Upper South Cave

Upper South Cave

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Cave in the Northern South of the Island

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Interior Map

Location

Map

The Island

Location

­68.2° Lat, 56.2° Lon
­71.3° Lat, 57.2° Lon

Loot

Artifact of the Pack
­73.0° Lat, 61.0° Lon
­76.8° Lat, 62.8° Lon

Artifact level

25

Loot quality

Blue

The Upper South Cave is a cave to the north of the swamp on The Island. The cave contains the  Artifact of the Pack, needed to summon the  Megapithecus. This large cave was considered one of the hardest caves prior to the Snow Cave and Swamp Cave, added in PC Update v252.0. The Mammoth and Lystrosaurus dossiers can be found here, as well as Helena Note #11.

Dangers

• Cold (-5°C) underwater.
• Swarms of enemies underwater.
• Risk of drowning in underwater tunnels.
• Mega Rabies from  Megalania or  Onyc.
• Arthropluera in the upper parts can one-shot most armor.

Recommended Equipment

•  Hide Armor or  Flak Armor for land sections.
•  SCUBA or  Tek Armor for underwater sections.
•  Torch
•  Tintoberry
•  Crossbow
•  Cooked Meats
•  Medical Brews
•  Bug Repellant
•  Stimberrys or  Stimulants
•  Lazarus Chowder to compensate for low oxygen
•  Fria Curry or an Otter are needed for some armor combinations
•  Grappling Hook are needed for reaching the Artifact quickly, lets you mostly skip contact with water, or alternatively a  Zip-Line Anchor when riding a  Ravager
• Shotgun with Shotgun ammo.
• GPS for if you get lost you can look at it and find where the artifact is or find where the entrance of the cave is to get out.

Tips

• A very large part of the cave is underwater. You will likely need 3-5 points in oxygen or Lazarus chowder to get through the underwater parts. Note that the water is cold.
• If you are planning to use a SCUBA Tank to cross the water sections, it is advised to bring along more than one. If you get dismounted the Piranha and Sarco will cause it to break very quickly.
• Bring a Baryonyx. It is surprisingly good for this cave as an exceptional swimmer, and can fend off Piranha and Sarco with ease using RMB attack.
• Follow the green glowing moss on the floor in the tunnel that will lead you to the artifact.

Creatures

•  Araneo
•  Arthropluera
•  Dilophosaur
•  Dung Beetle
•  Megalania
•  Megalosaurus
•  Onyc
•  Piranha
•  Pulmonoscorpius
•  Sabertooth Salmon
•  Sarco
•  Titanoboa

Compatible Tamed Creatures

Now that Cryopods are very easy to obtain (available on every map, crafted in supply drops) it's possible to bring in every creature in any cave, as long as the area is big enough to deploy said creature. This is not going to be assessed in the CTC table.

This cave contains multiple bottleneck points which deny many creatures to access. The first one will prevent creature from engaging any cave creatures. The second one is after a cliff and the first spawn location, and climbers can bypass it by jumping down and climbing back. The risk of drowning in the underwater tunnel is not assessed.

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
Archaeopteryx	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Argentavis	Limited	Unofficial/ Single-Player	Official Servers: Cannot mount in cave.   Unofficial/Single-Player: Requires server setting -ForceAllowCaveFlyers to mount.
Baryonyx	ASE: Excellent ASA: Limited	Yes	Good swimmer for the underwater tunnels. Can stun-lock Sarco and kill Piranha in bulk via its RMB attack.    ARK: Survival Evolved: Full traversal confirmed in patch 358.25, 15 Jan 2025.    ARK: Survival Ascended: Can jump down the "hall", which evades both choke-points.
Beelzebufo	Not Recommended	Yes	Very difficult to get back out of the cave.
Carbonemys	Limited	Yes
Carnotaurus	Limited	Yes
Castoroides	Limited	Yes
Chalicotherium	Limited	Yes
Coelacanth	Limited	No	Can only be brought in using a  Fish Basket. But can only be released in the water inside the cave.
Compy	Excellent	No	Can keep one on shoulder or bring a whole pack.
Daeodon	Limited	Yes
Doedicurus	Limited	Yes
Dilophosaur	Excellent	No
Dimorphodon	Excellent	No	Can keep one on shoulder or bring a whole flock.
Direwolf	Excellent	Yes	Enters the cave easily through the narrow path. Exit via the narrow path with some right-to-left-to-right adjustments to your walking direction.
Dodo	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Dung Beetle	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Enforcer	Excellent	Yes	Can pass the first bottleneck with some effort of Teleporting and Wall Climbing. Bypasses the second one as a climber
Equus	Excellent	Yes
Gallimimus	Limited	Yes
Gigantopithecus	Excellent	Yes	Can mount and ride one or bring a whole troop.
Hesperornis	Excellent	No
Hyaenodon	Excellent	No	Can bring one or bring a whole pack.
Ichthyornis	Excellent	No
Iguanodon	Limited	Yes
Jerboa	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Kairuku	Excellent	No	Can be carried in and out by player.
Kaprosuchus	Limited	Yes	Can pass everywhere except the second bottleneck.
Kentrosaurus	Limited	No
Lystrosaurus	Excellent	No
Megalania	Excellent	Yes	Can climb walls and reach the artifact chamber easily.
Megaloceros	Excellent	Yes
Mesopithecus	Excellent	No	Can keep on shoulder or can bring a whole troop.
Microraptor	Excellent	No	Can be carried on shoulder.
Moschops	Excellent	Yes
Onyc	Excellent	No	Cannot go underwater, but will escort the survivor via a shortcut to the Artifact chamber.
Otter	Excellent	No	Can be carried on shoulder.
Oviraptor	Excellent	No
Ovis	Excellent	Yes
Pachy	Excellent	Yes
Pachyrhinosaurus	Limited	Yes
Parasaurolophus	Limited	Yes
Pelagornis	Excellent	Unofficial/ Single-Player
Pegomastax	Excellent	No	Can be carried on shoulder.
Phiomia	Limited	Yes
Piranha	Limited	No	Can be brought in using a  Fish Basket. But can only be released in the water inside the cave.
Procoptodon	Limited	Yes
Pteranodon	Excellent	Unofficial/ Single-Player	Official Servers: Cannot mount in cave.   Unofficial/Single-Player: Requires server setting -ForceAllowCaveFlyers to mount.
Purlovia	Excellent	No
Raptor	Excellent	Yes
Ravager	Excellent	Yes	Can use  Zip-Line Anchor to reach the shortcut to the artifact.
Sabertooth Salmon	Limited	No	Can only be brought in using a  Fish Basket. But can only be released into the water inside the cave.
Sabertooth	Limited	Yes	Can pass everywhere except the second bottleneck.
Scorpion	Excellent	Yes
Sinomacrops	Excellent		Can be carried on shoulder.   Scream temporarily stops Onycs from attacking.
Spider	Excellent	Yes
Terror Bird	Excellent	Yes	Can be used to glide over most underwater portions. Can also mount and ride or bring a whole flock.
Thorny Dragon	Limited	Yes
Thylacoleo	Limited	Yes	ARK: Survival Evolved: Can pass everywhere except the second bottleneck.    ARK: Survival Ascended: Requires a  Cryopod because it cannot enter cave and cannot pass the 2 bottlenecks.
Triceratops	Limited	Yes	Cannot pass the first bottleneck.
Troodon	Excellent	No	Can bring one or bring a whole pack.
Vulture	Excellent	No	Can be carried on shoulder or bring a whole flock.

Notes

• The entrance is facing south, on a small cliff.
• Bring Cryopod to be certain your mount can exit.
• The underwater part is teeming with Piranhas and Sarcos. If mounted bring some good leather armor and fiber to repair midway, or multiple sets of flak.
• The main path will direct you in front of a lake at the bottom of the cave. There is a shortcut on the right-hand side cliff which is accessible via  Grappling Hook and climbers, leading to the Artifact chamber.
• There's a glitch to kill piranhas by tricking them to go above water.

Gallery

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  Cave Entrance

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  Inside the Cave

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  Inside the Cave

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  Inside the Cave