Chibi-Hyanadeer

A rare chibi from a winter event

Listed as rare, the Chibi-Hyanadeer is a miniature companion pet for ARK: Survival Ascended. The ARK Wiki ties it to ARK: Winter Wonderland 2023 and gives 33.11 as the version that added it. The wiki also flags the name with "sic": the spelling is kept exactly as the game writes it, even if it may look wrong.

How it raises your level cap

Its description explains the reward: "Earn XP from Alpha creature kills when equipped, to increase its level and earn additional max-levels for your Survivor!" While it is equipped, kills of certain predators feed it experience, and it can level up five times. Every level it gains permanently raises the maximum level of the survivor wearing it at that moment by 1, up to 5 extra levels.

In ASA the creatures that count include the Alpha Basilisk, the Alpha Mosasaur, the Alpha Leedsichthys and the Enraged Corrupted Triceratops, plus a group the wiki marks as ASA-only, such as the Astral Argentavis, the Astral Mammoth, the Alpha Palaeoctopus and the Enraged Lightning Triceratops.

Wearing it

ASA gives chibi-pets their own Chibi slot. Beyond the level bonus the pet is mostly cosmetic: it keeps near its owner, sits in the survivor's lap during a ride and stays close by at bedtime. The game treats it as an item and not as a skin: it falls with the rest of the inventory when the survivor dies, and it is lost if those belongings are never picked up again. It weighs 0 and stacks to 1.