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.
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Species
Phorusrhacidae rapidesultor
Time
Late Paleocene
Diet
Carnivore
Temperament
Aggressive
Wild
Ranging from eight to twelve feet tall, Phorusrhacidae rapidesultor is a highly aggressive avian that is just barely capable of very brief "flight." Instead, it uses its wings primarily for balance during its high-speed sprints. Phorusrhacidae flight is actually closer to an impressive sustained leap or glide that is assisted and lengthened by flapping its wings.
Phorusrhacidae shows interesting traits related to theropods such as Utahraptor, Carnotaurus, and Tyrannosaurus. It has many similar traits, such as general shape and predator patterns, but its attacks tend towards lightning fast dashes and beak slashes.
Domesticated
Phorusrhacidae is an effective combat mount, particularly for harassing and scouting. Riders of Phorusrhacidae gain most of the benefits of a fast, mobile ground-based theropod, while also gaining some of the freedom of movement from a flyer...assuming the rider can coax Phorusrhacidae into staying in the air over a long leap.
The Terror Bird is an extremely aggressive avian species. Whilst they commonly travel in groups of 3 (occasionally 4), they can be seen (albeit rarely) on their own; caution is still strongly advised.
Whilst typically found all over the island, the Redwood forest offers the richest source of prey, which includes the player if they are caught within their large aggro range. Therefore, they are most likely to be seen in and around this region.
The Terror bird is a remarkably fast predator, making outrunning them on foot very difficult.
Appearance
A Terror Bird stands as tall as a man and is a highly aggressive carnivore. Having evolved to sprint in pursuit of small prey, Terror Birds have long legs and powerful hooked beaks designed to tear flesh and crush bone. They have traded the power of flight for this, having only vestigial wings, generally used for balance in high-speed chases in the dense forest.
Color Scheme and Regions
This section displays the Terror Bird's natural colors and regions. For demonstration, the regions below are colored red over an albino Terror Bird. The colored squares shown underneath each region's description are the colors that the Terror Bird 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 Terror Bird's regions by entering cheat SetTargetDinoColor <ColorRegion> <ColorID> in the cheat console. For instance, cheat SetTargetDinoColor 0 6 would color the Terror Bird's "feathers" magenta.
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]
Terror Bird
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 Terror Bird starts gliding, acting as a Parachute or more precisely, like an Archaeopteryx.
NOTE: The Terror Bird does not reduce its fall damage, keep this in mind every time you glide with it.
Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Terror Bird.
General
Terror Birds spawn in small clusters of three to four members, so be sure that you can handle multiple opponents. They are extremely fast and aggressive, patrolling the area while devouring anything they can get their beaks on. Be careful when exploring in their spawning areas, which includes the redwoods, the mountains and the rivers at the base of the mountains. Be sure to consider other animals while dealing with Terror Birds, as there are plenty where they spawn!
Strategy
If the Terror Bird is unable to reach you, it cannot harm you. Fighting on the ground unprepared is usually risky as the Terror Bird is adapted to running and can easily overtake a player. Try to finish them off quickly before their damage adds up, as escape is not a viable option. Oddly enough, the birds sometimes get stuck on each other and cannot move. In this rare occasion, either run, kill or knock them out before they fix themselves. This is a bug, and it may be fixed in a future patch.
Weaponry
Due to their pack nature, ranged weapons are best used to avoid being overwhelmed. If a melee situation arises, a sword or pike should be used to cause decent damage. Shotguns work rather well to deal high damage to one or two birds.
Dangers
The Terror Bird is a good sprinter, so make sure to stay away from it on open terrain if you are poorly equipped. Fast or durable mounts can evacuate you in a pinch, or they can simply aide in killing one. Be sure that other mountainous animals do not enter the battle, as a Rex or Giganotosaurus can easily turn a casual hunt into a nightmarish slaughter of beloved animals and helpful tribe members.
Weakness
They are extremely slow in water, a person with no movement upgrades moves at a similar speed to a swimming Terror Bird. While this does not allow you to escape them entirely, it does make them far easier to fight. Similar to the Raptor, the Terror Bird can easily be trapped on rocks and attacked with either a ranged weapon or a pike. They do not have relatively high health, so they can be dispatched in a similar method to raptors.
The Terror Bird, like some other creatures, has a special head hitbox, which make them take 3x more damages with headshots. If one Terror Bird charges you alone, the best weapons are bows or crossbows. Use iron arrows to make sure to one-shot it. If you're caught in the open with multiple Terror Birds charging at you, keep backing away and focus on one of them at a time. Getting headshots is critical for fighting a group of them. Alternatively, an effective trap with at least two members in your tribe is luring it to a premade trap consisting of two windowframes and a doorway with a door and a ladder opposite to the gap on a single foundation (preferably stone or higher). You aggro the Terror Bird, climb up the ladder and it will not be able to chase you. Your tribe member runs around the back and places a third windowframe and the bird is stuck inside a trap with no escape. Shoot it with Tranq Arrows, Tranq Darts or Shocking Tranq Darts until it is unconscious. Open the door and go inside to start taming it.
Taming
The Terror Bird loses torpor quickly so make sure that you are stocked up on Narcotics when you knock one out.
Torpidity-depletion: 7.77 / s, Time until all torpidity is depleted: 00:06:24
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.
The Terror Bird is very fast and will usually circle around you, which can make it difficult to properly hit. It is recommended to lock the Terror Bird in place to not waste ammunition by either grabbing it with an Argentavis or Quetzal, lure it into a prepared trap like a 1x1 stone house without ceiling, or use a Bola.
Utility
Roles
Scout: The Terror Bird can be very fast, and together with its gliding ability, good turn radius, and high damage there is little that can stop you from exploring, except for maybe large pools of water. However, its low carry weight makes it difficult to transport more than you and your basic equipment. (Upgrade speed, stamina, and to your choice health/damage/weight)
Mountain Jumper: If you frequently travel mountains but do not want to use a flying mount, the Terror Bird is an excellent ground alternative. With its gliding ability you can quickly cover chasms or depart from the mountain all together, all without having to deal with falling damage. With upgraded damage and health it usually can deal with all attackers, however it is difficult to carry resources home. (Upgrade health, stamina, and damage)
War Mount: Similar to a Raptor with higher damage and the ability to glide. Its circling attack pattern can be very confusing in PvP, if sent into combat unmounted. Additional speed can make it difficult for an enemy player to hit the Terror Bird. (Upgrade health, Melee damage, and speed)
Sniper's Mount: It has the mobility to get you around and out of trouble during your field sniping. When hunting or in PvP, it will serve a sniper well.
Prime Harvest: Due to their hooked beaks, the Terror Bird can more efficiently harvest prime meat from larger predators than most other mounts.
Cave Glider: Being the closest thing to a mountable flier in a cave, the Terror Bird safely makes jumps with its glide ability that would often be treacherous with other mounts. Its initial vertical jump is also useful, especially in the North East Cave.
Escape Vehicle: Although Terror Birds are good at fighting and killing enemies they are fast as well, their quickness allows them to out run threats if players need speed to escape from danger.
To glide press and hold the jump button (default Space). The Terror Bird will glide with the same speed it was running when you jumped. This gliding speed can be maintained for a good distance, but it eventually does start slowing down, and the bird will (gently) descend along with the decrease in speed.
If you stop gliding the bird will start falling even if you hit space again afterwards. Flapping its wings will however reduce the falling damage.
The Terror Bird's "genus", Phorusrhacidae, actually refers to the family informally known as Terror Birds rather than a particular genus. The skull that is seen in its dossier appears to be of the famous Terror Bird Phorusrhacos. If this is the true identity of the Terror Bird seen in ARK, its true scientific name would be Phorusrhacos rapidesultor.
The dossier image of the Terror Bird shows it with a vestigial dew claw, but the in-game model of the creature lacks this feature.
Despite spawning most commonly in the mountains, real life Terror Birds were plains dwellers that hunted out in the open.
In game, a Terror Bird can glide quite long distances, something that isn't seen in its real life counterpart.
When writing her notes Helena didn't add art of a saddle with a check mark like with most other creatures. The Terror Bird is one of the few animals that doesn't have a saddle or check mark shown in it's notes
The specimen name roughly translate to "Swift Glider"
Terror Birds might have been one of the creatures that inhabited the ARK known as Aberration before it got damaged. The surviving creatures adapted and became mutated by the new environment. The Terror Birds could have been one of the creatures that couldn't survive the radiation leaking from the damaged ARK which changed the environment on Aberration.
Yes
Region 0:
Region 4:
Region 5:
Health
Stamina
Oxygen
Food
Weight
Melee Damage
Movement Speed
Torpidity
Level 1
Regular 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
× 30; 
× 13; 
× 4; 
× 2; 
× 2; 
× 1
Regular Kibble:
1 × 
Cooked Meat Jerky, 1 × 
Medium Egg, 5 × 
Fiber, 2 × 
Longrass, 2 × 
Savoroot, 1 × 
Water
Raw Prime Meat
Raw Prime Fish Meat
Raw Meat
Chitin
Raw Fish Meat
Hide
Keratin
ARK: Survival Evolved Changes
Terror Bird is added to the game
