Metal is one of the key resources in Ark: Survival Ascended, and one that you will be using quite a bit when you finally upgrade your stone tools. Obtaining Metal is essential if you ever want to make it off the beaches of The Island and start taking on stronger enemies. With it, you can make better weapons, stronger tools, and better armor to brave the wilds of The Island’s snow-capped mountains and redwood forests. There are quite a few places to find Metal in Ark: Survival Ascended, but some metal locations are better than others.
The best location to find metal in Ark: Survival Ascended in The Island map is the volcano. While it’s a relatively dangerous place to explore, a lot has changed since Ark: Survival Evolved, making it a bit safer to get metal at. Before you would have had to head down inside the volcano where you would essentially see a pit full of spiders, Arthropleuras, Obsidian, lava, and metal.
However, now you only need to stick to the edges of the volcano around the top of its opening. The ground surrounding the area is rich with metal veins and can easily fill up quite a few inventories.
There are loads of great locations to pick up metal, aside from the occasional small rock that yield one or two metal. Some have a few metal veins located around them, but if you know where to look, you can find some of the best locations to get metal. These hotspots will yield loads of metal, and can be an important place for you to visit and farm repeatedly. Aside from the volcano, you can find several other areas that are great for picking up metal, but none as convenient as this one.
Metal veins are very easy to notice and can be distinguished from the basic rocks around The Island pretty easily. Reference the image above for an example. Metal veins look like normal rocks, but with large areas that shine like gold. The best way to get metal from them is to use a pickaxe rather than an axe when harvesting a metal vein.
When you head out to hunt for metal at the volcano, be sure to bring an Argentavis. Every Argentavis gets a buff when carrying metal, crystal, or obsidian, which makes all of these resources weigh half as much while in the inventory of one of these great eagle-like dinosaurs.
