HOW-TO ARK [A BEGINNER'S GUIDE]

[Claudin Maximus]

This is a beginner's guide and a fairly simplified how-to. I can't teach everything as I'm not the best at the game, but this is just what I've found is important when surviving on the island. Without further ado, let's get into it!

I. ENGRAMS

the most important tools to help you survive the harsh conditions of the island, engrams dictate what region you're suited for, what materials you can easily gather, and how effective you are at surviving. While not everything there is to the game, I feel that enrgams are a big part of it because it defines just what kind of player you are. Even so, there are engrams everyone should know at some point in their quest to survive. As a rule of thumb I like to think of priority in this way:

Tools > Weapons > Clothes > Structures > Saddles

WIthout tools you can't make anything else, without weapons you'll die to the first pack of bugs you run into, without clothes you'll be constantly in danger of losing too much health and won't be able to weather the elements, without a home you won't have a safe place to log in (if you're playing PvP) and without saddles you won't be as efficient as someone with. Now, while we have this priority you're probably thinking-- well wait, I think that getting a stone house is more important than getting a refining forge and smithy to start building metal tools. To which I say you aren't a beginner so this guide isn't for you! But you bring up a good point... but as a rule of thumb I like to keep these priorities for one reason alone: tools, weapons, and clothes until you reach metal and chitin are all fairly cheap to make resource wise and you can re-outfit yourself pretty easily if you lose your stuff.

The most important engrams you learn from levels 1-5 are:

campfire, stone hatchet, spear, cloth pants, cloth shirt, cloth hat, cloth gloves, cloth boots, sling shot-- in that order. After this you can focus on learning thatch house parts and move directly into learning their wood improvements. Skip mortar and pestal for now and don't even worry about getting a sleeping bag as they cost a lot of hide to make. You don't really need to purchase any other engrams beyond upgrading your ceiling, doorframe, and door to wood. Just keep at leveling and eventually you'll reach...

Level 15-20:

The next weapon and armor you'll be able to make is the bow and arrow and hide teir at level 15-- by which point you'll have roughly 136 total engram points if you haven't spent any. This should be more than enough to purchase the bow/arrows, hide armor, plus a raptor saddle and start upgrading your walls to stone. At level 20 you can finish off learning the rest of your hide armor and learn to make the rest of your stone house. Once you get this you can learn to make a refining forge. Don't learn the trike saddle. You don't have a mortar and pestal, you don't really need to collect narco berries en mass and your points would be much better spent later at...

Level 25+:

when you can learn to make your metal teir tools and a smithy. This is the final teir and imo the power spike that sends you from a beginner into really being able to handle yourself well on the island and even start overcoming it. Getting the smithy and metal teir tools are priority with the pike and crossbow coming second. Learn to make a metal spike wall and you'll be set! from here you can start going back and learn the mortar and pestal, the trike saddle, start building up a permanent residence and face the world with your undying optimism! (until one of the high-teir tribes see you as a potential threat and raid you while you're offline)

II. STATS

When I look at the chat, often times it's a newbie asking what stats they should be learning. To this I answer, what do you want to do? Where do you want to live? What are your goals for this survivor? You would have different stats if you were a warrior than if you were a builder. You'd also have different stats if you wanted to live in the harsh frozen wastes of the new Snow Biome than if you were on the Coast near the water. I would say there are some similarities between Biomes that you'd want to focus on in early levels.

Health 150 > Stamina 150 > Fort. 20 > Carry Weight 150 > misc

The most basic of basic, you'll want to level health, stamina, fortitude, and carry weight first. Health will keep you alive, stamina will give you that extra push to outrun a raptor or rex, fortitude will give you a little easier time surviving in changing climates, and carry weight will let you carry more gear while still having room for materials. With the above numbers, this should take you to level 21 to accomplish. From that point onward you can determine what would suit you better.

If you're living on the coast you might want to upgrade Oxygen to 200-300 if you see yourself wanting to traverse the oceans for oil and pearls.

If you live on a mountain or the snow biome you might want to boost your fortitude to 30-40 and food to 200 as you'll be going hungry a lot more often and need even more resiliance to the harsh environment.

If you live in the jungle you may want to upgrade your hydration to 200 instead as the heat will make you more thirsty more often and maybe upgrade your movement speed to 120% as most creatures that live in the forests are faster than the other biomes.

Overall, you'll want your health up to like 250 and carry weight at 200 by time you hit level 60.

III. TAMES

I know, since you're new to the game you'll want to tame everything and keep 'em all safe and sound where nothing will kill them. I went through my own dino craze when I first learned how to tame! However there are some dinos that are simply more useful than others. These seven tames are the only ones you need with or without kibble-- and by extension their saddles.

1. Raptor: this will be your first tame and the first saddle you get. It's a fairly fast tame compared to the others and you should be able to get at least the meat you need before the tame if not the narcos. They're fast and with one of these you don't normally need to upgrade your own movement speed as they're the fastest thing on the island at this level.

2. Trike: a sturdy trike is your best friend at the lower levels, a level 12 saddled trike can kill pretty much any predator on the island short of a high level rex or spino. Not only this, but trikes can collect berries by attacking bushes. The rate you collect berries with a trike is much more improved than what you can gather with your hands alone. While people prefer stegos, brontos, or mammoths to the trike-- the trike is the first keystone to efficient resource gathering.

3. Doedicerus: The best creature you can get that collects stone like no one's business. Not only do these things collect stone on their own, are impossible to kill even if you let them wander about the island on their own (not recommended) but they're also p fast when you roll around on them giving you a quick escape option if you find yourself chased by a predator while on a stone run.

4. Pteradon: The fastest air mount to date. The pteradon is imperative for quick travel around the island. This is a huge power spike for the survivor that is able to tame one.

5. Argent: The strongest air mount to date. These things aren't as fast as the pteradon, but they are able to carry small creatures as well as heavy loads. These are war birds capable of taking on rexes and many predators of the island.

6. Saber: The strongest small-sized mount to date. These animals are able to kill p much anything on the island and are faster than even the raptor-- some use the jump command to travel great distances very, very quickly making these the fastest land mount to date. Try not to jump off the side of a cliff!

7. Rex: The king of the island. The Rex has the most HP and deals the most damage of any creature on the island. These collect hundreds of stacks of meat and hide from its victims and can be used to feed the rest of your pen very quickly.

[thank you LucklessGeek for the correction]

IV. END

I haven't covered everything, but I hope what I have will answer some of your questions. I didn't cover kibble taming because there's really no point to building a farm with kibble until you advance far enough in the tech tree to ensure your safety and create metal structures. I'd say level 40-45 would be a good point to start trying to learn the process to creating kibble-- but only if you have 110 engrams for stone/metal piping, 60 for the plots and structures for farming, and a pen for a good number of dinos. If you make your piping out of stone it'll just be destroyed by people walking around on large dinos-- not to mention destroyed by people who just want to ♥♥♥♥ you off. Making your piping out of metal will prevent this from being an issue.

But farming could be a whole other topic that I just don't want to get into-- because it isn't a beginner topic! Anyway, good luck and keep on surviving!

[Xpliciit]

You should post this as a guide rather than just in the community forums it would be of much better use there.

[LucklessGeek]

Quick correction, the rex actually hits harder than the spino, both in terms of DPS and damage per hit. There's a lovely damage comparison posted by TheSteelPhantom over on the playark subreddit.

As far as wolf vs saber, it's a trade-off. The wolf is a glass cannon, doing almost double the damage of the saber, but with no armor to protect it. As such, I would say new players should stick to the saber, since they are less likely to die in a fight.

Thanks for putting in the effort to make up a guide! I hope my info helps.

[Claudin Maximus]

Hmm, I see. I've heard that Spinos are glass cannons where Rexes are the Tanks, but after having tried them both out I would have to say I like the Rex a lot more. I haven't gotten around to taming a wolf yet, so I'll edit the guide to reflect this. Thanks for your input!

[Raefar]

I would say 280 is a better carry weight, that will let you carry 1 stack of metal while wearing flak armor and carrying other basic supplies such as a pick, hatchet, pike and gun plus ammo.

Also stamina is almost more important then O2 if you want to dive.

[Pumpkin_Messiah]

Good job so far, I'm sure people will find this useful!! I'd do a lot of thinks differently but there's no right or wrong way to do Ark so I guess that's natural.

You could definitely add a few things; give a quick rundown of the spawn points e.g. north is bad. I personally like east 1 even though it's not as safe as it was before the swamp was added. It used to be completely free of anything more dangerous to the player than a Dilo, now I've encountered a couple of Carnos and Raptors but the southern end is still pretty safe. Be wary of the cove to the west though, there's usually a Rex and nearly always a Sarco.

Also I'd mention carrying over 50% of your weight starts to slow you down and you need ~120% movement speed to keep up with a Raptor and ~130% to actually outrun one. Don't bother trying to outrun Alpha Raptors though as you'll need >200% to get away. Running away is a lot easier than fighting at early levels so weight and speed might not be a bad way to start. You can also carry more resources and hunt Parasaurs and Phiomia more easily.

Finally don't bother putting points into food and water. A stack of cooked meat weighs 3.0 and restores 600 food IIRC. A water jar weighs 5.0 and restores 200 water. Putting some points into weight and ignoring food and water is a better use of points.

[jc_lvngstn]

Might mention about using thatch vs wood vs stone for structures. Thatch is great for a quick dwelling, but almost anything can tear it up to get to you.
Also, mention the importance of making a bed.
Cold areas are very, very difficult for beginners as you will need high fortitude and a good food supply. Temperate/warm areas are a lot better, as water is more abundant.

[Claudin Maximus]

I wouldn't build thatch or wood tbh unless leveling. They're just asking for ppl to raid you.

[Ricky]

I stopped reading after "don't buy the sleeping bag."

[Claudin Maximus]

don't buy the sleeping bag. it's a waste of resources. unless you plan on dying?

edit: i wrote this guide on the pretense of not buying anything extra that wouldn't help survival. if you build a sleeping bag that doesn't help with your survival, it only helps to respawn at a safe point near your base.

[Ricky]

Originally posted by Claudin Maximus:

don't buy the sleeping bag. it's a waste of resources. unless you plan on dying?

This a guide for noobs. What do you think?

[Claudin Maximus]

newbs* and yes, I think new players will die. similarly, a sleeping bag isn't going to help them live.

[Zlorfik [CH/BY]]

Originally posted by Claudin Maximus:

newbs* and yes, I think new players will die. similarly, a sleeping bag isn't going to help them live.

But it helps especially new players respawn in a safe location they know. I happened to walk quite a way from my spawn point to set up my first base, then getting eaten by a spino. Respawned randomly and couldn't find my base anymore. Sleeping bags or better beds are VITAL for new players. They will die a lot. Its part of the game.