ARK Survival Ascended Iguanodon taming guide

Ark Survival Ascended Iguanodon with gaping mouth
Iguanodons are known as poor man's Parasaurs in Ark Survival Ascended (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Ark Survival Ascended is a faithful Unreal Engine 5 remake of Ark Survival Evolved. While Ark II, the next flagbearer of Studio Wildcard's survival MMO franchise, veers off into its own direction with the setting, Ark Survival Ascended keeps the original formula intact. At the center of this is the game's robust creature-taming system.

All the prehistoric beasts that roam the vast map of Ark Survival Ascended can be domesticated and put to various uses. While most are hostile creatures meant for combat, some provide many non-lethal utilities.

The most basic form of utility you can get out of a tame, for example, is mounting it to explore the wilds. Iguanodon, an often overlooked early-game tame, is an example of how in-depth something as basic as mount movement can be.


How to find and tame an Iguanodon in Ark Survival Ascended

You can find Iguanodons in most flatland regions (Image via Studio Wildcard)
You can find Iguanodons in most flatland regions (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Iguanodon are late Jurassic herbivores found across The Island map. More specifically, they tend to roam the greenery of Ark Survival Ascended. This includes both the open grasslands as well as the denser woodland areas, although you will have more luck finding them in the former.

If you have not found an Iguanodon of the specific color and level range of your liking, you might be able to reset spawns via console commands to look for them again. Note that this is only possible if you are playing solo or hosting a private server.

Iguanodons in Ark Survival Ascended often serve the same purpose as Parasaurs or Raptors: the role of an early-game mount. Iguanodon manages to beat all of its early-game competitors in this regard, as it drains no stamina when running on all fours.

  • On top of virtually infinite stamina, Iguanodons can jump decently high and swim at a moderate pace, making them a versatile tool for getting around in Ark Survival Ascended.
  • In its bipedal stance, Iguanodon can also out-damage a Raptor of a similar level.
  • Iguanodons can also turn your berries into seeds. In the early game, this can make your resource economy much easier by jump-starting the farms in your base.

What makes them a good early-game choice is the simplicity of taming them. Once they turn hostile, they can deal a serious amount of melee damage if your player stats are low. However, you can simply kite them with bear traps. To tame an Iguanodon, you will need:

  • Bear Trap
  • Bola
  • Club or Ranged weapon with Tranquilizer ammunition

Once their health is low or they are near the knock-out threshold, they may begin to run away. To avoid this, you can either lure them into a bear trap or use a Bola to incapacitate them.

After they are knocked out, feed them Simple Kibble to tame them fast. If you do not have kibbles on you, most herbivore food items such as mojoberries or dried wheat do the trick.

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