Prehistoric Beasts Part III Mod Guide

Prehistoric Beasts Part III is the third creature pack of Prehistoric Beasts for ARK: Survival Ascended, a separate mod with ten more creatures. This pack leans toward the water: a pearl-making fish, a friendly sea mount, a resource-making sea slug, a fast mosasaur relative and a healing amphibian, plus an ice pterosaur, a burrowing ambusher, a pack tyrannosaur, a flat ankylosaur and an armored sauropod. If you are new to the series, start with our Prehistoric Beasts Part 1 guide. The other packs, Part II, Part IV and Part V, each have their own mod page.

The creatures at a glance

Axelrodichthys

A quick fish with plenty of stamina that works as a mount in any ocean. It makes Silica Pearls on its own, can pick up as many as three Black Pearls after it kills a fish, and also harvests prime fish meat. Against Salmon, Piranha, Coelacanth and Hyneria it does five times the damage. Tame it like an Otter by feeding it fish corpses; a Salmon is best. Server owners can switch off its Black Pearl ability in the ini.

Cryodrakon

A relative of the Quetzal that cannot carry a base but is far quicker and can dive like a Griffin. It needs a running start to take off. It grabs prey, and after swallowing a creature whole it gets a healing buff like an Argentavis. Eating small creatures fills its ice meter, and while the meter builds it coats itself in ice that blocks some damage. A full meter powers a heavy snowball throw that may freeze the target. It also has an ice bomb, icicle spit and a blizzard wing flap.

The tame has two steps. First damage it until it has lost a quarter of its health and a bright light shows around its head; do not overdo it, or the knockout gets hard. Then tranquilize it and feed it Gem of the Northern King, an uncommon drop from other Cryodrakons.

Dolichorhynchops

A fast, friendly plesiosaur and a good first sea mount. You can ride it without a saddle and use weapons from its back. It leaps from the surface like a Basilosaurus, has a gang bonus up to +6 and hits squid harder. The Dolichorhynchops Jaw Attachement adds damage. It is a passive tame: swim next to its head and feed it Regular Kibble. You can also kill the parents and claim the baby.

Giant Sea Slug

You cannot ride it, but on wander it produces Squiddige, Bio Toxin, honey and Leech Blood. Squiddige matters most: it is the only food that tames a Hainosaurus, and baby Hainosaurus eat nothing else. Hitting a wild slug adds torpor to the attacker. A single Fish Cake tames one of any level, and from then on it only eats Fish Cakes. It has no saddle and drops no chibi.

Hainosaurus

A strong, fast and agile relative of the Mosasaurus that senses danger by smell. It uses echolocation like a Parasaur, shrugs off the stun of Cnidaria and Electrophorus, and can see a camouflaged Paleoctopus. Each kill gives it Killer Instincts, which stacks five times for up to triple damage. Tamed, it prefers Squiddige and eats meat less efficiently. It is a knockout tame, but only Squiddige tames it, so tame a Giant Sea Slug first. Each Hainosaurus has a 5% chance to spawn as an alpha.

Koolasuchus

A cold-loving amphibian that digs into the ground and waits for prey, often near penguins. It can stay buried or burst out to ambush. When it comes up, mud on its skin hides it and blocks a little damage; the longer it stayed down, the longer the mud lasts, up to 90 seconds. It keeps its rider insulated from cold and heat and gets a hydration buff in water. It gathers organic polymer well and, underground, turns organic and corrupted polymer into hard Polymer at about a 10% loss.

Taming works like a Pegomastax: put its food in the 0 slot of your hotbar and let it grab and bite you. Mutton is best, then prime meat; it takes no kibble. Bring healing, because it does not let go easily. Wild ones have a 50% chance to drop a Koolasuchus stomach bag that can hold saddles, chibis and other loot.

Lythronax

A tyrannosaur that shines in a pack. Alone it is a little stronger than an Allosaurus; in a group it hits much harder, and its roar adds a pack bonus. The pack leader's gore bite causes Hemophilia, so the target takes more damage and loses stamina faster, and eating a corpse with that bite heals it like an Argentavis. A headbutt works while moving, and the Lythronax Tek Saddle adds armor powered by Element.

Tame it in two steps. Bring it under 25% health: it starts to roar, a pink glow appears around its head, and it stops attacking you. Then feed it a wild or tamed corpse of a Daeodon, Triceratops, Phiomia, Parasaur or Moschops. Modded alternatives of those may not count.

Pinacosaurus

A very flat ankylosaur made to guard. Its protection stance makes hostile creatures attack it instead of you or your tames; your tames cannot attack while it is active, and if you attack, the enemy sees you again. Its hits have a 10% chance to break a bone: the target slows by 40%, cannot heal, and that hit does four times the damage. A healing tame such as a Daeodon, Snow Owl, Prionosuchus or Yangchuanosaurus can mend it. Taming costs nothing: pet it, much like a Hyaenodon, but with no ghillie needed and no running away. Other Pinacosaurus nearby get jealous and mob you, so pick one that is alone.

Prionosuchus

A healer for ocean tribes. In water it heals creatures around it, passively or when you hold the button, at the cost of its oxygen, in the way a Daeodon heals. In water it gets a buff to damage and speed, and it raises the damage of nearby amphibians such as Koolasuchus and Diplocaulus. You fish it out of the ocean with Temnospondyl Treats on your rod, and a better rod helps. The treat uses Leech Blood, raw fish meat, Silica Pearls and Superior Kibble.

Saltasaurus

A small sauropod that moves faster than the big ones but still harvests berries, wood and thatch well. Its body armor is very strong, so it is hard to kill under you. It has directional stomps and tail swipes, a dust tail swipe and a healing roar. That armor also blocks tranquilizers: break it first, then any knockout method works, and if it repairs, break it again. Feed it Superior Kibble, then Citronal, Longrass, Rockarrot or Savoroot, then Mejoberries. Look for it near Lirainosaurus from Part IV.

Variants and alphas

Our database lists 35 creature entries for Part III: the ten base creatures plus their variants. These include Scorched, Aberrant and Lost map versions, X- and R- versions in the Genesis style, Eerie Hainosaurus and Pinacosaurus, a Tek Koolasuchus and a Crystal Saltasaurus. The Alpha Hainosaurus is the pack's alpha and a good source of saddle blueprints and chibis, and the Skeletal Hainosaurus drops a skeletal skin and chibi. See the full creature list for every entry and its spawn command.

Server notes

• Single player: the mod author advises turning off hibernation, because the mod's spawn control only works when it is off.
• Ini options: Part III reads its options from a [PrehistoricBeasts3] header in GameUserSettings.ini. If you change an option, copy it under the header of every Prehistoric Beasts part you run.

Getting started

• Early game: passive-tame a Dolichorhynchops to travel the sea, and an Axelrodichthys for pearls.
• Prepare: craft a Fish Cake for a Giant Sea Slug; its Squiddige is your key to a Hainosaurus.
• Base: a Pinacosaurus guards the base and a Saltasaurus harvests and tanks.
• Late game: fish up a Prionosuchus to heal your sea team, and tame a Lythronax pack or a Cryodrakon for combat.

Saddles, eggs, trophies and the pack's consumables, such as Squiddige, Fish Cake and Temnospondyl Treat, are listed under items, and each creature's drops under loot drops. Everything in the pack is on the Prehistoric Beasts Part III mod page.

Further reading: the mod team's own Prehistoric Beasts guide on Steam covers every part of the mod, with the ini options of each creature.