Ark Arena Guide

Welcome to the Ark Arena! This guide will help you get started and learn everything you need to know to kick ass in the arena.

Joining the server

Visit Connecting to the server for full instructions including a video tutorial

Element Shards

The arena has only one currency for all items: Element Shards. Players will receive Element Shards whenever they participate in any Arena game, and also from grinding items you no longer need.

Arena Rules

• Similar to PvP in Ark, if you lose within the Arena, your body will become lootable and any players left alive in the arena can take everything on your corpse. This includes your Element Shards, so it is highly advised that you do not bring these into the arena.

• Players fighting in the Arena must always make a good faith effort to win the match. If players are caught win trading or losing on purpose in order to game the system, they will be punished by having their items stripped and if the behavior continues they will be banned from the servers.

Differences from Official Servers

Many items have been modified to make the game more balanced. The changes from Official Servers are as follows:

• Flamethrowers deal a flat amount of damage (not based on health %)
  • 36 damage over 6 seconds
• Buff food lasts 15 seconds
• Bolas and Bear Traps last 5 seconds
• Plant Species Y will decompose 15 seconds after being placed into the ground
• Several items stack to smaller amounts
  • Medical Brew - 20
  • Buff foods - 5
  • Bear Traps - 3
• Several items have had their base damage and durability amounts adjusted
  • Flak and Riot armor have both had their durabilities increased
  • Whip durability significantly decreased
  • Most weapons have higher than normal damage
• Tek items consume Element much faster
• Element cannot be turned into Element Shard

Home Base

After spawning into the map, all players will be in Home Base. This is the main game lobby where you can access several structures and interact with other players who are waiting for a game, and also queue up for games.

Structures

Home base will give you access to several important structures which look like structures we are all familiar with and serve a similar purpose.

Personal Structures

Structures in the Arena Mod differ from typical Ark structures in that each player has a unique, personal inventory. This means when you access the structure, you will only see your own items, and no one else’s.

The structures available are as follows:

Arena Replicator

This is where all items are crafted and repaired. All items can only be bought with Element Shards. You will earn Element Shards from participating in the Arena.

Arena Transmitter

Access this structure in order to queue for random games within the arena. In order to earn Element Shards from winning, you must queue up through the Arena Transmitter.

Vault

Pretty straight forward. Store your stuff in here.

Spawning Chamber

Looks like a Tek Sleeping Pod, but you can’t lie down in this one. The Spawning Chamber controls which items you will receive upon respawning. Place a Blueprint into this structure and every time you respawn, you will receive an item based on that Blueprint. Every player will start with the same default items, and you can customize it as you see fit.

Blueprinter

It looks like a fabricator, but it’s very different. This structure will allow you to create a blueprint from any item except Tek items at 5x the base item cost. These blueprints can then be placed into the Spawning Chamber. Once this is done, you will receive the item every time you respawn. Take note though, that regardless of quality, Blueprints will only come out as Primitive.

Grinder

Much like the Grinder you are familiar with, use this to destroy items you don’t want. Only Armor and Weapon items can be destroyed in the Grinder.

Item Upgrades

It is possible to upgrade existing items using special item upgrade tokens.

There are two token types:

• Armor Upgrades
• Weapon Upgrades.

Additionally, the upgrades exist for each of the quality ranks:

• Ramshackle
• Apprentice
• Journeyman
• Mastercraft
• Ascendant.

Each upgrade will provide an incremental improvement at a much higher cost than previous tier.

• Items can be upgraded to a higher tier even if they have already been upgraded.
• Upgrading an item also repairs it.
• To use an item upgrade, drag the upgrade token onto a compatible item to upgrade it.

Game Modes

1v1 Deathmatch.

Two players fight to the death. Upon entering the Arena, players will have 15 seconds to prepare for battle. They will then have 5 minutes to fight to the death. If at the end of the 5 minutes both players are still alive, the game is a draw and both players are teleported back to home base with no reward.

Win Reward - 300 Element Shard Lose Reward - 100 Element Shard

Dueling

If you prefer to fight a specific person, you can challenge them to a duel. Walk up to the player, hold the action button (E) and select “Challenge to Duel”. The other player will then have the option to hold the action button (E) on you and select “Accept Challenge”. At this point, both players will be teleported to the Arena. However, unlike the 1v1 Deathmatch game mode, there is no reward for competing in a duel.

Free-for-all Deathmatch

Engage with 3-4 players in a free-for-all, last man standing deathmatch. Upon entering the Arena, players will have 15 seconds to prepare for battle. They will then have 10 minutes to fight to the death. If at the end of the 10 minutes any players are still alive, the game is a draw and all remaining players are teleported back to home base with no reward.

Capture the Artifact

This is our signature large-scale PvP combat. 2 teams fight to break into their opposing team’s base and destroy their artifact. Team up with your friends or join solo. Up to 10 players per side. Click here to learn more.

• Note - only one Capture the Artifact game will be active at a time. If you queue up while a game is in progress, you will be added to the existing game.