Every time a player levels up in ARK, they spend a point into a stat — Health, Weight, Melee and so on. On official rates each point gives a modest boost, which can feel slow on a private server. With one setting, PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player, you control exactly how much each point in each stat is worth. This guide covers the full stat index list, the syntax, and ready-to-paste examples. Applies to ARK: Survival Evolved and Survival Ascended.

 

Where this goes

 

The setting lives in Game.ini, under the header:

[/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]

On a gamever server, open the web File Manager in your control panel and edit Game.ini at:

/home/server/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/Game.ini

Keep your edits. By default the panel rewrites the config from your panel settings on every restart, which overwrites hand-made changes. Before editing Game.ini directly, go to Settings → Server Settings and set Disable settings below to Yes — otherwise your changes vanish at the next restart.

 

The setting

 

Add one line per stat you want to change:

PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[StatIndex]=value

• StatIndex is a number 0–11 that picks the stat (table below).
• value is the multiplier. 1.0 = official (no change). 2.0 doubles the gain from each point, 0.5 halves it.
• You only need lines for the stats you actually want to change — everything you leave out stays at 1.0.

 

 

Player stat index list (0–11)

 

Index	Stat	Notes
0	Health	Most impactful survivability boost.
1	Stamina	Sprinting, climbing, tools.
2	Torpidity	Not a levelable player stat — changing it has no effect for players.
3	Oxygen	Underwater breath / swim speed.
4	Food	How long before you get hungry.
5	Water	How long before you get thirsty.
6	Temperature	Not levelable by players — no effect.
7	Weight	The #1 quality-of-life tweak — carry more loot.
8	Melee Damage	Player melee output (and some harvesting).
9	Movement Speed	ASE only — players can level speed. Removed as a player stat in ASA, so it does nothing there.
10	Fortitude	Resistance to heat/cold and torpor.
11	Crafting Skill	Crafting Speed / custom-recipe quality.

 

Ready-to-paste examples

 

A common "quality-of-life" player setup — bigger weight and health, a little extra melee:

[/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[0]=1.5
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[7]=3.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[8]=1.5

• [0]=1.5 — 50% more Health per point.
• [7]=3.0 — triple Weight per point (the classic "no more overweight" fix).
• [8]=1.5 — 50% more Melee Damage per point.

Save the file and restart the server for the new values to apply.

 

Which stats are worth boosting?

 

• Weight (7) — by far the most popular. A value of 2.0–4.0 makes hauling resources painless.
• Health (0) and Melee (8) — good for PvP or boss-focused servers where you want beefier survivors.
• Stamina (1), Fortitude (10), Oxygen (3) — situational boosts for exploration or harsh-climate maps.
• Skip 2, 6, and (on ASA) 9 — those indexes don't do anything for players.

 

Bonus: starting base stats

 

PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player scales per-point gains. If you also want players to start stronger, use:

PlayerBaseStatMultipliers[StatIndex]=value

Same index list — this adjusts the base value each stat begins at, before any points are spent.

 

What about dinos?

 

    Creatures use the same index scheme with separate settings — PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[...] and PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[...]. The indexes are not identical to the player list, so double-check before tuning. For the full Game.ini picture (breeding, level cap, dino stats and more), see ARK Game.ini: Advanced Server Tuning, and for the everyday rates see ARK Server Settings Explained.

 

Additional tips

 

• Change one block, restart, test. Stat-index mistakes are far easier to spot in isolation.
• Back up Game.ini before big edits — one stray bracket can stop the server from loading the file.
• Player and dino indexes differ — confirm which stat an index maps to before you tune it.
• Disable settings overwriting in the panel first (see above), or edits are wiped on restart.

 

Conclusion

 

    PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player is one of the simplest, highest-impact tweaks in ARK: a couple of lines turn a slow, official-rate grind into a server that feels exactly how your community wants. Start with Weight, test, then dial in the rest.

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