When you think of large carnivores in Ark: Survival Evolved, there’s none quite as terrifying as the Giganotosaurus. This behemoth of a creature is an indiscriminate killing machine that, if you dare to approach or tame it, will make your day both so much better and so much worse. The Giganotosaurus has long held the title of the most vicious and powerful carnivores in the game, and in this guide, we’ll explain exactly how to tame the Giganotosaurus in Ark: Survival Evolved so you too can feel like you’ve conquered the world.
What the Giganotosaurus does in Ark: Survival Evolved
While the Giganotosaurus or Giga seems like it’s pretty disinterested as it roams about the map, this huge beast does not care about the consequences of anything because it will attack almost every creature it sees. The wild Giga is the most terrifying of the bunch, thanks to an insanely high Health pool and a bleeding attack that will deal extra damage – as if it needed more.
When tamed, the Giga loses that wild buff, becoming more domesticated and docile. However, it is still one of the most powerful offensive creatures you can tame. Its bite will rip through everything, particularly Rock Golems, which have an insane defense. This makes them perfect for countering raids.
The Giga does have a couple of drawbacks, though. It has terrible Stamina, as well as being susceptible to a Rage mechanic. If the Giga takes too much damage too quickly, it will become enraged, gaining a buff to its attack but indiscriminately attacking everything around it. You are not off the menu too, as you’ll be thrown from the saddle and chomped.
You can’t find Gigas naturally on Scorched Earth, Aberration, or Genesis Part 1.
Related: How to tame a Rex in Ark: Survival Evolved
What you’ll need to tame the Giganotosaurus in Ark: Survival Evolved
Taming one of these guys is not an easy thing to do if you’re playing by yourself and you don’t have Tek tier. Before you go into battle, you’ll need to make sure you’ve lined up the following items:
- Exceptional Kibble x19 for a level 150 on a 1x Taming Speed server, Quetzal Kibble if playing on Mobile, or Raw mutton.
- Longneck Rifle, Crossbow, or Tek Bow.
- Shocking Tranquilizing Darts, Tranquilizing Arrows, or Element Shards.
- Narcotics or Narcoberries – as many as you can spare.
- Sleeping bags or a bed.
- 4x Metal Behemoth Gates and doors.
- Large Bear Traps
- Tek Suit – if you have access to one and its Engrams.
- Grappling Hook and Crossbow.
- Med Brews.
- A disposable Pteranadon.
How to tame the Giganotosaurus in Ark: Survival Evolved
Due to the sheer speed of this guy, there is no way to employ any sort of shoot-and-run mechanic. The Giga will outspeed you nearly every time, and if you do manage to outrun it, you’ll need to be very fast to shoot it before you have to run again. Instead, the simplest method to employ here is to trap it.
You’ll need to place several Large Bear Traps on the ground and construct a cage from the Metal Behemoth gates. Place them as you would for a pen or a house, with all four corners touching. There can never be too many Large Bear Traps, but make sure they’ve been allowed time to open before you begin attempting to tame the Giga.
Once your trap is in place, you need to leave one of the doors to the pen open and kite your Giga over. You may also want to place your Sleeping Bags nearby. The Giga will chase you, so it’s best to have a disposable tame, like a Pteranadon, that won’t be a huge loss if something goes wrong. Lure the Giga into the trap, and if you’re skilled enough, try to land on the top of the gate’s support pillars. The Giga will be pinned, and even better, it’s not tall enough to reach you up there. If you can’t land your Pteranadon, use the Grappling Hook to reel yourself to the top.
From here, it’s a simple shoot-and-repeat game.
If you have a Tek Suit, you can avoid most of the trouble by hovering and shooting the Giga from a height it can’t reach. However, it will run when it gets to high Torpor, and its Torpor will drop very quickly if you don’t shoot it again.
Once the Giga has passed out, place the chosen taming food in its inventory as well as the Narcotics you’ve brought with you. As mentioned before, the Giga has a very quick Torpor drain rate, and unless you have tweaked settings on your server, it won’t tame before it wakes up. You can use the Sanguine Elixir for a once-off 30% boost to the taming process.
Note that if you’re playing on a PvP server, it’s not uncommon that enemy players will try to ruin your tame. If they hit your Giga while it’s sleeping, simply wait for it to wake up and knock it out again. This will remove any lost Taming Efficiency. Also note that if you Cryopod your Giga, you will have to be very careful not to be killed and lose that tame.
