Lava Cave

Lava Cave

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Lava Cave in the South East of the Island

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Location

Map

The Island

Location

­70.6° Lat, 86.1° Lon
­74.1° Lat, 92.2° Lon

Loot

Artifact of the Massive
­70.6° Lat, 86.1° Lon
­69.9° Lat, 92.0° Lon

Artifact level

40

Loot quality

Blue
Yellow

The Lava Cave (also known as the South East Cave) is a cave on the southeast coast of The Island map. The cave contains the  Artifact of the Massive, needed to summon the  Broodmother. There are dangerous lava pits inside and it's very hot.

Dangers

•  Very Hot
  • Green/white crystals in the cave can help cool you down since the entire cave will overheat you.
• Dangerous jumps, not even a  Parachute will save you from lava.
  • Lava will not kill you instantly but will do 75 damage every second. It is possible to save yourself if you manage to find a rock to jump on.
  • On  Mobile the lava is an instant death regardless of the creature or player's health.
•  Mega Rabies (Bring antidotes or make sure you have enough HP to survive).

Recommended Equipment

•  Chitin Armor,  Ghillie Suit or better
•  Pike
•  Cooked Meats
•  Calien Soup
•  Medical Brews
•  Lesser Antidote
•  Stimberry or  Stimulants
• a  Crossbow with  Grappling Hooks
•  Bug Repellant
• Bring lots of extra water

Recommended Tamed Creatures

• If you have the Genesis: Part 1 DLC a  Bloodstalker can avoid every obstacle by web slinging /jumping or just simply climbing on the ceiling. (similar to  Megalania). Level up  Health and  Stamina or use  Bug Repellant to be ignored by everything. The Bloodstalker's hitbox is small enough to fit through the cave entrance. If you fall into lava it is also much easier to get out than on most other tames due to its excellent mobility.
  • If you take damage (due to lava or creatures) it's also easy to heal it back up by feeding off the blood of cave creatures
• With the use of a  Cryopod you can bring in a  Megalania and feed it  Bug Repellant (and eat it yourself too) making this cave almost trivial. You can bypass all of the danger since nothing will aggro (unless you get too close) and you are safe from the lava since you can just go through on the ceiling/walls of the cave.  Megalania can hang on the ceiling indefinitely. (Level up  Stamina)
  • Alternatively if you do not wish to use  Cryopod, you can tame one inside the cave and leave it permanently inside since it will be unable to exit. Beware that it can fall through the world or get killed by creatures inside though
• With a good  Otter (and a good  Cloth Hat) you don't have to worry about the heat at all.
• Bringing a high level  Direwolf or  Sabertooth could be very helpful due to their high damage and ability to jump. Just be careful not to fall
• If you have the  Aberration DLC a  Ravager is able to use  Zip-Line Anchor to make traversing this cave much easier.
•  Beelzebufo can be used due to their high jump, however you should epress caution when jumping; it is easy to miss a jump and fall in lava. Also their damage is not that high, bring weapons or  Bug Repellant to bypass enemies
• One is able to use a  Thylacoleo when using a  Cryopod as it does not fit through the entrance. Its high damage will make quick work of most enemies and it can jump very well, but still be careful not to fall into lava.

Tips

• At one point in the cave, there is an "S" shaped bridge leading further. It is difficult to cross and is not recommended, however it is possible with most animals (including  Sabers and  Carnos).
• Stay to the right whenever it splits and avoid jumping rocks as much as possible.
• Try to avoid the lava when you can.
•  The Artifact is located on a small section of land that has several jumps over lava leading to it. If you do not wish to risk any jumps and your aim isn't the best, with a  Crossbow, a minimum of 4  Grappling Hooks can safely get you to The Artifact and back to where no jumps are required. Additional hooks can allow you to escape a dreadful fall into lava or a bad shot that puts you in extreme danger.
• A  Megalosaurus can rarely spawn at The Artifact's location. However it can easily be shot with an arrow from afar and it will send itself into the lava.  Pulmonoscorpius can also spawn at The Artifact location and can be dealt with in the same manner. Alternatively you can grapple to a location over them and use a  Crossbow with arrows to deal with them at no risk.
• Another strategy is to just run past everything.
• Long range is extremely helpful when running the Lava Cave if you aren't rushing it with  Grappling Hooks. Using a  Fabricated Sniper Rifle or a  Longneck Rifle with a  Scope Attachment to scout out rooms and pick off  Onycs from very long range is the easiest way to clear areas and make your way through the cave safely, especially if you are running the cave solo or with a smaller group.

Creatures

Common

•  Araneo
•  Dilophosaur
•  Onyc
•  Pulmonoscorpius

Uncommon

•  Dung Beetle

Rare

•  Megalania
•  Megalosaurus

Compatible Tamed Creatures

Creatures that do not have the ability to jump will not be able to get to many areas of the cave.

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
Allosaurus	Not Recommended	Yes	Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Andrewsarchus	Excellent		Can fit into cave enterance, but it gets stuck on the cave sometimes.
Ankylosaurus	Limited	Yes
Araneo	Limited	Yes
Archaeopteryx	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Argentavis	Not recommended	Unofficial/ Single-Player	Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Arthropluera	Limited	Yes
Baryonyx	Excellent	Yes
Beelzebufo	Excellent	Yes
Bloodstalker	Excellent	Yes	sometimes difficult to get it in/out. Try jumping at the entrance of the cave.    The camera in third person often collides with the cave walls, try to use first person for a more pleasant experience
Carno	Limited	Yes
Carbonemys	Not Recommended	Yes	Cannot fit in cave entrance.
Castoroides	Not Recommended	Yes	Can get stuck coming back out.
Chalicotherium	Not Recommended	Yes	Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Coelacanth	Not Recommended	No	Can be brought in using  Fish Basket. But cannot be released.
Compy	Excellent	No	Can keep one on shoulder or bring a whole pack.
Daeodon	Excellent	Yes	Has to repeatedly jump to exit cave, otherwise cannot leave.
Desmodus	Limited		Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Dilophosaur	Limited	No
Dimorphodon	Excellent	No	Can keep one on shoulder or bring a whole flock.
Dire Bear	Not recommended	Yes	Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Direwolf	Excellent	Yes
Doedicurus	Not Recommended	Yes
Dodo	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Dung Beetle	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Enforcer	Not Recommended	Yes	Cannot fit through cave entrance, but can be brought in with a  Cryopod.
Equus	Excellent	Yes
Gallimimus	Not Recommended	Yes
Gigantopithecus	Limited	Yes
Hesperornis	Excellent	No	Can keep on shoulder.
Hyaenodon	Limited	No
Iguanodon	Not Recommended	Yes	Cannot fit into cave 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
Kentrosaurus	Not Recommended	No	Cannot fit into the cave entrance.
Lystrosaurus	Limited	No
Megalania	Cryopod	Yes	Can be tamed inside cave but unable to exit unless  Cryopod is used
Megalosaurus	Excellent	Yes	Excellent at night however it is unable to jump
Megatherium	Not Recommended	Yes	Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Mesopithecus	Excellent	No	Can be carried on shoulder.
Microraptor	Excellent	No	Can keep on shoulder or bring a whole flock.
Moschops	Limited	Yes
Onyc	Excellent	No
Oviraptor	Limited	No
Pachy	Limited	Yes
Pegomastax	Excellent	No	Can be carried on shoulder.
Pelagornis	Limited	Unofficial/ Single-Player	Official Servers: Cannot mount in cave.   Unofficial/Single-Player: Requires server setting -ForceAllowCaveFlyers to mount.
Pachyrhinosaurus	Not Recommended	Yes	Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Phiomia	Limited	Yes
Piranha	Not Recommended	No	Can be brought in using  Fish Basket. But cannot be released.
Procoptodon	Not Recommended	Yes
Pteranodon	Limited	Unofficial/ Single-Player	Official Servers: Cannot mount in cave.   Unofficial/Single-Player: Requires server setting -ForceAllowCaveFlyers to mount.
Pulmonoscorpius	Cryopod	Yes	Can be tamed inside cave but unable to exit unless  Cryopod is used
Purlovia	Limited	No
Raptor	Excellent	Yes
Ravager	Excellent	Yes
Rex	Not recommended	Yes	Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Sabertooth	Excellent	Yes
Sabertooth Salmon	Not Recommended	No	Can be brought in using  Fish Basket. But cannot be released.
Tapejara	Limited	Unofficial/ Single-Player	Official Servers: Cannot mount in cave.   Unofficial/Single-Player: Requires server setting -ForceAllowCaveFlyers to mount.
Terror Bird	Excellent	Yes	Can glide over the lava pits.
Thylacoleo	Cryopod	Yes	Cannot fit into cave entrance, but can be brought in with a  Cryopod.    It is important to walk past the cave entrance, a little way in, before throwing out the Thyla. Should it be thrown out too soon it may get stuck on one of the invisible gates.
Titanosaur	Not recommended	Yes	Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Triceratops	Not Recommended	Yes	Cannot fit into cave entrance.
Troodon	Limited	No
Velonasaur	Excellent	Yes
Vulture	Excellent	No	Can keep on shoulder or bring a whole flock.

Notes

• There is a corner full of  Metal and  Obsidian nodes.
• Be careful when using the orbit camera to look around.
• The lower levels of both paths have a poor collision with player death drops.
• It's suggested not to bring large groups in as there are parts of lava where your creatures will run off and die in.
• In  Ascended you can run the cave fairly risk-free with a good  Baryonyx and  Otter. Just remember the  Lesser Antidote!

Gallery

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  Cave Entrance
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  Original interior of the cave prior to its redesign