Direwolf

The Direwolf is one of the creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved. It lives in snow biomes and in some areas of desert on Scorched Earth and Ragnarok, though in lesser numbers.

Behavior
Direwolves are large pack animals. If you see a direwolf on its own, be sure to scan the area for the rest of its pack unless you want to become their prey. Being carnivorous pack animals, direwolves will likely attack on sight- and their eyesight is nearly as good as a human’s- so caution is advised. Individually they are relatively weak, similar in many ways to a sabertooth, terror bird or raptor, fast moving with deadly teeth, but easily taken down with even a simple bola and bow. In packs however, they could arguably be the top of the snow biome’s food chain and they are usually found in mass numbers. Compared with other creatures that pack a similar punch as a wolf pack, they are incredibly easy to find (in some locations it’s far harder to avoid the wolves than it is to not find some), easy to tame, and easy to maintain, making them among the dominant threats a survivor can encounter… or control. Even wild packs can band together to take down the creatures ordinarily regarded as the kings of the arks, although their ability to damage structures is far weaker. They are extremely loyal and obedient once they are tamed, allowing humans to ride them without a saddle and follow commands without forced means of control; the pack mentality remains, but they accept the survivor as their leader and they obey without question.

Appearance
The direwolf is an ancestor of the modern wolf and the coyote. It has evolved slightly for the dangerous environment of the ARKs, therefore making it a very large species, roughly 2 meters tall at the shoulders and very muscular. The direwolf commonly ranges in colour anywhere from white to black, with mixed grays and browns, any colour that modern wolves can have. On rare occasion they can be found in exotic colors such as bright blue or green.

Spirit Direwolf
Spirit direwolves spawn in Life's Labyrinth (Ragnarok) as the final mini-boss along with spirit dire bears.

KO Strategy
They can be picked up by an argentavis, making it easy to separate one from a pack and put it in a small box with windows to shoot arrows through. Lower levels take 4-12 tranq arrows. Beware however, that unlike other dinos, the wolf can sometimes hit the bird that is carrying them, potentially killing it and its rider. To avoid this, drop the wolf and pick it up again until the angle and distance its held is safe for the bird. Hitting the wolf once while carrying it will also usually move it into a position it can't attack the argentavis.

Another way is use a bola and just keep winding it up to stop as many as you need and just tranquilize it until the animal is unconscious. This method can be difficult for larger packs, so be sure to try and separate the animal you want first, and works best in desert environments where wolves are more solitary.

It is especially effective to create a trap out of structures, as the whole pack of wolves likes to follow you inside.

Pack Bonus
When in pack, the direwolf will receive a pack bonus for each other pack member (up to a maximum of 4), indicated by a number present beneath their names (eg. "+2 for three direwolves in the pack). Each direwolf receives a 5% damage bonus for each other pack member. The highest level member of the pack doesn't receive a number and is instead classed as "Pack Leader", which on top of the damage bonus, grants access to the Howl ability using the alt-fire key/button.

Once the Pack Leader has used the ability, all members of the pack receive a buff (either Pack Member or Pack Leader, respectively) for 90 seconds. The buff grants all members a 50% damage boost (this bonus is multiplicative, affecting all other damage boosts) and also a 25% damage reduction (also multiplicative). Once the buff has expired, the Pack Leader is unable to use the Howl ability again for another 90 seconds.

These combined with a yutyrannus roar buff and mate boost, will increase damage output to 3x (2.9925=1.2pack*1.5howl*1.33mate*1.25yt) and damage taken to approx 0.4 (0.396=0.75howl*0.66mate*0.80yt)

Combat
This section describes how to fight against a direwolf.

General
In the snowy areas they inhabit, you will almost never find a direwolf alone. This furthers the already frightening power of the beast and adds potential mate boosting to make matters worse. Whenever you fight direwolves, also make sure you have slain the whole pack before turning your back, and packs of up to 3-5 are not uncommon in the snowy plains.

Strategy
If possible, keep distance from the direwolf, and deal as much damage as possible during their aggro animation (which is long compared to a lot of smaller threats). A lone wolf or a few individuals of the pack can be effectively killed before they can reach you. Direwolves deal high damage for their size and a pack of them along with their boost can cut down animals as strong as Triceratops to nothing. A tanky, yet high damage dealing mount like paraceratherium or ankylosaurus are the best against these hunters. Splash or attacks with large hitboxes, such as the likes of a giganotosaurus can reduce the wolf's presence to near nothing.

Weaponry
Ranged weapons, particularly those that allow you to use a scope, are extremely effective. The snow biome is quite barren in many places which makes engaging from a range very safe and easy, providing you have the tools to do so. Bolas can also trap them, making an individual wolf easy to kill, and can buy a survivor time to deal with other direwolves in the pack.

Dangers
Most are accompanied by packs or at least one other direwolf. They are also quite fast over land and can close even large distances very swiftly. Don't get caught off-guard and keep your range and wits about you and you should survive most run-ins with the direwolf.

Weakness
Direwolves move like molasses in water, which is good because the snow biome has handy ice floes for you to snipe from with safety. Use a and put down the wolves before they can close distance and become a real threat. Direwolves also have a low health pool and are weak to knockback, so heavy mounts like the spino can easily deal with them without getting struck even once if the attacks are chained properly.

Utility
Apart from howling to achieve alpha pack boost, the direwolf can also sniff out (once activating said ability) for both unopened explorer notes and buried/camouflaged dino like, , and marked with a blue mask icon.

Roles

 * Battle Mount: A fast and fierce mount that doesn't require a saddle. Their lack of saddle means they take more damage than a Sabertooth but they have increased HP to partly counteract this and higher damage. Also keep in mind that packs of wolves get much stronger, especially the alpha which is usually ridden into battle. On Mobile, it can equip helmets, give them high armor points with engram quality helmets. (Health, Damage, and depending on gear, a little weight)
 * Travel Mount: Decent speed, little stamina drain, and the ability to jump, using a Wolf to scout is safe and efficient. (Speed, Stamina, Weight)
 * Organic Polymer Farmer: Very efficient organic polymer harvesting abilities, it can be used to harvest a lot of organic polymer from mantises, kairukus, and hesperornises.
 * Companion: A survivor's best friend. Basically oversized dogs, keeping a wolf as a pet to follow you around base and sleep with when you retire for the night will ensure you aren't lonely while the tribe is away. (Health, Weight)
 * Explorer Note/Stealth Sniffer: Able to sniff for nearby unopened explorer notes, perfectly handy for survivors wanting more experience or completing explorer's note. Also able to smell for creatures buried or hidden (such as purlovia)
 * Wounded Finder: Smells for nearby wounded non-allied survivors and wild dinos (50% below health), perfect if the survivor or dino is hiding in areas not so easily detectable by naked eyes. While mounted Red (Very wounded), Orange (Moderately wounded) Yellow (Slightly wounded), and White (Deceased) health symbols will be displayed above creatures.
 * Swarmer/Warpack: When compared to other "pack" dinos, such as raptors or allosaurus, direwolves will typically have the highest damage per set of attacks, as not only to they receive the pack buff, they also have higher base damage, and the howl greatly increases their damage. However, they lack the health and "Gnashed!" effect of the larger carnivore, and are more of cannon-fodder when forced against stronger dinosaurs. Essentially, an major upgrade in stats compared to the raptor.
 * Harvester: Direwolves can reap more resources than a metal hatchet, and especially the stone variant. They are a great help in surviving the frost covered regions, as they can harvest hide and pelt at accelerated rates, which are always needed early in the game for various armor and items.
 * Boss DPS: On its own, Direwolves clearly can't outdamage other creatures, but when in packs, they give damage outputs far greater than even a rex with its pack buff. Stacked with multiple other direwolves, yutyrannus buff, their howl buff, and mate boost, they can shred the health bar of many bosses in seconds. However, they are glass cannons, so the player must have creatures with a far higher drag weight than the direwolves to divert the boss' attention so they don't get damaged easily.

Notes/Trivia

 * The dossier mentions an "Alpha Wolf", a feature that was not implemented when the wolf was released in version 216.0, and wasn't implemented until version 258.0. This stands in contrast to the Allosaurus, which had an "Alpha of the Pack" mechanic upon release in version 245.0.
 * On Scorched Earth the direwolves spawn as single wolves since 258.3, "because with pack they were too strong there".
 * This dossier was revealed on 08/4/2015
 * Direwolves appear to take less fall damage than their sabertooth counterparts, and they can fall from a greater height before sustaining fall damage at all.
 * Direwolves have no access to any kind of armor. Only on Mobile they can wear helmets which make them an even better cave mount.
 * Pressing alt-fire (default ) will make the wolf howl, making it easy to find home when you are lost and have a tribe, though this can also alert others of your presence.
 * The direwolf attack is very fast and can be devastating to prey and enemies. This makes the direwolf a very powerful mount.
 * In an interview, the developers said they may consider adding a saddle or some type of armor for the Direwolf.
 * Real direwolves were actually just bulkier and stronger versions of modern-day gray wolves, and would not have made very good mounts.
 * Direwolves are the first member of the in game version of the Canis genus, the other is the Ravager.
 * Direwolves are the main danger of the Snow Cave, spawning at extremely high levels, sometimes up to 340.


 * Direwolf receives a major update for TLC Phase 1 at 10 February 2018 with appearance overhaul, changes into "Pack leader" buff, Hunter's instinct (detect living creature/survivors under 50% health), and ability to sniff for explorer notes.
 * The dossier of direwolf's species is Canis Maxdirus, however, the real direwolf species is Aenocyon Dirus, suggested that real direwolf is actually not a species of wolf, while Ark's direwolf is wolf, it seems like Ark's direwolf might not base on real life direwolf, but grey wolf instead. However, at the time that the direwolf was added to Ark, the real-world direwolf was still classified in the genus Canis as Canis Dirus.

Lore

 * The Howling Wolves, an in-lore tribe native to the Island's tundra region, have dire wolves as both their main mounts and a symbol for their tribe flag.