Plesiosaur

Plesiosaur

Creature

Group

Reptiles

Diet

Carnivore

Temperament

Aggressive

Release Versions

181.0
Jun 30, 2015

729.0
Dec 16, 2015

501.0
Dec 6, 2016

521.0
Nov 30, 2018

311.74
Jun 11, 2020

1.0
May 24, 2018

Variants

•  Brute Plesiosaur
•  Eerie Plesiosaur

Spawn Command

cheat summon Plesiosaur_Character_BP_C
or
cheat SpawnDino "Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/Dinos/Plesiosaur/Plesiosaur_Character_BP.Plesiosaur_Character_BP'" 500 0 0 35

Variant Plesiosaur (Escort)

cheat summon Plesiosaur_Character_BP_Escort_C
or
cheat SpawnDino "Blueprint'/Game/Genesis/Dinos/MissionVariants/Escort/Ocean/Plesiosaur_Character_BP_Escort.Plesiosaur_Character_BP_Escort'" 500 0 0 35

Variant Plesiosaur (Retrieve)

cheat summon Plesiosaur_Character_BP_Retrieve_C
or
cheat SpawnDino "Blueprint'/Game/Genesis/Dinos/MissionVariants/Retrieve/Ocean/Plesiosaur_Character_BP_Retrieve.Plesiosaur_Character_BP_Retrieve'" 500 0 0 35

Domestication

Tameable

Rideable

Breedable

Yes

Yes

Yes

Torpor Immune

No

Taming Method

 Knockout

Preferred Kibble

 Superior Kibble

Preferred Kibble

 Kibble (Rex Egg)

Preferred Food

 Raw Mutton

Preferred Food

 Raw Prime Meat

Equipment

 Plesiosaur Saddle (Level 64)
 Plesiosaur Platform Saddle (Level 84)

Rider Weaponry

No

Data

XP for kill

60 XP

Loot

•  Fireworks Flaregun Skin

Special Loot Chance

100%

Feces

None

Drag Weight

500

Radiation Immune

No

Carryable By

 Tusoteuthis

Can Damage

 Thatch
 Greenhouse
 Wood

Reproduction

Gestation Time

7h 56m 11.428s

Baby Time

11h 34m 26.667s

Juvenile Time

1d 22h 17m 46.667s

Adolescent Time

2d 9h 52m 13.334s

Total Maturation Time

4d 19h 44m 26.667s

Breeding Interval

18h - 2d

Habitat

Common        Rare
  Untameable   Cave

The Elasmosaurus (el-lazz-mo-sore-us), more commonly known as the Plesiosaur (PLEE-see-uh-sore), is one of the marine Reptiles in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Basic Info

Dossier

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

Elasmosaurus remuspissa

Time

Late Cretaceous

Diet

Carnivore

Temperament

Aggressive

Wild

Elasmosaurus remuspissa is typically found in the deep oceans, and has a strange role in the oceanic food chain. It almost exclusively hunts the smaller creatures in the waters, leaving most even moderately large creatures alone. The sheer size of the Elasmosaurus means that the quantity of food it must eat to sustain itself is nothing short of enormous. Elasmosaurus is a formidable fighter. Aside from the Megalodon, I have only ever seen two creatures bring down an Elasmosaurus: a Mosasaurus, and human beings. Though I will admit, I have yet to thoroughly explore the staggeringly deep underwater caverns surrounding the Island.

Domesticated

Much like the Brontosaurus on land, Elasmosaurus is an excellent way to transport large quantities of goods over water. These powerful creatures are in fact so large that they can be used as mobile water bases. Ambitious tribes sometimes build bunkers right onto the backs of Elasmosaurus instead of building cargo ships.

„

~ Helena

Behavior

Plesiosaurs swim around in groups of two or three in the depths of the ocean, never surfacing. They are aggressive and have a fairly large aggro distance. They start to attack and will follow them for a short distance; they lose interest if it swims too far up.

Appearance

The Plesiosaur has an almost teardrop-shaped body. Its size, long neck, and four whale-like flippers make it unmistakable for any other creature. The neck itself makes up half of the creature's length, and the mouth is lined with many sharp teeth. Commonly found in pairs, this large marine reptile hunts in the island's deeper waters for fish and squid, working as a team to corral their prey. Despite their size and often camouflaged coloration, Plesiosaurs are sometimes preyed upon by other large marine predators and, occasionally, adventurous Spinosaurus heading out from the coast.

Color Scheme and Regions

This section displays the Plesiosaur's natural colors and regions. For demonstration, the regions below are colored red over an albino Plesiosaur. The colored squares shown underneath each region's description are the colors that the Plesiosaur 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 Plesiosaur's regions by entering cheat SetTargetDinoColor <ColorRegion> <ColorID> in the cheat console. For instance, cheat SetTargetDinoColor 0 6 would color the Plesiosaur's "body" magenta.

Region 0:
Body

14

19

20

21

22

23

24

28

29

Region 1:
Facial Fins

13

14

20

22

24

26

27

33

34

35

Region 2:
Underside Highlights

13

14

20

22

24

26

27

33

34

35

Region 3 is not used
for this Creature.

Region 4:
Back

13

14

20

22

24

26

27

33

34

35

Region 5:
Belly

8

14

21

23

28

32

33

36

Drops

•  Fireworks Flaregun Skin
•  Hide
•  Raw Prime Meat

Base Stats and Growth

Attribute	Base Value	Level Increase		Taming Bonus
		Wild	Tamed	Additive	Multiplicative
Health	2400	+288	+3.24%	0.0224
Stamina	800	+80	+10%
Oxygen	150	+15	N/A
Food	5000	+500	+10%		15%
Weight	800	+16	+4%
Melee Damage	75	+3.75	+1.7%	14%	17.6%
Movement Speed	100%	N/A	+0.5%
Torpidity	1600	+96	N/A	0.5

Movement [u/s]	Base Speed			Sprinting Speed			Stamina
	Wild	Tamed1	Tamed2	Wild	Tamed1	Tamed2
Walking	800	?	?	?	?	?	20
Swimming	800	?	?	1200	3600	3600	3

• For a comparison of the stats of all creatures, see Base Creature Statistics.
• For an explanation of exactly how the levelup calculation works, see Creature Stats Calculation.
• ¹These are the base speeds of the tamed creature at 100% Movement Speed, i.e. without a possible taming bonus.
• ²These are the speeds of the creature once tamed including a possible taming bonus and no imprinting bonus.
• For a comparison of the speeds of all creatures, see Base Creature Speeds.

Wild Stats Level-up

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.

Plesiosaur

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.

Abilities

Active

Bite 5	The Plesiosaurus bites the target for 75 damage. Can be used every 0.3s by both a rider and the AI.

Passive

Platform Saddle

The Plesiosaur has a platform saddle, allowing the players to build on its back.

Combat

This section describes how to fight against the Plesiosaur.

General

It is recommended to fight in a group against a Plesiosaur. If alone, a powerful water mount or SCUBA Flippers can be invaluable. Remember that there will be two and possibly more(so far, the highest recorded amount around a single sea cave has been six individuals) attacking, so keep this in mind.

Strategy

As the Plesiosaur will only reach up to a certain height, you may be able to swim above where it won't reach and shoot down. Make sure during a battle that other creatures in the water do not attack as well. Megalodon and Dunkleosteus in the area will prove deadly and a Mosasaur can ruin the adventure if it is gone unnoticed.

With SCUBA Flippers it is easy to keep swimming above it and it will only rarely take a hit on you.

Weaponry

The crossbow is recommended for ranged attacks, as it can be fired underwater. Melee weapons can be used, but are not recommended due to the Plesiosaur's attack range and AOE (Area Of Effect). A melee battle will almost always end in the Plesiosaur's favor. Overall the best weapon to use is the harpoon launcher as it has the specific purpose of killing/tranquilizing underwater creatures.

Dangers

As a larger creature, the Plesiosaur has a bigger attack range, giving it a melee advantage. Try using crossbows/harpoon when attacking it. Beware of other creatures in the area. Staying too close to the sea floor can expose the player to the poisonous sting of a Eurypterid, which neutralizes the player completely. Such a hindering leads to certain death.

Weakness

Although very large, the Plesiosaur can be weak if trapped inside cave mouths. This can be useful for both killing it or taming it.

Taming

For general info about domesticating a wild creature see Taming.

KO Strategy

The taming of the Plesiosaur is by far one of the most difficult in the game. Generally, the Plesiosaur's level seems to create an extreme difference in the resources required to tame. Due to their very fast torpor decrease, you need a large amount of narcotics to keep a Plesiosaur unconscious. It should be noted that bio toxin would be more effective at keeping the creature down, and given the locale of most Plesiosaurs (deep ocean mostly) obtaining bio toxin (from Cnidaria) is at least somewhat feasible, utilizing a sea mount that has a good sized attack box (Mosasaurus being No.1 choice) or use a Basilosaur as it is immune to status effects just be careful of your depth as the Basilo will continually take damage.

Bows and guns will not work underwater and wild Plesiosaurs will not swim to the surface of the ocean, so you will need to either use a crossbow or lure the Plesiosaur into a cave where they can surface.

Another technique is to use the crossbow and attack the Plesiosaur from above. They seem to lose interest in you when you're near the surface, this allows you to take shots at them while still moving far enough away to make them lose interest. Repeat this process and you should be able to knock it out without much issue. This still leaves the risk of Megalodons and other Plesiosaurs attacking you and your tame, though, so be cautious.

It is also recommended to have a raft with some storage boxes and beds floating above the spot where you are planning to tame a Plesio in case you need to respawn after dying, or you want to store your narcotics and other valuables you don't want to lose. However, beware of the mighty leedsichthys which can destroy a raft extremely quickly, caution is advised.

If you lure one to an underwater cave, you can stand inside the cave where you can breathe air and tranq it safely.

Taming Food

Level 1					Time
Superior Kibble	4	0	0	0	0:05:07
Raw Mutton	7	0	0	0	0:08:25
Cooked Lamb Chop	13	29	7	4	0:15:35
Raw Prime Meat	9	0	0	0	0:10:49
Cooked Prime Meat	18	84	21	11	0:21:35
Raw Prime Fish Meat	22	7	2	1	0:13:13
Raw Meat	27	184	45	23	0:32:25
Cooked Prime Fish Meat	44	135	33	17	0:27:08
Cooked Meat	53	178	44	22	0:31:49
Raw Fish Meat	66	250	61	31	0:39:37
Cooked Fish Meat	132	250	61	31	0:39:37
KO: × 160; × 66; × 18; × 11; × 8; × 4
Torpidity-depletion: 2.14 / s, Time until all torpidity is depleted: 00:12:30

Level 30					Time
Superior Kibble	8	0	0	0	0:10:14
Raw Mutton	17	0	0	0	0:20:25
Cooked Lamb Chop	31	195	52	26	0:37:10
Raw Prime Meat	21	54	15	8	0:25:13
Cooked Prime Meat	42	349	93	47	0:50:21
Raw Prime Fish Meat	53	132	35	18	0:31:49
Raw Meat	63	646	172	86	1:15:37
Cooked Prime Fish Meat	105	518	138	69	1:04:44
Cooked Meat	125	638	170	85	1:15:01
Raw Fish Meat	157	864	229	115	1:34:13
Cooked Fish Meat	313	860	229	115	1:33:55
KO: × 439; × 179; × 49; × 28; × 20; × 10
Torpidity-depletion: 3.55 / s, Time until all torpidity is depleted: 00:20:37

Level 60					Time
Superior Kibble	13	0	0	0	0:16:38
Raw Mutton	27	81	23	12	0:32:25
Cooked Lamb Chop	50	439	122	61	0:59:57
Raw Prime Meat	34	190	53	27	0:40:49
Cooked Prime Meat	67	703	196	98	1:20:19
Raw Prime Fish Meat	84	315	88	44	0:50:25
Raw Meat	100	1219	339	170	2:00:01
Cooked Prime Fish Meat	167	997	277	139	1:42:57
Cooked Meat	200	1219	339	170	2:00:01
Raw Fish Meat	250	1608	447	224	2:30:01
Cooked Fish Meat	500	1608	447	224	2:30:01
KO: × 727; × 297; × 81; × 47; × 33; × 17
Torpidity-depletion: 4.63 / s, Time until all torpidity is depleted: 00:26:11

Level 90					Time
Superior Kibble	18	0	0	0	0:23:02
Raw Mutton	37	197	57	29	0:44:25
Cooked Lamb Chop	68	710	204	102	1:21:31
Raw Prime Meat	46	346	99	50	0:55:13
Cooked Prime Meat	92	1107	318	159	1:50:17
Raw Prime Fish Meat	115	537	154	77	1:09:01
Raw Meat	138	1872	537	269	2:45:37
Cooked Prime Fish Meat	230	1543	442	221	2:21:48
Cooked Meat	275	1864	534	267	2:45:01
Raw Fish Meat	344	2436	698	349	3:26:25
Cooked Fish Meat	688	2436	698	349	3:26:25
KO: × 1015; × 415; × 113; × 65; × 46; × 23
Torpidity-depletion: 5.6 / s, Time until all torpidity is depleted: 00:30:13

Level 120					Time
Superior Kibble	22	0	0	0	0:28:08
Raw Mutton	47	333	98	49	0:56:25
Cooked Lamb Chop	87	1025	301	151	1:44:18
Raw Prime Meat	59	541	159	80	1:10:49
Cooked Prime Meat	117	1544	453	227	2:20:15
Raw Prime Fish Meat	146	784	230	115	1:27:37
Raw Meat	175	2552	749	375	3:30:01
Cooked Prime Fish Meat	292	2118	622	311	3:00:01
Cooked Meat	350	2552	749	375	3:30:01
Raw Fish Meat	438	3314	973	487	4:22:49
Cooked Fish Meat	875	3310	972	486	4:22:31
KO: × 1303; × 532; × 145; × 83; × 59; × 30
Torpidity-depletion: 6.5 / s, Time until all torpidity is depleted: 00:33:23

Level 150					Time
Superior Kibble	27	0	0	0	0:34:32
Raw Mutton	57	484	145	73	1:08:25
Cooked Lamb Chop	105	1342	402	201	2:05:52
Raw Prime Meat	71	735	220	110	1:25:13
Cooked Prime Meat	142	2004	600	300	2:50:13
Raw Prime Fish Meat	178	1058	317	159	1:46:49
Raw Meat	213	3279	981	491	4:15:37
Cooked Prime Fish Meat	355	2730	817	409	3:38:51
Cooked Meat	425	3270	979	490	4:15:01
Raw Fish Meat	532	4229	1265	633	5:19:13
Cooked Fish Meat	1063	4224	1264	632	5:18:55
KO: × 1591; × 650; × 177; × 101; × 72; × 36
Torpidity-depletion: 7.37 / s, Time until all torpidity is depleted: 00:36:00

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.

Ingredients for  Superior Kibble: 2 ×  Citronal, 1 ×  Prime Meat Jerky, 1 ×  Large Egg, 5 ×  Fiber, 2 ×  Rare Mushroom, 1 ×  Sap, 1 ×  Water

Utility

Roles

• Warship: The Plesiosaur has high  Health and  damage, which makes it useful in battle. The  platform saddle also allows for  Cannons and siege weapons, allowing for naval warfare (Level up Health and Damage).
• Aquatic Tank: Having a high base  Health, the Plesiosaur can take massive amounts damage (Level Health and Melee Damage).
• Oil Rig: Due to the fact the Plesiosaur can carry a large amount of  Weight, you can make it built for collecting enormous amounts of  Oil and converting it to  Gasoline. While not an ideal or recommended use, you could also use it for collecting  Crystal as well (Level up Weight, Damage and Health).
• Deep Sea Crate Farmer: The Plesiosaur can not be put aside as another contender for this by virtue of its respectable speed and much higher combat capability to handle various wild creatures that may be guarding a loot crate. In the case of a PvP situation it is nearly certain that anyone on a smaller creature will not trifle with a Plesiosaur being used for these runs. As of v265.0 the Plesiosaur got a significant buff to its  Stamina (about 3x more base  Stamina) so it can sprint for much longer periods of time without  Stamina investment. It also easily has enough carry  Weight to carry most items found without being encumbered. (Level up speed and some stamina.)
• Destroyer: Along with its very high  speed, good  Stamina and  platform saddle you can put 2  miniguns to both ends of the  platform and one  Rocket Turret to the middle, so it can be used to destroy any  raft, beach base or other sea animal in seconds and make a speedy escape.

Notes/Trivia

For information pertaining specifically to the real-world Plesiosaur, see the relevant Wikipedia article.

• Despite being able to use a  platform saddle it cant have  Vacuum Compartments built onto it meaning unless you have  SCUBA Gear you will drown.
  • this is even weirder when you take in the fact that in both its dossier and  platform saddle description both state it can have bases built on it but in game it's not the best use of the  saddle due to the risk of drowning.
• The Plesiosaur was the first aquatic tame to have a  platform saddle.
• The Plesiosaur was the second creature added to Ark in the same update as Icthyosaurus
• The generic name means "thin-plate lizard". The specific name appears to be intended to mean "thick oar" (referring to its flippers), but is incorrectly constructed and of the wrong grammatical gender; the correct form would be spissiremus.
• The dossier for Elasmosaurus actually mentions the underwater caves found in the game. This also seems to indicate that there are even more fearsome creatures in the depths of the caverns.
• Due to its enormous size the taming time is extremely long in which it is susceptible to enemies like  Megalodons. They might also lower the effectiveness due to possible inflicted damage.
• Plesiosaurs always drop  Fireworks Flaregun Skin when killed.
• Plesiosaurs are pretty rare to find but they are usually near the underwater caves, in numbers varying from about 1 - 4.
• Despite the dossier stating it leaves most creatures the size of  Humans and larger alone, it is common for them to attack  Megalodons and other creatures on sight.
• Before the introduction of the  Crossbow, plesiosaurs were usually kited into an underwater cave so that they could be tranqed.
• The name 'Plesiosaur' refers to a large group of animals that ruled the seas from the Jurassic up to the end of the Age of Reptiles. Genus Elasmosaurus thrived in the shallow seas that covered the central United States during the Late Cretaceous period.
• The Dossier says that the  Megalodon is the only predator of the Plesiosaur, though the latter is mostly stronger.
• the Dossier states that "Have yet to explore ... The underwater caves" directly after talking about predators of the Plesiosaur. This could have been referencing the  Mosasaurus and the  Tusoteuthis.
• Until v263.0 Plesios always spawned with a minimum level of 35.
• Plesiosaur dossier's temperament was "Docile" before changed into "Aggressive"
• Plesiosaur do not produce  Feces.
• Real reptiles, including all aquatic ones, can breathe air but Ark's Plesiosaur does not need  Oxygen.
• Real Elasmosaurus were only half the size portrayed in the game, reaching nearly thirty feet in length which is still reasonably large.
• The power and strength of Elasmosaurus are heavily exaggerated in the game, as in reality their slender form and anatomy would not have allowed them to put up a fight. They preyed on fish and fell prey to sharks and marine reptiles in their ecosystem.

Changelog

Patch	ARK: Survival Evolved Changes
181.0	Plesiosaur is added to the game
182.0	Fixed water creature breaching death cases
183.0	Fixed issue where water creatures were attempting to beach themselves to eat corpses
183.2	Water creatures should no longer be able to breech the water and die instantly
183.3	Water creatures no longer die when surfacing in underwater caves
193.0	Water creatures swimming against the water's surface is now smoother and shouldn't result in as much hard-stopping
204.0	Fixed an unusual bug with limitng NPC's when using certain mods that resulted in huge numbers of Plesiosaurs to be spawned underwater
204.1	Fixeed overspawning Plesiosaurs in mods
213.0	Water creatures will now correctly follow  Rafts
214.0	Added  Plesiosaur Platform Saddle
231.8	Fixed a rare case where a water creature would appear on a client to fly off into the air when unboarding it
242.0	Auto Turrets and  Plant Species X can no longer be built or grown on  Plesiosaur Platform Saddle. Any existing turrets on such platforms will no longer fire. This can be toggled off with "?OverrideStructurePlatformPrevention=true"
250.0	Platforms now add on 33% instead of 0% inventory  Weight and 85% inherent carry weight of creatures and people standing on the Plesiosaur, overall making entities heavier to carry on the platform
263.0	Fixed an issue where Plesiosaurs would spawn way to often at level 35
264.5	Greatly increased base Plesiosaur  Stamina  Spyglass and  GPS are now usable on all water creatures
279.275	Reduced  Movement Speed of the Plesiosaur by approximately 35%
312.65	Reduced Plesiosaur maturation time. Now matches  Gacha

Gallery

• 
• 

  Size compared to a beacon

• 

  Official promo image of the Plesiosaur