Tek Gauntlets

Gauntlets built for punching

Tek Gauntlets are the hand piece of the Tek Armor set in ARK: Survival Evolved and ARK: Survival Ascended. Item text: "Highly advanced gauntlets that allow the wearer to perform devastating punches. Equipping requires learning this Tekgram." A pair carries an armor rating of 180 and 300 durability, and weighs 3.

The charged punch

Holding the right mouse button charges a punch, released once the crosshair turns green over a target. The ARK Wiki puts its base damage at 40, scaling with the melee stat, and it can hit several enemies that stand close together. Aimed at trees and rocks, the punch harvests them, and with Tek Leggings it can be delivered from above. When a shield is equipped, hold the right button first and then the left.

The gauntlets double as a movement tool. Because the punch halts a boost, the wiki suggests cancelling it by equipping the map or selecting a structure in the hotbar mid-boost; done this way, they carry you across long distances fast and around obstacles in flight. A fully encumbered survivor can also use them to get airborne, and paired with the Tek Chestpiece and Tek Leggings this becomes a way to haul large loads over long distances.

Unlocking the Tekgram

The gauntlets cannot be equipped until their Tekgram is learned. It is earned by defeating the Gamma versions of the Crystal Wyvern Queen, Rockwell, Manticore or Megapithecus, or the Forest Titan; beating the harder difficulties also grants it. Once learned, a Tek Replicator or Exo-Mek crafts a pair in 5 seconds for 2.69 XP:

• 450 Metal Ingot or Scrap Metal Ingot
• 120 Polymer, Organic Polymer, or Corrupted Nodule
• 120 Crystal or Primal Crystal
• 55 Black Pearl
• 20 Element or Red Element

Repairs use the same amounts without the Element: 450 Metal Ingot, 120 Polymer, 120 Crystal and 55 Black Pearl.

Stronger copies and loot

The Mosa Proposal mission on Genesis: Part 1 can reward higher-quality gauntlets with around 1940 armor and 1500 durability, but the wiki notes these cannot be ground up in an Industrial Grinder or by a Tropeognathus. Our records also count 46 crate types that can contain the gauntlets, such as Dragon Hoard, the Desert Titan crate on Extinction, and the Orbital Hard and Orbital Legendary crates of Astraeos and Extinction.