ARK: Fantastic Guardians and How to Fight Them (EXTINCTION UPDATED!)

My guide for the ARK bosses, telling you some of their weaknesses and strengths with some general guidelines so you don't try and fight a boss with an Argentavis.

General Guidelines

The largest (meaning heaviest) dinos you can bring into most arenas are Tyrannosaurs and Spinosaurs.

No flyers are allowed in the boss arenas except for Manticore. This also applies to shoulder-mounted flyers.

Dinos that can scale walls or travel above or below terrain are not allowed in the boss arenas with the exception of Overseer and Rockwell (For example: Megalania, Thylacoleo (which aren't allowed in any arenas, according to ARK Gamepedia), Rock Drake, possibly Ravager, Basilisk, etc. However, creatures that can jump are still allowed, so Reaper and Karkinos are still feasible. Strangely though, Titanoboas can only enter the Rockwell arena). Thylacoleo and Megalania will be allowed in the Tek Cave, but will not teleport to the Overseer.

Dinos that are capable of having platform saddles (with the exception of dinos that get modded to have platform saddles on them) are not allowed in any arena due to weight restrictions (no amount of dieting will help, so forget veganism. It’s overrated anyway).

It is recommended to be dismounted both as you enter the arena (teleportation sequence) and as the leaving timer is ticking down (after defeating the boss). Once you get transported to the arena or from it, it will be safe to ride your mount again. Failure to abide by this when teleporting in will simply not allow you to get transported inside, while failing to abide by this as you’re leaving may result in you and your dino getting killed or left behind. NO LONGER ACCURATE

High quality saddles and good armor for your player are strongly recommended, along with a good fortitude stat. If fortitude is not invested into and you have a while to go before next level, bring Fria Curry (cold temperatures) or Calien Soup (hot temperatures) along with appropriate gear.

If using herbivores or going on foot, it is advisable to bring Sweet Vegetable Cakes for healing your herbivores or Medical Brew and Energy Brew for your consumption. For carnivores, hold E on a stack of raw meat in their inventory.

Shadow Steak Saute combines the insulating qualities of Fria Curry and Calien Soup, but does not reduce food or water consumption.

Along with good dinos, you want to make sure you have good weaponry. That’s right, guns aren’t useless, and if used right, they can pack a punch.

It is generally recommended to bring hordes of dinos with mutations towards the stat they need to fight. Bringing a few Daeodons or Yutyrannuses wouldn’t hurt either, as both of these can help reinforce your dino horde.

Herbivores are worth consideration for some guardians, as they have a 62.5% resistance to fire damage among other modifiers.

Ditch any plans that involve using structures on the bosses, as structures are unable to be placed in guardian arenas.

Most of the TEK tier is unable to be used in guardian arenas, with the exception of things like the TEK shield. TEK gear is, however, allowed in the overseer fight. Before entering the area in which you teleport to the space station, you can enter a pool of liquid element to recharge your armor. The overseer’s minions also drop pieces of element so you can recharge your tek rifle.

Generally, anything that allows you to hover above the terrain or go under the terrain is prohibited in the boss arenas. This is to prevent the boss from getting glitched. This does include things such as grappling hooks and ziplines.

All guardians are level-locked, meaning they can only spawn at a certain level. Like Jerboas, this level is level 1.

Most DoTs in the game, with fire possibly being an exception, are ineffective against the guardians. This includes the gash that Allosaurus packs can inflict.

Giganotosaurus, Titanosaurus, Diplodocus, and Rock Elementals are not allowed in any guardian arenas, as they are simply too big (except for Rock Elemental and Diplodocus. They’re just too heavy).

It is generally recommended that you gather high quality blueprints of armor, weapons, and saddles before you go guardian hunting. This way, you can remake that gear if you lose it, and your crafting skill can make even better versions of the item created by said blueprint.

Overseer’s requirements may not be as strict as these other ones, simply because the first part of it is a cave, with the second being some of the plot being revealed and the arena following that.

Both the Overseer and Rockwell have an additional reward for defeating them. Both of them make you enter a cutscene in which you “ascend” raising your level cap by 5, 10, or 15 levels depending on difficulty. These cap increases overlap, so the highest you can go with this on a vanilla server is 115. After this, ascending via Rockwell will make your max level 130.

Bosses, when defeated, give you Tekgrams, which are used to make TEK tier, futuristic end-game items of great power and utility.

These are accurate as of February 6, 2018.

Broodmother Lysrix

Broodmother Lysrix, the mother of all Araneos, is a boss in ARK: Survival Evolved and the first of the guardians you encounter. She is located in an uncharted cave, only accessible via an obelisk (specifically the green obelisk on singleplayer) and is also possibly the easiest of the bosses.



Strengths:
Very high health, getting as high as 972K on alpha difficulty.
Can summon endless waves of Araneos.
Web slinging ability that slows down dinosaurs.
Poison spit ability that ignores armor and does high damage to those closer to it.

Weaknesses:
She is the second weakest in terms of damage of all of the guardians on The Island.
Megatheriums get a buff from killing her Araneos, meaning that by summoning Araneos, she is helping you if you have several Megatheriums.
High armor saddles and a few Tyrannosaurs are often enough to suppress and eventually kill her.

Element drops: 10 (γ), 28 (β), 74(α)

Megapithecus

The Megapithecus is a huge yeti-like gorilla that spends its simple life in an uncharted part of the harsh snow biome. This is the second guardian you encounter. To access it, you need to get the items you need to create a portal to it, which is all done at the obelisk (blue in singleplayer).



Strengths:
Devastating boulder-throw attack that does incredibly high amounts of damage.
Ability to summon hostile Gigantopithecus and Mesopithecus, which can become dangerous if not killed off quickly enough.
Their arena features a death pit that you can get knocked into if not careful. However, the Megapithecus is too large to fall in.
In terms of physical attacks, it is the strongest guardian on The Island.

Weaknesses:
Fourth weakest of all of the guardians in terms of health, only having 540K on alpha difficulty.
Boulder can be reflected by the TEK Shield.
Can easily get overwhelmed if multiple mounts attack it from different areas at once.

Element drops: 20 (gamma), 55 (beta), 110 (alpha)

Dragon

The Dragon is an absolutely enormous fire-breathing lizard, living in an uncharted volcano and waiting for challengers to cross its path. It is the third guardian you encounter. It is accessible by going to the red obelisk (only in singleplayer, multiplayer allows all obelisks) and sacrificing the items needed.



Strengths:
Ridiculously powerful fire breath attack, able to burn away 20-25% of a target’s health with one application.
Can fly and summon minions like hostile Dimorphodons and Pteranodons.
Thick scales which make most attacks deal less damage to it.
Large healthpool, sitting at about a million health on alpha difficulty.
The fireballs it spits are explosive and are able to harm and even kill players, regardless of whether or not they are mounted.

Weaknesses:
Due to being absolutely huge, it is susceptible to smaller and more nimble dinos being able to attack its feet without it being able to hit them very easily.
Even when flying, it can still be damaged by fire from other players, especially from an assault rifle or sniper rifle.

Element drops: 40 (gamma), 110 (beta), 220(alpha)

EXTRA CAUTION: The Dragon is arguably one of the loudest bosses in the game, being borderline earrape. Don't have your volume all of the way up when fighting it.

Overseer

The Overseer is a large specimen implant-like entity that can only be fought at the very end of the TEK Cave. It is presumed to be the fourth and leader of the guardians. It is located in the space station orbiting the ARK, and it seems to also be controlling the ARK as well. Its arena is accessible by completing the TEK cave.



Strengths:
Is fought after the players have been worn out by the TEK cave, not allowing players to restock. Beware!
Able to shapeshift into any of the 3 guardians in the island of its choosing whenever it wishes.
Summons defense units and attack drones, which are typically very powerful.
Has a shield that protects it from all damage most of the time.
Can use laser beams that can stun all that come into contact with it (except its minions).
Attack drones can only be taken out with ranged weapons, as their smart AI usually gets them to places you cannot hit them with a mount.

Weaknesses:
Relies on its minions for defense, as its only real attacks in its implant form are the stun lasers, which don’t do very much damage.
The shield does not last forever, and will wear off over time.
Guardian forms are not shielded and don’t resist damage.
Attack drones are pretty easy to kill with the right weapons.
Not much health in relation to the other bosses, sitting at around 50K for alpha.

Manticore

The Manticore is the resident guardian of Scorched Earth, with its origins in real life being present in Persian mythology. It is a beast that is partially lion, partially scorpion, and partially bat/dragon. The Persian one has a human face as well, but this is not present on ARK’s Manticore. Its location is unknown, but it seems to be an uncharted area in Scorched Earth. It is accessible by sacrificing items at an obelisk to generate a portal.



Strengths:
Its ranged quill attacks can do lots of torpor, enough to easily be able to knock out your dinos if you are not careful.
Has the ability to fly at rather high speed, making it hard to shoot down.
The Manticore’s home is filled with deathworms and rock elementals, which will become a problem if not handled quickly enough.
Dehydration might become an issue here.

Weaknesses:
Its arena is the only one in ARK that allows you to use a flyer.
You can negate the threat of its torpor attacks by using a mount that is immune to torpor.
Does some of the weakest physical damage out of all of the guardians, being around 120 per bite for alpha.
Has the third lowest health of all of the guardians, sitting at around 160,000 for alpha.

Element drops: 25 (gamma), 90 (beta), 190 (alpha)

Rockwell

Rockwell was one of the original survivors who gradually went insane. He went mad for power and is now Aberration's guardian. You can get to him by finding the boss teleporter, found within the radioactive depths of the map and sacrificing items to generate a portal to him.



Strengths:
Rockwell is immune to damage for most of the fight.
Capable of shooting projectiles at you which can easily break your armor.
Summons minions that are very hard to defeat, with their only true weakness being charge light.
The mechanics of his boss fight make it quite easy to run out of time.
If damaged enough, his tentacles will start to shock the ground, which will repeatedly damage and stun anyone trying to destroy them.
The arena is quite big, which makes it tricky to destroy all of his tentacles.

Weaknesses:
Once all of the tentacles are destroyed, he is stunned for a few seconds, allowing you to attack his heart, his one and only weak point.
If you are fast enough, you can outrun his projectiles.
Tentacles, even on alpha, don’t have very much health.
Rockwell does no real damage by himself.
Rockwell is completely immobile, meaning the only things you need to run from are his minions and projectiles.
Rockwell has the second lowest health out of all of the guardians, sitting at 115K on alpha.
No radiation, so you don’t need to wear a hazard suit or tek armor to survive.
Since the projectiles have unstable composition, all it will take is one of your own projectiles to cause the Rockwell projectiles to rupture and no longer be hazardous. Good shots will rupture multiple projectiles.

Dodorex

The Dodorex is a mysterious entity which, obviously, seems to be a Dodo and Tyrannosaurus hybrid. Unlike the other bosses, you do not go to an arena to battle it.


Strengths:
Has about 666K HP, making it very hard to defeat.
No choice in difficulty, so prepare for the onslaught of its full power.
Fire breath attack akin to that of the Dragon, which will drain 20-25% of your HP.
Very quick health regen, so constant DPS is needed to handle it.
Most of the time, it is actually summonable as a tame, meaning if an alpha tribe on PvP decides to use it, they will likely have company. PRIORITIZE IT IN A CLASH AT ALL COSTS.
When wild, it has Zomdodos as minions, which are some of the strongest boss minions in the game.
Can spawn anywhere on TheIsland during any Fear Evolved event unless noted otherwise or not discussed. This means that you'll usually have to get a team of players to spread out over the map to find where it is, all of which can take time out of what you have to actually beat it.
Can damage metal, so if it finds you, pray that the other tribes are on their way or just pray to whatever gods you believe in if the alpha tribe has it controlled.

Weaknesses:
Since there is no arena, you can use any mount to fight the Dodorex.
The Dodorex can be lured into the ocean so you can attack it with a plethora of aquatic tames. The Dodorex will be limited to a bite attack in the ocean.
Large hitbox and being in the map and not in the arena means you can bring a massive amount of players and tames to do battle with it.

Dodowyvern

The Dodowyvern is a cousin of the Dodorex which is a hybrid of, you guessed it, Dodo and Wyvern genes. It is the Scorched Earth equivalent of the Dodorex, meaning it'll only spawn anywhere on that map.


Strengths:
666 base damage per bite (like the Dodorex), meaning it'll hit VERY hard on your dinos. Come equipped with high strength saddles on sturdy mounts to be able to fight it.
Can use all 3 elemental attacks (from the other wyvern species) on your tames. BEWARE!
Like the Dodorex, it has 666K base HP, so it will prove tough to take down.
Able to fly, and will randomly spawn anywhere on Scorched Earth during Fear Evolved. Make sure you have people from around the map to track it down.
Has an army of Zombie Wyverns for it to command.

Weaknesses:
Being a flyer, it has very high susceptibility to auto turrets. A high concentration of auto and/or heavy turrets will generally be enough to bring it down in a few minutes. Just make sure to make a trap to contain it while the turrets make short work of it.
Unlike the Dodorex, it is untamable, so you do not need to worry about an alpha tribe joining it against you.
Unlike the Dodorex, it cannot damage metal, meaning if you invest in metal structures you should be safe from its onslaught.

Forest Titan

The Forest Titan is the first of the Titans you fight on Extinction (first lorewise, but there is no particular order you must do them). Like the other Titans (except the King Titan), it is tamable by destroying all 3 corruption nodes on its body.



--KILLING--

The Forest Titan's arena is located in the open world in the Sunken Forest. Open-world arenas allow you to bring any dino you wish, so for this and other titan fights, an army of Giganotosaurus is highly recommended.

First of the Forest Titan's arsenal is long, powerful arms capable of swiping at its enemy to deal high damage. It also has a stomp attack, yielding similar results. It can also shoot seeds that grow into poisonous trees that emit a toxic gas.

The Forest Titan has minions that, while being Wyverns, aren't actually hostile. If you are quick, you can hop on one's back and use it to burn down the trees he spawns.

A particularly dangerous attack at the Forest Titan's disposal is a vine grab ability. This attack allows it to grab any player within its range and throw them (and their mount, and it separates both) on the ground, inflicting massive damage. This is often enough to instantly kill a player. Fortunately, this attack has a minimum and a maximum range, so if you stick close enough, he's limited to his basic attacks.

He can also assume a defensive stance, reducing damage inflicted to him.

--TAMING--

The Forest Titan will spawn with 2 corruption nodes total, one for each shoulder. These are particularly hard to destroy (especially in Titan terms). It is suggested to use precise weapons in order to avoid damaging the Titan too much during this process. Once both shoulder nodes are destroyed, one will form on his chin. Destroy this one and he will be knocked out and fall to the ground. From here, you can just claim him like you would a time-expired dino.

Ice Titan

The Ice Titan is the second titan you fight chronologically, but you are in no way restricted to this order. He is arguably the hardest of the subtitans, and the third hardest boss overall. You will need to be resilient and determined to bring this titan down.



--KILLING--

In order to topple this lord of frost and rime, you will first need to know some things.

First is that most of his attacks are capable of inflicting a new status effect: Frozen. This status effect can either be applied instantly or will build up over time as you are exposed to him. He is able to spit ice balls that will freeze whatever they hit. He also has an ice breath attack which does the same thing.

He also has an ice aura that will gradually freeze anything that gets too close, and this activates if he is substantially damaged. You will want to avoid staying near him for too long as a result.

You'll want a good group of Giganotosaurus to take him down, and you may want something that can kite, as dinos tend to stay frozen for a bit.

What may surprise you is how mobile this titan is, he is able to leap (quite high, in fact) and can slam into the ground to deal very high damage to anything caught beneath him.

--TAMING--

So, you want to dominate the mind of this frost lord? Like the other titans, it is fairly simple and involves you destroying three corrupted nodes. In this particular order, the nodes are on the back of his heel, his shoulder, and his chest.

A Tapejara with a TEK saddle that's sufficiently bulky with high stamina works great for this, but a MEK works as well. You want to kite him around and make sure you hit the nodes as much as possible without damaging the titan too much. After the chest node is gone, he will collapse and you can claim him.

Desert Titan

The Desert Titan is arguably the easier of the three titans to bring down, but that doesn't say much. You will still need to be hot on your feet and evasive in order to fight this Thanos-chinned space ray.



--KILLING--

The Desert Titan has a few tricks up its sleeve in order to ensure your demise. First, it can summon 2 flocks of smaller versions of itself. These flocks are POWERFUL and should be avoided at all times. Failure to do so will lead to you getting hit and knocked off your mount, and I am sure you know how that feels. He can also summon lightning strikes that will deal incredibly high damage should they hit your character. Finally, he has a roll attack to knock anyone off his back, and a tail attack to hit them off if that fails. If you stick in front of him for too long, he also has a bite attack which can hit for surprising damage.

The flocks are avoidable if you have a quick flyer and you pay attention. A blue message will display on your screen when they target you, and that's your cue to GTFO. His lightning strikes can be avoided very easily, as you will get a status effect when you're about to summon one. Just keep moving and a disc will form under you indicating where the lightning strike will hit. Just steer clear of that and you're good to go.

You'll want to attack the Desert Titan with powerful flying mounts, such as Wyverns. Lightning works, but fire and poison will also be of use. A Quetzal will also be nice, but you'll have to be careful with them. You could use a Quetzal to help airdrop people on to its back to help damage it, but you'll have to know where they can land, as some parts of the desert titan will have players clip through. In that case, make sure they have parachutes!

--TAMING--

The Desert Titan has 3 corrupted nodes, one for each of its wings, and another on its back. Remember how I said the Desert Titan summons lightning strikes? The average person will know to avoid them, but a clever player will use them against the titan. Thing is, you will want to trick the titan into electrocuting the corrupted nodes to expose them. From here, you can opt to either attack them yourself or have him electrocute them again. You just repeat this process until all 3 are popped, then claim him and you're good to go.

King Titan

So, you've made it this far. You've toppled giant spiders, large yeti-like gorillas, a massive dragon, the former explorer, and all of his minions. Now, he stands before you. The head honcho of the Corruption, the ruler of the titans, and the "final" boss of the game. The King Titan is ready to waffle stomp you and your army of Giganotosaurs into the abyss. You've come this far, so either defeat this colossus or die trying.

(Gamma/Beta form)

(Alpha form)


The King Titan will not hesitate to try and end your journey at the steps of his throne. Make sure you have bent the minds of all 3 of his minions to your will for a fair shot of defeating him. You will also need a large force of Gigas as basic "infantry" units (yes, that's the role your apex predators will be taking). You will want one person riding each titan (because dino AI in this game was built off the brain capacity of a baboon that watched Jurassic Park 6 times and decided that the rex was the best dino in the game).

You will want the forest titan (hopefully you tamed Alpha mode) to hold the King Titan's attention while the Frost Titan deals damage to it and its minions. The Desert Titan will act as additional support, sending lightning strikes and flocks of minions against the hopeless corrupted dinos.

The King Titan has several attacks in its arsenal, such as summoning meteor strikes (which can hurt your character even while mounted), a tail swipe that hits everything around him, powerful stomp and slash attacks, an attack where he spits out a large ball of plasma, and even, in one part of the fight, a charged punch attack that will kill everyone in the arena if not interrupted with significant damage to his charging fist.

Additionally, when he hits a certain threshold of health, he will rest to gather energy and a corrupted vein will spawn. DO NOT DESTROY THIS VEIN! In fact, you must protect it from his ravenous horde of corrupted dinos. Should it get destroyed, he will awaken and restore some of his health.

He will sometimes use a fist attack (not the same as the charged one) where he punches the ground 3 times, inflicting massive knockback on any nearby dinos that aren't titans. Keep this in mind, as you may have to go around and pick up scattered gigas later.

On alpha difficulty, you have the power (with the M.O.M.I. module) to merge 4 MEKs into one, creating the Mega MEK. This will make the fight quite a lot easier, and this arguably makes the alpha King Titan easier than the beta King Titan.

[MalarOpossum867]

This guide is quite outdated. The Element rewards for the Spider, Gorilla, and Dragon bosses have been doubled, and the Manticore's Element rewards have also been increased by 50%.

[FreezeGoD]

Love it, thank you :D

[Aldrich]

Oh yes, let me do that!

[FreezeGoD]

sub, extinction pls? :3

[Aldrich]

I have finally added the Dodorex and Dodowyvern sections! Sorry about not adding them for a long time. I completely forgot about them!

[FranzKillerOfOrcs]

i know but when you can

[Aldrich]

Extinction is not even out yet

[FranzKillerOfOrcs]

i like the guide and is very useful please do the extinction boss

[Aldrich]

Also if you wish to, I recommend that you guys leave ratings (MAK SUR 2 LIK N SUBSKRIEB XDDDDDDD)

[Aoi Blue]

I'd recommend adding the mod bosses in different subsections, just like DLC bosses, and only cover extremely popular mods.