[Top 5] Ark Survival Evolved Best Ways to Get Keratin

Updated:

08 Nov 2020

In Ark: Survival Evolved there are many uses for Keratin, from cementing paste to saddles to special armors. There are a lot of ways to get it on the island, and in this guide, we will show you the top 5 ways to get keratin on the island.

5. Hunting Turtles, Trikes, and Stegosaurus on a carnivorous mount

This is a good method for gathering keratin because carnivores will harvest not only the meat from a kill but also anything else that animals would also drop, including keratin. This can be especially beneficial if you are already planning to hunt for meat because you will then be able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone so to speak.

Why hunting turtles, trikes, and stegosaurus’ is a good method:

These animals are found all over the ark, this makes them easy pickings. Simply take your tame out for a ride, and kill them as you go about your business. When you return to base, you will have a decent supply.
These animals will also become aggressive when you attack them, you won’t have to worry about them attempting to run away.
These animals also tend to be a less dangerous way of getting keratin than some of the other methods we will discuss, as they can be taken down with something as simple as a crossbow.

Guide for killing turtles for Keratin here.

4. Hunting Trilobites

If you are a lower level gamer in Ark: Survival Evolved, but you need keratin for cementing paste or anything else, this is the absolute safest method you can do. Trilobites live in the shallow waters around the beaches of the ark and can be easily killed with a spear or a pike. They will not attack you under any circumstances, so there is no danger, besides an occasional piranha, to this method.

Why hunting trilobites is a good method:

Very little danger: the trilobite itself is incapable of hurting a player, and the areas they spawn in are typically pretty safe as well, except for the occasional piranha.
Each trilobite drops a fair amount of keratin as well, especially on evolution weekends.
Trilobites are plentiful in shallow coastal waters. They are easily killed and easily harvested, making them an easy and efficient source of keratin.

Guide to hunting trilobites for keratin here.

3. Gathering with a hatchet

In Ark: Survival Evolved there are specific tools that harvest specific items better than others. In the care of keratin, that tool is the hatchet. To make the task easier, you can use a mount to kill your target, be it a scorpion, a trilobite, or any of the other various keratin-rich creatures on the island, then dismount and hack the body up with your hatchet. This will yield much more keratin than if you were to consume it with your mount.

Why gathering with a hatchet is a good method:

Efficiency: In Ark: Survival Evolved players will learn quickly there are ways to do things that will make their daily chores easier and quicker. In this scenario using a hatchet to gather keratin will allow the player to get more keratin than if they were to harvest them with their tames.
Different tiers: There are different tiers of weapons in Ark: Survival Evolved. The higher the tier the better the stats If a player were to find a hatchet with high mele they would be able to harvest more keratin from the body of a slain animal.
Multiple items: The hatchet will get more for you than just the keratin, it is also extremely helpful when gathering the hide of the animal. This is helpful if you require both items for a project.

Guide to gathering keratin here.

2. Gathering keratin with a sabertooth

Just as there is a tool for ceratin conditions and certain resources, there is usually a tame for it as well. The sabertooth gets the most keratin from each kill, gathering more keratin than it can carry in a short amount of time. They are especially useful in the caves that they can fit in because spiders drop significant amounts of keratin at a time.

Why gathering with a sabertooth is great:

Efficiency: the larger the tribe the more chores they have to do, and the less time they have to do them. As such tribes usually invest the time to tame the right animal for the job to save them countless hours of work. Sabertooth tigers are the best tame for this situation.
Safety: Caves are extremely dangerous for players to enter on their own. The sabertooth can make an excellent partner for ensuring a successful caving adventure.
Low maintenance: Sabertooths require very little attention to be kept alive, especially in comparison to large carnivores, making them a cheap and efficient way to gather keratin in Ark: Survival Evolved

Guide to gathering keratin with a sabertooth here.

1.Swamp Cave with a Megatherium

The swamp cave is perhaps one of the most difficult caves in Ark: Survival Evolved. However, it is full of creatures that drop keratin. When riding on a megatherium you can easily gather so much keratin that you cannot move, without even leaving the first chamber. This makes this method the most efficient way to gather keratin on the island to date. It is important to note that the survivors who enter here will require a gas mask, as the atmosphere of the cave is toxic to humans. These, and other reasons, are why this method made this the number one method of gathering keratin in Ark: Survival Evolved.

Why the swamp cave with a megatherium is great:

Time is money: Just like in real life players have many things to take care of, and spending too much time on each chore will cost them in other ways. Being that you don’t have to make it passed the first chamber to get max keratin, it will save a tremendous amount of time.
Experience: The creatures in the swamp cave are all extremely high levels, exceeding level 300. This grants players and their mount extreme amounts of experience and level up quickly.
Invulnerability to acid spit: The megatherium is immune to the attacks of the highly dangerous Arthropluera. Typically, this attack will shred the armor of the player, but the megatherium’s huge size blocks this attack from hitting the player.

Guide to farming keratin in the swamp cave with a megatherium here.