Metal is super useful in Ark because it’s required for crafting some essential and helpful items, like armor for protection and Metal Ingots for crafting tools, weapons, and structures. The metal yields most worth chasing are often found in more dangerous areas, so it’s best to be efficient with your metal farming efforts. Needlessly backtracking or collecting low amounts can often put you at high risk without high rewards. But if you’re prepared and properly equipped, you’ll be able to secure some high metal yields without too much difficulty.
Go for high-yeild rocks
The first thing to remember is to go for high yields by looking for the right deposits. Metal is mined from rocks, and while you can obtain it from normal rocks, they usually don’t have much. Search for rocks that are either smoother or have a golden shimmer. These will usually give you much higher amounts of metal.
Use the Metal Pick tool
Craft Metal Pick tools since they will provide more metal per rock than a standard Stone Pick. This will allow you to get a higher metal collection faster.
Use an Ankylosaurus as your mining cart
It wouldn’t be Ark: Survival Evolved without dinosaurs, and they can help make metal farming a lot easier. The Ankylosaurus isn’t particularly fast but it can hold a lot of resources. It’s best to fly to a metal-rich area with a Karkinos, Quetzal, or Argentavis. These flying dinos can pick up your Ankylosaurus so you don’t have to travel the entire way by foot. It is a good swimmer though so you can save a little time after landing if you’re farming metal near water. There are other dinosaurs that can hold a lot of weight, but the Ankylosaurus has an 85 percent weight reduction bonus, making the dino quite the capable farming partner.
Farm efficiently — or don’t
When it comes to farming, some players prefer doing it here and there while others prefer farming sessions that will satisfy their resource needs for quite some time. It’s all about finding what works best for your playstyle.
You can further increase the fun and efficiency if you’re playing with a friend and pick out the best map to play together to maximize your resource-gathering adventures.
