What is a Rock Elemental in Ark? The Ultimate Guide

The Rock Elemental is a formidable and fascinating creature in ARK: Survival Evolved. Essentially, it is a large, sentient being composed of rocks and minerals, often resembling a hulking golem. These creatures roam the landscapes of various maps within the game, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity for players. Rock Elementals are not just impressive in appearance, but also possess unique abilities and characteristics that make them valuable assets or dangerous adversaries, depending on the player’s approach. They are known for their durability, harvesting capabilities, and the unique taming methods required to bring them under your command. Unlike many of Ark’s creatures, they are not biological but rather animated masses of stone, adding a distinct element of fantasy to the game’s prehistoric world.

Where Can You Find Rock Elementals?

Rock Elementals are not ubiquitous across all Ark maps. Their presence is limited to specific environments, making them a sought-after find for players seeking their unique capabilities. You can encounter them on the following maps:

Scorched Earth: This desert-themed map is one of the original habitats for Rock Elementals.
Extinction: The ruined, post-apocalyptic cityscape provides a stark contrast to the elementals’ natural appearance.
Ragnarok: A diverse map with a variety of biomes, where Rock Elementals are found in appropriate rocky areas.
Valguero: Here you can find rock elementals roaming in specific mountainous areas.
Genesis: Part 1: Introduced in this DLC, Rock Elementals can be found in its diverse simulated environments.
Genesis: Part 2: Continuing from Part 1, these creatures are part of the varied ecosystem.
Crystal Isles: Players can encounter Rock Elementals in the crystalline and mountainous regions of this map.
Lost Island: A more recent map, Lost Island also includes habitats where Rock Elementals thrive.
Fjordur: The Norse-inspired Fjordur map hosts Rock Elementals as well.

Additionally, a variant, the Lava Elemental, can be found as a mini-boss on Ragnarok. This variant presents a significant challenge, with unique properties and combat tactics.

What Are Rock Elementals Good For?

Rock Elementals serve multiple crucial roles in ARK: Survival Evolved, making them a highly desirable tame for many players:

Resource Harvesting: Rock Elementals are adept at gathering a variety of materials. They can harvest stone, sand, wood, thatch, and cactus sap. Their ability to gather these resources efficiently makes them indispensable for base building and crafting. Furthermore, they can harvest meat, chitin, keratin, and hide from creatures, adding to their versatility as resource gatherers.
Defensive Power: Rock Elementals possess a high base health pool and most creatures will not attack a tamed Rock Elemental. This feature allows players to move through aggressive areas without encountering much resistance, making them excellent for scouting and resource gathering in dangerous locations.
Combat Tank: While not primarily designed as combat creatures, their high health and natural armor make them viable as tanks in many situations, providing a reliable front-line presence.

How Do You Tame a Rock Elemental?

Taming a Rock Elemental is a unique process, requiring careful planning and specific equipment. Unlike most creatures that are tamed via knockout methods with narcotics, Rock Elementals need to be incapacitated through brute force. Here is the recommended procedure:

Prepare Your Equipment: You will need a Parachute, a Metal Foundation, a Cannon, approximately 18-20 Cannonballs (depending on the level of the golem), an Argentavis for transporting cannonballs, and a Pteranodon for quick mobility.
Set Up Your Trap: Start by placing the Metal Foundation. This will serve as your platform for safely positioning the cannon to fire at the Rock Elemental.
Position the Cannon: Carefully move the Cannon to the Metal Foundation using your Argentavis.
Engage the Rock Elemental: Attract the Rock Elemental so that it moves into a position where you can effectively aim your cannon.
Knockout with Cannon Fire: Use the Cannon to fire at the Rock Elemental’s head. It’s crucial to aim for the head, as this does more torpor damage. Depending on the Rock Elemental’s level, you will need to land multiple headshots to knock it out.
Feed for Taming: Once unconscious, you can start feeding it your desired taming food to complete the process.

The preferred taming food is Kibble (Mantis Eggs), which is quite challenging to obtain, since Mantis are not easy to tame themselves. While stone can be used, it is a much slower and less efficient method.

Important Considerations

Cannon is Key: While other weapons can inflict torpor on a rock elemental, the cannon is the most effective due to its high torpor damage per shot. A catapult is not recommended as it does much lower torpor damage than the cannon.
Headshots Matter: Always aim for the Rock Elemental’s head to maximize the torpor inflicted per shot.
Taming Difficulty: Rock Elementals are one of the more challenging creatures to tame, requiring both the right equipment and strategy. Be patient and prepared to put in the effort.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What are elemental rocks?

Elemental rocks are rare resources found in the western room of the Elemental Workshop after completing the Elemental Workshop I quest. Attempting to mine these rocks will cause them to transform into an Earth Elemental that will attack you.

2. What is the element in every rock?

Most rocks contain silicate minerals, compounds with silica tetrahedra in their crystal lattice. Silica accounts for about one-third of all known mineral species and 95% of the earth’s crust. The silica proportion greatly influences the rock’s properties.

3. Can Rock Elementals breed?

No, Rock Elementals cannot breed. The “enable mating” option on the Dino wheel is a generic option reused for all dinosaurs, irrespective of their reproductive capabilities.

4. Is it worth taming a Rock Elemental?

Yes, it is absolutely worth taming a Rock Elemental. Despite being weaker than their wild counterparts, even when saddled, their resource-gathering efficiency and durability make them extremely useful for advanced players. They are excellent for resource farming, exploration, and acting as a tank in certain situations.

5. What mines crystal the best in ARK?

The two best creatures for harvesting crystal are the Dunkleosteus and Ankylosaurus. They are optimized for gathering and holding large amounts of crystal.

6. Can you tame a lava elemental?

Yes, you can tame a Lava Elemental, but you need to lure it far enough from its cave spawn before the taming process is possible. This is because the taming mechanic has issues if you are too close to its original spawn.

7. Can you tame a Rock Elemental with a catapult?

While you can use a catapult to inflict torpor, a cannon is significantly more effective for taming Rock Elementals, as it provides much more torpor damage per shot. A catapult is too slow of a taming method.

8. Are Rock Golems immune to fire?

Yes, Rock Golems are immune to the On Fire! status debuff, Confused, Poisoned, and Hellfire debuffs. This immunity, combined with their high health, makes them exceptionally resilient in combat.

9. How do you fight the Lava Golem in Ark?

Fighting the Lava Elemental is a difficult task. The best way to do so is to bring a lot of rockets and at least 3 launchers. You can also use the Cryopod which can reflect its projectiles and set it on fire, dealing significant damage.

10. Can you tame a Fire Elemental in Ark?

Yes, a Fire Elemental can be tamed by knocking it unconscious with Magic Sleepy Arrows using either a Bow or Crossbow. After knocking it unconscious you would feed it Fire Magic Stone, Flame Flowers, or Fire Magic Stone Essence to tame it.

11. Can Rock Golems be killed in Ark?

Yes, Rock Golems can be killed like any other creature in the game. It’s important to note that Tek Rex are one of the best creatures to kill Rock Golems as their projectiles bypass the rock golem’s armor.

12. Can you feed Golems?

In the context of Minecraft, Straw Golems can be fed Wheat to extend their lifespan. In Ark, you feed your tamed Rock Elementals to keep them alive, with stone being the base resource for their sustenance, while Kibble made from Mantis Eggs provides the most efficient taming process for Wild Rock Elementals.

13. Can you knock out a Rock Elemental with rockets?

Yes, you can knock out a Rock Elemental with rockets, although cannons are far more effective at inflicting torpor. Rockets should be used if there are no cannons available, but be careful as they can easily kill low-level Rock Elementals before you manage to knock them out.

14. Can you tame Elementals easily?

No, Elementals are the hardest creatures in the game to tame. They require specialized methods and equipment, and both have been nerfed making taming an elemental a challenge.

15. How many cannon shots does it take to tame a Rock Elemental?

It takes about 15-20 headshots with a cannon to knock out a level 1 Rock Elemental. Higher-level Rock Elementals will require considerably more cannon fire.