or
cheat SpawnDino "Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/Dinos/Manta/Manta_Character_BP.Manta_Character_BP'" 500 0 0 35
No
Yes
Common
Rare
Untameable
Cave
|
“ | I think you'll be surprised, the smaller size makes it extremely maneuverable. | „ |
| ~ Jen about Manta size[1] |
The Manta is one of the Creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved. It was added to the PC version on April 20, 2016.
Basic Info
Dossier
This section is intended to be an exact copy of what the survivor Helena Walker, the author of the dossiers, has written. There may be some discrepancies between this text and the in-game creature.
- Wild
Here is another example of a creature that seems to have evolved beyond its historical traits. Everything points to this being a saltwater ray, but Manta mobula has developed the ability to swim into the island's rivers and shallows, as well as through the open ocean. Perhaps there were originally two types of ray on the island before, but years of interbreeding combined their lineage. Normally docile, Manta mobula is a carnivore only in that it naturally consumes plankton. Fortunately, Manta mobula is usually not aggressive, unless encroached. Its tail is incredibly sharp, and can pierce through thick hide and armor with ease.
- Domesticated
While not the fastest swimmer around the island, Manta mobula is among the deadliest of small ocean mounts. Tribes who value striking power over speed often keep large schools of Manta to ride. Its capability to briefly leap out of water provides it a showy tactic for avoiding combat as well. A quick jab through the heart of an unsuspecting survivor can easily take them by surprise! Thusly, many tribes use it as an escort for their slower cargo-carrying swimmers.
Behavior
While its dossier describes the manta to be a docile creature, it is actually anything but docile. Simply swimming near them is reason enough for them to attack the player. They also seem to actively seek out their prey, as tamed aquatic creatures 'parked' near the coast will be regularly attacked by them as well. Mantas usually swim together in groups of three.
Appearance
The Manta is an odd-looking fish that lives in the island's deeper offshore waters. A wide-bodied plankton-eater with distinctive trailing barbules, M. mobula is nevertheless a dangerous creature due to the barbed stinger it carries on its tail. Between this weapon and its fast swimming speed, they are rarely bothered by larger predators.
This section displays the Manta's natural colors and regions. For demonstration, the regions below are colored red over an albino Manta. The colored squares shown underneath each region's description are the colors that the Manta will randomly spawn with to provide an overall range of its natural color scheme. Hover your cursor over a color to display its name and ID.
This information can be used to alter the Manta's regions by entering cheat SetTargetDinoColor <ColorRegion> <ColorID> in the cheat console. For instance, cheat SetTargetDinoColor 0 6 would color the Manta's "body" magenta.
Body
Spots
Region 2 is not used
for this Creature.
Region 3 is not used
for this Creature.
Patterning
Region 5 is not used
for this Creature.
Drops
Base Stats and Growth
| Attribute | Base Value | Level Increase | Taming Bonus | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild | Tamed | Additive | Multiplicative | ||
 Health |
320 | +16 | +1.4% | 0.07 | |
 Stamina |
270 | +54 | +20% | ||
 Oxygen |
N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
 Food |
1000 | +100 | +10% | 15% | |
 Weight |
200 | +4 | +4% | ||
 Melee Damage |
40 | +2 | +0.85% | 14% | 17.6% |
 Movement Speed |
100% | N/A | +5% | ||
 Torpidity |
0 | +0 | N/A | ||
- For a comparison of the stats of all creatures, see Base Creature Statistics.
- For an explanation of exactly how the levelup calculation works, see Creature Stats Calculation.
| Movement [u/s] |
Base Speed | Sprinting Speed | Stamina | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild | Tamed1 | Tamed2 | Wild | Tamed1 | Tamed2 | ||
| Walking | 600 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 10 |
| Swimming | 600 | ? | ? | 780 | 3510 | 3510 | 3 |
- 1These are the base speeds of the creature at 100% Movement Speed.
- 2These are the speeds of the creature tamed and non-imprinted.
- For a comparison of the speeds of all creatures, see Base Creature Speeds.
| Melee | Stamina Cost | Attack Range | Description | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Minimum | Activation | Using the  (PC),  (PS),  (Xbox One), the Manta stabs the target with its barbed tail. |
||||||||||
| -10 | 200 | 0 | 400 | ||||||||||
| Attack Type | Damage | Projectile Values | Torpor Values | Status Effect: Stamina | Status Effect: Torpidity | ||||||||
| Life | Impulse | Radius | Base | Mult | Duration | Damage Mult | Amount | Duration | Damage Mult | Amount | |||
| Melee | 28 | ||||||||||||
Wild Stats Level-up
Type in values of a wild creature to see on which stats it's emphasized. Green values on a high-level creature are very good for breeding. If you have already tamed your creature you can try to recover the breeding stats with an external tool.[2]
The stat-calculator does not work in the mobile-view, see here for alternatives: Apps
Note that after the creature is tamed it gets bonuses on some stats depending on the taming effectiveness. This makes it hard to retrieve the levels on a tamed creature, so this tool is only for wild ones, but gives a first impression, how well the stats are distributed.
Taming
 Level 1
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
 AnglerGel
|
5 | 00:37 | 0:02:29 |
| Level 30
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnglerGel
|
12 | 00:32 | 0:05:56 |
| Level 60
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnglerGel
|
19 | 00:31 | 0:09:23 |
| Level 90
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnglerGel
|
26 | 00:30 | 0:12:51 |
| Level 120
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnglerGel
|
33 | 00:30 | 0:16:18 |
| Level 150
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnglerGel
|
40 | 00:30 | 0:19:45 |
Note that the values are for optimal cases, always bring extra supplies!
For a level-dependent count of resources needed, try an external taming calculator.
Strategy
The Manta is tamed passively, meaning it must not be rendered unconscious before taming it. This is kind of similar to the 
Ichthy and 
Mesopithecus. However, the main problem you are going to face is that unlike the Ichthy and Mesopithecus, the manta is a hostile creature which makes this tame very frustrating and, due to the Manta's high damage output, even dangerous. Mantas are tamed using 
Angler Gel, which is dropped by the 
Angler.
There are multiple strategies you can use to tame one.
Bug Repellant
Bug Repellant works against their aggro radius. Use an amphibious mount to lure them into very shallow water (so they can't go up or down), jump your mount on land, apply Bug Repellant on yourself, put on your scuba fins and approach the manta from the rear. You can touch his stingers and his rear end of the "wings" without him attacking you. Just don't come in contact with his forward parts, upper side or underside and everything will be alright (by going into very shallow, you can not come in contact with lower and upper side, making the process a lot(!) easier).
If they start to wander off to deeper waters, go in with your mount again and bait them back to the shallow.
High Mounts
If you have a rather large mount, such as a 
Paracer, 
Rex or 
Spino, there is a very easy way to tame a manta. Go to shallow waters near the coast and find a spot of water that is shallow enough for your mount to stand in, but is too deep for your character to stand in, causing him to swim. You then need to lure one Manta to the shallow spot near your mount. The trick here is that mantas do not attack creatures standing in water, but only the ones swimming in it. So to tame the manta with this trick, follow these steps.
- Lure the Manta near you by swimming in the water near your mount.
- When its near, try to feed it and then quickly mount your pet to make the Manta stop attacking.
- If the manta is close to your mount, dismount, jump near it and try to feed it again, after which you will go on your mount again. Repeat this step until the creature is yours.
When sitting on your mount, the Manta will probably swim away, as it has no targets near it. To lure it back to you, simply follow step 1 again. It might also be advisable to take some 
Medical Brew with you, due to the Manta's huge damage output.
Using a raft
One way for taming is standing on a rock or a boat edge close enough to feed the Manta, but not so close it can bite you. Be careful of jumping manta knocking you into the water.
Building an under boat metal cage works well to stay inside cage underwater and let the manta try to get in through a doorway. They won't be able to get in, but you can get close enough to feed them. The distance to feed is just ever so slightly greater than their striking range, so you should stay safe as long as you don't get closer than necessary.
Trapping with walls
Stone Doorframe trapping is very efficient if you are wishing to tame a Manta solo. Create a Stone Foundation on the flat part of the water somewhere (obviously not too close to the shore), and place three stone door frames around the perimeter, but only leave one empty slot. When you bring the Manta towards you, swim into the foundation from the open slot and swim out the stone door frame opposite to it so that the Manta will get stuck in the stone foundation. After this, slowly swim towards it so you can place the final stone door frame behind it to ultimately trap it. Be careful though, if you get too close to the open stone door frame the Manta might be able to hit you!
It seems the feeding counter has 2 different ways to count down. When attacking, the Manta becomes hungry a lot quicker (feeding ~every 20 seconds), in other circumstances it takes ~ 1 minute until you can feed him again. Needs further checking.
Preferred Food
*Only for taming. Will not eat it once tamed but eats Meat like a normal carnivore.
Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Manta.
General
The Manta has a melee attack strong enough to rival a Megalodon; not only do they spawn in the deep sea, but they also spawn near the surface swimming peacefully with Megalodons. This now makes the sea much more dangerous, especially for low-mid level players; Even high level players might find they struggle with this creature. The only good thing is that the Manta has low health so it's not too hard to take one out.
Strategy
Manta's have low health, but are fast. Either kite it towards land so you can easily shoot it, or take a big risk and use a crossbow underwater to kill it. Due to their high damage, they will typically destroy flippers within 3 hits, so in order to out-swim and/or hunt mantas underwater you'll also need a high Oxygen stat. Beware that mantas usually are found in small packs of 2 to 4, and can easily block your movements by surrounding you.
Weaponry
Mantas can easily be taken out easily with even a Spear if run onto land, and stronger weapons make killing it a piece of cake.
Dangers
Manta's melee is very strong and they are fast. It is not recommended to go head to head with these, but rather use a mount to take one out. Even low level ones can shred through armor easily.
They will destroy SCUBA Gear in 3 hits. Without the Scuba flippers you are very unlike to outrun them so be careful!
Even full Flak can get shredded within 6-8 hits.
Be cautious around other Mantas, as conflict with one will divert the attention of other Mantas in the area toward the player, even if they were not part of the original pack.
Weakness
It happens they commit suicide (including tamed ones) by jumping onto the beach or rocks. They also have a low health stat in general which makes them die fast when fighting. Additionally, they appear to have considerably reduced damage resistance when run onto land.
Utility
Roles
Scout: Its flat shape allows you to peak just above surface water while the manta and your torso are both hidden under the water.
War: Too frail to be an effective war beast (unless you have a good saddle), mantas excels in swift pokes and harassing enemies sea creatures. However, using hit-and-run tactics such as attacking from behind and the side can be used to kill wild plesiosaur and even mosasaurs. Simply speed up to a creature and attack it from above. The downwards attack of its tail is useful, as it allows you to swiftly hit-and-run without getting hit at all. DONT LEVEL UP HEALTH; the stats increase is extremely low. Instead, just level melee.
Underwater Farming: Its base speed is faster than an Ichthy- which makes it good for underwater beacon/resource farming.
Explorer: Because of the decent level-up amounts in speed, the manta is the ideal underwater exploration mount. It can also defend itself handily against predators such as plesiosaurs. Level up speed.
Collectibles
Notes/Trivia
For information pertaining specifically to the real-world Manta, see the relevant Wikipedia article.
- The Manta is unable to swim on the sand.
- The Dossier was revealed on 9/16/15 on Steam.[3]
- Real-life Mantas are gentle giants which lack stingers.
- Among fish, Mantas have the largest brain relative to their body size.
- The Dossier mentions "A quick jab through the heart." This might be a reference to Australian wildlife expert, television personality, and conservationist Steve Irwin (nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter"), who died when a stingray barb pierced his chest.
- Despite the dossier saying the Manta can be ridden bareback, it has a saddle.[4]
- Despite the dossier saying it eats plankton, they will kill and eat animals (and players) that wander into their waters from land.
- The species name mobula may refer to the prehistoric ray Paramobula, which was initially believed to be a member of the Manta family. It may also be a reference to the ray genus Mobula.
- At release, some Manta spawn upside down or even sideways. They can be tamed and ridden upside down. There is no known way to 'flip' them the right way.
Spotlight
Gallery
References
- ↑ Jen on Twitter
- ↑ ARK Smart Breeding
- ↑ Jat (16 September 2015). "Introducing the Manta & ARK Digest 16". Announcements. ARK: Survival Evolved Steam Community. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
- ↑ Sneak Peek on the Manta
