Inventory

The Inventory in ARK: Survival Evolved is the survivor's ability hold all sorts of different items. The inventory is accessed by pressing I by default. Many materials are held in stacks of one hundred while armor and tools cannot be stacked. Creatures and buildings can also have an inventory.

Hotkeys

Action	Default Key	Result
Drop Item	O	Item is dropped from the inventory currently being accessed to the ground.
Transfer Stack	T	The stack you hover over is transferred from one inventory currently being accessed to the other.
Transfer Half-Stack	⇧ Shift+T	Half of the stack you hover over is transferred from one inventory currently being accessed to the other.
Transfer Item	Ctrl+T	One item from the stack you hover over is transferred from one inventory currently being accessed to the other.
Transfer Item	Lmbx2	One item from the stack you double click is transferred from one inventory currently being accessed to the other.
Transfer Five Items	⇧ Shift+Lmbx2	Five items from the stack you double click are transferred from one inventory currently being accessed to the other.
Transfer Half-Stack	Ctrl+Lmbx2	Half of the stack you double click is transferred from one inventory currently being accessed to the other.
Toggle Item Names	Q	Toggle whether or not to show the names of all inventory items over the item icon.
Toggle Tooltip	G	Toggle display of tooltip information when hovering over inventory icons.
Assign To Hotbar Slot	Shift + Selected Hotbar Number Slot (1,2,3,....,0)	Assign to the Selected Number Slot
Clear Selected Hotbar Slot	Ctrl + Selected Hotbar Number Slot (1,2,3,....,0)	Clear the Selected Hotbar Slot

Inventory management

Inventory management is a very important skill to develop, as it often can save or ruin you, depending on your inventory setup.

Things to consider first

Before reading on, consider the following:

This advice may not be perfect for you, depending on your playstyle, weight levels, and available resources. But for the most part, these tips will be extremely helpful anyway.

General tips

When it comes to your inventory, there are some things that are always prudent to be kept, no matter what you're doing. You never know when a potential tame, dangerous dino, rare resource, etc. may come across your path. So be sure to always, if possible, to include the following:

• Materials to repair your  Tools and  Armor. (If they are crafted in a  Smithy, consider bringing a pair of  Pliers (exclusive to Aberration), or even a  Smithy (though the latter is not recommended unless you expect your armor to break and want to save resources).
• Extra Tools/Armor, especially if they are crafted in a  Fabricator/ Smithy. Definitely carry multiple  Pikes/your primary Weapon.
•  Bolas. They can easily save your life or get you another tame.
• Torpor-inducing Weapons such as  Tranq Arrows,  Tranquilizer Darts,  Wooden Clubs, etc. You never know when you might need them for a  Raptor,  Sabertooth, etc.
•  Food and  Water. Need I say more?
•  Stimberries and  Narcoberries. (Or better,  Stimulant and  Narcotics.)
• Periodically dump/store all extra items that you don't need in order to lighten and shrink used space you have to scroll and search through.
• Other than these things, use common sense and what you think you might need, depending on where you are. For example, if you live in or near a cold biome, carry extra  Torches, warm clothing, and other things that will help with local dinos and your warmth.

Hotbar

This is where your most important tools and such go, ready to be used at any second. When setting your Hotbar up, keep the following in mind:

• It's a good idea to keep your main Melee Weapon in a place that is easy to select while running. (It can be especially hard to swap slots on a controller)
• Keeping a  Pick and  Hatchet on your hotbar is extremely helpful.
• Always keeping a  Bola there is often handy.
• Keeping  Stimulant or  Stimberries can be helpful, especially in Caves and Swamps.
•  Water and  Food is optional. Although it is quicker to eat/drink/refill from your hotbar, you can do this from your inventory, and often, there are more important items you can keep instead.
• Aside from this, use what is most prudent given the task. Keep in mind that you can eat/drink/select tools directly from your inventory.

Ideas and tips for specific situations

Hunting for a tame

•  Torpor-inducing gear, obviously.
• Consider bringing lots of Armor. You need to be able to take a lot of hits from the potential tame while in the Taming process.
• Taming food. If you know what you're looking for, bring extra of that dino's taming food. If you don't know what to expect, bring  Raw Mutton and  Advanced Crops. If you happen to be travelling on a platform saddle pack perishable items in a  Refrigerator or  Preserving Bin. If you wish to use less advanced items for feeding your tame you should collect them on the spot with a dino.
• Traps. If you know what to expect, bring several traps for its size. If not, just bring smaller traps if it's just you.  Large Bear Traps,  Chain Bolas, etc. Won't be useful if you don't also have lots of preparations for a large tame.
• Extra  Narcoberries or  Narcotics to keep unconscious creatures asleep.
• Additional needed supplies suiting your target tame. For example, if you're going to tame a  Rex, bring walls and anything else that will be useful.
• If the Extinction Engrams are accessible, have a few  Cryopods on standby if you plan to tame a couple of large Creatures that could cause a problem in moving. Mind the decay timer on it though, however.

Exploring

• Dinos. You never know what valuable materials or dangerous dinos you may come across, so bringing a few decent, possibly expendable dinos to fight and hold more weight is a great idea.
•  GPS if possible. If not, then bring a  Compass. These are what let you draw your map, and the  GPS can help you mark important places on the map.
• Lots of food.
• If possible, bring Armor suiting all enviroments.
• Taming gear. Though not always useful when exploring, as taming takes you off track and slows you, taming gear is something to consider.
• Any extra available gear that you know will be useful in your situation.

Raiding

If you play on any multiplayer PvP server, raids are a major component of the gameplay. The chances of surviving any raid is pretty low. So try to balance good gear and minimum valuables. The Inventory that players take with them on raids varies immensely, so this section will combine different role's preferences and general tips. Note: this section will not discuss raiding strategies.

• Decent armor.  Flak is preferable, as it provides decent protection, but can be expensive to make several sets.  Chitin is the next best thing, providing moderate protection and being fairly cheap.
• Weapons that suit your role. Guns,  Bows,  Pikes,  Swords,  Explosives,  Assault Rifles,  Fabricated Sniper Rifles, and even  Rocket Launchers are all commonly used.
•  Bolas. Any player hit with a  Bola is doomed.
•  Food &  Water. This includes any available dishes made from  Rockwell Recipes.
• Resources for repairing Armor and Tools, if they can be repaired from your Inventory.
• Other than the above, bring whatever will help you, depending on your enemy's base, location, and strength. If you're raiding very weak players (Not encouraged, as it is bullying, unless they attacked you first) don't risk your good gear. Save it for stronger foes. Minimize items and gear that you will regret losing, and will not be very helpful in the raid. Remove all items from your Inventory that are not required for raids.