Plesiosaur

The Elasmosaurus (el-lazz-mo-sore-us), more commonly known as the Plesiosaur (PLEE-see-uh-sore), is one of the marine Reptiles in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Behavior
Plesiosaurs swim around in groups of two or three in the depths of the ocean, never surfacing. They are aggressive and have a fairly large aggro distance. They start to attack and will follow them for a short distance; they lose interest if it swims too far up.

Appearance
The Plesiosaur has an almost teardrop-shaped body. Its size, long neck, and four whale-like flippers make it unmistakable for any other creature. The neck itself makes up half of the creature's length, and the mouth is lined with many sharp teeth. Commonly found in pairs, this large marine reptile hunts in the island's deeper waters for fish and squid, working as a team to corral their prey. Despite their size and often camouflaged coloration, Plesiosaurs are sometimes preyed upon by other large marine predators and, occasionally, adventurous Spinosaurus heading out from the coast.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Plesiosaur.

General
It is recommended to fight in a group against a Plesiosaur. If alone, a powerful water mount or SCUBA Flippers can be invaluable. Remember that there will be two and possibly more(so far, the highest recorded amount around a single sea cave has been six individuals) attacking, so keep this in mind.

Strategy
As the Plesiosaur will only reach up to a certain height, you may be able to swim above where it won't reach and shoot down. Make sure during a battle that other creatures in the water do not attack as well. Megalodon and Dunkleosteus in the area will prove deadly and a Mosasaur can ruin the adventure if it is gone unnoticed.

With SCUBA Flippers it is easy to keep swimming above it and it will only rarely take a hit on you.

Weaponry
The crossbow is recommended for ranged attacks, as it can be fired underwater. Melee weapons can be used, but are not recommended due to the Plesiosaur's attack range and AOE (Area Of Effect). A melee battle will almost always end in the Plesiosaur's favor. Overall the best weapon to use is the harpoon launcher as it has the specific purpose of killing/tranquilizing underwater creatures.

Dangers
As a larger creature, the Plesiosaur has a bigger attack range, giving it a melee advantage. Try using crossbows/harpoon when attacking it. Beware of other creatures in the area. Staying too close to the sea floor can expose the player to the poisonous sting of a Eurypterid, which neutralizes the player completely. Such a hindering leads to certain death.

Weakness
Although very large, the Plesiosaur can be weak if trapped inside cave mouths. This can be useful for both killing it or taming it.

KO Strategy
The taming of the Plesiosaur is by far one of the most difficult in the game. Generally, the Plesiosaur's level seems to create an extreme difference in the resources required to tame. Due to their very fast torpor decrease, you need a large amount of narcotics to keep a Plesiosaur unconscious. It should be noted that bio toxin would be more effective at keeping the creature down, and given the locale of most Plesiosaurs (deep ocean mostly) obtaining bio toxin (from Cnidaria) is at least somewhat feasible, utilizing a sea mount that has a good sized attack box (Mosasaurus being No.1 choice) or use a Basilosaur as it is immune to status effects just be careful of your depth as the Basilo will continually take damage.

Bows and guns will not work underwater and wild Plesiosaurs will not swim to the surface of the ocean, so you will need to either use a crossbow or lure the Plesiosaur into a cave where they can surface.

Another technique is to use the crossbow and attack the Plesiosaur from above. They seem to lose interest in you when you're near the surface, this allows you to take shots at them while still moving far enough away to make them lose interest. Repeat this process and you should be able to knock it out without much issue. This still leaves the risk of Megalodons and other Plesiosaurs attacking you and your tame, though, so be cautious.

It is also recommended to have a raft with some storage boxes and beds floating above the spot where you are planning to tame a Plesio in case you need to respawn after dying, or you want to store your narcotics and other valuables you don't want to lose. However, beware of the mighty leedsichthys which can destroy a raft extremely quickly, caution is advised.

If you lure one to an underwater cave, you can stand inside the cave where you can breathe air and tranq it safely.

Roles

 * Warship: The Plesiosaur has high and, which makes it useful in battle. The  also allows for s and siege weapons, allowing for naval warfare (Level up Health and Damage).
 * Aquatic Tank: Having a high base, the Plesiosaur can take massive amounts damage (Level Health and Melee Damage).
 * Oil Rig: Due to the fact the Plesiosaur can carry a large amount of, you can make it built for collecting enormous amounts of and converting it to . While not an ideal or recommended use, you could also use it for collecting  as well (Level up Weight, Damage and Health).
 * Deep Sea Crate Farmer: The Plesiosaur can not be put aside as another contender for this by virtue of its respectable speed and much higher combat capability to handle various wild creatures that may be guarding a loot crate. In the case of a PvP situation it is nearly certain that anyone on a smaller creature will not trifle with a Plesiosaur being used for these runs. As of v265.0 the Plesiosaur got a significant buff to its (about 3x more base ) so it can sprint for much longer periods of time without  investment. It also easily has enough carry  to carry most items found without being encumbered. (Level up speed and some stamina.)
 * Destroyer: Along with its very high, good and  you can put 2  to both ends of the  and one  to the middle, so it can be used to destroy any , beach base or other sea animal in seconds and make a speedy escape.

Notes/Trivia

 * Despite being able to use a it cant have s built onto it meaning unless you have  you will drown.
 * this is even weirder when you take in the fact that in both its dossier and description both state it can have bases built on it but in game it's not the best use of the  due to the risk of drowning.
 * The Plesiosaur was the first aquatic tame to have a.
 * The generic name means "thin-plate lizard". The specific name appears to be intended to mean "thick oar" (referring to its flippers), but is incorrectly constructed and of the wrong grammatical gender; the correct form would be spissiremus.
 * The dossier for Elasmosaurus actually mentions the underwater caves found in the game. This also seems to indicate that there are even more fearsome creatures in the depths of the caverns.
 * Due to its enormous size the taming time is extremely long in which it is susceptible to enemies like s. They might also lower the effectiveness due to possible inflicted damage.
 * Plesiosaurs always drop when killed.
 * Plesiosaurs are pretty rare to find but they are usually near the underwater caves, in numbers varying from about 1 - 4.
 * Despite the dossier stating it leaves most creatures the size of s and larger alone, it is common for them to attack s and other creatures on sight.
 * Before the introduction of the, plesiosaurs were usually kited into an underwater cave so that they could be tranqed.
 * The name 'Plesiosaur' refers to a large group of animals that ruled the seas from the Jurassic up to the end of the Age of Reptiles. Genus Elasmosaurus thrived in the shallow seas that covered the central United States during the Late Cretaceous period.
 * The Dossier says that the is the only predator of the Plesiosaur, though the latter is mostly stronger.
 * the Dossier states that "Have yet to explore ... The underwater caves" directly after talking about predators of the Plesiosaur. This could have been referencing the and the.
 * For players who actually read the dossier rather than just the text on mobile, they can notice that the text says that a can kill a Plesiosaur, when in fact the dossier says that a  that found its way into the deep killed a Plesiosaur.
 * Until v263.0 Plesios always spawned with a minimum level of 35.
 * Plesiosaur dossier's temperament was "Docile" before changed into "Aggressive"
 * Plesiosaur do not produce.
 * Real reptiles, including all aquatic ones, can breathe air but Ark's Plesiosaur does not need.
 * Real Elasmosaurus were only half the size portrayed in the game, reaching nearly thirty feet in length which is still reasonably large.
 * The power and strength of Elasmosaurus are heavily exaggerated in the game, as in reality their slender form and anatomy would not have allowed them to put up a fight. They preyed on fish and fell prey to sharks and marine reptiles in their ecosystem.