The Ceratosaurus is a medium-sized carnivore that does not act like one.
It is brutal and efficient, it attacks anything from Argentavis to Rexes, and it is fast — you hear the trumpeting roars from a mile away. Taming one is not a knockout. You brew cocktails from its own venom spines, get it blood-drunk on a sacrifice tame, and feed it while it stumbles around passive.
Why you want it
Attitude. This is a creature that rushes targets and picks fights with animals three times its size. Tamed, that aggression becomes a weapon.
The nasal horn. Ceratosaurs are covered in rough armored scutes and toxic thorn-like spines that carry blood-venom, with a prominent ridge-like nasal horn used for specialized attacks.
Utility. It is a mid-game mount that punches far above its size class and carries real combat value on maps where it spawns.
The numbers
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Group | Dinosaurs |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Temperament | Extremely Aggressive |
| Equipment | Ceratosaurus Saddle |
| Egg | Ceratosaurus Egg |
| Rideable | Yes |
Before you can start: the level gate
Taming a Ceratosaurus requires your character to be level 60, because the whole method runs through an engram that unlocks at level 60: the Hemogoblin Cocktail.
You also need Ceratosaurus Venom Spines, which are obtained by hunting wild Ceratosaurus. So the preparation loop is: find Ceratosaurus, kill them for spines, craft cocktails, then tame one with the cocktails.
The taming method: blood-drunk
The Ceratosaurus cannot be knocked out conventionally. The procedure:
Step 1: brew the cocktails
Hunt wild Ceratosaurus to collect their Venom Spines, then craft Hemogoblin Cocktails from them. The engram unlocks at level 60.
Step 2: apply the cocktail to a sacrifice tame
Feed one of your tames the cocktail. This gives the creature a status effect that attracts wild Ceratosaurus for 180 seconds (3 minutes).
Choose the bait creature carefully. It should have a lot of health and a high-quality saddle, because a Ceratosaurus is going to attack it repeatedly for three minutes straight.
Recommended bait: creatures with natural damage reduction, such as a Stegosaurus. If you have access, a Rock Elemental is quite sturdy and resists knockback entirely, which makes it an excellent bait choice.
Step 3: let it get drunk
When the Ceratosaurus attacks the creature with the status effect, it slowly becomes blood-drunk over time — as long as it keeps attacking.
The trade-off: as it becomes more drunk, its attack speed slows down. But as long as it is constantly attacking, progression stays consistent.
Higher-level Ceratosaurus require at least 3 cocktails. Try to ensure there is no downtime between cocktails, because the Cerato quickly loses drunk progress if it stops attacking.
Keep the bait alive and keep the Cerato hitting it. If the bait dies, the effect ends and the Cerato sobers up.
Step 4: passive-feed while drunk
Once it has become totally drunk, the Ceratosaurus slowly wanders around passively. Now you can begin to passive-feed it.
The feeding rhythm: it generally accepts food every 60 seconds without needing to wait for its food to drop to 90% for additional feedings. That is a much faster feed cycle than most passive tames.
The window: Ceratosaurus only stay drunk for 10 minutes before they become active again, requiring another round of cocktails to make them drunk again.
The strategy that follows: feed it the moment it is ready to eat, to minimize the number of cocktail rounds you need. Every round costs spines and bait health, so efficiency during the ten-minute window is the whole game.
The full cost of one tame
To put realistic expectations on this:
- Venom spines from hunting multiple wild Ceratosaurus
- Hemogoblin Cocktails — at least 3 for a high-level target
- A durable bait tame with a good saddle, fed a cocktail per round
- Possibly several rounds if your feeding is slow
This is one of the more expensive tames in Ark relative to the creature’s size, and it is worth planning before you start rather than improvising.
Where to find them
Ceratosaurus are medium-sized carnivores that can be seen attacking anything from Argentavis to even Rexes. They are very fast and rush their targets, though their trumpeting roars and gnashing can be heard from a mile away.
Listen for the roars. If you hear trumpeting, you are close to one — and it has probably already noticed you.