Tyrannosaurus dominum; not as good as people think.

[Aldrich]

Greetings, comrades.

This is my first post in a potential series of posts that analyzes certain dinos, whether they're underrated or overrated. This time, i'll be looking at the Tyrannosaurus. Also, note that most of my experience comes from PvE, so dinosaurs may vary in usability between each gamemode.

So being such a well-known dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurus is probably a first pick for a lot of people as a good war mount. On paper, the Tyrannosaurus is excellent. It boasts one of the highest base health stats of any tamable dinosaur in the game, at base 1,100. For comparison, the Spinosaurus has only 700 base, the same as an Ankylosaurus or a Carbonemys. It also carries a base 62 damage per bite, making it one of the more damaging mounts the game has to offer.

However, keep in mind that the Tyrannosaurus does have drawbacks when using it. For example, its turn radius is quite large, making it easy for a smaller dino to flank you if you were, say, in the Tek Cave. The Tyrannosaur's massive size doesn't help it much in this regard either, and its only attack, the bite, has limited range that hardly supports it.

This doesn't mean that the Tyrannosaurus is a bad fighter at all, not by any means. For boss fights it's excellent, only competing with a few mounts for top boss fighter (Therizinosaurus, Reaper Kings, and Spinosaurs are good examples of competitors). This is because, for the most part, the boss and any enemies it spawns will remain in front of the Tyrannosaurus, so it does not have to worry about being flanked.

In the Tek Cave or any tight space with enemies in general, though, you have to be very careful when using one. The Tek Cave for example mostly has enemies that are a high enough level to survive a bite or two. If you hit them without killing them, their AI may make them flee, which is probably the best (or worst, depending on perspective) thing they can do against your rex. Chances are that you aren't going to pursue a Baryonyx or Allosaurus that's fleeing into lava or away from the area. However, it will eventually re-aggro and become an enormous pain to deal with when it attacks you from behind.

At this point, you're probably asking "Well, how do I counter this?" Well, the best support for a large dino with an even larger turn radius is something small, yet powerful. One of the best support dinos a Rex could have is none other than the Velonasaur. Velonas are small enough and have unique abilities that make flanking them a pain in the ass, and their turret mode (when mounted) can easily shred anything that attempts to flank your rex. Keep in mind that dinosaurs are FAR better with a rider than without. Never trust the AI of ARK or you'll eventually have your dinos charge into lava after a Microraptor.

Additionally, you can use a dino with great knockback in its attacks to support a rex against a flanking dino. Mammals such as the Chalicotherium are great about this, having a hard-hitting ranged attack (they don't throw their own ♥♥♥♥ when tamed, I know, it must suck), which is a boulder throw that deals a whopping 100 base damage, the same as a Mosasaur. Their attacks are a bit low on the damage scale but do high knockback, allowing you to push a flanking dino either into the lava or into the rex's bite range.

All in all, the Tyrannosaurus is a great war mount and boss fighter, but don't get too confident with it, as overlooking its bad turn radius against smaller and more nimble dinos will end up hurting you in the process.

If people like what I am doing with this, I will write more of these in the future. In the meantime, remember that leeches don't make good fleshlights. See you all next time.

[Rotiart]

Can you do one on Allosaurus?

[Angelo Dante]

How does a pet rock stack up as a support for rexes, I wonder?

[Aldrich]

Originally posted by Rotiart:

Can you do one on Allosaurus?

Sure! It'll be under underrated dinos. How did you like this one?


Also, i'm thinking of making this in a chain of messages rather than one post per species. There are so many dinos in ARK, after all.

[Aldrich]

Originally posted by Angelo Dante:

How does a pet rock stack up as a support for rexes, I wonder?

Rocks are the bane of a rex's existence.

[Graf Schokola]

To kill or bait things in the tek cave -> use a rockdrake to clear the way! You have to cryo him before you port to the overseer.

[ItsThePaddy]

I recommend doing the carno's next (underrated/overrated?)

[Aldrich]

Part #2: Allosaurus therotribus; an underrated mount people should know more about!


The Allosaurus is a fairly well known dinosaur from the Jurassic. Despite this, not many choose them as a combat mount. Not considering them is a pretty unwise mistake, as they have a few abilities that can really help your tribe if you choose them.

Firstly, Allosaurus has an alpha boost where the highest level of a pack gets boosted damage and resistance. This is great, especially when paired with a good Allosaurus saddle, which can be received from doing The Island's underwater caves.

Then there's their unique ability: a gashing bite. This bite attack is usable by the alpha of a pack of Allosaurs. This applies a highly damaging debuff that drains 5% of a creature's max hp and slows them down. Against smaller creatures this isn't much, but against a Titanosaur for instance, you'll be doing LOADS of damage.

Their base stats are also quite nice. 630 base health means they are no pushovers, while base 35 damage puts them above the Triceratops, equal to the Carnotaurus, but under other mounts like the Stegosaurus. They also have an easier time turning compared to some mounts like the Tyrannosaurus.

There are also some hidden stats that make the Allosaurus more viable in some regards than the apex carnivore mounts. One is their much lower drag weight compared to the Tyrannosaurus, allowing you to carry one with a Quetzalcoatlus. Another is their relatively low growth time, taking just under 2 days on official (a Tyrannosaurus is about 4 days), allowing you to mobilize an army of them in a much shorter time. Although their saddle blueprints are harder to come across, once you have a good saddle blueprint you have a good shot at making a powerful army of Allosaurs.

Now for a matchup you can probably use them for (assuming you believe that a Tyrannosaurus is the one and only mount that can do boss fights and you've watched Jurassic Park 7 times so you know what you're talking about)... you can actually use them to bring down one of the biggest and most powerful dinos in the game, the Titanosaurus! To do this, you simply need to get a pack of allos together with high health and damage. What you do is ride the alpha and have the other allos set to passive, then you use the gash bite on the Titanosaurus and flee once it connects. Repeat this until the Titanosaur is low on health, then you may try and charge in with either the Allosaurs or any other powerful dino (like a Spinosaur) that needs leveling to finish it off. Titanosaurs give insane amounts of exp, and this is great for power-leveling.

[Rotiart]

thank you