Base Stats (Wild Lv150)
| Stat | Base Value | Per Level (Wild) | Per Level (Tamed) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health | 1200 | +240 | +5.4% |
| Stamina | 300 | +30 | +10% |
| Weight | 400 | +8 | +4% |
| Melee Damage | 100% (55 base) | +5% | +1.7% |
Taming Guide
| Food | Amount (Lv150, 1x) | Time | Effectiveness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exceptional Kibble | 15 | ~30min | +99% |
| Black Pearl | 30 | ~50min | +85% |
| Raw Fish Meat | 100+ | ~90min | +60% |
Key Features
The RMB grab is honestly the most terrifying and awesome ability in the game it grabs enemies and holds them while you drain their health slowly which is brutal but so satisfying against those annoying eels and mantas and stuff like that. And the ink cloud on C key is your emergency escape button it blinds pursuers and lets you disappear into the depths which is kind of essential for escaping mosasaur packs when things go wrong and trust me things WILL go wrong down there you get the idea. But the real reason you tame a tuso is black pearl farming it harvests black pearls from deep sea deposits with a 90% weight reduction on pearls making it literally the primary source for Tek tier crafting and you basically cannot progress to end game without a reliable black pearl source tbh. Also the platform saddle at level 70 lets you build an underwater base on the tuso's back add turrets generators storage the whole nine yards basically a mobile deep sea operation center. And the damage output is absolutely nuts the tuso has the highest base melee damage of any aquatic creature it can kill mosasaurs in 1v1 combat with proper levels and good saddles I've seen a well bred tuso take down alpha mosas like they were compys no joke
Strategy Guide
So taming a tuso is genuinely terrifying the first time you try it you need scuba gear exceptional kibble a fast aquatic mount like an ichthy or a manta and honestly a lot of nerve because the deep ocean is not a friendly place find the tuso in deep ocean 30 plus meters down. And here's the nerve wracking part you have to feed it from your mount approach from behind to avoid the grab attack because if it grabs you it's basically game over your scuba tank will break and you'll drown before you can escape I've lost full sets of scuba gear learning this the hard way ugh. But once you've tamed it the black pearl farming route is where the tuso really shines it harvests 5 to 10 black pearls per deposit and the deep sea trench and underwater caves have the highest concentration a 30 minute run yields 200 plus pearls which is absolutely insane for Tek tier crafting and all that. Also the tuso is viable for underwater bosses like the Moeder the platform saddle lets you bring backup tames into the arena and the ink cloud gives you a panic button for emergency escapes. Anyway if you're serious about ocean content in ARK 2 the tuso is pretty much mandatory I mean you can try to farm black pearls with an angler fish or whatever but you'll be at it for hours and probably get eaten by something horrible in the process
Taming Strategy
Alright so taming a tusoteuthis is genuinely one of the most stressful things you'll ever do in ARK 2 and I'm not exaggerating you need to find one in the deep ocean which is scary enough on its own with all the mosas and plesiosaurs roaming around then you need to approach it on a fast water mount with exceptional kibble in your last hotbar slot. And the trick that nobody tells you is that the tuso will try to grab you and your mount if you approach from the front or sides so you HAVE to come from behind which is kind of hard when the damn thing keeps rotating to face you I've circled a tuso for like 10 minutes straight trying to get the right angle and honestly it's nerve wracking the entire time. But once you get close enough hit the feed button and the tuso will take the kibble from your hand while you're still mounted it's a passive tame so the taming bar fills up between feedings and you'll need to feed it maybe 15 times with exceptional kibble at 1x rates. Also here's something I wish I knew before my first attempt bring a spare scuba tank seriously the taming process takes about 30 minutes and your oxygen runs out faster than you'd think and if you run out of air mid tame you're dead and the taming progress resets which is devastating honestly. Anyway once the tame is done you've got yourself the king of the deep and it's one of the best feelings in the game like you've genuinely accomplished something dangerous and survived it
Best Uses
So once you've got a tuso what do you actually do with it well black pearl farming is the number one reason obviously but there's so much more. I mean the platform saddle alone opens up possibilities that nothing else in the game can match you can build a full crafting station with a fabricator and a generator on your tuso's back and literally manufacture Tek gear while cruising around the ocean floor it's kind of ridiculous honestly. And for deep sea exploration nothing beats the tuso the ink cloud lets you escape from alpha mosas and other big threats and the massive health pool means you can tank hits that would one shot most other mounts it basically turns the scariest biome in the game into your personal playground. But my favorite use honestly is taming other underwater creatures you can grab smaller creatures with the tuso's tentacles and hold them still while your tribemate tranqs them it makes taming plesiosaurs and mosasaurs a thousand times easier. Also for PvP the tuso is an absolute nightmare for enemy underwater bases the grab attack pulls enemy riders off their mounts and the ink cloud blinds turrets so your tribe can move in I've been on both ends of this and lemme tell you getting grabbed by an enemy tuso is one of the most helpless feelings in the game. Basically the tuso is the ultimate end game ocean creature and once you have one you'll wonder how you ever survived without it and you'll probably take it everywhere for everything like escorting resource runs and hunting alpha creatures and all that stuff
Pro Tips
Here is some stuff I learned the hard way after taming multiple tusos and losing a couple too never ever dismount in deep water near your tuso it sounds obvious but when you're harvesting black pearls it's tempting to hop off for a second don't do it the deep sea is full of eels and jellyfish that will stun lock you and your tuso can't save you if you're dismounted I've literally watched my tribemate die this exact way and all I could do was watch. And the ink cloud has a cooldown so don't waste it learn the timing and only use it when you're genuinely about to die I've blown my ink cloud on a single megalodon before and then a mosasaur showed up 30 seconds later and well let's just say that tuso didn't make it ugh. Also baby tusos need to be in water to survive obviously but they also need to be fed raw fish meat constantly because their food stat drains really fast as babies so set up a feeding trough underwater near your breeding pen and fill it up before the eggs hatch or you'll come back to dead babies and that's just heartbreaking. But honestly the most important thing is to tame a high level one from the start a level 150 wild tuso with good taming effectiveness is so much stronger than a low level one it's worth the extra time and risk to find a good one. So basically bring extra scuba tanks bring more kibble than you think you need don't get greedy when you're farming black pearls alone and maybe bring a tribemate as backup because the deep ocean doesn't forgive mistakes and I've learned that the hard way more times than I care to admit