Therizinosaurus Ark Guide

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Emily Medlock

Emily is a gaming aficionado who has written for The Gamer, Gamerant, GamerBolt, and Valnet, but she has found a home here at Ready Game Survive. She adores writing about Ark: Survival Evolved among other great survival titles, and outside of traditional survival, she loves Legend of Zelda, League of Legends and Fable.

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The Therizinosaurus is one of the most well-rounded dinos in Ark: Survival Evolved. It’s strong, fast, and relatively tanky. It’s one of the first dinos I aim to tame whenever I enter a server. The Theri in this survival game is so overpowered that its base melee damage and gathering rates have been nerfed.

This is insane because it’s still a somewhat meta dino that is perfect for most ventures even after this happened. Before we go on with our complete Therizinosaurus Ark guide, here’s a quick look at what Therizinosaurus actually is.

What Is A Therizinosaurus In Ark: Survival Evolved?

• Base Health: 870
• Base Stamina: 300
• Base Oxygen: 150
• Base Weight: 3000
• Base Melee Damage: 365
• BaseMovement Speed: 52
• Base Torpidity: 925

The Therizinosaurus is better known by its in-game name – Tickle Chicken. I often use this hilarious name but lean towards calling the Therizinosaurus a Theri. Although the dino it is based on is the Therizinosaurus, in-game, the official name is Therizinosaur. 

What To Know Before You Encounter A Therizinosaur

• Tameable: Yes
• Rideable: Yes
• Breedable: Yes
• Temperament: Territorial

If you’re new to Ark: Survival Evolved, the Therizinosaur may be the first dino to catch you off guard. Unless you have decent armor or focus on the health stat, a wild Theri will kill you. Their range isn’t exceptionally far, but they are territorial. They won’t attack other wild dinos, and they won’t bombard you if you keep your distance. But Theris will attack if you make your way to their immediate domain.

While good armor can help protect you, Theris are difficult to outrun, and they can break stone walls. They rarely stop chasing you after they feel threatened, so don’t pick a fight that you can’t win. Luckily, Theris tend to keep their own home and aren’t pack creatures. If there are two or more Theris clumped together, it’s a coincidence. 

Fighting A Therizinosaur 

The Therizinosaur is an excellent dino to add to your pack. Although it isn’t a carnivore, it does attack hard and does torpor as well. So even if you have good health, you can easily get knocked out. Although it doesn’t look as scary as a Rex, it is nearly as strong as one. I believe it is underestimated most often out of all of the dinos. The Theri can knock players off of their mounts. They can also knock players and smaller mounts unconscious simultaneously. This typically ends in a dead mount and player.

Wild Theris won’t venture into water that is over its head. So if you can lure one near water, you can shoot it from a smaller island or raft. I don’t recommend using melee weapons unless you have loads of stamina and can kite it well. There isn’t a reason to kill a Theri instead of tame it unless it is too close to your base or if you need the trophy to summon bosses. 

The Therizinosaur can destroy anything that isn’t metal, and it can hurt you through walls. So if one does happen to get too close to your base, I recommend braving it and strategically felling it. 

Where To Find Therizinosaurs On Each Ark Map

Because it is an original dino, first found on The Island, the Therizinosaur is available on every Ark map, even without mods. It is more common in some maps than others, but it’s one of the few that can indeed be tamed on any map.

The Island

Theris are found all over The Island. The Belly of the Beast Theris are not tameable, but the rest can be tamed. I believe that on The Island, Theris had random spawn points. This changed for other maps when they were granted preferred biomes. Theris aren’t found in the Redwood or the mountains, but they are found everywhere else. This includes the jungles, islets, and swamps.  

The Center

The Center has Therizinosaurs on the Tropical Islands to the east. But they spawn more often in the jungle regions in the center of The Center. You won’t find them roaming around anywhere else on this map. 

Ragnarok

Ragnarok is a great, large, well-done map. However, Theris do not spawn in large amounts on Ragnarok. To find them, you need to venture to the jungles and forests on the northwest side of the map. I can easily forgive the small spawn region for Theris because Ragnarok is doing so much. They do a good job of dispersing the biomes and the creatures that live there. So, of course, they will not have unlikely spawns for Theris in the desert or Redwood.

Extinction

There’s no point in searching for tameable Therizinosaurs anywhere except the Wastelands and the forest. The northwest Wasetelands are specifically great for Theri spawns. However, the best place is the underground forest. You can find the underground forest in a crater in the northwest Wastelands. 

Valquero

This may be an unpopular opinion, but Valguero is my favorite map. There are so many Easter eggs and hidden sanctuaries to find. It also has Aberration zones, ensuring that every biome is present. The only place you’ll discover Theris on this vast map is in the jungle, which is located in the east-central area of the map. This area also contains my favorite spot on the entire map. Head north of the Theris to find it, and I’ll avoid spoilers.

Genesis: Part 1

Theris don’t have a logical spawn pace on Genesis: Part 1, so instead, they spawn in the snow. This is unique to Genesis: Part 1 and is something that players have to work around. You will find them in the west snowy region, not in the Arctic, which is to the east. The fact that they spawn in the snow means that you may have to wait longer to tame one since you’ll need to work up to fur armor first. 

Genesis: Part 2

As long as you stick to the western regions of the map, you will undoubtedly run into a Therizinosaur. The southwest region has more than the northwest, but the northwest has a larger area to spawn in. This is because they won’t spawn in the Afflicted Clearing, Shattered Loch, or near the river.

Crystal Isles

Therizinosaurs often spawn in The Great Valley. Yes, that is aptly named, considering this is a dinosaur game. However, Theris also spawn in the area directly above the White Shoals in the southwest region of the map.

Lost Island

If you’re willing to go anywhere on the map, the best place to find Theris is the Shoola Jungle, north of Corsair Peaks. However, if you live in the southern region, transporting it back will not be a cakewalk. Bin Da island, the island on the southwest area and the coast to the east of it spawn Theris as well. The only other spawn points for Theris – on Lost Island – are the Tumash Jungle in the northwest and east Gloom Grove. 

How To Tame The Therizinosaur

• Exceptional Kibble
• Crops
• Mejoberries

Relocating The Theri

• Standard – dino trap
• My Preferred – tall rock

Although there are many methods to fighting a Theri, the easiest is to control where you will fight the Theri. So, you can either build a trap or save on materials and lure it to a natural location. Because Theris usually lives in the jungle, this is easy to do.

Find a large rock that you can reach but the Theri can’t. I recommend getting something that can jump high, like a Procoptocon or Beelzebufo. This way, you can jump up without finding a path that the Theri can follow. From there, you can whip out your bow or gun and have at it. 

Knocking The Theri Out

• Standard – Tranq Arrows With Bow
• My Preferred – Tranq Arrows With Crossbow

Theris are knockout tames. This means that you have to knock it out and force-feed it to tame it. If you are super late game and can exert the resources for Shocking Tranquilizer Darts, that’s great. But I rarely make it that far.

If I have a longneck rifle, I will make Tranquilizer Darts. But I find that Tranq Arrows with the Crossbow is the logical choice for balancing resources. Even a max level Theri should only take around 60 tranq arrows to knockout out if you use a Crossbow. It will take over 100 if you use an arrow.

So yeah, get that ingot going and you can have a Crossbow in no time. My favorite weapon in the game is the Compound Bow. However, the Compound Bow is only efficient with Metal Arrows.

Otherwise, it does less damage, and thus torpor, than the Crossbow. You can use any method you wish, but in the end, the most balanced method is a Crossbow with a stack of Tranq Arrows.

Feeding The Theri

Taming a Theri is extremely difficult if you do not have Exceptional Kibble. A max level Theri will need 20 exceptional kibble and over 400 Narcoberries. If you choose berries, it will need 250 berries and over 4500 Narcoberries.

This is nearly impossible to achieve and will take five hours if you do succeed. So I recommend taming a low level or using Exceptional Kibble. If you use the kibble, you can have it done in under an hour for a max level and in around fifteen minutes for a level 30. 

While using Narcoberries to keep it down can work, I would take the extra time and effort to make Narcotics or gather Biotoxin. You can find Biotoxin from harvesting jellyfish or poisonous mushrooms in Aberration. I prefer narcotics because they are easy to make early game, but if you’ve already been to Aberration, then go ahead and use the toxin.

After the Theri falls over, hurry over to it. Stay focused and begin feeding it the Kibble/produce. If you wander off, the Theri make wake up. Ensure that it has plenty of something that gives torpor and food. Once it is done, you’ll have yourself a Theri. Hopefully, you brought a saddle so that you can try it out immediately. 

Harvesting With The Therizinosaur 

The Theri can do almost anything, and it is a terrific choice for keeping with you at all times. Though it can’t fit in caves well, it is the perfect companion for just about everything else. Harvesting is one of its most remarkable traits. 

If you want to harvest stone, a Doedicurus is your best bet. If you’re going to gather metal, an Ankylosaurus is by far the best option. Anything else that isn’t a rare item (like Gems or Pearls) the Therizinosaur will do a fabulous job of gathering.

Although some creatures gather certain things better, the Theri can gather more per minute because it is fast. The best part of harvesting with the Theri is choosing the type of harvest it does. There are three methods of harvesting.

Power Harvest

• Wood
• Thatch
• Rare Mushrooms
• Raw Meat
• Raw Prime Meat
• Raw Fish Meat
• Raw Prime Fish Meat
• Leech Blood

This is the typical basic attack from the Therizinosaur; it’s strong and precise. It is perfect for harvesting bodies or wood. However, the Power variant can harvest things that Delicate Harvest can, like Thatch and Organic Polymer, but its specialties lie elsewhere. 

Delicate Harvest

• Fiber
• Silk
• Rare Flowers
• Plant Species X Seed
• Plant Species Y Seed,
• Thatch
• Sap
• Cactus Sap
• Organic Polymer

Delicate Harvest is amazing for Thatch and Organic Polymer. It also gains a ridiculous amount of fiber. This is the alternate attack for the Therizinosaur.

So, whatever the secondary attack is, this will be the right action. I see this attack as the Tickle Chicken specialty because the attack isn’t strong. It’s purely for being gentle with the “delicate” resources. 

Bite Harvest 

• Berries
• Seeds
• Cactus Sap
• Hide
• Chitin
• Keratin
• Scrap Metal

Finally, we have the Bite Harvest. Although the basic attack can gather Chitin and Hide, it gathers meat better. This Bite attack is much better for Chitin and things that the Theri may want to eat.

Since it doesn’t eat meat, it doesn’t use the Bite attack to gather meat. So that’s an easy way to remember which one is which. It also needs to use its teeth to pull away coverings like Scrap Metal, Hide, and Chitin. 

Upgrading Harvest Method

You can upgrade the specific harvesting method by using the radial menu on the Theri. It gains points from harvesting that can be spent to either upgrade the Power Harvest or the Delicate Harvest. I recommend choosing the one that you don’t have an alternate for. So if you have a great carnivore to gather meat, perhaps the Delicate Harvest is better. But if you have something that gathers other things, like a Mantis, then maybe the Delicate option is better.

Therizinosaur Combat

The Therizinosaur is an excellent fighter. It is agile for a large-class creature and has good DPS. However, if you are someone who bides their time, attacks, and runs, then this is not the dino for you. Instead, a Theri excels in combat because it can attack quickly.

The base attack is strong, but it is made stronger by how quickly you can spam it. If you plan to run past every encounter, I will ride something like a Purlovia, Raptor, or Gallimimus (the fastest land creature.) But if you want to fight, the Theri is unlikely to let you down. 

Boss Fights

When it comes to boss fights, the Theri can pack quite a punch. I’ve defeated multiple bosses with nothing but a pack of Theris and a Daeodon. The most significant debate for Theri fighting is where to put levels. There have been experiments involving HP vs. Melee, but not with Theris specifically.

While HP wins over Melee in prolonged fights, the Theri does enough DPS that it may be worth pumping up the Melee instead of the HP. If you have a Daeodon or two to keep your Theris healed, then the damage output will be worth the lower HP. But of course, you may have to experiment on your own as everyone has a different playstyle. 

FAQs

Do You Need A Therizinosaur?

You do not need to tame a Theri to succeed in Ark: Survival Evolved. They make great fighters, gatherers, and watchdogs. But there are many other options to feel their shoes. They aren’t the number one dino for anything except gathering Silk. However, their gift lies in their lack of weaknesses.

They are one of the smallest “large” creatures, giving them many benefits. Their special gathering skills are unique to them. I love the Theri, but you can play the game with the same effectiveness with or without one.