Rock Drake

The Rock Drake or the Dark Dragon is one of the Creatures in the Aberration-DLC of ARK: Survival Evolved.

Behavior

 * Found mainly in the bio-luminescent and radioactive areas, Rock Drakes are aggressive and highly dangerous to anyone not in ownership of a strong mount.
 * Upon seeing a player (Using a tamed Rock Drake's camouflage ability will prevent this unless in possession of their egg or unless you are standing very close to them.), they (and any nearby Drake) will instantly attack them and are able to pursue them even up walls and in the air.
 * On top of this, they are very often found in large spread out groups which makes them hard to escape.

Appearance

 * The Rock Drake is a relatively large lizard-like creature covered in rough skin with in large round spiny scales. They look somewhat similar to their distant relative the Wyvern.
 * The Rock Drake's most distinguishable feature is its feathers. These aid in its glide ability, and are most likely used as a display to rivals or possible mates. In the presence of Reapers, these feathers will frill and their iridescent tips will glow.
 * Atop their heads, Rock Drakes bear a small bat wing-like crown. This may aid their hearing in darker cavern areas where they cannot see as well.
 * Drakes bear a thick layer of colourful osteoderms running down their whole topside. This colourful arrangement may be related to mating and/or rivalry.
 * In their camouflaged state, all that can be made out of a Rock Drake is a shimmering effect with a faint blue line going around its edges.

Drops
Rock Drake=


 * Guaranteed Special Loot

Corrupted Rock Drake=


 * Guaranteed Special Loot

Base Stats and Growth
Rock Drake=

Corrupted Rock Drake=

Press to toggle camouflage on/off.

General

 * Wild Rock Drakes are almost always found using their cloak ability and will reveal themselves upon being attacked.
 * If you are on a rock drake yourself, using the cloak ability will stop anything (excluding Nameless if you do not have a charge source) from attacking you, and you are able to get in very close proximity before anything would attack.


 * Similar to the, Rock Drakes will deal damage to nearby creatures when they hit the ground in a fast enough stop. If landed on the creature itself, the creature will be knocked back drastically, which can be fatal in cliffs.


 * If pursued by a Rock Drake when with a dino, a good method of escape would be the use of a . Despite the fact they can still pursue through air, it is a lot less refined and offers your best chance of escape as a last resort.
 * Drakes are not capable of fully sustained flight, rather fast glides from surface to surface, which is ideal in the cave environments they inhabit.

Strategy

 * Attacking one Rock Drake will aggro every other within a close proximity, which can be fatal if you are riding a low-level/weak mount. Powerful mounts, such as are suggested. They are susceptible to, which you can use on an isolated Rock Drake and then kill it.


 * When a wild Rock Drake takes damage, its cloak will fall and make it easier to see.
 * Be wary fighting them near molten element, since it is easy to get knocked in, which will most likely be fatal for you, your tame and your light pet.

Weaponry

 * It is possible to use all tools and weapons from the back of a Rock Drake. This, paired with its wall-climbing and cloaking ability, can make for a useful ambush set up. Note that when you activate a tool or weapon whilst riding a Rock Drake, you are no longer covered by the camouflage ability and may aggro nearby creatures.

Dangers

 * The main danger associated with Rock Drakes is how hard they are to escape. They can climb after a player up a wall faster than climbing picks, and can even follow whilst you are gliding.


 * Their camouflage ability means that they can easily go unseen by you. - be wary of faint blue lines when you are in the red/radioactive zone.


 * If stealing a from the nests, be warned that there are usually dozens of Drakes - meaning you can get swarmed very quickly. If you know your tame will not survive being attacked by 10 + drakes at once, the best method would to be grab an egg and run, or wait until you have a stronger tame (at least 10k health) and go back.
 * If you're on a drake and are stealing eggs, note that you will be pursued after grabbing an egg even if you use the cloak ability.



Weakness

 * Even when camouflaged, Rock Drakes give off a blue shimmer which gives their position away.


 * Wild Rock Drakes cannot actually fly and they only dive bomb at the nearest landable target while climbing. This can make it easy to escape if you have a and a nearby zipline. Be careful when using it though, as Rock Drakes can destroy the zip line in one or a few bites.
 * Drakes have a reasonably slow attack speed, giving you time between bites to get away if you need to.
 * The dive bomb attack is fairly inaccurate when used by drakes, who tend to go in a straight line. Simply move forward slightly and they'll sail a good distance over your head

Taming
Similar to the on Scorched Earth, the  on Valguero, or the  on Genesis, adult Rock Drakes cannot be tamed. In order to obtain a tamed Rock Drake the player must steal and hatch a, which can be commonly found in the Grave of the Lost; a region located in the deepest pits of the Aberrant Ark, at the very bottom of the chasm between the Luminous Marshes and the Overlook.

Reaching the Nests
Reaching this area on foot is of itself a dangerous undertaking; requiring hazard gear (bring spare suits, it's a long trip) to combat the all the way to the nests, charge light to keep the  at bay, and a brief run through  territory. A strong, swift mount that is immune to radiation is a must for the long road down to collect your first egg; attempting the theft without tames is more than likely suicide. A suggested route to reach the Grave of the Lost is to start on the Southern end of the Crystalline Swamps, which is the Southeastern most location of the bio-luminescent chambers (the 'blue' portions of the map), and enter The Spine region from there; but be careful not to stray too far East into Element Falls, where Reaper Queens spawn en masse. From there; follow the literal, giant metallic spine overhead once you locate it, and it will guide you down to where you need to go.

Alternatively, one can reach the Grave of the Lost by literally throwing themselves into chasm from any direction; such as the bridge that juts out from the portal region, or from either side of the Luminous Marshes or The Overlook. If taking this route, be sure to have some method of controlling your descent (such as a Parachute or a Glider Suit) or your passage down will be met with a lethal impact on the rocks or pools of element below. This method also does not allow for the safe passage of whatever tames you wish to bring with you (tames that are set to follow you off the cliff can be as easily met with death from the element pools as you can, and controlling their fall is near impossible. The only safe way to bring tames down with this method is to use a Cryopod). The best method is perhaps the former one; as without a Drake to climb back up for your first theft, you will have to walk back up out of the chasm on foot. Having taken the path down by foot the first time, you will be familiar with where you have to go in order to escape back to base with your prize. Climbing all the way back up from the deep trench using Climbing Picks is also ill-advised, as most are not durable enough to last long enough to do so, and the frequent earth quakes are likely to dislodge you in the process.

Once in the Grave of the Lost, there are two nesting grounds to choose from; one on the Western half of the chasm, and another on the Southern side of the chasm, near two element waterfalls, which are passed on the way down. To the far North side chasm is the terminal that allows entrance into Rockwell's arena.

Stealing an Egg
Once you have found the actual nests, there are yet more hurdles to cross than just the dangerous trip down. The nests themselves are located on the walls of numerous small chasms, that spread throughout a miniature cave system along the Southern and Western half of the Grave. Some of these chasms can be entered and exited on foot, but these are few compared to the areas that if a tame does in fact fall into the ravine, most creatures will not be able to crawl back out. Tamed Reaper Kings, Karkinos, and Rock Drakes are among the few, if only creatures that can escape these pits, unaided by Cryopods or Tek Teleporters if they do in fact fall in, so be very mindful of where you step. If the tame you brought down with you cannot jump out of these chasms, they will have to be left behind up above while you climb down with climbing picks to snatch an egg. If you are going after your first egg and do not yet have a Rock Drake of your own, a tamed Reaper is by far the second best option for this task; able to get in and out of the chasms, jump to most if not all nesting alcoves along the wall, and is more than capable of taking down mass swarms of angered Drakes.

Once an egg is stolen, the nearby Drakes will begin to swarm and attack, which can be deadly if you have not yet reached your mount. A good strategy is to target and kill any and all Drakes you find before snatching the egg; using a long ranged weapon to tag one and bait it into combat with your mount. This can be rinsed and repeated with as many Drakes you think you can handle at once, until most or all have been dealt with, but always assume there is one camouflaged somewhere that you missed, and be ready for a swift retreat to your mount once an egg is grabbed.

The act of adding a Rock Drake Egg to your inventory, or the inventory of your mount, will aggravate every nearby Rock Drake to attack you, even if you are riding on one yourself. This mechanic can be used to "switch aggro" to another player if you draw too many Rock Drakes to fight, by having them move a Rock Drake Egg from their inventory to the inventory of their mount - the game treats this as if it was freshly stolen and the Drakes will attack the new target.

Raising Your Drake
Unlike most eggs, Rock Drake eggs require a very low temperature to incubate properly, beating in lowest temperature requirement to hatch. Hatching the egg requires a massive amount of air conditioners (at least 20, depending on the temperature of the surrounding) or a group of Dimetrodon (numbers required vary, depending on each Dimetrodon's damage level) with high damage stats to increase their insulation. You need roughly 2500 Hyperthermal Insulation (as shown on your character screen).

Once hatched, the babies cannot be fed like most other carnivores. Like Wyverns, they require a special food to raise them, and will not consume meat until they are fully grown. Unlike Wyverns however, the act of getting this food is far easier than having to tranquilize a wild female for milk. Growing young Drakes require to stave off starvation; each feeding providing 400 food points, and they may even ask for it when imprinting. This venom is rarely obtained from killing (and harvesting from), an easy task if you have a good, strong mount, and simply walk around the bio luminescent region (or specific location in Element Region, and surface cave entrance of Fertile Region) of the map without a charge light to draw them out. While baby Drakes lose food points more slowly compared to other young creatures much like baby Wyverns, it is still a good idea to build up a small stockpile of venom before hatching the egg. The venom spoils quickly in a player's inventory, but can last for several hours in a tame's, and even longer in a Preserving Bin.

For a possible means of finding out what your baby Drake will be like before it hatches, like Wyverns, the colors and stats of the baby that hatches out of the egg is dependent on the parent that laid the egg in the nest. For example, if the parent that was guarding the egg has a green body Region one and sky blue body Region 5, the baby will hatch with the same colors. The stats the baby is born with are determined the very same way. Finding out which egg belongs to which Drake though can be rather difficult, as there may be many Drakes with the same level around the eggs that they guard.

An important thing to note; if you chose to hatch your Drake in an inside, protected area, adult Rock Drakes do not fit through Dino Gates or the Giant Trapdoor. If you haven't built a Behemoth Gate then make sure to get the adolescent drake outdoors before it fully matures.

Utility
Many players will find that once they have a high-level rock drake tamed, it becomes their main tame, simply because of how easily it can get around and explore on Aberration.

Rock Drakes, like flying dinos, cannot have their speed stat leveled. However, unlike flying dinos, Rock Drakes can swim (and are faster in water than running on land), they do not dismount the rider upon entering water, and they can attack while swimming. Not only that, but the Drake can launch itself back out of the water and directly into a glide, allowing it to rapidly move around a body of water, or quickly reach shore to escape an underwater threat.

Similar to the Glider Suit, the Rock Drake must maintain speed by sloping downward slightly while gliding or it will stall, causing it to pitch downward sharply. While gliding, if the Rock Drake is close enough to a surface (which is a pretty good distance, 20-25 foundations), a blue crosshairs will appear while looking at the surface.

If the rider left clicks with this crosshair up, the Rock Drake will pounce forward towards that surface and then cling to it (automatically engaging wall climb mode, if necessary). Unlike the glide, this jet doesn't have any issues with going upwards, and the rider can pitch the camera sharply upwards and trigger the pounce before stalling, causing the Rock Drake to pounce to a significantly greater height. This pounce is also available while moving around on the ground, with similar effect.

'To enter climb mode (where the drake will automatically climb up and walls you walk up to) press right mouse on a PC, L2 on a PS4, and LT on an XBOX. Dismounting the Rock Drake while it is still on a wall or ceiling will not make it fall down unless called to follow.'

Roles

 * All-Terrain Transport: Although Aberration lacks fliers, the Rock Drake makes for an extremely mobile mount, as it is able to traverse up and down every surface, and go upside down much like the, although stamina will not be regenerated as long as it is not touching the ground, or climb mode is active. Along with this, it is also able to glide for long distances, is a very adequate swimmer, and is capable of outright hiding from what few creatures are aggressive to it through its camouflage (this will drain its stamina). If you don't feel like hiding, a high-level Drake has almost nothing to fear from wildlife either way; capable of holding its own in toe-to-toe combat with even Reapers. No matter the environment; be it the caves or surface of Aberration, the open skies of other ARKs, or the depths of oceans: the Rock Drake can tackle them all. On other ARKs, however, areas with few cliffs to gain height and large amounts of tree cover, such as jungles and swamps, can prove to be a nuisance.
 * Cavern Traversal: With its climbing and gliding abilities, there is no finer tame to carry you across the dangerous terrain of the Aberrant ARK than the Rock Drake. Traveling from the sunlit chambers of the Fertile Region to the dark depths of the Element Region, and returning, on the saddle of other tames is a process that can take an hour or more. The Drake's abilities cut that time down to mere minutes, provided you know where you are going. Indeed, the whole of Aberration is practically designed to be a Drake's playground; offering a fun and enjoyable riding experience.
 * Surface Explorer: Rock Drakes are among the only mounts that can get in and out of the cave systems to explore the surface on their own, without needing to build ramps or elevators. Their gliding capabilities and active camouflage make them the perfect mount for farming loot crates up above during the nighttime hours; able to completely avoid the dangerous wildlife, and provided you have the route memorized, they can quickly get you back below ground before the sun comes up. Conditions become survivable on the surface between 1730 and 0530 hours, providing a twelve in-game hour window to safely explore and loot. Exiting the caves or staying on the surface even thirty minutes before or after that time period can quickly become lethal. To maximize your time on the surface, plan your trips topside during the 10% day 90% night season. The current season can be checked by holding down the button that brings up the radial wheel which has the tame groups displayed, and can be tapped to bring out the map.
 * Aquatic Transit: Whether you're browsing Aberration's large lakes or exploring the oceans of another ARK entirely, the Drake makes for a better-than-average water mount. It possesses a swimming speed and maneuverability comparable to that of a Spino, but with a sharper turning radius, and it has one unique ability that puts it a cut above the rest: near to the surface, the Drake can jump directly out of the water. Once it is clear of the water and airborne, if it is currently in sprint mode, the Drake will immediately begin to glide at the height of its jump; ideal for quickly putting a great deal of distance between itself and any underwater threat. The only serious threat the Drake will encounter in this role is that of Cnidaria and Elecrophorus, which can lock your mount into a permanent stun and dismount you. Both can be entirely avoided as long as the Drake is camouflaged and has not yet been spotted by the jellyfish or eels. If camouflaged and unseen, be very careful not to swim directly into them, or they will discover your Drake. Level health, damage, oxygen and stamina; perhaps especially stamina, as the frill of feathers on the Drake's head tends to obstruct visibility in first person view and using the camouflage feature is the only way to fight effectively without switching to 3rd person.
 * Cargo Hauler: The Rock Drake makes for an excellent option to haul cargo and passengers across the cave systems; able to reach resource rich areas quickly, and bring the bounty and friends back home to the base. Although it can haul goods and one additional passenger, it cannot carry other tames like flyers in other maps, meaning it is best to either dismount the Drake and harvest resources by hand, or stake a claim to an area with harvesting tames; using the Drake to transport materials back and forth. Although it cannot carry other tames directly, if you have access to Cryopods, the Drake can easily get you and your working animals to where is needed. If being used for the transport of passengers, be wary of combat while someone else is with you on the saddle; as the passenger is damaged by attacks against the Drake and is not concealed by the camouflage ability. For this role, level primarily weight and stamina.
 * Genesis 1 Mount: When you want to get somewhere quickly in ARK, you take either a fast flyer (such as a or ) or a . However, neither flyers nor the Managarmr are able to be ridden inside the first Genesis simulation map. With unparalleled mobility on land and in the air (thanks to its ability to glide), and respectable aquatic mobility, coupled with good combat prowess, the Rock Drake makes an excellent Jack-Of-All-Trades mount in Genesis: Part 1. While the  is much faster above water, it is much less useful in combat, due to its lower base Health and Melee Damage, and lack of armor provided by a Saddle.
 * Egg Thief: With its natural abilities for travel and stealth taken into account, Rock Drakes make for very fine egg thieves against their own kind and other species; able to get the many various nesting grounds and the nests themselves with ease, and capable of getting away or fighting off most of the threats caused by taking the egg.
 * Drake Eggs: Once you have already obtained a Drake, it will be your go-to choice for obtaining more; as stated above in the taming guide for Drakes, nothing gets you in and out of their nesting grounds quicker than your own. Aside from this, most high-leveled tamed Drakes can deal with the mass-aggro caused by picking up an egg rather than running from it; capable of killing the angered swarm of wild Drakes when they attack. It is far safer though to take the egg and run; wild Drakes do not have the same climbing and gliding precision as tamed ones commanded by a rider, and getting away from the wild swarm is an easy task. If you plan to stay and fight however, you must be completely confident your Drake can handle the masses coming to retaliate for the theft; a large enough number of wild Drakes swarming in from all directions, especially if you chose to stay in the nesting alcove, can entirely block off your ability to jump and enter a glide: forcing you to commit to combat until either an opening presents itself to escape, or you have either killed or been killed by the attacking Drakes.
 * Wyvern Eggs: Wyverns themselves tend to make better thieves for their own eggs than Drakes do, but a Drake works almost as well. When taken out of their native ARK and used against Wyverns; the art of egg theft begins to get a little more tricky, and considerably more dangerous. The Drake is fully susceptible to the breath attacks of its cousins and has immunity to none of them; the fire breath will cause a minor yet lingering damage over time, the lightning breath will cause heavy amounts of instant damage and drain your Drake's stamina (with the Drake's ability to quickly lose torpor, it will not, however, have to fear being knocked out by the lightning breath), and the poison breath can be lethal to the rider and their shoulder mount. Ice Wyverns and their breath can slow your Drake down to a crawl, but they can generally be dealt with by your Drake's own attacks without much concern. Secondly, the environment can also pose a risk, as most Wyverns tend to nest above rivers of flowing magma; be very careful not to fall into these. If you do, as long as the Drake has enough stamina to jump and glide, you can easily leap directly out from the molten rock, provided you yourself have not yet been killed by it. With the risks taken into account, once you begin the process of theft, a good strategy is to have your camouflage active while climbing and gliding in a zig-zag pattern across the nesting canyon to search for alcoves with a nest and egg inside them. Be very careful not to get too close or to bump into any flying Wyverns, as the Wyverns themselves tend to have a very nasty habit of being able to see through a Drake's camouflage if they get too near. If you need to recover stamina, either find a nesting alcove or climb out of the canyon to rest when no Wyverns are nearby. Once you have taken an egg, you will need to high-tail it out of the nesting ground immediately and get out of their aggression range; an angered swarm of Wyverns can be lethal to even a high leveled Drake, let alone the rider if poison Wyverns are in the mix (a full suit of Hazard gear will protect you from the poison breath, however, if you have it).
 * Crystal Wyvern Eggs: (to be written)
 * Deinonychus Eggs: The easiest target of all; there is little art or science to stealing Deinonychus eggs with a Drake, as they can get you to a Deinonychus nest quickly, and easily kill any of the aggressive swarm with little risk to itself.
 * Magmasaur Eggs:
 * Stealth Tactician: Rock Drakes have the unique ability to turn themselves, their rider, and their saddle nearly invisible (toggle with ), although at a cost of slowly draining the Drake's stamina. Not a perfect invisibility, this camouflaging cloak can still be visible by the shimmering outline of the Drake that it produces, but makes the animal far less noticeable nonetheless. This camouflage opens up an incredibly wide variety of roles for the Drake to engage in; be it pve or pvp. While in this state and remaining mounted, all wild dinos (except piranhas) will ignore the player unless attacked or directly walked into (Nameless will attack if uncharged nonetheless). This makes the Drake extremely valuable for completing what few Artifact Caves it can access, as the tame makes it perfectly viable to completely ignore and sneak past all hostiles up until the artifact chamber is reached. For warfare purposes, Drakes can cling to concealing surfaces with their camouflage active; laying in wait for ambushes, or be used as scouts to sneak into enemy territory. Since the camouflage covers both the player and the saddle, a tamed Drake looks identical to a wild camouflaged one; provided you act natural and don't get too close to the wild Drakes, you can hide among a wild population while trying to avoid enemies. Be wary of enemy turrets however, which can spot and target a Drake even if it is camouflaged. In PvP, most players use extremely low graphics settings, which can make a cloaked Drake even trickier to spot.
 * Reaper-Seeker: Their feathers on their heads will frill up and glow slightly in the presence of any and  not owned by its own tribe. Their head will often turn left and right to locate them when idle and mounted, even if they are directly in front of the Drake. With high enough levels in health and damage, a Drake can make a superb Reaper-killer as well, and can be used to obtain Reaper Embryos and Pheromone Glands from Queens.
 * Nameless Hunter: While other tames can kill Nameless more quickly, Rock Drakes have the competition beat in how fast they can get the spoils back home. Nothing brings Nameless Venom back to base more quickly than a Drake, who can keep younger, growing Drakes well fed when they need it. The venom is not only useful for raising young Drakes, but can be fed to adults; doubling as both a rich source of food, and a powerful healing item that only Drakes can benefit from. With each dose of venom healing 100 points of health, a quick force-feeding of multiple amounts can keep a Drake in a fight for the long run, or patch it up after battles.
 * Taming Aid: With the ability to let both the primary and secondary rider wield weaponry, a Drake can be used to aid in tranquilizing many various animals. With a high health pool, it is capable of tanking the hits of aggressive targets while the rider tranquilizes, and with its mobility; it can easily chase down and corner the target when they begin fleeing. Furthermore, since most creatures are not automatically aggressive to Rock Drakes, it makes tranquilizing relatively safe in dangerous environments. Be warned, however, that lining up a shot while riding on the Drake's saddle can be a bit tedious. In most cases, a Karkinos is a better choice as a taming assistant, but the Drake works well for targets that the Karkinos cannot grab and hold.
 * Basilisk Tamer: Given how Rock Drake eggs are needed to tame Basilisks, it makes sense to use them for getting more eggs, and finding the giant snakes. Once found, the Basilisk can be provoked and drawn out from underground by quickly dismounting, then remounting to the safety of the Drake's back. Once provoked, an egg can be dropped from your inventory (eggs dropped from the Drake's inventory won't count towards your taming progress), then the Drake can quickly get out of the Basilisk's range, and wait until the snake targets and eats the egg. If the Basilisk uses its poison breath while it's attacking you, the Drake can easily dodge the poison spit with a well timed jump, which can be lifesaving. Alternatively, a full set of Hazard gear can be worn to protect the rider from the Basilisk's breath, but the Drake itself will still be harmed.

Notes/Trivia

 * Rock Drakes are based on the Drake species of Dragons which in mythology are Dragons without wings.
 * The creature was first announced on October 13, 2017.
 * As seen in the trailer, the Rock Drake is capable of turning itself and its rider invisible.
 * Its camouflage behaves more like a futuristic cloaking device rather than natural transparency. This ability may be a side effect of Rockwell's theory; that traces of Element have slowly seeped into the genetic code of the Aberrant Ark's flora and fauna.
 * This may be why young Drakes need to feed on Nameless venom; as Nameless have high traces of Element in their bodies.
 * Although invisible Rock Drakes can be easily spotted by eyes, Tek Helmet cannot scan them.
 * Rock Drake spawns with vast variety of color regions in the Wild, currently making them one of the two dinos with the most varying color spawns.
 * This shares a trait with Tamed with its midsection color region.
 * The Rock Drake's species is called "Draconis obscurum", which roughly means "Obscure or Dark Dragon" in Latin.
 * The genus name "Draconis" is also shared with the and the . This either implies that Helena uses a polyphyletic relation between the three species based on appearance, or that she grouped them together due to their shared morphological traits and possible close relation genetically to one another. Based on information in the Managarmr dossier, it is apparent that Helena believes that the three species are indeed related.
 * This is also likely due to the fact that all three are based on types of dragons in mythology.
 * Like a, a Rock Drake's max level on Difficulty 5 is 190.
 * Drakes do not take fall damage, see Fall Damage for more info.
 * However, ridden Rock Drakes will take a small amount of fall damage if they detatch from a wall and land on the ground within a very short time (<0.5 seconds). This may be a bug.
 * Rock Drakes do not shift their camouflage by themselves when tamed. Most wild Drakes spawn with their camouflage activated, and will deactivate it upon taking damage, but will not reactivate it.
 * Although Rock Drakes made their debut in Aberration, they can also be found in Extinction, though corrupted.
 * Oddly, do not possess feathers on each limbs, but can still glide. Its camouflaged state still shows its feathers.
 * The Rock Drake, and  are the only creatures that possess an icon different from their dossier/hologram.
 * Rock Drakes are one of the fastest creatures to wake up while unconscious, though not quite as fast as and.
 * Rock Drakes can be used against, though not against other.
 * The Rock Drake is scared by Yutyrannus.
 * The Rock Drake's ability to camouflage itself, as well as the dossier stating that it is the Reaper's only natural enemy, may be a reference to the Yautja, more commonly known as the Predator, from the film franchise of the same name, due to the Reaper's obvious association with the Xenomorph.

Bugs

 * Wild Rock Drakes spin and flail uncontrollably while they climb, the animations completely broken, although they can still climb properly, it is only the animation that is not working properly. Tamed drakes are not affected by this.


 * A Rock Drake's gliding ability is tied to whether it is sprinting or not. Normally, jumping while in sprint mode will cause your Drake to go into a glide upon the jump. A bug exists where if your Drake is currently set to sprint mode and you dismount it, then remount it, its glide ability will no longer be used when sprint is activated, but instead it reverses as your Drake manually returns to walking speed upon dismount, and will begin to glide every time you jump during normal walking speed. This can be debilitating during gameplay, as when running from a Reaper while jumping, expecting to go into a glide, you can instead end up falling to your death into a pit of element water. To easily fix this bug when it appears, put your Drake back into sprint-mode, dismount, then remount again and the effects should re-reverse themselves.
 * This bug can be exploited, as when your Drake starts to glide during walking speed instead of having to go into sprint mode, gliding costs significantly less stamina, allowing you to glide further distances.
 * Leaving a Rock Drake in climbing-mode on certain natural surfaces outside your render distance may cause it to warp elsewhere.
 * If it did not fall into a void, it can still be retrieved with whistles as long as you are close enough. Using and  makes it easy to track them.
 * When an object is in the rider's hands, such as a gun, and even your map, your Rock Drake cannot glide. The Drake will even stop gliding in mid-air if an item is brought out. To fix this, simply put away the item in your hands, and your Drake will begin to glide normally again. This is similar to the issues Griffins and Snow Owls have, as they cannot preform their aerial dive when the rider currently has the map or weapons in hand.
 * After dismounting, a Rock Drake might start walking away from its dismount location for no known reason, even if it is following the player. It may continue walking indefinitely or stop just a short distance away; requiring you to chase after and remount it to get it under control. This bug is occasionally experienced on many other tames and there is no known way to prevent it. The bug may be tied to pre-queued movements in conjunction with a dismount, such as "flyer-land" or any other movement.  If the dismount occurs and players are moved out of render range during this bug (such as via death), tames may ignore terrain boundaries and walk under the map.
 * Sometimes wild creatures can see through a Drake's camouflage ability, and will pursue to attack regardless of whether it is active or not. Any creature that will attack a Drake however, such as Nameless, will normally only attack if the Drake is spotted before camouflage is activated, if it is quickly deactivated then reactivated, are attacked while camouflaged, or you dismount then remount the currently camouflaged Drake. To tell if the bug is present and a certain creature can indeed see through the Drake's camouflage, be sure to avoid those four indicators.
 * Rock drake will take fall damage, when climbing mode is disabled while latched to a wall or ceiling. Height doesn’t matter, damage still occurs. Damage amount varies with height
 * The Corrupted Rock Drake's climbing animation is not as broken as its normal counterpart. Instead of wild sporadic spinning, it will run against a wall while slowly moving up. This bug is likely fixed now after patch 315.2
 * Upon climbing an inclined or vertical surface the poop mechanic will treat the surface as flat ground when a Rock drake defecates.
 * If you leave a rock drake on a wall while invisible leave the server and rejoin the rock drake will stay invisible and lose no stamina from it until turned on and back off, this can be used to your advantage if you plan on raiding a tribe or other.
 * The is one of the five species that cannot be tamed, but still can be acquired by the survivor through other means, with the others being, ,  and.

Lore

 * Players in game must tame Rock Drakes by stealing their eggs and raising them. Despite this taming limitation, in the lore Mei Yin Li managed to tame an adult Rock Drake which she named Ao Yue.