Mosasaurus

The Mosasaurus (moze-uh-sore-us) is one of the Creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Behavior
The Mosasaurus is a very powerful aquatic creature that is found deep in the ocean and can be quite far from the shore. It often resides towards the edge of the map boundary, and can be surprisingly elusive. It behaves similar to the. Mosasaurus has a fairly average aggro radius, and will pursue the player a fair distance horizontally. However, it will not follow the player into shallow water, much like the Plesiosaur. It also is not necessarily found near cave entrances like a Plesiosaur.

Appearance
An enormous marine lizard, Mosasaurus is one of the largest creatures found in the waters surrounding the island. It has four flippers to propel its massive body through the seas. A small, finned ridge runs down the length of its back before developing into a paddle-like tail. The solitary and territorial Mosasaur is fairly slow-moving, but with its size, it can cover more ground than one might expect, making them adept ambush predators that strike from below to inflict crippling wounds.

KO Strategy
One strategy would be using a to find one and lure it into a water cave and shoot arrows/darts at it there. They also seem to follow a similar AI as that of the Plesiosaur and be tamed in a similar way. They don't seem to want to go too high above a certain depth and dive back once they reach it, allowing a person to hit them with arrows to aggro, swim up, and then break aggro. Repeat and it should be knocked out. Remember that the bow/slingshot cannot be used under water so a crossbow is required. With decent movement speed (120%-130%) and flippers, it is possible to kite a Mosasaurus, because of its large turning radius.

Taming a Mosasaur requires the second largest amount of food of any carnivore creature in the game, much more than a, and more than double the amount of any other Apex Predator, including the. However, like some other end-game creatures, they can starve all the way down their taming process, giving enough time to gather the meat needed in the moment. As with other starve-taming, be sure to wait until the torpor level drops and feed narcotics or narcoberries in bulk to keep the Torpor level rising till the max before starting to fall again. Their consumption speed also assures that no meat will be wasted, as long as the newest meats keep being added to the last slots.

It can also be grabbed using a, and the torpor from the grab will eventually knock it out. This will, however, take a very long time. The process can be made faster by shooting it with a tranquilizer arrows from a crossbow, or dragging it close enough to the shore where it can be shot with more powerful tranquilizers. Be careful not to drag it too close to the shore or out of the water however, or it will die.

One of the easiest places to tame a Mosasaur easily is in the ocean biome on Genesis. Located at the approximate coordinates 27-57, there is an underground lake that overlaps with the X-Mosasaur spawning region, and Mosasaurs have been observed spawning in this small body of water despite their inability to move in such limited conditions. This makes taming them incredibly easy, although they have also been observed attempting to flee when their torpor rises and dying upon beaching themselves. This small pond also overlaps with the spawning regions of Tusoteuthis and their Alpha variant, and both have also been observed to spawn here.

One thing to note is that the Mosasaur has lots of torpor and is very resilient to torpor so bring more tranq arrow/dart

Another strategy is to create a makeshift cage with four Behemoth Stone Dinosaur Gateways in a row, with two Behemoth Reinforced Dinosaur Gates set in the front and back gates. Build this deep enough in the ocean so that a Mosa won't lose aggro. Make sure to place the gates far enough apart so that the Mosa can fit in the gates. When placing the gateways, you need to leave a gap big enough between each one for a smaller water mount like a Sarco or Ichthy to fit through. Place the Reinforced Gates down at the front gateway and back gateway and open the front gate but leave the back gate closed, making a room. Kite the Mosa into the trap and swim through one of the gaps between the gateways and close the front gate that the Mosa followed you through. If done correctly, the Mosa will be stuck in the gates, leaving you to tranq the Mosa at your leisure.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Mosasaurus.

General
The Mosasaurus has the second highest health and damage stat of any aquatic creature. If you encounter one unprepared it is recommended to stay away or swim closer to the surface. If a confrontation is desired or inevitable, make sure that you can focus solely on the Mosasaurus. These creatures live in the deepest parts of the ocean, so it is very common for other creatures to confront the player at the same time. Ichthys can sometimes mob the player without a trace of their location, but they are not nearly as aggressive as Megalodons, which sniff out the player from far away and home in when blood is spilled. Anglers and Mantas patrol the waters, adding more problems to the unprepared player. If the battle is taking place next to a sea cave, the player will almost certainly be dealing with two to three Plesiosaurs. As always, multiple Mosasaurs can also cause a problem.

Player movement speed needs to be at least 206.5% to outswim it without the SCUBA Flippers or 181% while wearing SCUBA Flippers AND consuming a Focal Chili.

Strategy
The Mosasaurus is very tanky, and it will take a lot of damage while also dealing a lot in return. If you have a very strong Megalodon or Plesiosaur, you will not have too much trouble taking it down. If you don't have a strong creature, you can lure it to an underwater cave and shoot it with a crossbow, as it cannot fit inside. Be sure the Plesiosaurs nearby don't get the better of you!

Weaponry
A crossbow is the most effective weapon to take down a Mosasaurus, but only as a last resort. The best strategy is to use a combat trained dinosaur such as a Plesiosaur, or simply avoid them. They are humongous, but their dark coloration can take a player by surprise in the dark ocean depths.

Dangers
Again, it does possess the second highest health of any aquatic creature and has 100 base damage, only surpassed by the Alpha T-Rex and Giganotosaurus. A Mosasaurus can kill a player within seconds if it manages to catch you off guard. Do not get too distracted with Deep Sea Loot Crates, or taming creatures. Other animals like the Mosasaur can ruin such indulgences.

Weakness
While very bulky in both HP and strength it can't turn very fast making fast Megalodons very useful. Luring it to an underwater cave and shooting it is an easy way to kill it as it cannot fit inside.

Roles

 * Warship: Mosasaurus has high health and damage, which makes it useful in battle. The platform saddle also allows for cannons and siege weapons, allowing for naval warfare. (Level up Health and Damage)
 * Aquatic Tank: Having a base health equal to the Alpha Raptor, the Mosasaurus can take massive damage (Level Health and Melee Damage).
 * Oil Rig: Due to the fact the Mosasaurus can carry a large amount of weight, you can make it built for collecting enormous amounts of oil and converting it to gasoline. While not an ideal or recommended use, you could also use it for collecting crystal as well. (Level up Weight, Damage and Health)
 * Bio Toxin Gatherer: Unlike most aquatic creatures, tamed Mosasaurs do not attract Cnidaria. Additionally, due to how group aggro mechanics work, other Cnidaria won't turn against your Mosasaurus if they are killed in a single attack. This makes the Mosasaurus an ideal creature for safely wiping out swarms of jellies and for gathering their Bio Toxin, as long as the damage dealt is high enough to kill them in one hit. (Level up Melee Damage)
 * Transport: The platform saddle provides adequate room for transporting goods, medium- to small sized dinosaurs, and players.
 * Travel: A Mosasaurus's high base speed combined with it's weight stats makes it ideal for travelling.You can also add a platform saddle to protect and transport other players. Mosasaurus also has better stamina consumption compared to other aquatic dinos with the same health and power
 * Damage: The mosa has extremely high damage, though it is let down by it's poor mobility (turning radius and lack of ability to swim backwards makes landing consistent bites somewhat tricky) and practicality with regard to electrophorus and Cnidaria, making the Tuso a better choice in most if not all situations.

Notes/Trivia

 * Interestingly, the Mosasaur is currently the only creature in the game who's melee damage scales 1:1 with its melee percentage (a Mosasaur with 300% damage will deal 300 damage, 500% will deal 500, etc).
 * In concept art for Genesis: Part 1 they showed a unused new model for the Mosasaurus as it had unique patterning and a fin running along its head however it was never used within the release of Genesis: Part 1.
 * The Mosasaurus regenerates stamina while moving as fast as when standing still.
 * Despite what the dossier says, a tamed Mosasaurus is anything but slow, and under no circumstances slower than Megalodons. In fact, Ichthyosaurus or Manta with high movement speed stats are much faster, but by the level a player can afford to tame a Mosasaur with relative safety (60+), oxygen is probably not a concern. Not to mention that the first saddle only unlocks at level 78, only three levels earlier than the SCUBA set (which excluding the leggings is extremely cheap). This, combined with high combat capabilities, makes the Mosasaurus ideal for deep sea exploration. Ichthies and Mantas are instead best used to farm silica pearls and Deep Sea Loot Crates. Megalodons, however, have a faster turning speed and are found in abundance across the seas of ARK, making them the "water alternative" to Direwolves.
 * ARK's Mosasaurus is much larger than any known Mosasaurus in real life. The length described by the Dossier is accurate to real-life Mosasaurus, but the in-game creature is much larger than 50 ft.
 * The Dossier was revealed on 06/13/2015
 * The dossier mentions in the 'Wild' section that the Mosasaurus is larger than almost every other aquatic creature, thus stating the existence of a larger marine creature. This is likely referring to the and the.
 * Mosasaurs had incredibly flexible jaws as well as a second set of teeth in the back of the throat, which is a shared trait with its closest relatives, monitor lizards and snakes.
 * The Mosasaurus cannot be rendered unconscious with a Bow/Slingshot/Longneck because they do not work underwater, unless you grab it by riding Tusoteuthis to the surface.
 * The Mosasaurus does not produce.
 * The Mosasaurus cannot be picked up by Tusoteuthis on Mobile.
 * There is a Tek Mosasaurus in the DevKit with an identical appearance to the . However, it is not used in the game.
 * Despite the Dossier said Mosasaurus can grow up to 50 feet, in game it is 3 times the size, slightly longer than.
 * Judging from the tail structure, the Mosasaurus in game is actually Tylosaurus, since it lacks cresent shaped like tail like real Mosasaurus would had, instead it's shape is oval, in which Tylosaurus has.