Leech farming for Silica pearls

[Ryan220]

Hello all.

I require some Silica Pearls and was wondering about the viability of farming leeches for them.

I lack the ability to swim for them and have no fur armour to visit the NW area (that I read about somewhere).

So Im stuck with wading through the swamp on my dino - on a positive note Im really close the the swamp.

Ive managed to get a few pearls this way, but was wondering if there is a reliable method as, at the moment the results are less than stellar.

Thanks in advance.

[Eanaya]

Kill trilobites, they drop pearls (silica and black ones), also oil and tons of chitin. They don't spawn in masses, but I always find some along the southern beach on the Island. Otters get pearls too if you send them fishing. If you have access to SE, it's the easiest way to get pearls, they spawn along the canyon and around red ob, you can quickly pick them up with a whip, if you have a mount that allows the use of weapons while riding it's even easier (like a Thyla). SE is also very good to get oil

[Ryan220]

3 minutes ago, Eanaya said:

Kill trilobites, they drop pearls (silica and black ones), also oil and tons of chitin. They don't spawn in masses, but I always find some along the southern beach on the Island. Otters get pearls too if you send them fishing. If you have access to SE, it's the easiest way to get pearls, they spawn along the canyon and around red ob, you can quickly pick them up with a whip, if you have a mount that allows the use of weapons while riding it's even easier (like a Thyla). SE is also very good to get oil

Thanks for the reply.

Ive never had any luck finding trilobites. I even took a trip along the south coast looking for them.There is one that spawns near my base every now and then, but it seems to be random.

I have SE, but have no idea how to transport there - its a hard enough job getting by on the island ☺

[Campi]

33 minutes ago, Ryan220 said:

I have SE, but have no idea how to transport there - its a hard enough job getting by on the island ☺

Assuming you are not single player but on a server. Just select a scorched server of the same cluster (if its offical then make sure you have the same type - PVE/PVP, legacy/new) and join it from the "Join game" menu. When you are on SE dont get set back if you die cause you will die a lot during the first hour there (and i literally mean A LOT). Try to spawn close to an obelisk and make your way there. I suggest the green one although there are predators at the obis (kapros/raptors/carnos) its a good place just for pearl collection since the upload station is close by. Set up a small 2x2 stone hut and place 2-3 beds and a chest inside - if its only for pearl farming you won't need more cause if you run out of food just let yourself get eaten and respawn with full food in the beds . Around the obelisk is water filled with pearls inside and around the water which you just have to pick up and keep in your inventory. Now with the upload timer you have to wait for up to half an hour till you can put it in the ARK-DATA section of the obelisk (not the tribute one). You can eighter wait close by or inside your hut (though if its stone or metal  it will kill you fast from heat) or just logout with the pearls on you inside the hut and come back half an hour later. After the upload you go back to the island and go eighter to a loot drop or an obelisk there and in ark-data you will find the pearls you uploaded on SE ready to download.

This way you have 2 sepperate players - one on SE and one on the island and don't have to pray to the gods nothing fails on the cross-server travel - cause if there is an error you can lose your character during such a transfer so its better to not travel and only exchange items between the 2 maps. If you go for the green obi there are also oil veins close by which usually are claimed by other people with oil pumps. If you are PVE there is a good chance some of them are unlocked for everybody so you can also get lots of oil fast and cheap there.

[ShakerDazzy]

Beaver dams are your friends if you don't want to dive for them.

[Sphere]

I usually just go to SE red obelisk area for a treasure trove of silica pearls. However considering how this is paid content, that might be out of the scope of what you can do. I would suggest a weapon before going there if you can, as there are certain nasties in that place that love to eat you alive.

[FraggleRock]

As others have said - SE. You will die a lot. Plan on making lots of sleeping bags.  I tend to stick to the middle of the desert at the oasis. Water there, along with berries, and plenty of nasties to kill for meat. Vultures wok great for killing the nasties. I tame the lower levels and wait until I have 3-5 of them before taking on mantis or whatever. 

Lots of pearls around the oasis. You need a whip. Or you can run down the middle of the map and pick them up along there. You should have a decent level wolf or saber along with your vultures.

Nothing in Ark is easy. SE teaches you that very well, and then shows you its benefits. 

[d1nk]

Single player or on a server? If SP you will want to make a base at one of the SE obelisks. Theres also the canyon for pearls in SE, pretty safe once youve got a mount. If on SP you will need to use the obelisks any ways to upload to cloud (to transfer them to island) if you play a server you can use the drops to transfer.

 

SE is worth it, you seem to be in early stages though so i would suggest just bringing some meat, and hitting up snow coast (use a boat if need be) for your first few hundred. Theres quite a few underwater caves you can get to without scuba (just tame an ichy on the beach) then make a bed & gather them now and then. 

[RipRavage]

9 hours ago, Ryan220 said:

Hello all.

I require some Silica Pearls and was wondering about the viability of farming leeches for them.

I lack the ability to swim for them and have no fur armour to visit the NW area (that I read about somewhere).

So Im stuck with wading through the swamp on my dino - on a positive note Im really close the the swamp.

Ive managed to get a few pearls this way, but was wondering if there is a reliable method as, at the moment the results are less than stellar.

Thanks in advance.

Over around the small water inlet at 40 lattitude 20 longitude on the edge of the snow biome there are a bunch of pearls in shallow water.  The area is mostly sand and you can gather a pretty decent amount without any fur armor needed.

[RipRavage]

This weird hook shaped river is the area I am talking about.  Go there at night so the pearls are easier to see in the riverbed.

[Ryan220]

Thank you for all of the replies - much appreciated.

I think I will give the NW coast on the Island a try as Im located on the Islands Footpaw, so its just a trip up the coast. I already have a basic 4x4x1 raft kitted out for travelling (bed, preserving bin, fire etc) that I haven't got around to using yet.

I always wanted to do a boat trip and this is the perfect opportunity.

Cheers

[RipRavage]

5 minutes ago, Ryan220 said:

Thank you for all of the replies - much appreciated.

I think I will give the NW coast on the Island a try as Im located on the Islands Footpaw, so its just a trip up the coast. I already have a basic 4x4x1 raft kitted out for travelling (bed, preserving bin, fire etc) that I haven't got around to using yet.

I always wanted to do a boat trip and this is the perfect opportunity.

Cheers

I live on the waterfall lake next to red obelisk, I usually hit those nodes up when I need a quick source of pearls, it’s actually not too far of a trip, especially on a flyer.

[GrumpyBear]

Hug the shoreline as you go Leeds will come for ur raft

 

[RageQuitter]

There's a few in the area RipRavage mentioned in the shallow water, can be hard to see them during the day as some are in the annoying bit where it's too shallow to see under the water but the light reflects off the surface making it hard to spot them, there's a lot more just north of there just into the snow biome but it's a bit hard to get a raft to because of the ice, I just normally land on the ice on a flyer then swim around collecting them, it's close enough to beach so you can quickly get somewhere warm to heal up.

Did you manage to get an argent? if you did I'd go kill some beavers, megaloceros & horses, all easy to kill and will quickly get you enough pelt for full fur then go and have a fly around the north coast at night starting from where RipRavage said all the way around until the end of the snow just to learn where all the pearls that are easy to get to from the shore are, make sure to take a couple of spare torches or mats to repair, plenty of food and some medical brews to heal up with.

Scorched Earth is probably the best place to get loads without going in the water but it can be very rough to begin with, there's not many safe spawns and it's pot luck what dinos you're gonna run into, think middle 4 is nearest spawn to an obelisk? but I always seem to run into wolves, terror birds and raptors, and if they don't get you the kapros will when you finally think you've made it and are just about to get your gear out of the obi ?

If you do transfer over I'd go naked and upload your gear as it could take a few tries just to get to an obi and download a tame, you could transfer over with some equipment on you but I'd upload backups as it could easily take you 5 or 6 attempts to make it and you could lose everything you transfer with.

Easiest no hassle place for them is probably Ragnarok, around 80 19, there's plenty in the shallow water in like a cut back off the main river then there's more in the river itself which you can get without scuba although you could do with some flippers and a decent crossbow as there's sharks & mantas in the area, spawn at jungle 2, it's a long way from them but it's right next to blue obi so you can get your ptera/argent out straight away without having to dodge any nasties.

If you don't need too many then your probably best off staying on the island and just farm the nodes in the north west you can get without fur, if you want a lot then I'd go to Ragnarok for a couple of hours, farm the ones in the south then go and explore for a bit or build a small base you can spawn in close to an obelisk or beacon and just go back to the pearls every 30 mins or so to get them when they respawn.

 

 

[Ryan220]

@RageQuitter

I am only after 33 silica pearls so I can finish off an aircon unit - Im sure if I asked in global that someone would give me loads for free as everyone on the server is very helpful and friendly to new players and vets alike. But I dont like to ask for things as I dont want to be known as "that newb thats always on the scrounge".

As for the Argent - yup I did get one. I didnt tame it myself though. It was gifted to me by a friend after I gave her a saddle she needed.

It started as a 77 and is now in the 120s. I leveled weight and stamina, so its not the best killer. In truth Ive only ever terrorised Dodos on it, so I dont know how it would do against anything bigger.

But to use it to get fur is a great idea thanks - certainly quicker than using my scissors and wasting obsidian.

 

[RageQuitter]

You might struggle farming pelt with it if it's melee is low, beavers won't be a problem as they get aggro but it might be hard to kill horses & megaloceros' cos of the speed and not being able to pick them, could always do quick runs into the snow and kill some mammoths, rhino's & wolves. 

[Kimodo]

11 hours ago, RageQuitter said:

There's a few in the area RipRavage mentioned in the shallow water, can be hard to see them during the day as some are in the annoying bit where it's too shallow to see under the water but the light reflects off the surface making it hard to spot them, there's a lot more just north of there just into the snow biome but it's a bit hard to get a raft to because of the ice, I just normally land on the ice on a flyer then swim around collecting them, it's close enough to beach so you can quickly get somewhere warm to heal up.

Did you manage to get an argent? if you did I'd go kill some beavers, megaloceros & horses, all easy to kill and will quickly get you enough pelt for full fur then go and have a fly around the north coast at night starting from where RipRavage said all the way around until the end of the snow just to learn where all the pearls that are easy to get to from the shore are, make sure to take a couple of spare torches or mats to repair, plenty of food and some medical brews to heal up with.

Scorched Earth is probably the best place to get loads without going in the water but it can be very rough to begin with, there's not many safe spawns and it's pot luck what dinos you're gonna run into, think middle 4 is nearest spawn to an obelisk? but I always seem to run into wolves, terror birds and raptors, and if they don't get you the kapros will when you finally think you've made it and are just about to get your gear out of the obi ?

If you do transfer over I'd go naked and upload your gear as it could take a few tries just to get to an obi and download a tame, you could transfer over with some equipment on you but I'd upload backups as it could easily take you 5 or 6 attempts to make it and you could lose everything you transfer with.

Easiest no hassle place for them is probably Ragnarok, around 80 19, there's plenty in the shallow water in like a cut back off the main river then there's more in the river itself which you can get without scuba although you could do with some flippers and a decent crossbow as there's sharks & mantas in the area, spawn at jungle 2, it's a long way from them but it's right next to blue obi so you can get your ptera/argent out straight away without having to dodge any nasties.

If you don't need too many then your probably best off staying on the island and just farm the nodes in the north west you can get without fur, if you want a lot then I'd go to Ragnarok for a couple of hours, farm the ones in the south then go and explore for a bit or build a small base you can spawn in close to an obelisk or beacon and just go back to the pearls every 30 mins or so to get them when they respawn.

 

 

There are tons of pearls at 10,40 on Ragnarok amongst the little rock islands with all the pelagornis. Very safe area too since few sea creatures wander in.

[Ryan220]

I never actually got around to sailing or flying up to the Island NW coast yesterday as I wanted to reconfigure  my taming raft so I could take that up and maybe snag a Pulmo or two (wiki show pulmos spawn up there and Im in need of the kibble.

My new neighbour promptly proved the effectiveness of my new raft by falling in it along with a trike that was chasing him and subsequently gored him to death.

I did visit the NW hook lake on a different server though for a look see.

It was a bit of a reality check - gone was my vision of a knee deep lake where I could merrily stroll along picking up pearls without a care in the world. Instead a found a lake full of creatures that wanted to eat me.

Time for me to read up on underwater combat......

 

[Hdacxqo]

@Ryan220

Which server are you on that is so friendly.

[Ryan220]

2 hours ago, Hdacxqo said:

@Ryan220

Which server are you on that is so friendly.

I dont remember - I'll post it up if think of it later.

The server is a very old one - one of the oldest iirc, so its almost constantly tame capped. I dont mind this as I like playing the build/ survival aspect.

If you're after a server where you can tame unlimited dinos then this wont be the one for you.

[RageQuitter]

6 hours ago, Ryan220 said:

I never actually got around to sailing or flying up to the Island NW coast yesterday as I wanted to reconfigure  my taming raft so I could take that up and maybe snag a Pulmo or two (wiki show pulmos spawn up there and Im in need of the kibble.

My new neighbour promptly proved the effectiveness of my new raft by falling in it along with a trike that was chasing him and subsequently gored him to death.

I did visit the NW hook lake on a different server though for a look see.

It was a bit of a reality check - gone was my vision of a knee deep lake where I could merrily stroll along picking up pearls without a care in the world. Instead a found a lake full of creatures that wanted to eat me.

Time for me to read up on underwater combat......

 

Haha it's great up there, I used to call it buttf**k beach, it's not as bad now as it used to be as there'd always be rexes, allos, argents, sabers, scorpions & raptors having a big kick off on the beach just before it hooks round to where the pearls are, used to park a taming raft with a ramp at one end next to them then jump on a ptera/argent and kite everything in then try to kill off what I didn't want and knock out the scorpions, there was a base close to it with a row of metal pillars and loads of x plants so you could kite any allos or rexes there and hide behind the pillars while the x plants took care of them, good times ?

The shallow water with the pearls on the left is usually safe, get the odd sarco or piranhas spawning there sometimes plus you might need to clear the odd dino before going in the water, the one's on the right are fairly easy to get and there's a lot more than what's on the pic, you can land on those small bits of ice and your tame should be safe while you're in the water, if it's always dangerous when you go up there then go and have a look on the tundra around 15 50 ish (not sure of exact co-ords but it's on north coast roughly halfway across) there's a few nodes there that are easy to harvest, if you fly from footpaw head over the volcano and stick to the east of the snow until you hit the coast, should stop you freezing to death then you should have enough time to make it to the tundra and back, take plenty of food & medical brew just in case.