Purlovia

The Purlovia (per-LOH-vee-uh) is one of the Creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Behavior
Purlovia is a patient yet very aggressive carnivore which burrows beneath the ground, waiting for a wandering creature or passing player to ambush from beneath. While not exceptionally powerful, the cunning Purlovia leaps from its hiding place and stuns most creatures, preferring to attack and feast on its powerless prey.

The leap attack gives a rogue wild Purlovia a huge advantage against the player, as it knocks them off most mounts. While tames of this species also possess this ability, it only works on creatures with Drag Weight lower than or equal to 350.

Appearance
Resembling something akin to a giant weasel, Purlovia is actually a type of theriodont therapsid known as a Therocephalian. Although its fossil counterpart was herbivorous, the ARK's Purlovia is a vicious ambush carnivore. It has long front claws meant for digging out the burrows it uses to stage surprise attacks while its saber-like canines act as death dealers to its preferred prey - small to mid-sized ground herbivores like Dodo and Lystrosaurus, and passing survivors of the Ark.

Polar Purlovia (Variant)
There is a polar variant that lives in the Snow Cave and the Ice Cave in Extinction and is identical to the normal variant except for its white color, and it has a higher base health of 550. Also, it can't be tamed.

Base Stats and Growth
Purlovia=

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Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Purlovia.

General
Purlovia themselves are not particularly powerful, being maybe a little more powerful than a lone Sabertooth. What makes them extremely dangerous is their single use surprise attack that not only stuns your character for a quite long time, but can provide a serious jump scare for the player outside the game as well, the shock of which can effect the ability to respond properly during the critical first few seconds of an attack. Best way to avoid them altogether is stay on medium to large carnivores, as they will not aggro at all and can quickly dispatch them if you do get attacked. Medium to large carnivores include and larger creatures work well for this.

Strategy
If you do get attacked, pray that you will survive throughout the stun duration, and either retreat or fight back with recommended weaponry. Once you can fight back, the Purlovia is not a tough enemy.
 * Landing an arrow during their initial jump attack prevents stunning. However, reacting to the threat, finding the direction it’s coming from, drawing the correct weapon, aiming and firing all in the half second or less before it reaches you is next to impossible without exact knowledge of where it’s buried, a plan to deal with it, and a great deal of luck.
 * As soon as you're stunned, spam 5 to 10 healing potions, and you'll survive. Tested with flak armor.
 * If you blocked the surprise attack with a shield you can remain your shield active while you are stunned to block incoming damage.

Weaponry
Being very fast and its attacks having almost phenomenal knock back, it's good to bring powerful short-mid range weapons such as shotgun or weapon with quick reload or fire rate such as Assault Rifle. A shield is quite helpful if you can afford it, or a good land mount.

Dangers
The Purlovia is very fast, so even if it isn't hiding, it will be near you in no time and attacks rapidly.

Their attacks also cause insane knockback, reposition you to an unexpected place or push you off a cliff. Unless you are stunned.

Any creature that is flying or hovering just above the mound it buried itself into can be attacked by the purlovia as it jumps vertically in an attempt to stun you. This has been tested using a mek.

Weaknesses
Purlovia have relatively low torpor themselves, so knocking them out before moving in for the kill is a worthy strategy. Burrowed Purlovia also leave a slight mound of dirt on the surface, so learn to spot these and the Redwoods will become a little safer.

If you don't have any explosives to force the Purlovia out, you can bring a tamed Yutyrannus and utilize its roar, which the Purlovia will immediately emerge upon hearing it.

Additionly Tek-Helmet‘s effect makes them visible (they look like a ball when burrowed under ground, so don‘t be confused).

KO Strategy
Try running in a zig-zag, as the Purlovia is quite fast to attack. If timed right and done well, it might miss you, making a K.O. possible with a ranged weapon if on higher ground or rocks.

Utility
The Purlovia, when burrowed underground, will jump out and knock riders off of certain mounts. A domesticated Purlovia is however unable to knock riders off large mounts (whose Drag Weight is higher than 350).

The following are mounts that a domesticated Purlovia can knock a person from:

Roles

 * Land Mine: Due to its ability to burrow and surprise attack, it can be useful for defending your property. Non tribe members cannot see it when it's burrowed, making it an effective ambush predator. Level up and.


 * Hidden Vault: The Purlovia cannot be seen by players not in the owner's tribe, including allied tribes, making it incredibly useful for hiding items. This makes it a unique and useful way to store valuable items and loot away from raiders. On PvP, it's recommended to set Purlovia on passive and bury them away from your base, as they could be revealed by the listed methods below. Once hidden, do not forget to keep them fed if they are too far away from a feeding trough while hiding your items. Level up Food and Weight. The only ways to actually reveal a hidden Purlovia, aside from it un-burrowing itself to attack enemies or being manually revealed by its owner, are the following methods;
 * Being damaged by explosions, such as rockets, C4, grenades, or generally anything that can do Area of Effect/AoE damage.
 * Being revealed by a dinosaur that has such abilities (the 's sniffing, the 's detection, and the 's scouting).
 * Being forcibly ejected by a 's intimidation roar.


 * Treasure Hunt: While not the most useful of roles, scattering Purlovia across the map, burying them with rewards, and providing clues on where to find them, can provide a fun pastime for you and your tribe. Alternatively, cross-tribal treasure hunts could also be hosted, where un-allied players will face the added challenge of uncovering and/or fighting the Purlovia for their loot.

Notes/Trivia

 * Dino Dossier was revealed on May 10, 2016, on Steam.
 * The real Purlovia was a type of herbivorous Therocephalian from Russia. This makes it the third creature to have a dietary change in the dossier, with the first being Arthropleura, and the second being Moschops.
 * The skull that is seen in the dossier of Purlovia actually belongs to Bauria, which comes from a different family of therocephalians than Purlovia.
 * Often referred to as "murder badger", "death mole" or more vulgar terms due to their lethality, behavior, and appearance.
 * Yutyrannus is the only creature that can force Purlovia to come out, it is also the only method to avoid its ambush aside explosive weaponry, and detecting it with either a Direwolf, Parasaur, or Troodon.
 * Despite being large enough to ride, Purlovia is actually not rideable.
 * In ARK: Mobile, the Purlovia can be conveniently unburrowed via a special whistle.
 * The Purlovia was originally set to be released on ARK: Mobile in September 2018, however, the release had to be pushed back several weeks due to some bugs.
 * The Purlovia albeit not able to dismount survivors from Stegosaurus can still stun the mount due to its drag weight being 250 leaving said mount vulnerable to other predators