How do you tame a Karkinos in ARK: Survival Ascended?

The Karkinos is a knockout tame. Knock it unconscious using Tranq Arrows, Tranq Darts, or Shocking Tranq Darts, then feed it Exceptional Kibble for the best taming effectiveness. Use a taming calculator to determine the exact food and narcotic quantities needed for your target level.

What does a Karkinos eat in ARK: Survival Ascended?

The best food for taming a Karkinos is Exceptional Kibble. It also accepts Spoiled Meat, Raw Meat, Raw Fish Meat.

Where can you find Karkinos in ARK: Survival Ascended?

Check the interactive spawn map on the Karkinos spawn location page for exact spawn zones across all ARK maps. Spawn density and locations vary by map.

How long does it take to raise a baby Karkinos?

A baby Karkinos takes 4 days and 19 hours to reach full maturity. Use a breeding calculator for imprint timing and food requirements.

Karkinos Taming, Breeding & Spawns - ARK: Survival Ascended

KARKinos

FARMER

Karkinos

Spawn Command

Information

Level

Preset

Official servers currently have boosted rates! You don't need to change settings in our calculator.

Base Settings

Variant

Taming Speed

Spawn Locations

10 mapsFull Map →

The Karkinos spawns on 10 maps, typically found in forests, swamps, and mountain regions. Green cells indicate high spawn density, red means low. Click a cell to see exact spawn chance. If you can't find any, try clearing creatures nearby to free up the population cap.

Official

Mod Maps

Map Legend

High spawn density

Medium spawn density

Low spawn density

Cave spawn

Click any cell for exact spawn chance and nearby spawn groups. Zoom in for detail.

Explore full interactive mapAberration →

Karkinos Taming Calculator

Open Calculator→

KnockoutTime: 32m 21s|Effectiveness: 99.8% (+74 Lvl)|Base Torpor: 800Lv.150

Food	Qty	Time	Effectiveness
Exceptional KibbleBest	13	32:21	74 Lvl (224)
Spoiled Meat	49	1:11:29	72 Lvl (222)
Raw Meat	323	2:21:22	29 Lvl (179)
Raw Fish Meat	807	2:56:36	7 Lvl (157)

Required Narcotics (Exceptional Kibble ×13)

Narcotics0

Narcoberries0

Bio Toxin0

Ascerbic Mushrooms0

Breeding

Open Calculator →

TypeLive Birth

Maturation Time4d 19h

Quick Info

Saddle

Carried By

Immobilized By

XP Calculator

Full Calculator→

Kill XP

Wild Kill (1.25×)

Creature Level

Kill Count

Per Kill477 XP

6 base × 15.9 level × 4 × 1.25× wild kill × 1× server

Server Settings(Game.ini)

Official servers use non-1× defaults; the values above already reflect official rates.

Server XP

Wild Kill

Tamed Kill

Alpha Kill

Cave Kill

Boss Kill

Saddle Crafting XP

Karkinos SaddleBase: 26.8 XP · Lv.65

107 XP

Base × 1× quality × 4 × 1× server

Drops & Harvest Resources

You can gather Chitin, Raw Meat, Organic Polymer from a Karkinos corpse. The corpse has 650 harvest health, allowing multiple hits before it's fully depleted.

The harvest table below breaks down exact yields per tool. Choose your tool based on which resource you're after - yields vary significantly.

Harvest Body HP

Melee Damage

Weapon Damage

Harvest Multiplier

Resource	Pick	Hatchet
Chitin	40%~73~21 hits	70%~128~17 hits
Raw Meat	60%~30~21 hits	30%~15~17 hits
Organic Polymer	40%~27~21 hits	70%~47~17 hits

Estimates based on game-extracted data (weights, quantities, harvest multipliers, damage type chains). Each harvest event independently rolls each resource - higher weight = higher drop chance. Actual yields vary with RNG.

Damage Resistances

The Karkinos's damage profile includes 12 modifiers that alter how much damage it takes from different sources. With 6 resistances and 5 weaknesses, its biggest vulnerability takes +120% extra damage - exploit that for faster kills. See the full breakdown in the table below. Values under 100% indicate resistance, above 100% indicate weakness.

GenericFall damage, environmental

10%-90%

Dino AttacksStandard dino melee hits

50%-50%

Plant Species XPlant turret projectiles

50%-50%

Raid Dino (Metal)Metal-damaging raid dinos

65%-35%

Stone WeaponsClub, slingshot (high torpor)

66%-34%

Player MeleeSwords, pikes, fists

80%-20%

Base Stats

Full Stats →

Stat	Base (Lv.1)	Wild +/Lv	Tamed +/Lv
Health	1200.0	+240.00	+4.00%
Stamina	600.0	+60.00	+2.00%
Torpidity	800.0	+48.00	+0.00%
Food	5000.0	+500.00	+2.00%
Weight	800.0	+16.00	+0.80%
Melee Damage Multiplier	100.0%	+5.00%	+10.00%
Speed Multiplier	100.0%	+0.00%	+1.00%

Hitbox Multipliers

The Karkinos has 1 hitbox zone, each with a different damage multiplier. Its weakest point is the Head at 1.5x - a significant damage bonus when you land your shots there.

Headc_head

1.50x

Can Damage

The Karkinos can damage: Thatch, Wood. Lower-tier structures are at risk - Stone walls or better will keep the Karkinos out.

Thatch

Wood

Stone

Metal

Tek

Tools & Guides

Taming CalculatorFood, narcotics, and time for any level

Breeding CalculatorMaturation, imprint timers, raising costs

BuildingsCommunity traps, pens, enclosures

AbilitiesAttacks, harvest specs, unique skills

Tips & TricksCommunity strategies and advice

Spawn LocationInteractive maps with spawn zones

Spawn CommandAdmin commands, all variants

Karkinos Tips & Tricks

Check out what other players have learned about the Karkinos - and contribute your own tips. Look for taming trap blueprints, ammo counts, and advice on avoiding accidental kills during knockout.

Everything you need to know about the Karkinos in ARK: Survival Ascended is collected here. Use the stat overview, taming summary, and breeding details below to plan your approach, then explore the dedicated tool pages for step-by-step help.

At base level the Karkinos has 1,200 base Health, 100% base Melee Damage, 800 base Weight. Use the taming calculator to project how these stats grow through wild levels and taming effectiveness.

The Karkinos is a knockout tame — render it unconscious with torpor weapons, then feed it Exceptional Kibble for the fastest results. Our taming calculator shows exact food quantities, narcotics needed, and time estimates for every level.

The Karkinos gives live birth after a gestation period. Babies mature in 4 days and 19 hours. Check the breeding calculator for detailed imprint schedules and raising costs.

Once tamed, the Karkinos can harvest Chitin, Raw Meat, Organic Polymer. Visit the information tab for the full harvest table with quantities and efficiency data.

ARK: Survival Ascended features the Karkinos as a tamable, carnivore creature that survivors will encounter in the wild. It belongs to the Farmer category.

With 1,200 base Health, the Karkinos is among the tougher creatures. Its base Melee Damage sits at 100%, giving it respectable melee power. With 600 base Stamina, the Karkinos has massive stamina reserves. A base Weight of 800 means massive inventory space.

To tame the Karkinos, you need to knock it unconscious using torpor weapons, then feed it while it's down. Feed it Exceptional Kibble for the fastest tame and highest effectiveness bonus.

Once tamed, the Karkinos combines solid harvesting capability with generous carrying capacity. It gives live birth after a gestation period, making breeding straightforward. Defeating one in the wild grants 6 base XP. It can be cloned at a Cloning Chamber for 0.5 Element plus 0.01 Element per level.

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