What do grinders do in Ark?

Grinders in Ark: Survival Evolved serve a crucial role in allowing players to recycle and salvage materials from crafted items. They are incredibly useful tools that can be used to grind up a wide range of items, including tools, weapons, armor, structures, and saddles.

One of the primary functions of the grinder is to help players recover some of the resources they invested in crafting an item. When you grind up an item, the grinder will return 1/4 of the cost of each resource used to craft that item. The amount returned is rounded up, but there is a cap of 100 of each resource.

For example, let’s say you crafted a metal pickaxe that required 20 metal ingots and 10 wood. If you were to grind up this pickaxe using a grinder, you would receive back 5 metal ingots (1/4 of 20, rounded up) and 3 wood (1/4 of 10, rounded up). However, if you had used 100 metal ingots and 100 wood to craft the pickaxe, you would still only receive 25 metal ingots and 25 wood.

This resource recovery feature of the grinder is incredibly valuable, especially for players who want to make the most efficient use of their resources. It allows you to break down unwanted or obsolete items and recoup some of the valuable materials, which can then be used to craft new items or structures.

Using the grinder is relatively straightforward. Once you have crafted the grinder, you can place it anywhere within your base or on your platform saddle if you have one. To grind an item, simply approach the grinder and access its inventory. From there, you can transfer the item you want to grind into the grinder’s inventory.

It’s important to note that not all items can be ground up in the grinder. Some items, like certain boss trophies or certain special event items, cannot be recycled. Additionally, some items may only return a fraction of the resources used to craft them. For example, some high-level weapons or armor may only return a portion of the resources invested, as they are considered more valuable.