Central Cave

Central Cave

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Cave near the Volcano in the middle of the Island.

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Interior Map

Location

Map

The Island

Location

­41.5° Lat, 46.9° Lon
­40.2° Lat, 46.6° Lon

Loot

Artifact of the Clever
­39.6° Lat, 45.9° Lon

Artifact level

10

Loot quality

Green
Blue

The Central Cave is a cave in the central part of The Island. The cave contains the  Artifact of the Clever, needed to summon the  Broodmother Lysrix.

Dangers

• Tight corridors which can make fights requiring range a huge problem.
• And ledges can make some creatures slip off! Bring  Saddles so you can ride them and navigate them across the ledges.
• Especially dangerous with  Megalosaurus around the corner when using splash damage weapons.
• Multiple paths that loop back together may cause some players to get lost.
• Large amounts of  Piranha are in the water section which is difficult to see before being in the water. Do not enter the water without a strong mount.
• Cold
•  Arthropluera acid attack will break primitive  Flak Armor in 1 - 2 hits (Not recommended, because you can´t repair it. So take  Hide Armor to get a bit of Armor)
•  Megalosaurus become active here at night and are fierce opponents with devastating attacks. During the day they are slower and weaker than they are at night, but running into one is still an unpleasant experience.

Recommended Equipment

•  Hide Armor (in case  Arthropluera breaks your Armor. Make sure you have some  Fiber with you to repair it with  Hide you find in the cave)
•  Pike
•  Crossbow and  Grappling Hooks
•  Cooked Meat
•  Medical Brew
•  Stimberry or  Stimulant
•  Shotgun
•  Bug Repellant
•  Simple Shotgun Ammo

Recommended creatures

•  Direwolf (Use alongside tribemates, remember to howl for maximum pack bonus.)
•  Sabertooth (Use with higher quality saddles.)
•  Baryonyx (Use your stun & height to your advantage! You can disable all water threats and stay above the height of Arthropleura spit. Heal it by going into the water and killing the fish for easy healing and making this cave a lot easier with this tame.)
•  Gigantopithecus (Can't harvest  Chitin.)
•  Thylacoleo
•  Doedicurus (Ride on with weapon.)

Strategy

• Bringing a high level  Baryonyx or  Sabertooth is by far one of the most efficient methods to clearing this cave. The baryonyx and sabertooth can easily enter the cave and get to the  Artifact of the Clever. There is also a lake filled with  Piranhas, allowing you to get tons of fish meat to heal your baryonyx.
  • If you're riding another mount or have a small group already ( Direwolves for  Chitin farming, for example), the terrible pathing of the Baryonyx (in this cave especially) can be cumbersome to constantly correct. It is viable to bring a baryonyx in a  Cryopod and simply release it for the lake areas, then re-pod it when the area is cleared, to avoid an extremely annoying trip out.
• The ranged heavy damage of  Gigantopithecus will help you clear this cave with little effort, even without  Bug Repellant. But you will have to dismount to get the artifact and you won't be able to harvest  Chitin with it.

Creatures

•  Araneo
•  Arthropluera
•  Dung Beetle
•  Megalosaurus
•  Onyc
•  Piranha
•  Pulmonoscorpius
•  Sarco
•  Titanoboa

Compatible Tamed Creatures

This table is incomplete.
You can help us by adding the tamed creatures you know can enter the cave. If the creature can't enter, please exclude it.

Accessibility Ratings:

• Excellent: Full-Cave Access (Entrance-to-Artifact)
• Limited: Can Access Portions of the Cave Safely
• Not Recommended: Can Get Stuck/Unable to Leave Cave

Creature	Accessibility	Rideable	Notes
Archaeopteryx	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player. Can be used as a  Parachute
Argentavis	Not Recommended	Unofficial/ Single-Player	Likely to glitch and remain permanently trapped in walls.   Official Servers: Cannot mount in cave.   Unofficial/Single-Player: Requires server setting -ForceAllowCaveFlyers to mount.
Arthropluera	Excellent	Yes
Baryonyx	Excellent	Yes	Long attack range can fight off Pulmonoscorpius and Araneos with ease. MOUNT ONLY. Bringing Bary as a follower is NOT RECOMMENDED, they glitch and get stuck constantly on every rock and wall. Easily one of the best ways to run this cave in ARK: Survival Ascended
Beelzebufo	Excellent	Yes
Carbonemys	Excellent	Yes
Carno	Excellent	Yes
Castoroides	Excellent	Yes
Chalico	Excellent	Yes
Coelacanth	Limited	No	Can only be brought in using a  Fish Basket. But can only be released into the water inside the cave.
Compy	Excellent	No	Can keep one on shoulder or bring a whole pack.
Daeodon	Excellent	Yes
Deinonychus	Excellent	Yes
Doedicurus	Excellent	Yes
Dilophosaur	Excellent	No	Can bring one or bring a whole pack.
Dimetrodon	Excellent	No
Dimorphodon	Excellent	No	Can keep one on shoulder or bring a whole flock.
Diplocaulus	Excellent	Yes
Dire Bear	Excellent	Yes
Direwolf	Excellent	Yes	Can mount and ride one or bring a pack.
Dodo	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Dung Beetle	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Enforcer	Excellent	Yes
Gallimimus	Excellent	Yes
Gigantopithecus	Excellent	Yes	Can mount and ride one or a whole troop.
Hesperornis	Excellent	No	Can be carried on shoulder or bring a whole flock.
Hyaenodon	Excellent	No	Can bring one or a whole pack.
Ichthyornis	Excellent	No
Iguanodon	Not Recommended	Yes	Can Not Fit Through The Entrance
Jerboa	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Kairuku	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Kaprosuchus	Excellent	Yes
Lystrosaurus	Excellent	No
Megalosaurus	Excellent	Yes
Mesopithecus	Excellent	No	Can keep on shoulder or can bring a whole troop.
Microraptor	Excellent	No	Can keep on shoulder or bring a whole flock.
Moschops	Excellent	Yes
Onyc	Excellent	No
Otter	Excellent	No
Oviraptor	Excellent	No
Ovis	Excellent	Yes
Pachy	Excellent	Yes
Pachyrhinosaurus	Excellent	Yes
Parasaurolophus	Excellent	Yes
Pelagornis	Excellent	Unofficial/ Single-Player	Allow cave flying
Pegomastax	Excellent	No	Can be carried on shoulder.
Phiomia	Excellent	Yes
Piranha	Limited	No	Can only be brought in using a  Fish Basket. But can only be released into the water inside the cave.
Procoptodon	Excellent	Yes
Pteranodon	Excellent	Unofficial/ Single-Player	Official Servers: Cannot mount in cave.   Unofficial/Single-Player: Requires server setting -ForceAllowCaveFlyers to mount.
Purlovia	Excellent	No
Raptor	Excellent	Yes	Can mount and ride one or bring a whole pack.
Ravager	Excellent	Yes
Sabertooth Salmon	Limited	No	Can be brought in using a  Fish Basket. But can only be released into the water inside the cave.
Sabertooth	Excellent	Yes	Can mount and ride one or bring a whole pack.
Scorpion	Limited	Yes	Will be unable to leave cave unless a cryopod is used.
Spider	Excellent	Yes
Terror Bird	Excellent	Yes	Can mount and ride one or bring a whole flock.
Thorny Dragon	Excellent	Yes
Thylacoleo	Limited	Yes	Will be unable to leave cave unless a cryopod is used.
Titanoboa	Excellent
Triceratops	Not Recommended	Yes	Can Not Fit Through The Entrance
Troodon	Excellent	No	Can bring one or bring a whole pack.
Vulture	Excellent	No	Can keep on shoulder or bring a whole flock.

Notes

• Many creatures can fit inside effortlessly.
• There is an underwater segment in the artifact room that is NOT necessary to obtain the artifact.
• Central Cave is also referred to as "Chitin Cave" because of how easy it is to obtain chitin while riding on a  Sabertooth,  Direwolf or  Raptor.
• This cave also contains the Rockwell Record #17 and dossiers of  Megalodon and  Araneo.
• This cave is a common place for  Megalosaurus spawns, making it a prime destination if you wish to tame these animals.
• Due to tight spaces, fighting on foot is very troublesome. Using  Grenades,  Shotguns or ranged weapons to fight around corners is a good idea. But if you disturb a megalosaurus in the process, you and your mounts may be in grave danger.
•  Megatherium DO NOT FIT in the entrance and can only be brought into the cave with a  Cryopod.
•  Direwolf can smell the dossiers for easy XP.
• [Confirmed on PC] Tames on follow may seem to glitch and disappear forever when exiting the cave. Still a current issue as of September 2020. During the transition from under- to overworld, follower dinos suddenly seem to think that the path to their leader is under the artifact pool. Tames will glitch under the world and be unrecoverable until they drown. Before reaching the exit of the cave where the world loads, UNfollow all tame and take them out one at a time, to be safe.
• As of 09/2020  the artifact may not be present when reaching its chamber. Sometimes it will spawn in after time has passed; sometimes leaving the chamber area so it is not loaded (heading back towards the surface) will bring it back; sometimes it will be there when you turn around again.

Gallery

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