The Lower South Cave

Preparations and tips for retreiving the Artifact of the Hunter from the lower south cave, and getting it home

Intro

EDIT/FYI: I don't play this game anymore so this information may be out of date. I'm leaving the guide up in case it's useful to anyone else but there will be no further updates to it.

The Lower South Cave is one of the easier caves in the game. I completed it second, after the Central Cave. It houses the Artifact of the Hunter, and you don't need to worry about extreme temperatures or stuff like that. In this guide, I'll go over the wiki-recommended gear, what I used, and what I recommend. I'll go over useful tame dinos to bring, and how to find the artifact without getting lost forever.

If you find typos or grammar errors in this guide, please point them out in the comments, and I'll review and fix them as soon as I can. Make sure you rate, and tell me why you liked or didn't like it. I'll post guides for the other caves in the game as I complete them.

Currently, I play on non-dedicated with 2 friends and the difficulty on .25. If I say something was easy for me, take it with a grain of salt, especially if you play singleplayer or on official servers. That said, most of the information here can be relevant or transfered to others, so don't stop reading yet.

Preparation: Gear

I love the Ark wiki! It's amazing! You can see what other people discovered about game aspects, add your own findings, and find out the best way to tame something. I'll list the gear that they recommend for the Lower South Cave, and what I think about each of those recommendations from my experience. They also left out some gear that I found useful or necessary, so I'll list it, too.

Chitin or Fur Armor or better: This cave is not too cold, and neither is the surrounding area. There should be no need for Fur Armor here, unless you're coming from up North and you need it to reach the south alive. Chitin should be sufficient, I used Apprentice/Ramshackle Flak Gear, because it's what I have.

Torch: Bring 2. They're useful when it's dark, and I'm usually too lazy to repair stuff in a cave

Pike: If you're on an official server, you'll need a melee weapon. You could bring a sword if you wanted, but they can be expensive for newer players. You could bring both, or whichever you like better.

If you're on singleplayer or non-dedicated, then apparently it takes 10-30 minutes in the cave for enemies to start spawing in it, so if you're quick, you won't need weapons. Call it a bug or a feature. It makes the caves easier, but I want a dung beetle, and I don't want to hang out in a cave fo a half hour to get one.

30 Cooked Meat: You'll probably get hungry. You probably won't need 30, but it's good to have. If you want it to last longer, you can turn it into jerky by putting it into a preserving bin with oil and sparkpowder and waiting 30 minutes per piece.

Medical Brew: Keep with you at all times. It's a health potion, you never know when you might need it.

Energy Brew: Stamina potions, they're good to have if you get impatient and try to sprint everywhere, or run out of Stamina while facing enemies

Stimberries or Stimulants: Stimulant is better, because it doesn't spoil. They could save your life in there, especially if you're playing on official, or take a while.

Water: you might get thirsty if you're in there a while, and you will get thirsty if you're using stim. Bring a full canteen or waterjar if you can, a waterskin will likely be empty by the time you need it. Though this cave does have water in it, it's safer and more convenient to carry your own.

Shotgun: You'll probably need a gun. The shotgun is good for close range. Bring at least 20 ammo and always keep it loaded.

GPS: This cave can be hard to find, if you can get one, a GPS is really helpful.

Fria Curry and Calien Soup: Temperatures extremes on the Southern Islets of The Ark aren't as extreme as on Scorched Earth, but they can happen. Bring a couple of each of these just in case.

If you don't live nearby, it's also a good idea to bring enough structures for a small building to keep the dinos you leave outside safe from local predators. I usually make a 2x2 foundation with walls and a larger ceiling to land my flyer on, or you could park a raft with something similar on it in the bay.

Preparation: Dinos

There are several dinos you might find useful for the Lower South cave. I don't typically bring a large, powerful mount, because I have tribemates and mounts can be slow. But if you're on an official sever, you'll definitely want something to help protect you from the enemies.

Mesopithecus/Dimorphodon/Compy: This is one I always bring. You can carry them in on your shoulder, and use them to carry out an extra artifact.

Pteranodon/Quetzal/Argentavis: For getting to the cave, and getting your tames to the cave. Make sure you put a structure on the beach to keep them safe from predators when you go in. Alternatively, you can use a raft with a structure on it.

Raptor or other combat mount: Useful if you encounter enemies, and you can use it to carry out another artifact. Don't bring your favourite, in case it dies.

List of compatible creatures on the wiki here: http://ark.gamepedia.com/Lower_South_Cave#Compatible_Tamed_Creatures

Getting to the Cave

Unlike the central cave, you can get near this cave with a flying mount or a raft. It's your choice, depending on where you live. I have a Pteranodon leveled in Speed and Stamina, so I used it.

Here's a screenshot looking at the cave entrance, showing my map and the GPS coordinates:



You'll want to build a structure on the beach or leave your raft in the bay and head inland. The entrance faces north, so you'll need to go around it to see it.

Navigating the Cave

This cave is a little harder to navigate than the one by the volcano. If you don't have a mount, you can follow the left wall to the artifact. There'll be a ledge to jump off, don't worry, you can take another way out, just be careful of fall damage. Just before the artifact room, there's a small passage to get through, you'll need to crouch.

If you have a mount, it's a little trickier. Follow the path straight until you come to this fork, then go left:


Follow the path to here, then turn left again, and drop off the ledge, careful of fall damage:



Then, if you have a mount, turn right here: (And left if not)



Follow the left wall down the tunnel, and you should see the artifact room:







I fit a raptor under the arch, anything much bigger and you might need to dismount to get in. Once you're in, you can grab as many artifacts as you want and have room for. You need one for each boss, and you might want one to display, too. After that, turn around and face the way you came in with the mount. Go under the arch:



Follow the tunnel to here:



and the follow the path along the cliff with water to here, and turn right:



then left here:



then turn right here, and follow the tunnel up and out:



I got this map off the ark wiki, and drew the route onto it, if you're interested or want to explore. There's at least one explorer note that I found when I went across the water for some loot:





The Explorer Note I found was the Leech Dossier from the Helena Notes

Getting Home

Getting home depends on where you live. When you exit the cave, get to the beach and wherever your structure or raft is. This islet borders on the swamp, you should avoid it. If you have a large mount, you might need to leave it behind while you get the artifact(s) home. The area around this cave isn't as dangerous as the area around the Central cave, but predators spawn everywhere.

The safest way to get home is however you got to the cave. Don't walk, unless you're on the same islet.

Outro

Thanks for reading! Remember to rate, comment on why you liked or didn't like it, comment if I left out something that you think should be in, or if you see errors that you think I should fix.

Good luck!

[Rock Elemental Gaming]

got it day 5 on 1x rates playing 30 mins a day, i died 10+ times trying to get it

[Spacehero6000]

just nuke everything with dimorphs


















































Poggers

[SCP-127]

LOL I SKIPPED THIS I ACCIDINTALY FOUND ARTIFACT LOL I FOUND IT AT RANDOM

[Jax]

where is it on the map

[whitneyhill]

Ok, first, while this guide is useful, and thorough, I would recommend watching a YouTube vid on it, or go with someone experienced. Having done this cave many many times myself, I can confirm that finding it is perhaps the hardest part, lol.

[Slay3r101]

Update: scorpions aren't as affected by bug repellent as spiders or centipedes so be careful because I've already been knocked out by one and almost k.o. by 2 more so stimberries or stimsulants to stop yourself from being knocked out. Also 1 bug repellant got me to the artifact so 2 min will work

[Slay3r101]

Also I have flak armour in my inv

[Slay3r101]

I would also recommend bug repellant its full of scorpions, spiders, and centepedes, as if this message I'm going through it with ghillie armour and 2 bug repellent (probs should have brought more but didn't want to use up to much hair cause I want fur armour) and no mount so I can hopefully sneak through unknoticed grab the idol and gtfo plus the drop for me has 3 centipedes under it so I'm not gonna risk it and go the long way

[Teagana]

@Conrad Creeper it was hard to find. Do you have a GPS? You sort of have to follow the path to the north from the beach, but then circle around to see the entrance. Make sure you have daylight, it's impossible at night.

[Conrad1463]

does anybody have abetter way of knowing where you are. because I am trying to get there by eyeballing the map. Ive set a marker on it with the cave coordinates and I can find the damn entrance.