New ‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ PC Update Adds Terror Bird And Grappling Hook


PC gamers will receive a significant new update to the ARK: Survival Evolved Friday that brings an all new apex predator with qualities reminiscent of Joust, plus a new item that will have players saying, “I’m Batman.”

Patch 235 was released to ARK: Survival Evolved with possibly the biggest update of 2016 yet. Not only does it add a new dinosaur and a new utility item, it brings more variation to the Coel fish and finally adds a long-awaited feature for Tribes.

The Terror Bird is the latest ridable prehistoric animal added to ARK: Survival Evolved. Those who watched 10,000 BC film may remember the towering birds antagonizing the hero and his friends during one scene in the otherwise forgettable film.

In ARK, the Terror Bird is an aggressive avian standing as tall as 12 feet. Generally speaking, it is in the same class as the Raptor, Carnotaurus, and Tyrannosaurus Rex in terms of utility as a mount to attack other dinosaurs and humans as well as explore the island. The differentiating factor with the big bird is its ability to jump and glide short distances. It cannot fly, but it will be able to get to places the other two-legged carnivores can’t.

Here is the ARK dossier for the Terror Bird.

ARK Terror Bird Dossier (PC, Xbox One)
[Image via Studio Wildcard]

Wild: Ranging from eight to twelve feet tall, Phorusrhacidae Rapidesultor is a highly aggressive avian that is just barely capable of very brief “flight”. Instead, it uses its wings primarily for balance during its high-speed sprints. Phorusrhacidae flight is actually closer to an impressive sustained leap or glide that is assisted and lengthened by flapping its wings.

Domesticated: Phorusrhacidae is an excellent combat mount, particularly for harassing and scouting. Riders of Phorusrhacidae gain most of the benefits of a fast, mobile ground-based theropod, while also gaining some of the freedom of movement from a flyer… Assuming the rider can coax Phorusrhacidae into staying in the air over a long leap.

Known Information: Phorusrhacidae shows interesting traits related to theropods such as Utahraptor, Carnotaurus, and Tyrannosaurus. It has many similar traits, such as general shape and predation patterns, but its attacks tend towards lightning dashes and leaping slashes.”

Studio Wildcard also made changes to the small Coel fish in the game. It will now appear at varied sizes up to “super-large” and provide an appropriate amount of meat.

ARK: Survival Evolved Grapple Hook (PC, Xbox One)
[Image via Studio Wildcard]

Meanwhile, the Crossbow will have some utility added to it with the addition of the Grappling Hook. The attachment allows Survivors to scale cliffs, hook on to a flying beast and hitch a ride, and wrangle small animals and human players. ARK players have already come up with creative uses for some of the game’s items. It will be interesting to see how they test the limits of the Grappling Hook.

The Tribe Alliances feature is finally being added to both PVE and PVP servers. This will allow smaller Tribes to band together in-game to take on larger ones without being forced to merge.

PC players also have patch 236 to look forward to during the week of February 15, 2016. The current patch notes preview a Giant Beaver, Handcuffs, snow, and swamp caves. Server performance will also be touched on along with a change to breeding mechanics. Perhaps most excitingly, the first three bosses of the game will be added along with arenas to fight them in. ARK: Survival Evolved players waiting on end-game content won’t have to wait much longer.

Xbox One players, on the other hand, will have to wait. The next update (v732.0) is tentatively scheduled to hit Wednesday, February 10 and will contain all improvements through PC patch 233, which does not include any of the above changes from patch 235. However, it will add split-screen play, increase the tether range on non-dedicated servers by 33 percent to 266 meters, improve frame rate performance, and add more server options.

Studio Wildcard previously stated it is targeting Xbox One updates every two weeks, but the time between the first and second update of 2016 is closer to a month. That means console players should look forward to Terror Bird and Grappling Hook sometime in March.

ARK Guides:

[Image via Studio Wildcard]

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