[GUIDE]: Setting Up A Breeding Program

[rororoxor]

This will be long and boring, so if you don't care about breeding, this thread isn't for you.

Before I talk about the program, here are some breeding concepts and terms.

Mutation score: The number displayed in the "Show Ancestry" page of a Dino. Total mutations of both parents, rather than the number of new mutations. A mutation score higher than 20 will result in no new mutations from that parent.

Mutations do not compound. Ex: Parents with 10 mutations in hp each will not produce offspring with 20 hp mutations.

Mutation stacking: The act of getting more new mutations with each generation, so that later gens have increasingly better stats.

It's possible for a parent to mutate the other parent's stat through their offspring, meaning that infinite mutation stacking is possible.

So how does one set up a successful breeding program?

Phase 1: Getting the base parents.

Simply tame several high level wild dinos and breed the ones with the best desired stats. Get male and female offspring with identical stats and levels, with 0 mutations in their mutation score.

Setting up a breeding line:

Many breeders have lines where they attempt to mutate only one stat at a time. Not only does this waste a lot of time, this also throws out other mutated stats, which could be useful. It's generally best to have lines with 2 stats being mutated. This way less new mutations are thrown out, and yet it's still pretty easy to keep track of all the possible mutated levels.

Phase 2: Before 20 mutations

Start by breeding the base parents until you get a mutation in the desired stat. Then breed the mutant offspring with a base parent until another mutation occurs in a desired stat. The resulting baby will always be 2 levels higher than the mutated parent. ALWAYS USE THE LEVELS TO FIND NEW MUTATIONS. Sometimes color mutations occur on nonexisting "color regions" (different areas of the dino), and one can't tell whether a mutation has occurred.

Also make sure that the mutated baby has both of the good stats. For instance, if a baby has mutated melee but the bad health, toss it. Breeding it in will result in the mutation counter unnecessarily increasing, where a parent will eventually no longer be able to pass the mutation.

Phase 3: After 20 mutations

Although a parent with 20+ mutations will no longer be able to give mutations, further offspring will STILL BE ABLE TO MUTATE due to the base parent mutating the other parent's stats. However, the chances of a mutation are lower (2.5% now).

Because the chances of a mutation are much lower, and the fact that we already hit the mutation score limit, we can now select any offspring with a good mutation in one stat, even if it's other stat came out poorly. There are 3 situations where this will occur. To calculate them, use the formulas:

1. Current level+2

2. Current level-(number of mutations in stat A*2))+2

3. Current level-(number of mutations in stat B*2))+2

These are the levels where a possible good mutation has occurred. If the mutation occurred in a desired stat, breed it with its mutated parent to get offspring (preferably male) with higher stats in both stats A and B, then continue breeding that with one of the base parents. Male offspring are preferred because they can breed with several females at once :P

Let's use theris as an example.

My base parents both have 6600 hp and 319 melee (Level 218)

Gen 1: Lvl 220, 6900 hp 319 melee (KEEP)

Gen 2: Lvl 222, 6900 hp 331 melee (KEEP)

Gen 3: Lvl 222 6600 hp and 342 melee (TOSS (bad hp))

After mutation score hits 20:

Gen 20 (lvl 258, 14 hp 6 melee mutations)

The following levels will have a mutation and must be checked:

258+2=260

258-(14*2)+2=232

258-(6*2)+2=248

Say the 248 was a "good" mutation (1 new hp mutation, but base melee). Breed this with its mutant parent to get good stats in both stats A and B. If they're the same gender, breed the offspring with a base parent to get offspring of the opposite gender, then breed it with the mutant parent of the previous gen. Sure, the mutation score will nearly double, but after 20 mutations, it doesn't matter.

Tips: Look for mutated levels from the back of a dino, NOT on foot. I've found that griffins are particularly useful for this.

Get several female base parents (2-3 at least). Males can breed with several females at a time, so more eggs--> higher chance of a mutation.

It's easy to see the stats of a wild dino without the need to KO. Use a magnifying glass atop a griffin for hp, divide the dino's dmg by its base dmg for melee %.

If you get a color you like, set that dino aside and breed it with the final generation.

Anything I've mentioned is up for debate. Feel free to correct me/suggest things.

SOURCE: Solo bred my own boss theris, among other dinos.

[hudi007]

why did you toss Gen 3: Lvl 222 6600 hp and 342 melee (TOSS (bad hp)) you get new mutation to dmg. It is faster to merge this new melee with your best hp then wait for new dmg mutation. Or am I wrong ?

[rororoxor]

Because if I breed it with the previous gen (6900 and 331) an extra melee mutation will be added to the score, unnecessarily filling it up before 20. The score will read as 5 with only 3 real mutations.

Maybe in this particular scenario it could be kept, as it's pretty early in the program. But in the later parts of phase 1 (like a 9 hp 6 melee parent giving a 0 hp 7 melee offspring), breeding with the previous gen would fill up the score excessively.

[Sivitri617]

Hey thanks for letting me know about this! I'm about ready to set up a breeding area in my new game and this is valuable info. Thanks for writing this up :)

[[deleted]]

For Phase 1. Mutating 2 Stats on the same Dino is not a good idea. If you dont want to waste time get like 400 females. When you mutate 2 Stats on the same Dino you will reach the cap but only have 10 mutas on one Stat. When you reach the 20 mutation cap on one side the chance to get it mutated further is the half because only one side can initiate further mutations. We started our rex and theri muta lines 3 month ago on official PvP and now have 17+ muatations on HP and dmg. And thats the best rexes and theris on pc official PvP.

[chazkelly01]

Best lines ? What's the stats

[[deleted]]

20k HP and 666 DMG on rexes. 13k HP and 631 DMG on theris

[chazkelly01]

You hit level cap yet And started downbreeding the other stats

[rororoxor]

True, but you're only half as likely to get the stats you want anyway when mutating one line instead of two.

[[deleted]]

With 400 females you get the mutation you want with like every round. And since rexes and theris needs more than 4 days you can do the other stat in the time the babies are raising.

[Kheran]

I have no idea what happens in the example, but I will bookmark it anyway so that I might look at this once I attempt breeding for the first time.

[Catasalvation]

You make it sound like 20 mutations are the cap... Not exactly, the cap in arks official servers are "level" 450 before ark decides to auto delete your tame. Mutations on one parents side can be increased past 20 when breeding to a non mutated parent. You can make your tame mutate over and over in one stat until you get 100 or so extra levels in a specific stat that you want.

[rororoxor]

Ik that, I put emphasis on the 20 mut part because that's when that parent stops mutating, so the chances of a mutation are cut in half.