ARK Survival Ascended Cerberax — How to Tame the Three-Headed Hound, Abilities, Price & Release Date (30 Sept 2026)
Short answer: Cerberax lands in ARK: Survival Ascended on Wednesday 30 September 2026 as the sixth creature in the paid Fantastic Tames Season 1 DLC ($9.99 / £7.49). It's a giant three-headed hound: the right head breathes fire, the left head spits venom, and the centre head is a lightning catalyst that amplifies the other two. Taming it means knocking it down and then winning over each head in turn — three "votes" before it joins your tribe — and riding it properly takes three survivors, one per head. It is tameable and rideable but not breedable. 4 days to go.
What Cerberax is
A canine the size of a large theropod with three heads, each marked by its element: a strip of fire down the right neck, green venom boils on the left, and a centre head crackling with electricity, tusked and maned. Wildcard's dossier describes the heads as a team: "The right head applies fire to subdue its prey, while consuming venom to cripple it. The left head applies venom to weaken its prey, while consuming fire to heal its body. The central head coordinates the other two."
It's a Fantastic Tames creature rather than part of an expansion map, so it isn't tied to one map — where exactly it spawns is set by Wildcard's DLC spawn rules, which we'll confirm on patch day.
The three heads
| Head | Element | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Right | Fire | Fire breath to subdue targets; consumes venom to cripple them (slow/weaken debuff) |
| Left | Venom | Venom spray to weaken; consumes fire to heal the body |
| Centre | Lightning | The "electrical catalyst" — amplifies the flanking heads' damage and spreads their elemental effects to nearby targets |
The design is that the two outer heads feed each other's effects and the middle head turns single-target damage into area damage. Solo, you drive the body and centre head; with three riders each head gets a dedicated pilot.
How to tame Cerberax
This is not a normal knockout. From the dossier and Wildcard's preview:
- Bring it down with narcotics/tranqs as usual. When it goes down, "all its adrenaline surges to a single head" — one head stays awake and angry.
- Mount that awake head quickly and placate it. Doing so wears down its energy reserve.
- Another head wakes up. Repeat the mount-and-placate on that one.
- Repeat until all three collapse. Each head effectively casts a vote; you need all three before it joins the tribe.
Practical implications:
- It's a team tame. Three people make it straightforward; solo it's a long fight against the clock as heads keep waking.
- Keep narcotics and the placating food/items ready before you start — you can't pause between heads.
- Exact placating items, torpor values and timers haven't been published; we'll add them on patch day.
Riding it
- Three seats: the main rider controls the body and centre head; two passengers control the left and right heads.
- No weapons while riding — you fight with the heads.
- A Cerberax Saddle exists; the engram level is not yet listed.
- Passengers make it a genuine three-player war mount: one heals with venom-eating, one cripples with fire, one spreads it all.
How strong is it?
Wildcard's own line: "anything short of a Giga or Carcha is going to have a tough time" against it, and it's pitched as a match for a Rex or Ossidon head-on. On a PvE cluster that makes it a boss-support and cave-clearing mount rather than something you need to fear — no PvP, no raids.
Not breedable — so there are no mutation lines; the one you tame is the one you keep. Level and stats at tame matter more than for anything else in the game.
Price and availability
- Fantastic Tames Season 1 — $9.99 / £7.49, on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation. Cerberax is included; it's not sold separately.
- 30 September 2026, same patch as the Unreal Engine 5.8 upgrade, the Therizinosaurus TLC and Gargantar (Dragontopia owners).
On the BG Gaming cluster
Cerberax is a DLC creature, so you need Fantastic Tames Season 1 to tame and ride it, on our servers or anyone else's. Where it spawns on our 12 maps depends on Wildcard's spawn rules for the DLC — we'll confirm after the patch and post in Discord. Our servers run 5x taming, so the three-head tame is a lot less painful here than on official. If you're looking for a home to try it: Join BG Gaming — PvE, crossplay, no wipe, 50,000 free coins.
FAQ
Is Cerberax free? No. It's part of the paid Fantastic Tames Season 1 ($9.99 / £7.49).
Can I breed Cerberax? No — tameable and rideable only.
Can one person tame it? Wildcard's description implies it's designed for a group (three heads, three riders). Solo is possible in principle but you're racing waking heads alone.
Can I use guns while riding? No — it can't be ridden while wielding weapons.
What is it good for on PvE? Boss support, cave clearing, and being a three-player mount that can trade with a Rex. It's also, by Wildcard's admission, "a very good boy".