ARK Survival Ascended's new major patch makes massive quality-of-life additions

ARK Survival Ascended just got a major client patch across all its versions - Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox - introducing new UI tools to make some things significantly easier. There's an auto-run mode on your action wheel to make long-distance flights more comfortable on controllers. For the architects in your tribe, a new building piece picker (auto-select) option also makes base-building a breeze.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, select dinos (for now, Ankys, Dunkleosteus, and Doedicurus) now get a Harvest only option to let you select one individual resource to prioritize from nodes. In effect, this makes farming some stuff like metal from underwater nodes on a Dunky dramatically faster.

That's not all, though: there are a lot of dino buffs and nerfs, while Phoenixes are finally breedable now! Here are the full patch notes on this major update (currently live across all platforms as 68.5, although the official client build is numbered 68.12).

ARK Survival Ascended patch notes for 68.12 (July 2, 2025): All changes, additions, and fixes

The new Harvest-only option on a Dunky (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Club Ark has received a Summer makeover! v198

Added missing Love Ascended and Summer Bash cosmetics to the store

Gameplay Changes, Balance & QoL

Phoenixes are now breedable.
Note: Previously tamed Phoenixes in Single Player will automatically be updated to be male.
Phoenix fire attack no longer damages mounted players
Added an Auto-Run toggle, accessible on the Action wheel (R)
Also added the option to keybind this in the settings
Ankylosaurus, Doedicurus and Dunkleosteus have been given an extra option called “Harvest Only” which when enabled, will only harvest the resource selected
This can even be toggled while mounted via the Action wheel (R)
Ankylosaurus and Doedicurus will no longer stop Auto-Harvesting as long as they are grabbed, and currently, even when slot-capped
Removed poker table from Bob’s Tall Tales and the Base Game Content to comply with ESRB rating requirements.
Equipped armor durability is now displayed on the extended HUD (H)
Added a “quick-select” feature for building, while you are placing a structure, pressing the “quick ping” keybind on a placed structure will swap to placing that structure - if you have one available
Quetzal movement speed has been increased by approximately 15%
Spinosaurus health scaling has been increased by approximately 15%
Mammoth health scaling has been increased by approximately 20%
Brontosaurus health scaling has been increased by approximately 10%
Pyromane’s Enflamed DoT duration has been reduced to 20 seconds (from 30)
Fasolasuchus’ damage scaling has been increased by 20%
Dreadmare’s damage scaling has been increased by 30%
Basilisk’s damage scaling has been reduced by 20%
Rhyniognatha’s saddle has been clamped to 74.5 on Official servers
On PvP enabled servers, all buffs from the Tribe Tower have been doubled
This can be further tweaked by unofficial servers using this config in the game.ini: TribeTowerBonusMultiplier=2.0
On PvP enabled servers, weapons can no longer be equipped by mounted players on Megalania, Rock Drake and Ravagers
Similarly to the Rhyniognatha weapon equipment restriction, unofficial servers can opt out by using the following config: IgnorePVPMountedWeaponryRestrictions=True
Tesla Coil’s “Bright” mode has been reworked to apply a 99% slow instead of a stun, eliminating dismounts and flyer grounding
Yi Ling’s can now use Titanoboa Venom as well as Nameless Venom to poison enhance feathers
Yi Ling’s feather enhancements now last for 10 minutes, up from 5
Yi Ling’s tamed damage scaling has been increased by approximately 15%
Poison Wyvern damage scaling has been reduced by approximately 40%
Dreadnoughtus HP scaling has been reduced by approximately 40%
Dreadnoughtus’ Titan Slayer buff only activates when they are the only Dreadnoughtus nearby (100m)
Wyvern Milk buff duration has been reduced to 2 minutes (from 3)
Consuming Wyvern Milk now applies a 5 minute cooldown -Does not apply to raising babies
Torpor applied by Wooden Clubs and Equus/Unicorn should now penetrate armor more effectively, similarly to ASE
Fixed most cases where projectiles could pass through the Tek Forcefield
Lightning Wyvern’s breath no longer destroys armor durability, similarly to ASE
Mek blueprints have been re-enabled in the Tinkering Desk, and like the other pseudo-creature blueprints, can only be tinkered with its own blueprints.
The beam attack from Meks wearing the Power Ranger’s Megazord costume has been reduced by approximately 20%
Door structures no longer exert enemy foundation control
Training Dummy placement limit has been reduced to 20 (from 150)
Training Dummy can no longer be placed on platform saddles
Telekinesis skill can now access tribe owned creature inventories
Tek Bunker stack size reduced from 5 to 1
Increased the chance of Heat Wave weather event on Scorched Earth
Owners of a Template Hammer building template can now destroy it via the multiuse wheel
Veilwyn friends now transfer harvested resources to the companion
Veilwyn’s Tundra Power now also increases ranged damage
Added Tek saddles to Drakeling’s Dragon Hoard Chest loot
Adjusted Drakeling’s Dragon Hoard Chest to drop slightly less Tek items
Drakeling’s no longer store XP for Gift of Knowledge when killing tamed creatures

Ragnarok Changes & Fixes

Added Archelon, Gigantoraptor and Rhyniognatha spawns
Added Blue Gems, Fungal Wood, Aggeravic Mushrooms and Auric Mushrooms
Fixed Bison not respawning correctly
Fixed temperature not rising during the day time
Fixed Daytime Transition audio stinger not respecting audio sliders
Fixed overly red morning and sunset events
Fixed Dreadmare’s Dark Altar not working
Fixed Pyromane being killed to the Jungle dungeon’s lava
Fixed rafts getting stuck traversing parts of the ocean
Reduced weather event frequency
Fixed no snowfall during rain event within the snow biome
Fixed missing rain VFX during electrical storms
Extended the no-build radius outside of the labyrinth to prevent players blocking it
Added missing crystal nodes
Fixed some Palm fronds that were not pickupable
Fixed incorrect sapling scale in Redwoods
Fixed missing textures in the labyrinth
Fixed cases where underwater clutter would appear on land
Fixed the entire map appearing covered in snow after dying in the boss arena
Fixed water appearing darker or brighter depending on camera angle
Fixed several trees that were missing collision and could not be harvested
Fixed several rocks missing collision
Fixed several supply crates spawning in the mesh
Fixed an issue that caused players to get teleported out of Saltveil’s lighthouse
Fixed light showing through landscape at Hibber’s Summit
Various visual tweaks
Fixed various mesh holes

General Bug Fixes

Fixed a case where changing settings in-game sometimes caused actors to appear invisible
Fixed issues that caused structures to render on clients slower since 5.5
Fixed some kill milestones cases where progression was not counting with some creature variants
Fixed Cat dossier not unlocking
Fixed Drakeling’s Dragon Hoard Key incorrectly requiring Bob’s Tall Tales to use
Fixed Skills placed on the hotbar preventing server transfer
Fixed an issue that could cause incorrect new milestones to appear when partially completing multiple branches
Fixed Tracker skill highlighting low yield oil rocks in the ocean
Fixed Veilwyn unable to be deployed on Aberration
Fixed Veilwyn’s getting stuck when trying to harvest a corpse
Fixed Display case not displaying cryopodded creatures
Fixed Bison’s damaging thatch when mounted
Fixed the Dark Tek cape appearing messed up after spinning your character around
Fixed missing tooltip information on the inventory sort button
Fixed various Armadoggo animation issues
Fixed Armadoggo’s weight showing as 0 after a server restart
Fixed lighting inside the Underworld Cave on The Center
Fixed large rocks in the lava biome rendering out too quickly on The Center
Fixed an issue that caused Shastasaurus to constantly turn around during taming
Fixed Cat animations that caused its paws to stretch
Fixed various Drakeling animation issues
Fixed Drakeling inability to damage mounted creatures
Fixed a visual issue when equipping a Drakeling
Fixed Gift of the Season VFX appearing messed up on Reapers
Added missing multi-use wheel icons for the Decor Box
Fixed “Bury” option appearing on enemy Reapers
Fixed Mek attachments not breaking once reaching 0 durability
Fixed Tek Bunker foundation check being too large
Fixed inability to quick access Tek Bunker inventory from its terminal
Fixed inability to access a baby creature’s inventory when babyfying with the Makeshift MegaLab
Fixed the scroll keybind not working for the minimap overlay
Fixed Map tab being skipped when using the cycle tabs keybind with a gamepad
Fixed cases where low foundations would prevent Template Hammer builds on rafts
Fixed inability to continue building a template with Template Hammer after dying
Fixed Template Hammer’s template descriptions getting cut off, and inability to scroll through structures required
Template Hammer no longer creates a new entry if it is replacing one (of the same name)
Fixed click-to-rotate not working on 3D explorer note preview when captions are displayed
Fixed inability to delete the last death waypoint via the map
Fixed Tek Suit’s radiation buff not applying correctly if the Tek Helmet was the last piece equipped
Fixed Power Rangers Megazord Mek skin displaying the original Mek Sword/Pistol when equipped
Fixed Power Rangers Dragonzord skin not animating attacks properly when equipped
Fixed Power Rangers Green and White Ranger costume having a floating dagger underneath the wearer’s feet when equipped
Fixed Power Rangers Ptero Zord skin having backward jet VFX when equipped
Fixed invalid error message displaying when left clicking without a target with Tek Binoculars
Fixed multiple exploits.

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About the author

Sambit Pal is an esports Journalist on Gaming and MMO at Sportskeeda. He has Master's degree in English Literature. In his spare time, he is an amateur sleuth trying to trace the Riven Mafia in Warframe, and a recovering Bethesda modding addict. He also secretly enjoys action Roguelites, a severe lack of gitting gud notwithstanding.

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Edited by Sambit Pal