15 Coolest Creatures To Tame In Ark: Survival Ascended

Ark: Survival Ascended is a revamped version of Ark: Survival Evolved, with a myriad of gameplay and visual alterations. The major differences between the two are a graphics update with quality of life changes to crafting, building, and taming. However, the original Ark had numerous DLCs not yet in Ascended. All the returning DLCs will be free for owners of Ascended, but will be added over time. This leaves the original map, The Island, as the sole unmodded location for players to experience.

15 Doedicurus

Roles: Harvester, Transportation

Also known by its shortened name, Doed, the Doedicurus is a peaceful herbivore found in the mountains and grasslands of The Island. The lumbering mammal might not look as cool as some of the other creatures in the game, but it's incredibly useful and a powerful ally to have at the player's disposal. The Doedicurus is protected by thick armor and is armed with a spiky ball at the tip of its tail. This makes the Doed a great damage-resistant mount. It's also useful for clearing small dinos out of the way, by swinging its powerful tail like a mace.

A Doedicurus is also a great creature to tame for its harvesting skills. Doeds love stones so much that they can carry more of them at one time. Pointing a mounted Doed at a large stone will almost instantly split the stone in half and gather the spoils. Players can leave one by a stone spawn point near their base and set the collection to passive, allowing the creature to collect the stone as soon as it appears automatically. A more effective and infinitely more amusing way to gather stone is to use an Argentavis to pick it up and fly near rocks with it to harvest stone on the fly (literally).

14 Astrodelphis

Roles: Transportation, Brawler

Astrodelphis is Latin for "Star Dolphin," which has earned this versatile Ark: Survival Ascended creature the nickname "Space Dolphin." The Astrodelphis was added to the game in the Genesis: Part 2 expansion and it's one of the few creatures in the game not based on real prehistoric records. Instead, the Space Dolphin's design is heavily influenced by the Irrawaddy dolphin, an adorable living species found in the coastal and river waters of South and Southeast Asia.

Unlike their gentle real-world counterparts, the Astrodelphis is an iridescent, dolphin-shaped fantasy creature with two eyes on both sides of its head. They make fantastic mounts because they can maneuver easily through water, and fly just as easily through the sky. Space Dolphins are also equipped with radar and jets for even better propulsion. They can protect their riders with lasers, grenades, and shockwave attacks. If that weren't enough, they even do barrel rolls. As useful as they are, Astrodelphis can be a nightmare to tame, taking a long time and a lot of resources.

13 Tek Stryder

Roles: Harvester, Brawler, Support

This mechanical creature looks like a metallic deer mixed with a Star Wars AT-AT. In addition to looking awesome, the Tek Stryder is an incredibly useful tool for players to keep on hand, thanks to its attachments. The Stryder can be equipped with various rigs to enhance its fighting or harvesting abilities. Depending on what it has equipped, the Tek Stryder can be used to harvest nearly anything at high speeds, fire lasers at opponents, or provide support by silencing or disabling various types of nearby creatures.

Despite its mean appearance, the Tek Stryder is a docile creature and will only fight if the player attacks it first. Players should watch out if they want to fight one, though, because they explode when they're defeated. Instead of the usual taming method, the robotic reindeer must be tamed through hacking, which requires giving the creature Mutagel and completing a hacking minigame.

12 Mantis

Roles: Brawler, Harvester

The Empusa discipulus is a fantasy creature in the real-world genus of praying mantis. And it's a good thing that the creature exists only in the game, because it's truly a terrifying one. The Mantis in Ark is massive, extremely aggressive, and very intelligent. It's also developed opposing thumbs, which have allowed it to grasp melee weapons like spears and spikes. This is one creature that players will want to have on their side.

To get the most out of the Mantis, players should consider increasing its weight as much as possible. At higher levels, these creatures make good harvesters and formidable opponents in battle. They can even be used as mounts. The downside of the Mantis is, as might be expected, the taming. These aggressive critters tend to aggro any living thing that walks into its range, causing it to lose interest in the player and reset the already-lengthy taming process.

11 Titanosaur

Roles: Base Destroyer, Mobile Base

The aptly named Titanosaur is one of the largest living creatures in Ark: Survival Ascended. The massive dinosaur rises high above most trees and can easily trample any plants or structures in its path. The dinosaur is so large, in fact, that it can carry an entire base on its back as it moves. It's also one of only three in-game creatures that are capable of breaking metal, so its main use is as a mobile base used to destroy other people's bases.

Such an overpowered weapon has an equally humongous downside: Once tamed, the Titanosaur doesn't eat and will slowly starve to death after about a day. This can be overridden by enabling Raid Dino Feeding in the settings, but this doesn't quite solve the problem but rather delays it. This is because even with the setting on, the Titanosaur needs to be fed manually, eating massive amounts of food and taking up a long time.

10 Argentavis

Roles: Transportation, Hauler, Brawler, Harvester

The Argentavis is a simple prehistoric bird, but its simplicity, magnificent looks, and overall utility make it the second-best aerial dino in the game. This eagle/vulture hybrid is easy to find around the mountains on The Island and easy to tame. Once tamed, Argentavis becomes a jack-of-all-trades, especially for transportation if the elusive Quetzal cannot be found. The saddle used to ride the Argentavis also allows players to craft on the go, making it even better for long-term trips.

Though not the fastest flying creature, the Argentavis can be leveled up to be a great transportation and pack animal. It excels at transporting stone and metal as it receives a weight-reduction multiplier for those heavy materials. These prehistoric birds are also good fighters against most of Ark's hostile creatures. This includes hunting for meat needed to eat or be used to tame other animals. Overall, the Argentavis is the perfect example of a jack of all trades but master of none that excels in the early to mid-game but falls off in the late game to stronger options.

9 Therizinosaur

Roles: Harvester, Brawler

The Therizinosaur is one of the most dangerous dinosaurs in Ark for unprepared players, but also a great boon once tamed. This ferocious theropod comes equipped with long, sharp claws that are as dangerous as they look. Though it may be an herbivore, these terrifying dinosaurs will attack players if they wander into their territory. Despite its small size in comparison, the Therizinosaur is more than capable of holding its own against a T-Rex or Spinosaurus.

Utility-wise, the Therizinosaur offers a lot outside of being good land transportation. It is arguably one of the best harvesters in the game and can harvest in different ways. The power harvest is used for wood, thatch, and meat, while its delicate harvest is best for fiber, meat, and corpse drops. The final harvesting technique is the bite harvest, used for berries and crop seeds. The Therizinosaur is not the best for harvesting any particular resource, but its close second placement with great flexibility makes it a necessary dino.

8 Yutyrannus

Roles: Support, Brawler

The Yutyrannus is one of the more fascinating dinosaurs in Ark: Survival Ascended. A relative to the Rex, this dino is much smaller and more feathered with longer arms. It will be immediately aggressive to humans, making them dangerous to hunt alone. What makes it even scarier and cooler is that it will often have a pack of Carnotaurus that will hunt with it. However, the bonus from getting one of these dinosaurs tamed far outweighs the risk.

Though the Yutyrannus can be built as an offensive weapon, its true strength lies as a support unit. It has two roars that can be used, both having different effects on surrounding dinosaurs. The courage roar will increase the damage done and reduce the damage received by friendly dinosaurs. Meanwhile, the fear roar will increase the damage taken and decrease the damage done by enemy creatures. Few creatures in Ark can have effects on others, and the Yutyrannus can buff or debuff easier than any other, making it one of the most necessary battle dinosaurs.

7 Ceratosaurus

Roles: Support, Brawler

The Ceratosaurus is one of many dinosaurs added to Ark: Survival Ascended through mods, but arguably the most popular. The Ceratosaurus is a unique dinosaur in-game as it has no close relatives and is more closely related to modern-day birds. The differences are the scales and poisonous spikes running down its back and tail. Looks alone could be enough to draw many to this dangerous creature, but adding the ability to utilize poison makes it even more appealing.

Ceratosaurus also has a unique taming method, requiring players to kill some of them, harvest their spikes, and turn them into a hemoglobin cocktail. Once acquired, players feed the cocktail to one of their already tamed, preferably high-health dinos, and let a Ceratosaurus attack it until drunk, then it is tamed with its preferred food. Once tamed, its purpose is a semi-offensive support unit. Any spike attack will inflict poison onto an enemy, and fellow carnivores that attack that target will be healed by eating the poisoned meat.

6 Tusoteuthis

Roles: Brawler, Harvester, Transportation

A close relative to the modern-day giant squid, Tusoteuthis is arguably the most dangerous aquatic creature in Ark: Survival Ascended. Though very similar in appearance to the giant squid, the major difference is the inclusion of hooked suction cups meant to make its target bleed. Tusoteuthis is an aggressive animal and will attack anything it sees as prey on sight. Even the other aquatic danger of the sea, Mosasaurus, could run into trouble if the Tusoteuthis strikes first.

Tusoteuthis has two main appeals outside aquatic transportation: harvesting and fighting. Oil is essential for endgame Ark, and these giant squids will passively create it. Its long-reaching range makes it great for harvesting, but this is mainly done from the corpses of its prey. As previously stated, Tusoteuthis is arguably the best aquatic fighter, meaning it can beat anything encountered under the waves. It's also capable of fighting on beaches or pulling land-based prey into the water, making Tusoteuthis a dual threat that few other creatures in Ark can lay claim to.

5 Mosasaurus

Roles: Mobile Base, Transportation, Hauler, Brawler

The Mosasaurus is considered the most dangerous aquatic animal in Ascended and has good reason to be. The giant reptile, while rare, deals a lot of damage and boasts the second-highest health pool of undersea animals. The large flippers can propel the massive beast through the water faster than one may think, with a bite powerful enough to instantly end most players. This is one dinosaur that players do not want to run into unprepared.

The appeal of the Mosasaurus is that it can be used as an underwater base. This is due to the platform saddle required to ride it, which allows for structures and armaments to be built. Along with its large carry size and ability to scare off annoying aquatic creatures, Mosasaurus is a great hauler for oil and biotoxin. Its high speed also makes it the best aquatic mode of transportation, only let down by its lack of agility.

4 Carcharodontosaurus

Roles: Brawler

The Carcharodontosaurus, or Carcharo, is one of Ascended's most dangerous dinosaurs. This bloodthirsty behemoth towers over most other creatures and has an intimidating appearance to match. Spikes run down its entire body with a mouth sharp enough to pierce even the toughest skin. To tame the Carcharo is even more dangerous than trying to escape it, as it will require dead creatures to be fed to it until it is satisfied, which will be a lot of corpses.

The purpose of Carcharo is to be one of the best fighting dinosaurs in the game. Its attack and health stats are some of the best, and it comes with many buffs. Upon landing killing blows, the Carcharo will gain movement speed, increased healing, increased damage, and resistance to stuns. It can also consume these stacks to increase the movement speed of nearby friendly dinos, while lowering the healing rate of the creature being attacked simply by dealing damage.

3 Quetzal

Roles: Mobile Base, Transportation, Hauler

The Quetzal was the best aerial creature in Ark: Survival Ascended until recently, but still holds great value and rarity. The prehistoric bird is one of the largest animals in Ark. Its massive wingspan, high stats, and deceptively strong body allow it to have some of the best utility in the game. The one downside to the Quetzal is that its attack is weak and slow, making it necessary to prepare it properly.

The purpose of Quetzal is to be a mobile air base. Much like the Mosasaurus, the Quetzal saddle is a platform that allows building. This turns the Quetzal into one of the safest and most dangerous dinos, as its only real danger would be other players, but that would only occur on PvP servers. Though the Quetzal may not have the strength or buff ability of other top-tier dinosaurs, the chance to become a prehistoric airship overrules all that.

2 Rhyniognatha

Roles: Brawler, Hauler, Transportation

The Rhyniognatha was the last addition to Evolved and carried over to Ascended. Though named after a real-life insect, this creature takes more inspiration from fiction, seeming to be a combination of many insects. Only residing in swamps, it is one of the larger animals in the game and just as deadly as others. Along with being able to fly, Rhyniognatha can glide over water or swim for some time. It is also the only tameable creature able to pick up and carry animals over 400 drag weight, making it extremely useful for taming large dinos.

Outside transportation and hauling, Rhyniognatha also makes for a great fighting creature. The crucial thing to remember is that it needs resin to attack. Luckily, Rhyniognatha will passively turn sap into resin every five minutes. As long as it has resin, it can launch a steady shot of resin needles, a slow-moving resin ball, or a resin sticky bomb onto the ground. The latter two attacks will apply the resin debuff, slowing enemy targets. Finally, Rhyniognatha can also use its resin to encase itself in a shield in a pinch.

1 Giganotosaurus

Roles: Brawler

The Giganotosaurus is the most powerful dinosaur on The Island and in all of Ascended currently. The cousin of the Carcharo is three times bigger than any Rex and much more intimidating than one. It has little natural protection adorning its body but does not need it due to its extremely high stats. The Giga is an extremely rare spawn, with only two to three allowed on the map at one time. However, it will wander around, making it one of the most dangerous surprise encounters.

Much like its cousin, the Giganotosaurus has one goal: battle. The Giga will instantly kill most dinos in the game and only gets stronger against high-health targets. Upon taking a certain amount of damage, the Giga will enter its Rage Mode, gaining massive increases in its damage and resistance. This ability, coupled with its already top-tier damage plus heavy bleeding mechanic, makes it the most popular and powerful option in Ark: Survival Ascended.

Currently, Ascended has over 140 different creatures for players to interact with. The beauty of Ark is the ability to tame as many dinosaurs as one would want and use them in different ways. Most, if not all, of the other 130 creatures are exciting, and just experiencing these extinct animals becomes worthwhile. However, as with most games, some creatures will be more popular than others, and as things stand, these 10 are currently the coolest tameable ones in Ark: Survival Ascended.