Best stats in ARK Survival Ascended

ARK Survival Ascended brings new ways to create a unique character to take on your dino-wrangling adventure. Choosing the right stats is essential, as I felt like I was being one-shot by a Dodo bird, so in this guide, I will show you the best stats you need to survive.

Best ARK Survival Ascended stats, explained

To pick out the best stats in ARK Survival Ascended, we must first understand what each does. Here is a detailed breakdown of all character stats in the game:

• Health: Determines how much Health you have before you die and, therefore, how much damage you can take from hostile wildlife.
• Stamina: Determines how much time you can spend sprinting, swimming, jumping, and performing other strenuous tasks. In ARK Survival Ascended, even the more basic tasks like collecting resources will spend Stamina, making this stat very important.
• Oxygen: This stat comes into play when you explore underwater, allowing you to hold your breath longer. Once your Oxygen supply depletes, you start losing Health.
• Food: Like in all survival games, your character needs to eat to survive. Depending on your environment, you may need extra rations to keep Torpidity away. Putting points in Food stat determines how long you can go without eating.
• Water: It is a similar parameter to Food, as you need to replenish both to stay alive. You will lose Water not only over time but spending time in hot environments and spending Stamina as well. Spending points in Water lets you survive longer without hydrating.
• Weight: This one is fairly straightforward, as it determines how much loot, weapons, and supplies you can carry on you. If you take up too much weight, you will gain Overencumbered status, which slows you, and eventually, you won't be able to move.
• Melee Damage: If you want to upgrade your combat and harvesting effectiveness, boosting your Melee Damage will improve your character in these areas.
• Crafting Skill: It not only improves your speed when crafting new items but also grants a bonus chance to embed them with additional traits.
• Fortitude: If you need to make your character more impervious when exposed to treacherous elements like extreme heat or cold, this is a go-to stat. It staves off the effects of Torpidity and makes you more impervious to damage.

Related: How to get Oil in ARK Survival Ascended

Best ARK Survival Ascended stats for PvP

If you're playing in the PvP mode in ARK Survival Ascended, the main stats you should favor are the following:

• Health: Investing in Health will boost your survivability against other players in PvP, determining how much damage you can take before keeling over. Always watch your Health levels, and prioritize your points toward this stat.
• Melee Damage: When playing in PvE, you can pick fights on your own terms, but in PvP, that will not be the case. Enemies will sometimes catch you at a disadvantage; as a matter of fact, that's precisely what you should be doing yourself when playing in that game mode. Melee Damage stat will become vital in all fights, especially early on, because the quicker you can dispatch an enemy, the better the chances are for your survival.
• Weight: You will be very dependent on the stuff you can find in your immediate surroundings, especially early on. The more points you spend in your Weight stat, the more items you can carry, which will make your life easier, cutting down the time you will spend traveling.

Related: Is ARK Survival Ascended ARK 2?

Best ARK Survival Ascended stats for PvE

If you're playing in the PvE mode in ARK Survival Ascended, the main stats you should favor are going to be somewhat different than in PvP:

• Stamina: In PvE, you get to pick your fights most of the time. But that doesn't mean you don't need Stamina, as this stat boosts your endurance in all circumstances. Higher Stamina will keep you working for longer, as you will get tired more slowly. Combine this with Fortitude, and you will become a true survival machine.
• Fortitude: Depending on which part of the map you spawn in, Fortitude may play a massive role in your survival. The northern part of the Island can be very treacherous, and fighting Torpidity when juggling items to craft while a dino is chewing on your trouser leg can sometimes feel overwhelming. I found that chalking off Fortitude lays some of the burden off of your back if you have a particularly difficult spawn.
• Weight: I picked Weight in PvE for much of the same reason as I did for PvP, and that is because you can never carry too much stuff with you in a survival game. Resources in ARK Survival Ascended are simply too precious to be wasted or left behind, especially early on in the game. Increasing your carrying capacity allows you to carry more Food and Water, tools, and weapons without making too many trips back and forth, especially if you find yourself in an area barren of resources. This is especially true since the developers are yet to implement some of the crucial, quality-of-life game mechanics that might circumvent extra trips, like Cryopods.

Looking for more info on how to survive the dino crisis in ARK Survival Ascended? You've come to the right place! Check out Fastest way to spoil meat in ARK Survival Ascended and How to get Cryopods in ARK Survival Ascended, here on Pro Game Guides!