Ark Survival Ascended Guide | All New Items and Engrams Explained (Genesis Part 1)

Genesis Part 1 adds a large batch of engrams to ARK: Survival Ascended at once, drawn from Dragon Utopia, the Tides of Fortune DLC, and Genesis Part 1 itself, and it is easy to unlock one without knowing what it does. This guide sorts them by where they come from.

Dragon Utopia adds one item worth prioritizing: the Drake Claw. It costs 25 Element Shards per hit and lets you swing onto a tame, or pull yourself in one direction by striking the ground with the hook.

Tides of Fortune Items

These only work if you own the Tides of Fortune DLC. The Cargo Ledger is the central logistics hub, tying nearby chests together so you can track and pull items from all your base storage at once. The Hand Cannon is a single-shot firearm using grapeshot ammo, dealing roughly 60 damage up close with heavy knockback.

The Bounty Board hands out kill quests, with difficulty scaling against the reward. The Market lets you sell resources and items to other survivors for Hexagons. Aquatic Compartments let you build water areas inside your base for aquatic tames.

Shipyards, Ships and Cannonballs

The Shipyard must be built in the ocean, and that is where ships are built and launched. You can place structures and creatures on ships, so one doubles as a mobile base. The Sloop is smaller and can be steered and fired solo. The Brigantine costs more but carries more turrets, loot, and structures.

Firing consumes one cannonball per gun, so a Brigantine burns ammunition faster but deals much more damage. Cannonballs come in Reinforced, Corrosive, and Incendiary types too.

Genesis Part 1 Tek Items

The Tek Hover Skiff is an Element-powered flying platform that hauls creatures and huge resource loads, with a tractor beam for large creatures. The Tek Sensor detects nearby survivors or creatures and triggers connected structures for hidden defenses and traps. The Tek Grenade Launcher throws grenades further and faster than by hand, with several ammo types. Tek Claws are a fast melee weapon that speeds up with consecutive hits and can block attacks.

The Tek Shoulder Cannon is a portable Tek Turret that auto-targets nearby enemies. The Cruise Missile is single-use, has to be activated again after firing, and then flies straight until impact. The Astrocetus Tek Saddle unlocks by beating the Master Controller on Beta or above, and it is a platform saddle that also activates the Astrocetus teleport. The Tek Jump Pad launches you and your creatures into the air with no landing damage.

Structures Worth Building First

The Ammo Box keeps every turret within roughly 10 foundations loaded, holds 300 slots of ammunition, and is limited to two per 10 foundations. Ocean Platforms give a 20 by 20 foundation build space and work like cliff platforms. The Pressure Plate triggers pin-coded structures when something steps on it, limited to two in an area. Fish Nets catch several fish at once with no bait needed. Unlock the Drake Claw and the Ammo Box first, and the rest can wait until you need them.

FAQ

Q. Do you need Tides of Fortune for the ships?

A. Yes. The Shipyard, Sloop, and Brigantine all require the Tides of Fortune DLC.

Q. Can you fire ship cannons at another tribe’s structures?

A. No. Cannons damage enemy ships and outpost structures, but firing at other survivors’ builds will not destroy them.

Q. How do you unlock the Astrocetus Tek Saddle?

A. Defeat the Master Controller on Beta difficulty or above, and the engram unlocks.