Elemental Ark Mod Guide

Elemental Ark is a creature mod for ARK: Survival Evolved (Steam mod ID 1576299694). It gives familiar creatures one of seven elements, or a mix of two, and builds a game of strengths and weaknesses around them, with bosses, dragons you raise in stages, elemental weapons and its own crafting stations. Our database holds 306 creature entries and 818 items from the mod, plus 17 crafting stations.

Before you start

• Maps: the mod team says it works on every map, Genesis included, and keeps spawn lists for the official maps. Modded maps that borrow The Island's spawners should get elementals too. If yours does not, make your own with the Essence emitter or the Infusion Chamber (see below).
• Load order: the Workshop page says it does not matter, and the mod is stackable apart from a few creatures.
• Replaced creatures: the vanilla Wyverns, Rock Golem, Jerboa, the lantern pets, Managarmr, Gasbags, Phoenix, Araneo and a few others are swapped for elemental versions, so another mod editing them can clash.
• Normal creatures are weak here: a creature without an element deals far less damage to elementals and takes a debuff called elemental feedback. Hitting an elemental with an ordinary weapon gives you feedback too. Plan to get elemental tames and weapons early.

The seven elements

An attack the target is weak against also gives it elemental feedback.

Note: the mod's own Water page names Lightning plus a second weakness, but gives Air in one place and Nature in another, so check it in game.

Hybrid elements

Four pairs of elements combine into hybrids. Each one fits a party role:

The catch: riding a hybrid after dark draws Hunters (see below).

Catalyst combos

Hit a creature with an element it is weak to, then follow up with the matching second element for a bonus effect:

• Lightning, then Air: a blast that throws even large creatures around.
• Air, then Stone: stone shards that cause heavy bleeding.
• Fire and Nature (either order): a high-damage explosion.
• Stone, then Lightning: lightning jumps to nearby creatures and stuns them briefly.
• Water, then Ice: the target freezes; breaking the ice before it thaws deals heavy damage.

Taming and knockout

Ordinary tranquilizers on an elemental give you feedback, so the mod has its own tranq arrows and darts in four strengths: the Elemental Tranq Arrow and Elemental Tranquilizer Dart, then Greater, Exceptional and Superior grades. Higher grades need rarer materials, all of them make the target hungrier, and the top dart, the Elemental Shocking Dart, also stuns every few seconds.

Creatures that knock out for you

• Stone Wyvern: spits boulders that deal raid torpor, the kind giants such as the Titanosaur and Rock Golems need.
• Nature Wyvern: its breath bursts into a cloud of sleeping gas.
• Pachy: the Stone form deals raid torpor and the Nature form very high torpor.
• Lymantria: Nature ones spread sleeping spores; Fen ones grow plants that cause heavy torpor but also heavy damage.
• Nature Glowtail, Featherlight and Snow Owl: sleeping poison, or a sleepy hug from the owl.
• Nature Chalicotherium and Beelzebufo: very high torpor, though the Chalicotherium's ranged attack also does heavy damage.
• Fen Tusoteuthis: more torpor while it holds a creature, friends included.

Special tames

• Woolly Rhinoceros: the basic elemental forms tame passively. The Glacial form starts the same way, then gains trust as you kill enemies near it while an Ice and a Stone rhino are close by.
• Troodon: unlike the vanilla one, the elemental Troodon can be tamed by knocking it out.
• Mantis: the omni-elemental Mantis is tamed with spoiled or raw meat or Omnielemental kibble after you lure it (see Golems below). Put an elemental sword in its weapon slot and it takes that element.
• Gacha: the peaceful omni-elemental Gacha turns elemental resources and items you feed it into elemental resources and gear.

Essence and making elementals

Essence drives almost every recipe. There are twelve kinds: the seven elements, the four hybrids and Unstable essence. Creatures drop it when they die, and you can also gather it without killing:

• Elemental Sickle: plants give Nature, Air and Water essence.
• Elemental Pick and Elemental Hatchet: trees, stone, metal and obsidian give Stone, Lightning, Ice and Fire essence.
• Elemental Otter: harvests essence from bushes, rocks and small trees, and heals nearby allies at a torpor cost.
• Nature Compost Bin: turns materials such as stone, wood, obsidian and fiber into essence.
• Elemental siphon: slowly drains essence from elemental creatures.
• Essence extractor: takes pure essence from one of your own elementals, which weakens it for a while.

Luminescent essence comes from large lantern pets, drained by elemental Jerboas standing near them. An Essence vivarium stores both and keeps the essence coming.

Two tools turn normal creatures into elementals. The Essence emitter is sprayed on yourself or a creature and makes nearby wild creatures change over time, with the local climate deciding the element; a shimmer means it is working. The Infusion Chamber converts a creature you place on it, using materials that depend on the creature.

Progression and bosses

All the mod's bosses are immune to every damage type except their weaknesses, so bring the right element. A typical path looks like this:

1. Incarnates: kill Jerboas for their skulls and build a Jerboa Skull Pyre. The Incarnate it calls, a giant elemental Jerboa, can only be hurt by creatures smaller than a Rex, hits bigger ones much harder, and drops an elemental Jerboa.
2. Luminescent essence: park the elemental Jerboa near lantern pets.
3. Light pets: extract the light of a Bulbdog, Featherlight, Glowtail or Shinehorn and combine it with pure essence. Tiny shoulder versions buff everyone in their light.
4. Avengers: mid-tier dragon bosses summoned with an Avenger Lure and luminescent essence. Each element has its own trick, from the Stone Avenger's glare (look away) to the Lightning Avenger's storm clouds. They drop a dragon egg.
5. Golems: rip the core from a tamed Rock Golem (it dies) to make a Fire or Stone golem at the infuser, or kill a wild Fen, Glacial or Vapor golem for its core. Storm golems may appear when rock golems die, more often in rain. Golem kills yield extra loot such as mantis pheromone and spider legs; the pheromone makes the Mantis attractor and the Mantis cologne.
6. Hunters: ride a hybrid at night and Hunters form from nearby creatures. Kill them for Unstable essence and hybrid essences. Charge light weakens them, and daylight ends them.
7. Elemental wrath: a Daylight generator, made with Unstable essence and placed at night, pulls in waves of Hunters. Hold it, and a Wrath may come. Its element swaps come with a big explosion (resist grenades help). It drops a dawn or dusk fury.
8. Fury: ride a dawn fury (Light fury in our database) in daylight next to a dusk fury (Dark fury) to make it furious. Kills while furious can open a white rift that brings the pure Fury, a boss with seven phases.

Other bosses

• Dodo King: craft a Wooden sword at the Elemental smithy and club elemental Dodos until a red mist appears. It takes no damage from creatures the size of a Rex or larger, so fight it with small ones.
• Unstable spiders: gather Spider legs, craft the spider summoner and fill it with 100 each of two crystal types: Fire and Ice, Fire and Water, Air and Stone, or Lightning and Nature. Defend it during the countdown. Their trophies lead on to the omni-elemental spider queen, which can absorb essence from creatures, friendly ones included.

Raising dragons

1. Hatchling: hatches from an Avenger egg, which handles any temperature. It grows to a juvenile near a Wyvern or Rock Drake of its element, or by eating Incarnate meat. Once it has enough affinity, choose grow from its menu while it is not mounted or following.
2. Juvenile: barely flies and cannot be ridden. Pair two juveniles of counter elements and kill creatures together until both show each other's element, then grow them from the radial menu. They merge into one adolescent.
3. Adolescent: Fen (Water and Nature) heals allies with its breath, Glacial (Stone and Ice) deals raid torpor and taunts, Storm (Lightning and Air) hits hard and is the fastest, and Vapor (Fire and Water) partly blinds enemies.
4. Xeno-adult: make Reaper steak from reaper hunter flesh at the synthesis table, feed it to an adolescent and bathe it in glow light until it can grow. The Xeno Dragon burrows, carries creatures up to Rex size and has a spin attack on the melee key (Ctrl by default).

A fully grown hatchling can also ride on your shoulder for four times the XP plus its element's bonus. Elemental Reapers in all four hybrids can also be made at the infuser from reaper hunter flesh and pure hybrid essence.

Weapons, items and stations

Weapons

• Swords, arrows and sabers: one per element, made at the Elemental smithy. Sabers burn plasma, and the all-element saber runs on omni crystals.
• Machined pistol, rifle and sniper: fire elemental essence as ammo.
• Rockets and grenades: a rocket for each element (Stone ones deal raid torpor), and Fire, Air and Ice grenades that trigger a catalyst on their own.
• Railgun: fires hybrid rails. Fen rails deal torpor, Glacial rails raid torpor, Storm rails make the target take more damage and Vapor rails blind it.
• Utility pistol: three modes on the aim key: Force land for flyers, Neverstuck (a following creature ploughs through trees and rocks for 15 minutes) and Knockback.

Potions

Each element has a potion and a refillable canteen, from Air (high jumps, no fall damage) to Water (breathing underwater). There are also healing and experience potions.

Crafting stations

• Elemental smithy: weapons and armor.
• Elemental alchemy table: turns essence and basic materials into rare resources.
• Elemental synthesis table: fuses elemental resources into complex items, including catalyst crystals and Reaper steak.
• Elemental infuser: fuses pure essences into hybrid essence and makes golems, reapers and other special creatures.
• Elemental condenser: makes Element from essence, luminescent essence or crystals of every element.
• Hybrid turrets: Fen, Glacial, Storm and Vapor turrets need Tek power or the mod's wireless energy emitter, fed by nearby Lightning creatures, plus matching luminescent hybrid essence.

Server settings

Settings go in GameUserSettings.ini, one section per element: ElementalArk_Air, ElementalArk_Fire and so on, including the hybrids. Useful keys:

• DisableElementalFeedback (default false): set it to true to stop feedback when a normal creature attacks an elemental.
• NonElementalEfficiency: the damage multiplier from normal creatures. The FAQ says to set the normal damage ratio to 1 for every element to remove the penalty.
• CatalystDamageMultiplier (default 5.0): catalyst damage.
• EArk_NightTerrors: Hunter spawns, with SpawnEnemyChance (default 0.7) and CheckInterval (default 10; the mod warns against going below 1).
• ElementalArk_SpawnControl: caps such as FenGolem and StormGolem (default 5 each), and DisableCreatureReplace if special spawns cause lag.
• ElementalArk_Vivarium: EssenceQtyPerJerboa (default 10) and LuminQtyPerJerboa (default 1).

Admins can spawn a Creature storage box. The FAQ uses it to fix creatures that show as level 1 or have odd colors: box the creature, then release it.

Tips

• Learn the element chart first. A tame of the wrong element barely scratches a boss.
• Craft the elemental Sickle, Pick and Hatchet early. Essence goes into nearly everything.
• A Nature or Stone torpor creature saves a lot of tranq ammo.
• Do not ride hybrids at night until you are ready for Hunters. If they come, wait for sunrise.
• Do not bite elemental Dimetrodons blindly: their fins reflect a lot of damage. A Spinosaurus on all fours does the same to large or flying attackers.

Every creature, item and loot drop of the mod is listed on its mod page. For working spawn codes, use the mod team's own spreadsheet linked from their website.

Further reading: the mod team's own website, elementalark.net, with its FAQ and progression paths, and the Steam Workshop page.