The Tidepup is one of the new creatures introduced in the Tides Of Fortune DLC for ARK: Survival Ascended. This shoulder pet is very helpful as it can heal you, remove harmful status effects, and even evolve into a rideable support mount. It is more of a support companion rather than an attack one. It not only helps you in your fights, but it also helps your other allied creatures. In this guide, we will show you how to tame and evolve a Tidepup in ARK Tides Of Fortune.
How To Tame A Tidepup ARK Tides Of Fortune
The Tidepup is a new shoulder pet added to the Tides of Fortune DLC. To tame it, you need to first own the DLC. You can find Tidepups in the Ocean Biome on Genesis. They usually spawn along the beaches on most islands, especially around:
- Small islands
- Shallow water
- Rivers
- Small lakes
Tidepups are very difficult to find as their colours blend in with the environment, so you need to keep an eye on your surroundings. They usually spawn in groups, so once you find one, you will find many others nearby. Every wild Tidepup is always in its small form; if you see a large one, it belongs to another pair.
Taming the Tidepup
First, bring one of your tamed creatures of any species and bring its health below 10%. Once your tamed creature’s health falls down below 10%, the Tidepups will run and use their healing ability on your injured creature. After healing, it will become tired and lie down to rest. Wait about 20 to 30 seconds, then feed it one of the following:
- Regular Kibble (best option)
- Raw Mutton
- Raw Prime Meat
After feeding, the Tidepup will perform another healing animation and the taming process will be completed. However, you will not finish the taming in one feeding. After each feed, the Tidepup will heal your injured creature again, before it accepts more food.
How to Get the Regular Kibble
Regular Kibble is one of the most popular Kibbles in ARK: Survival Ascended. It will rot within 3 days and can be crafted through a Cooking Pot or Industrial Cooker. To craft it, 1 Cooked Meat Jerky, 1 Medium Egg, 5 Fibre, 2 Longgrass, 2 Savoroot, and 1 Water are required. In addition to that, prior to crafting the item, Cooked Meat Jerky should be prepared at the Preserving Bin. Every time Regular Kibble is crafted, 4 Crafting XP is earned.
Summoning the Tidepup
When you are playing in the world where the cheats are activated, whether it be in the single player mode or in a server environment, you can summon the Tidepup by entering its command in the console. The command for summoning the tamed Tidepup and that of the wild Tidepup are different. For summoning the tamed Tidepup, the “GMSummon “Axolotl_Small_Character_BP_C” 150” command needs to be used or use the “Summon Axolotl_Small_Character_BP_C” command if you simply want a wild Tidepup to appear in your world.
Breeding Tidepup
Tidepups have both male and female genders, so you can breed them. However, they need to breed underwater. They lay aquatic eggs, and if those eggs are laid on land, they will disappear, and the baby will not survive.
Tidepup Abilities
The Tidepups are one of the most unique shoulder pets in the game. Unlike every other shoulder pet, it lets you carry another shoulder pet at the same time. A level 150 Tidepup has decent overall stats, but its health is not very high, so spend a few level-up points on health so that it can survive during fights.
While sitting on your shoulder, the Tidepups can automatically heal you whenever your health drops. You can customize the health threshold in its settings. Whenever your health drops below that number, the Tidepup will immediately heal you. While riding on your shoulder, it provides many helpful buffs; it removes negative effects such as:
- Fire
- Poison
- Fear
- Other harmful debuffs
Every time it heals you, it also gains evolutionary progress.
How To Evolve A Tidepup ARK Tides Of Fortune
A Tidepup can evolve but will need to build up its Evolution Meter first. The meter increases every time the Tidepup heals you. Each successful heal adds about 2.5% progress, so reaching 100% takes some time. Once the Evolution Meter reaches 100%, you will get two options: Neotenic Stabilisation and Metamorphosis.
Neotenic Stabilisation
Neotenic stabilization keeps the Tidepup in its small shoulder pet form. Instead of evolving, it gains a stronger version of its existing abilities. This option is perfect if you can keep the Tidepup as your permanent shoulder pet.
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis transforms the Tidepup into a larger rideable creature. After selecting the option, it enters a short hibernation before emerging in its new form. To ride the evolved Tidepup, you will need its saddle. The unlock level of the saddle is 36, and you will need:
- 50 Fiber
- 80 Hide
- 10 Metal Ingots
- 20 Wood
- 5 Cementing Paste
The crafting materials are inexpensive, so you should easily have everything by the time your Tidepup is ready to evolve.
Evolved Tidepup
After the evolution, the Tidepup focuses on healing and support instead of combat. As the Tidepup takes damage, it stores part of that damage; you can activate the stored energy with the left mouse button to convert it into healing.
Holding the right mouse button activates a defensive ability that prevents the Tidepup’s health from dropping below 25% for a short time. During this effect, incoming damage is converted into healing over time.
Press X to reveal the health bars of the nearby creatures, making it easier to see which allies need healing. The Tidepup creates a healing area, so that when it eats food, it will continuously heal nearby allied creatures. You can also leave it near your tames to provide passive healing while they recover.
Using the Tidepup Underwater
When riding the Tidepup underwater, you will receive unlimited oxygen and constant healing, which lets you stay underwater for a long time. Although it doesn’t heal much damage, it is very fast and makes an excellent underwater travel mount.
You can freely swim in any direction without the awkward movement found in many aquatic creatures. Holding the jump button performs a quick forward lunge. It is useful for moving around and swimming. If you want to use the Tidepup as a dedicated healer, you will need to carry a lot of food.
