ARK Difficulty Settings & Max Dino Level
How difficulty works on ARK: Survival Evolved servers — DifficultyOffset, OverrideOfficialDifficulty, and max wild dino levels.
ARK's difficulty system determines the maximum level of wild dinosaurs.
Key Settings
In GameUserSettings.ini under [ServerSettings]:
DifficultyOffset=1.0
OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5.0Or as a startup parameter: ?OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5.0
Max Wild Dino Level Formula
Max Level = Difficulty Value × 30
| Difficulty | Max Wild Dino | Max Tek Dino |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 30 | 36 |
| 4.0 | 120 | 144 |
| 5.0 | 150 | 180 |
| 10.0 | 300 | 360 |
Getting Max Level 150 on All Maps
Some maps default to difficulty 4.0 (max level 120). To force level 150 everywhere:
DifficultyOffset=1.0
OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5.0Then run cheat destroywilddinos in-game to respawn all dinos at the new levels.
Maps and Their Base Difficulty
| Maps | Base Difficulty | Default Max Level |
|---|---|---|
| The Island, Scorched Earth, Aberration, Gen2 | 4.0 | 120 |
| The Center, Ragnarok, Valguero, Crystal Isles, Genesis, Lost Island, Fjordur, Extinction | 5.0 | 150 |
💡 Tip: Most servers use
OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5.0to standardize max level 150 across all maps.
Related Guides
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