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Chitin
Chitin
This firm, flexible material makes up exoskeletons. Hacked primarily from dead insects.
Type
Rarity
Common
Renewable
Yes
Refineable
No
Combustible
No
Weight
0.01
Stack size
100 / 5000
Spawn Command
cheat giveitemnum 11 1 0 0
or
cheat gfi Chitin 1 0 0
or
cheat giveitem "Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/CoreBlueprints/Resources/PrimalItemResource_Chitin.PrimalItemResource_Chitin'" 1 0 0
Crafting XP
16 XP
Crafting time
0.2s
Used to craft
Crafted in
Ingredients
Exchange yields
25 pieces
Hexagons
Hexagon Icon 60

Chitin (Ky-tin) is a resource in ARK: Survival Evolved. It's a polymer and characteristic component of exoskeletons, radulae, beaks, shells and various other physical structures in organisms throughout history.

Gathering[]

Chitin can be acquired by harvesting corpses with most tools and dinosaurs.

Chitin Chitin
Creature / ToolGain per action
Megatherium Megatherium★★★★★
Sabertooth Sabertooth★★★★★
Therizinosaur Therizinosaur★★★★★
Beelzebufo Beelzebufo★★★★☆
Direwolf Direwolf★★★★☆
Metal Hatchet Metal Hatchet★★★★☆
Thylacoleo Thylacoleo★★★★☆
Argentavis Argentavis★★★☆☆
Carnotaurus Carnotaurus★★★☆☆
Karkinos Karkinos★★★☆☆

The most efficient way to harvest Chitin is by using a tamed Megatherium Megatherium, Direwolf Direwolf, Sabertooth Sabertooth or Therizinosaur Therizinosaur (headbutt with delicate collection leveled up) with high melee damage. A tamed Diplocaulus Diplocaulus can also be used to gather Chitin by killing Trilobite Trilobites. Another highly efficient tool for harvesting it is the Metal Hatchet Metal Hatchet with the metal pike yielding similar efficiency. The pike holds the advantage of more precise hits against small chitin-droppers like Meganeura Meganeuras. Chitin can be harvested with a Stone Hatchet Stone Hatchet and Stone Pick Picks as well; other low level items will only occasionally harvest Chitin.

Another efficient way to farm Chitin seems to be killing scorpions and spiders in caves with a Direwolf Direwolf skilled on melee damage. A Sabertooth Sabertooth will gather just as efficiently but has lower base damage. This method can grant up to 500 Chitin in 10 minutes. Another good way to farm Chitin is to kill Trilobite Trilobites, Meganeura Meganeuras or Titanomyrma Titanomyrmas at the beach and surrounding areas, harvesting them with a Hatchet Hatchet or a Sabertooth Sabertooth. If you are in a forest or swamp, you can also kill a random dinosaur and leave the corpse. Often a swarm of Meganeura Meganeura will come to the corpse, and you can kill them all at once to gather chitin. Farming Karkinos Karkinos on Valguero or Aberration can be an effective way of gathering large amounts of Chitin, so long as you have a strong enough tame.

Another way to farm Chitin is to kill a creature, and let the corpse rot without harvesting it. In some regions, this will attract insects. Using a Beelzebufo Beelzebufo to kill/harvest the insects will not only result in a much more Chitin, but your frog will also directly produce a sizable amount of cementing paste as well.

Additionally, in Crystal Isles, Chitin can be harvested from Anthills in large quantities, as well as from the Titanomyrma Titanomyrma and Dung Beetle Dung Beetles that spawn around them.

Weight Reduction[]

The following creatures reduce the weight of Chitin by the listed amount while it is in their inventory:

CreatureReduction
Equus Equus50%
Unicorn Unicorn50%

Dropped by[]

Chitin drops from the following creatures:

Crafting[]

Chitin can be used to craft the following items:

Chitin can also be used as an alternative to Keratin Keratin to craft the following items:

Video[]

Notes/Trivia[]

  • Chitin is a polysaccharide of N-acetylglucosamine, a derivative of glucose (a common sugar).
  • Normally Chitin is colorless. The known browning (as well as the strength) of the shells of insects is caused by sclerotin, a structural protein.
  • The shells of crustaceans and mollusks are formed of a composite of chitin and calcium carbonate.
  • Chitin is also used as food to tame the Archaeopteryx

Changelog[]

Patch Changes
309.4 Insect swarms now give chitin instead of hide
329.27 Added Keratin Keratin & Chitin to the Meat Plants in the Corrupt Cave
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