What Are The Best Early Tames in Ark?
You just loaded into your latest Ark map, but what to tame first? Do you want to go straight for the powerful and large T-Rex?
No...no you don’t. It will try to eat your face and succeed, plus you can’t even ride it until you’re level 74 anyway.
So here are 10 dinos in Ark that you should try to tame before you jump into raising a Rex army.
10. Best Early Dino for Surviving the Storms of Scorched Earth
You may not need quite this many but hey, go crazy!
This little fluff ball is both adorable and important enough to save your life. On the Scorched Earth map, you are faced with many challenges such as finding water and handling the bizarre weather patterns. The Jerboa can help you with navigating the weather changes that this map holds in store for you.
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- It will make different noises that tell you which type of storm is approaching so you can take shelter or put away metal objects immediately.
- It is incredibly easy to tame with just knocking it out and feeding it some mejoberries.
- You can tame multiple to keep one on your shoulder at all times and have a few around your base so you can see what movement they are doing for storms too.
Here is how to tame this little guy.
9. Best Early Dino for Seeing in the Underground of Aberration
Look at its cute little weird dog-fish face!
Even Rockwell himself said, “These little guys may look harmless, but in these caves, he is necessary for survival.” The Bulbdog is a little fish-dog looking creature that loves mushrooms and Plant Species X seeds. The charge light that they produce helps to keep the Nameless away from you and trust me, until you are raising a Rock Drake, you do not want them near you.
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- They are a passive tame. That means you just follow them around and feed them what they want which makes it easy to tame them. Just don’t follow them somewhere you don’t want to be!
- Their light makes it easier to see what is surrounding you and it protects you from the Nameless. If there are too many Nameless around you, they summon a Reaper Queen and no one wants that.
- Of the 3 glow pets available on this map, their charge will last the longest and regenerate the fastest.
The only downfall with the glow pets is you have to be careful where on the map you go with your pet's light on. Their light summons and strengthens Seekers but they only start spawning in parts of the blue zone and the entire red zone. So there is no need to worry about it at the start.
Here is how you tame one of these helpful glowing puppers.
8. Best Early Dino for Basic Protection
The Tek Parasaur is one of the cooler looking Tek dinos in the game.
The Parasaur is the perfect first tame for anyone. Period. They are incredibly easy to tame and they are good for a lot of different things around your base. You also learn the Parasaur saddle as one of the first saddles you can make.
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- They have a mode called Turret Mode in which they will stand still and ping any enemies that come near you, alerting you that danger is nearby.
- They are capable of collecting berries for you so you have a decent food supply until you can get a carnivorous dino that harvests raw meat for you.
- They move around at a speed that is quicker than walking so they really help in making travel faster at the start of your game.
Here is how you can tame one of these enemy defense systems.
7. Best Early Dino for Collecting Berries
Just don't aim for the head!
These three-horned herbivores are an easy tame that will help you even more than the Parasaur when it comes to collecting berries. The Triceratops is one of the best berry collectors in the game and they hit hard too. But you have to be careful, if you hit one of these guys and they have buddies around, they will all come and attack you.
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- Trikes are really good at collecting berries, which means more Narcoberries for more Narcotics which leads to more tames. Yay!
- They hit pretty hard and have a good hit point pool so they are really good for beginning base defense.
- They are fairly easy to tame. All you have to do is knock them out, you can even use a slingshot for that, and feed them mejoberries. Just watch out for their buddies!
Here is how you can tame your very own berry collector.
6. Best Early Dino for a Silly Companion
You also may not need this many Dodos but if you want all the kibbles, I guess this is one way to do it.
Okay, so you might be thinking, “what can a Dodo be good for?” The answer is, absolutely nothing, well except for kibble but there isn’t a need to worry about that at the start. They are just a silly companion to have following you around. The tribe I’m in often plays a game with the Dodo’s just trying to see how long we can keep one alive and following us around. It’s hilariously fun!
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- They are stupidly easy to tame. You just have to punch them a few times and give them some berries.
- Sometimes, these guys have been our last line of defense and won. They could be your last defense too.
- Later on in your game, these guys will help you with making simple kibble which is the preferred food of some creatures.
Here is how you can tame one of these silly kibble producers.
5. Best Early Dino for a Simple Helpful Tame
This weird looking dino is highly underappreciated.
These are an incredibly underrated dino when just starting your game. For how easy a Moschops is to tame most times, they are extremely helpful. Plus, you can ride them without putting a saddle on them on the console Ark.
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- They are fairly easy to tame depending on what they want you to feed them.
- They actually hit pretty hard for their size and you can always put more points into their melee and health pool.
- They are a small and fast mount that doesn’t require a saddle. What sucks is, if you get dismounted in a battle then they will take off running until they think they are safe.
Here is how you can tame one of these powerful scaredy cats.
4. Best Early Dino for Warmth Against the Cold
These cute lil guys are super helpful, especially in the murder murder snow.
Let’s first take a moment to appreciate how adorable that little face is. So cute! So the Otters are a shoulder pet that you can tame by feeding fish. They are extremely helpful when it comes to going into the colder areas of maps. If you pour enough level point into their melee damage, you could walk in the snow without armor and be perfectly fine.
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- They are a small and adorable shoulder pet like the Jerboa but found on almost every map. What more could you ask for on the adorable creature side of Ark?
- They only need one to a few fish to tame. You kill the fish and drag the body over to them to feed them.
- The higher their melee stat, the better protection against the snow you get. Their mighty little punches are sure to keep you safe and warm!
Here is how you can tame one of these small neck parkas.
3. Best Early Dino for Vicious Defense
This is not a situation you ever want to find yourself in.
A Raptor is normally a walking nightmare to those starting a new character. But with some patience and a trap for them, you can have your very own raptor army defending your base. Just make sure to amp up their melee and health, and nothing can get past them, well, a Giga can and probably will.
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- They do so much damage in such a short amount of time, few creatures stand a chance against them.
- As a mount, they are one of the fastest land creatures you can get, next to a Gallimimus.
- The more raptors you have, the more damage they do, this is why you build an army and breed the strongest ones together.
Here is how you can tame one of these murder machines.
2. Best Early Dino for Rock Collecting
This guy will help you so much in the m=building of you dream castle.
These cute little armadillo looking creatures are the best creature in the game at collecting stone. And that’s all they collect with a swing of their tail. They are perfect for your castle building project that you can totally start with this guy on your side.
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- Even if they are hitting a metal node, they take what you would make in metal and turn it into stone.
- They have the ability to roll around to travel and it’s much quicker than their running speed.
- They are an easy creature to tame, you just have to be careful not to hurt it too much or else they will ball up and you can’t tame them.
Here is how you can tame one of these rollie pollie stone collectors.
1. Best Early Dino for your First Powerful Flyer
This was before the TLC patch on these guys and I'd still argue that they have judgemental eyes up close.
These majestic, oversized dodo birds are an incredibly important dino throughout your entire game. The Argentavis is incredibly flexible as far as the flying dinos go as they are capable of most tasks in the game, as long as water isn’t involved. This is a great tame for your first powerful flyer.
Why is this one of the best early tames?
- They are incredibly flexible stats wise. They can be made into a combat bird, a hauling bird, a long-distance flyer, and so many other stat combos.
- They are really good at harvesting meat, hide, and chitin/keratin off of dead creatures.
- They are fairly easy to tame and even easier if you have someone helping you tame them.
Here is how you can tame one of these judgemental task tackling birds.
You may also be interested in:
