Primordial Unleashed Mod Guide

Primordial Unleashed is a creature overhaul for ARK: Survival Ascended by SlayerXtreme (CurseForge ID 980753). It is built around a long, slow progression: you tame one tier of creatures, use them to beat that tier's boss, and only then move on to the next tier. Each tier also brings its own saddles, metals, tools and armor. Our database holds 542 creature entries and 1,190 items from the mod, plus 13 crafting stations.

Before you start

• Maps: the mod spawns its creatures on The Island, Scorched Earth, The Center, Aberration, Extinction, Ragnarok and Valguero. A modded map only gets them if it uses the spawn containers of The Island, Scorched Earth, The Center, Aberration or Extinction.
• Cross-platform: it is marked as cross-platform on CurseForge.
• Beta: the author lists the mod as a beta. Not every planned tier is in yet and bugs are expected. Bug reports go to the author's Discord.
• Gear comes with it: the mod adds its own saddles, weapons, armor and tools for each tier, so you do not need a separate saddle or gear mod next to it.
• Craft the Guide Note: it costs one Fiber and unlocks at level 2. In game, it lists the Stage 1 unlock order shown below.

How the tiers are organised

The mod groups its creatures into three stages. Each stage has progression tiers, which you tame and fight with, and harvest tiers, which gather the mod's metals. A few smaller sub-tiers fill other roles.

The Elemental tier uses Trike, Parasaur, Pachy, Phiomia, Gallimimus, Kaprosuchus and Morellatops in a fire, ice and lightning form. Geomorph takes the same seven creatures into Stage 2 as Inferno, Polar and Raiden forms. The Cargo group is made up of Jerboa, Otter, Oasisaur, Dimorphodon, Quetzal, Paracer, Brontosaurus, Mesopithecus and Kairuku. The Travel group covers Gallimimus, Argentavis, Griffin, Thorny Dragon, Direwolf, Sabertooth, Thylacoleo, Tapejara and Pteranodon.

Progression

Stage 1 unlock order

The in-game Guide Note gives the order. Each step unlocks the next progression tier, and some steps also unlock a harvest metal:

1. Beta unlocks Gamma.
2. Gamma unlocks Elemental and Elementium.
3. Elemental unlocks Apex.
4. Apex unlocks Mystic and Mithril.
5. Mystic unlocks Phantom.
6. Phantom unlocks Neon and Unobtanium.
7. Neon unlocks Nebula.
8. Nebula unlocks Chaos and Eternium.
9. Chaos unlocks Infinity.

Void comes first. The Primordial Shrine and the Beta and Gamma boss tributes are made with Void Ingot. A Void Ingot is two Void Ore and four Metal.

Boss tributes and the Shrine

Each progression tier's boss is summoned with a tribute item. The Primordial Shrine unlocks at level 20. You place summoning materials in it, and the boss appears on top of the structure, so build it somewhere you can fight. The Shrine costs 75 Void Ingot, 50 Stone, 30 Wood, 20 Hide, 125 Cementing Paste, 45 Polymer and 175 Electronics.

Stage 1 tributes use Soul, Soul Dust and Blood from the tier you are fighting, ingots from the matching metal, some artifacts and vanilla apex drops. From Gamma onward, each tribute also needs the Boss Heart dropped by the boss of the tier before it. That Boss Heart is what locks the ladder into order. Stage 2 tributes use a different set of parts from their tier: Eyes, Iris Powder, Eye Juice, Saliva Vials and unfertilized eggs, plus Stage 2 ingots.

Tributes need more artifacts at every step, from one for Beta up to twenty for Eternity. Sangi and Selaph each have a named minion in the mod (Sangi's Minion and Selaph Minion). Each Stage 1 boss drops a Boss Heart and each Stage 2 boss drops a Boss Brain. Refight Tokens let you summon a boss you have already beaten again. The Stage 1 tokens unlock at level 65. The Beta token, for example, costs five artifacts, 5,000 each of Beta Blood, Skin and Bone, ten Beta Souls and a Beta Boss Heart.

Guardians and the end boss

• Gudara (Stage 1 Guardian): the tribute is one Boss Heart from each of the ten Stage 1 bosses. Gudara drops Gudara's Cube, and Gudara armor and a Gudara Trophy are also in the mod.
• FeeBee (Stage 2 Guardian): the tribute is one Boss Brain from each of the ten Stage 2 bosses.
• Phandrus (Stage 3 Guardian): the tribute is 100 each of the five Stage 3 materials: Abyssal Core, Eclipse Fragment, Ethereal Essence, Oblivion Shard and Ragnarok Rune.
• Nyxaris, Harbinger of the End: the tribute is the three Guardian cubes (Gudara's, FeeBee's and Phandrus's). The mod has a tameable version of Nyxaris, and there is a Nyxaris armor set.

Wandering loot bosses

Nine smaller bosses roam the world. Killing them gives you a chance at blueprints for tools, weapons and armor:

Taming and knockout

Taming food

• Stage 1 progression tiers: each tier tames on its own kibble (Beta Kibble for Beta creatures, Chaos Kibble for Chaos creatures, and so on).
• Harvest tiers: each metal has its own kibble, such as Void Kibble or Celestite Kibble.
• Stage 2 progression tiers: carnivores eat a Carno Platter and herbivores a Herby Platter, made from the matching Stage 2 metal. Delta and Sigma use Netherite, Geomorph and Tyrant use Arcanite, Enigma and Shadow use Lumanite, Radiant and Celestial use Genesisite, and Havoc and Eternity use Celestite.
• Kibble needs the tier below: each tier's kibble is made from its own Soul, Soul Dust and Blood, plus farm goods grown from the matching metal (berries, flowers, mushrooms, honey, beer and soup). From Gamma onward it also takes unfertilized eggs from the tier just before it: Gamma Kibble takes Beta eggs, Apex Kibble takes Elemental eggs, Infinity Kibble takes Chaos eggs, and so on. Keep a female of every tier you tame.

Knockout tools

Torpor goes up with each metal tier. Every metal has a tranq arrow, a tranq dart for the Primordial Rifle (darts cannot take attachments) and a melee tranq pike:

At the top sits the Unleashed Tranq arrow at 1000x torpor, crafted from two Eternium Metal Tranqs and one Primordial Metal Arrow. The Primordial Net Gun is described as a way to make some primordial tames easier. Each metal also has its own Narcotic.

Items and stations

Crafting stations

There are also Primordial Dedicated Storage and five metal Crop Plots, from Void (6x greenhouse effect) to Eternium (14x).

Gear and consumables

• Saddles: our database lists 357. The CurseForge page says wild creatures of a tier drop good-quality saddles for that tier. Some are special: four work as a mobile smithy, three are build platforms, several Stage 2 horse and unicorn saddles let you craft chemistry supplies on the move, and the Eclipse Tapejara and Geomorph Gallimimus saddles have three seats. Hyaenodons get meat packs that carry and preserve more meat.
• Armor: Void, Elementium, Mithril, Unobtanium and Eternium sets, plus boss sets for Gudara, FeeBee and Nyxaris.
• Weapons: the Primordial Wood Bow, Metal Bow, Rifle (level 35) and Net Gun. There is also the Primordial Raft.
• Elixirs: each metal brews crafting-speed, damage, weight, health, food and stamina elixirs. They get stronger with each metal: crafting and damage boosts go from 200 for 5 minutes (Void) to 1000 for 25 minutes (Eternium), and weight from 2x to 10x.
• Breeding: the Growth Elixir makes a baby an adult at once, the Imprint Elixir gives 100% imprint and the Mating Elixir resets a female's mating cooldown. The mod has 335 fertilized egg items.

Tips

• Never kill your last tamed female of a tier. You will need her unfertilized eggs for the next tier's kibble.
• Save one Boss Heart from every Stage 1 boss and one Boss Brain from every Stage 2 boss. The Guardian tributes need all ten.
• Get a harvest creature of each new metal as soon as it unlocks: the ingots are in every tribute.
• Build the Shrine in an open area. The boss spawns right on top of it.
• Stock up on artifacts early. The Stage 2 tributes need eleven to twenty each.
• Hunt the wandering loot bosses for gear blueprints.
• The mod is still in beta, so check its changelog when something here differs in game.

Every creature, item and loot drop of the mod is listed on its mod page, with spawn commands.