes 481 97 60 2;1  Regular Kibble 02:30 35
 Pulmonoscorpius Yes 81 17 38 (Spoiled Meat.png) 3  Regular Kibble 00:38 25
 Purlovia No  Regular Kibble N/A
 Quetzal Yes 7475 2603 317 22;8  Exceptional Kibble 08:59 60
 Raptor Yes 133 23 60 4;2  Simple Kibble 00:50 15
 Ravager Yes  Raw Prime Meat
 Rex Yes 1891 408 159 27  Exceptional Kibble 05:18 60
 Sabertooth Yes 221 45 60 9;3  Regular Kibble 01:53 45
 Sarcosuchus Yes 627 124 85 7  Regular Kibble 03:32 35
 Snow Owl Yes  Superior Kibble
 Spino Yes 4787 1486 154 15  Exceptional Kibble 06:54 60
 Terror Bird Yes 1449 462 83 6  Regular Kibble 02:04 25
 Tapejara Yes 8  Superior Kibble 50
 Titanoboa No N/A N/A (Eggs.png)  Fertilized Giganotosaurus Egg N/A
 Thorny Dragon Yes  Regular Kibble
 Thylacoleo Yes  Extraordinary Kibble
 Tusoteuthis Yes N/A N/A N/A  Black Pearl
 Velonasaur Yes  Regular Kibble
 Vulture No* (Spoiled Meat.png)  Spoiled Meat
 Yutyrannus Yes  Extraordinary Kibble

* These tames ride on the player's shoulder.

** The  Dung Beetle is not a Carnivore but prefers  Spoiled Meat after it is tamed.

*** Number of  Tranquilizer Arrows shot by a 100%  Crossbow waiting 5 seconds in between shots to apply all the "over time  Torpor".

Untamable

Not all creatures can be tamed. Most creatures that are tamable through certain ways have the prefix "Wild" next to their name. Untamable wild creatures do not have such prefix.

Tamed Pteranodon.jpg

The following creatures are currently not tamable except by use of the forcetame command.


  • 1 = Some bosses can spawn in tamed during the Survive the Ark mission.
  • 2 = Whilst a Ferox (Large) is spawned in tamed by feeding a  Ferox some  Element, Taming technically isn't possible due to it being considered a different creature.
  • 3 = Force-taming a  Nameless will cause it to burrow underground, de-registering its existence, making it the only creature to be untamable by even command means without system abnormalities (e.g: Crashing).

Taming Calculators

See Apps for a list of taming-calculators.

Changelog

Patch  ARK: Survival Evolved Changes
171.0 Tamed dinos now look at allies when they're nearby, to increase realism.
171.2 Made Tamed dinos not look at you unless you're pretty close nearby.
172.4 Dinos that are being tamed no longer disappear or lose their inventories upon save-game being reloaded.
172.5 Tamed Dinos no longer get OP health boost from harvesting bodies/plants, now they get a more mild health restoration.
173.0 Unconscious dinos being tamed no longer can be harmed by non-tribe players in PvE.
175.0 Tamed Dinos cancel their current movement whenever they are given a new order/AI-state, making them more pro-active.
178.0 You can now hurt your own unconsciously-taming Dinos in PvE.
179.0 Server admins can now adjust the speed of taming.
179.3 Fixed issue where Taming-in-progress dinos had unconscious AI's after being loaded from save data.
181.0 Taming with Higher Taming Affinity now increases base level of dino up to 50% if 100% effectiveness, improving its base statistics.
185.0 Fixed a bug with dinos that were in-taming process becoming super slow if tame process was finished after a reload.
186.0
  • Fixed tamed dino level bonuses not holding when taming across save games, and speed getting messed up, and Auto XP not applying.
  • Eggs for all animals and circle-of-life 'Taming Efficiency' boosting per-dino Egg-Kibbles.
186.1 Rebalanced some taming speeds:  Raw Prime Meat is 70% as fast as it was originally, and appropriate  Kibble is now as fast as  Raw Prime Meat originally was. (non-Prime meats are the same speed as originally, as is the non-nutritious  Cooked Prime Meat).
186.2 Put all meats taming speeds/values exactly where they originally were. Made Kibbles 40% faster for Taming than Raw Meat ever was.
194.0 Server Admins can now disable Taming on a per-Dino basis via their config.
196.1 "5555" Taming Speed Multiplier in "Host Game" menu is fixed.
194.0 Server Admins can now disable Taming on a per-Dino basis via their config.
203.1 Defaulted max tamed dinos to 5000 up from 3700.
204.0 Creating a Tribe while Taming a Dino no longer loses the Tame.
227.0 Fixed Plant Species X / Turrets attacking creatures you're taming, or through Behemoth Gates.
254.5 Server options to disable Taming.
256.3 Taming and Fert eggs now display the progress as a %.
264.0 Added Host menu settings: Disable Dino Taming.
265.3 Fixed "cant use escape or enter to close naming box after taming".
313.5 Doubled taming rate in the core game.
316.18 Taming HUD.
318.9
  • Fixed a bug which caused the Taming HUD to clear itself after a server restart or relog.
  • Fixed a bug which prevented you from being able to "track all" creatures that were tamed within a search filter in the Taming UI HUD.
321.1
  • Fixed a bug where the Taming UI pop up would not function at reduced resolution scales.
  • Fixed a crash with the Taming HUD.
332.1 Fixed a bug where players could speed up the taming process by using a Stego's impale mechanic.
332.11 Fixed a bug where you could get inaccurate taming effectiveness on some creatures.
Patch  ARK: Survival Ascended Changes
25.18 Fixed some taming exploits.

References