Rex Tek Saddle

A Rex saddle with a built-in weapon

In ARK: Survival Evolved, a tamed Rex can wear the Rex Tek Saddle, an upgraded version of the regular Rex Saddle. The item text reads: "Equip a Rex with this to ride it." Compared with the regular saddle it gives more armor, and it adds a laser helmet that the rider can fire.

Using the laser helmet

While riding, press the melee key (Ctrl by default) to activate the helmet. Its shots travel ahead of the Rex, do explosive damage and are able to wreck structures; the ARK Wiki puts the damage at around 60 against metal structures and around 1300 against thatch structures.

• Rate of fire is about 2 projectiles per second, with no auto-fire: every shot takes its own click.
• Each projectile costs 4% energy.
• The helmet draws only on Element in the Rex's inventory, and 1 Element is good for 25 shots.

Learning the Tekgram

The saddle can only be used once you have learned its Tekgram. That engram comes from defeating the Forest Titan, the Gamma Nunatak, the Alpha Rockwell, the Alpha Manticore or the Alpha Megapithecus. Like other Tek technology, the saddle can be equipped but not used inside boss arenas.

Recipe and stats

It is crafted in a Tek Replicator or an Exo-Mek, takes 10 seconds and gives 86 XP. The ingredients:

• 1800 Metal Ingot or Scrap Metal Ingot
• 350 Polymer, Organic Polymer or Corrupted Nodule
• 250 Crystal or Primal Crystal
• 100 Black Pearl
• 40 Element or Red Element

The saddle has an armor rating of 45 and 120 durability, weighs 20 and stacks to 1. Our records list it on 12 maps and count 13 crate types that can contain it, among them the Dragon Hoard and the Hard crates of Genesis Part 2 missions such as Bulbdog Fetch and Circuit Chase. They also name the Rex, Tek Rex and Corrupted Rex as creatures that drop it.