It's that time of year again, and survivors all across the Island are getting their holiday cheer on. Ark: Survival Evolved has recently begun its Winter Wonderland event again, and players may want to know what this event has to offer and what the best way to get the most out of it is. The event comes with aesthetic unlockables such as new Christmas themed emotes and skins, but also brings along some nice mechanical buffs to make players' lives a little bit easier. Here's all the important details of the Winter Wonderland event that players should know if they want to capitalize on the event.
For those unaware, ever since its release in 2015, Ark Survival Evolved has hosted a Christmas event known as Winter Wonderland each year (barring 2017, in which there was an unnamed holiday event). This event changes the appearance of The Island and gives players access to many festive rewards. Even dinosaurs get in on the fun, taking on shades of red and green instead of their usual appearances. The event has returned for its fourth run last Tuesday, and players are curious about what new gifts Raptor Claus has to offer them.
For starters, Winter Wonderland 4 comes with many useful mechanical buffs to players. Survivors will benefit from two times multipliers to breeding rates, experience gain, taming, and harvesting. Breeding bonuses apply to the hatch speed of eggs, but to the mating interval of adult dinosaurs and maturation rate of babies. This along with the taming buff are easily the most looked forward to, as Ark: Survival Evolved is somewhat infamous for making players spend inordinate amounts of time waiting for powerful dinosaurs and creatures to tame, hatch, or mature. The boosts to experience gain and harvesting are a nice added bonus, improving the quality of life for survivors of the Ark quite a bit.
Aesthetically, Winter Wonderland 4 adds many new skins and emotes, and sees the return of old holiday cosmetics such as the Santa hat, with two versions for both survivors and dinosaurs to equip, and the reindeer skin for the moose-like Megaloceros. Beyond that, players can unlock several new hats and dinosaur themed ugly sweaters, as well as three new festive emotes: the Happy Clap, Caroling, and Nutcracker emotes. All of this is topped off by the inclusion of red, green, and white colored dinosaurs that have gone the extra mile to share their holiday cheer.
All of these wonderful items and more can be unlocked through two main methods - Raptor Claus and Gacha Claus. Every night at midnight (in game time), the jolly old raptor named Raptor Claus will ride his sleigh and drop presents all across the land. These presents can contain powerful loot or event items as well as coal or mistletoe. Coal can be traded with Gacha Claus to obtain holiday items, and mistletoe can be used to obtain event specific items and rewards. Perhaps the most exciting reward, though, is the new Chibi Pets.
Chibi Pets are adorable miniature versions of the dinosaurs and creatures which players have already encountered on the island. These cute companions are equipped in the survivor's off hand slot, and can be leveled up by hunting and killing alpha predators. For each level a Chibi Pet gains, the player's level cap increases by one, up to a maximum of five. This allows players to surpass the level cap, gaining access to additional engram points and higher stats. The best part of all of this, though, is that there are 50 Chibi Pets to collect in total, including dinosaurs like the Chibi-Rex and even mythological creatures like the Chibi-Wyvern.
This event will be live until Tuesday, January 7, 2020, so be sure to get out there and make the most of it.
Ark: Survival Evolved is available now for Mobile, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Winter Wonderland 4 will be available until January 7, 2020.