Brontosaurus

The Brontosaurus (bron-tuh-SAWR-uhs) or the Apatosaurus ( apat-oo-SAWR-uhs) is a species of dinosaur in ARK: Survival Evolved, and is larger than most creatures in the game.

Behavior
Brontosaurus is not aggressive, and not exactly built for combat but nonetheless but can deal plenty of damage to players or dinosaurs with their main weapon: sheer bulk. Their primary attack is a tail swipe, which, for low to mid-level characters, can be a 1 or 2 hit death. Another way they can cause damage is by simply stepping on things, mostly on purpose when aggravated but occasionally just on accident. The tail swipe does more damage than the stomping, has a long reach, and will fling you in the direction the swipe traveled. The Brontosaurus also has a large amount of health. If you want to kill one, ranged weapons or high-level hunting dinos are recommended. Few wild creatures dare hunt Brontosauruses, and if you ever stumble across one under attack, it’s a good indicator that you’re in the presence of someone or something you might not want to take on without some solid backup!

Appearance
The Brontosaurus is a gigantic sauropod dinosaur, unmistakable for any other species in both size and appearance. They have incredibly long necks and whiplike tails in comparison to their core body. In comparison with their fellow sauropods, they have very smooth scales, tiny spines along their backs, and have a more graceful, arching neck. They are often very dark colored, black, green browns; but can rarely be found in brighter tones. It is usually found alone or in small groups, browsing at heights well above that of smaller herbivores or along beaches. Its size and strength make it almost impervious to predation... save perhaps for audacious tribes and the largest of carnivores.

Drops

 * Harvest


 * Guaranteed Special Loot

To get the Sauropod Vertebra you must access the dead dinosaur's inventory.

Because of the Brontosaurus' sheer size, they drop large quantities of Raw Meat and Raw Prime Meat. Because of this, killing a Brontosaurus is ideal for a carnivorous effective tame, such as a. That is, before it spoils due to its fast spoil timer. Recommended to kill a Brontosaurus close to your tame so the prime meat doesn't spoil.

KO Strategy

 * Possible methods would be using creatures that inflict, like the or a  wielding  with 2-3 backup Clubs, but ranged weaponry are usually much more effective and safer. , or  work well enough. Chasing and flanking a Bronto while shooting can work, but building a trap is much more effective.  are extremely impractical due to the sheer amount of  needed, you would be better off using narcotic traps and finishing with a few Tranquilizer arrows.
 * Attacking a Brontosaurus from the top of a tall, steep cliff can allow you to attack it while staying out of range of its powerful attacks.
 * Building a structure to hide in rather than trap your target can be just viable as well. Lay down a wood or stone foundation with 3 wood or stone walls and wooden one door. Above the first layer place 4 wooden frames with no doors. Stand inside your shelter and shoot it; it won't damage you, just your shelter.
 * Get a friend to pick you up with a flyer and fly you over the bronto. From there you just need to shoot it. Just make sure that you and your friend are high enough so the Brontosaurus can't hit you.
 * You can shoot the Brontosaurus while riding another land mount and kite it to a safer location for taming.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Brontosaurus.

General
The Brontosaurus has the second highest pool of any herbivore behind the  and it has the base damage of a Rex. Their attack has a massive range and huge knockback which makes this creature dangerous when riled up. Avoid, unless it is necessary to attack. Also, try to avoid attacking small creatures such as Dilophosaurus, near a Brontosaurus, as you could accidentally hit the Bronto and aggro it.

Strategy
If on foot, try to keep distance. Their tail-sweeping attack has a massive range and can knock a player or attacking animal off slopes or cliffs. They can be stuck behind rocks and cliffs and shot at safely. A strong mount can defeat the Bronto with dedicated attacking, but your mount must be able to withstand a high amount of damage. Large carnivores like a, or  can kill a Bronto with ease, provided the player does not make a mistake during the battle.

It is extremely easy to kill a wild Bronto even at lower levels by getting its attention and then sailing out into deep waters far from land with it following you. While sitting in the pilot's seat of a raft, it won't acknowledge your presence, and thus you may drown it by simply getting it further away from shore than it can swim back, and it will sink until it dies.

Weaponry
Attacking with melee on foot is never a good idea, as the Brontosaurus has massive damage and knockback making it difficult to even reach it. Using a ranged weapon or a strong dino is recommended. A on a raft can also be effective as long as you have enough bolts.

Dangers
Their tail swing will throw attackers back, potentially off ledges and cliffs. If the attacker is not fast enough to recover the distance before it swings again, the Bronto can easily hold them back. A Bronto's legs also inflict damage(crushing damage) in huge amounts very quickly versus players, so it is recommended that players do not get caught underfoot or they will likely be trampled to death.

Weakness
Despite its massive range, the Brontosaurus is very slow in terms of movement and attack rate. Their massive size allows them to be stuck behind cliffs and large boulders much easier than others. They also will attempt to retreat when wounded, where it won't fight back but can still deal damage if players are under it. It should also be noted that, from the front, their tail hits either to the left or right and can be dodged by strafing the opposite direction quickly. Using this technique it is easily possible to slay a Bronto without taking any damage on foot with a even primitive weapons such as the

The Bronto will also have trouble hitting you if you attack its back with a flying mount such as the. If you have a flying mount to attack with, it is best to swoop and hit the backside of its head.

If you are riding a Bronto, it is problematic to have another Bronto following you. Even at maximum following distance, the elongated neck will regularly clip into you, requiring you to dismount and have the dinos follow you for a bit.

Roles

 * Tank: Makes a decent tank due to its high HP and area denial tail attack. Due to their huge size, they can also take fire from bullets for other tames and tribe members, effectively creating a wall. (Level up and ).
 * Damage: Very good AOE and base damage. Too slow to chase down prey but can defend itself well enough. It can be utilized in certain situation in warfare, like keeping fores at bay with its tail and lasting a good while with its great HP. Is limited by its lack of natural defense multipliers, speed, and attack speed. (Level up, and some ).
 * Transport: While slow, it has the third best base carrying capacity in-game. Lots of materials can also be placed in storage units on its back provided you equip a platform saddle. Good for local transport (Level up,  and ).
 * Gatherer: Excellent for gathering materials. Quite possibly the best gatherer in the entire game for, a resource need for all tiers of gameplay. If you tell the Bronto to attack near plants, you will acquire an enormous amount of resources. Even for resources it isn't specialized for like and  can be gathered in huge amounts thanks to its huge AOE.  (Level up , , and ).
 * Mobile Base Platform: Use a to build a mobile base on the back of your Brontosaurus. Structures do not affect Dinosaur weight capacity, but storage does; increase weight if used for transport.  cannot be placed and  cannot be grown, but a variety of other defense mechanisms like manned turrets can be placed on its back. Tek or metal bases can also be built on its back to act as effective respawn points and resupply caches.(Level up,  and ).
 * Wall Defender: Very effective in PVP, placing your Bronto by your outer walls can be a fantastic strategy to keep away players. Weigh down the bronto and keep it by the walls so that it is in the exact place you want it. Since the Bronto is near immue to knockback, with the only exception being the Diplodocus, it makes a great first line of defense. (Level and )
 * Genesis Escort Defender: A Brontosaurus can help defend the creature you are defending by making it able to to have it between its legs. On top of that, a brontosaurus can have a platform saddle where metal walls will cover the entire brontosaurus.  Add turrets to help protect the escorted creature from predatory creatures.


 * Land clearer The brontosaurus has a humongous AOE, allowing for a massive area of destruction. Use this to demolish any trees, bushes, or dinos in your way, and you have a clear path to wherever you want. (Level up and  )
 * Exceptional Kibble Out of all the creatures that drop Extra Large Egg, the Brontosaurus is one of the easiest to tame.

Notes/Trivia

 * The full Ark Bronto scientific name roughly means "God-helped thunder lizard".
 * Brontosaurus was more commonly referred to by its more modern genus, Apatosaurus, as it was considered a species and not a separate genus. The reason being that fossils of what are believed to be two different dinosaurs were given the two different names, and debate goes back and forth on whether or not they're actually the same animal. Perhaps this is why the genus Apatosaurus means "deceptive lizard". However as of 2015, Brontosaurus has been resurrected as a valid genus, meaning Brontosaurus is no longer a strictly cultural name.
 * The Bronto is one of the only creatures to have been there from the start when Ark became available to the public in alpha.
 * The Bronto drops the guaranteed special loot of the.
 * Brontosaurus are one of the endgame farming machines you will want to have. Use their attacks on large groups of bushes to gather more than a hundred berries per swing. Depending on your location, you'll be able to farm more than 1500  in one, single in-game night. Also, due to their enormous  capacity, they make effective, albeit slow, transporters of large quantities of goods.
 * Brontosaurus' tail attack is extremely wide, and reaches almost up to its head in a 180° whip in the direction you are facing. Caution is advised when using tail attacks to collect berries, because you might hit a herd of, causing all of them to attack you, which can be overwhelming for even the Bronto.
 * The dossier mistakenly places Brontosaurus' time period as the late Cretaceous when, in fact, it actually lived in the late Jurassic. However, the dossier also acknowledges that it may be another sauropod like Argentinosaurus, which did come from the late Cretaceous.
 * This discrepancy is likely due to the fact that the in-game Bronto, like many species of the Ark, share mixed traits of multiple species.
 * If the Bronto of the Ark is indeed a Brontosaurus, then this would make it a Diplodocid sauropod like the . But if it is an Argentinosaurus, then this would make it a Titanosaur sauropod like the.
 * The Brontosaurus is so large that when it steps on smaller creatures (such as, , or ) it deals damage to them and sometimes even kills them. This can be a problem, especially when navigating through swamps, as you frequently step on , killing them and causing a couple of them to attack you at a time. One tail sweep often kills all of them, earning you a lot of experience points.
 * The skull of the animal shown in the dossier is not of the real-life Brontosaurus, which to this date has yet to be found, but Camarasaurus. This appears to be a reference to the previously common use of Camarasaurus skull casts for sculpted models of Brontosaurus skulls, before it become widely accepted that Brontosaurus most likely had a Diplodocus-like skull.
 * The Bronto used to be one of the most powerful creatures in the game and were invaluable to every raid. However over the years, nerf after nerf has rendered the Bronto much less useful in warfare, giving it limited uses.
 * The species name is lazarus. This is quite similar to Lazarus Chowder.
 * The Bronto has a Brachiosaurus skin, which is a distant sauropod relative of the Bronto.
 * The Brontosaurus picture in the dossier is the same in color scheme as the one that will be in ARK: The Animated Series.

Lore

 * Though the dinosaur didn't have a pivotal role in the story, the Brontosaurus was referenced by Helena and HLN-A from time to time.
 * In her first note, Helena described seeing a Brontosaurus as an unforgettable sight as it moved around.
 * In the Genesis 2 Chronicles, HLN-A noted it had a memory of Helena being excited in seeing a real life dinosaur and it used her memory of seeing a Brontosaurus as a visual.