Summary
Caving inARK: Survival Ascendedis a necessary process all players must go through to access any of The Island’s bosses. Within each cave lies a special artifact, often within the depths of the cave and behind multiple waves of powerful cave critters.
As if the layers of difficult cave mobs weren’t enough, many caves also have awkward layouts that require precise and careful footing, else the player will suffer a quick death. Anupdate toARK: Survival Evolved,ARK: Survival Ascendedimplemented significant changes to caves. One of these changes was the reduction of cave entrances, limiting which dinosaurs can enter.
8Otter
The Perfect Crawl-Cave Companion
The Otter makes the list due to its use in the North-West Cave, a tiny cave which almost all dinosaurs cannot fit into. Unable to ride mounts through the cave, players are forced to traverse the incredibly dangerous, icy catacombs on foot.
The first threat players will encounter in the North-West Cave is the freezing temperature. This is where having an Otter comes in handy. When carried, Otters provide insulation for the player, protecting them from the cold. Otters will also attack any dinosaur that gets too close to the player, lending a helping hand against the dangerous dinosaurs lurking within the cave.
7Basilosaurus
The Best Dino For Underwater Caving
The gentle giant of the sea, the Basilosaurus is the best option for underwater caveexploration on The Island. This is thanks to their special trait, which makes them immune to stuns and dismounting. This ability makes facing the dangerous Cnidaria and Electrophorus much less threatening.
Accompanied by two or three Megalodons, the Basilosaurus is an extremely safe under-water cave mount. While it lacks damage, the Basilo hasno shortage of health points. A player riding the whale should look to draw aggro from wild dinos, while allowing their more aggressive water mounts, such as the Meg, to take out underwater cave creatures.
6Yutyrannus
The Champion of the Snow Cave
While it isone of the best dinosaursinARK: Survival Ascended, the Yutyrannus is only a viable cave-dino option within the Snow Cave. It must be hatched and raised within the cave, because it’s too big to fit past the icy walls. Raising a Yutyrannus in the Snow Cave is a difficult and dangerous task, but the Yuty is the best dinosaur for clearing this cave.
The Snow Cave is full of strong creatures, including Polar Bears and Dire Wolves. On top of this, the waters in the cave are so cold that any dinosaur caught in them will gradually take damage. The Yutyrannus’ Fear Roar comes in handy for this cave, applying a 30% Damage Reduction to all creatures affected and increasing damage dealt to them by 50%.
5Hyaenodon
A Non-Mount Caving Option
Like the Otter, the Hyaenodon cannot act as a mount. However, unlike the Otter, Hyaenodons, especially in packs of two or three, are capable of standing their ground against cave critters. On top of this, Hyaenodons can wear saddles, giving them increased protection. The Hyaenodon also has access to a small pack boost when in groups larger than two, increasing their damage per additional pack member.
High-level, mate-boosted Hyaenodons make clearing caves easy, especially as the Hyaenodon can heal itself after collecting meat from dead bodies. This ability to quickly heal itself makes the Hyaenodon an amazing dino for cave combat.
4Sabertooth
The Best Early-Game Caver
The Sabertooth is afantastic all-round dinothat often gets overlooked in favor of the Dire Wolf. While the prehistoric cat would likely benefit from a similar pack-bonus to the Hyaenodon and Dire Wolf, the Sabertooth is still a solid cave mount without it.
With decent speed, stamina, and melee damage, the Sabertooth has no issue traversing caves or dealing with their pesky inhabitants. Additionally, the Sabertooth can wear saddles, giving the cat increased protection from incoming damage. Early level, solo cave-explorers looking to get in and out of caves quickly should look no further than the Sabertooth.
3Direwolf
A Cave Explorer’s Best Friend
Direwolves are a survivor’s best friend, especially when it comes to cave exploration. They have access to a solid pack bonus, as well as the Howl Ability, which buffs each pack-member’s damage by 50% for 90 seconds. With these abilities, a pair of high-level, imprinted, and mate-boosted Direwolves make caving easy. On top of this, the Direwolf’s jump is pretty good at helping players traverse the awkward cave layouts.
Despite not having access to a saddle, the Direwolf should have little difficulty facing cave critters, as their bite attack has a slight knock-back. This helps to keep threats at a distance while shredding through their health.
2Thylacoleo
Dedicated Cave Thylas Make Caving Simple
One of the changes implementedinARK: Survival Ascendedwas making cave entrances smaller, limiting which dinosaurs could enter caves. The Thylacoleo is one of the creatures impacted by the change, likely in an attempt to shift up the caving meta. However, thereis a neat trickthat allows Thylas to enter the caves, although they’ll be unable to leave.
Players can bring two Thylas into the entrance of a cave, breed them, and allow the Thylas to give birth to the baby at the cave’s entrance. The baby Thylacoleo can then be lead past the spot that blocks adult Thylas from entering, and left to grow up within the cave. Using this method, players will have access to a powerful cave-mount that can scale cave walls and obliterate cave critters.
1Baryonyx
The Superior Choice Of Caving Dinos
Able to traverse quickly on both land and in water, the Baryonyx remains the greatest cave-dino of all time, sitting comfortably atop its throne of cave critter corpses. Thin enough to fit through most cave entrances while ridden, the Baryonyx has great melee damage, health, and stamina, as well as an ability that stuns nearby creatures while in water.
Perhaps the most significant trait that makes the Bary such a strong cave-mount is its ability to heal by eating dead fish, giving the dino a quick top-up on health after difficult battles. Additionally, the Baryonyx has sufficient maneuverability and jump height/distance, making traversing the challenging layout of caves relatively easy.
