Ark Survival Ascended: 20 useful tips for Scorched Earth

While the weather in Ark Survival Ascended Scorched Earth can be harsh, there are various tips and tricks that you can use for your survival. The game requires you to navigate the map to get loot, hunt and tame creatures, collect materials and build while trying to keep up with the harsh heat in the desert, which can be challenging.

To help make your playthrough easier, here are 20 tricks and tips for Scorched Earth in Ark Survival Ascended.

Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer

20 helpful tips for Scorched Earth in Ark Survival Ascended

1) Tame Morellatops

Taming a Morellatops can help you get water in Scorched Earth (Image via Studio Wildcard)

You can tame the Morellatops in Ark Survival Ascended and use it like a portable water tank after taming it. The creature is great at collecting sap from cacti. When it has cactus sap, it'll drink it automatically, filling up its water tank. After you plant and fertilize crops, you can access your Morellatops radio menu and enable Irrigation. Upon doing so, the beast will water nearby crops for you.

You can also kill a wild Morellatops to access its water.

2) Harvest Jug Bug in Ark Survival Ascended

Jug Bugs can be great source of water and oil (Image via Studio Wildcard)

The water Jug Bug is a common sight on Scorched Earth. However, there's another type called the oil Jug Bug. Players can harvest oil and water from this creature.

You can't tame oil Jug Bugs, but the trick lies in building a small pen and keeping them there. As long as you’re close, they won't disappear and will give you a constant supply of oil or water.

3) Jerboa for weight reduction

Jerboa can help you reduce weight (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Not only can Jerboa in Ark Survival Ascended carry more items for you with a 50% weight reduction in its inventory when on your shoulder, but it also alerts you to incoming weather storms well in advance.

Storms can be really dangerous if you're caught in them. With Jerboa's warning, you'll have enough time to find a safe spot and prepare for them.

4) Keep Bolas with you at all times

Bolas can help you immobilize dinos (Image via Studio Wildcard)

One of the best tips for Scorched Earth is to keep Bolas with you at all times.

Bolas are an essential piece of equipment to carry around with you, mainly in the early game. They can help you with common threats such as Terrorbirds, Raptors, Direwolves, Sabretooths, and Deodons. Luckily, all these creatures can be bowled using Bolas, temporarily immobilizing them for 30 seconds.

5) Level up your Fortitude

Levelling up your fortitude increases your chance of survival (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Fortitude in Ark Survival Ascended is the most important stat to level up. It boosts your resistance to weather, torpidity, and disease.

Reaching 186 Fortitude can help you withstand 77°C. Players must level up their fortitude for the best chance of survival in Scorched Earth.

6) Place tent during sandstorm and heatwave

Tents provide insulation and protection (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Having a tent ready at all times is the best tip any Ark Survival Ascended veteran can give you. Tents gradually decay when placed, but they're worth it.

Inside the tent, players get a huge insulation boost, shielding them from sandstorms or heatwaves. There's no better refuge than a tent.

7) Carry weapons like whip and boomerang

Weapons like Whip and Boomerang are essential for survival in Scorched Earth (Image via Studio Wildcard)

The Whip is good for collecting bushes and dropped items. It can stun creatures for a short time. You can also use it on tamed animals to move them more. The Whip can make flying animals land and has a 40% chance to disarm players in PVP. It can also whip riders off their mounts and wake up unconscious players.

The Boomerang, on the other hand, inflicts a lot of torpor and helps with taming animals when used with bolas. It breaks easily, so it's good to have a few extras.

8) Place preserving salt in inventory

Preserving salt is important for gathering Wyvern milk (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Preserving salt is important when taming Wyvern or gathering Wyvern Milk in Ark Survival Ascended. When you put it in any inventory or container, it doubles the time perishable items take to spoil, except for organic polymer.

You can make preserving salt it in a mortar and pestle or a chemistry bench. It does spoil, but the tip is to keep it in a container, which makes it last forever.

9) Check wind location before building your base

Players must check wind location before building their base (Image via Studio Wildcard)

You can check the wind percentage of any area on the map by pressing 'H' on your keyboard. While 100% wind is typically found only in the desert, there's an inland spot that has 100% wind.

Building in such a location allows you to power your electrical devices with a wind turbine all the time, eliminating the need for generators or gasoline.

10) Harvest silk

Silk is essential for crafting various items in Scorched Earth (Image via Studio Wildcard)

To craft essential items like a tent, whip, and desert cloth armor, you'll need silk. To find the resource, look for purple flowers around places like the green obelisk.

You can gather silk by hand with a whip or more efficiently with a metal sickle. For a large amount of silk at once, hunt down Lymantria. They can be bowled and killed to harvest enough silk.

11) Build your base using adobe and fat structures

Players must build their house using adobe and fat structures (Image via Studio Wildcard)

When building your base in Scorched Earth, use adobe and fat structures. Adobe is special to this map and keeps you safe from extreme heat. If you build with metal, you'll quickly overheat unless you have lots of AC units.

Another tip is to build a base with fat structures that can help you avoid overheating.

12) Collect explorer notes for XP boost

Players can collect Explorer notes for XP boost (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Explorer notes in Ark Survival Ascended Scorched Earth offer a fast way to level up yourself or your tamed creatures. Each note you collect gives you 100 XP and doubles your XP gain for 10 minutes.

It's a good idea to pick up explorer notes while riding your tamed creature, as they'll also get the XP boost. Using a Direwolf is great for finding explorer notes because it can sniff them out.

13) Have creatures that can travel through sandstorm

Fasolasuchus can travel at great speed in sand (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Sandstorms in Ark Survival Ascended Scorched Earth can drain your water and stamina. For this reason, you should mount creatures that thrive in such conditions.

The Fasolasuchus can travel at full speed when burrowed inside sand. Kangaroos are also good because they can still use their charge jump ability even when slowed down.

Additionally, you can ride a creature with a platform saddle and cover yourself with an adobe structure. This will allow the beast to run at normal speed, but its stamina will still get drained.

14) Consume Cactus Broth

Cactus broth can help quench your thirst (Image via Studio Wildcard)

When you consume Cactus Broth in Ark Survival Ascended, you will quench your thirst, reduce water consumption by 50%, and increase heat resistance.

The best part is that Cactus Broth makes you invisible to wild creatures when paired with ghillie armor. Use it to get through the underwater caves unnoticed.

15) Kill Titanosaur to farm XP

Players can kill titanosaurus for more Ark Survival Ascended XP (Image via Studio Wildcard)

The Titanosaur is a great way to get XP in Ark Survival Ascended. Use a Phyla Coleo as your mount because its bite attack drains the target's health over time.

You can weaken the Titanosaur with the Phyla and check its health with a magnifying glass, as it drops quite fast. After its health is low, you have to finish Titanosaur yourself to get XP. You can use a decent compound bow to finish it.

16) Use Parasaur to find Phoenix in Scorched Earth

Players can look for Phoenix using a Parasaur (Image via Studio Wildcard)

The Ark Survival Ascended Phoenix can be an absolute nightmare to find and tame, but the Parasaur can make this task a whole lot easier.

When accessing the Parasaur's radial menu, you can enable turret mode and carry it around with a Wyvern. It will ping nearby threats in the area, which will be visible on the screen with a red dot. This way, you can spot a Phoenix before the heat wave even begins.

17) Use Megatherium to Kill Bugs

Players can use megatherium to kill bugs efficiently (Image via Studio Wildcard)

Using the Megatherium in Ark Survival Ascended Scorched Earth is a great way to kill bugs. This is due to the creature's bug-killer buff.

Megatheriums are great because they can easily defeat enemies without stopping or getting hurt much. You can get useful items like chitin from bugs and black pearls from death worms by killing them with your Megatherium.

18) Tame and breed mantis to farm organic polymer

Players can use Mantis for Organic Polymer in Ark Survival Ascnded (Image via Studio Wildcard)

In the desert of Scorched Earth, mantises are the best source of organic polymer. You can kill one to collect the resource, but there's a better way to get a lot of it.

Tame some mantises, both male and female, and breed them. Once they're fully mature, you can gather plenty of organic polymer by slaughtering them with a chainsaw.

19) Explore Oasis Cave

Players can explore Oasis cave for high quality loot in Ark Survival Ascended (Image via Studio Wildcard)

You can find high-quality loot crates inside Ark Survival Ascended's Oasis Cave.

This area also has various creatures that can be tamed, including the Electrophorus, the only aquatic beast on this map, and the Akatina. These beasts are usually found at high levels, like 200, but you can still tame them.