What Are The Best Dinos in Ark Survival Evolved?
Ark: Evolved dinosaurs play an important role in making it through the game from finding the right one to help you explore easier, to finding a good one to help you gather all those berries. With all the choices there are, it can be hard finding which dinosaurs are the best to use during your adventures of exploring, building and taming in the game. To help break down what dino you want to be sure to have, we’re compiling a list for you because we know to try to stay alive and have someone on your side isn’t going to happen with a Dodo!
10. Doedicurus
The Good: One reason you’ll love this mammal is that he is by far the easiest to care for and comes with a few good perks to boot. First and foremost, this spiky dinosaur will pig out on vegetables, and came to be easy to tame. Other perks include being able to ride him around, is tamable, and can be bred to make others.
The Bad: Do you enjoy going slower than a snail or at least close to it? Well, then hop aboard the Doedicurus express, because this dinosaur won’t be taking you too far very fast at all which can be a bit of a downer when it comes to things like escaping other dinosaurs in the game or even fighting them. While this creature may be easy to tame, unfortunately, if you get its health down to low it curls into a ball. Once he has curled into a ball, the health is typically too low to further try to tame and is best to finish off for food or materials.
The Wonderful: Need some harder to get supplies such as Obsidian? Well, look no further than this spiky ball of fun. While he may be a vegetable eater, he can use that big ball of his for more than show when he breaks down rocks and other materials to gain obsidian!
Battle Power: If you’re wondering why this spiky tailed friend is great for a boss fight there are a few good reasons. First, he is a smaller creature with a wider attack range. With a large spike ball on the end of its tail, this allows for a wide swing. Being low to the ground means easily avoiding larger dino’s that must work harder to reach you.
Best Method of taming: Using Norco berries or tranq darts is your best bet with this one. Using any of the stronger weapons can cause him to retreat in a ball due to low health. From there the taming option will no longer be available and should just be killed off for the meat.
9. Therizinosaurus
The Good: So, this fancy chicken with jazz hands, is by far one of the better dinosaurs to tame in this game. For one you’ll find that they’re harder to catch and likewise, harder to kill. They’re strong with damage output, also inflicts low amounts of tupor.
The Bad: Because of the type of dinosaur this feathery creature is, it’s weaker to certain types of damage. This means that if something were to be able to hit it low and is smaller, it’s harder to defend against.
The Wonderful: A lot of perks come with owning this dinosaur. For one, it’s a veggie eater which means no tedious task of going around and trying to fight something bigger to feed it. Other perks include the fact that it can provide raw meat, keratin, and other valuable resources. Owning this dinosaur is kind of a two for one deal except there are multiple types of nodes it can yield materials from.
Battle Power: This dino has a high DPS (Damage per second,) output which means with those fast-moving jazz hands, you’ll be doing a lot of damage in a little time. Secondly, the defense on the dino is also high up there so you won’t die off easily. The higher level you can find one of these guys, the better your chances of survival.
8. Argentavis
The good: If you want to get somewhere fast, this fancy overgrown bird is the creature to have. Makes flying over the islands a lot faster and easier, can carry a few other dinosaurs once tamed, and overall just makes you look like a complete badass as you ride on it.
The bad: One thing I’ve noticed is this bird doesn’t seem to be capable of maneuvering very well. While it can deal a lot of damage, the angle in which it turns while flying is rather limited. It takes a high level of damage when hit in the head.
The Wonderful: Because you can fly, it makes it harder for this bird to take damage but is good at aerial attacks. Great for gathering meat and hide. Easy to feed as it’ll eat any kind of raw or cooked meat which makes feeding it easier.
Battle Power: This bird is ideal for bird battles because it can fly. This means launching an attack from the sky and being able to get easily out of dodge when your health drops during battle. Likewise, when in a group of at least two they become hard to take down.
7. Quetzal
The Good: The Quetzal is another bird that has decent speed when flying, can carry larger dinosaurs for transport.
The Bad: If attacked too much, this giant bird will run from battle like the coward that it truly is. While that will give you a temporary speed boost, it’s short-lived. Also tends to run out of stamina fast which means one minute you’re flying and the next your plummeting to the ground.
The wonderful: This large bird can carry other large dinosaurs. This means that T-Rex you’ve been wanting to take with you around the map can be transported. Likewise, you can build a base on it and make it ready for battle and quite hard to take down.
Battle Power: There are so many reasons we could talk about why you should own of these large birds. The biggest is the fact that you can build a base on it. Think of a mobile command center…on a bird. Not only will it carry some of the bigger dinosaurs for you, but you can attach a platform with cannons and all other things that make it amazing to take in battle.
6. T-REX
The Good: This big beast is king of the jungle—er…Island. Next, to the Giga’s, the T-Rex is one of the more powerful dinosaurs on the island that you’ll want to tame. They’re strong, high-resistance and can provide you with all the meat you could ever dream of.
The Bad: While strong, these dinosaurs have a very low carry capacity. This means while you’ll earn a ton of meat using them to take down other dinosaurs with their strong jaws, they can’t hold very much.
The wonderful: They’re strong, they dominate over most other dinosaurs and aren’t something you want to mess with. They’re hard to take down which might make them a pain to tame but means others won’t be so fast to engage you in battle.
Battle Power: There are two things right off the back that makes this dinosaur a must have. The ability to use “roar” which sends your opponents and other dinosaurs running in fear as well as their strong jaws that can cause a lot of damage.
5. Mammoth
The Good: This creature is a tank if ever we’ve seen one. Capable of taking a lot of damage, can move fast for its size and great for gathering resources and can hold a lot of what it does pick up.
The Bad: When it comes to larger dinosaurs they tend to have a smaller range of movement. That means that when you’re being attacked by a smaller dinosaur, it’s much harder to retaliate.
The wonderful: Carry weight for days. This means all that wood you’ve picked up and wanted to take home can be carried without being weighed down. Likewise, this would apply for any other resources you’ve picked up.
Battle Power: With the ability to take a lot of damage, this means you’ll be putting out a lot of damage as well. Harder to take down in battle which makes for a hard to defeat an opponent that no one is going to want to face up against any time soon.
4. Ankylosaurus
The Good: Taming these spiky creatures are easier compared to many others. For one, they won’t attack you just for you breathing at them in the wrong direction. In fact, the Anky doesn’t attack unless attacked first.
The bad: See all those spikes on its body? Good, keep those in mind because they hurt and a lot if you’re unfortunate enough to be hit with one while trying to tame it. Likewise, the same applies to the spikes on its tail which hits fast and hard and has quite a reach on it. It’s also slow and easy to kill if you’re not careful when trying to tame it.
The Wonderful: For anyone who wears armor that is lower than the Chitin armor, you’re not likely to survive. This is great news and something to keep in mind when going against others. Other great information to note about this dino is the fact that it’s a berry eater and with them being found a dime a dozen, it’ll be easy to keep fed.
Battle Power: Most players, as well as bosses, are keen to get up close and personal when it comes to dealing damaging attacks. This puts them in harm's way and makes them faster to take down when using the Anky. Mostly because of the wide swing of the tail and the damage it deals, makes it ideal in boss battles.
3. Carnotaurus
The Good: This guy is not only big, but he is also fast! Think of the speed of a raptor with the strength of a T-Rex. This perfectly sums up the Carnotaurus. He is both big and fast, everything you could want in a battle.
The bad: Due to the aggressive nature of the dino, you want to come in with something equally tanky or hard-hitting dinosaurs to take these bad boys down! They typically travel in packs which can mean that if you don’t have the proper tools, you’re a goner!
The wonderful: There are some good dino boosts that you’ll get if you can manage to tame other Carno’s that are often found wandering in a heard with each other. This being the case, you’ll have a strong presence on the maps when you travel with one or more of these guys.
Battle Power: As mentioned earlier, if you can manage to tame a wandering heard of these, you’re doing yourself a real favor. They’re strong, they’re fast, and you don’t want to mess with these.
2. Ichthyosaurus
The Good: These over-sized fish are super friendly and will help you in a pinch. This means if you find yourself out and about swimming in safe waters but run out of stamina, they’ll push you ashore.
The bad: These big fish are hard to catch when it comes to taming which means you need a fast flying creature or a friend or two to help you shoot it from a distance. What makes this fish harder to catch is the fact that there are water predators that it often attracts which can mean game over for you if you’re not careful!
The wonderful: These guys are fast, they’re friendly and pretty much can be found in plenty. If you want to get around in the water and need a fast go to fish, these are for you
Battle Power: While it may not look like much more than an over-sized tuna meets mackerel, this fish is great for battle. The sheer speed of it alone makes it worth having, not to mention they’re powerful jaws can make for great attacks.
1. Beelzebufo
The Good: These large frogs are easy to tame if you know what you’re doing. They can only attack in a horizontal manner which means if you stand out of range or on a rock or platform, you’ll be fine. Also, using a flying bird and dropping them into a taming pen can make taming them a breeze.
The bad: These big reptiles are masters of using Tupor. If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself knocked out and easy prey for other creatures in the swampy areas in which these guys reside. Often people see them and think they’re not a threat which results not only in death but possible loss of all your hard-earned loot.
The Wonderful: If you manage to tame one of these over-sized frogs, you’ll find that they’re great to take on adventures. While I wouldn’t say they’re going to hold a ton of treasure, they will take down other animals you want to tame with ease due to the high knock out ability they can use on others.
Good for boss battle: These guys are mainly an asset as far as taking into boss battle because of their knock out abilities. If you’re knocked out, of course, you’re not going to be attacking anyone any time soon which means you must just lay there and get your health wiped while waiting to recover from the tupor. They’ll eat any kind of meat which means easy health recovery and being the can move fast, you’ll be moving around the boss with ease.
