Core to both its story and gameplay experience, Boss Arenas in ARK: Survival Ascended are fun trials that pit survivors and up to 20 chosen, tamed dinosaurs against an imposing boss. ARK: Survival Ascended’s “The Island” has four challenging bosses that survivors can face off against in special arenas.

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The Broodmother, Dragon, Megapithecus, and Overseer are each part of ARK: Survival Ascended’s main storyline, but also provide a good challenge for survivors looking to prove their worth on the Ark. On entering an arena, players will be faced with one of four bosses, as well as a horde of creatures that will swarm the player and their mounts. Certain dinosaurs are essential to use in the Boss Arenas, either due to their stats or access to unique abilities that play a huge part in securing victory.

1 Mammoth

Great For Reducing Incoming Damage

• Base Health: 850
• Base Melee Damage: 48

The Mammoth is a force to be reckoned with that is unfortunately often overlooked in PvE due to its superior use in PvP. Still, Mammoths have plenty of use in PvE as both a wood and thatch gatherer, and a supportive dino in boss fights. If new or lower-level players don’t have access to a high-level Yutyrannus, the Mammoth could be a decent replacement against weaker bosses.

While the impressive war drums of the Mammoth’s saddle have little effect outside PvP, their prime use being to counter the Yutyrannus’ fear roar, the Mammoth still has access to a special ability that applies a debuff to enemy creatures. Lifting its trunk into the air, the Mammoth lets out a ferocious AoE roar that decreases affected targets’ damage output by 25% for 15 seconds. In boss fights, this 25% damage reduction can be an important factor that secures the win.

2 Woolly Rhino

Fantastic Damage Mount Against The Dragon

• Base Health: 500
• Base Melee Damage: 40

While the Woolly Rhino may not excel in every boss fight, it does do particularly well against The Island’s Dragon. The Dragon is a unique boss that deals additional damage to Carnivores with its attacks, making it harder to brute force the boss fight with an army of Rexes. Additionally, the Dragon’s fire attacks can harm the rider, as well as the mount.

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Because of this, having a mount that can quickly maneuver out of the way is important. The Woolly Rhino has access to a charge ability that will allow it to easily dodge out of the way of incoming projectiles, keeping itself and its rider safe. When combined with a Yutyrannus’ courage roar, this charge ability is also an extremely powerful attack that is sure to bring the Dragon down.

3 Therizinosaur

The Best DPS Herbivore Versus The Dragon

• Base Health: 870
• Base Melee Damage: 52

The Therizinosaur is another effective damage dinosaur to take into the Dragon boss arena, able to deal a good amount of damage and dodge incoming projectiles with its decent movement speed. Additionally, the Therizinosaur has the added benefit of not experiencing increased damage from the Dragon like its carnivorous cousins.

Another benefit herbivores have over carnivores is the ability to come equipped to fights with Sweet Vegetable Cake. Sweet Vegetable Cake can be consumed once every 30 seconds, and the Therizinosaur will automatically eat the cake if its health drops below 85%. When consumed, the sweet vegetable cake restores 10% of the dinos' health, keeping the Therizinosaur healthy during combat.

4 Megatherium

Excels At Taking Down The Broodmother

• Base Health: 740
• Base Melee Damage: 32

Although the Megatherium has relatively low base melee damage, and lackluster damage scaling both in the wild and once tamed, the giant sloth has a fantastic passive ability that makes it the perfect dino to take down the Broodmother. After killing an insect, the Megatherium gets a unique buff called Insect Killer, which multiplies the sloth’s damage output by a huge 250% for 120 seconds.

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This 250% can stack on top of the Megatherium’s existing passive, which allows it to deal an increased 150% damage against insects. With the Insect Killer buff active while fighting insects, the Megatherium is an insect-killing machine. Because of these passive buffs, an army of high-level Megatherium will easily take down the Broodmother.

5 Daedon

An Effective Combat Medic

• Base Health: 900
• Base Melee Damage: 29

The Daedon is a fantastic supportive dinosaur that acts as a combat medic in boss fights. At the cost of its own food source, the Daedon can passively heal any dinosaurs within range of its healing ring. For higher-tier bosses, particularly the Alpha variants, having two Daedons is crucial to keeping the army of chosen dinosaurs alive while fighting.

The amount of healing per second a Daedon does is directly related to the target dinosaur’s maximum health. Keeping the pig medic alive during a boss fight to make the most of its healing is an important task. Therefore, it can be useful for survivors to mount the Daedon until its food is completely empty, and it can no longer heal.

6 Tyrannosaurus Rex

The King Of Dealing Damage

• Base Health: 1100
• Base Melee Damage: 62

The Tyrannosaurus Rex is a deadly boss-fighting dinosaur with an incredible base melee damage stat and brilliant damage scaling. When bred with melee and health mutations, a horde of high-level Rex can easily overwhelm bosses, including Alpha variants.

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Equipped with a high-tier saddle and buffed by a Yutyrannus, an army of Rex will make short work of the Megapithecus boss. While the Megatherium and Therizinosaur might be more well-suited to dealing with the Broodmother and Dragon, an army of Rex is almost always the best method for taking down bosses.

7 Yutyrannus

An Amazing Supportive Dinosaur For All Arenas

• Base Health: 1100
• Base Melee Damage: 55

Since its release, the Yutyrannus has been one of the best dinosaurs to bring into boss arenas. While its melee damage isn’t as strong as the Rex’s, it has the same health pool and an arguably better set of abilities. The Courage Roar, one of two roars the Yutyrannus has access to, applies an amazing damage boost to allied dinosaurs, increasing their attack damage by 25% and reducing incoming damage they take by 20%.

This roar alone makes bringing just a single Yutyrannus to boost the damage output of the player's chosen dinosaur army an extremely effective method for clearing boss fights. Furthermore, unlike the Mammoth, Rex, Megatherium, Daedon, Woolly Rhino, and Therizinosaur, the Yutyrannus is helpful in every arena. With fantastic base health, two powerful roars, and invaluable use in every arena, the Yutyrannus is arguably the best dino for boss fights.

Ark: Survival Ascended

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

October 26, 2023

Developer(s)

Studio Wildcard

Genre(s)

Survival , Open-World