Anyone who’s grinded ARK on PS4 knows how frustrating it is to line up a cave run with 4+ tribemates, only to have half of them log off last minute or waste 20 minutes fumbling with their loadouts. If you’re tired of waiting around to grab the Strong Artifact for your next boss fight, you’re in the right place. We’ve run this cave dozens of times with just two players, and we’re breaking down exactly how to 2 man strong artifact cave ark ps4 without wasting hours of your time or losing all your best gear. You don’t need overly leveled characters or rare tames to pull this off, either – we’ve done it with level 65 characters and basic craftable gear.
How to Prep Loadouts for Your 2 Man Strong Artifact Cave ARK PS4 Run
The first rule of a smooth 2 person run is splitting roles clearly before you even step foot in the cave. You’ll have one tank that draws aggro and takes most of the melee hits, and one support that handles damage, navigation, and extra supplies. Trying to split both roles evenly will lead to mistakes, so pick a role that fits your playstyle before you start crafting gear.
Player 1 (Tank) Loadout: Full flak armor (minimum 120% durability per piece), 200+ health, 150+ stamina, a pike with 200%+ damage, 25 cooked prime meat, 10 medical brews, 2 full bug repellent sprays, and 1 torch. Flak armor is non-negotiable here because it blocks 80% of melee damage from the cave’s bugs and wolves, which is the majority of damage you’ll take. We don’t recommend riot armor – it’s far too heavy, and the extra 10% defense doesn’t justify the stamina drain from carrying the extra weight.
Player 2 (Support/DPS) Loadout: Full hide armor (or flak if you have extra to spare), 100+ weight stat, 180%+ damage pump action shotgun, 250 shotgun shells, 15 extra medical brews, 3 grappling hooks, a GPS, and 2 sleeping bags. The support doesn’t need as much health because they’ll stay 10 to 15 feet behind the tank for most of the run, so putting extra points in weight lets them carry extra supplies without getting encumbered in narrow paths.
Before you head out, make sure both of you have at least 20 points in fortitude. The cave is significantly colder than the surrounding redwood forest, and hypothermia will drain your stamina fast when you need it most to outrun mobs or climb ledges.
Step-by-Step Cave Navigation for 2 Players
The Strong Artifact Cave entrance sits on the west side of the island, tucked between two redwood trees near the mountain edge. Before you go in, park your tames at least 100 feet away from the entrance, hidden behind thick foliage. Passing tribes often camp cave entrances to steal artifacts, and a visible argentavis or rex will draw attention right away. We once lost a fully leveled argentavis to a camping tribe after our first successful 2 man run, so we never skip this step now.
When you enter the cave, the tank goes first, and the support stays far enough back that they don’t draw aggro from the first wave of megachilas and bats. The tank’s job is to aggro all incoming mobs and hold them in place, while the support picks them off with the shotgun from a safe distance. Don’t rush through the first tunnel – it’s narrow, and if you run too far ahead, you’ll aggro every mob in the first half of the cave at once.
When you reach the first large chamber with the drop to the lower level, stick to these 3 non-negotiable navigation rules to avoid wipes:
- Never split up more than 15 feet apart – the cave’s winding paths mean you can lose line of sight instantly if one of you turns a corner first, and you won’t be able to help each other if you get swarmed
- Turn off all flashlight attachments when you reach the artifact chamber – bright light triggers an extra swarm of megachilas and wolf spawns that you don’t need to fight to grab the artifact
- Only one player interacts with the artifact at a time – the other should stand guard facing the entrance to take out any mobs that spawn during the 3 second pickup animation
The most common mistake new teams make is jumping straight down the first drop to the lower chamber without checking for arthropleuras patrolling the bottom. The support should grapple down first to clear any nearby mobs and mark safe spots on the GPS, then the tank can climb down the ledge on the left side to avoid fall damage.
How to Handle Unexpected Spawns and Emergencies
Even with perfect prep, things can go wrong fast in the Strong Artifact Cave. The cave has a 30% chance to spawn an alpha direwolf in the artifact chamber, and it’s easy to run out of bug repellent mid-run if you take longer than expected.
If you encounter the alpha direwolf, don’t panic. The tank’s job is to kite it around the large central rock in the artifact chamber, while the support shoots it from behind with the shotgun. It takes roughly 12 shotgun shots to take down a level 100 alpha, so make sure you have extra ammo before you enter the chamber. Don’t try to stab it with a pike unless you have no other option – its bite deals 80 damage per hit, even through flak armor.
If one player dies, don’t try to retrieve their gear right away. Clear all nearby mobs first, then go grab their stuff, otherwise you’ll both end up dead and have to restart the run from scratch. I once tried to grab my tribemate’s flak chestpiece right after he got taken out by an arthropleura, and I got swarmed by 7 megachilas before I could even pick it up, costing us both our full loadouts. Learn from our mistake and take it slow.
If your bug repellent runs out mid-run, the tank should pull out their torch to burn incoming megachilas, while the support throws down a sleeping bag in a safe corner. The sleeping bag gives you a respawn point inside the cave if you wipe, so you don’t have to travel all the way back from base to try again. We keep extra sleeping bags on the support specifically for this scenario, and it’s saved us 3 separate runs so far.
Post-Run Tips to Secure Your Artifact
Once you’ve grabbed the artifact, don’t run back out the same way immediately. Wait 30 seconds to make sure no extra mobs spawn behind you, then the support goes first to clear the path back to the entrance, with the tank following behind carrying the artifact. Never let the player carrying the artifact take point – if they die, you’ll have to run all the way back to the artifact chamber to grab it again, which wastes at least 10 minutes of your time.
When you exit the cave, don’t stop to loot any nearby drops or tame wandering dinos. We’ve had three separate run-ins with camping tribes who waited just outside the entrance to steal artifacts from players who just finished runs, and you’ll be low on supplies and medical brews by that point, so you won’t be able to put up much of a fight. Hop on your pre-parked tames and head straight back to your base.
Once you get back to base, store the artifact in a dedicated locked chest near your boss terminal, not in your main storage. If your base gets raided before you’re ready to fight the boss, raiders are far less likely to check random chests near your terminal than they are to rummage through your main storage bins. We also write down the date we grabbed each artifact so we don’t forget how many we have stockpiled for upcoming boss fights.
At the end of the day, you don’t need a huge squad to tackle high-tier caves on ARK PS4. With the right loadout, clear communication, and a little bit of patience, you can pull off a smooth run every time. We’ve used these exact steps to run the cave 12 times in the last two months alone, and we’ve only wiped once, when we forgot to restock our bug repellent before heading in. If you’ve been putting off grabbing the Strong Artifact because you don’t have enough tribemates online, give this strategy a shot. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to 2 man strong artifact cave ark ps4 when you know exactly what you’re doing.