How to tame a Giganotosaurus with the new Giga trap

Why this trap replaces the classic method

In the video, Raconin starts from the problem with the classic Giganotosaurus trap. You wait until the Giga steps into a Large Bear Trap, then you have to place the final gate quickly, before it escapes. If you are too slow, the Giga breaks free and you start again. His new design removes that race: you only lure the Giga inside, and once it walks in, he says, it gets stuck automatically and cannot get out.

The classic method’s weak point is real. The ARK wiki’s Large Bear Trap page (written for ARK: Survival Evolved) says wild creatures break free of it “quite easily” and gives no hold time, so a design that does not depend on the bear trap holding is a sensible thing to want. That is the whole pitch of this trap, and it is why the video asks you to do almost nothing once the Giga is inside.

Materials

The video lists three building pieces. It is a short list, which is part of the appeal.

The thatch is scaffolding only. That matters because the wiki lists thatch among the structures a Giganotosaurus can damage, together with greenhouse, wood, adobe and stone walls, and does not list metal. In the finished trap only metal is left standing, which fits that list. (That is our reading, not something the video says.)

Build the trap

Raconin calls the build “very simple”. These are his steps, in his order:

1. Place one metal triangle foundation. This is the first of the six. Choose your spot before you place it, because the whole ring is built outward from this piece.
2. Place two thatch foundations in front of it. They are the spacer between this metal foundation and the next one.
3. Place another metal triangle foundation, connected to the thatch foundations. The second metal piece snaps to the far side of the thatch pair.
4. Repeat the pattern. Keep going (metal foundation, two thatch, metal foundation) until all six metal triangle foundations are down and together form a circle-like shape.
5. Pick up all of the thatch foundations. Only the six metal foundations remain.
6. Attach a metal triangle roof to each metal triangle foundation. Six foundations, six roofs.
7. The trap is finished. There is no gate to place and nothing to arm.

One arithmetic check against the video’s own numbers: ten thatch foundations is five pairs, which is the number of gaps in a chain of six pieces. So the sixth metal foundation appears to close the ring by connecting back to the first without a spacer of its own. That is our inference from the numbers, so compare it with the build on screen. If the video and this page ever disagree, follow the video.

The video does not explain why this shape holds a Giga, and we have not tested it, so we will not invent a mechanism. What he shows is the result: the Giga walks in and stays.

Weapons, food and narcotics

After the build, Raconin lists what to bring. His list, then the checks we made against the wiki:

• A Longneck Rifle, preferably an upgraded one. It is his best weapon for the knockout.
• Tranquilizer Darts, or Shocking Tranquilizer Darts. He recommends the shocking version if you want the Giga down faster.
• A crossbow with Tranquilizer Arrows also works, but he says it takes much longer before the Giga goes down.
• Narcotics. A Giga loses torpor very quickly while it is unconscious, so you have to keep feeding narcotics to keep it asleep. The wiki agrees: its Giganotosaurus page says the torpor “will drain faster than it will rise”.
• Food: Raw Prime Meat, Raw Mutton or Exceptional Kibble. Exceptional Kibble gives the best taming efficiency, in his words. The wiki lists the same three, with Exceptional Kibble as the preferred kibble (some of the meat entries are marked mobile-only, so confirm the prompt in game).
• A flyer or another fast tame. Its job is to lure the Giga into the trap safely.

Higher-level Gigas have more torpor to build and burn it faster, and your server’s taming-speed settings change the quantities again. The video gives no narcotic count and the wiki cannot give one that fits every server, so bring more than you think you need. Treat any number you read online as a floor.

Lure the Giga inside

With the trap built and your gear ready, the video’s method is short:

1. Get the Giga’s attention with your flyer or fast tame. Raconin recommends this specifically so you can lure it safely.
2. Lead it into the trap. You do not place anything and you do not need to react quickly. That is the point of the design.
3. Let it get stuck. In the video the Giga is stuck automatically once it is inside.
4. Now start the knockout. With the Giga held, shoot it with the Longneck Rifle and tranquilizer darts until it drops.

A caution of our own, from the wiki: the Giganotosaurus’s bite applies a debuff called Gnashed that removes 5 percent of total health over 10 seconds and cuts movement speed by 90 percent. A slow lure is a dangerous lure. That is the reason to use something fast and to keep the whole route clear. A stuck Giga is only safe once it is actually stuck, so do not approach until you can see it is held.

Feed it and keep it asleep

Once the Giga is unconscious, the video moves to the taming itself:

1. Put food and narcotics into its inventory. Raw Prime Meat, Raw Mutton or Exceptional Kibble, plus the narcotics.
2. Watch the torpor bar. Feed narcotics whenever it starts dropping, so the Giga does not wake up.
3. Wait for the taming to complete. That is the end of the method: once the food and narcotics are in, you watch the torpor bar and wait.

What the wiki’s general taming page adds is worth knowing while you wait:

• If the creature wakes up, the items in its inventory are lost and so is the taming progress.
• Taming effectiveness starts at 100 percent and falls if the creature takes damage while unconscious. A higher-effectiveness tame also gets more bonus levels, so stray shots cost you real stats.
• Food left in the inventory is eaten over time, so check the stack as well as the torpor bar.

What the video does not say

The video is a short, clean demonstration. These are the gaps you will need to fill yourself:

• How many narcotics. It gives no count, and the right number depends on the Giga’s level and your server settings.
• How many darts or how long the knockout takes. He says the crossbow takes much longer, but gives no times.
• Foundation size, placement and terrain. The page cannot replace watching the build on screen.
• Why it holds. He shows the result, not the mechanism.
• What a failure looks like. If the Giga does not stick, bring a second player and a way out. Do not stand next to the trap while testing it.
• Whether it still works after 5 November. See the last section.

After the tame

A tamed Giga is rideable and breedable, and the wiki notes that tamed Gigas can be a serious threat to their tamer if provoked. It lists a horde of imprinted Gigas as a way to take down the Forest Titan and Ice Titan (an Evolved-era note, so check it against the current game). Our own Ice Titan guide lists the Giganotosaurus among the wiki’s recommended tames for that fight, alongside the Carcharodontosaurus Raconin uses. For other taming designs to compare with this one, see five taming trap builds compared.

If you would like to know why this animal is so central to ARK’s idea of a predator, and what is real about the creature behind the name, read the real history of the Giganotosaurus.

What changes on 5 November

Studio Wildcard’s Community Crunch 530 (31 October 2026) says the Giganotosaurus TLC arrives on 5 November, the third TLC chosen in Extra Life’s 2025 community vote. Earlier Crunches (527 and 528) gave 6 November, so check the date on release day. Only what the official posts say is repeated here:

• New dossier species name. Crunch 527 gives the common name as Giga and the species as Giganotosaurus furiosa.
• Berserker rage. Wounding a Giga drives it into a rage, and it becomes tougher as it is hurt. It can share part of that fury with allies, provided they stay out of its path.
• New attacks. It stomps its feet and slams its tail to hit attackers behind or beneath it.
• A different way to win it. The dossier says tamers will need to prove themselves against some of the ARKs’ fiercest threats, and that getting its attention means killing alpha-level threats before an “omega-level fight”. The advice is to let the Giga exhaust itself attacking you, then fight back to provoke its rage and wear it down until you can subdue it. Crunch 529 promises “a taming experience that will put even seasoned Survivors to the test”.

That last point is the important one. The wiki still lists knockout taming, and Raconin’s trap was shown before the overhaul. The official description of the new Giga reads more like a fight than a trap, and we cannot tell from the posts whether a trap will still be part of it, so we will not guess. If you are about to start, check this page’s update date and the in-game dossier first.

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