ARK: Survival Ascended Taming Guide: Best Early and Mid-Game Dinos

Taming is the reason ARK clicks. You can scrape by on berries and a spear for a night or two, but everything changes once something with four legs is hauling your metal and eating the raptors that used to eat you. The system has a bunch of quiet rules, and learning them by trial and error gets expensive. What follows is how knocking a dino out actually works, what supplies are worth crafting, and which early tames earn their keep on The Island.

Knockout Taming vs Passive Taming Explained

Almost everything worth riding is a knockout tame. The job breaks into three parts: put the dino to sleep, feed it, and keep it asleep while the bar fills. Miss any one of the three and the tame fails.

How knockout taming works

Every creature has a torpor stat. Think of it as the sleep meter. Push a dino's torpor past its limit and it collapses. Once it's down, you open its inventory and load food in. It eats on its own schedule: herbivores grab a berry every time hunger drops 20 points, and carnivores eat meat every 50 points. Kibble gets eaten at an 80 point drop. Every mouthful bumps the taming bar up.

The bar isn't the only number that matters. Taming effectiveness starts at 100% and sinks whenever the creature takes damage, and it decides how many bonus levels your tame lands with. Feed a level 150 its preferred kibble and it finishes around 99% effectiveness and comes out near level 224. Feed that same dino raw meat and you're looking at roughly 55% and a finished tame around level 191. Same knockout effort, very different payoff.

Keeping it under is the third job, and the one new players forget. Torpor drains constantly once the dino drops. If it hits zero, the tame wakes up and everything left in its inventory is gone. You top the meter back up by force feeding narcotics or narcoberries, which you trigger from inside the dino's inventory screen.

How passive taming works

Passive tames skip the violence entirely. You put the food item in the far right slot of your hotbar, walk up, and hit the use key when the prompt shows. Then you back off and wait, usually until the creature has burned through about 90% of its food meter, and feed it again. Repeat until tamed.

The passive tames a new player on The Island actually runs into are Lystrosaurus (rare flowers), Mesopithecus (basic kibble), Gigantopithecus (regular kibble), and the Ichthyosaurus groups that swarm you in shallow water (simple kibble). A few ground rules from the official wiki:

• Lystros, mesopiths, and ichthys don't mind being touched mid-tame. The ichthys will follow you around like a dog.
• Don't bump a Gigantopithecus while it's eating. It attacks, and it hits hard for that stage of the game. A Meso will just bolt.
• Ghillie armor is recommended for most passive tames, and bug repellant is required before you can feed cave creatures like the Araneo or Onyc.

The passive crew fills support roles. Petting a tamed Lystro gives you an XP boost, an Ichthy makes water drops way less scary, and a Gigantopithecus gathers fiber by the truckload. Your mounts, though, are almost all knockout tames, so that's where the rest of this goes.

Best Narcotics and Tranq Ammo to Stockpile

Narcotics first, always

Narcotics unlock at level 6 for 6 engram points, which is about as cheap as engrams get. You craft them in a mortar and pestle: 5 narcoberries plus 1 spoiled meat produces 6 narcotics. Each one adds 40 torpor when force fed. Five raw berries would only give you 37.5 total, and berries rot. Craft them down, basically always.

Bio toxin is the strong stuff. It comes off the jellyfish near the shore and adds 80 torpor a pop, but it spoils fast, so treat it as a fresh haul rather than a long-term stockpile. It can also replace the berries when crafting narcotics, if you'd rather not pick bushes for an hour.

Now the part most new players miss: narcotics only matter on long tames. A knocked out dino has a countdown before it wakes, and for most early kibble tames the bar fills before the timer runs out. Here are the level 150 numbers on standard 1x taming speed:

| Dino | Wakes after | Kibble tame takes | Narcotics needed | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Parasaur | 20:03 | 6:50 | 0 | | Raptor | 24:04 | 9:57 | 0 | | Pteranodon | 16:02 | 29:51 | 17 | | Triceratops | 33:25 | 20:28 | 0 | | Carnotaurus | 46:48 | 42:12 | 0 (bring some anyway) |

The Pteranodon is the odd one out. Short knockout timer, fairly long tame, so it's the one early dino where running out of torpor mid-tame is a real risk. The ARK Unity calculator puts a level 150 at 17 narcotics for the job.

Tranq ammo and what to shoot it from

Torpor per hit scales with the damage the shot deals, so weapon choice matters as much as aim. Straight from the official wiki's ammo comparison:

| Ammo | Fired from | Damage | Instant torpor | Total torpor | Narcotics to craft | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Tranq Arrow | Bow | 20 | 40 | 90 | 1 | | Tranq Arrow | Compound Bow | 27 | 54 | 121.5 | 1 | | Tranq Arrow | Crossbow | 35 | 70 | 157.5 | 1 | | Tranquilizer Dart | Longneck Rifle | 26 | 156 | 221 | 3 | | Shocking Tranq Dart | Longneck Rifle | 26 | 312 | 442 | 3 |

The instant torpor equals 200% of the damage dealt, then another 250% trickles in over the next 5 seconds. That lag is why a dino sometimes topples a beat or two after your last arrow lands. Firing faster than the torpor applies is fine, so don't bother waiting between shots.

The leveling path runs bow at level 10 (11 points), tranq arrows at 21 (8 points), then the crossbow at 25 (12 points). The crossbow is the big one. It fires underwater, and its arrows deliver 157.5 torpor against the bow's 90 while costing the exact same single narcotic each. You'll need a smithy and 7 metal ingots to build it. Tranq darts don't arrive until level 62, and honestly the crossbow handles everything in this guide just fine.

Body shots are the safe default. Headshots pay out more on some species since torpor scales with damage, but a few dinos soak damage on specific body parts, and memorizing that chart this early isn't worth the hassle.

Rough knockout counts for a basic 100% damage crossbow, using base torpor from ARK Unity (a higher-damage crossbow needs fewer arrows):

| Dino (level 150) | Rough torpor | Crossbow arrows | | --- | --- | --- | | Parasaur | ~1,500 | ~10 | | Raptor | ~1,800 | ~12 | | Triceratops | ~2,500 | ~16 | | Carnotaurus | ~3,500 | ~22 |

What to pack for a tame run

• 30 to 50 tranq arrows, more for anything Carno-sized
• 20 narcotics plus a stack of narcoberries as a fallback
• The kibble, and a bit more than the calculator says you need
• A couple of bolas if you're after anything small
• A spare bow or crossbow, because durability runs out at the worst times
• Food and water for yourself, since a Carno tame is close to an hour of standing around

Top Early Mounts: Pteranodon, Parasaur, and Trike

Level 150 comparisons at 1x taming speed, so trim your expectations if you're taming something lower:

| Dino | Preferred kibble | Kibble tame | Effectiveness | Common fallback | Saddle level | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Parasaur | Basic | 6:50 | 99.8% | 32:06 on mejoberries (73.7%) | 9 | | Triceratops | Simple | 20:28 | 99.8% | 1:35:52 on mejoberries (73.8%) | 16 | | Pteranodon | Regular | 29:51 | 98.6% | 2:07:31 on raw meat (55.4%) | 38 |

Parasaur: the first ride and the pack mule

The Parasaur saddle unlocks at level 9 for 9 engram points and needs 80 hide, 50 fiber, and 15 wood, which means you can realistically be riding one before your second night. Basic kibble (made from any extra small egg, and dodo eggs are the easy source) takes a level 150 down in under 7 minutes at 99.8% effectiveness. Even plain mejoberries finish the job in about 32 minutes at 74%, so don't let a lack of kibble stop you.

The selling point is carry weight: 480 base, which actually beats the Trike's 365. Early game, that's the difference between one metal run and three. What you don't get is a fighter. A Parasaur would rather run than throw down, which is honestly the right call for both of you at that level.

For the knockout, a bola (level 9, 8 points) roots it for 30 seconds while you shoot. A Parasaur bolts the moment an arrow lands, so the bola is what turns this from a chase across half the beach into a two-minute job.

Triceratops: the berry factory

Saddle at level 16 for 12 engram points (140 hide, 80 fiber, 25 wood). Simple kibble, made from any small egg, tames a 150 in about 20 and a half minutes at 99.8%. The mejoberry fallback works too, but you're standing there for over an hour and a half and the effectiveness drops to 74%, so the kibble is worth the detour.

Base stats of 375 health and 365 weight make the Trike your first real workhorse. It strips berries off bushes in bulk and pulls big thatch numbers with its ram attack, so your building problems mostly solve themselves once one is tamed. It's also a decent bodyguard, because a Trike that decides you're threatening will charge, and the bucking attack knocks you back. Keep that in mind near cliffs when you're the one shooting it.

Two practical warnings. Bolas don't hold a Trike, it's too big, so plan on shooting a runner or standing on a rock. And they're herd animals that come to each other's aid, so start your knockout at the edge of the group rather than in the middle of four angry frills.

Pteranodon: the first taste of the sky

The saddle doesn't unlock until level 38, so treat this as a mid-game goal rather than a day-two grab. It's worth the wait. Crossing The Island on foot takes forever, and a flyer turns a 20-minute trek into a 2-minute flight.

Regular kibble (medium egg plus jerky, longrass, and savoroot) gets you a 150 at 98.6% in about 30 minutes. Raw mutton is a great stopgap at 35 minutes and 94.5% if you've found sheep, and raw prime meat sits at 91.7%. Plain raw meat drags out past two hours at 55%, so skip that unless you have nothing else.

Pteranodons are skittish and lift off at the first hit, which makes them annoying to shoot. The fix is a bola while one is landed. After that, remember the narcotics: that 16 minute knockout timer against a 30 minute tame means it will wake partway through unless you keep feeding torpor. Base carry is only 120, so think of it as a scout and taxi, not a hauler.

Taming Higher-Value Targets Like Raptors and Carnos

Raptor

Saddle at level 18. Simple kibble takes a 150 down in under 10 minutes at 98.6%, and raw meat takes about 42 minutes at 55%, so the gap here is enormous for such a small tame. Bola the one you want and shoot it; the official wiki notes plainly that a few bolas and a wooden club are often enough for raptors and parasaurs if you're truly starting from nothing.

The catch is that they rarely travel alone. Bola your target and the rest of the pack keeps coming, so pick a straggler at the edge, or bring your Trike along to hold their attention. Once tamed, a raptor gives you 200 base health, real speed, and the ability to swing a weapon from the saddle, which the bigger mounts can't do. It's a hunting mount and a solid cave buddy down the line. The 140 base weight means it won't be moving your base for you.

Carnotaurus

This is the first tame on the list that asks for real prep. The saddle waits until level 46, costs 21 engram points, and is a smithy job at 320 hide, 170 fiber, and 30 metal ingots. Plan the taming around having the saddle, not the other way around.

Food-wise, a 150 on Regular kibble lands in about 42 minutes at 98.7% effectiveness. Mutton gets you 94.6% in 52 minutes, prime meat 91.7% in about an hour, and raw meat is a brutal 3+ hours at 55%. Base stats of 420 health and 350 torpor make it a genuine upgrade over the raptor as a fighter, with much better carry at 300.

The danger is real, though. Carnos attack on sight with a large aggro range, and the headbutt inflicts bleed and knocks you back, occasionally right off a ledge. You can't bola something this size. The usual play is to shoot from a tall rock it can't climb, or kite it into open ground where you have room to backpedal while reloading. Count on roughly 22 crossbow arrows for a 150.

Look back at that narcotics table for a second. The knockout timer is 46:48 against a 42:12 kibble tame, which technically fits with zero narcotics, but that margin is thin enough that one distracted minute costs you the whole tame. Bring 10 and stop worrying about it.

The kibble chain

There's a natural order to all this that keeps each tame feeding the next. Dodos and parasaurs give you extra small eggs for Basic kibble. Raptors, pteranodons, and trikes drop small eggs for Simple kibble. Medium egg layers cover Regular, which is what the pteranodon and carno want. Each rung of that ladder is tameable with the kibble from the rung below it.

Kibble also substitutes downward: a creature accepts any kibble tier above its preference, so spare Superior or Exceptional from a supply crate works on basically everything here. Going the other way does not work. Wrong-tier or too-low kibble counts at 66% value per the wiki, which usually makes it worse than the dino's normal food.

Start your crop plots early. Simple kibble needs 2 rockarrot, Regular needs 2 longrass and 2 savoroot plus jerky from a preserving bin, and crops take real time to grow. The player with a greenhouse already running tames circles around the player who starts farming the day they want a Carno.

Common Taming Mistakes That Waste Your Dino

Feeding raw meat when kibble was one step away. On a level 150 Carno, kibble versus raw meat is the difference between finishing at level 224 and finishing at 191. That's 33 levels, gone, for the sake of one egg and some crops you could have planted a week earlier.

Walking away from an unconscious tame. Torpor drains whether you're standing there or not, and predators happily snack on a sleeping dino. Knock out your target somewhere quiet, throw up a quick thatch perimeter, or park a tamed Trike next to it before you wander off to grab more arrows.

Force feeding food to hurry things along. Force feeding anything other than narcoberries or narcotics fills the hunger bar without moving the taming bar at all, which stretches the tame out longer. The dino feeds itself. Leave it alone.

Leaving all your kibble in the dino's inventory. If the tame wakes for any reason, everything in its inventory is lost. This is the whole argument for starve taming: knock the dino out, wait for its hunger to drop far enough that it can eat your entire stack in one go, then load the food in. If the tame goes sideways, your kibble is still in your own bag.

Shooting it after it drops. Extra damage past the knockout only lowers effectiveness, and that includes punches. The wiki specifically calls out that hitting an unconscious creature holds torpor up at the cost of taming effectiveness. That's a bad trade when narcotics cost a handful of berries.

Taming something you can't ride yet. The Carno saddle sits at level 46 and the Pteranodon saddle at 38. Check that before you burn an hour and a stack of kibble, because a tame you can't saddle is just a very expensive pet standing in your yard eating meat.

Ignoring level. On official settings, wild dinos top out at 150. A level 20 raptor tames fast but caps out low and eats the same food a 140 would. Take the highest level you can handle safely, and treat the cheap low-level starter tames as disposable.

One last number to keep in your head: a level 150 Parasaur on basic kibble goes from first arrow to tamed in under seven minutes, finishes at level 224, and carries 480 at base weight. For seven minutes of work, nothing else in your first week comes close.