The Caverns of Lost Hope
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
The Caverns of Lost Hope
Interior Map
Location
The Caverns of Lost Hope is an underwater Cave on the east coast of The Island map. The cave contains the 
Artifact of the Cunning, needed to summon the 
Dragon. It is a challenging area of the map, especially for lower levels (40 and under).
Dangers
- Extremely cold temperatures.
- A vast portion of the cave is underwater.
- Extreme quantities of
Mosasaurus, 
Plesiosaur, 
Tusoteuthis and other dangerous aquatic creatures. - Swarms of creatures boosted by
Alpha Megalodon can cause your mount to get stuck and lose health quickly. - Massive groups of overleveled
Megalodon can pin you down leaving you unable to escape, and shred your mount in seconds. On top of that they also get a boost to their damage and resistance when in groups (and from nearby Alpha Megalodon!) and deal bleeding damage (since TLC3).
- Never underestimate this cave and bring your own Megalodon to counter this threat especially in Singleplayer!
- If you are unlucky with spawns even an imprinted Mosasaur with 20k
Health and 1k 
Melee Damage can die quickly this way. There is also a bug where a lot more creatures than usual spawn in this cave the first time you clear it after a dinowipe. Spawns should be more reasonable after that. - When soloing this cave is recommended to ride a
Basilosaurus and have the Megalodon follow you as it cannot be grabbed or shocked allowing you to traverse the cave relatively safely.
- Never underestimate this cave and bring your own
- Surprisingly, the water within the cave is well lit and does not require a
SCUBA Mask. - Creatures can spawn with very high levels.
- Be cautious when moving through the cave as creatures can be found hiding inside the walls.
Recommended Equipment
Alternatively you can use 
Lazarus Chowder and there is air in the cave allowing you to refill your 
Oxygen
- A tamed Aquatic dinosaur (preferably a Basilosaurus)
Explorer Notes
- Rockwell Record #6: When approaching the Artifact, it is on the right Ruins walkway on the left corner closest to the Artifact spawn.
- Cnidaria Dossier: Passing the hole to the end of the cavern, you will go through a small, short cave and see some Ruins on the ground to the left. The Dossier is in the archway.
- Helena Note #9: Reach the end of the flooded cave and head deeper into the cave. You will see a hill in a right corner with stone stairs. The Note is past the stairs.
- Meiyin Note #9: Reach the end of the cave on land, the last note will be near some Ruins to the left, overlooking the first cave with air
Recommended creatures
- Megalodon as damage dealers will be useful due to their massive bonus damage and resistance in packs, bring at least 8 for maximum benefit (Level Health and Melee Damage). However they should not be ridden due to the presence of
Cnidaria and Tusoteuthis both of which can dismount you, which most likely will result in instant death. - A large pack of
Baryonyx could also be used due to their lack of Oxygen stat (allowing them to stay underwater indefinitely), good Melee Damage, their stun effect, and they can heal off of 
Raw Fish Meat which is abundant in this cave. Due to their compact size hey are small enough to reach the artifact portion. They can also go on land, which allows you to clear out the land portion with ease. However they can still get shocked/grabbed by Cnidaria and Tusoteuthis. - Tusoteuthis due to high Health and Melee Damage are able to brute force the cave with their long range and rapid attack speed. Also partially immune to Cnidaria stunning effect. Can heal itself off of grabbed creatures (including Alphas). However it is unable to attack in the same direction it is looking at and creatures can get stuck inside its mantle, pinning you down. It is also unable to enter the artifact chamber itself unless
Cryopod is used. (Level Health and Melee Damage (Bring two opposite gendered creatures for the mate boost.) - Basilosaurus are able to regenerate health after long endurance battles and are also totally immune to being stunned, shocked or grabbed. They have excellent Health but their Melee Damage is mediocre. Recommended as a primary mount with damage dealers on follow rather than on its own. Bring two opposite gendered creatures for the mate boost, and park your basilos to heal near surfaces of air pockets. Or you can just tank the whole cave by leveling only Health but be careful not to get pinned along the way.
Karkinos Most creatures within the game will ignore you and the crab as long as you do not hit an ammonite or step off the crab (but be wary of 
Piranha). Recommended to kill any creatures close to artifact. Use water jump to exit artifact chamber and make it back to shore.
Shadowmane can go invisible allowing you to navigate the cave unseen. (Works well with two people.)
Exo-Mek is good choice since NOTHING will aggro
Partially Recommended creatures
Rock Elemental Similar to Karkinos, most creatures will not aggro. However this is objectively the inferior choice due to it lacking a jump. Unable to enter artifact cave itself.
Ichthyosaurus and 
Mantas can speed through the cave with a skilled rider. (Difficult, requires practice and risky due to their low Health you will most likely get killed when you get stunned or pinned down.)
Spinosaurus can reach the artifact itself and nothing in the land portion will aggro you. However it is not immune to being stunned/grabbed and their large turning radius can present a problem when fighting mobs. They also possess an Oxygen stat which means they can drown if you're not careful- Using a Mosasaur or Plesiosaur is not recommended, despite their good Health and Melee Damage they are very vulnerable to being stunned/grabbed and their large turning radius can present a problem when navigating. Both are able to enter the artifact cave itself
Rock Drake can camouflage avoiding most dangers inside the cave, but is still vulnerable to being stunned(escort recommended). Can drown due to presence of an Oxygen stat, also has a huge turning radius in the water. Cannot regenerate 
Stamina when in water. Can navigate land portion easily since nothing will aggro.
Tips/Notes
- The artifact lies fairly close to the entrance of the cave, at the end of a narrow tunnel that starts down behind an Obelisk-tech structure (see gallery below). The rest of the cave is rife with creatures to slay, but is not abundant in any particular resource nor can any of the creatures be tamed. At the end of the submerged caverns is what appears to be a standard cave filled with subterranean creatures and a couple Survivor Entries.
- The extremely high level
Trilobite, and more importantly Piranha can be tamed with a fish basket. Piranha are also immune to all status effects, include the various stun/shock effects that render most creatures immobile, and the aggression inducing bile from 
Ammonite.
- The only loot crates found to date were in the submerged cavern, leaving the cave at the end undesirable to explore once the Explorer Notes have been collected.
- There are several ways to obtain the artifact, but two suggested methods are by using brute force, or by a high-speed bypass.
- Brute Force involves riding a high-level Mosasaurus/ Tusoteuthis or similar creature and just killing everything on the way in or out. This can be highly time-consuming and requires the appropriate dinosaur. Alternatively, bring a whole army of various high level creatures that are good underwater.
- High-speed bypass requires an Ichthyosaurus (simpler, and cheaper, to tame) or a Manta with high speed (suggested at least 150%, for best results); using their speed you simply race through the cave, ignoring as many enemies as possible on the way to the artifact. Be sure to put your mount on passive in case it gets attacked when you get off to get the artifact, but beware, as they will not last long alone. You may be forced to kite enemies away from the artifact before grabbing it, since these dinosaurs cannot reliably fight large groups. Be especially wary of Cnidaria and Tusoteuthis using this method, as they can quickly bring your speed run to a halt if you are knocked off your mount, or it is grabbed.
- Brute Force involves riding a high-level
- All loot crate positions can be found at the Explorer Map (The Island). All possible loot items are listed at Loot Tables/The Island/Caves.
Creatures
- Aquatic
Alpha Megalodon
Ammonite
Angler
Cnidaria
Dunkleosteus
Electrophorus
Eurypterid
Manta
Megalodon
Mosasaur
Piranha
Plesiosaur
Trilobite
Tusoteuthis
- Subterranean
Compatible Tamed Creatures
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Angler
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Baryonyx
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Basilosaurus
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
 Beelzebufo
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
 Carbonemys
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
 Coelacanth
|
Excellent | No | |
 Diplocaulus
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
 Dunkleosteus
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
 Electrophorus
|
Excellent | No |
|
 Hesperornis
|
Excellent | No |
|
| Ichthyosaurus
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
 Kairuku
|
Excellent | No |
|
 Kaprosuchus
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Karkinos
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Manta
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Megalodon
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Mosasaurus
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Piranha
|
Excellent | No | |
| Plesiosaur
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Rock Drake
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Rock Elemental
|
Limited | Yes |
|
 Sabertooth Salmon
|
Excellent | No | |
 Sarco
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Spino
|
Excellent | Yes |
|
| Tusoteuthis
|
Limited | Yes |
|
Resources
Sporadic 
Metal and 
Obsidian nodes within the submerged tunnels, and rubble nodes within the cave.
Gallery
Route to the Artifact
Artifact of the Cunning Crate
Entrance
Displayed are the locations for The Island. For locations found in DLCs, please see The Center, Scorched Earth, Ragnarok, Aberration, Extinction, Valguero, Genesis: Part 1, Crystal Isles, Genesis: Part 2, Lost Island, or Fjordur. | |
| Maps | |
| Plains | |
| Islands | |
| Mountains | |
| Beaches | |
| Forests | |
| Caves | |
| Arenas | |
| Other | |
