Whether you’re planning on playing PvP or PvE weapons will play a big role in your Ark: Survivor Evolved experience. Weapons allow you to hunt animals to tame and eat, defend your base from intruders, and farm materials off of creatures not so pleased to be giving it up (scorpions, spiders).

There are several different types of weapons and even different grades of weapons depending on the materials they are made from. In this guide we’ll go over the weapons of Ark, and point out some situations where they excel.

Ranged Weapons

Slingshot – The slingshot is the first ranged weapon you will gain access to and it’s great for knocking out smaller dinosaurs so you can tame them. Other than that it’s not that great for dealing large amounts of damage. It uses stones as ammunition

Ingredients: 5 Wood, 20 Fiber, 1 Hide

Bow and Arrow – You will unlock access to the Bow and Arrow at level 15. This is your first real ranged damage weapon, but it can also be used with tranquilizer darts to knock animals or other players out. Arrows must be crafted from thatch, flint and fibre.

Ingredients: 15 wood, 50 fiber

Simple Pistol – This revolver is great at taking down enemies at medium to close range, and can fire six shots fairly rapidly before it needs to be reloaded. While each shot doesn’t do as much damage as one arrow, they can be fired in quick succession.

Ingredients: 50 Metal Ingot, 5 Wood, 15 Hide

Longneck Rifle – This rifle is the equivalent to a sniper rifle in Ark. It has a long range and high stopping power, but is slow to reload. The rifle can be outfitted with a scope attachment for increased accuracy at range.

Ingredients: 95 Metal Ingot, 20 Wood, 25 Hide

Shotgun – The Shotgun is a high damage, close range weapon that fires a spread of buckshot so you don’t need to have the greatest accuracy on the planet to hit something. It’s a double barrel shotgun, meaning you have to chances to hit before needing to reload.

Ingredients: 80 Metal Ingot, 20 Wood, 25 Hide

Grenade – The grenade is a high powered explosive that does a lot of splash damage wherever it detonates. It’s great for taking out packs of enemies or players all at once.

Ingredients: 15 Fibre, 20 Stone, 30 Gunpowder, 5 Hide, 2 Metal Ingot, 4 Oil

Fabricated Pistol – This semi-automatic pistol has a great fire rate and larger clip than the simple pistol, but less firepower. For increased accuracy it can also be outfitted with a laser sight. Perfect for groups of lightly armored enemies at medium/ close range.

Ingredients: 35 Polymer, 20 Metal Ingot, 30 Cementing Paste

Assault Rifle – A fully automatic rifle capable of rapidly firing high powered rounds into a target. The Assault Rifle is the ultimate hand held weapon. It also has a large, 30 round clip and can be outfitted with any of the weapon attachments in the game.

Ingredients: 60 Polymer, 35 Metal Ingot, 50 Cementing Paste

Rocket Launcher – The ultimate in explosive weaponry, the Rocket Launcher fires rocket propelled grenades at targets from medium to long range. When the rockets hit, they explode and do a massive amount of AoE damage to anyone or anything caught in the blast radius.

Ingredients: 80 Polymer, 50 Metal Ingot, 60 Cementing Paste

Melee Weapons

Spear – While it is listed as a melee weapon, it can also be thrown at a target and then recovered afterwards. The spear is your first unlockable weapon, and will be your best friend during those first hunting parties. Beware however, the spear has a tendency to break at the worst times.

Ingredients: 2 Flint, 8 Wood, 12 Fibre

Pike – The Pike is the metal version of a spear. It functions just like its wooden counterpart, only it cannot be thrown. The pike is great for doing a lot of melee damage at close range, particularly if you level up your melee damage modifier.

Ingredients: 10 Metal Ingot, 10 Wood, 20 Hide