[Top 10] Ark Survival Evolved Best Early Tames

Updated:

08 Nov 2020

Early game can be a bit overwhelming for a new survivor, this list will help an early survivor choose what creatures to tame in the beginning.

10. Parasaur

The Parasaur is the first tame that many survivors acquire to help them farm the resources needed to survive the Ark. The Parasaur is a very easy tame that allows a player to travel further and explore the Ark slightly more safely than by exploring on foot. They are excellent berry farmers and have nearly infinite stamina.

Why the Parasaur is great for the early game:

Easy to tame: The Parasaur can be tamed using nothing more than berries and a club, which means survivors don’t have to spend hours farming materials to feed their potential tame.
High Stam: The Parasaur is typically born with high stamina, what makes it better is that they use much less of it when performing their various activities. For an explorer this allows them to run much longer than a player could, on their own.

Parasaur details here.

How to get Parasaur here.

9. Triceratops

The triceratops is an amazing farmer, not only can it gather the fruits and vegetables like the Parasaur, but it can also gather wood and thatch. This makes it advantageous because it can be used to help early survivors build their first base camp. Another advantage of having a Triceratops or 2 is that they are excellent defensive mounts, which will guard your base to their very last breath. A strong Triceratops can even take down a Rex!

Why the Triceratops is great for the early game:

Farming: As players progress they will find that better tames require kibbles, which will require lots of berries and veggies. The Triceratops farms these at a very efficient rate, making short work of gathering a few hundred berries.
Defense: Once a player begins to build a base, they become a target for other survivors and hungry carnivores. Having a few trikes at the base can help defend your resources from other early players.

Triceratops details here.

How to get Triceratops here.

8. Raptor

If players decide that they want to begin taming carnivores they are going to need a tame that is capable of harvesting meat. The easiest hunting sized carnivore to tame is the Raptor. The raptor is fast, smart, and powerful. Their speed allows them to keep up with almost any of the island’s herbivores. When used as a pack, survivors can even take down larger herbivores to gather prime meat from, to tame more difficult mounts.

Why the Raptor is great for the early game:

Carnivore: The Raptor is a hunter, even in the wild, the Raptor is capable of hunting game much larger than itself, especially when working with other members of a pack. This will allow the player to gather meat for food and taming more advanced tames.
Defense: The raptor has several abilities that will allow them to defend your base from players that will want your resources. With their pounce attack, they can pin down anything smaller than them, including enemy players.

Raptor details here.

How to get the Raptor here.

7. Carbonemys

The Carbonemys is a gigantic turtle, found almost everywhere on the island. They will only attack a player if the player first attacks them. What makes these invaluable assets, is their eggs. The egg of the Carbonemys can be used in kibbles that very many of the animals of the Ark enjoy, making it very easy to tame even highly dangerous creatures. Having a few of these guys around for kibbles makes them a very addition to any tribe.

Why Carbonemys is great for the early game:

Kibble: The kibble of the Carbonemys is extremely valuable as it will feed the most medium-sized animals on the Ark. Kibble will allow the survivor to tame valuable assets later in the game.
Defensive: The Carbonemys is a tank. Their health is so high, that they can soak up bullets or other attacks from an attacking animal. Having a few turtles around your base can help you buy time for either an escape from an attack or prepare for your defense.

Carbonemys details here.

How to get Carbonemys here.

6. Iguanodon

The iguanodon is like a Parasaur on steroids. They are capable of physically fighting carnivores and killing them. They can even handle carnivores larger than them. What makes them more valuable to a tribe is that they can harvest the seeds of a plant. This is very important when it comes to making kibble. When you have seeds you can plant them and fertilize them and then you can continue to harvest that plant as long as you keep it fertilized.

Why the Iguanodon is great for the early game:

Farming: An iguanodon is a farming machine, allowing you to harvest berries and veggies and then separating the seeds from the fruit or vegetables.
Defense: The iguanodon is capable of physically fighting carnivores using the sharp claws on their forearms to pierce their enemy. This makes them a strong addition to your early game defense network.

Iguanodon details here.

How to get Iguanodon here.

5. Dung Beetle

The dung beetle is one of the most important early game tames you can get. It makes fertilizer and oil out of dino poop. Fertilizer is important for growing the crops to make kibble, which you will need a little bit down the road. The oil can be combined with hide to make gasoline, another component you will need as you progress into the age of electricity. The ability to make these two items, makes the dung beetle an asset for almost any tribe in Ark: Survival Evolved.

Why the Dung Beetle is great for the early game:

Fertilizer: Fertilizer is required to supply your plants with nutrition. It is also fuel for the plant species x, which is an early game turret, used for base defense.
Oil: Oil is used to make gasoline in Ark: Survival Evolved. For every dino dung, you place in the dung beetle, you will receive an amount of oil. You can then combine that oil with hide to create gasoline, which you will need to power things such as your fabricators.

Dung Beetle details here.

How to get Dung Beetle here.

4. Pteranodon

The Pteranodon is one of the first flyers that players will be able to tame and allow them to take to the skies of the Ark. They are rarely aggressive to players, and will typically flee even when attacked, making them a very easy tame, provided you have the correct kibble for them. Flight in the Ark is one of the safest ways to travel because very few dangers are in the sky. It allows the player to safely explore their surroundings and uncover more of the secrets surrounding the Ark, or to travel from one point of interest to another without fear of a hungry carnivore coming after them.

Why the Pteranodon is great for the early game:

Flight: This is likely the first creature a player will get that will allow them to take to the skies of the Ark. The skies are typically one of the safest places to be because most threats come from land or sea unless you are dealing with another player raiding your base.
Safety: The Pteranodon is currently the fastest truly flying tame in the game, even faster than the wyvern. This gives you excellent abilities to escape an attack, with the weakness being that you can’t attack back.

Pteranodon details here.

How to get the Pteranodon here.

3. Dimorphodon

The early game requires defenses because other players will likely want your things and will come after them. Dimorphodon is an excellent member of your early airforce. Once tamed these guys are amazing at stopping an attack dead in its tracks because these little flyers only attack the survivor riding the mount, which will eliminate the pilot of your attacking enemy dinos, making them easier to kill. Naturally, these creatures are neutral, they will not attack a player unless the player first does something to it, it is important to note that they will attack you and kill you even when you are riding your own tames.

Why the Dimorphodon great for the early game:

Defense: These little guys are lethal defenders, they will attack players on the back of dinos, causing chaos in the enemy army as they lose their riders and fall victim to your defense.
Easy to Tame: They are very easy to tame, take a bola and catch them, then tranq them and feed them meat. Very little effort required to use them in your defense network.
Backpack: These guys also give you the benefit of reducing the weight of what is inside them by half, allowing you to use them as a backpack with reduced weight.

Dimorphodon details here.

How to get a Dimorphodon here.

2. Equus

The Equus is a naturally occurring “horse” that appears randomly and rarely on the island. Humans have used horses for travel and work for ages, on the Ark, it is no different. The Equus is one of the few animals on the ark that has a special type of saddle. They are the same as a chemistry bench, in that you can make things like medicine and narcotics on it while you are out in the field either exploring or hunting. They also have a rope on the saddle, which will allow you to capture smaller animals and hold them down to tame or kill.

Why the Equus is great for the early game:

Exploration: The Equus, like modern horses, are much faster than a human. This allows you to cover ground on the island quickly and faster than most predators.
Chemistry Bench: The saddle of the Equus is a lot like the mortar and pestle and the chemistry bench, allowing the survivor to craft things like gun powder, medicine, and narcotics while out exploring rather than having to travel back to their base to re-supply.

Equus details here.

How to get Equus here.

1. Argentavis

The Argentavis is one of the most functional mounts in all of Ark: Survival Evolved. It is often tamed early in-game and used throughout a survivor’s time on the Ark. Not only are they capable of hunting and killing other animals for food, but they have a special saddle that acts as a smithy and weight reducer. A survivor on an argentavis can fabricate armor or ammo while out in the field, making this a truly versatile animal. Many tribes also used them on farming missions for things like metal and obsidian due to the weight reduction the argentavis receives.

Why the Argentavis is great for the early game:

Smithy: The saddle acts as a mobile smithy, allowing you to build anything you could in a real smithy, while on the back of your tame, out in the field. This allows survivors to travel further or conduct emergency repairs while away from the base.
Weight Reduction: Weight reduction on the Argentavis allows it to carry vast amounts of metal and obsidian in a single run, saving early survivors the hassle of back and forth runs to important recourses.

Argentavis details here.

How to get the Argentavis here.