To start off, "Threat Level" determines the danger/strength of the creature and recommends when the player should start their interactions/encounters with these creatures.

Low: This monster is not much of a threat, and the common lower-level survivor should be able to face them fair and square.

Medium: This monster is a bit tougher, but still not much of concern. Any survivor with some good critters or a mid-game survivor should be able to take these on or tame them without much issue.

High: In a sense, your rex-strength critters. Any well-prepared mid-game survivor should be able to take these on, and later game survivors definately can as well.

Very High: Late-game monsters that are rather powerful and dangerous. They should only be approached by hunters and survivors who are rather skilled and late-game, due to their ferocity and difficulty of taming.

Extreme: Only the most prepared of endgame and late-game survivors and hunters should approach these. These monsters are extremely powerful, difficult to obtain, impossible to obtain, or extremely difficult and dangerous to fight. Carefully consider if you're truly ready to go after these beasts.

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#1. Armaedron
“Flame Kaiser Dragon”
-Class: Monarch Dragon
-Taming Method: Unique
-Spawning: Mountain, Scorched Mountain, Genesis Volcano Biome, Desert Biodome (Upper), Monster Island, Volcanic Environments
-Temperament: Intelligent
-Threat Level: Very High
Blazing Red Dragons, the Flame Kaisers are among the strongest of the lesser Elder kin. While naturally docile, Armaedron do not think ambivalent of humans and hunters. Distrustful of them, any who approach Armaedron are threatened with outstretched wings and a demanding presence to leave. Those who do not heed this warning are then purged by the Kaiser's flame and fury. However, here on the ARKs, there is tell of those who have befriended these flaming Kaisers, by offering them the treasures they find interest in. Armaedron are dragons who naturally collect and store precious metals and minerals: by offering them to an Armaedron, but respecting its intelligence and its distrust of humans. Eventually, after a time of bonding, the Armaedron will trust the survivor as a friend and ally. Armaedron are told to be excellent combatants, fighting alongside humans as incredible terrestrial fighters. Survivors continue to trade with their Armaedron long after working with each other, swapping precious materials with each other. To the fool who insults the Armaedron's intelligence by offering it slabs of meat like an animal: there is only scorn, fury and a lost opportunity for you!
-In the wild, Armaedron has a unique mechanic of reacting to players. Rather than immediately attack, the Armaedron will turn to face the player in a threatening stance until they leave. Armaedron will attack if attacked, if the player lingers too long, or if the player draws too close. If the player leaves and backs off, the Armaedron will resume its usual duties. THEY WILL NOT THREATEN PLAYERS ON MOUNTS. To an armaedron, approaching them with a mount shows "intentional hostility" or "intent to kill". Aka, they take it as a show of malevolent intent or aggression, and as such, will defend themselves by retaliating with immediate aggression. Keep your tames away!
-Armaedron has a unique taming mechanic of offering it precious minerals and “gem-like items” once it enters its threatening stance. This will go into detail in the appropriate discussion, so go to that if you're trying to figure out how to tame an Armaedron!
-Armaedron has unique cross-function with Immersive Taming. If you offer Armaedron ANY bait from Immersive taming (as in dropped bait or shot bait with an arrow), Armaedron will immediately become enraged, feeling this an insult to its intelligence. Once it enters this state, it immediately aggros to you and that Armaedron becomes permanently unable to be immersive tamed. Nothing you can do: editing IT settings in the taming journal, shooting baits, etc- all of it will yield the same in enraging an armaedron. However, Armaedron CAN still be immersive tamed if they were not enraged prior. See the Armaedron Taming section to learn more about Armaedron's “Offended Refusal” Cross-mod-functionality with Immersive taming.
-Armaedron is immune to fire attacks, being set on fire, sulfur burns, lava, and burns of the AC series of mods.
-Armaedron can fly, but he is a rather mediocre flier and aerial combatant.
-Armaedron reduces the weight of many mineral resources in his inventory. If it is anything that could be considered a “Precious metal” or “gem”, it is reduced to 25%(Silica pearls, Black Pearls, Silicate, Gems, Crystal, Obsidian, Element Ore, Element Shards, Element)
-When tamed, Armaedron can trade for various precious metals and resources. The items you can offer him are much of the same that you could give him for taming. See the appropriate discussion for that.
-Left click bite, deals good damage.
-Right click firebreath. Slight cooldown and stamina cost, cannot be used with insufficient stam. Special attack, can be toggled.
-C key claw slash. This is the same damagetype as an anky, harvesting metal and stone. Cannot be used while moving, but CAN be used while moving when flying.
-Shift+C Claw Slam. Does a ground slam that has a slight cooldown and good AOE with knockback. Has a stamina cost and cannot be used with insufficient stam. Can only be used on land.
-Alt+C Burning Palm. Armaedron will breathe a torrent of flame into its hand, then slam it on the ground for an explosive AoE effect with knockback and very high damage. Lights targets on fire, has a cooldown, and stamina cost that cannot be used with insufficient stam. Toggle-able as a special attack. Can only be used on land.
-X Rear Tail Whip. Armaedron will quickly swipe its tail behind itself. Has a slight cooldown, cannot be used when moving and can only be used on land.
-Shift+X Tail Spin. This attack has a cooldown, stamina cost, can only be used while on land, cant be used while moving, and cannot be used with insufficient stam. Armaedron will slam its tail on the ground, then swing it around itself in a 360 degree spin. This attack has high knockback and hits twice: once on the slam and another on the spin itself.
-Alt+X Spin Counter. This attack has a cooldown, stamina cost, can only be used on land, and cannot be used with insufficient stamina. Armaedron will suddenly leap, turn the direction you're facing with the camera, and swing its tail behind itself as it turns while also slamming the ground with its front arms. This is an excellent counter move to quickly face a target behind you.
-Left control Kaiser's Flame. This is Armaedron's signature and strongest attack. It cannot be used while moving, has a massive cooldown, massive stamina cost, and cannot be used with insufficient stam. After inhaling, Armaedron will shoot a devastating torrent of flame from its mouth that causes both impact and explosion damage (does not damage structures) and is the same type of damage as a fire wyvern's flame, setting targets aflame. On impact with a surface or target, the projectiles will leave a spot of fire on the ground. These ground fires will light targets aflame that step into them, and also deal extremely rapid damage-per-second on anything within. Cause multiple groundfires on the same target in the same spot to cause some atrocious DPS. The effect of this attack changes depending on whether it is used on land or in the air, as Armaedron is a terrestrial fighter. If used on land, the attack comes out slower, but Armaedron shoots a massive amount of projectiles for devastating effect. If used in the air, the attack comes out faster, but Armaedron shoots far less projectiles, causing far less damage.
-O to roar, aesthetic only.
-Spacebar to toggle flight.



#2. Diru-Ya-Ku
“Balding Vulture Wyvern”
-Class: Bird Wyvern
-Taming Method: Tranq or Passive
-Spawning: Green Desert, Badlands, Desert Biodome Lower
-Temperament: Reactive
-Threat Level: Low
Raptorial bird wyverns that live in desert environments. Diru-Ya-Ku is medium-sized bird wyvern which fulfills the role of opportunistic predator. Incapable of producing actual or proper vocalizations, Diru-Ya-Ku vocalize in the form of clapping their large beaks rapidly; or by forcibly exhaling air through their windpipe. While comfortable hunting smaller creatures (including humans!), it is also very satisfied with scavenging from corpses: detecting them a far distance away before rushing in to feed for themselves. While temperamental, Diru-Ya-Ku does actually display a bit of intelligence, becoming less aggressive for a time after eating. Perhaps this is due to adapting to the harshness of the arks, but this aggressive bird wyvern picks its fights relatively well. Towards smaller creatures- such as Raptors or insects which could steal its kill- Diru-Ya-Ku punishes them by stomping them into oblivion in the same manner as secretary birds. Tamed, Diru-Ya-Ku provide ample starting mounts to those in desert environments. Proving their worth early on and far after partnering, Diru-Ya-Ku prove flexible and adaptable mounts: and can be stronger than they seem!
-Immune to Sandstorms and poisons
-Unique AI: Diru-Ya-Ku has a sort of hunger mechanic. By default, it has a fairly respectable targeting radius. After eating a corpse, it will have a drastically shorter aggro radius for 300 seconds, until it becomes hungry again. Be warned, however, it will still attack if you draw too close! (The buff it sometimes gets from eating corpses is NOT a timer).
-Diru-Ya-Ku can only be safely approached to passive tame when in its docile state, but even then, it requires full ghillie. Otherwise, standard knockout tame. However, passive taming uses less resources and guarantees slightly better affinity.
-Left click Bite/Peck. Both of these animations can play on left click and dont really have any different effects, and deal the same damage. Harvesting corpses with this grants it a 60second HP and Stamina regen with a 5% melee buff. Attack speed is rather high, but varying, depending on the animations that play
-Right click claw slash. Hits twice, harvests fiber, berries, thatch and wood
-C key pounce. This attack will deal 3x damage towards anything under 120 drag weight (Raptors, etc). Great for dealing with smaller creatures. Anything under 120 drag weight will be inflicted with a slowing effect
-Shift+C hipcheck. Diru-Ya-Ku will quickly turn with its shoulder facing the target, then leap forward. This has high knockback and brings the user forward a bit.
-X key Aesthetic Clopping. Diru-Ya-Ku will clap its beak to vocalize.
-Left Control+X Aesthetic Roar. Diru will force air loudly out of its beak in a loud, hollow sound, before following it up with a bit more clopping.
-Spacebar to jump



#3. Puretotokage
“Fume-Footed Wyvern”
-Class: Brute Wyvern
-Taming Method: Concussive
-Spawning: Mountain, Scorched Mountain, Genesis Volcano Biome, Desert Biodome (Upper), Monster Island, Volcanic Environments, Badlands
-Temperament: Docile
-Threat Level: Medium
Mid-Sized brute wyverns, Puretotokage is a gentle giant of an oddball. Despite all appearances, it is passive unless provoked: preferring to eat a diet of minerals found in its local environments. It is capable of surprising movement, despite its size and relatively slow running speed. It is capable of suddenly rolling into a wheel to travel quickly and safely across terrain, while also giving it increased agility. However, its strangely shaped, muscular tail also grants Puretotokage the ability to stand up on it, using it as an advantage point and intimidation tactic, hopping around in this state. As a geovore, its diet materializes twofold. One: its scales are metallic in nature, with the minerals having fortified its carapace to be a form of natural metal. This grants it sturdy physical defense. The second, or more curious feature, comes from the biproduct of digesting these ores. The bodily processes end up creating volatile fumes and gases, which Puretotokage uses actively via holes in its feet. By emitting this gas, combined with its own anatomy, this causes the gas to ignite violently. Pure can utilize this to deliver rapid, flaming kicks; or, more devastatingly, explosive stomps. This adaptation alone grants it far more strength than creatures larger than it, giving it ample protection in a dangerous environment to live a peaceful life. Survivors or Hunters wishing to domesticate puretotokage have two options. To either tame the stubborn beast passively with kibble, or to wrangle it unconscious. However, its armor and natural caustic fumes prevent it from falling to narcotic tranquilizers. Sharp-minded survivors however have been able to find that it can be rendered unconscious via concussive force to the head. When tamed, there's hardly something Puretotokage doesn't excel in. It's an extremely agile mount, a very capable and durable fighter, an incredible harvester, and a devastating siege engine. All of these combined make this odd, but amiable creature a sure-fire and wanted tame for any: regardless of how frustrating they can be, at times!
-Has natural armor that only allows it to take 70% of incoming damage
-Immune to fire attacks and magmasaur projectiles (should also be immune to lava)
-Takes 2x damage from explosives.
-Immune to bleed damage
-Docile: will not attack unless provoked!
-Knockout tame Puretotokage with concussive force to the head, like with Rock Golems. However, I recommend this mod's Concussive Arrows instead of cannons: as the Concussive arrows only hit once. This means you cant accidentally hit the creature again as you knock it out, reducing effectiveness.
-Be careful trapping Puretotokage to knock it out. It'll start utilizing its explosive attacks to break out if you do!
-immune to knockback when not lunging.
-Pure reduces the weight of mineral resources in his inventory: stone, metal, tungsten (AC2) get reduced to 30% weight. Most other mineral resources weigh 75%.
-Left click bite. Decent damage, harvests corpses
-Right click and hold to roll into a ball, similar to rollrat. Can only damage up to stone structures. While rolling, you can jump with spacebar. If you turn too sharply, pure will leave roll stance. While rolling, pure takes next to no fall damage.
-C key to toggle pure's tail stance. Whenever shifting into or out of tail stance, there's a brief second of maintenance to prevent glitching, so give it a moment before proceeding. When in tail stance, puretotokage can not walk. however, he can turn in place and hop forward with spacebar.
-Left click when tail stance to toggle kicking mode
-When in kicking mode, Left click will kick with the left foot, and right with right. If you spam left click, however, it will glitch pure into spasming in and out of kicking stance, so either alternate between both feet, kick with only right foot, or find the optimal left click dps speed.
-click middle mouse wheel when in tail stance (doesnt REQUIRE kick stance) to use pure's Lunge. Pure will use the spring force of its tail to fly forward. This deals heavy damage and will cause puretotokage to rebound if hitting a large critter like Rex. Otherwise, it'll plow through smaller critters.
-All tail stance attacks of Puretotokage light the target on fire and can damage up to tek (except the lunge). However, they have drastically reduced damage against structures.
-X key to use pure's Explosive Stomp. This is your main AoE/siege move. Damages all structures and lights targets on fire, but deals slightly less damage to structures.
-Alt+X to use Pure's Tantrum attack. This has a high cooldown (30 sec) and stamina cost. Pure will jump and stomp while jumping in a circle, hitting four times with big damage each time.
-Left control to use pure's tail slam. Deals knockback damage behind it and harvests metal.
-Q to toggle Pureto's Punching stance. Once you press Q, start walking forward. While you cannot run in this state, as long as you continue to walk forward, Pure will punch, dealing consecutive damage. Each punch harvests stone, metal, etc. To leave punching stance, simply stop moving.
-O for an aesthetic roar.



#4. Kutsu-Ya-Ku
"Shoe-Billed Wyvern"
-Class: Bird Wyvern
-Taming Method: Tranq
-Spawning: Fresh Water, Swamps, Bog Biome (Plains and Pools)
-Temperament: Aggressive
-Threat Level: Low
Kutsu-Ya-Ku is the largest of the Ya-Ku bird wyvern trio. Like its relatives, it lacks proper vocal cords and communicates with clopping its heavy beak or forcing air out its windpipe. With a large, blunt beak, this bird wyvern is a foul-tempered dweller of fresh water. Commonly seen wading through it, Kutsu is content to feast on local fish populations, but will happily help itself to whatever else comes across its path that is smaller than it- humans included! It uses is heavy beak and clawed feet to pummel its prey violently into submission, for an easy kill. To those who can get one, the tempermental Kutsu-Ya-Ku is actually an excellent tame. Despite their size and strength, they are easily tamed and can easily fend off smaller predators. Due to their temperament: most small creatures leave you alone as well! Further, its aquatic affinity can prove useful for survivors living in certain habitats!
-Prefers fish meats in taming, like spinosaurus
-No oxygen stat, can sprint in water
-Will attack fish, players,and smaller herbivores/carnivores. Will ignore raptors and whatnot. Likewise, when tamed, raptors and carnos will ignore you, save for specific small pests and large predators.
-Left click bite/peck. Good dps. Harvests fish meat effectively.
-Right click claw slash. Low damage good dps, harvests fiber, corpses, berries, thatch
-C key Footstomp (land only). Stomps twice. Low damage, high dps and stamina cost, cannot be used with insufficient stam. On anything that is under 150 drag weight, however, this attack deals x5 damage, making it brutal on smaller creatures!
-Shift+C Shoulder bash. On land, kutsu will jump and throw itself at the target for high damage and knockback at a stamina cost. Cant be used while jumping/falling. While swimming, Kutsu will dash forwards a bit and strike with its shoulder.
-X for Aesthetic beak clopping.
-Ctrl+X for aesthetic roar
-Spacebar to jump