Ark: Survival Evolved's tech tree is impressive. While the order of Ark's tech is a bit confusing, there's an undeniable appeal to starting with prehistoric tech and ending with space-faring gear.

Once the player has a grip on relatively modern tech and building Ark's gasoline-fueled equipment, then their next goal will be Tek-tier equipment. Tek items are the glowing, futuristic gear shown on the game's promo art, and they're Ark: Survival Evolved's final crafting frontier.

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But, as one would expect from endgame equipment, building Tek-tier items is no small feat. The blueprints are only found in the Extinction and Genesis DLC's, and their crafting recipes require multiple rare resources, one of the tricker ones being black pearls.

Hunting for Ark's Black Pearls

There are multiple ways to acquire Black Pearls, but the most straightforward is to harvest them after hunting down Ark's dinosaurs. The ones that can drop black pearls are the Alpha Deathworm, the Alpha Mosasaur, the Alpha Tusoteuthis, the Ammonite, the Deathworm, the Eurypterid, the Trilobite, and the Tusoteuthis. The corrupted enemies in the Extinction map can also drop black pearls.

Only the alpha creatures drop a substantial amount, 75 to 100 pearls, so it may take more than one hunt to gather enough. Also, note that players need to have a metal pick or a chainsaw, or tame a Therizinosaur or a Megalodon to harvest them properly.

Scavenging for Ark's Black Pearls

Several of the Ark DLC maps have areas where black pearls spawn naturally. Just how standard clams can give silica pearls, special black clams can give players black pearls. These can only be found on the Abberation map, the Crystal Isles map, the Ragnarok map, and the Valguero Map. The Abberation map is the least ideal since the clams are found in the radioactive Graves of the Lost area.

Other Methods to Find Ark's Black Pearls

While hunting and scavenging are the two most consistent methods, there is an extra method to keep in mind, but it doesn't have as much of a guaranteed payout. Certain creatures have a chance of passively spawning or finding black pearls.

The phoenix in the Scorched Sand DLC regularly defecates silica pearls, but they will rarely drop a black pearl as well. Certain Gachas in the Extinction expansion can spawn black pearls if fed rare enough items. Otters have a small chance of harvesting black pearls from dead fish.

Ark: Survival Evolved is available for Android, iOS, PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, and Xbox One.

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