Pachy

The Pachycephalosaurus(pak-ee-SEF-uh-lo-SAWR-us), or simply Pachy, is one of the dinosaurs in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Behavior
The Pachy is passive unless provoked. They are rather slow when moving normally, but move very quickly when using their charge attack.

Appearance
Standing at a man's shoulder height, this bipedal dinosaur possesses a thick bony dome on the skull for charging into enemies and structures, an "S"-shaped muscular neck, and a beak for browsing vegetation, along with short arms weilding grasping hands, a bulky body and legs, and armor on the top of the back and tail.

KO Strategy
While the Pachy does not have a lot of Torpor, attacks on the head are nearly useless due to the headplate. If possible attacks should be focused on the body rather than the head. Thus having Pachy charge at you is a very dangerous situation. Luckily it is vulnerable to the Bola, making stopping it and flanking it with a Wooden Club easy.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Pachy.

General
The head of the Pachy reduces incoming damage by 87.5% and the rest of the body takes only normal damage. It is advised to kill or down(for taming) a Pachy before it closes distance with arrows or gunfire.

Strategy
Perching upon a stone whilst shooting at it with a bow/gun is a valid strategy, however, Pachys are commonly found in places where carnivores live. Therefore, climbing onto the rock might be dangerous. Once the Pachy reaches the player, it will headbutt the player relentlessly. During this process, it is difficult for the player to not hit the bony helmet on the Pachy's head, which causes a problem when fighting back.

Weaponry
Long ranged weapons and potentially a Pike can do the trick, as melee battles will subject the player to damage. A powerful mount can almost effortlessly kill a Pachy with a couple, or in some instances, a single chomp.

Dangers
The Pachy lowers their head in front of their body when attacking, giving themselves a damage-reducing shield. The attacks of the Pachy raise the target's torpor, potentially knocking it unconscious. Attempt to take care of the Pachy before the battle becomes physical, as many players, especially those of lower levels will be unprepared. Always keep an eye out for other Pachys in the area, or more dangerous animals. A casual Pachy-taming adventure can turn into a bloodbath if the players fail to stop a Carno or Rex from entering unnoticed. There is not much that can be done once larger predators arrive, only massive loss of life between helpful players and beloved animals.

Weakness
Use a Bola on it and move to the creature's side or back. From there, start stabbing with Spears or a Pike. If you attack with Spears, make sure to have about 5 on you, as they have a chance of breaking.

Alternatively, the Pachy has relatively little health. Try to override the damage output by a volley of arrows or bullets, or a powerful mount. If you ride a Beelzebufo into battle, use its tongue to knock it out and then simply kill it or tame it.

Roles

 * Knocking-out: Both the Charge and Non-Charge attack increases a targets Torpor when hit. The induced torpor by the charged attack even gets a bonus of 3.5 to the already increased attack damage multiplicator of 1.7 compared to the regular attack, resulting in a 5.95 higher induced Torpor. Increases in a Pachy's damage will make for a more effective, and quicker, knock-out. If you use the Charge attack to assist in the process, increases in Melee Damage and Stamina will make for more efficiency. Speed does not influence the induced Torpor. With all of this in mind, using a Pachy can at times be a better alternative to taming than  and can be used with great vigor to knock enemies out.
 * Battering Ram: Increases in Speed and Damage can turn the Pachy into a battering ram that can knock down Thatch and Greenhouse structures very easily and more slowly destroy wooden buildings, as well as knock out enemies. Their charging attack also can destroy a with ease and thus can be useful in low-level raids to clear them.(Level Health and Melee Damage, with some Stamina).
 * Combatant/ War-Horse: Not only is the Pachy's Charge Attack extremely efficient at damaging primitive buildings, but they can also deliver sufficient damage with their swift charges to tames and survivors, especially when in Mate boosted groups, making them capable war mounts in the low-tier stage of the game. The faster a Pachy is moving when it hits its target, the greater the increase in damage and the torpor it gives out.(Level Health and Melee Damage, with some Stamina).
 * Travel: Pachy's Charge Attack can bring them up to high speeds in a short amount of time, and while the initial start of the charge will use a considerable amount of charge, the Pachy can sustain that charge for a relatively long period of time without the need of much stamina. They are however prone to stumble or being stopped by rocky terrain or pack attacks and they are unable to turn while in a charge. Nevertheless, they can be useful to low-level players in long distance traveling. Increases in Stamina and Speed will give you a swifter and more endurance filled steed.
 * Early-Game Mount: The can be unlocked at level 14 and thus can be utilized rather early in-game. Though the Pachy's damage itself is not too impressive, its torpor can be used to tame creatures when other taming methods are still rudimentary and while it can't gather berries, it can gather thatch and small amounts of wood needed for building and crafting. One more advantage to the Pachy is its ability to travel far and long distances with ease, given there is a clear path to do so like the beach or grasslands.

Notes/Trivia

 * First revealed on 06/14/2015.
 * Dino Dossier revealed on 07/02/2015.
 * Pachycephalosaurus, in real life, stood at 1.8 meters and was 4.5 meters long as a full-grown adult, making the Ark's Pachy actually smaller than its real life counterpart. Other differences in the real Pachy include longer legs and a stiff tail that was armored and scale-like, supported by ossified tendons.
 * Despite being slightly smaller than the player, the Pachy cannot fit through ordinary doorways or be picked up by a Pteranodon.
 * Upon the initial in-game release of the Pachy, the dinosaur had the sound of a sheep or a goat. (Ovis did not exist and wasn't planned at this time.)
 * On the mobile version of the game, as of October 1, 2018, they do not have a charging attack.
 * There is a skin for the Pachy that turns it into a which may or may not be a related species to the Pachycephalosaurus. In fact, it is hotly debated in the paleontological community whether the genus Stygimoloch, along with Dracorex, are valid and their own creature or a premature growth state of the Pachy itself. If the later were to be true, than the Stygimoloch is a sub-adult of the Pachy and thus would be the same species.
 * The Pachy is one in a group of creatures on the Ark that can deal torpor to a target creature or survivor; these creatures can sometimes be used as a cheap and effective alternative to using projectiles to tame. Among the Pachy, these creatures include, , , , , and others.
 * The Pachycephalosaurus likely was not capable of charging into surfaces, objects, or creatures at high speeds with its dome head, as it is thought its spine and skull wouldn't be able to sustain such a collision and and thus would caused sustained injuries, and possibly death if 2 Pachys colliding into each other. This means their true behavior cannot be based off of animals like goats that are well suited to head bashing. Rather, instead of a slamming head-to-head collision, they more likely would have used them to ram the sides of one another as well as other creatures like the dinosaurus that preyed on them for self defense. Any touching of their dome may have been more likely used to push on each other to show their strength and dominance which may have been followed by attempts to hit one another on the sides.