Ark: Survival Ascendedis filled with powerful tames, but some underrated or underused creatures can still be extremely useful. When looking at the best tames forAscended, many tend to look at the powerhouse options like the Rex, Reapers, and Giga. Then there are choices like the Argentavis and Rock Drake, which excel for travel purposes.
Even if they can’t be as versatile as the top-tier options,Ascendedis filled with tames that can be useful. This can be in a singular niche role that has less importance, or as a jack-of-all-trades that may not excel in any area. These tames usually don’t need as many numbers as others or are only used a handful of times, but they can still be huge time and effort savers. They come with the added benefit of not being a huge loss if a bad situation arises, while losing a top-tier tame could be game-ending.
10Spinosaurus Is The Aquatic Rex
Knockout Tame
Though not as underused as some, theSpinosaurus is underrated inArk: Survival Ascended. Spinosaurus is arguably a more useful combat tame to acquire for the mid-to-late game.Though the Rex has slightly higher stats, the difference is made up by Spino’s passive.
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This passive, Hydration,gives Spino 15% damage and a 20% movement speed buff for 30 secondsafter it enters or leaves water. Compared to the Rex’s buff, the Spinosaurus’s is better, since the latter only affects Herbivores. Thus, for situations where Hydration can be utilized often or any semiaquatic fight in general, Spinosaurs are a better choice.
9Deinosuchus Is The New Ruler Of The Swamps
Passive Tame
Deinosuchus is one of the newerArk: Survival Ascendedcreatures, which is the only reason its dominance may not be well known. This powerful reptile has stats that can compare to the strongest of combat tames, but is countered by its low range and speed. However,its high stats and devastating bite attack make it great for one ofArk’s hardest biomes.
This creature is one that players do not need multiple tames of, and though it gets significantly weaker outside its home, is still a worthwhile addition.
Since Deinosuchus can be found in swamps and tamed more easily than most creatures of its status, it is a perfect tame to have for navigating its home.By havingthe surprisingly overpowered Deinosuchus, the only real threat from swamps becomes the Rhyniognatha, which is a rare spawn. This creature is one that players do not need multiple tames of, and though it gets significantly weaker outside its home, is still a worthwhile addition.
8Kentrosaurus Makes For A Great Defense
Kentrosaurus is the lesser-known relative to the Stego, but just as useful. However, where the Stego is better for resource gathering and early/mid-game combat, the Kentro is built to fight. The caveat to this is thatKentros cannot be ridden by survivors, meaning they are free to do as they want until instructed.
The power of the Kentro comes from its two passives.The first of which will let it deflect a portion of the damage it takes back to its attacker, while the other gives them extra melee damagedepending on how many allied Kentros are around. Due to their strengths and weaknesses, Kentros are best as combat units, whether this be for PvE or PvP.
7Megalania The Assassin Dinosaur
Megalania are notorious for being silent killers when exploring caves, and that is exactly the reason to tame one. Megalania has a solid but albeit slow attack while being able to execute targets after a certain threshold. The real power behind this unit, especially for PvP, is the Mega Rabies debuff it can inject.This will drain the health and stamina of human targets and leave them defenseless.
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The other benefit of a Megalania is as a climber.It can scale walls and cliffs with ease, making it great for cave exploration or on vertical maps. A specificuse in theAberrationDLCis that Megalania is one of a few tames that is immune to the radiation on the surface. The other options, most notably the Reapers, are better but harder to acquire.
6Mammoths Are Versatile Tanks
Mammoths can be just as strong as any combat tame if built for it. To go with this strong offensive power, their Intimidate ability makes them even more worth having.This will reduce the target attack by 25%, beneficial for regular encounters but even better for bosses. If not used as combat tames, a small handful of Mammoths used as tanky front liners can be a boon.
Mammoths can also be used as an easy way toget rid of annoying smaller enemiesin their biome.
Outside combat, Mammoths help collect resources.They are considered one of the best lumberjack options inAscended. This is also helped by a passive that reduces the weight of wood they carry by 75%. A bonus use for the Mammoth is its ability to carry most medium-weight or smaller creatures with its trunk.
5Thorny Dragons Are Great For Early Game
ThoughThorny Dragons can only be found on certain maps, they can make for a versatile unit.They do a solid amount of damage in the early-to-mid game, and can even be used as ranged defenses without player input. Even when bred for combat, their damage and health will fall off for late-game encounters, but they will get players to that stage with ease.
A late-game role Thorny Dragons can be used for is as a tamer.Their ranged attack will naturally inflict torpor, and if built into this, can be a huge boon for creatures with a high torpor limit. Positioning will be crucial with this to keep them safe, but even a small group of Thorny Dragons could replace Narcotics completely.
4Megatherium The Insect Killer
A tamed Megatherium has one job: killing bugs. Its moderate attack stats are boosted by its passive, which gives it 50% more damage to any insect.The second part of this passive will give it another 250% damage boost and 75% resistance upon killing an insect. In this regard, while it is best used for pure insect battles, anything where Megatherium can get this buff will make it a powerhouse choice.
Overall, while the Megatherium may have limited uses, it is arguably unparalleled in them.
With this passive, Megatheriums are also great for collecting Chitin from its defeated enemies. Since they have this passive,Megatheriums are one of the best mounts for exploring caves, though they can onlyenter them through a cryopodor modded alternative. Overall, while the Megatherium may have limited uses, it is arguably unparalleled in them.
3Equus, The Prehistoric Noble Stead
One of the most underrated and least-known creatures inArkis the Equus. It has two general-purpose uses that make it a great tame to have. The first is as a transportation mount.Equus has good speed and weight reduction for many of the most collected resources inAscended.
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The other use is as a hybrid combat/taming creature.This is because of Equus’s kick that deals torpor damage based on its melee stat. This has some limits to what animals it will work on, but is largely a great asset to have for general exploration and taming medium or smaller creatures.
2The Ultimate Defense Pachyrhinosaurus
The Pachyrhinosaurus is the distant relative to the Trike, and what it loses in offensive power it makes up for defensively. The main strength of the Pachyrhino is its heavily armored head,which will negate projectile damage by 85%. While not as useful in PvE, it makes the Pachyrhinosaurus a great mount for attackingArk: Survival Ascendedbaseswith automated defenses in PvP. The Pachyrhino also has the unique ability to generatetwo clouds of gas, one that will calm enemy creatures and one that will taunt them.
The other added benefit of the Pachy is its role as a herbivore harvester and transporter.The best resources for it to gather are berries, wood, thatch, and Rare flowers. Unfortunately, Pachy is not the best for any of these, but it can serve the purpose of many dinosaurs for slightly less value while also serving a combat purpose.
1Carnotaurus Can Be A Discount Rex
Though not as great for bosses, a Carnotaurus can be just as effective in every other scenario.The stats may not match up with the Rex but the results as a combat tame and meat harvester are only a little different. The one area it can beat the Rex in is as a cave explorer, while also being more general purpose than something like the Megatherium.
Carnotaurus is best utilized in the early-to-middle game where Rex’s are unavailable. They are relatively easy to tame, and the benefit reaped by them is massive. Even once players have numerous Rex’s, Carnotaurs can still serve a purpose as an easier-to-navigate mount for meat collection.
Overall, creatures like this prove that the majority of mounts inArkhave some kind of purpose. That is a beautiful thing in a game as large as this, where many creatures can feel useless at first glance. It’s fine to use only a traditional roster ofthe best dinosaurs inAscended, but there is no substantial downgrade in using the options that seem like the most fun. In this regard, these are 10 underrated and underused creatures inArk: Survival Ascended.
