Top 10 Ark Survival Evolved Best Dinos (2019 Edition) (2023)

What Are The Best Dino's in Ark Survival Evolved?

From the most terrifying dinos on the map to the cutest little fluff balls, every dino in Ark has a job.

Whether it’s as small a task as gathering wood or as big as winning every boss fight you go to.

Here are 10 of the best dinosaurs you can tame in Ark Survival Evolved, and how they can help you.

10. Best Dino for Boss Fights

Just look at that epic Tek armor!

This is the dinosaur that everybody has heard of, even if you’ve never played Ark. The Tyrannosaurus Rex is a huge dino that everyone fears when they’re just a rookie in the wild but once it’s tamed and on your side, they are one of the best dinosaurs you can take into a boss fight.

Taking an army of at least 19 T-Rexes into a boss fight will help you gain advantage quick. They can deal massive amounts of damage when attacking and they can take a massive amount of damage as well. A lot of people who go into the boss fights will take 19 Rexes and 1 Yutyrannus to act as a cheerleader for your Rexes. But, just taking in 20 Rexes will do just as well.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• Rexes can get some really cool tek armor that shoots lasers.
• They add a nice little intimidation factor to your base.
• They are good at harvesting meat and hide from creatures that they kill.

This is how you tame on of these boss killing machines.

9. Best Dino for Day to Day Arking

It surveys the land, looking for its next meal...

This large bird is both threatening and majestic. The Argentavis is found on most of the maps and can help you out on every single map. This is nowhere near being a very first tame, especially if you are playing solo, but once you have one tamed, you can do just about anything and go anywhere that doesn’t involve water.

The Argentavis is perfect for your everyday tasks in Ark. They are a highly flexible mount, it just depends on where you focus their level up points. They are capable of hitting hard and taking a hit as a hunter or having high stamina and carrying tons of weight as a hauler. Just don’t take this bird too close to water or else you will immediately dismount if it touches the bird.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• A lot of them have really fun color combinations.
• They are an incredibly flexible dinosaur.
• They are nowhere near the fastest flyer but they can carry more than the other flyers.
• They can pick up smaller creatures with both their beaks and claws.

Here is how to tame one of these oversized dodos to help you out.

8. Best Dino for Wood Gathering

If you find yourself in this situation either shoot to tame or run for your life. Choice is yours.

This dinosaur comes from the Iceage period and is on almost every Ark map found in the colder areas. A Mammoth is a large and fluffy elephant with long tusks that have spikes on them. It is also the best creature to gather wood for you.

The Mammoth can carry a lot of weight while it collects wood for you. That means you can gather all the wood you need for building a base with one trip through a forest and probably still have some wood leftover. You are able to ride the Mammoth and it can also defend itself if you get attacked while collecting wood.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• They have a high carry weight and half the weight of all stacks of wood on them.
• While riding them, they keep you high enough off the ground that Microraptors can’t hit you.
• They have fairly decent stamina so they can continue to run for a while.

Here is how to tame one of these fluffy, wood collecting elephants.

7. Best Dino for Underwater Travel

This is the majestic Basil in its natural habitat mimicking the arc of the rainbow behind it.

This dinosaur is even better than a Megalodon underwater and capable of taking down a Leedsichthys. The Basilosaurus is a whale-like creature that can go to the depths of the ocean or ride the surface. They are even considered the most overpowered dinosaur of the ocean by many.

A Basilosaurus can swim quickly, hit hard, can take some hard hits, and has good stamina. Unlike the Megalodon, they are able to dive to the deepest parts of the ocean and fight off anything down there. But they can also be taken up to the surface, in fact, that helps them heal up quicker.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• They can go to the depths of the ocean without taking damage from water pressure.
• They swim fairly fast and are pretty much the best underwater dino.
• When they are in the wild, they often have a group of stingrays surrounding them and it looks kind of cool. You can just hit one to scare them away.

Here is how you can tame one of these submarine-like eel whales.

6. Best Dino for Cave Diving

This guy always brightens up the day with his large toothy grin!

This sleek dino is both fast in the water and on land. The Baryonyx is a stripey dinosaur that has the face of a crocodile. This is typically found near rivers and is kind of scary until it’s on your side of the battle.

This dinosaur is one of the best you can take into a cave. It has a smaller hitbox that allows it to fit into places that it looks like it really wouldn’t fit in with ease. It is also quick in water for the caves that have some water in it and can hit hard enough to take care of most dinos found in caves.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• Its small hitbox makes cave diving easier with it.
• The appearance of the Baryonyx definitely scores a point in making your base intimidating.
• It is really good at harvesting fish meat so it makes it easier to get prime fish meat which helps in taming quite a few dinos.

Here is how you can tame one of these cave diving experts.

5. Best Dino for an Adorable Sidekick

This lil fluff ball is both adorable and capable of saving your life.

This adorable fluff ball is easy to tame and even helps you out a lot. It was really hard to pick the most adorable sidekick but the super cute Jerboa won over the Otter. It even comes in a lot of color combinations that enhance the adorableness of this cute ball of fluff.

All Jerboas are level 1 in the wild but they are extremely easy to tame and they ride around on your shoulder. It even provides cute little noises and dances around when it’s placed on the ground. It doubles are cute and useful because it can help save your life sometimes while you are playing on the Scorched Earth map.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• There noises and dances actually double as a weather radar and once you learn what each noise and dance means, you can hide out if you need to.
• This is a real creature that exists today in real life. It’s native to Northern Africa and Asia, it’s cuter in the game though.
• Since they are all at level 1 normally, you can actually tame one of these for their pretty colors instead of debating between a powerful dino or a pretty one. I know I can’t be the only one to struggle with that sometimes.

Here is how yuo can tame one of these adorable bouncing fluff balls of cuteness.

4. Best Dino for PVP Intimidation

This guy quite literally haunts the nightmares of Ark players everywhere.

This gigantic dino attacking your base is the nightmare of every Ark player. The Giganotosaurus is hands down one of the most terrifying creatures on the map next to a Titan. They hit hard and their health almost seems endless so it is a great intimidating addition to your base.

Having a Giga on your side will benefit you in any PVPing you do. They can make people avoid your base like the plague and make it super easy to raid other peoples bases. Overall this dino is a horror that everyone hates in the wild but loves when it’s tamed for their tribe.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• The thought of a Giga within render range is extremely terrifying to literally any and everyone that ever existed ever.
• They travel decently fast given how large these dinosaurs are.
• If you managed to tame two and breed them you would likely quickly own the entire PVP map. Next step, take down the bosses!

Here is how you can tame your very own nightmare creature.

3. Best Dino for Wyvern Egg Stealing

Be careful with your Pteranodon, once he has gone out a couple of times he just might scare your other dinos with stories.

This dinosaur is a really quick flyer and small which means evasion comes easily. The Pteranodon may not be good for much when it comes to flying dinos but if it’s high level enough, this is the perfect job. If you use this dino for fetching wyvern eggs, you might have to keep it away from the other dinos so it’s stories of what it has seen don’t scare them away.

The Pteranodon is the perfect dino for stealing these eggs as long as you put it’s level points in the right place. It will need stamina, weight, and health although with weight it only needs to be able to carry you and 1 egg at a time which weighs 50 pounds. It is always good to have a few bred up or tamed that way if you lose one, you just have another you can go back to.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• They are small and quick which makes it harder for them to get hit by the wyverns in the nests.
• While most of them start with low stats, if you level them specifically for stealing wyvern eggs, you will never find a better dino for the job. Well except for the invisibility of the Rock Drake but those are only found on the Aberration map.
• They are easy to tame so if you lose one, you can easily tame another.

Here is how you can tame on of these egg stealing mounts.

2. Best Dino for Fast Flying

One of the latest editions to Ark, being both awesome looking and incredibly helpful.

This is one of the newer dinos to the Ark game with its latest story map, Extinction. The Snow Owl is a large owl, much like how the Argent is an oversized dodo bird, that can fly fast and even freeze heal itself and other creatures. These are one of the best flying mounts you can get on the Extinction map.

The Snow Owl is the fastest flyer in the game if you breed and imprint on it. Unlike all the other flyers, when you gain the imprint bonus on a baby Snow Owl the movement speed is increased which can make it go even faster than a Griffin, which was the fastest mount before these guys came around.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• Just look at it, it just looks cool.
• They come with the newest map so it’s a reason to follow along all of the story maps in Ark.
• It has the ability to passively heal if it is hit and can turn itself into an ice block to heal itself and other dinos.

Here is how you can tame one of these fast flying owls.

1. Best Dino for Your First Tame

Tek or Biological, the Parasaur is easy to identify and helpful to have.

This dino is a bit of a scaredy cat when hit in the wild but as your first tame, it will fight to the death for you. The Parasaur is the perfect first tame for anyone to get. You can even find a Tek Parasaur just about in the wild without downloading any special skins.

This is the perfect first tame because it’s easy to knock out and just eats mejoberries while it’s out and any berry while awake. You can build the saddle for it at a low level too. It acts as a good starting hauler and preserves your foods, it can provide protection for you as you are starting a new map, and it’s better than traveling around on foot everywhere.

What’s awesome about this dino?

• It has a built in radar that will ping enemies that are close to the Parasaur with its turret mode.
• It can collect a lot of berries that will restore your food and its own food.
• It's one of the first rideable mounts you can get in the game and it speeds up traveling around the map.
• When it’s not a tek dino, it’s head looks a little bit like it’s just its skull. It’s kind of cool.

Here is how you can get one of these amazing first tames.

You may also be interested in:

• 15 Best Ark Survival Evolved Settings That Give You An Advantage
• Top 10 Ark Survival Evolved Best Tames (Best Early Tames for Beginners)
• Ark Survival Evolved Best Base Locations (Top 10)