Thorny Dragon

The Thorny Dragon is one of the Creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved. This creature can be found in Scorched Earth, the southern parts of Ragnarok, the southeastern area of Extinction, the volcanic region of Genesis: Part 1 and the desert area of Crystal Isles.

Behavior
Aggressive when approached. Attacks smaller creatures that venture too close, but will ignore other carnivores. It has a standard bite attack, and a secondary ranged attack where it launches several tail quills at its prey. These quills have a small amount of Torpor effect to them as well as dealing damage. The ranged attack drains a good amount of Stamina when used.

Appearance
A lot like the modern day horned lizard, although much larger and bulkier. Also seems to have quills like a porcupine alongside its scales.

General
Generally passive unless you get quite close, or are attacked. Generally starts attacking by shooting thorns if there is enough distance, before charging towards you. The ranged attack does 0 damage per spike, but when hit, your torpidity begins rapidly increasing. They will attack relentlessly until their torpidity is too high, or their health is too low.

Strategy
Seek cover from its ranged attacks and shoot back while keeping your distance

Weaponry
Use any kind of ranged tranquilizing weaponry to be able to keep your distance while fighting

Dangers
It is faster and stronger than it looks and is able to shoot thorns at you that inflict a tranquilizing effect. You may not be able to back out of a fight at the last second, since it's ranged attack can hit you from quite a distance and will significantly decrease your stamina.

Weakness
The tail spike ranged attack can easily be dodged. Despite high level individuals having 1,500-2,000 health, they seem to go down fairly easily.

KO Strategy
An effective method to tame anything that fights back is to stand on a rock and shoot from there. Ducking when you see the ranged attack coming works when you can't move to dodge. It is a bad idea to walk backwards while firing, unless you have plenty movement speed and health, as thorny dragons are faster than most low level players. When the thorny dragon gets low on health it begins running away. Though if you can't keep up you can easily fall off of a cliff, you might want to chase one on a raptor or flying mount

Roles

 * Gatherer: Thorny Dragons gather wood extremely efficiently. (Level up Weight)
 * Transport: Wood, Thatch, Fiber and Stone weigh less while being carried by the Thorny Dragon. Thatch and Fiber weigh only 20% of their usual value (10 kg per, 0.4 kg per, and 0.4 kg per 100 respectively), while Wood and Stone weighs 50% of its usual value (25 kg per 100). (Level up Weight, Stamina)
 * Organic Craftsman: Once saddled the Thorny Dragon can be used as a Smithy, allowing for a mobile crafting wagon. It's also possible to increase the crafting speed of the Thorny Dragon by force feeding it.
 * Combat Mount: with the right training and breeding, Thorny Dragons can become dangerous mounts in close quarters desert combat. A nice mid-level alternative for traversing the desert and combatting the vicious wildlife, a properly trained or high-level Thorny Dragon can hold its own against packs of wolves, so long as you make sure that nothing gets behind you. Its ranged attacks also allow it to become a jack-of-all-trades.
 * Mobile "Ballista": Although it's still capable on the battlefield as close-quarters combat, the main battlefield use of the Thorny Dragon is to be used as a mobile "ballista", providing irritating cover fire for its allies using its quils. Upping Stamina and Melee, the creature quickly becomes an irritant to the enemy in conflict.
 * Taming Mount: It's quite easy through breeding and leveling to get a higher-level Thorny Dragon's attack to about 400%, and the stamina 2000+. This not only makes it a nuisance in the above role, but it also allows the Thorny Dragon to become a viable taming assist. With enough patience and provided cover, Paracers and even Rex can be knocked unconscious with its low-damaging, torpor-inducing spines alone. Despite this, it's best use as a taming assist, rather than the sole driving force of torpor.
 * Early Game Base Turret: when set to " turret mode " the thorny dragon can be a good early game alternative to the or the ., not as fast or as strong but it can drain enemies'.
 * Early Game Wood Gatherer: The thorny dragon is with no doubt the best early game mount for gathering, being easier to tame and better than a as well as having a fairly cheap . compared to the  or the.
 * Pet: Thorny dragons aren't small enough to fit on your shoulder but because of their cuteness they can make a suitable companion on your endeavors.

Weight Reduction
The Thorny Dragon reduces the weight of the following Resources by the listed amount while they are in its inventory:

Notes/Trivia

 * The dossier mistakenly lists the Thorny Dragon as an herbivore, when it is actually a carnivore.
 * This creature was first revealed as a "Mystery Creature" on March 1, 2016. It was the first creature revealed in that way and the first hint to the Scorched Earth expansion.
 * The tail spikes inflict torpor damage when fired.
 * It could be the thought of as the Scorched Earth equivalent to a beaver, as it is the only primarily wood gathering creature on the desert, certain materials weigh less on it, and its saddle acts as a mobile smithy.
 * The species name, Moloch sagittarius, roughly means "Devil Archer". This is likely due to the fact the Thorny Dragon's real-life counterpart is known as Thorny Devil, and the ability that it can shoot arrow-like spines from its tail.
 * Its one of the few creatures to have special saddle skins the others being the and the.
 * Despite the Thorny Dragon being based on the Thorny Devil. Aside from both creatures having spikes the Thorny Devil has no armored plates like the Thorny Dragon. However the Armadillo girdled lizard has armor on it's body just like the Thorny Dragon.