What is the best dino for Metal in ARK: Survival Ascended?

The Ankylosaurus is the best Metal farmer in ARK: Survival Ascended with a 2x Metal gather multiplier from game data. The Magmasaurus is another strong option. Check the Metal rankings above for exact multipliers extracted from game files.

What is the best dino for Wood in ARK: Survival Ascended?

The Castoroides (Giant Beaver) has a 4x Wood gather multiplier, the highest in the game. The Mammoth has a 2x Wood multiplier from its Stomp attack and covers a wider area. Both also reduce Wood carry weight by 50%.

What is the best dino for Stone in ARK: Survival Ascended?

The Doedicurus has a massive 21x Stone gather multiplier, making it by far the best Stone farmer. No other creature comes close. It also reduces Stone carry weight by 75%.

Does Pick or Hatchet get more Metal in ARK?

Pick yields more Metal, Crystal, and Obsidian from nodes, while Hatchet yields more Stone, Wood, and Hide. From corpses, Pick favors Meat (60% drop weight) and Hatchet favors Hide (60% drop weight). This is confirmed by game file data from DeathHarvestingComponent.

What dinos should I tame first for farming in ARK?

Tame a Trike for Berries and Thatch, an Ankylosaurus for Metal (2x multiplier), and a Doedicurus for Stone (21x multiplier). For Wood, get a Castoroides (4x) or Mammoth (2x with wide area). A Moschops is great early game since you can level its harvest specialization.

Best Resource Farmers - ARK: Survival Ascended

Q: How does Moschops harvest specialization work?

The Moschops has a unique Levelable Harvest ability. Each level-up lets you choose which resource to specialize in. The bonus stacks per level, making Moschops increasingly effective at farming your chosen resource.

Resource Tier List

Top 25 ways to farm any resource. Ranked by expected yield with invested melee levels.

Resource

Harvest Rate

x

Wild Melee

Mutations

Tamed Melee

Harvest Lvl

Hide AlphasIgnore Corpses

Node Type

#1

MagmasaurNode9x

Rich Metal Nodes282.2% melee(-75% weight)

258–315

avg 286

#2

DunkleosteusNode9x

Rich Metal Nodes457.5% melee(-50% weight)

233–288

avg 261

#3

AnkylosaurusNode2x

Rich Metal Nodes457.5% melee(-85% weight)

68–99

avg 83

#4

PhoenixNode2x

Rich Metal Nodes449.2% melee

68–99

avg 83

#5

Metal PickPick1.25x

Rich Metal Nodes

64–94

avg 79

#6

Mining DrillPick3x

Rich Metal Nodes

63–93

avg 78

#7

DoedicurusNode21x

Element Ore Deposits457.5% melee

33–58

avg 45

#8

Metal HatchetHatchet

Rich Metal Nodes

23–50

avg 36

#9

Chalk ElementalNode9x

Element Ore Deposits443.1% melee

25–47

avg 36

#10

Rock ElementalNode9x

Element Ore Deposits443.1% melee

25–47

avg 36

#11

Stone HatchetHatchet

Element Ore Deposits

19–40

avg 30

#12

Stone PickPick1.25x

Rich Metal Nodes

10–31

avg 20

Node yields assume the base harvest HP from game data (e.g. 1000 for Redwood trees, 620 for Metal nodes). In-game, trees and rocks with bAllowHarvestHealthScalinghave per-instance HP that varies with the node's size, so actual yields per node will vary. The values shown represent the average.

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What Each Tool Harvests from Each Creature

Pick a tool and a creature to see exactly what resources you'll get. Higher melee isn't always better.

Tool

Creature

Harvest Rate

x

Your Melee %

Official cap (298%)

Peak Melee

167%

48 rolls · 13 hits

Raw Meat

11–32

avg 22

Chitin

51–83

avg 67

This tool has corpse damage overrides (DamageMult=0.33). The yield curve can be non-linear because the damage cache resets per hit. Higher melee doesn't always mean more yield.

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Which Tool for Which Resource?

Best tool for each resource. Click any resource to see creature rankings.

Node Harvest Calculator

Calculate expected resource yield per node for any dino. Select a node type and harvester.

Node

Metal Nodes

Metal

Node Type

Harvester

Harvest Rate

x

Your Melee %

Chart Max %

Node HP: 620Interval: 40DM: 2xHQM: 1xBase Dmg: 50

Best Melee

1000%

50 resource drops · 1 hits

Stone

13–26

avg 19

Metal

34–58

avg 46

Each hit on a node generates resource drops. The game randomly picks a resource from the loot table for each drop. Higher melee depletes the node faster, which can reduce total drops. The "best" melee is where you get the most drops.

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Corpse Harvest Calculator

Compare dino harvest yields from creature corpses. Select a corpse and up to 3 harvesters to compare.

Corpse

Harvester

Harvest Rate

x

Your Melee %

Chart Max %

Corpse HP: 520Interval: 19.5Base Dmg: 400Attack Speed: 0.40s

Best Melee

454%

186.5 drops · 1 hits

Raw Meat

95–122

avg 109

Hide

59–86

avg 72

Raw Prime Meat

1–10

avg 5

Each hit on a corpse generates resource drops based on damage dealt. The game randomly picks a resource from the corpse's loot table for each drop. Higher melee depletes the corpse faster, which can reduce total drops. All dinos get the same resource distribution from a given corpse - the difference is total drops from base damage.

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