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This is perhaps the most truthful, granted while people may have their favorites, in the end its what is most useful at the time you need it.

There is no 'Best Overall' creature as what's best is relative to your level, creature availability, circumstance (map, environment, early game/late game), and needs. I'd argue Wyvern is one of the most well rounded creatures. Around 5000 hrs of game play under my belt.

So, in response to @TimeBomb2003's comment, here's my list of creatures based on all environments. It's going to be a long one, so buckle up (I will generally not factor in flying/gliding creatures since they can easily bypass any biome-also not judged just by combat-mainly judged by ability to get through somewhere quickly)! *note* You'll notice the bloodstalker isn't here. You probably know why, but it's because it can just swing easily over all your foes. 1. The Beach: The undisputed king of the beach, the dodo, waddles along with it's characteristic derpy walk. With a gigantic beak, and tiny, pathetic wings that are a constant disappointment it's mother, the dodo rules over the beach and all of it's flora and fauna (if you didn't realize, I'm mostly joking). But the true ruler of the beach is probably the raptor. It's fast, and it's incredible attacking speed can shred the health of any lower level creature. I've easily taken down small herds of trikes with a single mediocre raptor, and when pack and mate boosted, they are a force to be reckoned with. However, when not judging just by the creatures that spawn there, essentially any powerful enough creature can rule here. 2. The Jungle/forest: This is a difficult one. The problem with bigger animals is you have no idea what you're looking at, since generally, the camera's inside the trees, and all you can see is green. But again, generally any higher-ish creature will be able to traverse a jungle in relative safety. A raptor is fast enough to outrun most threats, and a bigger animal like a carno or rex will be able to easily fight off most threats. 3. Desert: For this one, you will need something powerful, due to the abundance of scary creatures, from deathworms to arthros. Preferably something with decent stamina as well, since the desert is big and flat. A good rex will make quick work of most threats. Something fast is probably better though, due to the giga spawns and other such scary creatures. To agree with @wizard03, thylas would excel here, with their tankiness, bleed, speed (that rhymes), and above average stam. They're also small, which is a nice cherry on the top. Deinons work too, and make up with their squishiness with sheer speed. Of course, as usual, shadowmanes are amazing at this. Is there anything they're not good at? 4. Caves (terrestrial): This is a bit of a controversial one. I think Shadowmanes are the best at this, in whatever caves they do fit in. Deinonychus are better in terms of size, although they're squishier and do less damage. But purely Island running? That's a different story. It's back to the dinosaurs with the Baryonyx. Being easy to tame at a fairly low level, with an incredibly powerful water powered tail swipe that stuns creatures up to the size of a megalodon, including jellyfish and eels. Thylas are an excellent choice as well, as are direwolves, which are smaller, tanky, and pack a big punch. Sabers are also great, since they're pretty low level tames and again, can deal with most things in a cave. A weird one is the rock drake. For those few caves on Aberration it can fit into, it is a must. With it's gliding and climbing prowess, the drake is unmatched. However, with the recent addition of desmodus, the only caves that aren't easily defeated within minutes are the few caves with water in them at some point. 5. Caves (aquatic): There's literally no argument here. Basilo wins, fair and square. Excellent health, good damage, immune to tuso grab, jelly stun, and eel stun, with an added insulation buff. What's not to like? It does take minimal damage at lower depths (a little extra fact that I really enjoy-real whales have a limit to how deep they can go, like any mammal). Tuso is an excellent second choice as well, but it's awkward movement and attack mechanics make the basilo win out. Megalodon is certainly a pretty okay choice as well, especially a pack, with a pack boost and added bleed on top. However, Shadowmanes are still #1 (as usual). 6. Aberration caves: Again, no argument. The Rock Drake is the undisputed King of the Caverns. Excellent mobility, great damage, good health. The only issue is how hard it is to get. One must brave the dangers of the radioactive area, with nearly invisible rock drakes swooping down to rain vengeance upon you. After stealing an egg, one must use many aircons or even more dimorphs to hatch your egg, which requires one of the lowest hatching temperatures in ARK. After hatching, the only thing your newfound drake baby will eat is nameless venom, which produces a problem of it's own. But when raised and imprinted, it proves to be worth it, with unparalleled gliding and climbing ability, and a powerful bite that's unmatched by any on Aberration except the Reaper and the Basilisk. Speaking of those two, the Reaper is definitely the second place choice, with even better damage and health, with an 80% resistance on top when not exposed to charge light. Even mediocre reapers (judging by difficulty 6 standards) can do upwards of 500 damage, imprinted and not levelled. With an incredible jump, and impressive speed for a large creature. 7. Tundra The tundra scares me. Yutyrannus, direwolves, daedons galore, argies, etc. An inferior tame will be destroyed. Anything other than a Giga, Rex, Spino, Wyvern, Bronto, or Rock Elemental will get fear roared straight into the shadow dimension. Freezing colds also await you. The best mount for this area is undoubtedly either a spino or a rex. The spino is faster and has a better dps, so preferably the spino in my opinion. The Giga, of course, is an option, just not a good one. It's terrible base stamina is the only real detriment though. I'm wondering now...what about a max stamina giga? 8. Mountains: For this one, anything that can climb or jump and can hold it's own against the largest creatures, or skedaddle if need be. Again, the thyla comes in as a really good contender, as well as the deinonychus. Actually, the deinon could easily be almost a better thyla, if it wasn't for the health and *somewhat* lower damage. Of course, the rock drake would be amazing in this role, because of it's amazing damage, gliding, and climbing. Shadowmane and reaper would also be pretty good, since both can jump obscene distances. Oh, and the Karkinos too. 9. Ocean: For this one, probably either the basilo, mosa, or tuso. The basilos immune to pretty much every debuff in the ocean, as is the tuso (I think), but the basilo has better attacking mechanics, and less of a tendency to get stuck in shallow waters. Megalodon is actually a contender in this one, because a pack of them will shred the health of anything that crosses, your way. Shadowmanes (yet again) excel in this category. The sarco is pretty amazing too. It's just really really fast, which is really it's only upside. It's got mediocre health, okay damage, but it is fast. It's a better alternative to the icthy as well, since it's not as squishy, and a good one could probably fight off a couple megalodons (or run from them). 10. Swamp: Anything kapros can't get you off of. Andrewsarchus, stegos, rexes, spinos, etc. Big creatures, or just creatures that stop dismount in general. For this role, spino is one of the best. The hydration buff gives it a serious edge over it's more famous friend, as well as it's speed. Shadowmanes are pretty okay for this role as well, since their hydration buff, speed, and serious jumping prowess. 11. Grasslands Grasslands are not too bad of an area to travel in. Pretty sure the biggest, scariest thing that spawns in them (at least, on the island) are allos. Other than that, nothing really. Anything that can outrun or outfight a pack of allos will do great here. 12. Rockwell's Innards: You'll need something on par with a rex to just survive for any length of time here. Shadowmanes are great, as well as reapers, with both having that jump, and excellent attack power. Of course, a rex will also be pretty good, only that you can't really make that quick of an exit if you need to. Again, anything on par with a rex or better. So on average, I think that the #1 award for best overall creature goes to the shadowmane. No surprise there. It's got great combat abilities, great health (especially because of that armor), and excellent mobility. And I think that's it! Finally. I've been working on this since about 10 in the morning. it's 7:20 pm here PST . Tell me if I missed something, since I'm clearly excited to go through this again. Cheers, thanks for reading this whole essay, good luck, and happy ARKing!

This is by far the best reply I’ve seen yet, honestly just reading it made me agree, I have around 1000 hours in the game and have barely used thylas, but reading this I’ll definitely be using on in my next playthrough.