Can you tame the bosses in Ark?
As an Ark gamer with over 2000 hours played, I get one question asked more than any other: "Can you tame the epic boss battles that serve as Ark‘s end-game content?"
The short answer is no, Studio Wildcard intentionally designed most bosses to be untamable, even with admin commands. However, a few special exceptions exist across Ark‘s different maps and modes…and I‘m going to walk you through exactly how it works and what‘s possible!
This will be the ultimate insider‘s guide to taming boss creatures, from the Original Bosses to the newer Genesis end-game titans. I‘ll provide tips that only hardcore Ark veterans would know, so strap in for nearly 10 hidden tricks to putting these boss pets to use!
The Original Boss Trio: Broodmother, Ape & Dragon
Let‘s start with Ark‘s original Island bosses that serve as the baseline end-game content: the Broodmother Lysrix spider, Megapithecus ape, and Dragon. Can any of these three iconic bosses be tamed?
Broodmother: This massive spider remains completely untamable, acting as the introductory Island boss fight. No exceptions here.
Megapithecus: The gorilla-like ape boss cannot be tamed normally or with admin commands on The Island. However, there is one exception…
In Genesis Part 2, defeating the Alpha Megapithecus near the Blue Obelisk unlocks a mission where players can temporarily tame and ride it for a short time! This offers a small window into the power of a tamable Megapithecus.
Dragon: As stated on the Ark Fandom wiki, "The Dragon Arena can only be tamed by using the command :admincheat forcetame. This command can only be used by the admin of the server." However, even admin attempts at forcetaming are not successful based on player reports.
So in summary – no tamable original Island bosses in the vanilla game. But we‘re just getting started…because a few mods open up some amazing possibilities!
Mods Unlock Fully Tamable Boss Pets
On unofficial PC servers running mods, full taming of bosses like the Broodmother and Megapithecus becomes possible! Some of my favorites include:
- ARK Additions: Adds tamable boss creatures plus special saddles and skills!
- Kraken‘s Better Bosses: Reskins bosses and gives them unique taming methods.
These allow taming the Island bosses and even riding epic mounts like a giant Broodmother spider across the map for raids! Other mods take things a step further…
Level 1500 Dragon of Destruction
On highly-modded servers, some players have used creature leveling mods to tame up to Level 1500 Dragons with over 1 million health and insane damage. These living engines of destruction can wipe whole bases in seconds!
While you won‘t find power like that on official servers, this shows what‘s possible on custom modded Ark. Now let‘s move onto the Scorched Earth map and its infamous boss duo…
Manticore & Phoenix: Scorched Tamables
The desert map of Scorched Earth brought new challenges for Ark survivors, including two intense boss creatures:
Manticore: This massive mythical beast cannot be tamed on official servers, similar to the vanilla Island bosses. However, mods like Manticore XV allow players to tame and ride it!
Phoenix: The fiery Phoenix already has built-in tamability! One player even used multiple bred Phoenixes to defeat the Alpha Dragon. However, this requires meticulously hand-raising baby Phoenixes, which I‘ll cover later…
First though, let‘s unravel the mysteries around the strange Aberration map…
Aberration Oddities: Rockwell and Nameless
Anyone who has played Aberration knows this cave-riddled map added some truly odd, alien-like creatures. Can you tame the various Aberration bosses and special dinos? Let‘s dig in…
Rockwell: This giant, grotesque body pile of eyes and tentacles serves as Aberration‘s end boss. Unfortunately, Rockwell cannot be tamed on any official or modded servers.
Nameless: These creepy, eel-like creatures seem almost otherworldly. According to Dododex taming stats, Nameless fall into the category of "Non-tamable" Aberration oddities, alongside Reapers and Basilisks.
However, certain creature mods add tamable Alpha Nameless to the game, which sport colorful highlights like green/red/purple!
Now let‘s jump forward to Ark‘s futuristic Extinction map and its powerful Titans…
Extinction Titans: Corrupt Them, Keep Them!
Unlike previous bosses, the massive Titans introduced in Extinction have limited tamability! By destroying the corruption nodes on their bodies, players can temporarily tame Forest, Ice and Desert Titans for 24 hours at a time.
Some key titan taming tips:
- Ice Titam deals most damage, Forest has most health
- Desert Titan hard to maneuver, but soaks turrets well
- Tek saddle platform allows building a mobile base on one
Now if only we could permanently keep our massive Titan pets! Unfortunately even veteran Ark players haven‘t discovered a way to prevent them from self-destructing after 24 hours. But Extinction did add other new dinos…
Corrupted Creatures: Too Far Gone to Save
As the name suggests, Corrupted Creatures cannot be cleansed and tamed after becoming irrevocably altered by Element corruption. Even the mod community hasn‘t discovered a way to reverse their fate.
But what about the newer Genesis map creatures then? Keep reading!
Genesis Part 1: Space Whale and Missions
The space station simulation of Genesis Part 1 confined players and didn‘t include traditional boss battles. However, it did add tameable Space Whales plus special mission-based creature taming!
Space Whale: These giant, neutral creatures gracefully traverse space and can be tamed to serve as escorted transports between planetary regions. They don‘t offer much utility beyond stately space travel though.
Mission Dispatch: When accessing the Genesis Simulation through HLN-A, players can take missions that temporarily tame certain creatures like T-Rexes for mounted combat challenges! But you don‘t keep them afterwards.
That brings us to Ark‘s latest expansion…
Genesis Part 2: Eden‘s Evolution
The natural splendor of Genesis Part 2‘s Eden biome hides the Alpha Predators that dominate its landscape. Fortunately though, HOW TO TAME THE SHADOWMANE IN ARK Here‘s how to tame new cat creature, the Shadowmane, introduced in Ark: Survival Evolved‘s latest expansion, Genesis Part 2.
you can tame these powerful new creatures! Two of my favorites include:
Shadowmane: This large sabretooth cat predator can actually turn invisible to stalk enemy bases! Tame one by gaining its pack leader trust.
Voidwyrm: Find Voidwyrms hovering above the Lunar biome at night. Knock one out quickly before it flees into space! Provides good base defense.
Now I‘ve almost wrapped up our tour of boss tamability across all Ark maps and modes! Let‘s recap the absolute best ones…
Top 5 Tamable Ark Bosses
After reviewing all creatures across every Ark map and mode, these five boss pets stand out as my personal favorites to tame:
- Broodmother (Mod): Who wouldn‘t want to ride a giant spider?
- Phoenix: Great raid partner with heat wave attack.
- Forest Titan: Strongest temporary base defender.
- Shadowmane: Stealthy cat companion with invisibility!
- Voidwyrm: Otherworldly void-dweller guards bases overnight.
I hope this guide has uncovered the mysteries around taming boss creatures in Ark! While most can‘t be tamed, mods, special exceptions, and the newest maps continue expanding what‘s possible as far as boss pets.
Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments, and happy creature taming! Over 2000 hours in Ark teaches you a thing or two 🙂
