Ark: Survival Ascended difficulty settings, explained

Ark: Survival Ascended has three difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, and Hard. It’s a simplified version of the numerical slider system from Ark: Survival Evolved, but pretty much works the same way.

What do the difficulty levels in Ark: Survival Ascended do?

The Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels mainly affect two things: the highest levels of enemy dinosaurs you’ll find on the map, and the quality of loot they drop. It’s pretty straightforward. Easy mode has dinosaurs and loot of the lowest level, Hard mode has the highest, and Medium sits right in between.

However, the difficulty level also affects other things beneath the surface. After choosing a difficulty level, you can see what it impacts by looking at the player, creature, and world tabs when creating a single-player game or server.

The difficulty in the game also impacts things like damage, resistance, and how quickly you use water, food, and stamina.

It also determines how many resources you can collect from a single yield.

You can adjust these settings by typing in specific values and turning on additional options like speed leveling. Moreover, after picking Easy, Medium, or Hard in your Ark: Survival Ascended playthrough, you can further adjust the difficulty by changing the numerical value in the difficulty level section under the world tab.

How do I get max-level dinosaurs in Ark: Survival Ascended?

When setting up a singleplayer game or server and looking for the highest-level dinosaurs, head on over to the world tab. Here, ensure you choose the maximum difficulty setting. Doing so will lock the highest dinosaur level at 150, regardless of any other settings.

Can I change the difficulty after creating a world?

Yes, it’s possible to change the difficulty level after you’ve created a world. Be aware that doing so will reset the entire world, meaning you’ll lose all progress.