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Some will classify Noglins as creepy while others will call them cute, though, in actuality, these small critters are both! Noglins in ARK: Survival Evolved are unique fantasy creatures that don't seem to be based on any real animals, though they are certainly a reference to the various parasitic creatures that can often be found in science fiction media.

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One of the traits that the Noglin is most well-known for is its ability to control the minds of other creatures and leech energy from their willpower. While this is definitely something to be worried about when around wild Noglins, similarly powerful tricks can be used by players if they manage to tame one of these creepy and cute critters in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Statistical Information About Noglins

ark survival evolved noglin mouth closed and mouth open

Noglin Creature Information

Animal Groupings

Fantasy & Synapsid

Default Response to Players

Aggressive

Noglin Domestication Information

Are They Tameable

Yes

Are They Rideable

No

Are Thet Breedable

No

Preferred Type of Food

The Thoughts of Living Creatures

How To Tame A Noglin

ark-survival-evolved-noglin-one-player-shoulder

Noglin Taming Method Overview

Since Noglins don't feed on normal kinds of food, players can only tame them by providing them what they really want: the fresh and delicious minds of living creatures. As Noglins are only tameable through passive methods, getting one to obey the player will involve a lot of (hopefully) non-lethal sacrifices.

Essentially, the only means of taming one is to bring creatures to a wild Noglin for it to possess and feed on, however, don't worry too much, as mind-controlling doesn't do very much damage to most hosts attacked by a Noglin, so it is unlikely that one's sacrifices will die from being offered.

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Potential Issues With Taming Noglins

While this method is straightforward (albeit quite sinister), things may not go as smoothly as one would hope. Firstly, the mind-controlling ability of Noglins is not very well understood, and how they choose their targets seems to be based on the proximity of a creature more than the type of animal (in most cases). It can take a while for a Noglin to aggro onto the player's sacrifice and the duration of the mind-controlling is highly variable, making this taming process far from refined in more unfortunate cases.

Despite not showing a preference for any particular host species, Noglins seem to be more quickly tamed when they are fed unbred creatures as opposed to creatures that the player has bred from tamed animals. Though, the sacrifices chosen for taming a Noglin should always be creatures with both a lot of health and very low damage output. The reason for this is that mind-controlling saps a sacrifice of some HP (not much, but enough to be potentially dangerous to smaller animals), and those being mind-controlled can attack the player, potentially putting gamers in a dangerous situation.

Furthermore, Noglins will not mind-control the same animal more than once (unless they are reset somehow), so players wishing to tame one of these parasitic creatures will have the best odds by bringing them a veritable buffet of host animals so that the Noglin can gorge on willpower to be tamed much more quickly.

Tips For Taming Noglins Easier

To prevent unexpected wild creatures from interfering, as well as to prevent the targetted Noglin from escaping if spooked, players are advised to build a large enclosure of walls with a gate around where one finds a wild Noglin.

After this, bring a bunch of high-HP and low-damage animals into this taming enclosure to feed the Noglin in relative peace. Even though some of the above-mentioned issues can still occur, isolating the Noglin can make said issues far less tedious to deal with in every situation.

What Noglins Are Good For

ark survival evolved noglin mind-controlling a dinosaur

As one can expect from their hallmark trait, Noglins are ideal for manipulation and subterfuge to hinder or outright kill adversaries. As such, there are a few roles for which the Noglin is especially well suited.

Best Roles For A Noglin

  • Sabotage - Noglins can take control of other players as well, so using a tamed Noglin to mentally disable a human target before messing with their base and belongings could be a viable sabotage method
  • Distraction - Since Noglins are very small, they are extremely tough to hit with gunfire, and, as such, players can unleash them to distract foes before flanking the enemy with much more powerful tamed creatures
  • Ambush - In an unconventional assault method, one can potentially use a Noglin to mind-control a wild creature before sending that subjugated animal on a rampage through enemy territory
  • Instant-Kill Assassin - For some reason, prematurely removing a Noglin from a wild creature that is being mind-controlled will deal a tremendous amount of damage to them (about 10 million damage), therefore players can take out almost anything in this manner (except bosses, mission creatures, corrupted creatures, titans, and unmountable creatures who are immune to the Noglin's mind-control)

ARK: Survival Evolved is available on Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and Stadia.

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