Ark Survival Evolved: All Island Cave Locations And Rewards

There are ten official maps in the current state of Ark: Survival Evolved game. Some maps have caved on the surface and underwater, and a few have both. For the guide’s sake, we have only covered the location of all caves in ‘The Island’ map. This is the only map that features a total of eleven caves, the highest number of caves in a single map. So, in our guide, we have mentioned all the dangers players will encounter while roaming inside them and different types of loot rarities and artifacts to find.   

All Caves Summary

Complete information on caves in the game: 

Central Cave

In order to reach the  Central Cave, you need to go to 41.5° Lat, 46.9° Lon coordinates. Finding the cave is not even hard as it is located at the very center of ‘The Island’ map. You can enter the cave on foot or bring along your tamable small-sized creature, such as a bear. However, since the cave has narrow corridors and a short height entrance, bringing dinosaurs and other giant creatures is out of the question.

Why You Should Explore This Cave

As mentioned above, the Central cave has blue and green loot rarity, which is not bad because this cave is not that hard at all. Moreover, most players visit the cave just to obtain the Artifact of the Clever, which is used to summon Brood Mother Lysrix.

North West Cave

As the name suggests, players can find North West Cave mostly on the far Northern side of the Island. Alternatively, you can also visit these 19.3° Lat, 19.0° Lon coordinates to discover the cave as well.

The entrance to the cave is too small for your tamable creature to pass through. In fact, the cave’s corridors sometimes require you to crouch and move. So, you understand how tight the entrance and exploration of the North West Cave can be. This is why bringing in your mount creatures with you is not an option here. 

Why You Should Explore This Cave

This cave has one of the best loot available in Ark. North West cave contains the Artifact of Skylord, which is a powerful artifact used to summon the Dragon.

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Lower South Cave

To find more caves in Ark, visit 80.3° Lat, 53.5° Lon coordinates, and you will come across Lower South cave. This cave is relatively easy to explore. Based on how well you understand game mechanics, this should be your first one if you never visited a cave in the game before. It is because it has a wide and pretty big entrance to fit medium-sized dinosaurs.

Reward

Finding the Artifact of Hunter is one of the top reasons you should go and explore Lower South Cave. The artifact is also used to summon Broodmother Lysrix.

North East Cave

In order to reach the North East Cave, visit the 14.7° Lat, 85.4° Lon coordinates. You can go inside solo, or the entrance is big enough for a bear to squeeze in.

Reward

This cave’s creature accessibility is excellent due to its straightforward topography. So you could bring in a variety of tamable creatures to fight beside you, making the cave exploration experience easier and even more worthwhile.

Due to its loot and its overall un-challenging difficulty, this cave is a must-visit for players while embarking on the task of exploring Caves in Ark. This cave contains the Artifact of Devourer, which is required to summon the boss Megapithecus.

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Upper South Cave

The Upper South Cave’s location is to the North of the Swamp on the Island. Its coordinates are 68.2° Lat, 56.2° Lon. The cave has a decent opening so that medium-sized creatures can fit through the gate quite easily. In any case, it is up to you if you want to explore solo or with a creature mount.

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Why You Should Explore This Cave

This cave contains the Artifact of the Pack, which is also used to summon the Megapithecus.

Lava Cave

The lava cave, also known as the South East cave, is located in the South East part of the Island. To pinpoint the exact location, visit 70.6° Lat, 86.1° Lon coordinates, and reach its entrance.

This cave has above-average creature accessibility, so you can always bring bears, direwolfs, sabertooths, and more with you. Like Upper South Cave, this cave also has dangers that cause Mega Rabies. Therefore, it is recommended that players take the medical brew so that they can replenish their health slowly if infected by Mega rabies.

Why You Should Explore This Cave

The lava cave gives players the Artifact of the Massive that is used to summon the boss Broodmother.

Swamp Cave

The Swamp cave is located in a little South-Western direction of the Center of the Island. Its coordinates are 62.7° Lat, 37.3° Lon. The entrance to the cave is decent enough to fit small to medium-sized creatures.

A gas mask and Scuba set are a must, especially if you are early in the game and are on a low to medium level. Or else surviving in this highly hostile environment is impossible. A complete set of scuba gear, including leggings, flippers, and a gas tank, is the go-to for Swamp cave. Other than that, be aware of the Arthropluera in this cave. It can easily destroy the integrity of your Scuba gear and armor.

Reward

This cave contains the Artifact of the Immune, which is used to summon the Dragon boss. Besides its tremendous difficulty, the cave is a great choice to explore just for the sake of tons of great loot it offers.

So, if you have the required equipment (scuba gear and gas masks), we suggest you go for it. If not, gather the necessary gear and equipment and proceed with the Swamp cave. All in all, this cave may look scary at first, but bring the proper equipment and watch yourself consistently while making your way to the artifact.

Snow Cave

The Snow Cave is in the Snow Biome on the Island. Its coordinates are 29.1° Lat, 31.8° Lon, and its entrance, even though it looks wide enough, the hallways inside the cave are too tight for medium to large-sized creatures. So, like other caves in Ark, direwolf, otters, and Yutyrannus are a few creatures that can accompany you while exploring the snow cave.

Other than that, the Fur armor, riot armor, or the Classic Flak armor are mandatory ones that you need to have in your inventory before you decide to explore Snow cave. It is because the freezing temperatures and harsh environment inside the cave will show you no mercy. Furthermore, the wild creatures inside the cave are not tamable, and you cannot pet them. They spawn at levels between 120 to 340.

Reward

Besides the blue, yellow, and red rarity loot items, the Snow cave contains the Artifact of the Strong item.

The Caverns of Lost Hope

The caverns are underwater caves, and the Cavern of Lost Hope is located in the eastern part of the Island. You need to visit 45.9° Lat, 88.9° Lon coordinates to reach the cave entrance.

Creatures spawn at very high levels, so players should take caution while navigating around walls as few creatures lurk behind the walls. This Cavern contains Hordes of Mosasaurus, Plesiosaurus and Tusoteuthis, and various other Harmful aquatic creatures. Since you need to explore the Cavern of Lost Hope cave entirely underwater, complete scuba gear is mandatory.

Why You Should Explore This Cave

This cave contains the Artifact of the Cunning in Ark.

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The Caverns of Lost Faith

Like other cavern, the Caverns of Lost Faith are also located underwater in the east. Its coordinates are 53.7° Lat, 10.4° Lon. We highly suggest you bring Basilosaurus, which can fight enemies underwater and has decent health. The other recommended tamed creature is, of course, none other than the Megalodon.

Players should be aware of Electrophorus, a creature just like an eel but much bigger and packs more electricity than an eel. If you survive its initial shock, then you would have an open window to attack; Basilosaurus doesn’t get shocked by it, so players should use that as this is its perfect counter.

Reward

This cave contains the Artifact of the Brute that is used to summon the Megapithecus boss.

Tek Cave

The Tek is a cave located at the summit of the Volcano. Its coordinates are 42.8° Lat, 39.2° Lon. The entrance has a wide big door that is opened after interacting with a panel. The entrance narrows down a bit when you go further. As a result, you can only bring a few large-sized creatures inside the cave.

Reward

If you want to enter the cave at gamma difficulty, you must first collect Alpha Broodmother,  Megapithecus, and Dragon trophies. The cave has many lava pits, so if you have creatures following you, particularly un-ridden ones, chances are they may fall into pits. So, the best strategy would be to bring more players with you instead of un-mounted creatures.

You must always bring a grappling hook whenever you come and explore the cave. Otherwise, if you fall into the lava, you will lose nearly 200 health until you do not get out of it. Other than that, players will encounter a large crowd of high-level dinosaurs. So, another reason to bring more people while exploring the Tek cave. There is a lot to do and be cautious about while you are in Tek cave. We will cover a separate guide on that. Till then, this limited information will have to do.

That is pretty much everything you need to learn about caves in Ark. Let us know if you think we missed something important that should be mentioned in the caves. Let your thoughts flow in the comments section below. 

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