Modding is one of ARK’s biggest draws with thousands of mods out to choose from doing anything from adding new bioimes and dinos to adding entire new systems to the game. Sifting through each mod can take a significant amount of time. So, below are the best ARK mods we chose from the many options to help you start transforming your game to your preferences.

Ranking the Best ARK: Survival Mods

Note that we chose the following mods while looking at different factors, such as practicality and fun factor. Additionally, this list isn’t the “end-all” list for every ARK player. However, the following modpacks are still great choices to make your ARK gaming experience better than usual.

5. Structures Plus (S+)

Do you want to unleash that creative architect and/or engineer in you while playing ARK? If so, then the Structures Plus modpack is a good way to achieve your goal of creating that aesthetic camp or impenetrable fortress. This mod brings a wide range of additional structures to the game. It also provides features like stackable foundations, snap-to-objects, and the ability to hide wires and pipes for that tidy look. Additionally, the Structures Plus mod provides various quality-of-life improvements for players. These enhancements include:

• Silenced structures
• Lock and pin code crafting stations
• Gas structures can also use electricity
• Automatic opening and closing of gates, doors, and trapdoors
• Map-specific engrams are accessible for all maps
• Vanilla engrams have S+ counterparts, reducing their engram count

4. Primal Fear

The Primal Fear mod is a giant modpack that expands the PVE gameplay of ARK: Survival Evolved substantially. It makes changes the behavior of many of the game’s dinosaurs, and also adds additional creatures to its already massive list of dinos. Players can also tame various creatures under different tamable categories. These classifications include Alpha, Apex, Buffoon, Celestial, Demonic, Elder, Elemental, and Toxic. The Primal Fear mod also increases the number of bosses within the game, and these major enemies also have their unique classifications, namely Primal, Origin, and the Creator. Note: The developers of the Primal Fear modpack have said that this mod isn’t compatible with other modifications that already override ARK’s vanilla creatures - so be careful to balance it for compatibility.

3. Thieves Island

One of the most expansive map and biome mods in ARK: Survival Evolved is the Thieves Island mod. Coming in at roughly half the size of the original Island map, Thieves Island brings five new biomes for players to enjoy. These locations include the Beach, Jungle, Grassland, Mountain, and Redwoods. Players can also create structures, bases, and place building elements in the sky thanks to the inclusion of the Scorched Earth dinosaurs thrown into this map. Warning: Thieves Island is a graphic-intensive map. It may not run properly on a system that doesn’t have high-end specs.

2. The Center

The Center is another modpack considered to be one of the best ARK mods for new and expansive adventures courtesy of a new map and new biomes. Like Thieves Island, The Center brings a new map to the game, including extra elements for players to discover and experience. Some of the things players can encounter on this map are:

• A Floating island
• An underground world, complete with an ecosystem
• The Lava biome
• Underwater air bubbles
• A new end-game boss with unique rewards

Aside from these additions, The Center has all the regular biomes found on The Island map. Also, this map’s assets are completely drawn by hand by its developers.

1. Paleo ARK: Legends Expansion

For those looking to add to ARK's list of creatures, Paleo ARK is a fantastic mod that expands upon the vanilla PvE experience in the game. And while it may not be compatible with many other creature mods, it does work alongside Kraken’s Better Dinos and ARK Additions: The Collection. Like other mods, installing Paleo ARK brings some great new content to the game, largely centering on new Paleo-type dinos. These dinosaurs have chances of spawning with their vanilla counterparts. For example, if you see a pack of wild Raptors, one of them can be a Paleo variant, which can either have a new color or a different size. This mod also brings two new species to vanilla ARK, namely the Evolved Tyrannosaur and the Tarbosaurus. You can learn more about this modpack by watching the video below: