Minigun

A rotary gun that needs winding up

The Minigun is a deployable weapon in ARK: Survival Evolved and ARK: Survival Ascended, and a different item from the Minigun Turret. The game describes it as a "Deployable rotary machine gun that needs to be manned to fire at a target. Provides increased firepower after winding up, but consumes bullets quickly while firing." It arrived with the Genesis: Part 2 DLC, and the ARK Wiki also lists Fjordur, Lost Island and Genesis: Part 1. The wiki adds that a Minigun stays on the ARK where it was made: one crafted on Genesis: Part 2 cannot be carried over to Scorched Earth.

Spin-up, heat and deploying

• Spin-up: the gun can be spun up without shooting, which raises the rate of fire. After spinning down, the faster rate and a quicker mouse sensitivity hold for a short time, handy for swinging to a new target.
• Overheating: the gun does not cool while it keeps firing. It overheats after 6 seconds of fire when held and after 12 seconds when deployed, and then it can neither shoot nor spin up until it has cooled. The wiki suggests reloading during that pause; it also cools passively, so swapping to another weapon while waiting works too.
• Deployed: pressing Left Ctrl sets it down. There it has no recoil or scatter, spins up faster, cannot hurt friendly dinos, gains durability and needs no reload, but it cannot move and only covers a limited angle. Picking a deployed Minigun up returns the bullets inside and leaves the magazine empty.

Ammunition and targets

It is costly to run: the wiki puts 6 seconds of fire at 118 Advanced Rifle Bullets. While it spins or fires, the survivor turns and moves more slowly, which is why the wiki advises against fast, circling targets such as alpha raptors. Large or slow targets suit it, since every shot can land. It cannot be deployed inside boss arenas, and the wiki reports a damage reduction against bosses, tested on the Crystal Wyvern Queen.

Crafting the Minigun

The engram unlocks at level 94 for 35 engram points; its prerequisite is the Longneck Rifle. One Minigun costs:

• 500 Metal Ingot (or Scrap Metal Ingot)
• 175 Polymer (Organic Polymer or Corrupted Nodule also work)
• 100 Cementing Paste (or Achatina Paste)
• 10 Electronics

Crafting takes 30 seconds and gives 360 XP. The gun weighs 20 and has 200 durability; repairs take half the recipe amounts, for example 87.5 Polymer and 250 Metal Ingot. 19 crate types can contain one, among them Genesis Purple on Genesis Part 2, the Lost Island Ruins, and the hard Bulbdog Fetch and Circuit Chase missions.