If you’ve spent hours roaming Aberration’s radioactive lower depths waiting for a Reaper King to spawn, you know how frustrating that endless grind can be. Many players skip the hassle entirely by spawning this iconic dino directly, and this guide breaks down everything you need to know about how 2 spawn Reaper King in ARK, no hours of hunting required. We cover both admin commands for single player and private servers, plus natural spawn triggers if you prefer to avoid cheats, along with common mistakes that can make your spawn fail entirely. I’ve had plenty of spawns go wrong when I first started playing, so I also included all the small hacks I picked up over the years to make the process smooth.
How 2 Spawn Reaper King in ARK: Admin Console Command Steps
The fastest way to get a Reaper King is using admin console commands, which work on single player worlds and any private server where you have admin privileges. First, you need to open the console: press Tab on PC, or hold LB+RB+X+Y while paused on Xbox, or L1+R1+Square+Triangle while paused on Playstation. Always enable cheat mode first by typing EnableCheats [your admin password] for multiplayer servers, or just EnableCheats if you’re playing single player. From there, you have two common command options, depending on if you want a wild or tamed Reaper King. The Summon "ReaperKingCharacterBPC" command spawns a wild Reaper King directly at your crosshair, while GMSummon "ReaperKingCharacterBPC" 150 spawns a tamed level 150 Reaper King right next to you. You can replace the 150 with any level you prefer, as long as it fits your server’s level cap. Keep these common command mistakes in mind to avoid wasted effort:
- Forgetting to capitalize the blueprint ID correctly, since ARK commands are case-sensitive and will fail if you use lowercase letters for the ID
- Typing "Reaper Queen" instead of "Reaper King" if you specifically want the male variant, which has higher base melee damage than the Queen
- Spawning the Reaper King too close to your base walls, which can cause it to clip through terrain or get stuck immediately after spawning
- Using a level value over 180 on official servers, as this is the maximum wild dino level cap for official unmodded play
How to Trigger a Natural Reaper King Spawn Without Cheats
If you prefer to play without admin cheats, you can still get a Reaper King by triggering its natural spawn conditions on the Aberration map, or any modded map that includes Aberration creatures. Wild Reaper Kings only spawn in the deepest radioactive red biome of Aberration, at least 500 meters below the surface. They have an extremely low spawn weight, so you’ll need to clear out all other wild dinos within a 100 meter radius repeatedly for 5 to 10 minutes to force one to spawn. Keep in mind that wild Reaper Kings can’t be tamed, so this method only works if you want to fight one for loot, or if you plan to use it for PvP base defense on a PvE server. The only way to get a tamed Reaper King without admin commands is to get impregnated by a Reaper Queen. To do this, you need to find a wild Reaper Queen in the red zone, get its health down to 10% or less, and stand close enough for it to rear up and implant an embryo in your character. You’ll take constant damage over the 12 in-game hour pregnancy period, so make sure you have plenty of healing items on hand. When the pregnancy ends, you’ll give birth to a tamed Reaper King that inherits stats from the Queen you got impregnated by. Wear full radiation protection armor the entire time you’re in the red zone, otherwise you’ll take lethal radiation damage before you even find a Queen.
Critical Pre-Spawn Preparations to Avoid Wasted Effort
Whether you’re using admin commands or spawning a Reaper King naturally, there are a few key preparations you need to make before you start the process, to avoid losing your dino immediately. First, if you plan to ride your Reaper King, craft a Reaper Saddle ahead of time. The saddle requires 320 Hide, 150 Fiber, 40 Cementing Paste, 20 Polymer, and 10 Black Pearl, so gather these materials long before you start the spawn process. If you’re spawning a wild Reaper King to fight, build a 3x3 stone taming pen with 4 high walls and a ceiling first, so the Reaper can’t escape or kill you the second it spawns. If you're using the impregnation method, stock up on medical brews and healing items before you go looking for a Queen, because the pregnancy will drain your health steadily, and you can’t heal the embryo directly. You should also turn off friendly fire on your server if you’re playing with friends, so they don’t accidentally kill you while you’re pregnant, or attack the newborn Reaper King when it spawns. Make sure you have no tamed dinos set to aggressive within 100 meters of your spawn location, because they’ll immediately attack the Reaper King, and most tames can’t survive even one hit from its acid spit attack. If you’re playing on a PvP server, pick a hidden spawn location far away from enemy bases, so other players don’t see your Reaper King spawn and come to steal it.
Post-Spawn Tips to Keep Your Reaper King Alive and Thriving
Once your Reaper King spawns, there are a few quick steps you can take to make sure it stays alive and useful for your playstyle. If you spawned a tamed Reaper King via admin or got one from a Queen pregnancy, immediately set its follow distance to low and assign it to a custom group, so you don’t lose it when you’re exploring the map. Reaper Kings have a unique acid spit attack that deals damage over time and reduces enemy armor by 50%, so you can level up its melee damage first for PvP fights, or health first if you plan to use it for PvE boss runs. One key weakness of Reaper Kings is that their 80% damage resistance is completely negated by charge light from lantern pets like Bulbdogs or Glowsticks. Always keep a charge pet nearby when you bring your Reaper King to PvP fights, because enemy players will definitely use charge light to make your Reaper take full damage. If you’re playing on a PvE server, Reaper Kings are one of the best resource farming dinos in the game, because they can harvest large amounts of hide, meat, and chitin from dead dinos in just a few hits. You don’t have to worry about most wild dinos attacking your Reaper King either, as smaller creatures like Seekers and Nameless will run away from it automatically. If you want to breed Reaper Kings, you’ll need to have both a male and female variant, and set them to wander in a closed pen with no charge light nearby, as charge light will prevent them from mating.
Whether you’re looking to skip the hours of grinding in Aberration’s depths or you just want to test out one of the game’s strongest dinos for an upcoming PvP match, the whole process of how 2 spawn Reaper King in ARK is far simpler than most new players expect. Take the time to prep your base, double check your command inputs, and you’ll have this iconic dino ready to use in no time. If you run into issues with spawns on modded servers, don’t hesitate to ask your server admin for adjusted blueprint IDs or spawn rules specific to your world, as many mod packs alter Reaper spawn conditions to fit custom gameplay loops.