Beginner’s guide to PvP in Ark: Survival Evolved

PvP has never been a mode for the faint of heart, especially in survival games like Ark: Survival Evolved. Players who want to engage in the often-grueling game mode find themselves getting absorbed into the hours it takes to get the game going and fight their way toward the much coveted Alpha Tribe status on your server. While there are many ways to go about PvP, knowing the basics is essential. This guide will serve as the beginner’s guide to PvP in Ark: Survival Evolved, explaining what you should and shouldn’t do.

10 PvP tips for Ark: Survival Evolved beginner’s

Level up — PvP tips in Ark: Survival Evolved

Leveling your character is the most important thing to do. When you spawn on the beach, you need to push for levels as fast as you can, which means, for most people, Explorer Note runs. The easiest map to make Explorer notes on used to be The Island, but Genesis Part 2 has quickly picked up popularity thanks to the Tek Suit and ample means of gathering Explorer Notes. If you’re on a server with multiple maps, and the Genesis 2 map is full, The Island is a good backup map. It’s important to note that if your character dies while you’re doing these runs, you’ll lose your XP. Buff, so you may want to consider restarting with a whole new character.

Gear up — PvP tips in Ark: Survival Evolved

Gearing yourself up is the next best thing. For foot PvP, which will be the majority of your gameplay for the first few hours, you’ll want to invest heavily in Bola’s, spears, a Bow, and arrows. Your Bola will allow you to immobilize those on foot and players who have obtained a Pteranodon. While they’ve been immobilized, you can deal damage quickly. A Torch is also great for extra burning damage.

Tame Pteranodon and build your base — PvP tips in Ark: Survival Evolved

Get mobile, whether that’s on land, water, or sky. The Pteranodon is a very easy tame, and once you have one, you can travel quickly and efficiently to the place you want to set your base up in. Caves in Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the best locations to build your bases in. While some caves are superior to others, such as the Pearl Cave in The Center, Oil Cave on Valguero, and even the Bear Cave, most caves that have a single entrance and solid choke point can be great places to build a base. To build a decent base, you should do the following:

Step four to PvP in Ark: Survival Evolved

Setting up your base requires some forethought and coordination, especially if you’re in a tribe. On maps like The Center, crouch caves are incredibly sought after. This means you’ll need to send at least one or two of your Tribe members to claim and defend your chosen spot against invaders. 

Placing spam as a basic defense in a cave in Ark: Survival Evolved

Spamming the area you’re looking to occupy, particularly in the early phases of a fresh wipe on a server, is vital. Spammed structures like foundations mean other players who are not in your tribe cannot place their own structures down until they’ve destroyed yours. Spamming is a strategy that progresses throughout your PvP lifespan, as you’ll never want to give anyone a chance to get too close to your main base.

Building turret walls as a basic defense in a cave in Ark: Survival Evolved

Turrets are the lifeblood of PvP in Ark: Survival Evolved. When starting, you aim to push for the Heavy Turret that unlocks at level 100. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t place Auto Turrets down before that. While they do less damage, it’s far less likely that someone will raid you if they turn the corner on a turret wall. In the beginning, while resources are low, your Turret wall could end up looking more like a Turret row, but as you progress further, you’ll be able to stack higher and smarter.

Building exterior Turret Towers as a basic defense in a cave in Ark: Survival Evolved

By the time a raiding force gets into your cave, it is often too late unless your cave has multiple choke points. To prevent this from happening, it’s important to set up Turret Towers to force raiders to waste time outside. This can help you to rally your Tribe members, craft more bullets, or just take a breather.

Placing strong tames in choke points as a basic defense in a cave in Ark: Survival Evolved

There’s nothing quite as terrifying as coming around a corner to a Therizinosaur charging right at you. Creatures with high Melee strength and a large hit radius are lethal in small spaces like caves. Creatures can often turn the tide of a fight if you’re being swarmed from the front.

Having another way out as a basic defense in a cave in Ark: Survival Evolved

Having a bed placed outside your cave, with key weapons or even Cryopodded tames, can be an excellent strategy. Attacking in a pincer-like move will overwhelm the enemy, especially if you can block off the entrance to your cave while they’re inside. Teleporters can also help a ton in this instance.

Related: Best air-based dinosaurs for PvP in ARK: Survival Evolved

Resource Farming — PvP tips in Ark: Survival Evolved

Resource farming is vital, not just because you need resources to craft but so that you don’t fall behind. You’ll need to advance to the metal tier as quickly as you can to avoid being raided and not having Turrets to defend your base. While Automatic Turrets are the first to unlock, you really want to invest in Heavy Turrets to pack a punch and keep early raiders away. Gunpowder, Metal, Cementing Paste, Sparkpowder, and Electronics will be vital, so start gathering them early on.

Tame right beast — PvP tips in Ark: Survival Evolved

Another crucial aspect is taming the right creatures to help defend and raid. To begin with, tame things that are easier to get back to your base and can help you in defense. Creatures like Stegos are highly sought after in the beginning phases of the games, and you may have to fight others to tame one.

High-Tier Blueprints — PvP tips in Ark: Survival Evolved

Obtaining high-tier Blueprints means that you will have the edge over your competition. While raiding for resources is a popular pastime, the true value of raids comes from obtaining Saddle, Weapon, and even Item Blueprints. You can gather them passively on maps such as the Crystal Isles by completing OSDs on Extinction, the Lava Golem or Ice Cave on Ragnarök, or from Supply Drops.

Artifacts — PvP tips in Ark: Survival Evolved

Obtaining the Artifacts and completing the boss fights to unlock Tek Tier is vital. Remember, if you’re on a multi-map server, bosses like Rockwell can only be fought on Aberration, which means you’ll want to have a small forward base there to work from. Once you’ve unlocked Tek, you’ll be able to upgrade your defenses significantly and use higher-grade weapons and crafting stations like the Tek Replicator. If you’re using S+ as a Mod on your server, the Mutator is a game-changing item.

Breeding lines tame — PvP tips in Ark: Survival Evolved

Set up a smooth farming cycle and breeding lines for your tames if you haven’t already. For farming, make sure you have Gachas passively producing and organizing Metal, Polymer, and Wood harvesting runs with your tribe mates. Always have Gunpowder being made and bullets for your Turrets because you really don’t want to run out during a raid. Your tames will benefit from Mutagen if you can obtain it, and your priority should be obtaining the highest possible stats.

Raid — PvP tips in Ark: Survival Evolved

Raid before you get raided. The only way to really make sure you’re not going to get raided is by wiping out potential threats before they strike or at least weakening them to the point where they’re unable to strike first. Set up raid targets and push them to waste resources on defending.

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