Dinosaur Review: Stegosaurus

[reedkage]

http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/ark.gamepedia.com/1/16/Dossier_Stegosaurus.png

Informantion
The Stegosaurus, or commonly abbreviated to Stego. The Stego is a large quadraped dinosaur with ridges on its back and a spiked tail which is uses to fight any attacking predators with a powerful swing.

Review
The Stego is a berry farming machine! While not as jaw droppingly fast as a Bronto, the Stego is a great choice as a pack animal and a tank, but it's most useful trait is it's farming capabilities. You should definetely try and get a Stego if you can.

Hunting
The Stego roams the jungles and rivers of the Island, a good walk away from the ocean. Be wary of areas with Stegos, however, because higher level carnivores also spawn in the same areas as they do.

When battling a Stego, first make sure there are no other Stegos in the immediate area. Stegos are part of the "herd" type dinosaurs on the island, and will call more if they are nearby. Due to their relatively slow running speed, ranged weapons would be best to avoid taking damage, though with their high health levels you may find yourself going through a lot of arrows. When using a melee weapon, the Stego will swipe you with it's tail and knock you back some distance, as well as inflict decent damage. I surmise that about 8-10 hits will destroy Chitin based armor if you're unlucky.

After defeating a Stego, you'll be rewarded with a lot of meat and hide. However, Stegos also drop Prime Meat. Since Stegos share the same areas as some of the most vicious carnivores in the game, you can actually tranq a T-Rex and then kill Stegos in the area to feed it Prime Meats immediately without having to run at full speeds to keep it from spoiling.

Taming
Taming the Stego is as easy as hunting it with a bow and arrow. Their slow speeds mean that you can probably knock it out without taking a hit, though expect a 2-3 hour long taming session.

From my point of view, there are three main berry picking mounts at the moment: The Trike, the Stego and the Bronto. The Trike farms bushes at a 90 degree angle in front of it's face. The Bronto clears entire fields with one swing of its tail. And standing in the middle ground is the Stego. The Stego's tail can farm at a 180 degree radius from either side of it's body, which means you can farm from bushes at an almost complete 360 around it (minus the head.) It's very possible to farm 200-400 Narcoberries in less than 5 minutes, or even more if you're an area with a high bush density.

In my personal opinion, the Stego outshines the Trike in pretty much all areas of stats and versatility. And while the Bronto is much more powerful and can farm berries at a much faster rate, it's much smaller and more concealable so enemies won't be able to find your base as easily while a tamed Bronto can be almost like a 5 mile beacon.

Learning to attack and swipe with it's tail can be tricky due to the fact that it only attacks to the side of itself. To do get it's tail to swipe in the direction you want, you gotta make sure to turn your camera on the side you want to swing, getting close to a 90 degree angle from the dinosaur as possible, as there is a chance it can still attack the same side. Be careful when swinging the tail, because it is easy to misjudge the distance and strike an unintended target by mistake.

Aside from being a Berry farmer, the Stego is a very powerful dinosaur in of itself. With high health and melee power, it can be a great base defender or escort. With about 400+ weight capacity, it's also suffices as a pack animal, making it an ideal dinosaur to take with you when you wish to move a high volume of materials in dangerous areas.

Final Thoughts
The Stego is an incredible Dinosaur to tame and use. It's powerful attacks can potentially defeat Carnotaurs and the fierest meat eaters on the island, while having the ability to farm tons of berries and carry a considerable amount of weight. I highly recommend getting the Stego for anyone's line of dinosaurs.


Links to Other Reviews:
Dodo: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152276591714592/
Coel: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152276591742536/
Dilo: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152276591813922/
Parasaur: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511342266440/?tscn=1438439400
Piranha: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511342306687/
Turtle: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511342382816/
Raptor: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511342450422/?tscn=1438445495
Trike: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511342601864/
Phiomia: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511343397993/
Ants: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511344715027/
Dolphin: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511344795696/
Sarco: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511348554868/
Scorpion: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511350394119/
Dimorphodon: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511351357567/
Snake: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511358090174/
Stego: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511366419697/

[Psyduck]

It is slow AF though

Like, very very slow. Even it's running mode is slow. It's turning point is also atrocious

[Dolomite83]

Psyduck? More like Necroduck!