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How to tame Dreadnoughtus in ARK Survival Ascended Extinction

ARK Survival Ascended Extinction introduced a new tameable dino recently - the Dreadnoughtus. Perhaps the tallest dino in the game, it’s generally pretty harmless. An herbivore by nature, it wanders the wasteland without fear of any predators. However, it can become quite aggressive around other similar-sized dinosaurs.

Thanks to player voting, Dreadnoughtus was added in the latest Extinction update. While it might be challenging to pick this giant dinosaur up and add it to your collection, here’s what you need to know about taming ARK Survival Ascended Extinction’s Dreadnoughtus.


How to find a Dreadnoughtus in ARK Survival Ascended Extinction

Thankfully, finding a Dreadnought shouldn’t be hard in this latest DLC update of ARK Survival Ascended Extinction. They spawn on any wasteland area. So not any of the fancy biomes, the sulfur area, or the city. That and it certainly helps that the Dreadnoughtus is a dinosaur that certainly stands out. It’s a gigantic saruopoda dinosaur — one with a really long neck.

These huge friends aren't hard to find in the wild - the hard part is the patience it takes to get them to an element vein (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)
These huge friends aren't hard to find in the wild - the hard part is the patience it takes to get them to an element vein (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)

They tend to wander around alone, but they can be spotted nearby one another. Unfortunately, we do not have any exact coordinates at this time, but they will not be hard to find out in the wild. You’ll also notice that no other dinosaurs actively try to fight them. Not these mighty dinos - ARK Survival Ascended Extinction’s Dreadnoughtus is without peer.


ARK Survival Ascended Extinction Dreadnoughtus taming guide

Defeat any purple-colored dinos that are nearby - they want to harm your Dreadnoughtus (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)
Defeat any purple-colored dinos that are nearby - they want to harm your Dreadnoughtus (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)

If you want to tame a Dreadnoughtus in ARK Survival Ascended Extinction, you need two essential things for that to happen. You need a wandering Dreadnoughtus in the wild, and an element vein — look for the glowing purple rocks.

It appears that you start with a lower taming threshold on the lower tier element veins as well. Look for an alpha element vein for best results. Use your spyglass to find the vein — getting too close will start the waves of enemies spawning.

The downside is that you might not have a good element vein near the first Dreadnoughtus you find. When you find one in the wild, look around to find the closest element vein. You need to feed the Dreadnoughtus element, so it will follow you for one minute. You have to keep feeding it — and it moves very slowly.

These corrupted dinos can shred through Dreadnoughtus' shields - don't let them! (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)
These corrupted dinos can shred through Dreadnoughtus' shields - don't let them! (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)

Honestly, it may be easier to simply find an alpha element vein, and spawn a Dreadnought in yourself with a console command. It can be a ridiculously long, slow walk to find the right Dreadnoughtus near a good vein in ARK Survival Ascended Extinction.

You also cannot have any tamed dinos out either while doing this. The Dreadnoughtus will almost certainly attack them, so you have to go out into the wilderness alone. That’s another reason that taming this dinosaur can be incredibly frustrating.

Once you see the Dreadnoughtus break some of the elements, you no longer need to feed it. Now it’s locked on to the elemental veins, which is great. Now you have to defend the Dreadnoughtus from waves of corrupted creatures.

Once this screen pops up, you've completed the task (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)
Once this screen pops up, you've completed the task (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)

The enemies that spawn for the Dreadnoughtus will likely match its level - so if you bring a Level 150 Dreadnoughtus, be prepared to really fight for it. You can have some dinosaur allies in this area to help fight off the waves, but don’t let them get too close to Dreadnoughtus, or they will likely fight him as well.

As you complete waves, the taming will go up, though you might lose some Taming Effectiveness — hopefully not by much. Once the meter reaches 100%, you can name and claim your Dreadnoughtus.


What’s the console command to spawn Dreadnoughtus in ARK Survival Ascended Extinction?

If you want to use a console command to spawn in Dreadnoughtus in ARK Survival Ascended Extinction, you need to play in single-player or on a server that allows for cheat codes. If that’s the case, input the following command to immediately spawn a Level 50 Dreadnoughtus:

  • Dreadnoughtus_Character_BP_C

All Dreadnoughtus abilities and controls

You can turn this massive dinosaur into a mobile artillery battery (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)
You can turn this massive dinosaur into a mobile artillery battery (Image via Studio Wildcard/@Raasclark)

One great reason to have a Dreadnoughtus in ARK Survival Ascended Extinction is that it can fire Cannonballs. You can also rotate it in place, using the left control key and then move left or right. He will also do a giant swing with its neck using a left click; it apparently also gathers up berries and things that would be in its path. It also hits incredibly hard.

The neck swing is the primary attack. The secondary is the cannonball, and the third uses element. It will consume a piece of element, to charge up and fire a devastating blast of energy into a small area. It doesn’t deal damage to structures, but it definitely hurts creatures.

If you want to ride the Dreadnoughtus, it requires a Level 100 saddle. It can be crafted at the Smithy, and requires 100 Engram Points. It also requires the following materials:

  • Cementing Paste: 300
  • Hide: 1200
  • Silica Pearls: 250
  • Fiber: 800
  • Metal Ingot: 650

Making this will grant you a multi-tiered platform you can move around on while riding the Dinonoughtus. You could even build structures like cannons onto these platforms, but they do not snap into place — be aware of that. You can modify the platforms to a pretty impressive degree, though.

If the Dinonoughtus is ever near a larger creature, it will get its Titanslayer Buff. This grants your dino +145% damage and +55% resistance to incoming damage. That makes them a real force of nature. This number appears to scale with the size of the enemy, making it always worth having.


Check out our other ARK guides and features

  • How to tame Dreadmare in ARK Survival Ascended
  • 5 key differences between ARK Survival Ascended and Survival Evolved
  • ARK Survival Ascended: 7 hidden features you might not know about

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