ARK ASA Burrowbuck Guide — Taming, Saddle, Best Uses (Fantastic Tames Season 1)
What is the Burrowbuck?
The Burrowbuck is a swift horned mammal added to ARK: Survival Ascended on 20 May 2026 as the first creature in the paid Fantastic Tames Season 1 DLC ($9.99 — also includes the upcoming Cerberax and Enigmasaur). It's designed as a utility/ambush mount — it digs underground tunnels for fast travel, opens temporary gateway tunnels for long-distance hops, and blinds threats with kicked-up dirt.
If you've ever wanted a tameable cross between a horse and a rabbit that can burrow under your enemies and reappear behind them, the Burrowbuck is exactly that.
How do you tame a Burrowbuck?
Burrowbucks tame passively — you approach a wild one carefully and feed it the right consumable. They're skittish and will bolt at full speed if you spook them, so:
- Approach from downwind, crouched. Burrowbucks have strong senses.
- Don't ride a flyer overhead — drops them straight into flight response.
- Open the feeding interaction when they don't flee at close range.
- Feed the right consumable until taming completes — exact preferred food list will be confirmed once the dossier is finalised; we'll update this article.
Effectiveness scales with how patient you are and what food you bring — bring premium feed for max taming effectiveness and the highest possible post-tame stats.
What does the Burrowbuck saddle do?
The Burrowbuck unlocks a dedicated saddle engram required to ride it. Once saddled, the rider can:
- Trigger burrow — go underground and traverse hidden tunnels
- Open gateway tunnels — create temporary long-distance travel tunnels (cooldown applies)
- Dirt-kick — short-range blind on enemies in front
The saddle is a mid-tier engram. Saddle blueprints from drops can boost armor rating significantly.
Best uses for a Burrowbuck
1. Map traversal on big maps
Astraeos, Ragnarok and the new Genesis Part 1 ocean biome benefit from any fast-travel option. The Burrowbuck's gateway tunnels give you map-scale repositioning without needing a flyer.
2. PvE event ambushes
On BG Gaming's cluster, OSD events and Element Vein events reward proximity. The Burrowbuck lets you arrive from underground at the exact event centre — no air-time, no detection.
3. Cave clear support
Caves with narrow corridors are exactly the Burrowbuck's strength. Use the burrow ability to bypass tight chokepoints and the dirt-kick to blind cave predators.
4. Recovery runs
Lost your gear on a corpse run? Burrow under the danger, retrieve from below, surface elsewhere. No combat exposure.
Will the Burrowbuck spawn on BG Gaming's cluster?
The Burrowbuck is part of the paid Fantastic Tames Season 1 DLC, so it'll only spawn for players who own the DLC. If you don't own Fantastic Tames Season 1, you can still tame one if a tribe-mate captures it and transfers it to your tribe — wild taming requires DLC ownership, but riding a tribe-owned one does not.
On BG Gaming's cluster the Burrowbuck respects standard 5x taming rates and follows the same level-up curve as other tames. Tame credits apply normally.
Quick Burrowbuck facts
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Release date | 20 May 2026 |
| DLC | Fantastic Tames Season 1 ($9.99 paid) |
| Type | Mammal — horned hare/rabbit-like |
| Taming method | Passive (preferred food) |
| Saddle | Yes — required to ride |
| Special abilities | Burrow tunnels, gateway tunnels, dirt-kick blind |
| Role | Utility / fast-travel / ambush |
| Other creatures in pack | Cerberax (Q3 2026), Enigmasaur (Q4 2026) |
What's coming next in Fantastic Tames Season 1?
- Cerberax (Q3 2026) — three-headed elemental combat beast for coordinated multi-rider combat
- Enigmasaur (Q4 2026) — shape-shifting mimic that can copy nearby creatures' abilities
Both creatures are included in the same Fantastic Tames Season 1 purchase — you don't pay separately.
Sources
- ARK Fantastic Tames Season 1 on Steam
- Burrowbuck — ARK Official Community Wiki
- Studio Wildcard Community Crunch — Fantastic Tames Reveal
Article last updated 2026-05-27.