or
cheat SpawnDino "Blueprint'/Game/Aberration/Dinos/MoleRat/MoleRat_Character_BP.MoleRat_Character_BP'" 500 0 0 35
No
Yes
Common
Rare
Untameable
Cave
The Roll Rat is one of the Creatures in the Aberration-DLC of ARK: Survival Evolved.
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
Bearing a strong resemblance to its relative, the Naked Mole Rat, Heterocephalus magnus is a gentle giant that digs for plants and fungi with its imposing front teeth. While foraging, it often uncovers precious resources inadvertently, but survivors should claim them with caution, as this triggers an aggressive response. When threatened, Heterocephalus rolls up into a ball to shield itself with the armored plates on its back, much like an armadillo. It then rolls around like an oversized bowling ball, smashing through rocks, walls, and hopefully its aggressor.
- Domesticated
While hardly a ferocious war beast, Heterocephalus is an effective transport that can carry up to three passengers. In theory, it could also be siege weapon, as its rolling attack can dent even metal. Fortunately, most survivors use a special saddle that deploys a protective canopy when it starts spinning, which not only keeps them from getting squished, but provides extra protection to the rider and mount alike.
Behavior
A passive creature, it does not attack unless provoked, by either attacking it or stealing any resources it has dug up after burrowing and emerging.
Wild Roll Rats regularly dig underground and pop back up in the same spot, unearthing gems. They frequently unearth Green Gems, sometimes unearth Blue Gems and rarely unearth Red Gems. Collecting the unearthed gems makes the Roll Rat hostile. They lose this ability after taming.
Appearance
The Roll Rat shares many similarities to that of a Naked Mole Rat. This section displays the Roll Rat's natural colors and regions. For demonstration, the regions below are colored red over an albino Roll Rat. The colored squares shown underneath each region's description are the colors that the Roll Rat 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 Roll Rat's regions by entering cheat SetTargetDinoColor <ColorRegion> <ColorID> in the cheat console. For instance, cheat SetTargetDinoColor 0 6 would color the Roll Rat's "body main" magenta.
Body Main
Region 1 is not used
for this Creature.
Region 2 is not used
for this Creature.
Region 3 is not used
for this Creature.
Scales
Underbelly
Drops
Base Stats and Growth
| Attribute | Base Value | Level Increase | Taming Bonus | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild | Tamed | Additive | Multiplicative | ||
 Health |
850 | +170 | +5.4% | 0.07 | (TBHM: 90%) |
 Stamina |
300 | +30 | +10% | ||
 Oxygen |
150 | +15 | +10% | ||
 Food |
3000 | +300 | +10% | 15% | |
 Weight |
400 | +8 | +4% | ||
 Melee Damage |
42 | +2.1 | +1.7% | 14% | 17.6% |
 Movement Speed |
100% | N/A | +2% | ||
 Torpidity |
800 | +48 | N/A | 0.5 | |
- 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 | 250 | ? | ? | 750 | 750 | 750 | 5 |
| Swimming | 300 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
- 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.
| Bite | Stamina Cost | Attack Range | Description | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Minimum | Activation | Using the  (PC),  (PS),  (Xbox One), the Roll Rat bites the target. |
||||||||||
| 0 | 500 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 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 | 42 | ||||||||||||
| WildGetGems | Stamina Cost | Attack Range | Description | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Minimum | Activation | |||||||||||
| 0 | 5000 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||
| TamedGetGems | Stamina Cost | Attack Range | Description | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Minimum | Activation | |||||||||||
| 0 | 5000 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||
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.[1]
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.
Combat
General
The Roll Rat is a generally passive creature until it is either attacked by the player or if one picks up gems that are laying nearby. When that occurs, the Roll Rat will become hostile and will attack the player. When this occurs, try and run if you can. Your odds of survival are slim.
Strategy
Like any rat, just wallop it until it's dead. Note that with its large turning circle, it is prone to falling off cliffs.
Weaponry
Use ranged attacks to go and take down the Roll Rat. It is highly advised to avoid close quarter combat or you may get rolled. Its best to either use ranged weapons or try and use a sturdy tame.
Dangers
If you take the crystals it digs up, it attacks you, otherwise it is passive. As it is a source of the rare Red Gems, this is often worth it.
Weakness
Mediocre speed when not rolling and its large turn radius makes it a weakness towards Roll Rats.
Taming
 Level 1
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
 Giant Bee Honey
|
1 | 00:00 | 0:06:01 |
| Level 30
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Giant Bee Honey
|
2 | 12:01 | 0:12:01 |
| Level 60
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Giant Bee Honey
|
3 | 09:00 | 0:18:01 |
| Level 90
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Giant Bee Honey
|
4 | 08:00 | 0:24:01 |
| Level 120
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Giant Bee Honey
|
5 | 07:30 | 0:30:01 |
| Level 150
|
Feeding Interval | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Giant Bee Honey
|
6 | 07:12 | 0:36:01 |
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.
Preferred Food
Taming Strategy (PC)
The Roll Rat has a unique variation to the Passive Taming mechanic - rather than directly pressing E to feed an item to the creature, you have to wait until it burrows down into the ground. Aim at the hole and press 0 (zero) to throw the food at the hole and repeat every time it burrows back in until it is fully tamed. It only accepts 
Giant Bee Honey as its food source for taming.
Once tamed however, the Roll Rat has a standard herbivore diet.
- Quick Steps
- Place a single
Giant Bee Honey in the last inventory slot. - Wait for the Roll Rat to burrow. Once it's tail is up in the air, it's time to throw.
- Aim at the hole and press 0 (zero) to throw the Giant Bee Honey at the hole. Note that this does NOT make you eat the honey.
- Repeat all steps until tamed.
The Roll Rat occasionally begins its burrow animation but instead just unearths food - avoid being trigger happy if you have limited resources. You cannot pick thrown honey back up.
Also be aware that because of its large turning circle, it is prone to falling off cliffs midway through the taming process.
- Notes
- It appears as though you can "claim" a Roll Rat tame by throwing the honey on the ground in front of it. On PC, other attempts to feed it this way are ignored.
- The Roll Rat's tame is cancelled if it enters combat - resetting ownership, progress and effectiveness.
- The Roll Rat occasionally damages nearby units when it eats or emerges from its hole - this does not cause you to enter combat.
You have to wait until the Roll Rat starts to burrow and then throw Giant Bee Honey near them to eat.
Utility
Unlike the overwhelming majority of creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved, the Roll Rat's saddle has a durability component that is damaged by combat, or by collisions with clippable resources (except foliage) while rolling. This reduces its usefulness in combat.
Roles
- Transport
Roll Rats can transport several people safely and quickly by rolling. When riding the rat and holding Rmb, it rolls forward at a fast pace. On its way, it breaks rocks and trees that are in its path, however this reduces the durability of the saddle.
It also has 80% weight reduction for 
Wood and 
Fungal Wood 
.
- Harvester:
The Roll Rat is a good Wood harvester and a decent Mushroom and Berry harvester, and will even harvest berries and mushrooms by itself if set to wander.
Fertilizer:
- Feed them Stimberries while riding the Roll Rat and they will produce a very high amount of feces.
Bulldozer:
- Rolling into trees, large mushrooms and rocks will destroy them. This can be used to clear out areas of land quickly to be used for construction, although the resources from the trees and rocks are not harvested.
Collectibles
| Resource | Efficiency |
|---|---|
 Wood
|
★★★★★ |
 Thatch
|
★★☆☆☆ |
 Berries
|
★☆☆☆☆ |
Spotlight
Notes/Trivia
For information pertaining specifically to the real-world Roll Rat, see the relevant Wikipedia article.
- The torn dossier for this creature was first revealed on October 28, 2017.[2]
- The Roll Rat's ability to roll resembles that of Doedicurus, however the RMB must be held down for the Roll Rat to continue rolling, and the Doedicurus's saddle does not take damage when rolling.
- The dossier states that the Roll Rat's roll can dent even metal. However this is currently not the case as the roll does no damage to metal structures (but is devastating against stone structures.) Whether or not this is a bug or intentional is currently unknown at this time but as it stands, this fact contradicts the dossier.
Gallery
Torn dossier
