Equus

The Equus is one of the Creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Behavior
The Equus will trot around the island and poses no threat to any survivors. If a player gets near one, they will flee. If you wish to get near one to tame, use a Ghillie Suit. Overall their behavior is similar to that of modern wild horses.

Appearance
The Equus appears like a mixture of zebra and a large modern breed of domestic horse. It has a long wild mane, zebra like stripes, a tail like a horse and a shaggy beard like a goat's. From the dossier it appears to be comparable to larger horse breeds in terms of size, such as the Shire horse.

Unicorn (Variant)
The Unicorn is a variant of the Equus distinguished by its white coloring and the horn protruding from its forehead. Only one wild Unicorn may exist at a time. Once tamed, another Unicorn may spawn in its place, as the tamed Unicorns no longer block wild spawns. Players can utilize cross server transfer to find other Unicorns to breed with. They can be transferred to Aberration maps as well. Unicorns can breed with other Unicorns, but they can not breed with an Equus.

In ARK: Survival Evolved Mobile, the Unicorn has some noticeable differences.

General
The Equus is a useful early game tame. It's fast and deals torpor with its buck attack so you can tame other creatures early game.

Strategy
Equus are a passive creature that when startled, will attempt to flee. Bolas and any kind of ranged/short range weapon is effective at stopping and killing them along with most tames.

Weaponry
Bolas are effective against the Equus. Mostly every other weapon is also effective.

Dangers
The Equus itself doesn't appear to present any immediate threat. Predators nearby are your biggest worry, as focusing on the tame or kill may distract you from your surroundings. If you attempt at taming it, it may kick you and set your torpor immediately at 50%, leaving you unable to defend yourself against nearby predators around. The Equus may pose a threat in PVP as it can quickly transport your enemy, and deal torpor to you, possibly knocking you out.

Weakness
Most weaponry or creatures should be able to kill them without much trouble - provided you can keep up with it.

Taming
All numbers in these charts are inaccurate as of now. Still need more testing before saying by how much with any accuracy. For now have at least 10 extra Kibble for Kibble tames so as not to be under and lose the tame due to having to jump off. (update: a 150 Equus requires 31 Troodon Kibble to tame. Times appear to be the same though only a longer total because of the extra feeding intervals)

In ARK: Survival Evolved Mobile, the Equus is tamed with.

Taming Strategy
The Equus requires a unique non-violent taming method. Like most non-violent tames, the chosen food must be placed in the far right hotbar slot. Like the Tapejara, the Equus is a timid animal and will flee when startled. If a trapping/immobilizing method is not used, it is recommended to use a Ghillie suit and duck when approaching the Equus to reduce the chance that it will run. If Rockarrot is the food item in your hotbar, when close enough to feed it, "Feed Rockarrot to tame." will appear above the Equus. Press to feed the Equus one food item the press  again to mount it. The Equus must be mounted to continue the taming process.

After successfully mounting the Equus, an effect depicting a hand holding a lasso around a bunch of  will appear in the lower right corner of the HUD. When the Equus begins to buck, the effect's icon will illuminate and include text to alert the player to press  to avoid being forcefully dismounted. The icon will blink a couple of times and then the player will be dismounted if is not pressed in time. Avoid spamming because pressing it more than once will dismount the player. If the player dismounts, whether by mistake or by failing to feed the Equus at the appropriate time, the Equus will kick the player once causing Torpidity. If the player's Fortitude is insufficient, the player will be knocked out for a brief period. Each time the player is forcefully dismounted, the taming effectiveness will be decreased.

During the taming process, the Equus will be uncontrollable and may cover a large area. It will tend to gallop first in the direction it's facing before changing direction, and may run off of cliffs or into water. If there are any predators in the area, the interference may reduce taming efficiency or cause the loss of the Equus. If the Equus swims in water for long enough the player will be dismounted and unable to remount.

Grabbing the Equus with an, , , or and dropping it into a premade trap structure is the most secure method of taming while preserving a high taming effectiveness. A can be used for temporary immobilization but it is recommended to rapidly build an enclosure around the Equus in case it breaks the bola and runs away before being knocked out. If this happens, the player runs the risk of the Equus being killed by a hostile dinosaur or fleeing into a body of water and dying due to or drowning from passing out while still in the water. Another player with an Equus and a can be used to secure the Equus for the duration of the taming process. A can be used to immobilize the Equus but this will negatively affect the taming effectiveness.

If the taming process is incomplete and the taming effectiveness has been drastically reduced, the entire process can be restarted by knocking the Equus out. This will reset the taming effectiveness.

Roles

 * Aberration Jack of All Trades: High Weight, very high stamina and extremely low stamina consumption, high speed and health make the Equus your Jack of All trades on maps with no flyers such as Aberration, as well as having better stats than most early game mounts such as a and being easier to tame than more advanced mounts such as a  or a.
 * Valguero and Ragnarok Easy Starter tame: on Ragnarok, the Equus is very common at the highlands biome the biome which you can farm wild and easily tame an equus, as well as Valguero, Horses spawn very commonly near the The Farm (Valguero) where you can farm wild  and tame a horse.
 * Knock-Out: The kick of a well-bred Equus is to be feared and respected; with a torpor inducing attack that scales with its melee damage, a horse can quickly outpace most other tranquilizing methods. This can make the Equus an invaluable tool for both taming and combat scenarios. However, beware that the damage from the kick can possibly kill your potential taming target or decrease taming effectiveness if the target is kicked after it has been knocked unconscious. To make it even easier, Bolas can be thrown from the horse's back to immobilize your target, be it a fleeing prey animal or an aggressive predator. For this role, level primarily Health and Melee Damage. (default: ).
 * War Horse: The Equus can be used as a battle mount with its low stamina drain and reasonably high health (Level Speed and Stamina)
 * Mobile Crafting: Their saddle acts as a similar to  and  with.
 * Trapper: The saddle allows making s, which can be thrown at creatures to tether them to you. You can then move where you want.
 * Gatherer: the Equus can gather berries by attacking bushes or small trees.
 * Racing Mount: In ARK: Survival Evolved Mobile, the Equus comes with a stat known as Equus Power. Equus Power determines the speed and stamina of the Equus for racing. It can also be bred for the chance to attain one of six racing classes. These are Lazy (0-1.99), Normal (2.00-3.09), Swift (3.10-4.50), Maiden (4.51 - 6.64), Racing (6.65 - 13.32), and Thoroughbred (13.33-16.15).
 * Travel: The speed and stamina of an Equus allows it to outrun and outpace a huge majority of the creatures.  With its kick attack, it can discourage most of the creatures that hunt it.
 * Scout: The Equus' speed can make it a very viable scout for sneaking into other player's bases, provided there is a hole which it can fit through.
 * Pet: The Equus' size is good enough to fit in a base, so keeping one for companionship is okay but not strategically useful.
 * Carrier: The Equus reduces the weight of many items, so packing lots of cementing paste, chitin, and many other items can be useful for a walking mortar and pestle.
 * Escape Vehicle: With their amazing speed the Equus is a great way to outrun threats that are to tough to fight or threats that outnumber the player.

Weight Reduction
The Equus reduces the weight of the following resources by the listed amount while they are in its inventory:

Notes/Trivia

 * Dino Dossier revealed on 1/9/2017.
 * Equus can be ridden with or without the saddle.
 * Real Horses are social animals that live in herds, which means real Equus were social herd animals. Ark's Equus can occasionally be found in groups, but they are most often found wandering alone.
 * The Equus has the longest period of gestation, probably because of Unicorn variant.
 * You can get a good amount of experience on Ragnarok by running on the coast of highlands, gathering the Basilosaurus corpses, gathering berries with the Equus, and mass crafting narcotics.