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.

Recommended Creatures

Baryonyx has excellent access to this cave on ARK: Survival Evolved and is arguably the best mount for this cave. Can stun-lock Sarco and kill Piranha in bulk via its RMB attack. Excellent for the underwater sections and farming loot crates. Can heal off of fish in this cave. Can shoot from its back.
Direwolf is small enough to enter and exit with little difficulty, gets pack boosted and has high damage. However they are rather slow swimmers. (Not relevant if all you want is the artifact which does not require to traverse any underwater portion. Bring Grappling Hook to reach it easily)
If you have access to Aberration items/engrams a Gigantopithecus or Ravager can be used to get to the artifact easily without Grappling Hook, both can use Zip-Line Anchor to reach the shortcut to the artifact. They are also both well suited to fighting the creatures inside this cave
- Even without Aberration engrams or creatures Gigantopithecus is still a very good choice, but it is a herbivore so unable to heal off of Raw Meat

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. (Only if you want the loot crates, reaching the artifact itself does not require any underwater traversal)
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

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	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
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

Cave Entrance
Inside the Cave
Inside the Cave
Inside the Cave

v e h Locations
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	Resource Map Explorer Map Creature Spawn Map
Plains	The Eastern Plains The Frigid Plains The Western Plains
Islands	Cragg's Island Southern Islets South Haven The Dead Island The Footpaw
Mountains	Far's Peak The Frozen Tooth The Grand Hills The Red Peak Volcano Weathertop Whitesky Peak Winter's Mouth
Beaches	Northeast Shores Northern Shores Northwest Shores Southeastern Shores The Southeast Shores The Western Approach The Western Coast
Forests	Southern Jungle The Eastern Forest The Redwood Forests
Caves	Central Cave Lava Cave Lower South Cave North East Cave North West Cave Snow Cave Swamp Cave Tek Cave The Caverns of Lost Faith The Caverns of Lost Hope Upper South Cave
Arenas	Broodmother Arena Dragon Arena Megapithecus Arena Overseer Arena
Other	Deep Ocean Drayo's Cove Ice Wyrm's Belly The Belly of the Beast The Deep Island The Descent The Frigid Deep The Frozen Fang The Frozen Maw The Frozen Sea The Gulch of Lamentation The Hidden Lake The Maw The Shadow Road The Throat of Borea The Throat of Flame The Writhing Swamps Smuggler's Pass Volcanic Maw

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