Terror birds are a unique creature in Ark: Survival Evolved that can serve multiple purposes for players. In the early game, terror birds make excellent starter mounts that provide protection, mobility, and harvesting capabilities. As players progress, terror birds continue to be useful for farming resources, scouting, and even dealing damage in combat. Understanding the abilities and strengths of the terror bird can help Ark players utilize this creature to its full potential at any stage of the game.
Terror Bird Basics
Terror birds, known as Phorusrhacidae in Ark, are large, flightless prehistoric birds that lived during the Cenozoic era. They are characterized by their large, hooked beaks and long legs, making them adept at running down prey. In Ark, there are three main species of terror bird to tame:
- Pegomastax – A small terror bird that specializes in stealing items from victims
- Terror Bird – The standard terror bird known for speed and stamina
- Giant Terror Bird – A larger, stronger version of the terror bird
Terror birds are tamable early in the game, with even the Giant Terror Bird becoming available around level 30-40. They have moderately high health and damage for their size, and excel at quickly traversing the landscape. With regular sprinting enabled, few creatures can outrun a terror bird.
Protection
One of the best early uses for a terror bird is protection. Survivors are extremely vulnerable in the early game, and having a tamed terror bird can make a huge difference in survivability. Terror birds are aggressive mounts that will immediately attack enemies who get too close, keeping players safe.
Even a lower level terror bird can fend off most common predators like raptors, carnos, and sabertooths. By sprinting away, they can also escape from larger predators like Tyrannosaurus. Having a terror bird mount removes the constant danger from hostile creatures, allowing players to explore and farm in peace.
Terror birds also protect players while they are disconnected from the game. Logged off survivors are sitting ducks for predators in Ark. With a terror bird on wander and aggressive mode, it will stand guard over its owner and chase away or battle anything that approaches.
Mobility
Terror birds grant a big mobility boost over traveling on foot. Their sprinting speed allows players to traverse ground faster than nearly every creature. This makes them ideal for escaping dangerous situations, moving between base locations, or quickly farming resources.
Some key mobility advantages of terror birds include:
- Outrunning predators
- Rapidly traversing terrain to find resources
- Escaping enemy players while raiding
- Quickly moving between distant base spots
- Retrieving gear/dinos after death by fast travel
Terror birds also retain their speed in water, allowing them to swiftly cross rivers and small bodies of water. Their mobility makes them a versatile scout as well, able to spot enemies and key resources from a distance.
Harvesting
The terror bird’s deadly beak also serves as an effective harvesting tool. While not as efficient as specialized farming dinos, terror birds can readily gather:
- Fiber
- Chitin
- Hide
- Keratin
- Raw Meat
This allows players to farm essential early game resources without having to constantly dismount. Being able to gather while moving quickly around the map is a huge advantage. Terror birds make short work of creatures like Parasaur and Phiomia as well.
For beginning players, having a terror bird eliminates the need for crafting hatchets, pickaxes, and other harvesting gear. This frees up inventory space for more valuables instead.
Damage
While not powerhouses, terror birds can dish out decent damage, especially when tamed to higher levels. Their attacks are also extremely rapid, allowing them to quickly take down opponents.
Some cases where terror birds excel at dealing damage include:
- Killing low to mid level wild creatures
- Fighting unprepared enemy players
- Destroying structures in raid situations
- Defending a base from attacking dinos
- Boss fights requiring fast attacking dinos
A couple points to note about terror bird damage:
- The creature’s Damage stat directly impacts damage per hit
- Leveling up Stamina allows more rapid attacking
- Imprinting boosts the damage stat substantially
- Carnivore based Kibble is recommended for taming high damage terror birds
Caving
Spelunking into caves is one of the most dangerous activities in Ark. The enclosed spaces limit escape routes while leaving players vulnerable to swarms of creatures. Except for a few very large caves, terror birds are small enough to fit inside most cavern entrances.
Their high mobility lets them swiftly dodge attacks in the tight quarters. And their rapid attacking style overwhelms cave dwellers before they can swarm and surround. Terror birds are especially useful for gathering resources found deep in caves, like silica pearls, crystals, oil, and chitin.
A high level imprinted terror bird with a good saddle can clear most caves solo provided the rider is skilled. Packs of terror birds make caving even easier and allow transporting loads of resources out.
Boss Arenas
Many bosses in Ark require fast, hard-hitting dinos to defeat. Terror birds can be a surprisingly effective creature for boss fights like Broodmother Lysrix and Megapithecus. Their rapid attacking speeds allow them to avoid devastating telegraphed attacks while quickly stacking damage.
In groups, terror birds can easily overwhelm bosses before they can retaliate. Their low cost to raise also makes them expendable. However, most bosses will still need complimentary dinos like Rexes to tank damage. But adding a squad of terror birds certainly helps tip boss fights in the survivor’s favor.
Raiding
When attacking enemy bases, speed and damage are critical. Terror birds allow fast surprise attacks to destroy key structures and dinos before defenses can be mounted. Their high speed is perfect for swooping in, wreaking havoc, and escaping quickly with valuable loot.
A common solo raiding strategy is to pincode a high level terror bird with C4 payloads in its inventory. The survivor can then kamikaze demolish key auto turrets and defensive structures, blowing up their bird in the process. This swift sabotage opens up a vulnerable path for soaking turrets. Then additional birds can sweep in to finish off remaining turrets and structures.
Scouting
Information is one of the most powerful assets in PvP. Terror birds allow swiftly locating enemy bases, tames, and movements. Their speed and attack power also enables grabbing intel safely from hotly contested regions.
Terror birds are cheap and expendable scouts. They can quickly peek at an enemy location without risking expensive dinos. Enemy tames and auto turrets will often prioritize targeting the terror bird first too. This allows it to scout freely without taking fire if partnered with more valuable dinos.
Travel
Terror birds are excellent all-terrain mounts for quickly covering distance across a map. Their stamina and sprinting speed allow nonstop travel without fatigue. And their small size lets them safely navigate dense forests and mountain paths.
Having a high level terror bird ready at key map points aids rapid response times. Survivors can gear up and immediately launch to distant tasks and challenges. Some key applications include:
- Quickly linking distant base spots
- Rapidly accessing key resource areas
- Fast flyer retrieval after death
- Escaping danger and traps
- Responding to distant raids
With cryopods, survivors can easily transport terror birds to established networks across servers. This provides reliable and speedy transportation infrastructure.
Egg Farming
Breeding terror birds allows mass production of small and medium sized eggs. These are useful for taming a variety of creatures or making kibble. Female terror birds lay eggs frequently when mating is enabled.
Some tips for maximizing terror bird egg farming include:
- Mate high level birds with high food stat for frequent egg laying
- Build egg collector rooms to automatically harvest eggs
- Drop eggs into dedicated hatcheries for mass production
- Imprint hatched terror birds for bonus egg yields
With a large breeding operation, survivors can amass eggs by the hundred in no time. These can provide a reliable kibble source or become a valuable trading commodity.
Early Resource Collector
In the early game, terror birds can quickly gather essential resources like thatch, wood, fiber, and stone. This gives new players resources to rapidly advance their progress without having to manually farm everything.
Some keys to utilizing terror birds for starting resource farming include:
- Leveling Weight for carrying bulk resources
- Targeting high yield bushes, trees, and rocks
- Storing harvests in nearby storage bins
- Collecting diverse resources simultaneously
- Sprinting between dense resource clusters
With a high weight terror bird, survivors can massively accelerate their initial base building, crafting, and taming. This kickstarts progression and reduces early game grinding.
Caving
Spelunking into caves is one of the most dangerous activities in Ark. The enclosed spaces limit escape routes while leaving players vulnerable to swarms of creatures. Except for a few very large caves, terror birds are small enough to fit inside most cavern entrances.
Their high mobility lets them swiftly dodge attacks in the tight quarters. And their rapid attacking style overwhelms cave dwellers before they can swarm and surround. Terror birds are especially useful for gathering resources found deep in caves, like silica pearls, crystals, oil, and chitin.
A high level imprinted terror bird with a good saddle can clear most caves solo provided the rider is skilled. Packs of terror birds make caving even easier and allow transporting loads of resources out.
Conclusion
From early game to end game, terror birds are a versatile tame that serves many purposes. Their availability and ease of taming make them a perfect starter mount. And their unmatched mobility provides continuing utility for gathering, scouting, raiding, and travel.
Knowing how to maximize the abilities of terror birds can greatly enhance an Ark survivor’s capabilities. Their speed, damage, and utility make terror birds a worthwhile addition to any dino roster.