ARK: Survival Evolved is a survival game with dinosaurs that you can domesticate, and along for the ride is a fully fleshed out leveling system reminiscent of RPG-style games. This isn’t just enchantment levels for Minecraft anymore; we’re in the big leagues now.
Each survivor attribute serves its purpose, so there’s no particular stat that wins out above the rest. At the end of the day, the stat builds for each character is completely up to each player.
Leveling Up in ARK: Survival Evolved
You gain experience slowly while spending time in the ARK. Day-to-day tasks like gathering materials, crafting items, and killing or taming dinosaurs are great ways to boost experience gain. No matter what, though, leveling is inevitable — you don’t lose your level or experience points when you die!
When your survivor is ready for a level up, the top-most icon on the bottom right will be flashing, prompting you to enter your inventory screen. Once you choose which attribute points to spec into, your level will display and you will receive a number of Engram Points to spend on learning crafting recipes.
What do the Attributes Effect?
There are 10 separate attributes that you can raise in ARK: Survival Evolved. Each of these attributes are useful in their own ways, and are all worth considering when leveling your survivor. Choose wisely!
Health – This stat determines how many points of damage your survivor can take without dying. It starts at 100 and each level raises health by 10.
Stamina – Used to determine how much activity your survivor can take before becoming exhausted and eventually passing out. Starts at 100 with each level increasing stamina by 10.
Oxygen – How long you can breathe while underwater. This attribute starts at 100 but increases by 20 for every level. Increasing oxygen also boosts your swim speed.
Food – How much food your survivor can handle at a time. Starts at 100 and each point adds an extra 10. Regaining health and stamina quickly depletes food resources.
Water – This indicates your level of dehydration. Defaults at 100 with each level adding 10 more. Depletes quicker than Food on average.
Weight – How much weight a player can carry in their inventory. The survivor becomes encumbered when at 85% maximum weight and cannot move once the value exceeds max. Starts at 100 and increases by 10 per level.
Melee Damage – A percentile base for how much damage your survivor dishes out in close-range combat. This does not affect ranged weapons, however, even if they naturally require physical strength like the Bow. This stat raises 5% for every point spent.
Movement Speed – The maximum speed a player can move at, represented by a percentile. Each point increases speed by 2%.
Fortitude – Increases weather and Torpor resistance. Starts at 0 and increases by 2 points for every level.
Crafting Speed – How fast your survivor can create or repair items. Useful for repairing in sticky situations. A percentile-based stat that increases by 10% for every point put into it.
Torpor – The level of your survivors consciousness or wakefulness. This stat rises when the player risks going unconscious. You cannot put points directly into Torpor, but Fortitude will increase your resistance.
This may seem like a lot to keep track of, but it all meshes really fluidly after you get used to it. There’s a lot of attention to detail in these attribute points and it really makes the ARK sparkle.
ARK‘s Attribute System
Not many survival games go the route of the typical RPG with leveling and attributes to think about, but ARK seems to pull it off surprisingly well.
Let us know what you think about ARK‘s leveling system in the comments below! Also, if you’re having problems with a certain aspect of ARK: Survival Evolved, let us know and we’ll make a guide of it!
Good luck surviving in the land of prehistoric monsters!
Published: Jun 17, 2015 09:51 am