This week's Community Crunch turned the spotlight on Cerberax tricipitis — a huge three-headed canid that evolution on the ARKs seems to have pulled straight out of mythology. Its dossier reveals there is a lot more to taming this monster than simply surviving the encounter: each head has to be won over on its own terms.
Cerberax is built to fight above its weight. It can take on even a Rex or an Ossidon in a fair contest, and anything short of a Giga or a Carcharodontosaurus is going to struggle against it. Its sheer size lets it absorb a beating, so if you plan to fight one rather than tame it, be ready to make it bleed.
Three heads, one beast
Each of Cerberax's three heads fights differently, but their real strength lies in working together. The right head applies fire to subdue prey while consuming venom to cripple it. The left head applies venom to weaken prey while consuming fire to heal its own body. The central head coordinates the other two — increasing the damage its side heads deal, and spreading their venom and flames to nearby targets.
Taming means winning over three animals, not one
Subduing Cerberax works differently from a normal knockout tame: when it's hit with narcotics, all of its adrenaline surges into a single head at a time. Mount that head and placate its anger to wear down its energy reserves — once it collapses, another head wakes up, and the cycle repeats until all three have been worn down. Only then can you feed it into submission.
Riding it takes a full team
Once tamed, Cerberax is meant to be ridden by three Survivors at once: one controls the body and the main head, while the other two take the left and right heads to maximize combat efficiency. Working together, all three heads boost each other's abilities to their full potential.
September 30: a packed day for ARK
Cerberax won't be arriving alone. According to Studio Wildcard, September 30 also brings the Unreal Engine 5.8 upgrade and the Therizinosaurus TLC (a visual and stat rework) to ARK: Survival Ascended, plus Gargantar from the upcoming ARK: Dragontopia DLC.
Our ARK: Survival Ascended servers will be updated around this date too — expect a short restart while the new version rolls out. Gargantar requires owning the Dragontopia DLC, and ownership among our players is individual, so not everyone will be able to tame it right away.
Cerberax itself is part of the paid ARK Fantastic Tames Season 1 pack (the same series that brought us the Drakeling) — taming it will require owning that DLC.
This overview is based on the official Community Crunch from Studio Wildcard. You can find the original article on survivetheark.com.