The section details on how you should level up your character and why you should level up your character that way.

• Health: How much damage you can take before you die. This should be leveled up till you have 500 health, as this will let you survive a max damage fall (400 damage) and keep running.
  
• Stamina: How long you can run, harvest, or attack with a melee weapon before you are tired. This should be Leveled up till about 200-250
  
• Oxygen: How long you can swim underwater without suffocating and how fast you can swim underwater. Useless stat, don't level.
  
• Food: How long you can go without going hungry. Useless stat, don't level.
  
• Water: How long you can go without going thirsty. Useless stat, don't level.
  
• Weight: How much you can hold in your inventory without being slowed down or stopped all together. because of the server we play on, you should level this point once and your fine.
  
• Melee Damage: How hard you can hit something with melee attacks. Useless stat, don't level.
  
• Movement Speed: How Fast you can run. This should be leveled up till you hit roughly 130%, then up to about 151.5%.
  
• Crafting Skill: How fast you can craft items in your inventory and at higher precentages (400%+) will start to increase the quality of the items you craft in and outside of your inventory. Only applicable in the endgame when you have mindwipe tonics. other than the endgame useless stat, don't level.
  
• Fortitude: how insulated you are against the cold and warm and how much torpor you take from attacks. This should be level up once as your first level.

Your Hotbar is essential to you as a survivor, and should have everything you need, the picture above is an example hotbar that provides me the following things:

• Hatchet: Hatchets should always be on your hotbar, and they are used for gathering wood, hide, and stone.
  
• Pickaxe: Pickaxes should always be on your hotbar, and they are used for gather thatch, meat, flint, and iron.
  
• Sickle: Sickles are used to gather fiber and prime fish meat. mainly used for the fiber part.
  
• Longneck Rifle: This is your long range weapon/taming gun. at earlier levels this is probably a crossbow or bow.
  
• Pump-Action Shotgun: this us your get off me general PVE weapon. at earlier weapons this may be a crossbow or bow.
  
• Soulball: It can never hurt to have a dinosaur on your hotbar ready to be thrown out, this can also be the soulball gun, which can trap dinosaurs from a distance.
  
• Spyglass: I don't have Awesome spyglass installed in SinglePlayer but this is what that is supposed to be. Awesome spyglass should always be on your hotbar, but out of the way. the awesome spyglass lets you know things about your surroundings and dinosaur stats/hp/level/angry or not/and whether is a passive or knockout tame (although its not always right on that last part).
  
• Food: Just in case you get hungry!
  
• Empty spots: just in case your taming something like a rex you can put the gates on your hotbar so they're easier to access, or maybe you can put something here like a canteen or waterjar.

In Ark Survival Evolved and any other survival game, you will need a buttload of resources to get you through the game, this section details where to find the those resources, and progression tree's for dinosaurs in level's of effectiveness for gathering that material.
Location: Literally Everywhere.
Uses: Mejoberries are used for taming in the early game, Narcoberries craft narcotics, Stimberries craft stimulants, and Tintoberries craft medical brews. The other two should be used to feed your dinos.
Dinosaur Progression: Parasaur -> Stegosaurus -> Megatherium/Mammoth -> Therizinosaurus -> Brontosaurus.
Location: Unique, Crafting
Uses: Taming Desmodus, Giving yourself a shot of healing.
Dinosaur Progression: Only the Desmodus can gather Bloodpacks.
Location: Balhemir.
Uses: Cactus Broth for passive taming dinosaurs like Mantis, Mesopithecus, etc.
Location: Bear Cave, Crafting
Uses: Crafting just about everything mid to late game.
Dinosaur Progression: Only the Beelzebufo can gather Cementing Paste.
Location: Bear Cave
Uses: Crafting cementing paste.
Dinosaur Progression: The Megatherium is the best and only Chitin gatherer you should use, as its easier to get and better at harvesting the materials than its competitors.
Location: Literally Everywhere.
Uses: Crafting, Kibble
Dinosaur Progression: Megatherium -> Therizinosaurus.
Location: Literally Everywhere.
Uses: Sparkpowder
Dinosaur Progression: Ankylosaurus -> Magmasaur
Location: Small Honey Nodes Located around the map
Uses: Kibble, Dinosaur Taming
Dinosaur progression: Ankylosaurus is the best and only Giant Bee Honey gatherer you should use, as its easier to get and better at harvesting the materials than its competitors. of course, this is if you are using the honey nodes. if you are not, The Dire Bear is the best gatherer.
Location: Literally Everywhere.
Uses: Gasoline, Saddles
Dinosaur Progression: Megatherium -> Thylacoleo -> Rex/Spino/Therizinosaurus -> Giganotosaurus/Carcharodontosaurus
Location: Literally Everywhere.
Uses: Same as Chitin
Dinosaur Progression: Megatherium -> Thylacoleo -> Rex/Spino/Therizinosaurus -> Giganotosaurus/Carcharodontosaurus
Notes: just gather chitin instead, its easier and it gives you more.
Location: Midgard
Uses: Metal Ingots which are used for practically everything past level 20.
Dinosaur Progression: Ankylosaurus -> Magmasaur
Location: Jotunheim
Uses: Increasing the Stats of your Dinosaurs
Dinosaur Progression: It must be hand picked.
Location: Midgard
Uses: Non-spoilable polymer
Dinosaur Progression: Ankylosaurus -> Magmasaur
Location: Midgard
Uses: Gasoline, used in various crafting recipes
Dinosaur Progression: Ankylosaurus -> Magmasaur
Location: Midgard
Uses: used in about every modern and tek item.
Dinosaur Progression: Megatherium -> Thylacoleo -> Rex/Spino/Therizinosaurus -> Giganotosaurus/Carcharodontosaurus.
Note: do not use the third location as reaper queens spawn there. If you are ballsy enough, the Dire Bear is the best tame to gather down there.
Location: Midgard
Uses: Silica Pearls are used for Electronics, and Black Pearls are used in Tek items.
Dinosaur Progression: Only the Anglerfish can gather Pearls.
Location: Snow
Uses: Fur Armor
Dinosaur Progression: Iron Hatchet -> Thylacoleo -> Rex/Spino -> Giganotosaurus/Carcharodontosaurus
Location: See Video
Uses: Mindwipe Tonic, Domesticated Bee Hives.
Dinosaur Progression: Only the Therizinosaurus should be used to gather Rare Flowers.
Location: Swamp
Uses: Mindwipe Tonic
Dinosaur Progression: Stegosaurus -> Castroides/Mammoth -> Therizinosaurus
Location: Literally Everywhere.
Uses: Regular raw meat should be used to feed your tames meanwhile Prime meat and Mutton should be used for cooking and for your own consumption.
Dinosaur Progression: Megatherium -> Thylacoleo -> Rex/Spino/Therizinosaurus -> Giganotosaurus/Carcharodontosaurus
Location: Redwoods
Uses: Sweet Veggie Cakes
Dinosaur Progression: no Dinosaurs should be used to farm this. Location: Bear Cave
Uses: Whip
Dinosaur Progression: Megatherium.
Location: Literally Everywhere.
Uses: Cementing Paste, Midgame structures, taming traps.
Dinosaur Progression: Doedicurus -> Magmasaur
Location:
Uses: Raising Magmasaur's
Dinosaur Progression: Ankylosaurus -> Magmasaur
Location: Literally Everywhere.
Uses: Early Game Items and Structures.
Dinosaur Progression: Stegosaurus -> Megatherium -> Brontosaurus
Location: Literally Everywhere.
Uses: Weapons and Charcoal
Dinosaur Progression: Stegosaurus -> Castroides/Mammoth -> Therizinosaurus

Before I Talk about the Dinosaurs, I want to talk about the ways of obtaining them and ways to make obtaining them easier. in Ark survival Evolved, there are three ways of Taming a Dinosaur.

• Knockout: you need to knockout a dinosaur with some form of narcotic applying effect, then once its unconsious, enter its inventory and put food in its inventory and let the dinosaur passively eat this food. if its torpor is dropping low while unconsious, enter its inventory and force feed it a narcotic applying item.
  
• Passive: Walk up to the dinosaur with its desired food item itn your hot bar slot 0, then press E on the dinosaur to feed it the desired food. some passive tames may be aggressive dinosaurs, so make sure you bring Ghillie armor and sometimes Cactus broth and Bug-repellent.
  
• Special: The special category describes every other dinosaur that does not fall into the previous two taming methods. Those dinosaurs will likely have a youtube video describing how to tame them.

Knockout tames in particular can sometimes be a little dicey when the dinosaur aggro's on to you. to avoid taking damage from the dinosaur you are trying to tame, you can build a dinosaur trap. Below I have listed the 3 most commonly used traps in the game. some dinosaurs do not use these traps or there are other easier traps out there, for those dino's I have a youtube video for their trap.
The Generic Trap is a trap that works for about every dinosaur up to the size of a rex, and its the easiest trap to change in size and shape. essentially you have ramps on one side leading a dinosaur into a box whose walls are doorframes, so that you the player can escape the trap but the dinosaur can't. on average this trap is typically 3x3 stone foundations, with 36 stone doorframes making a 3 high wall and 9-12 stone ramps to make the ramp, with extra stone foundations to give the ramps foundation support. this trap is highly customization, able to be a 2x2 1 high, 2x3 2 high, 3x3 4 high, 2x2 3 high etc etc you get the point. down below if I recommend this trap, I give the correct dimensions and about of structures needed to trap the dinosaur. You must make this trap in either stone or metal.
This Trap is used exclusively for flying dinosaurs such as the Argentavis, Snow Owl, and Griffin. you have 4 dinosaur gateways lined up, with the outer two having doors. One of those doors always must remain shut, while the other door is open and that's the side you lead the dinosaur into. once the dinosaur is inside run through the spaces between the gates and close the other gate and boom. dinosaur trapped. You can make this trap out of any material, but griffins can break wood so keep that in mind.
This Trap is used for Giganotosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Rex, and the Spinosaurus. This trap if built with metal billboards can also trap the yutyrannus, therizinosaurus, and a whole lot more. this trap is built like in the picture and you lead your dinosaur of choice into the trap. Once the dinosaur is trapped by the beartrap you placed down, quickly run to the side that doesn't have the Dinosaur Gate/Billboards and place one more billboard, covering all 4 sides and trapping your dinosaur. You must make this trap in either stone or metal, and if your trapping a giga/charch it must be metal.

• Role - Berry Gatherer, Thatch Gatherer
  
• Where - Literally Everywhere
  
• Ease of Tame - Extremely Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 9

A very easy early game tame that opens the door to narcotics and other useful items in the early game. can be good for defending your base from dilo's too. Just craft a bola and a club and bola it and smack it in the head with your club. Don't tame Paleo Parasaurs this way, as they cannot be bola'd and will fight back.
All you need to trap a parasaur is a bola.

• Role - Fertilizer
  
• Where - Midgard Beaches
  
• Ease of Tame - Extremely Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 5

While the phiomia has no use until you reach the tier in which you start making yourself a farm, the phiomia makes it to this section because phiomia's are arguably the easiest KO tame in the game. Anyways, don't tame yourself a phiomia until you start making a farm and want to get kibble and other things.

• Role - Explorer, All Terrain Mount
  
• Where - Asgard, Redwoods
  
• Ease of Tame - Extremely Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 19

an early game tame that's used throughout your entire playthrough, the maewing is a really easy tame that provides unlimited use. Maewings can be tamed as simple as placing a bunch of wooden billboards on top of them to limit their movement. then, all you need to do is knock them out with your preferred method of KO. Maewings are the fastest moving creature in the air in the game, granted that its movement is restricted to only gliding. But the sheer fact that its the fastest tame and its so easy to get means that everyone should at least attempt to get one of these. they also swim extremely fast and can gather berries. I find the gathering berries to be buggy and broken 90% of the time.
An alteration of the trap in the video is to make yourself more billboards and to place them ontop of the maewing. this provides no need for a roof made of pillars and ceilings for the trap.

• Role - Flyer
  
• Where - Literally Everywhere
  
• Ease of Tame - Extremely Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 37

The First flyer anyone can get, just trap it with a bola and headshot it with tranq arrows and it should be out almost instantly. Unlike the maewing, the pteranodon flies instead of gliding, so it has range of overall higher motion, albeit much slower than a maewing. definitely a useful tame, but with the addition of the maewing I wouldn't consider it a required tame.
All you need to trap a pteranodon is a bola.

• Role - Wood Gatherer, Berry Gatherer, Tank
  
• Where - Literally Everywhere
  
• Ease of Tame - Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 26

Stegosaurus actually provides ton of value throughout your entire playthrough. in the early game the beast is a great wood, thatch, and berry farmer who with its high damage resistance can combat decently. some people are insane enough to bring these to bossfights, as you can use your weapons on the back on the dinosaur (pump-action shotgun gaming) but mainly the other lategame purpose stego's have is to tame a EVO giga.
Stegosaurus uses Trap A, 2x3 foundations and 2 high. so a total of at least 6 foundations and 24 doorframes.

• Role - Stone Gatherer
  
• Where - Asgard
  
• Ease of Tame - Extremely Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 34

Doedicurus is here because I believe stone to be an early game material meanwhile metal isn't as much. that aside the things to note here is that doedicurus is the 2nd best stone gatherer in the game until you can get a magmasaur and trust me, its going to be a while before you get a magmasaur.
You do not need a trap to tame this dinosaur. walk backwards and it can't hit you.

• Role - Fighter, Stone Gatherer, Metal Gatherer, Flyer
  
• Where - Asgard, Midgard
  
• Ease of Tame - Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 62

Argentavis is one of the most valuable tames in the entire game that is used until you obtain a magmasaur, in which argentavis get's replaced by the rhyniognatha. but up until then, the main reason why argentavis is so good is that it can pick up and transport medium sized dinosaurs. The big two contenders is the doedicurus and Ankylosaurus, as with the argentavis you can pick them up and they will hit any rocks you fly by and gather stone and flint/metal respectively. this dinosaur once unlocked with the help of your anky will farm literal hundreds of thousands of metal during your playthrough.
Aregentavis uses trap B.

• Role - Metal Gatherer
  
• Where - Asgard
  
• Ease of Tame - Extremely Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 36

the ankylosaurus is the 2nd best metal gatherer in the game and the 1st best isn't gotten till the very end of your playthrough. Ankylosaurus is also a great flint gatherer and the thing is stupidly easy to tame so just go and do it.
You do not need to trap an ankylosaurus, just walk backwards.

• Role - Insulation, Caves
  
• Where - Redwoods
  
• Ease of Tame - Easy
  
• Saddle level - N/A

to the untrained eye, the otter seems apparently useless, nothing more than just another shoulder pet that looks cute... or so you think. the two traits that the otter has are invaluable actually, being the only tame to be able to carry artifacts in its inventory (and more than one of the same kind too, which not even the player can do) and its also while on your shoulder it boosts your cold resistance by a ton, making it easier to survive the map, because this map always seems to be cold.

• Role - Berry Gatherer, Fiber Gatherer, Thatch Gatherer, Fighter, Caves, Bossfights
  
• Where - Redwoods, Snow
  
• Ease of Tame - Medium
  
• Saddle level - Level 52

before writing this list, I acknowledged the fact that the megatherium was useful, but i didn't realize how many times it can be applied and its the most efficient way of dealing with a task. to start of simple, the megatherium gathers a ton of berries and gathers fiber in the process, which makes it a part of a select few fiber gatherers. the megatherium is also amazing for any cave that it can fit in, as the Megatherium does 50% extra damage to insects and when it kills one it will have the Insect Killer buff for 120 seconds, that increases its Melee Damage by 250% and its damage resistance by 75%, which both effects stack. this also inadvertently makes Megatherium the best dinosaur to fight the Broodmother Lysrix, as its minions are bugs.
Make sure you stand a decent bit away from the megatherium once trapped or it will start attacking and breaking the trap.

• Role - Wood Gatherer
  
• Where - Midgard Lakes
  
• Ease of Tame - Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 61

The beaver is considered by most to be the best wood gatherer in the game, and thats about all it serves purpose for. it does also pose as a portable smithy, so that could have some inherent value. Personally when it comes to wood gathering, I think the next dinosaur is the better tame.
The Castroides can be tamed using trap A 2x2 1 wall high, so at least 4 foundations and 8 doorframes.

• Role - Wood Gatherer
  
• Where - Snow, Asgard
  
• Ease of Tame - Medium
  
• Saddle level - Level 31

The mammoth is the sleeper pick in ark survival evolved. every since its TLC (rework) it actually has a lot of things going for it. its the best wood gatherer in the game and it can also gather berries. the mammoth is also easier to get on this map than others because it spawns on Asgard, which can lend itself to being a good combat tame at early levels as its stats are comparable to that of a spino's
The mammoth can be tamed using Trap A 3x3 2 wall high, so at least 9 foundations and 24 doorframes.

• Role - Healer, Flyer
  
• Where - Snow, NE giga plains
  
• Ease of Tame - Easy
  
• Saddle level - Level 61

One of two dinosaur's in the game that can heal and its the only one that can heal wild dinosaurs. its one of the fastest fliers and actually get's faster when imprinted from a baby up. these things also have X-ray vision (which isn't too useful due to the awesome spyglass mod, but oh well). the snow is a high priority tame for anyone who wants to get on breeding as well, as baby dino's when fully grown may not be at max hp, and the snow owl can heal them at an increased rate.
The Snow owl uses Trap B.

• Role - Tamer, Fighter, Flyer
  
• Where - Snow, Midgard Griffin Valley
  
• Ease of Tame - Hard
  
• Saddle level - N/A

The griffin is the 2nd best flying mount in the game, and getting it makes a variety of actions in the game far easier. for first off, the griffin is the fastest flier in the game if you use it correctly, its a surprisingly good fighter if you know how to use it, has omnidirectional movement, and is the only flier you can pull out weapons on the back of. that last point alone makes the griffin a super useful tame, say you need to tame a rex or kill a giga, now you can do that at a distance. Griffins are also one of the best dinosaurs to get wyverns with, as if flown correctly outpace wild wyverns.
The Griffin uses Trap B

• Role - Fighter, Caves
  
• Where - Ocean
  
• Ease of Tame - Hard
  
• Saddle level - Level 60

This lovable sea blimp should be your introduction into fjordur's hardest biome, the ocean. the Basilosaurus is a nice easy passive tame however every time it eats all of the manta's in the nearby area will target lock onto you and try to kill you. Personally I find myself leading the manta's away on the back of a Maewing or using a baryonyx to kill them. The basilosaurus has a lot of bonuses that none of the other underwater tames have (with the exception of the tuso) as they are immune to jellyfish and eel stuns and cannot be grabbed by the tuso, making them the premier underwater mount (until you can get yourself a tuso, that is).

• Role - Fighter, Caves
  
• Where - Swamp, Vanaheim
  
• Ease of Tame - Medium
  
• Saddle level - Level 49

The baryonyx and the next two entries on this list are all on this list for the same reason, that reason being caving. caves are dangerous places with plenty of hostile creatures that for the most part, are best not be fought on foot. the smallest of the three (therefore the easiest to fit) is the baryonyx, who shares similar stats to the dire bear in strength. you can also pull out weapon on the back of the baryonyx, meaning that you the player can provide utility on the back of the tame. it also has infinite oxygen, can swim, and has a stunlock right click underwater that can stunlock about any underwater creature in the game; there are a few exceptions however, such as the mosasaur, eel, tuso, and more. oh and they can jump.
The baryonyx uses trap A 2x2 2 tall, so a total of at least 4 foundations and 16 doorframes

• Role - Honey Gatherer, Fighter, Explorer, Caves
  
• Where - Redwoods, N giga plains
  
• Ease of Tame - Medium
  
• Saddle level - Level 45

The dire bear ontop of being a great cave mount like baryonyx also provides other utility, for its the best gatherer of honey in the game. but back to caves, just like the baryonyx you can pull out weapons on the back of the dire bear and while the two have similar stats, the dire bear definitely hits harder than the baryonyx.
The Dire Bear uses trap A 2x3 2 tall, so a total of at least 6 foundations and 20 doorframes

• Role - Fighter, Explorer, Caves
  
• Where - Redwoods
  
• Ease of Tame - Hard
  
• Saddle level - Level 51

The thylacoleo statistically beats the dire bear and baryonyx in both health and damage as its more similar to a spino in stats, but it struggles to fit in some caves that the others can. the thylacoleo however is the superior choice when it comes to strength. The thylacoleo can also inflict bleed, can climb up 90 degree surfaces, and has a crazy jump. Thylacoleo does have a downside however, as they spawn on the trees in the redwoods making them fairly rare.
The Thylacoleo uses trap A 2x3 2 tall, so a total of at least 6 foundations and 20 doorframes

• Role - Mutton, Pelt, Hide
  
• Where - N giga plains, Asgard
  
• Ease of Tame - Extremely Easy
  
• Saddle level - N/A
  While a shock at first, the ovis has utility that warrants it a place on the list (also if your wondering why its here is because you need to tame it with veggie cakes which for the most part are a late game item). the reason they're so useful is partial to the chainsaw and the slaughter option. raise up a bunch a sheep and do the deed and you will never go hungry again, nor will you ever go cold again or need to do a hide run again. and when in the endgame you need high in the hundreds of thousands, you can't complain about a good way to get some.
  This is a passive tame, and you passively feed it Sweet Veggie Cakes

• Role - Wood Gatherer, Fiber Gatherer, Meat/Hide Gatherer, Fighter, Bossfights
  
• Where - Jotunheim, Midgard Green and Gold Area
  
• Ease of Tame - Hard
  
• Saddle level - Level 69

The Therizinosaurus is one of the fated four, a select few four species who live for the bossfights. the therizinosaurus, megatherium, spinosaurus, and rex. The therizinosaurus differentiates itself from its competitors from being the only herbivore option, thus being able to heal thousands of health with sweet veggie cakes. this method of healing can push theri's above the rest, but they all have a place in the boss metagame too. Outside of bossfights, the therizinosaur is an amazing hide and wood gatherer, and the defacto best fiber gatherer in the game.
The Therizinosaurus can use trap A (must be metal) 2x2 2 high, so at least 4 foundations and 16 doorframes OR it can use Trap C, as long as you use metal billboards and not dinosaur gates.

• Role - Meat/Hide Gatherer, Fighter, All Terrain Mount
  
• Where - Midgard Lakes
  
• Ease of Tame - Hard
  
• Saddle level - Level 71

The Spinosaurus is yet another one of the members of the fated four, but his seat upon the table is shaky and not yet solidated. Spinosaurus has the higgest dps of all of the bossfight dinosaurs in an arena with water (Broodmother, Megapithecus, and Fenrisulfr) but suffers from having the lowest base health and hardest to craft saddles, needing the ever so obnoxious silica pearls. Outside of bossfights the spino exceeds at being fast, like really fast. get a hydration buff on these things and they zoom.
The Spinosaurus can use trap A 3x3 4 high, so at least 9 foundations and 48 doorframes OR it can use Trap C. just use Trap C.

• Role - Meat/Hide Gatherer, Fighter, Bossfights
  
• Where - Midgard, Asgard
  
• Ease of Tame - Medium
  
• Saddle level - Level 74

The big man himself. the Rex is the premier strong carnivore, and its stats show up well against the other members of the fated four. the Rex has the highest base health and highest damage in non water boss arena's (The dragon) and are seen as the general go to bossfighting dinosaur. but even a dessert comes with its drawbacks, and in the case of the rex its the fact that they have the single rarest saddle blueprint in the entire game. so even if you have your army ready, no good saddles for them means certain failure. Outside of boss fights its a great meat/hide gatherer, but there is better options.
The Rex can use Trap A 3x3 3 high, so at least 9 foundations and 36 doorframes OR it can use Trap C. just use Trap C.

• Role - Meat/Hide Gatherer, Fighter, Flyer
  
• Where - Wyvern Trenches
  
• Ease of Tame - Very Hard
  
• Saddle level - N/A

Once you can get yourself a wyvern the skies are yours to take. the wyvern is strongest flyer and outspeeds the griffin unless you use it correctly. In order to get a wyvern you must steal their eggs from the respective wyvern trench. Fire wyvern on balheimr, lightning wyverns on Asgard, posion wyverns on Vanaheim, and ice wyverns on Jotunheim. once you take an egg all of the wyverns will instantly aggro on to you, so you better have a fast enough tame (Griffin, Managarmr) or a strong enough tame waiting outside the trench (Imprinted Giganotosaurus or Carcharodonotosaurus) to kill all of the wyverns.

• Role - Meat/Hide Gatherer, Fighter
  
• Where - Giga Plains
  
• Ease of Tame - Very Hard
  
• Saddle level - Level 96

This is a picture of the vanilla giga, we do not have vanilla giga's on our server, only paleo giga's.
The Giganotosaurus, or referred to in lore as the King of Demons, The giganotosaurus is the strongest carnivore in ark. its stats ridiculous, its damage absurd, and its taming process? scary as hell. Once you get a Giganotosaurus, you are unstoppable. Also, try to get a mating pair as fast as you can because they get a massive buff from being imprinted.

• Role - Meat/Hide Gatherer, Fighter,
  
• Where - Giga Plains
  
• Ease of Tame - Very Hard
  
• Saddle level - Level 96

for the sake of my hands I'll refer to him as "Charch" in this blurb. the Charch is an alternative to the giganotosaurus that does not hit as hard but is significantly faster and after killing enough dinosaurs can compare in damage to the giganotosaurus. The taming proccess is a long and difficult one, so once you find a Charch your in for a long haul. Just like the giga try to get a mating pair because they get a massive buff from being imprinted.

• Role - Berry Gatherer, Tank
  
• Where - Midgard, Asgard
  
• Ease of Tame - Medium
  
• Saddle level - Level 63

The Brontosaurus is Ark's best berry gatherer on the fact that its also ark's largest berry gatherer, and that tail attack can hit what feels like entire forests and gathers tens of thousands of berries per swing. arguably the easiest knockout tame dinosaur here in the late game, but we all enjoy the change of pace.

• Role - Bossfights, Kibble
  
• Where - Snow, Jotunheim
  
• Ease of Tame - Hard
  
• Saddle level - Level 80

Spawning with 3 goons, the yutyrannus at first glance looks to be utterly impossible to tame. But I assure you, its very much possible. attempt to A: find a yutyrannus with no goons or B: kill the goons from afar with your FAB sniper rifle or Longneck rifle. then its an easy knockout tame from there. Yutyrannus provides use in a boss fight as its courage roar (C key) provides 25% more damage and 15% damage resistance in a large AOE. on top of this, taming a Yuty makes taming every other dinosaur easier, as its eggs are of a select few that can be used for the highest tier of kibble (and the only tier you should be using).
The Yutyrannus can use Trap A 3x3 2 high, so at least 9 foundations and 24 doorframes OR it can use Trap C if the trap is made with Billboards. Just use Trap C.

• Role - Stone Gatherer, Metal Gatherer
  
• Where - Magmasaur caverns
  
• Ease of Tame - Extremely Hard
  
• Saddle level - Level 95

The Magmasaur is the best rock gatherer in the game, and of course that means its one of the hardest tames to get in the entire game. once you get one of these, your anky and doed can finally retire. The magmasaur also see's niche use in the dragon bossfight as a tank as its immune to the fire breath of the dragon.

Of course, to survive a survival game, you'll need a base, and this part of the guide contains many of the essential items you will need inside of your base to beat the game.
[Left to right; Fabricator, Tek Replicator, Smithy]
Just like any other open-world survival game, Items need to be crafted at crafting benches, and there is different tiers of these crafting benches. The first of these that you unlock is the Smithy, which is unlocked at level 20 and is the start of the mid game. almost every dinosaur saddle, armor, and structure is crafted inside of the smithy and the smithy sees use all the way till the creation of a Tek Replicator. The next crafting bench you unlock is the Fabricator at level 48 and is the start of your advancement into the modern era. in the fabricator you can create a plethora of industrial items, modern weapons, and higher tier armor. Just like the smithy before, when you unlock a tek replicator, all processes completed inside of a fabricator are now completed in a tek replicator. Speaking of tek replicator, the Tek Replicator is able to be crafted on the defeat of any non-world boss on any difficulty. while it costs quite a pretty penny the replicator just does what the smithy and fabricator does and does it 10x faster.
Left to right; Storage Box, Large Storage Box, Vault, 6 Dedicated Storage's.
I hope this is obvious, but sometimes you want your inventory to look pretty and you need a place to drop your junk off, that's where these storage containers come into play. The regular storage box has 30 inventory slots, the large storage box has 90 inventory slots, and the vault has 600 inventory slots. For the most part, the quicker you can make the highly expensive vaults, the better. Once you have achieved tek tier however, for raw materials its best to make use of Dedicated storage's. each dedicated storage can only hold 1 type of material, but it has 10,000 inventory slots for that material. For everything else that isn't a raw material, I would stick to using Vaults.
Left to Right; Industrial Forge and Refining Forge.
Forges can craft a few of essential items in their inventory needed to complete the game. the smaller of the two, the Refining forge crafted at level 20, is powered by burning wood and turns metal into iron ingots at a conversion rate of 2 raw metal to 1 ingot every 20 seconds. the refining forge is also able to make 5 Gasoline with 6 oil and 5 hide every 10 seconds. every time it consumes wood in its inventory to burn, that wood is turned to charcoal at a conversion rate of 1 wood for 1 charcoal every minute. The Industrial forge blows these numbers out of the water. Crafted at level 80, The industrial forge can make 20 ingots every 20 seconds, 100 gasoline every 20 seconds, and 1 charcoal every second. The Industrial Forge is also gasoline powered like other industrial era structures.
Left to Right; Preserving Bin, Refrigerator
There is a lot of resources in ark that spoil and its really annoying when it does, These two items however, can slow down the decay timers of items drastically and can make items last for weeks IRL time. The first of the two that you get, being the Preserving Bin unlocked at level 18 and activated by having sparkpowder in its inventory. A preserving bin increases the spoil timer of items by 10 and can make jerky in its inventory with oil and cooked meat. The Refrigerator unlocks at 60 and increases the spoil timer of items by 100 but it cannot create jerky in its inventory. The Fridge also needs to be powered by an electrical generator much like every other industrial tier item.
Left to Right; Industrial Grill, Campfire
when you meat needs to be cooked, these two items have you covered. The Campfire, unlocked at level 2, can cook 1 piece of meat every 20 seconds and 1 piece of mutton every 60 seconds. The Industrial Grill, unlocked at level 50, cooks 12 pieces of meat every 18 seconds and cooks mutton just as fast. there really isn't any competition here.
Left to Right; Cooking Pot, Industrial Cooker
Cooking is essential to ark with what it brings to the table. with these two items you can create Kibble, Mindwipe Tonics, Sweet Vegetable Cakes, and Dye. you unlock the Cooking Pot at level 8 and while it can cook everything, it takes twice as long, has a small inventory, and has to have water manually added to it. This process of manual water collection is so painful I say its not worth delving into cooking until you have the Industrial Cooker, who as long as its connected to water via pipes never runs out of water and cooks twice as fast if not faster. just save your breath and wait till you can make an Industrial cooker at level 89.
Left to Right; Chemistry Bench, Mortar and Pestle
Arguebly some of the most important items on here, these two structures can craft a variety of items that are used constantly in ark, the ones to mention are Narcotics, Sparkpowder, Gunpowder, and Cementing Paste. The Mortar and Pestle is unlocked at level 6 and the Chemistry Bench is unlocked at level 82. Since the Chemistry Bench consumes 4 times the materials in a single use, and produces 6 times the materials, and it is 2 times faster to craft in the Chemistry Bench than the mortar and pestle, the Chemistry Bench produces materials at 12 times the rate of the Mortar and Pestle. For example, crafting 100 Gunpowder in a Mortar and Pestle will require 100 Charcoal and 100 Sparkpowder, and take exactly 1 minute and 40 seconds to craft. In the Chemistry Bench, 100 Charcoal and Sparkpowder will craft 150 Gunpowder, in 12.5 seconds.
These were Items i felt like I didn't need to dedicate an entire section or I thought would be weird only having one item for an entire section. anyways, here is the list of other really useful items

• Large Crop Plot: used in farming, the large crop plot can hold the most amount of fertilizer and most amount of crop gain. it is practically impossible to beat this game without crops, as you need them for kibble and veggie cakes.
  
• S+ Domesticated Bee Hive: Passively makes honey as long as rare flowers are in inventory. honey is used in kibble, some taming methods, and veggie cakes.
  
• Industrial Grinder: grinds up items and returns 50% of the resources. great when you've gone on a blueprint run and you got a ton of useless saddles and lances.
  
• S+ Aggregator: Picks up fertilized eggs and dinosaur feces. 100% customizable to what you want to pick up. once again another great thing for kibble.
  
• Air Conditioner: massively increases heat resistance and cold resistance. makes eggs easily hit optimal temperature to incubate.
  
• Generator: with the use of cables and outlets, one Generator can power an entire base. there is a tek variant which works in an AOE around it, no cables needed!
  
• S+ Tek Transmitter: can be used to start non-world boss fights anywhere. It can also be used to pull up a map and see every wild dinosaur on the map, its level, location, and stats.

The Farm, unassuming to most, the farm provides you with resources that will you need to beat this game.
To set up a farm you will need these main things, listed below

• Phiomia: Phiomia's poop the most out of every dinosaur in the game, gross sure, but if you have a farm, you are going to need a lot of feces and fast.
  
• Dung Beetle: Dung Beetles can pick up poop in their inventory, passively turn it into fertilizer, then put it in crop plots.
  
• Crop Plots (Large): If you want stuff to grown in your farm, then you need somewhere to actually farm, and these crop plots are where to farm.
  
• Seeds: I mean, this should be obvious as to why you need them. The most important seeds will be later discussed.
  
• Greenhouse/Glass Walls and Ceiling: This makes these plants grow faster.
  
• Irrigation: I'm not describing this you know why you need it.
  
• Domesticated Beehives (Optional): Domesticated beehives can water nearby crops if you don't want to use irrigation.
  
• Iguanodon (Optional): Iguanodons can turn berries into seeds in their inventory.
  
• Compost Bin (Optional): Passively makes fertilizer using thatch and feces.

In ark, there is really only four seeds you should plant, Savoroot, Longrass, Rockarrot, and Citronal's as these are only obtainable through farming. if you have extra space in your farm however, I suggest mejoberries, tintoberries, narcoberries, and stimberries as well.
Now that your crops are fully grown and you've harvested them, what can you make?

• Cost: ×3 Cooked Prime Meat, x1 Rockarrot, x1 Savoroot, ×2 Rare Mushroom, ×20 Mejoberry, ×8 Narcotics
  
• Uses: +50% Hypothermic Insulation, +50% Hyperthermic Insulation, -80% Weapon recoil

• Cost: ×8 Stimulant, x1 Longrass, x1 Citronal, ×3 Raw Prime Meat, ×2 Rare Flower, ×20 Mejoberry
  
• Uses: +65% Melee Damage, +15% Damage resistance, +50% Movement Speed, +50% Food and Water consumption, Increased Stamina regen, -90 Health (0.45 per second)

• Cost: ×5 Woolly Rhino Horn, ×2 Rockarrot, ×2 Longrass, ×2 Savoroot, ×2 Citronal, x1 Black Pearl, ×10 Mejoberry
  
• Uses: +50% Experience gain

• Cost: ×2 Stimulant, ×5 Citronal, ×20 Tintoberry, ×20 Amarberry, ×10 Mejoberry
  
• Uses: +50 hyperthermic insulation (keeps you cool), -25% Water consumption

• Cost: ×2 Stimulant, ×9 Cooked Meat, ×5 Savoroot, ×5 Rockarrot, ×10 Mejoberry
  
• Uses: +35% Melee Damage, +1.2 Health/second, Increased stamina

• Cost: ×9 Cooked Meat, ×5 Citronal, ×20 Tintoberry, ×20 Azulberry, ×20 Amarberry, ×10 Mejoberry
  
• Uses: +25% Movement Speed, +100% Crafting Speed

• Cost: ×2 Narcotics, ×5 Rockarrot, ×5 Longrass, ×20 Azulberry, ×10 Mejoberry
  
• Uses: +50 hypothermic insulation, -25% Food consumption

• Cost: ×9 Cooked Meat, ×2 Narcotics, ×5 Savoroot, ×5 Longrass, ×10 Mejoberry
  
• Uses: -85% Oxygen consumption underwater, +1.2% Stamina per second (allows constant swimming)

• Cost: ×2 Giant Bee Honey, ×4 Sap, ×2 Rockarrot, ×2 Longrass, ×2 Savoroot, ×4 Stimulant, ×25 Fiber
  
• Uses: +500 Health when eaten to Tamed Herbivores

• Cost: ×6 Pelt, ×2 Narcotics, ×4 Citronal, ×4 Rockarrot
  
• Uses: Reduces agressiveness of insects and related creatures

(You can click on the pictures to make them bigger)
Kibble is the best food always when it comes to the taming process. Some things worth noting is that higher tier kibble works on lower tier dinosaurs, so the tier 5 kibble (Exceptional) will also work on tier 4, 3, 2 and 1 dinosaurs just as effective as them eating their respective tier kibble. for this reason, I only recommend you make yourself the highest tier kibble (Extraordinary) as I also find it cheaper and quicker to make than tier 5 and 4 kibble.

when starting of fjordur, it is pivotal to get warm as fast as you can, so the earlier you can craft cloth or better yet, hide armor, the better. don't concern yourself with chitin armor as chitin is too valuable to be used as armor for your character and chitin armor sucks to be honest. Once you hit level 56, learn the flak armor engrams and make it, as this is your default armor for the rest of the game. its cheap, it protects, it looks awesome, and its durable. primitive flak will start to feel weak, so getting blueprints of flak armor for the endgame is highly advised, go to the Caves and Blueprint Farming section on that.

Fur armor, Ghillie armor, and Scuba armor are the other armor sets I feel worth mentioning besides Flak. Fur armor, craftable at level 23, this armor keeps you warm, and when everywhere of fjordur is cold, its incredibly useful. That being said, flak should remain your default armor set. Primitive fur armor also isn't really worth it, and its best to get good blueprints if you want to stay warm even in Jotunheim. Next is Ghillie Armor, unlocked at level 33, this armor keeps you cool, very useful on volcano island and inside of the Broodmother or Dragon arena. This armor also makes passive taming dinosaurs easier. Due to this map being really cold however this armor doesn't see that much use outside of taming and bossfights. Scuba Gear, unlocked at level 81, should hopefully be obvious as to its uses. Scuba gear grants oxygen to the player, cold resistance underwater, "better" vision, and faster swim speeds. Do not use the helmet, as the First person view is heavily obscured by the mask.
But what about Riot Gear?
Riot gear is a noob trap. Hella expensive for only 15 more armor over primitive flak. it has no use. do not learn these engrams.
While throwing spears into turtles faces is fun, its not efficient. Instead the quicker you can make a Bow the better. which thankfully, such an item is unlockable at level 10. The Bow is the first good ranged option, and for its ammunition it uses stone arrows and eventually you can learn tranq arrows at level 21 to knock out dinosaurs from a distance. The upgrade from the Bow is crossbow (level 25) in terms of damage, it also uses the same ammunition. the next weapon you should be aiming to get is the Longneck rifle (level 35), it shoots simple rifle ammo and eventually can shoot tranquilizer darts (level 62) and shocking tranquilizer darts (level 96). up until you can get shocking tranquilizer darts or a good longneck rifle via blueprint farming, a crossbow is more resource effective for taming dinosaurs than a longneck rifle. one weapon that's useful in taming yet provides different value is the Harpoon launcher (level 42), which can shoot nets and ensnare dinosaurs for 60 seconds. makes anything smaller than a mammoth an easy tame.

While I just described some good weapons for taming, sometimes you need to defend yourself. Level 25 gives access to the Pike, the best melee weapon in the game. most of the time, you shouldn't be engaging in melee combat, which is where the Pump-Action Shotgun, unlocked at level 55, comes into play. The Pump-Action Shotgun is just blatantly the best PVE weapon in the game, 6 shells compared to the level 39 shotgun's 2, a stupidly fast reload animation in third person, and being able to extend the range and the accuracy of its shells with the Holoscope attachment, this weapon is just stupid if you can get a good blueprint. this weapon omits higher dps than the tek rifle, the post-game gun meant to be overpowered.

Most other weapons are either useless (Assault rifle and FAB Pistol) or have their uses be based in a PVP environment (FAB sniper rifle and Compound bow). Oh and don't forget to bring around with you at all times a Hatchet, Pickaxe, and Sickle.
Caves around mid-game are something that you need to begin frequenting if you want to beat this game. in every cave there are these things called Supply Crates, and while tons of them spawn above ground, the ones in caves are 10 times better (see the picture on the right of a cave red lootcrate). In order to get the best loot in the game, you are going to need to go into these caves multiple times and gather loot drops. this video (left) shows you the best locations of loot on the map.

The world bosses are bosses that spawn in the outside world. to summon each boss, you need 30 Runestones. Runestones are obtained from killing alpha dinosaur's that spawn on the map. The higher level an alpha is and the stronger an alpha is, the more runestones it will give. The most I've gotten has been from a level 135 alpha rex, which dropped 22 runestones.
To be completely honest with you, calling this thing a boss is an insult to the word boss. Beyla is easily dispatched by a singular tamed giganotosaurus with a primitive saddle, and she explodes even faster with an imprinted giganotosaurus. this boss should not be a problem for the most part, but she does have poison gas which can kill you off of your mount. Beyla drops the Beyla relic, used to summon the Broodmother Lysrix fight.
and on the complete other end of the spectrum, Steinbjorn is the hardest of all of the world bosses easily. I would personally reccomend 2-3 imprinted giga's and maybe a yuty if you want to have an easy time. anything less than this and Steinbjorn's damage resistance, high healthpool, and deadly damage will easily overpower you. this bossfight can be cheesed with a velonasaurus however, so do keep that in mind. Steinbjorn drops the Steinbjorn relic, used to summon the Megapithecus fight.
Hati and Skoll are the mid tier difficulty of world bosses and can be done pretty efficiently with 2-3 imprinted giga's. These two bosses probably output the most damage of the worldbosses, but they are both far less tanky than Steinbjorn. Both Hati and Skoll drop relics, being the Hati relic and Skoll relic respectively. these relics are used to summon the Dragon fight.

The Broodmother Lysrix is the intended first summoned bossfight you do. this being said, the Broodmother is leagues harder than the megapithecus, which you should make your first summoned bossfight. The Broodmother is exceptionally tanky on alpha difficulty and hits the hardest of the three summoned bosses. Her minions are also level 500 araneo's which she seems to constantly deploy. there are quite a couple of methods for beating her however, with the most effective being the Megatherium, as it gains a massive damage buff and damage resistance buff upon killing any bug. good enough Megatherium's trivalize this fight. The Broodmother on alpha difficulty requires the following to summon her: Artifact of the Clever, Artifact of the Hunter, Artifact of the Massive, Beyla Relic, Argentavis Talon x10, Sarcosuchus Skin x10, Sauropod Vertebra x10, And Titanoboa Venom x10
Tek Unlocks on Alpha Difficulty

• Mosasaur Tek Saddle
  
• Sloped Tek Roof
  
• Sloped Tek Wall Left
  
• Sloped Tek Wall Right
  
• Tek Boots
  
• Tek Catwalk
  
• Tek Ceiling
  
• Tek Fence Foundation
  
• Tek Foundation
  
• Tek Helmet
  
• Tek Ladder
  
• Tek Pillar
  
• Tek Railing
  
• Tek Ramp
  
• Tek Replicator
  
• Tek Staircase
  
• Tek Triangle Ceiling
  
• Tek Triangle Foundation
  
• Tek Triangle Roof
  
• Tek Turret
  
• Tek Wall

The Megapithecus is the intended second summoned bossfight you do. I personally say that this should be the first one you, as its alpha difficulty is easier than beta Broodmother and gamma Dragon. The reason for this weakness is back in old ark the megapithecus could kill the player off the back of a dinosaur, instantly ending a bossfight. ever since that feature has been removed the megapithecus is the easiest of the three summoned bosses. His arena is something to note however, as it is extremely cold and has a instant death pit. its best to stay as far as you can from this death pit (obviously). any boss fighting creature should do well here. The Megapithecus on alpha difficulty requires the following to summon him: Artifact of the Brute, Artifact of the Devourer, Artifact of the Pack, Steinbjorn Relic, Megalania Toxin x10, Megalodon Tooth x10, Spinosaurus Sail x10, Therizinosaurus Claws x10, And Thylacoleo Hook-Claw x10
Tek unlocks on Alpha Difficulty

• Large Tek Wall
  
• Rex Tek Saddle
  
• Tek Dinosaur Gate
  
• Tek Dinosaur Gateway
  
• Tek Door
  
• Tek Doorframe
  
• Tek Gauntlets
  
• Tek Generator
  
• Tek Grenade
  
• Tek Hatchframe
  
• Tek Replicator
  
• Tek Rifle
  
• Tek Trapdoor
  
• Tek Trough
  
• Tek Window
  
• Tek Windowframe

Despite not being the final boss on the map, the Dragon is without a doubt the hardest boss on the map. while the dragon's bites are underwhelming when its on the ground, that is the only easy thing about this bossfight. While the dragon is flying, its fireball will instantly kill any player on the back of their mount, its minions can also hit players on the back of their mount, which are summoned while the dragon is in the air. When the dragon is on the ground its bites don't do a lot of damage, but its fire breath does a guaranteed 20% of maximum hp, putting the fight on a timer. The arena is also extremely hot and has lava in it. the best dinosaur to fight the dragon is the therizinosaurus, as with veggie cakes the therizinosaurus can heal thousands of health and stay in the fight for longer than a rex or other carnivore. The Dragon on alpha difficulty requires the following to summon him: Artifact of the Cunning, Artifact of the Immune, Artifact of the Skylord, Artifact of the Strong, Hati Relic, Skoll Relic, Allosaurus Brain x10, Basilosaurus Blubber x10, Giganotosaurus Heart x2, Tusoteuthis Tentacle x10, Tyrannosaurus Arm x10, And Yutyrannus Lungs x10
Tek unlocks on Alpha Difficulty

• Behemoth Tek Gate
  
• Behemoth Tek Gateway
  
• Cloning Chamber
  
• Megalodon Tek Saddle
  
• Tapejara Tek Saddle
  
• Tek Chestpiece
  
• Tek Dedicated Storage
  
• Tek Double Door
  
• Tek Double Doorframe
  
• Tek Fence Support
  
• Tek Forcefield
  
• Tek Leggings
  
• Tek Replicator
  
• Tek Stairs
  
• Tek Teleporter
  
• Tek Transmitter
  
• Vacuum Compartment
  
• Vacuum Compartment Moonpool

I have never fought the Fenrisulfr, but I will put all of the information I know. First off, on alpha difficulty, Fenrisulfr has the 2nd highest boss hp in the entire game, only beaten by extinctions Alpha king titan at 1,500,000 health. Fenrisulfr has fenrir minions which make the already freezing arena even colder, and fenrisulfr can hit you on the back of your tames with a projectile of himself racing towards you. this projectile will likely instantly kill you. Fenrisulfr's arena is the 2nd coldest area in ark, the first being the murdersnow on ragnarok. Fenrisulfr's arena also has lot of water in it.
my best bet for this bossfight would either be Rexes, Theriz's, or Spino's, but I can't tell you a definite answer. Fenrisulfr's only tek engram is the Tek Sword. Fenrisulfr on alpha difficulty requires the following to summon him: Alpha Broodmother Trophy, Alpha Megapithecus Trophy, Alpha Dragon Trophy