In Ark: Survival Ascended, remaster of the 2017 game Ark: Survival Evolved, taming animals is similar to hiring the best survival helper. Once you learn how to tame Ark, your new dinosaur companion can carry you, carry your equipment, store resources, defend your base while you’re offline, and even fight off enemies. What’s more? Your food and medications stay fresh for longer hikes because anything you store in their inventory spoils much more slowly. You have a ride-or-die partner for every adventure if you tame them!
💡 What Does Tame in ARK: Survival Ascended Mean?
Simply put, taming is the process of gaining wild animal allies. Once tamed, these animals can help you in carrying items, fighting enemies, gathering resources, and even flying around the map. Although there are different taming methods in Ark, knockout taming is the mostly used technique.
🔴 Taming Methods: Knockout vs Passive
Taming in Ark is an important activity for traveling, fighting, or gathering purposes. Different taming methods exist, each being more suitable for its own species, away from the scenario or game mechanics. This is a brief introduction of the taming methods, from the mostly used ones to more unusual and passive forms.
1. Knock-out Taming
The most popular form of taming in ARK is the knock-out. This involves putting a creature through an unconscious state and then feeding it its choice of food.
How it works:
- Knock the creature unconscious through fists, damages, weapons, or other creatures.
- Keep the creature sedated with Narcoberries, Narcotic, Bio Toxin.
- Feed the dino preferred food until the taming bar fills.
2. Non-Violent Passive Taming
The style of passive taming involves feeding the creatures without knocking them out. It requires stealth, patience, and sometimes involved gear like Ghillie Armor or Bug Repellant.
How it works:
- Place preferred food in the last hotbar slot.
- Approach the creature and feed it as desired from the prompt.
- Beware not to spook or touch any aggressive or skittish species.
3. Raise-only Taming
Certain creatures can’t be tamed at full age and instead must be raised through eggs or some special reproduction event.
How it works:
- Steal fertilized eggs from nests or follow gestation mechanics for example Reapers.
- Hatch and raise with proper care and food.
Other Common Taming Methods:
- Turret Knock-out Taming
- Titan Knock-out Taming
- Unique Knock-out Taming
- Unique Non-Violent Taming
- Fish Basket Taming
- Wild Baby Taming
- Temporary Taming
🎯 Choosing the Right Dino to Tame First
Before you go out to tame, don’t approach a Spino and expect a cuddle. You need the right starter creature. Let’s look at the tameable dinos to start with:
Best Tames for Beginners:
Dodo: Low risk, great practice.
Dilophosaur (Dilo): Easy to knock out, good early defense.
Parasaur: Great at gathering berries and scouting.
Trike: Slower, but excellent for farming narcoberries.
Pro Tip on Choosing the Right Dino
Make use of the Dododex app to look up taming time, food preferences, and torpor stats.
🍇 Best Foods for Taming Different Creatures
Depending on what kind of dino it is, tastes differ. Right food increases the taming effectiveness, speeding up the process.
Types of Foods for Taming:
- Mejberries: Best for herbivores in the early game.
- Raw Meat: Basic carnivore food.
- Raw Prime Meat / Prime Fish: The faster the taming, the more the effect.
- Kibble: Supreme food if one can discover resources for crafting it.
Quick Chart in Early Game:
| Dino Type | Best Food |
| Herbivore | Mejoberries |
| Carnivore | Raw Meat / Prime Meat |
| Omnivore | Berries or Meat (check Dododex) |
| Fish-eaters | Raw Fish / Prime Fish |
⚡ How to Increase Taming Time in ASA
Taming will feel slow, especially with larger dinosaurs. Let’s see how to avoid it:
- Use better food (like Prime Meat or Kibble).
- Increase Taming Speed in your server/game configuration.
- Build spike walls or traps to protect sleeping dinos.
- Use Narcotics instead of Narcoberries to keep torpor up well.
- Use Bola or Traps to keep the dino from running away while knocked out.
Tips and Tricks: Don’t forget that a sleeping dino is a tameable dino.
🚫 Avoiding Taming Failures: Why Your Tames Die or Escape
A dino wakes up mid-tame and eats you. If you’re asking, “Why is taming not working in Ark: Survival Ascended?” It’s likely one of the above reasons.
- Not monitoring Torpidity
- Leaving the area because unconscious dinos are vulnerable
- Taming in dangerous zones
- Wrong food
📝 What to Do Before Taming
Tame your dino near base or have a friend come over to help keep an eye on your tame while you start taming.
Also:
- Prepare Bola or trap to knock out the creature.
- Harvest Narcoberries or Narcotics.
- Get the right food (use Dododex).
- Make the area safe.
- Use the right weapon (slingshot, tranq arrows).
- Bring enough supplies.
✏️ Conclusion: Final Words for Becoming an ASA Taming Pro!
Taming is at the heart of the Ark taming game, and doing it early and well will be your ticket to success. Take it slowly, use food wisely, observe your taming closely, and don’t forget to watch over your sleeping dinos. As time goes by, you’ll go from taming Dodos to commanding a team of Rexes. Having trouble taming? Use Dododex and this guide.
🚀Power Your Taming with Mods and VPS Hosting
Want faster, smoother taming in ARK: Survival Ascended? Mods like Immersive Taming and Structures Plus make taming more of a pleasure and streamlined process—but the real game-saver is playing them on your own server. With a powerful game VPS, you can customize taming speeds, eliminate lag.
Having trouble setting off? Our Ark Ascended game guide is here to help.
Prepared to tame with no limits? Buy ARK hosting VPS and take full control!
