Snow Cave

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This article is about the Snow Cave on The Island. For the Snow Cave on Ragnarok, see Snow Cave.

Snow Cave
CaveSnow.jpg
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A Cave South-East from Whitesky Peak on the Island.

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Interior Map

Snow Cave Cavemap.jpg

Location
The Island Topographic Map.jpg
Map
The Island
Location
ARK: Survival Evolved­29.1° Lat, 31.8° Lon
ARK: Survival Ascended­26.0° Lat, 29.1° Lon
Climate
Biome
Snow
Temperature
 Very Cold
Clothing
 Fur
Loot
Artifact of the Strong.png
Artifact of the Strong
ARK: Survival Evolved­29.9° Lat, 26.5° Lon
Loot quality
Blue Crate.png Blue
Yellow Crate.png Yellow
Red Crate.png Red

The Snow Cave is in the Snow Biome. It is a challenging cave and should be saved as one of the last caves you visit.

Dangers

  • Wild Creatures only spawn between levels 120 and 340 on default settings (they are not tamable). With DifficultyOffset value set to 1, the creatures level can be as high as 672 although the max wild level dinos outside are only 120.
  •  Polar Bear do massive damage with their bite attack, which can possibly oneshot you or your shoulder pet
  •  Yeti do massive knockback with their attacks, and can push you off cliffs (fall damage) into the water (where you also take damage) or into other hostiles
  • Extreme Cold
  • Water (6 absolute damage per 2 seconds to players, dinos and shoulder pets)
  •  Purlovia which can dismount and/or stun you, many of them spawn buried and are only visible as brown earth mounds
  • Confusing pathways

Recommended Equipment

Armor

  • High quality or multiple sets of  Fur Armor and  Riot Armor or  Flak Armor. 400+ Hypothermic Insulation required to avoid constant health drain.
    • Engram-Grade Fur Gear(the ones made from the Smithy via earning Engrams) is not enough insulation. You will want improved Fur from the Deep Sea Loot Crates. Alternatively an  Otter, check the #Recommended Creatures section
    • The cave gets colder the deeper you go. You can be well-insulated at the entrance, and freezing to death at the artifact.

Weapons

Consumables

  • 90 ×  Cooked Meat for food, remember 1 cooked meat is 20 food
  •  Enduro Stew Consume it to regenerate 1.2 HP each second and increase melee damage by 30%
  • 3 ×  Fria Curry Consume it to gain +50 increased hypothermal insulation, and slow your rate of food consumption by 25%
  • 15 ×  Medical Brew for quick health
  • 30 ×  Custom Consumable to regenerate health and food

Other

  •  Campfire to warm up and cook meat while inside Snow Cave
  • ~50 ×  Wood to cook stuff in the campfire
  • 10 ×  Torch to see in dark areas and warm up
  •  Standing Torch (use  AnglerGel for fuel) for warming up

Recommended Creatures

  • Note: on  ARK: Survival Evolved, you have to use  Cryopod to bring in most large creatures since the entrance has a crouch point. This will make the cave much easier. Be careful since aggressive creatures spawn right behind it!
    • Alternatively if one does not wish to use  Cryopod, Fertilized eggs can be brought inside the cave and hatched. But hatched creatures will be permanently stuck inside.
  • An  Otter is strongly recommended to avoid freezing to death on shoulder especially if you do not have improved fur armor. Level up  Melee Damage.
    • An otter with even primitive fur set will prevent you from freezing even in the artifact chamber. Put some points in the fortitude for more insulation.
    • A Ferox is also able to fit this role, possibly even better than the Otter.
  • Releasing a cryo'd  Yutyrannus and riding that will make the cave considerably easier, as it can scare Purlovia out of their burrows, is too tall to aggro the Anglers, and its fear roar works on all land creatures inside (though you may need to roar multiple times for the full fear effect). Its attack while not the strongest does decent knockback allowing you to push back enemies you are fighting.
    • One other advantage is that you can stand on it, increasing survivability if you still somehow get dismounted by  Purlovia.
    • Increase  Health,  Melee Damage and  Stamina (the roar consumes a lot of it)
    • You may need to harvest a bunch of Crystal nodes inside to allow the Yuty to pass, but other than that it has complete access to the cave including to the artifact itself
  • One or two dozens of well trained and imprinted  Dimorphodon can help you clear the cave quite easily. Utilize your swarm tactics to overpower dangerous animals like Yetis and Direwolves and keep yourself safe while the swarm whittles away attacking animals. Although beware of Purlovias.
  • A pack of  Allosaurus can be useful due to high damage and compact size. Not aggroed by Direwolves or Purlovias unless attacked first. Bring a couple (at least 2) for the full Alpha & mate boost, ride on the pack leader(s).
    • You may need to harvest a bunch of Crystal nodes inside to allow the Allos to pass, but other than that they have complete access to the cave including to the artifact itself
  •  Therizinosaurus are a great option due to comparable  Health and  Melee Damage to a  Rex but much smaller size. They will not aggro Direwolves or Purlovia unless you dismount. However since they are herbivores they cannot be easily healed using  Raw Meat although  Sweet Vegetable Cakes could be used to heal them
  •  Baryonyx Is an option for this cave, although weaker than the other dinos usually used for Snow Cave, you can use weapons from its back. It is small enough to fit through all the passages. Has a decent advantage being able to use all the fish in this cave as a good source of healing, however, it will leave the rider particularly vulnerable to  Purlovia. Lure them out safely using  Grenade
  • You can bring  Direwolf in a  Cryopod to help sniff out the location of burried  Purlovia, although beware of their low  Health and lack of saddle. Best to deploy them where there are no hostiles immediately nearby. The detected  Purlovia can then be safely aggrod using  Grenade or you canlLure all other creatures out of the room and kill them, then whistle a creature close to  Purlovia to bait them out safely.

Tips

  • Direwolves are terrible swimmers. Whenever possible, take advantage of the floating snow "islands" to shoot them down while they swim.
  • Or use a  Grappling Hook and camp at the ice cave ceiling. You can easily kill all creatures from above using any kind of ranged weapons. Alternatively, you can skip fighting any creatures and just go through on the ceiling of the cave.
  • Don't fall in the water. You will be swarmed by high-level Anglers and freeze, and your gear will be much harder to recover.
  • Or gather all Piranhas and Anglers by swimming in the water and finish them with one rocket-propelled grenade. Don't forget to gather the meat and AnglerGel.
  • There is at least one pitfall trap with water at the bottom from which you will not be able to escape without a  Grappling Hook should you fall in (the one in question surrounds one of those green-lighted "sci-fi" monoliths).
  • You will either need to grapple over or harvest some large Crystal that block your path occasionally.
  • One of the best ways to navigate the cave outright is by avoiding the creatures within. The extreme cold already poses a massive threat, and animal attacks will only worsen the pain of traversing the Snow Cave. Since the creatures are all of high levels and any mishap can have terrible consequences, they are best avoided. Try to find the quickest route through the cave that involves minimal confrontation with creatures, but beware that you may still be needed to battle!
  • Use the entrance, the player will be able to hit the other creatures with a ranged weapon but the other creatures won't be able to hit the player. The player can also lure the creatures to the entrance to make this tactic a little more effective, so that the hostile creatures will just stand in front of the entrance, and are basically an easy target.
  • One of the easiest ways to even solo that cave is to bring at least 20 metal spikes and 3 sleeping bags. Always stick to the left side of the cave and place one spike in front of you, the creatures will gain damage and die but can´t damage the metal structure. At chokepoints its recommended to leave at least 1 spike as a safe spot if you want to carry out more than one artifact at once without a shoulder pet. The first part of the cave has 2 loot drops where you cant build so you need to sprint through it. Just jump over the water, then left over the crystals and down the waterfall. This way you just need 2 Grappling Hooks to complete the cavern, but make sure you don't have something on your cooker because it will take several hours to complete the cave. If your server/game has Structure Plus mod installed, this strategy can work better as you can pick it up and save resource and weight.
  • With the introduction of  Cryopod, you can now easily transport creatures in and out of the cave safely.

Creatures

Compatible Tamed Creatures

Because of how hard this cave is, releasing stronger tames/mounts using  Cryopod after the crouch point is highly recommended.

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 Cryopod Yes
 Ankylosaurus Limited Yes
  •  Can enter cave but invisible barrier prevents access to first room. Perfect tank for battling the first Yeti, which can be drawn out with a range weapon and fought effortlessly with melee.
 Araneo Not Recommended Yes
  •  Somewhat difficult to enter the cave. Will be unable to leave the cave. Sprint through the second blue crystal while hugging the wall. This can be difficult to do, but once performed properly, your Araneo will have access to the rest of the cave. Keep in mind, once you have passed the first blue crystal, you will be unable to exit.
 Archaeopteryx Excellent No
  •  Can be carried in and out by player.
 Beelzebufo Excellent Yes
  •  Arguably the best mount for this cave on any level, a particularly leveled one will have the ability to fit through the tiniest spaces and speed past all enemies to avoid conflict with them.
 Compy Excellent No
  •  Can keep one on shoulder or bring a whole pack.
 Baryonyx Cryopod Yes
  •  Has full access to the cave when brought in a  Cryopod
 Dilophosaur Excellent No
  •  Can enter and exit the cave with little difficulty. Requires a punch or two to push past the crawling portion.
 Dimorphodon Excellent No
  •  Can keep one on shoulder or bring a whole flock.
 Dodo Excellent No
  •  Can be carried in and out by player.
 Dung Beetle Excellent No
  •  Can be carried in and out by player.
 Jerboa Excellent No
  •  Can be carried in and out by player.
 Kairuku Excellent No
  •  Can be carried in and out by player.
 Otter Excellent No
 Mesopithecus Excellent No
  •  Can be carried on shoulder.
 Pelagornis Excellent Unofficial/
Single-Player
 Pteranodon Limited Unofficial/
Single-Player
  •  Official Servers: Cannot enter cave.

 

  •  Unofficial/Single-Player: Requires server setting -ForceAllowCaveFlyers to mount and enter.
 Rex Cryopod Yes
  •  Not Recommended, requires  Cryopod to enter and unable to traverse full cave, you have to dismount and cryo/uncryo leaving you vulnerable to being killed on foot
 Vulture Excellent No
  •  Can be carried on shoulder.
 Yutyrannus Cryopod Yes

Notes

  • The freezing water does 6 damage to anything that steps or swims in it. Keep an eye on your health when collecting underwater loot crates. Fire a grappling hook vertically up if you cannot endure and have to leave water immediately.
  • Currently, this is the hardest cave in the game, newcomers beware and creatures are untameable.
  • All Red Chests found in the Snow Cave function differently than normal cave loot crates, in that their loot table is identical to the Deep Sea Ocean Crates. Given that the Snow Cave operates on a 3.25 - 4.0 item quality threshold, the end result are crates containing the ocean loot table at a higher than normal quality than anywhere else in the game.
  • As a testament to how cold and deadly this cave is, at 4 frozen human bodies can be found in the cave.
  • There is an absurd amount of Purlovia in the cave which will leap and stun/dismount you before you see the dirt piles, almost always resulting in death. It is advised to kill other creatures in the area first before proceeding past a Purlovia. Your best bet will be using a metal shield as it blocks initial damage, and then to use a high-powered melee weapon to finish it.
  • The room after the part where you jump from the ice “islands” usually has lots of enemies, only go in once you're prepared.
  • On ARK: Survival Ascended the entrance crouch point has been removed, allowing you to bring large creatures in without the use of  Cryopod

Changelog

Patch  ARK: Survival Evolved Changes
237.0 Snow Cave is added to the game.
261.0 Removed bats, spiders, penguins, and piranhas in the Ice Cave. Added 'Polar Bears', Purlovias, and Sabertooth Salmon to the Ice Cave.
262.0 Polar Bear aggro range in the ice cave should be increased to something similar to the other hostile creatures in there.
289.100 Mesh Memory Optimizations for Ice Caves on The Island.

Gallery

  • Old layout of the Snow Cave
    Old layout of the Snow Cave
  • Entrance
    Entrance
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