Ark: Survival Evolved character levelling guide

Level up fast to take on bosses and build your dinosaur army in Ark: Survival Evolved

In Ark: Survival Evolved, levelling up your character will give you points to spend on the more obvious things like stats, but each level also comes with a bunch of Engram points (EP).

Engrams are basically crafting recipes instrumental to your survival, so the faster you level up, the sooner you can have a stack of useful recipes at your fingertips. You can check our Engram recommendations in our handy Engram guide.

You can level up your character plus any animals you own, all the way up to the level cap.

As an aside, you won’t earn enough EP to unlock all of the Engrams, so think carefully about which ones to unlock, or join a tribe and decide who learns which recipes.

It’s possible to respec with a Mindwipe Tonic, which resets all of your engrams and stats, refunding your earned EP and XP points, so don’t panic if you think you’ve frittered them away on the wrong thing.

The Broth of Enlightenment recipe is a must for those who want to level up fast, as it grants a 150% XP boost for 20 minutes. Craft yourself a cooking pot (level 8 Engram) and throw in the following ingredients:

• 10 x Mejoberry
• 2 x Citronal
• 2 x Longrass
• 2 x Rockarrot
• 2 x Savoroot
• 5 x Woolly Rhino/ Deathworm Horn
• 1 x Black Pearl
• 1 x Water

You won't be laying your hands on these ingredients for a while, so let's focus on getting you those XP points, and sharpish.

If you're after general tips, we have 9 essential tips for starting out that you can take a gander at if you get stuck.

Crafting

This is an easy way to get XP without having to involve yourself - or your dinos - in a battle to the death.

It’s great for early to mid game, but you’ll need to adjust what you’re crafting to make the most of materials and XP available to you.

It’s not very effective for the late stage of the game, but by then, you should be more than comfortable with going out into the world and slaughtering its inhabitants.

As there’s an abundance of fiber kicking about, Cloth Hats are a good item to craft at the start. Notes are another good option, requiring fiber and thatch.

When you get the appropriate materials, crafting Wooden Rafts (level 16 Engram) is a great way to earn XP too. You can check our resource locations and harvesting guide for more details on materials and how best to harvest them.

Generally, you'll get XP for pretty much anything you do or craft, but these specific items are a good way to capitalise on earned XP.

Fighting Dinos

You should wait until you’ve got your weapons and armour sorted, and maybe a few pets on the go, before attempting this method of levelling up. You can check out our dinosaur taming guide for tips.

The bigger and more dangerous the dino, the more XP you’ll get for killing it.

Stick to large herbivores like Trikes and Stegos to start off with, ideally with a Raptor to lend you a hand. When you’ve built yourself a team of dinos, or have one or two strong candidates, take them with you and find a Rex or other large carnivore to tackle.

High ground that puts you out of harm’s way will help, particularly if your target can’t get at you. Ranged weapons are perfect for this scenario so make sure you’re stocked up with the relevant weapons and ammo.

If you don’t want to lose your dinos or your own life, make sure you’re prepared and aren’t taking on an impossible challenge that will only serve to set you back in the long run.

Joining a tribe

Teaming up with other players has its benefits. If a tribe member is doing something for XP nearby, you’ll get half the amount of XP they earn just for standing in close proximity.

They’ll also come in handy for boosting XP while crafting and hunting.

Another obvious benefit is that taking down more difficult targets and bosses is going to be a hell of a lot easier with a little help from your tribe, so if you’re in it for the long haul, you should definitely consider finding yourself one.

Taming the larger dinos like a Spino or a Rex will be a breeze with a tribe and around 30 tranquilizer arrows. Pop a saddle on it and go to town on the Brontos, Spinos, and Rexes for maximum XP.

The tribe who kills together, levels together.

Got any pro tips for levelling up that we missed? Share them in the comments.