Pachyrhinosaurus

The Pachyrhinosaurus (PAK-ee-rye-no-SAWR-us) is one of the Creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Behavior
Pachyrhinosaurus is a non-aggressive herbivorous species that spends its time grazing across the Arks. Ignoring peaceful survivors and other passive creatures, many players tend to underestimate this creatures capabilities. If attacked, the Pachyrhinosaurus will often charge its attacker, much like the. However, different from the, it can also release chemical pheromones which affect surrounding wildlife, including normally passive creatures. Upon being attacked, it will release a red chemical from its nostrils, sending nearby creatures into a rage and making them target the creature's attacker. Even creatures like the or  may enter the fray, though some herbivores like  and  seem unaffected. However, if the battle seems fruitless for the Pachyrhinosaurus, it will flee and release a different, calming chemical to try and pacify its attackers, allowing the dinosaur to escape and recover. This chemical will not work on and some huge predators such as  and.

Appearance
Like its larger relative the Triceratops, the Pachyrhinosaurus is a burly quadrupedal herbivore with an impressive frill. Unlike the Triceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus has a bony growth called a boss where the trike has its nasal horn. The animal still displays a multitude of horns and spikes on its frill, though none as large or as fearsome-looking as those on a Triceratops.

KO Strategy
The Pachyrhinosaurus has a hardened head which decreases the amount of damage and torpor it receives. Players should shoot the body to knock the Pachyrhinosaurus out faster. The Pachyrhinosaurus also has an extremely fast torpor drop, which can make it quite difficult to knock out at lower levels. The Pachyrhinosaurus' extremely fast torpor drop also make the Crossbow and Tranquilizer Arrows superior to the Longneck Rifle and Tranquilizer Darts for knock out due to the faster reload and shorter firing interval, as well as having nearly no chance of killing the Pachyrhinosaurus.

If a Griffin is available, it is one of the easiest ways to knock out the Pachyrhinosaurus without using any kind of trap.
 * After regenerating all stamina, fly off the ground to a height out of range of the Pachyrhinosaurus' melee and gas-clouds.
 * Engage the Pachyrhinosaurus with a Tranquilizer Arrow from high above it and as it approaches, it will stop and wait directly underneath the Griffin but not be able to attack it.
 * Angle the Griffin straight down toward the ground, and shoot Tranquilizer Arrows through the Griffin's head (this does no damage or torpor to the Griffin). If lined up (watch for hit-markers to verify), the arrows will land directly in the body of the waiting Pachyrhinosaurus.  The position above the Pachyrhinosaurus makes the body a much more reliable target!
 * Count your shots, and soon the Pachyrhinosaurus will begin fleeing due to high torpor. Land the Griffin and chase/shoot the Pachyrhinosaurus from the back of the Griffin as it runs away to finish the knock out.

Preferred Food

 * Keep in mind that you need a lot of Bug Repellant to tame a high level Pachyrhino - 77 Bug Repellant equals 308 advanced crops to produce which is more than twice than a single crop plot can hold.
 * Keep in mind that you need a lot of Bug Repellant to tame a high level Pachyrhino - 77 Bug Repellant equals 308 advanced crops to produce which is more than twice than a single crop plot can hold.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Pachyrhinosaurus.

General
The Pachyrhinosaurus's head acts as a shield, much like the. It has a damage multiplier of 0.25 for head and jaw. The pheromones that can be released by the Pachyrhino can either calm enemy dinos or enrage enemy dinos.

The Pachyrhinosaurus takes more than most herbivores to keep down. It also has a unique diet, preferring to Vegetables or Berries.

Strategy
Don't use small dinosaurs, because they mostly won't even hit the Pachyrhinosaurus, because of the knockback. However, as the Pachyrhino is a rather mediocre dino in danger, any decently strong weapon or creature will be sufficient, so long as its pheromones don't become an issue.

Weaponry
Pachyrhinosaurus is not immediately aggressive, so favor weapons with longer reload but more power, like the. If a longneck is not available, any projectile shooting weapon will do.

Dangers
The Pachyrhinosaurus can trigger others to attack with its Rage Essence, making engagement potentially dangerous. The damage and speed is sub-par, though the head shield does take reduced damage from projectiles.

Rarely, its Calming Essence will also instantly drain the stamina of you or your mount, leaving you vulnerable to aggressive dinos such as s or s. This is likely a glitch.

Weakness
Pachyrhinosauruses are not all that powerful and are rather clunky and slow; you can easily kill it from behind.

Roles

 * Transport: The Pachyrhinosaurus has a good carry capacity and can be ideal for local transport, especially since the allows an extra passenger to ride along. This alone can allow one to ride the Pachyrhino while the other can wield a weapon protecting the tame and the other rider. Its calming essence can also be useful if one runs into small to medium-sized carnivores such as Raptors and you don't have a convoy or simply don't want to fight, as the Pachyrhino's base speed and damage sometimes won't be enough. (Level Weight, Speed, Stamina, and some Health)
 * Turret /Projectile Soaker: Similarly to how the has a facial shield made out of bone, the Pachyrhino also shares this trait and is dealt with greatly reduced damage when shot at the head. This can be especially useful for  soaking, as it can face its head towards the oncoming projectiles and tank them. The head shield can also be useful in blocking bullet shots from enemy survivors. Use  to heal during the process in order to further drain turrets. (Level ).
 * Gatherer: The Pachyrhinosaurus, like most herbivorous creatures, can gather, which can come in handy in the right instances and for large berry harvesting if no other creatures are available. Pachyrhinos are also quite adequate at collecting and , excelling in doing so compare to the majority of other gatherers but out-done by mounts like the . It can also gather  and.
 * Pheromones: The Pachyrhino has the quirky ability to release a mist containing a chemical and pheromone concoction that can either calm or rage nearby creatures depending on the one used. The calming affect is entirely unique to the Pachyrhino, however its release of a raging mist is similar in concept to the when it is harmed, the  when shot at a creature or survivor, the  when attacking and blowing smoke, and the consumption of a . Both of the Pachyrhino's pheromone abilities last for 20 seconds each. Despite the Pachyrhino being rather slow, it can still make great use and versatility with its pheromones when used correctly and creatively.
 * Calming Essence : Its alternate attack expels a calming essence that makes you invisible for most hostile dinos (Doesn`t work with anything generally the size of a  or bigger). Using such an essence is useful in protecting you and the Pachyrhino from most wild dangers, but can also be utilized for assisting with difficult passive tames such as taming the  or  as it can keep them calm.
 * Raging Essence : Pressing will expel a raging essence that makes a variety of dinos attack you, such as the  or . Some herbivores like the  and  may still ignore you though. This ability to expel gas that can sway the temperament or disposition of most creatures can be used in a variety of clever and creative ways. Some examples of use for this mist ability include but are not limited to: Angering fish nearby into a bait ball which allows easier fishing, enabling safe cave travel and sometimes allowing an artifact to be taken with ease, preventing animal fleeing during a knockout tame, attracting a swarm of nearby animals as a diversion or escape tactic, attracting nearby animals for mass taming or luring a potential tame into a trap, pacifying most annoying and aggressive creatures, pretending the mist are farts for a comical experience, and so on. The potentials are truly great. Level, , and some.
 * Bog Biome Transport: With its ability to use pheromones, the pachyrhinosaurus can help players traverse the bog biome by using its calm essence to protect it and the player from the surrounding predators with the only danger being the X-Spinosaurus since it is immune to its calming essence.

Affected By Gas
The following Creatures are affected and can be calmed by the Pachyrhinosaurus' Chemical (Calm Essence):

The following Creatures are affected and can be enraged by the Pachyrhinosaurus' Chemical (Rage Essence):

Slow Affect from Gas
The following Creatures will have a slower response to the gas, sometimes seeming like they are resistant to the affect of the Pachyrhinosaurus' Chemical (Calm Essence):

Gas Resistance
The following Creatures ignore Pachyrhinosaurus' Chemical (Calm Essence):

Rock Drake and Wyvern ignores survivors on Pachyrhinosaurus if the chemical is active, but will still chase after them if their eggs are taken regardless.

The following Creatures ignore Pachyrhinosaurus' Chemical (Rage Essence):

The following Creatures run from Pachyrhinosaurus' Chemical (Rage Essence):

Notes/Trivia

 * Dossier revealed on 09/24/15 on Steam.
 * Its full name means "Thick-nosed lizard", which is a testament to its enlarged nasal cavity and nasal boss.
 * The Pachyrhino's Calming Essence and Rage Essence are referred to in game as and  respectively.
 * Although its Calming Essence is unique to the Pachyrhino, its Rage Essence is shared by a few other creatures/items that can inflict a similar effect, these being the, , , and.
 * Pachyrhinosaurus is related to the, both belonging to the family Ceratopsidae.
 * Pachyrhinosaurus is however more closely related to the, a Triceratops skin; both belong to the subfamily, Centrosaurinae
 * The real Pachyrhinosaurus could grow to approximately 8 meters long and probably weighed up to around 4 tons, with a pattern of horns much less elaborate than the one illustrated in the dossier and a much broader head compared to the more triangular head of Ark's Pachyrhino. The nasal boss would have been more pronounced in reality as well. There is no evidence that it released chemicals in self-defense, though its nasal boss likely functioned for a multitude of reasons like increasing smell, warming air before it is taken to the lungs, creating a resonating noise, attract mates, and/or for inter-species and/or intra-species fighting.
 * The dossier suggests that the Pachyrhinosaurus is easy to tame however this is frankly a lie or lack of knowledge on Helena's part, as its torpor drains extremely quickly and it requires to tame.
 * The Pachyrhinosaurus can use its chemicals to make MOST skittish creatures attack you. Be careful!!
 * Real Ceratopsians, like Pachyrhinosaurus, were likely herd animals, as can be seen in Ark with groups sometimes as large as five.