Mantis

🦖 Mantis — The Living Tool

The Mantis is not just another insect — it is a unique all-purpose creature that will become an indispensable addition to any collection. In ARK, it is known as one of the few mounts capable of using tools and weapons directly from its inventory, making it simultaneously a fighter, a gatherer, and even a living cooking station.

Mantises inhabit desert dunes and caves, often in groups of 2–3 individuals. They are extremely aggressive and attack anything that matches their size or is smaller.

Unique Mechanics:
🛠️ Tool Usage — the core feature. You can place a pickaxe, hatchet, sickle, sword, pike, club, torch, or whip into its claws. The tools work exactly as if you were using them yourself.
⚔️ Combat Mount — with a sword or pike in its claws, the Mantis deals serious damage, and with a club it becomes a machine for knocking out other creatures.
🔦 Living Flashlight — with a torch in its claws, it lights the way.
🎒 Universal Gatherer — with a pickaxe it gathers flint, stone, and sand; with a hatchet — wood and thatch.
🦘 Leap Attack — a powerful mid-range jump that deals significant damage.

Taming:
The Mantis is a passive tame, and this is the key point:

• Prepare your gear: Bug Repellent (mandatory), Ghillie Suit (recommended)
• Obtain the food: Deathworm Horn (primary) or Woolly Rhino Horn (alternative, but less effective)
• Place the horn in the last hotbar slot
• Approach crouched and press E to feed
• Repeat every 3 minutes — for level 150, you will need 8 horns and about 24 minutes
• ⚠️ Important: The Mantis is aggressive. If you get too close or it notices you — it will attack. Bug Repellent significantly reduces its detection radius.

Spawn Locations:

• Scorched Earth — Desert dunes (primary habitat)
• Ragnarok — Desert

📖 Why It Deserves a Place in the Collection

The Mantis represents a unique «living tool» archetype — a creature that replaces several mounts at once. With a pickaxe it’s a miner, with a hatchet a lumberjack, with a sword a warrior, with a club a tamer. Its ability to use any weapon and tool makes it the most flexible creature in the game, while its fragility is compensated by tactical versatility. For collectors, it is a creature that combines fantasy design (a giant intelligent insect) with practical utility at every stage of survival — from resource gathering to knocking out Wyverns.