Portable Rope Ladder

A ladder that unrolls downward

The Portable Rope Ladder came with Aberration in ARK: Survival Evolved and is used for climbing to higher ground and back down. The game's instructions: "A portable ladder that can be used to climb up or down. Place onto structures or terrain at waist height or lower." Wooden Ladder and Rope Ladder pieces join together in sections, but this one does not: once placed, it unrolls downward until it meets a surface or reaches its length limit. Besides Aberration, our records list it on Valguero, Crystal Isles, Fjordur, Lost Island and Genesis Part 2.

Placing and handling it

• Set it onto a structure or the terrain at waist height or below.
• It cannot be used until it has fully extended, which can take several seconds from a great height.
• After that it is climbed and demolished like a normal ladder.

Holding the use key on it adds three options:

• Retract Ladder: rolls it up and out of use; this only works from the top.
• Enable Public Retraction: lets other players retract it.
• Pickup Portable Rope Ladder: returns it to your inventory to place again, from the top or the bottom.

Crafting and caution

The engram unlocks at level 15 for 7 engram points. It is crafted in the inventory from 180 Fiber, 140 Thatch and 15 Fungal Wood, taking 3 seconds for 0.498 XP. A ladder weighs 10, and a full stack of 100 weighs 1000. Loot can supply it as well: 52 crate types can contain it, for example the Aberration Blue, Purple and Red crates and their bonus versions.

At 100 health it is fragile. The ARK Wiki suggests retracting it when not in use wherever wild dinos might hit it, and calls it a good item to bring along for exploring or climbing with Climbing Picks.