The Daeodon (DAY-don) is a medium sized, carnivoremammal able to passively heal nearby party tames consuming its own Food reserves. It was first added in ARK: Survival Evolved on the 5th of May, 2017.
This section is intended to be an exact copy of what the survivor Helena Walker, the author of the dossiers, has written. There may be some discrepancies between this text and the in-game creature.
“
Species
Daeodon comedentis
Time
Late Oligocene
Diet
Carnivore
Temperament
Territorial
Wild
Daeodon comedentis is the largest known species of Entelodont, an omnivorous family of ancient mammals that are sometimes referred to as "Hell Pigs." Even though Daeodon has as many similarities to modern Hippopotamidae as it does to Suina, I've found that to be a suitable nickname.
Daeodon is as mean as it looks, and any survivor who wanders too close will find that out the hard way.
As an omnivore with a voracious appetite, Daeodon scavenges, forages, and hunts to survive. It has little qualms when it comes to its diet, and that has helped it thrive on the Island's harsh tundra.
Its temper hasn't hurt either, as many would be predators would rather seek out less vicious prey.
Domesticated
Many tribes have made excellent use of Daeodon packs within their war parties, not only because of its fierce nature, but due to its extraordinary ability to rapidly heal itself. I've theorized that this healing factor is why it seems to have such a high metabolism, though what is particularly extraordinary is its capability to share this benefit with nearby creatures.
I have even heard some survivors mention that the Daeodon also has a unique ability to root out Rare Mushrooms as well!
Travelers of the Ark will typically find Daeodon travelling in packs, devouring anything and everything that gets within sight. Once combat is initiated one or sometimes all of the pack will produce a pheromone effect to buff the health regeneration of friendly creatures. This, boosted by the other wild Daeodon's passive health boost, can make a pack of these creatures a very deadly opponent. It does appear however, if a traveler happens upon a lonely Daeodon, at least upon the traveler hitting the creature, it will run from the fight rather than stick around. The Daeodon is very useful after Boss Arenas to heal your tames, but will consume a very large quantity of food to do so.
Appearance
Daeodon is a large mammal with hunched shoulders and cloven hooves. It has a massive head and long jaws with fearsome tusk like front teeth for tearing both meat and plant matter and rows of molars at the back of the mouth for grinding. With its massive size and nightmarish teeth, it is easy to forget this animal is part of the pig family.
Color Scheme and Regions
Region 0:Underside
Natural colors:
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Region 1:Unused
This region does not show on the body.
Region 2:Fur
Natural colors:
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Region 3:Unused
This region does not show on the body.
Region 4:Unused
This region does not show on the body.
Region 5:Top
Natural colors:
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This section displays the Daeodon's natural colors and regions. For demonstration, the regions below are colored red over an albino Daeodon. The colored squares shown underneath each region's description are the colors that the Daeodon will randomly spawn with to provide an overall range of its natural color scheme. Hover your cursor over a color to display its name and ID.
This information can be used to alter the Daeodon's regions by entering cheat SetTargetDinoColor <ColorRegion> <ColorID> in the cheat console. For instance, cheat SetTargetDinoColor 0 6 would color the Daeodon's "underside" magenta.
Region 0: Underside
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Region 1 is not used for this Creature.
Region 2: Fur
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Region 3 is not used for this Creature.
Region 4 is not used for this Creature.
Region 5: Top
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This section displays the Daeodon's natural colors and regions. For demonstration, the regions below are colored red over an albino Daeodon. The colored squares shown underneath each region's description are the colors that the Daeodon will randomly spawn with to provide an overall range of its natural color scheme. Hover your cursor over a color to display its name and ID.
This information can be used to alter the Daeodon's regions by entering cheat SetTargetDinoColor <ColorRegion> <ColorID> in the cheat console. For instance, cheat SetTargetDinoColor 0 6 would color the Daeodon's "main" magenta.
Region 0: Main
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Region 1: Accents
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Region 2: Stripes
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Region 3: Accent
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Region 4: Belly
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Region 5: Back
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62
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71
82
Variants
R-Daeodon
R-Daeodon is a tameable R variant found in Genesis: Part 2's Eden. It sports a different colour pattern, and has a 5% × Melee Damage increase at the exchange of 3% × Health reduction. On official servers its level cap is 500.
Type in values of a wild creature to see on which stats it's emphasized. Green values on a high-level creature are very good for breeding. If you have already tamed your creature you can try to recover the breeding stats with an external tool.[1]
Daeodon
The stat-calculator does not work in the mobile-view, see here for alternatives: Apps
Note that after the creature is tamed it gets bonuses on some stats depending on the taming effectiveness. This makes it hard to retrieve the levels on a tamed creature, so this tool is only for wild ones, but gives a first impression, how well the stats are distributed.
The Daeodon heals first itself and then allied creatures within 25 meters in short bursts.
The allies must be conscious and not at full health. Up to 30 allies can be healed: if the limit has not been reached when a burst finishes, they are searched for and added to the pool until no longer eligible.
Passive Healing is a passive variant of the Heal ability. Notes for the main ability apply (see Active healing details), with exceptions:
When activated, the Daeodon heals itself and then up to 30 allied creatures within 25 meters over 30 seconds. There is no rider requirement.
It does not have an activation cost, but drains Food upfront on each pulse - as if for full 30 seconds of active healing. Notably, Food is drained even if healing to the ally will be excess.
For example, if a Rex has 14000 × Health and max of 14520.1, it will receive a total of 1089 units healed - this may potentially result in 568.9 × Food being wasted on the pig if the Rex receives no damage.
It only restores 0.25% of an ally's max health a second, but not less than 3 × Health and not more than 400 × Health.
The pig suffers no movement speed loss in water.
The quick Food drain results in large amounts of Medium Animal Feces in short time. Passive healing from multiple Daeodons does not stack.
Quick Regeneration
The Daeodon regenerates Health quicker than most of the creatures.
Combat
General
Daeodon very rarely travel alone. Groups typically consist of 2-4 individuals with an equal ratio of male to females, making the mate buff a very realistic threat to the survivor. In addition, it is a common sight to see half of the group being a higher level than the other half (i.e. Level 60 male and a Level 10 female).
The winter tundra contains large, and often deadly prey such as Mammoth. This means that Daeodon will often take advantage of their healing abilities to soak up damage in order to stay alive.
Take these key points into consideration when tackling any Daeodon.
Strategy
Ensure you note the total number of Daeodons in a group before attacking, as well as any other threats that may be lingering nearby (e.g. Direwolf).
If attempting to kill, simply stand on a high position and shoot at it, or use a bola to keep it still and attack it with a sword or pike.
When fighting a group of Daeodon, be sure to kill the weaker ones first in order to reduce the efficiency of the healing buff. This will ultimately make fighting against the higher levels a lot easier.
Weaponry
Use shields if attempting to attack it with melee weapons, while crossbows can be used for long range, aiming for its lower jaw counts as a headshot.
Dangers
As they often appear in groups, the player can be very quickly overwhelmed. Furthermore, a larger group means a larger mate and healing buff, resulting in a very quick and inescapable death.
These creatures are also capable of fast speeds.
Weakness
Long range attacks render the Daeodon harmless, particularly if they are alone.
Taming
For general info about domesticating a wild creature see Taming.
KO Strategy
The Daeodon is an aggressive creature; keep your distance when shooting, Longneck or crossbow is preferred. It can be grabbed by an Argentavis so one player can grab it while the other one at the ground shoots it. If playing solo, trap it inside a small house with the help of an Argentavis or using ramps. It cannot fit through doors so you can stand outside while shooting it safely.
Using a single bola will also give you enough time to bring it down if shot in the head (aim right below the chin)
Similar to the Argentavis, Daeodon's rapid healing ability consumes lots of food, meaning that players can start feeding it immediately if they render it unconscious while it is in the middle of using this ability, as its food meter will be depleted considerably. Keep in mind, however, that the Daeodon has an enormous appetite. If you use mutton, it will require much more of it than other creatures typically do, so be sure you have plenty. It is advised to use lots of Raw Mutton and Preserving Salt when applicable to ensure the best possible taming effectiveness and time. It should also be noted that Daeodons have relatively quick torpor drain, so be sure to come equipped appropriately.
Torpidity-depletion: 6.22 / s, Time until all torpidity is depleted: 00:21:20
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.
Post-Battle Healer: The most cost efficient way to use the Daeodon healing ability is to trigger it after a difficult battle, rather than during the battle. Contrarily to popular belief it is not necessarily to level up the Food statistic, in fact it is not recommended to refill the Daeodon food points because its passive healing ability can drain even 100K food points in seconds without great benefit. The Daeodon only requires 100 points of food to start healing allies, and will quickly drain all of its food points no matter how many food points are available. It is therefore recommended to use the Daeodon outside battle and feed it very slowly, just enough to keep its food points above 100.
After a difficult battle, the Daeodon's passive healing ability should be activated next to the dinos that need healing. The Daeodon should be given just enough food to increase its food points above 100 in order to trigger a healing pulse. Each healing pulse will restore a certain percentage of an ally's max health and drain the Daeodon food point completely. The Daeodon should be fed again after each healing pulse, just enough to get its food points above 100. For example, 5 Cooked Meat or 10 Cooked Fish Meat can be used to restore a total of 125 food points after each healing pulse.
This strategy allows to restore the health of dinos faster and at a very efficient cost rather than wait for natural regeneration which might take hours. After a boss fight, this is especially helpful to bring dinos back from the brink of death. Once all of the dinos are healed, it is recommended to put the low food Daeodon into a cryopod in order to prevent death from starvation.
In-Battle Healer: While it is generally not recommended to use the Daeodon during a battle, it can still increase the survivability of allies. This is especially true for certain boss fights such as the Alpha Dragon which is capable to deal percent-based damage. The Alpha Dragon fire breath will drain 20% of dinos max health which means they can not sustain more than 5 hits. The Daeodon healing ability, while costly, allows dinos to sustain 6 or even 7 hits and increases the efficiency and survivability of the Rex rush strategy. The Daeodon should have a rider force feeding it with Basic Kibble during the battle. Level Food.
Raid Healer: Its AOE pulsating Heal makes it valuable for healing your dinos during a raid on a base! If you want to force-feed it faster use prime meat or kibbles. Level Health and Food.
Feces Producer: While in active healing mode Daeodon produces a large amount of feces in a short amount of time. Perfect for those who need a large amount of feces to compost into fertilizer. (Though a good kibble farm should produce more than enough byproduct to use with dung beetles...).
Cactus Sap Collector: The Daeodon seems to be a perfect creature to harvest Cactus Sap on Scorched Earth. It can only harvest sap from the low, red-flowered cactus bushes, not the tall saguaro cactus trees.
Food consumption
Daeodon retrieves food differently from other carnivores. The following table shows the amount of food restored, depending on the type of food the Daeodon eats:
*Kibble has no feeding cooldown, so entire stacks can be force-fed in a few seconds.
Active healing details
Activation consumes 100 × Food. 40 × Food is consumed every second, and each 1 × Health healed consumes 1 × Food. If there is less Food than needed for an ally, healing is still dealt in full amount, but no more allies will be affected until the Daeodon is fed.
The amount of Health points gained per tick of the Daeodon's healing aura is directly linked to the maximum Health of the dino being healed. Higher HP dinos will heal more HP per tick.
The Daeodon can heal up to 30 allies within a range of 2500 units.[2]
When activated:
the Daeodon's speed in water while not submerged is restricted by 35%.
the Daeodon heals itself for 0.5% of its max health every second, but not less than 20 × Health and not more than 100 × Health.
the Daeodon restores 0.5% of an allied dino's max health a second, but not less than 20 × Health and not more than 400 × Health.
the Daeodon restores 0.5% of an allied player's max health a second, but not less than 10 × Health and not more than 300 × Health.
Force-feeding the Daeodon will increase the heal duration (since healing consumes Food). Note, however, that the Daeodon retrieves food differently from other carnivores (see Food consumption for more info).
Active healing rate chart
The following chart shows the rate at which the Daeodon will actively heal a dino, depending on the maximum Health of the dino:
Active healing over time chart
The following chart shows the total amount of food consumed by the Daeodon's active healing over time, depending on the healing rate (see Active healing rate chart) and the number of dinos to heal:
The dossier says that Daeodon has as many similarities to modern Hippopotamidae as it does to Suina, this sentence refers to how many people call this creature "Hell Pig" even though they're a whole different animal, but still closely related to pigs and hippos; both are members of artiodactyl (even-toed ungulate).
Although there was mention of multiple Daeodons receiving a pack bonus to their healing aura, there does not currently seem to be any benefit to multiple Daeodons healing at once.
The dossier lists Daeodon as an Omnivore, but as of v257 the Daeodon will only eat meat. All berries and crops provide no food value. In addition, Raw Meat provides only 10 food value upon consumption (but cooked meat provides it 25 food value), nowadays the dossier lists it as Carnivore.
There is a bug with the Daeodon's healing ability that causes it to constantly heal even when there's nothing to heal. If it ever occurs, just remove its food source and let it starve. Once it reaches zero the ability should stop and you can then give its food back. Until the bug is patched up, it is highly advised to NEVER use it. Otherwise you'll have a lot of food wasted. This can be countered if the daeodon has a saddle, as one can jump on and turn off the healing manually. Disabling passive healing may also fix this bug.
Species name means "Eater Dreadful Teeth", that explained its enormous appetite.
Yes
Region 0:
Region 2:
Region 5:
Region 0:
Region 1:
Region 2:
Region 4:
Region 5:
Food reserves. It was first added in 
ARK: Survival Evolved on the 5th of May, 2017.
R-Daeodon is a tameable R variant found in Genesis: Part 2's Eden. It sports a different colour pattern, and has a 5% × 
Melee Damage increase at the exchange of 3% × 
Health reduction. On official servers its level cap is 500.
Health
Stamina
Oxygen
Food
Weight
Melee Damage
Movement Speed
Torpidity
Rex has 14000 × 
Medium Animal Feces in short time. Passive healing from multiple Daeodons does not stack.
Mammoth. This means that Daeodon will often take advantage of their healing abilities to soak up damage in order to stay alive.
Direwolf).
Level 1
Superior Kibble
Raw Mutton
Cooked Lamb Chop
Raw Prime Meat
Cooked Prime Meat
Raw Prime Fish Meat
Raw Meat
Cooked Prime Fish Meat
Cooked Meat
Raw Fish Meat
Cooked Fish Meat
× 80; 
× 33; 
× 9; 
× 6; 
× 4; 
× 2
Superior Kibble:
2 × 
Citronal, 1 × 
Prime Meat Jerky, 1 × 
Large Egg, 5 × 
Fiber, 2 × 
Rare Mushroom, 1 × 
Sap, 1 × 
Water
Cooked Meat or 10 
Cooked Fish Meat can be used to restore a total of 125 food points after each healing pulse.
Dragon which is capable to deal percent-based damage. The Alpha Dragon fire breath will drain 20% of dinos max health which means they can not sustain more than 5 hits. The Daeodon healing ability, while costly, allows dinos to sustain 6 or even 7 hits and increases the efficiency and survivability of the Rex rush strategy. The Daeodon should have a rider force feeding it with 
Basic Kibble during the battle. Level Food.
Raw Fish Meat
Raw Meat
Cooked Meat Jerky
Raw Prime Fish Meat
Cooked Prime Fish Meat
Raw Prime Meat
Cooked Prime Meat
Raw Mutton
Cooked Lamb Chop
Kibble* (Superior, Exceptional, Extraordinary)
Titanosaur.
