Traits

Traits are additional, passive modifiers for creatures that can have a wide variety of both positive and negative effects. They are unique to  ARK: Survival Ascended and were introduced with the Steampunk Ascent chapter of the Bob's Tall Tales DLC series that accompanied the release of the Aberration map.

General

Traits initially appear on wild creatures, creatures hatched from wild fertilized eggs (like those used to obtain untameable creatures like the Wyvern or Rock Drake), or creatures spawned from a host (like the Rhyniognatha or Reaper). Each eligible creature appears with exactly one randomized Trait.

Every trait has an associated species as well as a tier from 1 to 3, with each tier occurring more rarely and providing a larger magnitude of effect compared to its predecessor.

Using the Gene Scanner tool and Gene Storage structure (both restricted to ownership of the Bob's Tall Tales DLC), Traits can be extracted from creatures, stored, and then freely reapplied to maturing (baby, juvenile, or adolescent) creatures of the same species. Modified in this way, creatures can possess up to five total traits, with many traits allowing two or even three additively stacking copies.

A brief summary of a tamed or unconscious creature's Traits can be seen in its tooltip information if extended descriptions are enabled, appearing as a list of items such as "[1] Athletic" (for a tier 1 Athletic Trait) after other information about the creature.

More detailed information about Traits can be viewed in a tamed creature's Traits page (available below primary statistics on standard UI) or by looking at any creature (including wild) while using the  Gene Scanner and holding the extra info button (H, , , ).

Traits are not transferred when mating or by any other mechanism apart from the Gene Scanner. This means that creatures produced via breeding can only have traits if they are implanted after extraction from other creatures.

Usage

Traits are extracted from tamed creatures by "hitting them" (Lmb, , , ) with the Gene Scanner tool from the Bob's Tall Tales DLC. The Gene Scanner can hold up to 10 extracted traits, which can then be transferred to and from a Gene Storage structure that can hold up to 200. Both naturally occurring and previously implanted Traits can be extracted, making Traits infinitely reusable across creatures and only lost upon the death or other loss of a creature.

Traits are also implanted from the Gene Scanner's storage to a tamed creature by "hitting" (Lmb, , , ) it with the tool. Trait implantation can only target a maturing (baby, juvenile, or adolescent) tamed creature, with one exception: an adult creature that has an instance of the Fast Learner Trait (either naturally occurring or previously implanted) can destroy and replace Fast Learner with another chosen trait.

Traits can only be applied to the same base species they were extracted from, meaning you cannot, for example, extract a Mineral Bearer Trait from a Wyvern and implant it onto an Ankylosaurus. You can, meanwhile, transfer a Trait from a Fire Wyvern to a Poison Wyvern or from an Aberrant Ankylosaurus to a standard Ankylosaurus, since these represent variants of the same base species.

Traits

Following is the set of possible Traits:

Trait	Max Copies1	Effect(s) (Tier 1/2/3)
Aggressive	2	Whenever this creature deals damage to a non-allied target, it gains a 2.5%/3.75%/5.0%  Movement Speed buff for 5 seconds, refreshing (not adding or stacking) on subsequent hits.
Angry	2	This creature deals up to 1.25%/1.875%/2.5% more damage based on its current  Health. The bonus begins at 50% remaining health and scales linearly to its maximum value at 25% remaining health.
Athletic	3	This creature gains 0.05/0.075/0.1  Health regeneration and 0.0005/0.00075/0.001  Stamina regeneration for each point in  Oxygen.
Aquatic/Swimmer	3	While swimming, this creature: Moves 7.5%/11.25%/15% faster Consumes 12.5%/18.75%/25.0% less  Oxygen Consumes 4%/6%/8% less  Stamina
Bearing/Carrier	3	This creature reduces its inventory weight for a carried item category by 15.0%/22.5%/30%, with categorized items including: Carcass:  Chitin,  Hide,  Keratin,  Organic Polymer,  Pelt and  Wool. Cave/Aberrant:  Red Gem,  Green Gem,  Blue Gem,  Congealed Gas Ball and  Element Ore. Desert/Scorched:  Silk,  Raw Salt,  Sand,  Cactus Sap and  Sulfur. Exotic:  Angler Gel,  Black Pearls,  Element,  Leech Blood,  Oil and  Silica Pearls. Meat:  Raw Meat,  Raw Fish Meat,  Raw Mutton,  Raw Prime Meat,  Raw Prime Fish Meat and  Spoiled Meat. Mineral:  Flint,  Stone,  Crystal,  Obsidian and  Metal. Plant:  Thatch,  Wood,  Fiber,  Berries,  Crops and  Seeds. Wastes/Extinction:  Silicate,  Corrupted Nodule,  Element Dust,  Scrap Metal,  Condensed Gas,  Fragmented Green Gem,  Red Crystalized Sap and  Blue Crystalized Sap.
Carefree	1	This creature gains a bonus 7.5%/11.25%/15.0%  Movement Speed that is lost for 20 seconds after dealing damage, receiving damage, or gaining a rider.
Cold	3	This creature and its rider gain 40/60/80 Hyperthermic Insulation and 5.0%/7.5%/10.0% reduction of incoming heat/fire damage.
Cowardly	3	Whenever this creature receives damage from a non-allied target, it gains a bonus 2.5%/3.75%/5.0%  Movement Speed for 5 seconds, refreshing (not adding or stacking) upon subsequent hits.
Distracting	1	Non-allied targets that take damage from this creature's melee attacks deal 5.0%/7.5%/10.0% less damage to all other targets for 20 seconds.
Diurnal	3	This creature reduces its daytime  Stamina consumption by 2.5%/3.75%/5.0%.
Excitable	1	Hitting an enemy with this creature's basic melee attack reduces the cooldown of its other abilities by 0.25/0.375/0.5 seconds.
Fast Learner	3	Increases this creature's experience gain by 15.0%/22.5%/30.0%. This trait can be replaced on adult creatures.
Fatty	3	This creature gains 0.1/0.15/0.2 Armor for each point in  Food.
Frenetic	3	This creature's  Torpor recovery is increased by 7.5%/11.25%/15.0%.
Giantslaying	2	This creature: Inflicts 2.5%/3.75%/5.0% increased damage against large creatures with Drag Weight of 500 or higher Inflicts 7.5%/11.25%/15.0% reduced damage against small creatures with Drag Weight 200 or lower
Heavy-Hitting	3	This creature: Inflicts 2.5%/3.75%/5.0% increased melee damage Has a 5%/7.5%/10.0% reduced melee attack speed
Robust	3	Additively increases the probability that a child of this creature will inherit the higher of its parents' values for a specific statistic by 1.5%/2.25%/3.0%. This can apply to any of:  Health,  Stamina,  Oxygen,  Food,  Weight or  Melee Damage.
Frail	3	Additively decreases the probability that a child of this creature will inherit the higher of its parents' values for a specific statistic by 1.5%/2.25%/3.0%. This can apply to any of:  Health,  Stamina,  Oxygen,  Food,  Weight or  Melee Damage.
Mutable [Positive]	3	Additively increases the probability that a child of this creature will experience a mutation event for a specific statistic by 1.0%/1.5%/2.0%. This can apply to any of:  Health,  Stamina,  Oxygen,  Food,  Weight or  Melee Damage.
Mutable [Negative]	3	Additively decreases the probability that a child of this creature will experience a mutation event for a specific statistic by 1.0%/1.5%/2.0%. This can apply to any of:  Health,  Stamina,  Oxygen,  Food,  Weight or  Melee Damage. This trait does not appear to occur naturally.
Kingslaying	3	This creature: Inflicts 5.0%/7.5%/10.0% increased damage to  Bosses and Alpha creatures Inflicts 10%/15%/20% reduced damage to all other targets
Nocturnal	3	This creature reduces its nighttime  Stamina consumption by 2.5%/3.7%/5.0%.
Numb	1	25.0%/37.5%/50.0% of the final damage taken by this creature is applied as a 5-second damage-over-time effect that cannot be mitigated by any further means.
Protective	2	Reduces damage taken by this creature's rider by 15.0%/22.5%/30.0%. This effect persists on the rider for 10 seconds after dismounting.
Quick-Hitting	3	This creature: Attacks 2.5%/3.75%/5.0% faster Inflicts 5.0%/7.5%/10.0% reduced  Melee Damage
Slow Metabolism	3	This creature consumes 5.0%/7.5%/10.0% less  Food, including food consumed to power abilities (like as the Daedon's area healing).
Sprinter/High Endurance	3	This creature consumes 4%/6%/8% less  Stamina while sprinting.
Tenacious	3	This creature takes up to 12.5%/18.75%/25.0% less damage based on its current  Health. Damage reduction begins at 50% remaining health and scales linearly to its maximum value at 25% remaining health.
Vampiric	1	This creature restores its missing health by up to 5.0%/7.5%/10.0% of damage dealt, with larger creatures (as determined by drag weight) restoring a smaller percentage.
Warm	3	This creature and its rider gain 40/60/80 Hypothermic Insulation and 5.0%/7.5%/10.0% reduction of incoming cold/ice damage.

¹This value describes how many copies of the trait with the same name can appear on a creature.

Notes

• Some traits have different names depending on where the player is looking them (By using the  Gene Scanner, looking at the creature UI or Show Traits option).
• Any Bearing trait that reduces the weight of any resource with variants (Such as  Fungal Wood and  Green Gem with  Corrupted Wood and  Fragmented Green Gem respectively) will also apply the weight reduction effect on the variants.
• The best ways to obtain traits are taming low level creatures or by claiming Wild Babies. Both methods are faster than just focus on tame high level creatures with this purpose specifically.

Changelog

Patch	ARK: Survival Ascended Changes
52.13	Tier 2/3 Traits now spawn on wild creatures.
53.1	Added a "View Traits" button to the creature inventory screen to view equipped creature traits. Fixed Vampiric trait not working correctly if the dino has the  Digestion buff active.
54.3	Creature rewards from Club Ark now include a trait. Fixed  Reaper babies not spawning with random traits.
55.19	Fixed creatures hatched from eggs (like  Wyvern and  Rock Drake) not receiving breeding traits. Fixed Cold Trait reducing fire damage much more than intended. Fixed Numb Trait not applying its damage over time if the creature had the  Digesting buff. Fixed Bearing Traits effectiveness being inconsistent with age of the creature.
57.12	Fixed an issue that caused different Carrier traits to add their weight reduction to each other. Fixed some text discrepancies for creature traits.
59.4	Meat Carrier Trait now includes  Spoiled Meat.
63.7	Fixed Excitable Trait not affecting  Deinosuchus’ Giga Bite attack cooldown.
66.0	Prevented the Aquatic trait from appearing on flyers (When bAllowFlyerDinoSubmerging is false).