Unstable Element
Refined Element Dust that is unstable. Over time it will stabilize and become element.
Details
- Category
- Resource
- Games
- ASE + ASA
- Expansion
- Extinction
- Recipe
- 1 ingredient
- Item ID
- 528
Engram
How you unlock it
- Required level
- 58
- Engram points
- 6
- How to unlock
- Manual
Maps
Found on 2 maps
Video guides: search YouTube for Unstable Element guides
How to craft Unstable Element
Unstable Element is crafted from 1 ingredient. The engram unlocks at level 58, costs 6 engram points, takes 30 seconds, gives 0 XP.
Ingredients
For one craft
Unstable Element — Detailed Guide
Element Dust on a timer
Unstable Element is a resource in ARK: Survival Evolved that turns into regular 
Element after a short wait. The game describes it as "Refined Element Dust that is unstable. Over time it will stabilize and become element." It runs on a spoil timer of 2 minutes, and when the timer ends the item converts into standard Element.
Crafting it from Element Dust
The engram unlocks at level 58 for 6 engram points. One Unstable Element costs 1000 
Element Dust and is crafted in the survivor's inventory or in a 
Makeshift Megalab. It takes 30 seconds, and the wiki lists 0 crafting XP. It weighs 0.05 and has a stack size of 1.
Maps and DLC
The ARK Wiki places it in Extinction and also lists Genesis: Part 2, Lost Island, Fjordur and Aquatica; our records also list Lost Colony. The wiki gives 285.104 as the version that added it. It is a separate item from Element, 
Element Shard, 
Element Ore, Element Dust and Unstable Element Shard.
Quirks worth knowing
- The conversion uses the spoilage timer, and the wiki notes that raising the spoilage multiplier works against Unstable Element and its shards.
- The wiki reports a bug where it sometimes does not spoil at all; dropping the item and then grabbing it again can fix that now and then.
- Before Extinction was released, the item looked like a brown version of
Polymer.