ARK: Survival Ascended Beginner's Guide: Day One, Engrams and Taming Dinosaurs

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1. Spawn somewhere safe After creating your survivor you choose a spawn region. On your first try, pick a coastal region labelled as easy; the interior and forests are full of creatures you cannot handle early on.
2. Start with bare hands Punching trees gives wood and thatch, using E on bushes gives berries and fiber, and E also picks up small stones. According to the wiki, the Stone Pick needs no engram and can be crafted from the start with wood and stone. Unlocked recipes appear in the craftables list on V.
3. Use the right tool According to the wiki, a Stone Pick yields more thatch than wood from trees, more flint than stone from rocks and more meat than hide from corpses; a hatchet does the opposite. Pick your tool based on what you are short of.
4. Spend your level points When you level up, open your inventory with I and add points to your stats. Health, stamina and weight help most early. Then spend engram points on basics such as clothing, a spear, a campfire and a sleeping bag.
5. Sort out water and food You can drink at the water's edge with E. According to the wiki, eating raw meat costs health, while cooked meat fills you more and spoils more slowly. Light a campfire and cook it. If your food or water bar hits zero, you start losing health.
6. Place a sleeping bag or bed You need a respawn point. With a sleeping bag or bed you respawn near your gear instead of on a random beach.
7. Build a small shelter Thatch is the cheapest early shelter but it is weak. Put up a few walls, a door and a roof to stay safe from the night cold and small creatures, and move to wood as materials build up.
8. Get your first tame Start with a small, docile herbivore. Knocking it out and feeding it the right food is the basic method, explained step by step in the tips below. A first mount or pack animal multiplies your gathering speed.

• Knock-out tamingAccording to the official wiki, you first knock the creature out with a slingshot, a wooden club or Tranquilizer Arrows from a bow. Once it is unconscious, open its inventory and add its preferred food; the taming bar rises each time it eats. Carnivores eat meat, herbivores eat berries and crops.
• Keep it asleepWhile taming, the creature's torpor drops. According to the wiki, you keep it unconscious by force-feeding Narcoberries or Narcotics with E in its inventory; if it wakes up, everything in its inventory is lost.
• Do not punch an unconscious tameAccording to the wiki, punching an unconscious creature keeps its torpor up but lowers taming effectiveness, which means a weaker tame. Use narcotics instead.
• Tame somewhere protectedTaming can take a long time and an unconscious creature attracts predators. Wall it in, stay close or set a strong tame to guard it.
• Dress for the temperatureHold H to see temperature, time and location. In extreme cold or heat your survivor gets hungry, thirsty and tired much faster; fiber clothing and a fire are the cheapest early fixes.
• Recover your body carefullyWhen you die, your inventory stays on your body and is marked on the map. Do not rush back unprepared, since whatever killed you is probably still there. Craft a tool and some clothes first.
• Watch your weightCarrying more than your limit slows you down and eventually stops you moving. Stone and metal are heavy; bringing a pack creature on gathering runs solves this.
• Learn whistle commandsHolding T opens a menu to tell tames to follow, stay, turn aggressive or passive. Tames you do not set to follow stay put, and this menu is essential once you travel with several animals.
• Pick a smart base spotChoose flat ground near water with few predators passing through. Close your doors; in ARK an open door means night-time visitors.
• Use single-player settingsAccording to the wiki, single-player settings let you earn enough engram points to unlock everything. If you are learning alone, they are more forgiving than multiplayer servers.

• Spawning inland or heading straight into the jungle: early predators will catch you with no way to escape.
• Going far without a sleeping bag: you respawn on a random beach, far from your gear.
• Spending engram points on decorative structures: clothing, tools and taming gear fall behind.
• Leaving an unconscious creature unguarded: a predator kills it or it wakes up and the food you put in is lost.
• Eating raw meat and skipping cooking: raw meat costs health and spoiled food is wasted.

This guide was written for version: This guide reflects the game as of September 2026. Default keys follow the PC table on the official wiki; the game is in early access, so controls and mechanics may change.

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