How to Tame a Tusoteuthis in ARK
The Tusoteuthis is a Passive tame on paper, but ark.wiki.gg's own page is explicit that it "introduced two new mechanics to Passive Taming" you won't see on other creatures — there's no simple walk-up-and-feed here. This guide sticks strictly to what the wiki documents: the grab-and-feed mechanic, how many Black Pearls it takes across Level 1 through 150, the decoy-creature strategy the page recommends, and the stats, saddle, and loot you get once it's tamed. Anywhere the source page doesn't give a number, this guide says so instead of guessing.
Passive Taming: The Two Non-Standard Mechanics
The wiki states the Tusoteuthis "introduced two new mechanics to Passive Taming": first, it will eat up to 50 of an individual food item in a single consumption, and Taming Effectiveness is lost per consumption, not per item, at a reduced rate versus other tames regardless. Second, it can eat at 90% of its maximum food, regardless of how much Food what it's being fed will restore — it won't accept a new feeding until its food pool drains back down to that threshold.
Food type matters too: Taming Affinity gained from food other than Black Pearls is only 10% of the value derived by other tames — the page's own example, "15 from Prime Meat instead of 150" — so it recommends feeding "at least 10 at a time." Per-item affinity from other foods is so low that the wiki's own feeding table omits Raw Prime Meat and Raw Prime Fish Meat entirely.
The page flags its own table as unreliable for planning: "Please ignore the Feeding Interval and Taming Time data (below). Due to ONLY being able to eat once it is at 90% of its maximum Food, the minimum Feeding Interval is 177.5 seconds plus 14 seconds per Food Level." This guide reports the required quantities below, not the Interval/Time columns the wiki itself disclaims. One more quirk: "Unlike other Passive Tames, Taming Affinity is not reset when the Tusoteuthis takes damage," though it shows "Does Not Want To Be Tamed Right Now" unless it has a creature in its clutches — you can't just approach and feed it.
Best Food for Taming: Black Pearls by Level
The infobox lists a single Preferred Food: Black Pearl. The feeding table gives the number of "50 Black Pearls" consumptions needed to fully tame it at each documented level: Level 1 — 2, Level 30 — 2, Level 60 — 2, Level 90 — 3, Level 120 — 3, Level 150 — 4. Arithmetic on the two ends of that range: 4 ÷ 2 = 2× as many consumptions at Level 150 versus Level 1.
The page separately notes: "50 Black Pearls will still restore up to 1500 Food regardless of the creature's current Food when fed, and so Starve Taming will actually take longer... the full 1500 food will need to deplete per required consumption." How many real-world minutes a full tame takes isn't a number this guide puts forward, since the wiki explicitly disclaims its own Feeding Interval/Time columns here. After taming, diet changes: "Tusoteuthis will now eat regular meat and raw fish meat. It does not require black pearls for food when domesticated."
The Grab-and-Feed Strategy
Because the Tusoteuthis must already be holding a creature before it will accept food, the wiki's strategy builds around a decoy. Top pick: "The least-likely-to-die distraction available is a high level Carbonemys with a high armor saddle." Mosasaur or Dunkleosteus on passive with a high armor or Tek saddle are alternatives, and stimulants may be needed for higher-level Tusoteuthis, since "an unconscious Carbonemys is of no interest to the Tusoteuthis." One hard requirement: "anything that requires oxygen is not recommended" as a decoy — a drowned tame is of no interest to it either.
The documented steps, in order:
- Approach the Tusoteuthis while mounted on your decoy and let it grab your creature.
- Dismount, then approach the beak with 50 Black Pearls in your last inventory slot (meat works too, "albeit with significantly lowered effectiveness and many more feeds needed").
- Feed it.
- Swim directly up and out of the deep-water zone — you can't re-mount while it's holding your creature.
- Wait at least three minutes, then repeat.
A two-person team is safer than soloing, since "while riderless, the Tusoteuthis will not wait long to let go of your creature." Soloing is possible but the wiki suggests flippers "for speedy getaways." How long it holds a riderless decoy before releasing it isn't quantified, so this guide doesn't put a number on that window.
Base Stats, Saddle, and What You Get
Base values and per-level wild growth, per the wiki's stat table: Health 2700 (+540/level), Stamina 300 (+30/level), Oxygen 215 (+21.5/level), Food 3200 (+320/level), Weight 800 (+16/level), Torpidity 1800 (+108/level). Movement Speed is listed at 100% with no per-level wild increase ("N/A"). The table's taming-bonus percentage columns are formatted ambiguously in the source text, so this guide doesn't restate them rather than risk misattributing a figure.
Melee Damage splits across two attacks, matching the Abilities section: Lash deals 65 damage (+3.25/level) every 1.25s; Grab deals only 2 damage (+0.1/level) every 2.5s but applies a "Squid Hug" debuff that slowly raises Torpor. Ink Propulsion (15s cooldown) grants a 30% Movement Speed buff and inflicts "Squid Ink" (reduced speed, reduced stamina, blacked-out screen) on anything swimming through the cloud. Its head takes a ×3 damage multiplier; on ARK: Survival Ascended, "body multipliers also apply for player's melee attacks."
Once tamed, the Tusoteuthis Saddle unlocks at Level 91. A kill gives 400 XP (taming XP isn't separately documented). Drag Weight is 1500; it's Rideable (Swimming), Breedable, and Torpor Immune. Guaranteed special loot (100% Special Loot Chance): Tusoteuthis Tentacle, Absorbent Substrate, Black Pearl, Oil (Tusoteuthis); harvest yields Keratin, Raw Fish Meat, Raw Prime Fish Meat. It can damage Thatch, Greenhouse, and Wood; has no Feces drop; is not Radiation Immune. Rider Weaponry is listed as No — hedged here since the page doesn't elaborate on what that restriction covers.
Bring a decoy that doesn't need to breathe — a high-level Carbonemys with a heavy armor saddle is the wiki's top pick, Mosasaur or Dunkleosteus as backups. Let the Tusoteuthis grab your decoy, dismount, feed 50 Black Pearls to its beak, swim clear immediately, and wait at least three minutes before repeating. A two-person team beats soloing, since a riderless decoy won't stay grabbed for long.
Running your own ARK server
A Tusoteuthis tame is a repeating cycle of grab, feed, swim clear, and wait three minutes, stretched across as many Black Pearl consumptions as your target's level demands. A private ARK server means your decoy Carbonemys, your Black Pearl stockpile, and the half-tamed squid you're circling back to stay exactly where you left them between feeding windows, with no random-server restart or rival tribe interrupting the grab.
Conclusion
Taming a Tusoteuthis in ARK comes down to what ark.wiki.gg documents: it's a Passive tame with two mechanics unique to it (50-item consumption caps, feeding only at 90% food), Black Pearls are its sole preferred food at 2 consumptions on Level 1 rising to 4 by Level 150, and the whole process depends on baiting it into grabbing a decoy creature first. What isn't in the source — exact real-time feeding intervals (which the page itself disclaims), taming XP, and precise tamed/sprint swim speeds — is left undocumented here rather than guessed.
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