Amargasaurus

The Amargasaurus (AH-mar-gah-saur-us; also known as the Amargas or Argas) is a Creature in 's Lost Island DLC.

Behavior
The Amargasaurus is something of a wild card compared to the rest of its sauropod kin, but sharing similar traits to its larger cousins; occasionally living on its lonesome akin to a Titanosaur, or traveling in small herds like the Brontosaurus and Diplodicus. What sets the Amargasaurus apart however, is its 'small sauropod syndrome': treating any perceived threat with extreme aggression. The Amargasaurus, whether on its own or in a herd, behaves much like a victim turned bully; charging at and attempt to kill ANY creature with a Territorial, Aggressive, or highly Aggressive Temperament, including, in most cases, even Humans: making use of every attack it has at its disposal to get the job done. In areas where many creatures of these temperaments can be found, Amargasaurus herds often end up escalating their violence into wholesale, rampaging slaughter; to a point approaching genocidal vendetta rather than self defense. The sole exception to this hair-trigger violence in regards to Humans, is when they are under the effects of either Fria Curry or Calien Soup; the easily enraged herbivores leaving Humans who have recently consumed these dishes alone, though eating these meals when the Amargasaurus' aggression has already been triggered will not be enough to convince it to ease off.

Appearance
The Amargasaurus is a Sauropod, in the same family as the Brontosaurus and Diplodicus, though compared to the rest of its kin in ARK, it has a lot of quirks to its appearance. It looks almost like a chimera of sorts; having a similar body and moving akin to an Iguanodon, possessing spikes like a Kentrosaurus, and with all the colorful and flamboyant markings of a Tapejara.

Passive
Insulation:

Similar to the Basilosaurus, riding the Amargasaurus provides you with the Insulation buff; helping you to survive extreme temperatures.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Amargasaurus.

General
The Amargasaurus is highly aggressive to most carnivores and Humans, including ones that are relatively docile such as Dimetrodon and Beelzebufo. These sauropods will go out of their way to chase down and kill any and all perceived threats to their safety, and from a surprising distance as well; having a very large area that it considers its personal space. Violate that personal space at your peril.

Strategy
Never engage this creature on foot. Despite their size, Amargasaurus run with surprising swiftness, and can easily chase down survivors on foot. When mounted, even some tames that are faster than humans are not able to easily get away, and the Amargasaurus will pursue with an almost relentless frenzy. If escape is your only option, the best tames for the job are those than can fly, or are too swift and agile to be chased down. If that is not at your disposal, the Amargasaurus is easily distracted by other threats; merely run in the direction of the types of creatures it is aggressive to, and you can lose it as it switches targets from you to something else. Just be mindful that these creatures, in most cases, will almost certainly attack you as well, given their Temperament, so it is best to lead the Amargasaurus to something else you can outrun, otherwise you'll just be adding to your own problems.

The best option for killing Amargasaurus are larger, healthier, and more dangerous creatures you have tamed for combat (or a large swarm of smaller ones). Likewise similar to predators chasing you, Amargasaurus are often blind to environmental dangers while in pursuit; and can reliably be lured into pits and other obstacles to shake or trap them. If you want to avoid confrontation with an Amargasaurus completely, as long as nothing is following you or you are riding any creature it is naturally aggressive to, you have the option to eat Fria Curry or Calien Soup; the prolonged buff provided by both insulating dishes, somehow, causing the Amargasaurus to ignore you. If you have already triggered its aggression however; eating these dishes while it is already attacking will do nothing to stop the assault.

Weaponry
If you do not have access to tames that are capable of defending you from an Amargasaurus attack, and you cannot get away; fighting with your own Human Weapons should be a last resort done in desperation. Amargasaurus are big, and have a large amount of health for their aggressors to plow through, making most forms of weaponry, especially early-game options like more primitive firearms, outright inneffective to use. If push comes to shove and weaponry is your last resort, the best options are the Pump-Action Shotgun and Minigun; the higher the quality the better. The Rocket Launcher and Tek Rifle are ill-advised, as Amargasaurus like to get right in your face, and the splash damage from these weapons can see you killing yourself rather than them. Alternatively, a Large Bear Trap can be used to briefly snare a charging Amargasaurus and allow you enough time to escape or gun it down at a distance.

Dangers
First and foremost is that large aggression radius; the Amargasaurus has a huge line of sight, and will charge at any threat a large distance away. The second problem is its speed; being very swift for its size, and capable of running down a surprisingly wide variety of its targets. If escape is the aim, rather than killing the Amargasaurus; do NOT run to water thinking you'll be safe. Unless you have the aid of a proper swimming tame to carry you swiftly through the water, the Amargasaurus itself is nearly as surprisingly fast in water as it is on land, and as easily swim you down as chase you down.

Lastly, and perhaps most dangerous of all, is the fact that it doesn't limit itself to its standard attacks while chasing you down. Much like a Wyvern or Magmasaur using its breath attack, the Amargasaurus will use, and regularly swap between, its various special spike modes; Armor Spikes, Heat Spikes, and Cold Spikes. It will regularly fire shots at you when you're at a distance, which lays down AoE hazards, and when you are in melee range: its standard neck-swing attack applies the effects of its current spike mode. Not only can these different spike modes inflict their debuffs on riding animals, but also the riders themselves; the Enflamed debuff from the Heat Spikes in particular can easily kill a rider if they get caught in the Heat Spike AoE's, so be very careful when engaging an Amargasaurus, even while on the saddle.

Weaknesses
The Amargasaurus, though formidable and aggressive, can be as easily taken down by tames leveled and/or bred to deal with their threats as most other aggressors their size. Their primary weakness is their large hit box; it is very easy for a large tame or large groups of tames, and even your weapons, to land shots on them. Likewise their own aggressive nature can easily be their downfall; as they're more than capable of being tricked into falling off cliffs, getting caught between rocks, or led into environmental hazards like lava.

Taming
Amargasaurus can be tamed non-violently rather than through the usual methods.

To be able to start the taming progress, the creature must be fed with or any of the crops. However, due to its highly aggressive nature, it is best to keep hidden from its view with armors or buffs that lowers the wild creature vision. In order to feed the creature as well however, another note is having armor that insulates you. This can be circumvented with or  to trick the creature into believing you are wearing the armor.

Upon feeding it, the creature will temporarily follow you around until either they are tamed (or dead), you are no longer "synchronized with its temperature" (i.e: the buff from Calien Soup runs out, it is best to keep the buff effect up if you are going to this route), or you are too far from it. During this period, it will become highly aggressive to any wild creature that has the Temperament of Territorial, Aggressive or highly Aggressive and ignores any other kind of temperament, and will attack them on sight.

While its being tamed, any wounds on its health can be recovered much like any other Herbivores with by simply feeding it with it on Slot 0. It is important to keep its health above 80% when attacking with the creature, as any lower will affect its taming effectiveness while its being attacked by other aggressive creatures. More importantly, it is advised to be careful when attacking as any attack source like can easily harm its effectiveness to the point of it becoming aggressive to you.

At some point, it will stop attacking, requesting for either or  before it continues hunting.

Trap Method
An easier way is to trap the creature into a trap after synchronizing it, and then lure any aggressive creature to its doorstep.

Roles

 * Environmental Travel: Supposedly capable of quickly traveling through water and providing Insulation the Amargasaurus could make a great travel mount
 * Mortar Dino: Capable of firing explosive spikes at large and higher distance regardless of the type of spike used.
 * Harrasser: Subverted. Its armor-piercing AoE for said spike easily harrasses nearby enemy tribe or wild creatures, causing them to recieve increased damage from any attack source as long as the spike continue to be refreshed with new spikes so long as they are not too close.
 * Damage Support: When its armor piercing AoE affects wild creatures, tames can deal a maximum of 25% more damage affected creatures. In tandem with a yutyrannus, the armor piercing and courage roar can increase tame damage in dealing 50% more damage per attack. This does not, however, work against Bosses or Titans.
 * Tree Sap Farmer: Though not capable of harvesting from Redwood Trees directly, the  that can be harvested from them via the Circle HUD are able to be stored in a . Though the removed spikes have a spoil timer of roughly 5 hours and do not stack together, while a spike remains in the tap; sap production within that tap is increased. Spikes removed in this manner regenerate on the Amargasaurus' neck just like spikes that are fired in combat, and no harm is done to the animal in the process.

Notes/Trivia

 * Amargasaurus is one of the few aggressive herbivores that exist within the game, others being, Kentrosaurus, and Therizinosaur.
 * Amargasaurus is one of the few creatures completely immune to the fear roar of the Yutyrannus.
 * Amargasaurus is the only Sauropod that's allowed in Boss Arena, it's also the only one that can be affected by
 * While projectile-firing the spines on its neck and the various effects they have might seem more along the lines of fantasy, there ARE animas in reality that utilize similar (though less extraordinary) means of defense; mixing reactive chemicals in their bodies gained from their diet. The best example of this chemical weaponry in reality is perhaps the Bombardier Beetle. If the Amargasaurus' spines were similarly hollow and loose like that of a porcupine's, then it wouldn't be too big of a leap to see pressurized chemical reaction sending those spines soaring through the air. This ability to cocktail chemicals is likely how the Amargasaurus provides insulation to itself and its rider in-game against harsh temperatures. The Amargasarus of ARK's real-life counterpart, however, was incapable of any of these feats.
 * Wild Amargasaurus won't aggro on tamed, despite it being an carnivore, however it will attack , but it is likely because Megatherium is at the placement of Large Carnivore, evidence shows that even and  will leave them alone.
 * Wild Amargasaurus won't aggro on tamed, despite it being an carnivore, however it will attack , but it is likely because Megatherium is at the placement of Large Carnivore, evidence shows that even and  will leave them alone.