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There’s no two ways about it – PvP servers are brutal in Ark: Survival Evolved. Even if you’re part of a large clan, it can be very difficult to push back determined raiders, especially when you and your team are caught off-guard. And once you’re kicked out of your own base, there’s no telling how much you’ll lose in the process. Don’t even get us started on solo play.

Now, some players deal with this by switching to a PvE server and never touching PvP again. A smart choice, but not necessarily the best for everyone. If you enjoy playing in a team and occasionally destroying other people’s bases, you won’t be able to stay away from PvP for long. As such, you’ll have to learn how to create powerful defenses and properly stand your ground when you’re under attack. The guide below is for you.

1. Defensive Structures

There are several structures you can build, in addition to walls and gates, that will help you defend a base. These include:

• Bear Traps – buy yourself some time by placing these traps in areas where your defenses are more vulnerable. Creatures and humans who step through them are temporarily immobilized.

• Spike walls (Wooden, Metal) – you want to surround your base with these structures because they deal damage to anyone who walks into them or attempts to attack them in melee. Wild dinos are immune, though.

• Turrets (Manual vs Auto) – cut down your enemies while they attempt to breach your defenses by shooting at them with turrets. While Ballista, Catapult, Minigun, and Rocket turrets must be mounted by players and fired manually, which means that they are only useful if you and your clan members are online during the attack. Auto, Heavy Auto, and Tek turrets can be programmed to fire at dinos, humans, or both automatically. As such, they can be relied on to offer some degree of defense while you’re offline.

• Plant Species X – a unique defensive structure, this plant acts like an auto turret, but it is grown, rather than built. You’ll need a large crop pot, as well as plenty of resources, water, and fertilizer, but once the plant is grown, you can use it to defend your base even while you’re offline.

• Tripwire traps – when placed in proximity to one another, two traps are connected by a wire and anything or anyone stepping through them triggers a special effect. Alarm traps make loud noises, while Narcotic traps emit poisonous gas, and Improvised Explosive Devices deal actual damage.

Since defenses are expensive to build, upgrade, and maintain, and many of them also require electricity in order to function, you might feel tempted to build your base into a rock face and use the latter for defensive purposes. While this should become feasible at some point in the future, it is currently not recommended because if your base is not completely surrounded by walls, players can glitch through small openings and attack you straight away.

No matter how well you’ve built your base, remember that there are two things you absolutely have to do when you become aware of an attack:

• Alert all of your clan members, and

• Decide whether you’re going to run or stand your ground. Read more about both of these choices below.

2. Run for Your Life

Running might not feel like your best option, but there are a few situations where it makes more sense to pick up your most valuable resources and leave the base before your enemies break through. Here are a few examples:

• If you’re playing alone, you stand little to no chance to defend yourself against several raiders.
• If you’re part of a small clan and most of the other members are offline during the attack, you’ll do everyone a favor by running.
• If your clan hasn’t had time to build a strong base, there’s no reason to lose all of your resources to fight an impossible battle. Take whatever you can and start over elsewhere, instead.

Now, if and when you decide to run, keep a few things in mind while you make your escape. For one, you should always know what your most valuable tools and resources are, but also where they are stored. You’ll want to pick them up right away and load them on your fastest dino.

You don’t want to lose your best harvesting dinos either, which is why you should run out with your resources, leave your fastest dino (with the resources) somewhere secluded and relatively far away, drop a sleeping bag next to it, and then return to your base. Get your best dinos together and make your way out again.

Most of the times, raiders are too busy trying to make it through your defenses to notice you. On occasion, though, they might chase after you instead. In these situations, scatter your dinos and run for as long as you can, preferably towards an ally’s base. Remember that you will respawn even if you are killed. Your number one priority should be to create a diversion and hide your best goods in the process.

3. Stand Your Ground

If you believe you have what it takes to keep your base, your defenses are up to snuff, and your clan members are on their way, consider the following steps:

• Activate any turrets that are currently offline and make sure that all of your walls/gates are repaired. If you want to drop in any spike walls, this would be your last chance.
• Get an ally to climb to your roof or in a tree in order to get an overview of your base. The information they give you is usually more valuable than their contribution as a defender.
• Have your other allies engage any dinos that raiders are using to bring down your defenses. If the attackers aren’t heavily committed, they will likely start running away at this point.
• If the raiders start to break through your defenses, try to push them back with narcotic grenades.
• If the raiders are inside your main building, you have one more chance to defend yourself. Grab a club, tell all of your allies to do the same, and attempt to render unconscious as many of the enemies as possible. While the attackers are down, you can even steal some of their gear!
• When you have a moment to breathe, make a team effort to identify enemy spawn points. You have to get rid of the latter if you’re going to win.
• If you cannot push enemies outside of the base, you’ve most likely lost already. Try to leave with as many resources as you can and don’t look back.

Regardless of the choices you make, it’s a good idea to get together with other members of your clan once the battle is over. Discuss how the battle went and whether or not you can make improvements. If you’re forced to leave your base, think of how you can rebuild in such a way as to give yourself a better chance during the next attack. And whatever you do, don’t give up.

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