‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Tek Tier Mounts Lasers On Dinosaurs In December, Underwater Bases Follow

The futuristic gear and weaponry of the Tek Tier has long been a promise for ARK: Survival Evolved players. That promise will finally be delivered with a PC patch scheduled for December that will finally bring Tyrannosaurus rexes with “freakin’ laser beams attached to their heads” while features such as underwater bases will arrive later.

The Tek Tier announcement for ARK: Survival Evolved is being made in the latest issue of PC Gamer and accompanied by the reveal trailer above. The new crafting tier will sit above the existing metal tier and will serve as the new endgame gear for dedicated survivors.

ARK players who see it through to adorn themselves with Tek armor will get not just protection, but new abilities as well. The visor of the Tek helmet will highlight enemy players in red and friendly players in green. It also serves as a radar to see through walls while also granting a night vision mode. Meanwhile, the Tek boots turn players into super-fast speedsters capable of running through (at least wooden) walls. The Tek gauntlets pack a powerful punch that can send opposing players flying or bring a deadly ground pound. Finally, the Tek chest armor equips players with a jet pack to fly around.

There was not as much shown of the weaponry and gadgets for players to arm their survivor, but the Plasma Rifle was shown in the video. Meanwhile, Plasma Swords, a cloaking device, binoculars, and an advanced grenade have all been previously confirmed via the ARK: Survival Evolved Wiki.

It’s not just players getting the sci-fi gear. Armor and weapons for tamed dinosaurs will be craftable as well. The Rex armor was shown in the reveal trailer along with the Giga Lazer mounted to its head. How much more dinosaur equipment the Tek Tier will bring remains to be seen, but Mosasaurus armor is confirmed for underwater battles.

Yes, ARK: Survival Evolved players will finally be able to legitimately build bases underwater with the Tek Tier. This won’t be included in the December patch, but will arrive in early 2017 prior to the game exiting Early Access on Steam and Xbox One. There isn’t much more details on them at the moment, but here is what Studio Wildcard said in an ARK Digest about underwater bases in response to a fan question in August 2015, along with a new piece of concept art.

“Underwater bases, specifically, will use a new ‘Tek’ tier of structures that are vacuum sealed. If the structure is completely enclosed, all doors are closed, and a unit per area called a ‘Venilator’ is powered, then that volume will be free of water and you’ll have oxygen. If it’s not, you’ll be underwater and won’t have oxygen. You can construct air locks to provide a method of entering and exiting that doesn’t flood the inner compartments.”

The Tek Tier portends to be costly. Making armor weaponry and bases will require a new resource called Element. This can only be obtained by completing endgame challenges. This currently consists of caves and bosses summoned from the Obelisks in-game, but more will be added over the coming months.

Studio Wildcard still has other items planned for ARK: Survival Evolved prior to the launch of the Tek Tier in December. Patch 250 was just released this past week and includes many quality of life improvements. This will be followed by patch 251 scheduled for November 23 which adds four new dinosaurs — Achatina, Megalosaurus, Pachyrhinosaurus, and Moschops, plus revamped caves, performance improvements, and maybe breeding phase 3 after multiple delays.

The next patch will also bring a new holiday event, Turkey Trial. This will give players on PC and hopefully Xbox One a new set of challenges, cosmetics, and earnable emotes for their characters, per the patch notes on the official site.

[Featured Image by Studio Wildcard/YouTube]