Speed Cow : The Awakening (Legacy Maia) UPDATED!!!

How to be your best maia

I'll show YOU mother dinosaur

Hello, my name is Ikko and I have over 2000 hours in The Isle, over half of that spent being the maiasaurus, my favorite dinosaur. This guide will tell you everything you need to know to be the slipperiest herbivore out there.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Before we get started, here are the stats for an adult:

THE BARE BASICS:

• If you press INSERT on your keyboard, or press ESC > Character, this is your Character Page. Here are your growth, stamina, hunger, and thirst % indicators. Hover your mouse over the icons to see the exact numbers. You also have information like your coordinates, your nest site (if you have placed it down as an adult), and things like bite force (damage), weight, things like that.
  
• Understand what safe logging is, and do it. Safe logging is where you press ESCAPE, wait for the timer to go past 0:00, as in, no numbers at all, and then you press 'log out'. Not quit, not logging out at 0:00 or 0:01. If you don't safe log, your character stays in-game for 5 minutes. YOU aren't there, but your model is, and your character's life is connected to that model. They did this so people would stop abusing logging out in the middle of combat to deny food.
  
• I suggest playing with headphones, and turning 'music' down to 0 from the Settings.
  
• Don't be AFK. Not paying attention will only make you start over that much faster. If you really will be gone that long, just safe log and log back in in a few minutes.
  
• If you are on Official Servers, join the The Isle Official Discord : https://discordapp.com/invite/playtheisle
  You are banned for 2 months if you break a rule on Official, because you close the box that has the rules in order to continue to the server. It's also the only way to really get your dinosaur unstuck from the map. I’d suggest getting a discord account in general, because many servers have rules they expect you to know, and if you are tagged you need to see it. It’s also a great way to make friends from herd to herd!
  
• If you have 10 minutes and you're not sure on calls,check out this website: https://vulnona.com/game/the_isle/se/ and just go through each dinosaur and learn their calls. Awareness is a huge part of being successful in this game, and you will compete against people that already know this basic information, so arm yourself with knowledge!

PROS

• Great healing! Especially while sitting
  
• Its mass is the same as its HP, 2868; a chunky boi for being a mid tier
  
• Doesn't take long to grow, about 2 hours - slap on an extra 20 minutes if you are hatched
  
• Decent stamina regen all around
  
• Strong ankles; great for losing all pursuers down a slope except utah
  
• Efficient upkeep; doesn't eat much
  
• Super speedy herbivore! Especially over long distances, you will outpace everyone!
  
• They moo >:V

CONS

• Adult and juvi F calls are loud af; we are up there with diablos, heard 2 hills away
  
• Poor turning radius, especially when sprinting
  
• Cannot do bleed damage, can only do weak headbutt
  
• Needs a herd to be truly viable
  
• Vulnerable when caught - speed cow only
  
• Drinks / intakes water slowly

COLOR SELECTION

I find the color selection feature that was added in doesn't actually seem to matter a whole lot. People walked past me hiding in trees no matter what skin I wore. To test this, I made the lightest skinned maia I could, and I was able to raise it to adulthood. I nested babies, I fought to protect them, and I was able to lose hunters just fine.



If you are playing maia correctly, the color selection shouldn't matter. People are blind anyway, so as long as you're not being a silly and making tons of noise, you should have success (bad spawn points omitted). Just have fun and make something you'll like looking at for a couple of hours. I like dark brown skins for my maia because to me it looks more realistic, and I enjoy hiding. I find it very helpful for dusk and dawn, when night vision is used sparingly. Giga 5 is the 'black', and at night it's extremely helpful for hunters; many dilo mains only play in black, for easier nighttime hunting.

TIPS FOR SURVIVAL AS A JUVI

These are general tips that I believe can be applied to any herbivore, but in specifics to maia keep in mind these:

• Use a map!
  You can easily find high quality, player made maps that you can save to your computer or phone for reference when you play. There is also a lovely website called " http://vulnona.com/game/the_isle/map_en.html " that will show you were you are on either official map. Another great map for V3 is the one that MsCatbug as made, and the Tigerinium map for V3 has all the nicknames of lakes and areas that people refer to in game ("The Wash", "Trips", "Titan Lake" etc). I highly suggest using any of these so that you know where your first source of water is, or where you are in general.
  
  
• Avoid making noise, especially at night!
  If you are a new player, you may not know, but most carnivore players find people to kill because of the noise they make in-game. When you type in-game, it makes your dinosaur vocalize the 'F' call. I personally don't make a single sound as a juvi. To me, juvi sounds = dinner bell. If someone recognizes your call, they know you're little, and they know you can't get away from them by the time they run their butt over to the last place you made a noise. Unless it's raining, you'll probably be found very quickly. It's important to remember that people DO camp spawn areas. The beach is not the only spot you can start, and a lot of people camp the known areas, waiting for babies to make noise for easy meals.
  
  
• Avoid open fields and traveling in the daytime whenever possible.
  If you have a place you really wanna go, I suggest going when you're in the adult model, or waiting until it's either nighttime, or raining. Be extremely cautious of any swamp biome on the map. If you can hide, so can your predators. You'd be surprised how well a giga can hide it's big body.
  
  
• Smell before you enter an open area, especially a lake or pond.
  Streams and rivers tend to be safer. If you are using a map, and you see you are at an isolated lake or pond and there's NO other water sources nearby...God help you. Players are jerks and camp the isolated water areas that are closest to the points they know juvi spawn at. You can't spawn kill on Official, but you can wait for them to predictably come to the only water source available. You might get lucky, but in my experience, I usually die for taking the risk.
  
  
• If you can hear or see another herbivore, try to join up with them immediately.
  I put this one last because it can be a little hit or miss, depending on your region of play or server, but I find it overall beneficial. 5-10% of the time, however, I have been killed by trikes, or para, or they were mix packing, or something unsavory like that. I know everyone has different stories and sides, but in my experience, it usually pays to just group up with the big, tough, strong, herbivores. I also look at it like, I'm a juvi maia. Dying isn't really that bad, and if I care enough, nowadays I just remember the skin of whoever killed me and avoid them like the plague.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOU'RE AN ADULT

You've now made it to adult! You can outrun most predators that are not in ambush, so now you have a lot more freedom about how you can play. You also now have fantastic food and water stats, especially for how easily you move around the map. Maia is the ultimate migratory animal, if you feel like exploring! :) Here are some general adult maia survival tips:

• I enjoy using the 'open field' strategy. This works especially well if you have a herd of other maia, or just other speed based herbivores in general. If you are in the middle of a wide, open field, and you see danger coming, and it sees you, you 4 call, and run. That's it. You warn your friends, and move away. In my personal experience, it helps to travel with a herd of other species, because if something like an allo comes around, you just use your trike or diablo or para as a body shield, but if it comes down to a creature that is fast, like a carno/cerato or more than 1 raptor, your best chance is to run and use all the evasive techniques you have under your belt. Use hills and forests to lose your pursuers. Have you gotten good at using alt-turn to navigate yet?
  
  
• I highly suggest moving to a corner of the map that has :
  
  • Cover
    
  • Water
    
  • Food
    
  • Height
  
  
• It's important to remember that most people are going to play carnivore, and most people are going to be in the middle of the map and the largest bodies of water. That's why I gave warning to the swamp areas, which are always in the middle, where the elevation is the lowest. Swamp biome = GIGA HAVEN. If you are in a herd of players, I put emphasis on height, especially if your herd is stationary and settling in an area. Maia is a fantastic sentry, especially after the recent buff where they have better bone break resistance on fall damage, and where their stamina was DOUBLED. Your attentiveness is your best friend as a maia, because you need to be able to see clearly if something is coming. If you have multiple maia, try to coordinate so that there's one on each hilltop.
  
  
• While it's not essential to have a herd, it does make the game a lot more fun and enjoyable, but with a herd comes some risk. That being, noise. It's rare to find another player that understands that silence is life, let alone a whole herd, so just be aware that if you're with other people that are constantly making noise, you need to be even more alert. Personally, I herd up with other players to protect myself. More eyes, more ears, and more chances for the enemy to aggro onto any tanks you have in your herd.
  
  
• The rule of thumb for runners is that you are to keep 1/2 of your stamina bar at all times. Thankfully, maia has an incredibly fast trot speed, and the stamina regen while trotting is pretty decent. It's especially good if you're laying down, but me personally, I just trot most of the time so that if something does spot me, my trot will make them getting into a good position really REALLY difficult, unless I am heading straight towards them. It's also handy because the animation to get up is a bit slow.
  
  
• For me, I am GOD AWFUL at navigating this game at night. I don't really know why. If it's getting dark and I find food and water for my herd, I have us 'camp' at a location for the night before continuing on. A lot of herds do this, but the thing I notice is that only half of them stay quiet. If you have a noisy herd, rest if you want at night, but I position myself a little bit away from them. It's paid off more than not.

MURDERCOWS

It is important to consider the situations you find yourself in for these fights, whether you are jumped or you know it's coming. Are you with trikes, who have a large AOE? Are you outnumbered? Is it nighttime and you are not a gamma user? Are you playing with a weak connection or high ping? Are you in an open field, or a steep slope? Is it a server that does NOT have alt-turn enabled? Does the server allow herbivores to strike first? Consider the fight before you take it.

Check out this Isle damage calculator to take the guess work out of your fights! http://theisledmgcalc.rottingalien.com/

WE CAN SOLO KILL

• Any Juvi - 1 shot. gg ez git gud scrub
  
• A single Raptor - 3 shot. Their turning radius during sprint are better than ours, but we are slightly faster than them in a straight shot. Give respect to a single raptor, probably bail from a pack. Raptor is the ultimate skill based dinosaur in my opinion. You might actually run into someone that knows what they're doing but usually you can just run those dudes over.
  
• A single Dilo - 3 shot. If the thing really even bothers to attack an adult, just run it down. It can't get away from you; our turning AND speed is better. Mess with these guys in the daytime if you can, and for the love of god, stay on the same one and pursue individuals until they are dead. And don't think for a second that the dilo you saw 'might not' attack you at night. If I see a dilo with black skin in the daytime, it should be as good as dead.
  
• 
  Yes. Yes it is.

ATTEMPT WITH A HERD

• A single allo - This can actually be handled by two careful, experienced maia players. High teamwork skills are needed to duo an adult allo as maia, but it's possible. I suggest 3 to be safe if you need to tag out.
  
• A single cerato - Very similar to the allo, you can technically kill this dude with just two maia, but I suggest just taking three with you. The cerato got back to back buffs, making it oh-so-viable against us. They are a 'heavy hitter' carnivore, so they won't back down from fighting you head on. A pack of cerato should be run from.
  
• A single carno - Carnos are our apex predator, but if it bleeds it can die. The base HP of the carno, the damage on the bite, the bleed it dishes out per bite, AND the speed it can chase you to keep up that bleed and deliver more bites = extremely dangerous if you are alone, but again, if you are careful and are with at least one other, you can take this guy down as long as you don't let one individual get hard focused.

SHOW GREAT CAUTION / BE WARY OF

• Sub-adult anything. It sucks, but again, maia are speed cows, not tank cows, not damage cows. Unless you are certain they are a fresh sub-adult, I usually avoid them. An example is that two adult maia in my herd went after a sub-adult rex, and had to retreat from almost dying, last screen. The rex didn't look too bad. Also, most apex players don't go it alone, so always assume they've set up a trap. The spamming juvi rex 1-call is a classic noob trap!
  
• Two to three allos - Traditionally, allos were the biggest threat to maia. While our bleed heal is INSANE, like honestly it's crazy, the single bite of an allo plus sprinting means that you'll be very close to death at the end when you're done bleeding, because of the base damage the allo's bite does, on top of the DPS bleed. We don't seem to be able to take more than 1 bite from an allo to run, and we can take 3 bites if you immediately sit down to rest. Again, unless you have a big herd, I just give these guys space. We're like twice as fast as they are if they're not in ambush, so there's no reason they should ever actually catch up to you.
  
• Two to three ceratos - While I do have to admit that the adult cerato is a speedy boi that can keep up with maia really well because of the stamina it has, an individual is dealt with easily by a herd of adults. These guys are much more mobile than a carno, having an ambush and tight turns and a decent trot.
  
• A single adult suchomimus - Some of you may be surprised to see this guy here, but let me be clear in saying that the sucho has WAY more HP than we can deal with alone. The damage on maia's little headbutt is nothing to a sucho. I'm not sure it'll even really get past the first damage screen, and it's prudent to note that the sucho was called the poor man's apex, because of the bite. The damage on the sucho bite is phenomenal, and we do not have any attacks that apply a bleed DPS. Don't be surprised it it effectively two shots you. Do NOT engage a sucho unless you are with a trike or diablo that has applied bleed. Maia can't handle them alone.

100% RUN AWAY FROM

• Any apex - This shouldn't be a surprise, maia gets one shot.
  
• A pack of carnos - The forest trick works with one, might even work with two or three... But you'll be hard pressed to get away from anything more than that, unless you have a big head start, or it happens to be raining, or nighttime or some other small miracle. If like 5 carnos find me, I try to run, I've made it a few times, but I usually die because of the net cast onto me. The net negates using hills or cover, because the multiple eyes have multiple angles on you. Carnos are a good example of why sentries are important.
  
• A pack of allos - Engaging a pack of allos as a herd of maia is death. You can only really engage with allo if you have far superior numbers, but unless your herd is absolutely MASSIVE, I just usually move my group away from where we sighted allos. They can't possibly keep up.
  
• A pack of ceratos - Same reasons as above, if you engage with equal numbers, the maia will end up losing, we just don't have a bleed attack. These guys are not as fast as carnos, but the damage on the bite is pretty similar, so the tactic is avoidance once again.
  
• A large pack of dilos - Dilo is popular because of how quickly it grows up and it's specialty, which is superior night vision, but that's not to say that the bite or speed on the creature is lacking. It's also extremely quiet, with the lowest crouch height in the game. It's hard to put into words how much of a confusing nightmare it is to try to fight a pack of dilos at night, so honestly if you hear a million warbles coming towards you at night, just bail.

TLDR

Overall, my tactic is avoidance. I use my speed to stay away. I do not directly try to fight anything, unless it is a fight I know I can win, or if I know I have a big herd behind me. If we are engaging in a fight, I am with a herd of other players that have bleed damage, and my maia's job turns into that of a high mobility support, with keeping a creature on it's feet with bleed, getting it to waste stamina thinking it can chase you, and keeping damage up so that the pursuer cannot heal in peace. Check out this Isle Damage Calculator to take the guess work out of your fights: http://theisledmgcalc.rottingalien.com/

NESTING THE LITTLE MARSHMALLOWS

Nesting is easily my favorite part of this game. I'm not super good with horror, and I know this game is horror based, so I choose to fill my time in this game with cute babies making little squeaks, and trying to raise them to success. If I can get a hatchling to be a full adult, I did my job.

There are only a few places on v3 I will nest as a solo maia, which is very doable, but a solo maia mother requires that you research the area you'll be nesting. It's important to remember that even though the hatchlings can eat out of the nest, they'll still need water decently close by, and it's almost a guarantee that as juvis, they'll be spamming and having fun and being NOISY. Again, I don't try to police how people play in game, but just so you know, if you don't move when you are hatched, you don't need water until you're a juvenile. So more than likely, your babies will be bored and want to move around, and that makes them use water.

• Your nest should be the same as mentioned in Step 2 of HAPPY BIRTHDAY, with the only difference being maybe a bit closer to water than YOU need. Remember your babies are delicate and don't have a deep pool of hunger or thirst. I also try to make sure that the path to water or AT water is in cover, but that's a detail that's harder to pull off, especially at higher elevation. Basically, if it's a risk for a carnivore to travel to you because of the distance, it's probably a pretty safe bet. Most of my nesting zones are only realistically accessible to raptors and carnos, that are able to cover the distance to explore the edges of the map like that.
  
  
• If you are nesting with powerful animals like diablos (or even parasaurs), then I suggest plopping your nest right down in the middle of everyone. Herd is life. If you're solo, then I suggest a heavy forest of preferably pine trees. I make my nest in a double pine tree if I can find one, so that when I'm laying down, I'm completely concealed. Double points if you can point your tail uphill, so that it clips a little bit with the incline, hiding it, and if you can point your face into a tree trunk, hiding your bright eyes that show up with night vision. Remember that nests won't be able to be created unless the ground is flat enough. Recently, there has been a nest laying bug, so if it doesn't seem to work the first (or tenth) time, just keep at it. Sometimes you have to click.
  
  
• It's more essential to hide your babies than it is to get them VERY close to food or water, so make sure you prioritze the fact that they'll be bush camping, and you'll probably be right there with them. Maia juvi are actually decently quick, so the trips to water and food will be easier and easier the older they get. Eventually, everyone that plays this game a lot will get used to not talking in game, but the new players might not understand, so if they're spamming, keep the herd safe and let them know. I try to add people on steam and get them into steam chats, because I don't like tabbing out for discord.
  
  
• If there's a predator or threat that comes near your babies, instruct them to either stay with the bigger animals or completely hide themselves (not everyone in the same tree!!). I don't tell my babies to go near trikes, because their AOE on both attacks is HUGE, even with the recent fix on trike headbutt. If there's a diablo or para or another maia, I'd prefer a babysitter in that way. Otherwise, I tell them to either hide in the nest if they're still hatchlings, or run into the forest and find a heavy bush. Your job if a threat shows up is to distract it and lure it away from your babies. Don't die for them, but do your best to protect them. Babies are an investment to a herd as a whole, so the more members you have, the better chances everyone has, but don't let yourself get killed.
  
  
• Pass on what you know. Share a discord that has resources pinned, add people on steam, tell them the difference between safe log and quitting the game directly. Tell them about what lakes or ponds to avoid, show them how to hide, tell them what the dinosaur calls are if they don't know, maybe even share this guide! The more everyone knows about all the nooks and crannies in this game, the healthier the herd tends to be. Remember, there are many new players to the game from The Isle being on sale and Christmas and random birthdays. Mothers are patient, so try to be kind to the noobies.

SOME PARTING WORDS

Maia is my favorite dinosaur to play in this game because of the success I've had on it, and the freedom I feel in being able to move around the area. I think it's fun to feel like I got away, that my skills in knowing the map and evasion are better than my pursuers. Even before the buffs to it's ankles and it's stamina, I used the techniques I listed above to have a very low mortality rate. Usually my maia stays alive, unless there is a server wipe, or I go into a fight expecting death. If fleeing isn't your playstyle, or you'd rather stand and fight, it might not be the dinosaur for you, but maia is a fantastic addition to a herd, and if played correctly, you'll have a long life full of excitement, because everything in the world wants to eat you.

Good luck surviving out there, and maybe we'll meet on US1. Cheers!

P.S., here is the oldest screenshot I could find of maia in my library. The game has gone through huge changes since the old v4 map, huh?

[Ikko]

Thanks so much for those links! I'll go ahead and update the guide :) I'm always looking for ways to improve, so this is helpful for me as well ^^

[I'M DA GIANT RAT]

With that, I'd like to add that carnos are absolute chumps when they're outnumbered by maias. Unless it's a huge pack, of course. 1 carno is easy business against 2 maias. When they're chasing, you can just do a quick 180 and they won't be able to correct course quickly enough to get the bite in. While they slow down to try to turn, the second maia can get a free and easy hit. Rinse and repeat. With a little practice, you can dodge a carno bite almost 100% of the time.

Anyway, happy this guide exists and I gladly pass it on to any newer players I group with as maia!

(2/2)

[I'M DA GIANT RAT]

Love this guide, and love me some maias :)

Some suggestions I would change/add are linking to the sounds list in addition to or instead of telling people to go in a sandbox to try the calls: https://vulnona.com/game/the_isle/se/

Another great addition to the guide would be a little section about a maia's role in a herd. You touch on it with maias taking up sentry duty and being an early warning system, but maias can be used to great effect during combat by being in charge of harassing sub adult apexes, keeping bleeding dinos standing, and getting carnivores to blow their stam trying to chase a maia for an "easy kill". Maias are an excellent supplemental force to apex herbies.

Lastly, I'd highly recommend checking out this damage calculator and adding it to the combat section you have: http://theisledmgcalc.rottingalien.com/
Knowing how many hits it takes something to kill you and vice versa helped me a lot when learning what fights I could pick and what I couldn't.

(1/2)

[Occi]

I'm pretty sure Cerato was changed from this point and you can take one on with caution in a 1v1.

Other than that, yeah this is pretty helpful for people who want to learn maia. It's not filled with things that new players won't understand, and it's not too long.

Nice job!

[Ikko]

Two hours to full adult from juvi spawn. Knock on 20 minutes if you're hatched from a nest otherwise.

[RexNatura]

2 hours to full adult or adult? Been some time since i played Maia.

[Cat Nipple Sacks]

Commence abusing carno's turn radius while running

[Ikko]

Oh thank you Strangeg Yogurt Juice! I'll make some changes to the guide based on your help, thank you.

[Strange Yogurt Juices]

Also, they handle differently. The Carnotaurus handles like a drag-racer with amazing speed but poor handling. The Ceratosaurus is incredibly agile with an insanely good turn radius. It isn't likely that a maia will win a fight against either, but take note of these things.

[Strange Yogurt Juices]

I love the guide, but I wanted to clarify a few things. Ceratosaurus is not a bleeder, it's a straight up heavy-hitter. It weighs as much as a carnotaurus but deals 350 damage per bite. The Carnotaurus is a bleeder. It only deals 200 damage per bite but deals 25 bleed damage (same as allosaurus, excluding weight differences).