Learning how to Ark: Survival Evolved can feel overwhelming at first. Players spawn on a mysterious island filled with dinosaurs, hostile creatures, and very little guidance. The game drops survivors into a prehistoric world with nothing but their fists and a desperate need to stay alive.
Ark: Survival Evolved has attracted millions of players since its 2017 release. The open-world survival game combines dinosaur taming, base building, and resource management into an addictive experience. This guide covers everything new players need to know, from that first terrifying spawn to taming their first dinosaur.
Key Takeaways
- Start your Ark: Survival Evolved journey by spawning on an Easy beach location where resources are plentiful and predators are fewer.
- Gather essential resources immediately—punch trees for wood/thatch, collect bushes for berries/fiber, and pick up stones from the ground.
- Prioritize early engrams like the stone pick, hatchet, campfire, spear, and basic thatch shelter components to survive your first hours.
- Tame beginner-friendly dinosaurs like Dodos, Parasaurs, and Trikes using knockout taming with berries or meat depending on the creature type.
- Invest stat points in weight, stamina, health, and melee damage for a balanced build that supports both survival and resource gathering.
- Always place a sleeping bag inside your shelter to create a respawn point and store extra supplies in storage boxes to protect them if you die.
Getting Started With Your First Spawn
Every Ark: Survival Evolved journey begins with character creation and spawn point selection. New players should choose a spawn location labeled “Easy” or pick a beach area on The Island map. Beaches offer fewer aggressive creatures and better access to basic resources.
After spawning, players appear nearly naked with zero supplies. The first priority is simple: don’t die. Carnivores, starvation, and even the weather can kill unprepared survivors within minutes.
Players should immediately look around for three things: rocks, bushes, and trees. Punching trees provides thatch and wood. Gathering bushes yields berries and fiber. Picking up loose stones from the ground gives stone resources. Yes, punching trees damages the player’s health slightly, that’s normal and expected.
The beach provides relative safety, but players shouldn’t get too comfortable. Dilophosaurus (the spitting dinosaurs) roam near shorelines. Piranhas patrol shallow waters. Staying aware of surroundings prevents early deaths and frustrating respawns.
One critical tip: eat berries immediately after gathering them. The white Stimberries increase stamina but drain water. Narcoberries cause drowsiness. Stick to the other berry colors for basic nutrition during these early moments.
Gathering Essential Resources
Resource gathering forms the backbone of Ark: Survival Evolved gameplay. Players need consistent supplies of wood, thatch, fiber, stone, flint, and hide to progress through the game.
Wood and thatch come from trees. Punching works early on, but crafting a pick or hatchet dramatically improves efficiency. Different tools yield different ratios, picks gather more thatch while hatchets gather more wood from the same tree.
Stone appears as small rocks scattered across beaches and riverbanks. Larger boulders require tools to harvest and provide both stone and flint. Flint becomes essential for crafting more advanced items like campfires and metal tools.
Fiber comes from bushes and certain plants. Players need massive amounts of fiber for crafting, so gathering it whenever possible saves time later. A sickle tool (unlocked at higher levels) harvests fiber extremely efficiently.
Hide requires killing creatures. Small dinosaurs like Dodos, Lystrosaurus, and Parasaurs provide hide without much danger. Players harvest hide from corpses using picks, hatchets, or their bare hands. Each tool type yields different amounts of hide, meat, and other materials.
Metal becomes important around level 15-20. Players find metal nodes in rocky areas and mountains. Processing metal requires a forge and significantly more infrastructure than basic resources.
Crafting Tools and Building Your First Shelter
Ark: Survival Evolved uses an engram system for crafting recipes. Players spend engram points (earned through leveling) to permanently unlock crafting blueprints. Choosing engrams wisely matters because points are limited.
New players should prioritize these engrams first:
- Stone Pick (Level 1)
- Stone Hatchet (Level 2)
- Campfire (Level 2)
- Spear (Level 3)
- Thatch Foundation, Walls, Ceiling, Doorframe, and Door (Levels 3-4)
- Cloth Armor set (Levels 3-4)
- Storage Box (Level 5)
- Sleeping Bag (Level 3)
The stone pick and hatchet transform resource gathering from tedious to manageable. The campfire cooks meat and provides warmth during cold nights. Spears offer basic defense against smaller predators.
Building a shelter protects players from weather effects and provides a safe logout location. A simple thatch hut requires foundations, walls, a ceiling, a doorframe, and a door. Place foundations on flat ground first, then snap walls to their edges. Ceilings attach to wall tops.
Sleeping bags act as respawn points. Players should place one inside their shelter immediately. Beds (unlocked later) function as permanent respawn points, while sleeping bags disappear after one use.
Storage boxes hold extra supplies. Having dedicated storage prevents inventory clutter and protects resources if the player dies. Dead players drop everything they carried.
Taming Your First Dinosaur
Taming dinosaurs defines the Ark: Survival Evolved experience. Tamed creatures serve as mounts, resource gatherers, guards, and combat companions. The taming process requires patience and preparation.
Most dinosaurs use “knockout taming.” Players render the creature unconscious, then feed it preferred foods until the taming bar fills completely. Carnivores prefer meat (raw or cooked). Herbivores prefer berries or crops.
Beginner-friendly tames include:
- Dodo: Harmless birds that tame quickly with berries
- Parasaur: Fast herbivore useful for early transportation
- Trike (Triceratops): Durable berry gatherer with decent combat ability
- Raptor: Fast carnivore that makes an excellent early mount
Knocking out creatures requires dealing torpor damage. Punching works on small creatures. Slingshots (unlocked at level 5) work better. Tranquilizer arrows (unlocked later) work best.
Once unconscious, approach the creature and access its inventory. Place the appropriate food inside. Narcoberries or Narcotics keep the dinosaur asleep during taming, add them whenever torpor drops too low.
Taming effectiveness determines the bonus levels a creature receives upon completion. Higher effectiveness means a stronger tame. Using preferred foods and avoiding damage to unconscious creatures maximizes effectiveness.
Protect unconscious dinosaurs from predators during taming. Other creatures will attack helpless tames, ruining hours of work.
Leveling Up and Allocating Stats
Characters in Ark: Survival Evolved gain experience through crafting, harvesting, killing creatures, and exploring. Each level grants stat points and engram points to spend.
Stat allocation depends on playstyle, but certain stats benefit all players:
- Health: More survivability against attacks and falls
- Stamina: Run longer, swing tools more, swim farther
- Weight: Carry more resources without slowing down
- Melee Damage: Hit harder, gather resources faster
- Movement Speed: Move faster on foot
New players often invest heavily in weight and stamina. Nothing frustrates beginners more than constant encumbrance or running out of stamina while fleeing predators. A balanced approach works well, spread points across health, stamina, weight, and melee damage.
Fortitude reduces temperature effects and knockout susceptibility. Oxygen extends underwater breath time. Food and water slow hunger and thirst rates. These stats have situational value but lower priority for most players.
Crafting speed affects how quickly players make items. Most experienced players ignore this stat entirely since crafting time rarely creates major problems.
