Greetings reader! Welcome to my guide! It might surprise you to know that this guide was some months in the making.

I had wanted to try and do a Rex guide for some time. But one thing stood in my way- I didn't feel like I had earned it yet. I had been playing Rex for some time, but I never truly felt I had succeeded at it. I had gotten Rex's to the 1.2-1.4 range before, but I felt it was time to try something bigger; and on a well-populated server where there was enough competition that it mattered; it became my goal to become the largest Rex on the server.



I succeeded.

Now, with proper experience under my belt; I have come here to spread what I have learned. In the hopes that others will find what I have to say useful; and benefit from it. So that others can enjoy the same fun that I've had.

Seems like it should be a no-brainer, but what separates a successful Rex player and a mediocre Rex player is proper conceptualization of this fact.

Camouflage matters. Sneaky matters. It is all too easy to convince yourself- lumbering around the map like a living boulder come to life, that you're meant to be a tank, a brawler. But that isn't the ideal way to play Rex. You want to be creeping around the map, lurking, waiting to use your ambush special ability at just the right time to run out at the enemy at the unawares and claim victory.

Even a small Rex player can- with the right amount of patience and just the right ambush, kill a far larger rival.

Don't believe me? Take a look at myself and my Rex partner doing a number of ambushes.


Blending into your environment matters. Not being heard, matters. Concealing your scent where you can, matters. With careful planning and patience- it will be you that decides when a fight happens; and it will always be the enemy that is unprepared for it.

Good Camouflage can be the difference between life and death. Between getting a kill or pathetically waddling after an escaping prey that you can no longer hope of catching up to.

It's the difference between.....



.... and this.



The goal of good camouflage isn't to make you an invisible wonder, it's about them overlooking you for just long enough that they decide to pass you by- or give you an opening to unleashing a devastating ambush! But how are such things achieved- you may ask?

What you want to go for are darker, duller hues that match whatever environment you'll be playing your Rex in. For the current maps, that means hues of green and brown to match forest foliage. However, it is not ideal to make your Rex pure green and call it a day. To truly fool the eye, you need to add in a secondary and third color- never too much, to make the camouflage work. Because few things in nature are ever one solid color and nothing else; and if something like that is seen? It immediately gets noticed.

Not being a jerk matters.

One of the greatest downfalls of your average Apex player is arrogance and disregard for the community around you. Often you see players grow large Apex's; shouting "GG" in global chat after every kill- mocking the people they've killed and generally just being unpleasant.

Afterwards, they get confused and don't seem to understand why everyone in the server hates them and has collaborated to take them down. Often ranting and raving at the unfairness of it all.



The point is, respect others in the server you play in and they are more likely to respect you. It isn't always easy, but it pays off more often then you'd expect. Give out eggs, don't hunt your children down and murder them and you'll be seen as an asset to the server, no matter how many Dinosaurs you hunt down and kill.

A lone Rex is a dead Rex, in the long run.

Oh, don't get me wrong, if you're clever enough, alert enough and hide well enough you can get a Rex up to a respectable size...... but you will never truly succeed.

Different servers have different limits on how many adult rex's can be together, sometimes it's two, three- and even more! But the general standard for most are two rex's(and indeed, is often the most effective method even in servers that allow more, Rex's get hungry fast). Having a dedicated rex partner comes with many advantages, such as........

Someone to nest with consistently to get baby buff and a bonus to growth

You're more threatening as a pair and capable of hunting more varied targets with a second Rex

Other carnivores don't often like messing with two Rex's, where they might otherwise feel the risk is acceptable with just one

You're capable of 'blendering' in fights against other Apex's, especially other Rex's

Finding someone to play Rex with consistently can be a challenge. Rex takes awhile to grow; and you need someone you can trust to have your back, someone you can spend along time communicating with, someone you can have fun with.

But find that person; and there will be few limits to what you can accomplish.

As you get friendship grade with another Rex, you progressively get a buff that negates damage done to each other, at the highest level, S-Grade, you do 75% less damage to each other.

Effectively what this means is in a fight, you can layer on the attacks onto the same target- bite each other and still do far more damage to the enemy. This is especially important in fights against other paired Rex's.

Two things that people often aren't aware of is how important scent is in hunting. People will see scent long before they see the Dinosaurs in question. Scent on average, renders long before the bodies of the Dinosaurs do. If you are trying to ambush something that might be able to see your scent from a distance, crouch-walk up to them, it will make your scent invisible and they won't get the early warning of your approach.

The second thing is crouch turning. By tabbing the crouch button at just the time time while turning, you can boast your turning speed. It can takes abit of practice, but once you get it down right it can save your life in a fight.

"Stun locking causes 9/10ths of Dino casualties." - Checkmate

So you want to hunt Sai, those annoying spiky turtles. Or you want to hunt Apas- get yourself some of that big meat? Well; it isn't easy. But I can tell you how to make it work.

Apatosaurus



The long neck himself. Arguably the strongest Dinosaur in the game, if you're going by pure damage output and health. They have more health then you, are capable of doing more damage- and faster and at a greater range. But don't despair! They can be beaten. The titans can fall; and I will give you some tips, to make that happen.

The tail-range on the Apa is longer then you suspect

One of the main mistakes new Rex players make when fighting Apas is to underestimate how far an Apa can tail whip. An Apa can tail wipe almost the entire radius around his body up to the front legs. An Apa isn't as vulnerable at it's side as people tend to suspect. The only place you can attack an Apa from without it's tail hitting you is the direct front.

Attacking from the front and not dying for your trouble

The Apa stomp is nasty; and without points into Unbreakable, the sheer amount of injury it can do to you is often enough to spell your doom! But it can be avoided, even if the Apa has invested points into turn-while-stomping.

The ideal method is to use your head as a 'spear' by which you attack the Apas neck. Good Apa players will raise it during a fight- but even raised, it's vulnerable to attack. When the Apa attempts to stomp you; avoid allowing your tail to face the stomp. The most common way for a rex to die is to get it's tail caught in a stomp. Ironically, having the stomp face your side is often the ideal way of avoiding getting hit from the stomp.

Sniff the Apa before the fight to get an angle on your strategy

The color will reveal how best to plan for the coming fight! Is the Apa green? Speed built, fast at turning, but likely to be lower on damage and AP!

Is it red? It'll hit hard, but can't turn much! The neck will be extra vulnerable if you can get to it; and it likely will struggle to hit you!

Is it blue? Survival build! It can endure many attacks, but neither hits hard nor likely is very nimble in a fight.

There are mix builds, but you can likely get the point. The more you know about your prey, the more likely you survive the fight and prevail!

You can dive the Apa, but be careful about it

You can dive right in and bite it to death in many cases, depending on your relative size, if you have a partner or not, etc. But it is always risky. Best done when you've weakened it or made it waste most of it's AP. But fortune favors the bold; and I've known rex pairs that have made this their go-to strategy.

Know when to give up

Sometimes, you just can't win. Apa's are strong in this game, sometimes nonsensically so; and sometimes, if they're in a pair with another Apa that they have high friendship grade with, or if they reach a choke-point area on the map- or sometimes if their just unreasonably large.... there's not much you can do to them.

Head on out and come back when the odds are more in your favor.

"You seen my inherits bro? So amazing, like, this Sai is insane. Yeah, won't be any Rex's trying me. Probably kill them within seconds. They look at me; and they want to run, don't really blame them, I'm just that good." - Many Sai players, going about their daily lives.

The spiky boys. The angry Turtles. If we're being honest, there's not too much point in hunting Sai these days, at least when it comes to food you'll get from it. Para's tend to give more food, on the average and are easier to kill.

But, Sai players are often bored, rearing for a fight; and most importantly, arrogant. Sometimes it's sweet just to knock them off their pedestal; and here's some tips for how to do that.

Sai on average, go for combat-survival builts.

Sai sometimes go for some mix of speed- and it's hilarious to watch when they do, but that's a rarity. Most Sai's you run across will go combat-survival; and their main goal will be crippling you to the point where even they can run you down. As such, if you don't give them the opportunity to do that? You can prevail.

Sai run out of AP fast, if they overuse their reflective shield ability.

The ideal way to kill a Sai, is often to get them to waste their shield ability. It costs a good chunk of Ability Power- and if they use it too soon after using it last time? That cost increases. Your average Sai can only use that shield rapidly four times in a row or so- outside of that? Their out of AP and vulnerable. Finish it when this happens.

Sai can't use their reflect shield while swimming

You'd be surprised how many Sai players themselves are unaware of this fact. A Sai in water can't use it's most powerful ability; and you can mostly wade into the water and kill it at your own leisure.

Sai aren't as good at helping each other in fights as you'd think.

The way it's designed- it often struggles to help a fellow Sai. It's slow and it's attacks aren't as wide as say- an Apa's would be. Take advantage of this when you can.

"Oh look! Other Rex's! Friends! I am here-" - a new Rex player making a terrible, terrible mistake.

The world of Apex carnivores is vicious; and it's unlikely you'll ever be able to trust to the kindness of other Rex's that you don't personally know. Luckily; fighting other Rex's can be as straightforward as it is vicious.

What matters most in a Rex vs Rex fight is health. In general, the Rex with a surplus of health, will be the winner in a fight. Now, it's not so simple of course, proper tail riding can lead you to winning without a scratch! Add that together with a good ambush and this advantage can be overcome.

But if all things are otherwise equal? It's the rex with more health that will win consistently. Or the Rex pair with more health and higher friendship grade, as discussed in the 'blendering' section.

"Are they going to just run infront of us and scream over and over again without doing anything?" - Hooch, Rex player engaging in a battle against a Acrosaurus pair.

You're stronger then an Acrocanthosaurus on average. In a straight up fight. However, most good Acro players will do they're best to avoid giving you one. There are as many builds for Acro as there are Rex; and while I won't go over them, I will introduce you to the the typical strategies - jousting and dog piling.

Different people will use different terms, but this is what I'll be calling them for the purpose of this guide.

Jousting

Is typically done by speed/survival Acros, but you can see other Acros doing it as well. The goal here for the Acro is to use it's damage-nerfing special and run through you while biting you- preferably at least twice. They will then rinse, wash and repeat until you're worn down and dead.

The easiest way to counter this- is having another rex with you. But provided you don't have this, Exhausting Bite can drain their stamina, making it so they cannot run away after a 'joust'. Death for the Acro will typically follow.

Dog pilling

This is mostly done by packs of combat/survival Acros, but sometimes you see others do it as well. Effectively, the goal here is to find a lone Rex or a Rex pair- roar the both of them and then blender a single rex.

How to counter this? Generally blendering them both immediately will do the trick. Other then that, delaying the engagement until their roar has run out, or close enough can be ideal. Creative use of the Rex's special ambushing ability is encouraged here.

Everyone dreams of having a giant Rex and having points into everything- but you gotta survive up to that point, so early on you're going to have to commit to a certain build and accept the strengths and weaknesses that will come from that decision.

I would like to keep in mind that there's really no wrong way to build a Rex. It really just depends on what you want to do with one. The combos are as numerous as there are Rex players. However, for those new to playing Rex, I will be showcasing some example builds, some I have done in the past.


--------------------------------
The Speed Rex
--------------------------------
"Ah, Speed Rex. The Rex for men of taste and culture." - Toad, Apex Player.

You like to pick and choose your fights; and when you want to have them. You like being maneuverable; sure you might sacrifice some hitting power and you can't take as many hits- but tell that to the Apa desperately trying to stomp you and missing every time!

Ideal talents to have by 1.2
Surefooted
Strong legs
Endurance
Nimble footed
Swiftness
Sneaky
Exhausting bite
Sharp Teeth

If you're interested in fighting other Rex's or Acro's, you could then later go into survival. Or combat, for other things such as Apa.

--------------------------------
The Brawler Rex
--------------------------------
"So, I found another Rex and I just laid into him, biting him until he died." - Billydusty, Rex Player

Speed, what's that? Sure, some Apas rival you in speed, but you pack a punch and you can take a good number of hits. Other Apex's will learn to respect you; and anything foolish enough to take you head on is gonna have to work for it.

Ideal talents to have by 1.2
(Your goal here shouldn't be to max out most of these talents, but to mix them around to get your ideal mix of hitting power and tanking power)

Adrenaline
Stoic
Persistence
Unbreakable
Brawler
Bruiser
Healing
Constitution

--------------------------------
Survival Rex
--------------------------------
"Yay! Rotten gore! I can stay fat!" - Your average Survival Rex player

You -really- like killing other Rex's and not running out of food. You're as tanky as an ambush predator like you can be. Or perhaps you've become a broken man and want to live on an island eating rotten gores away from the troubles of the outside world? If so, this may be for you.

Ideal talents to have by 1.2
Constitution
Scavenger
Healing
Tough Stomach
Weather resistance

--------------------------------
As I said before, there are many more options here. I encourage you to experiment and find what works best for you, at the end of the day. Not every server will have the same ecosystem or rules.

Here, I will show an example of certain Rex talents and what i think of them. Here and there I will also give examples of how they scale as you raise them. Keep in mind, these tests are done with a 1.2 Rex as the base example; with victims also being 1.2. Numbers may be different if the Rex or victim is smaller or larger


-----------------------

Sneaky

I put this first for a good reason. It is perhaps, the most useful talent for a Rex player to acquire. Too many rex players think they'll get it later and end up dead long before they get the chance. Do not get it later, get it sooner. It makes you silent, reduces your scent cloud and how long it lasts and if you get three points into it, it makes it so you don't have scent at all when you're sitting/laying down.

You are an ambush predator, anything that makes you ambush better? Is ideal.

-----------------------

Adrenaline

Damage where you need it, when you need it the most.

-----------------------

Stoic

This talent gives you both resistance to knockback from attacks- up to and including tornado's. It also allows you to carry heavier things, such as larger gores, as well as trees, if you ever have a reason for that.

-----------------------

Persistence

Let's you have more ability power and lets it regenerate faster. Always useful, fairly straight forward.

-----------------------

Brawler

Increases your base damage! How much you ask?

Level 0: 465

Level 1: 493

Level 2: 526

Level 3: 558

Level 4: 586

Level 5: 619

-----------------------

Sharp Teeth

Rex Sharp Teeth Damage vs Apa

Level 0: 465

Level 1: 536

Level 2: 584

Level 3: 631

Level 4: 729

Level 5: 749

Compare this to.....

Rex Sharp Teeth Damage Vs Rex

Level 0: 465

Level 1: 465

Level 2: 465

Level 3: 465

You get the idea- it's not so useful against other Rex's, unless their just nonsensically larger then you are. Sharp Teeth is mostly for hunting Apas.

-----------------------

Bruiser

Increases your injury damage on anything that can take injury damage; and at three points gives you the ability to do injury on tail hits to creatures. Useful for Megs, Para's and the like. Look below for how it scales.

Level 0: 34

Level 1: 44

Level 2: 54

Level 3: 65

Level 4: 77

Level 5: 84

-----------------------

Unbreakable

Superior to Strong Bones. Why do you ask? While Strong bones decreases the amount of injury you get from a hit- Unbreakable allows you to ignore injury damage entirely. Which for a Rex, tends to be more useful in the long run. It's nice to have both, but always get Unbreakable over Strong Bones if you can.

-----------------------

Exhausting Bite

Saps stamina with each bite. Most useful against Acros- and at higher levels can be a good substitute for bruiser. However, it scales different between species, below will be an example.

Exhausting bite vs Para

Level 1: 17

Level 2: 35

Level 3: 52

Level 4: 70

Level 5: 88

Compare this to...

Exhausting bite vs Apa

Level 1: 3

Level 2: 7

Level 3: 10

Level 4: 14

Level 5: 17

Big difference, as you can see. It is my belief that the smaller the creature; the more stamina it drains.

-----------------------

Constitution

Gives you more health, very useful. Here's how it scales!

Level 0: 1870 HP

Level 1: 2057 HP

Level 2: 2244 HP

Level 3: 2431 HP

Level 4: 2543 HP

Level 5: 2655 HP

-----------------------

Weather Resistance

Ideal for those among us that don't enjoy being killed in storms and getting struck by lightning. Three points into it will make it so Zeus can't smite you.

-----------------------

Surefooted and Strong Legs

Helps you run/walk up and down slopes faster. Most useful on maps and regions with plentiful hills and mountains. Less useful on flatter terrain.

-----------------------

Heavy

Known most for being nearly useless. Frankly, I'm not even sure why Rex's have this. They don't have the stamina for it.

-----------------------

Swiftness

Makes you move faster all-around. It might not seem impressive at first, but you'll notice the difference at higher levels. The main advantage however, is the increased buff to walking speed and ambush ability.

Rex's aren't slow in reality. They're extremely fast, but their only extremely fast for a short amount of time. Swiftness allows you to make the most of that short amount of time to succeed in ambushes- and to quickly walk between ambush spots or just the map in general.

-----------------------

Powerful Legs

The ultimate troll ability. Jump down to Meg shelves or jump off of cliff's at certain angles to escape your enemies. Other then that; Rex's in this game have a tendency to trip while going downhill and break their legs. Powerful legs can stop this from happening, at least to a certain degree.

-----------------------

Thick Hide

Good against Megs, Velo's, Birds and the like. Good if you're on a server where the smalls are a true terror.

-----------------------

Scavenger

You're a hungry fellow. You're only going to get hungrier as you grow, why not get this and mitigate that?

-----------------------

Strong bones

It's nice, but it's been overshadowed by Unbreakable. Scavenger is honestly more useful in the current meta, if you're trying to get to Constitution.

-----------------------

Healing

Helps you outlast things in prolonged fights, good for Apas, Sai, Velo's, Birds and Megs.

-----------------------

Tough Stomach

Makes it so you don't move so slowly or turn so slowly while fat. A solid ability, even if it's not too impressive.

-----------------------

Good Parent

This talent has fallen from grace for Rex. It no longer increases the benefit of your baby buff with levels into it. However, if you're trying to nest yourself or friends in, might be worth the investment. Otherwise, you can get by with nothing in it.

-----------------------

Strong Lungs & Aqua Affinity

These talents make you swim faster and breath longer. These might seem like a waste of points for a Rex, but can you really put a price on not being killed by fish? Aqua Affinity is also a fast path to get to sneaky.

For those that don't have their own section, I show them here along with suggestions on how to deal with them.

-----------------

Velociraptor

Tiny terrors, in enough numbers they can kill a rex. Don't underestimate them. However, truly fearsome, well-organized swarms tend to be rare; and having a partner with you makes velo attacks fairly harmless.

However, keep in mind that as wacky as it is, it's entirely possible for a single Velo to kill a single Rex. In such a situation you need to act quickly; find a way to limit the Velo's mobility. This can be achieved by entering into caves, or entering into water. A Velo that can't jump is a dead Velo. Nimble footed will also help a great deal in fighting off their assaults.

-----------------

Oryctodromeus

They'll throw sand into your face while you hunt their larger herbivore friends. Sometimes annoying, sometimes fatal.

-----------------

Tropeognathus & Pteranodon

Birds. Depending on the server they might be a non-threat to the dominant force of the server. However, limit their ability to fly, by going to at least partial cover, such as tree cover- or better, caves and there's not much they can do to you. As you grow larger, the threat even the largest birds pose rapidly declines.

-----------------

Pachycephalosaurus

Not great meals, but they'll try and stop you from eating their friends. Get your ambushes off before they can break your bones.

-----------------

Mosasaurus

They will try and drown you. It's not a well known fact (as of writing) but as of the last update, Mosa have been given a considerable buff to what they can grab. It is now perfectly possible, even without perfect inherits, for a 1.2 Mosa to grab a 1.8 Rex. If you get grabbed, bite and struggle your way free. But the best way to beat a Mosa is to never give it a chance to grab you.

-----------------

Utahraptor

If you see one one of these, log out immediately. You're probably high or drunk.

-----------------

Megalosaurus

The hyena's of the carnivore world. If you're solo and small their a threat, but the larger you get the less of a threat they become. But be careful, good Meg players are always looking for weakness to exploit; if they think they can take you, they probably will try. But all it takes is a good bite or two to cripple one. Play safe, play smart.

-----------------

Parasaurolophus

One on one you are their superior. Catching them is the hard part and normally requires a solid ambush. Be warned however, multiple para's with high friendship grade can blender you to death. They aren't completely helpless.

-----------------

Lurdusaurus

If a Lurdu player is playing smart, they'll never be far enough from water for you to get them. Sadly, many Lurdu players do not play smart. Good ambush targets if their playing foolishly.

-----------------

Ichthyovenator

Same as above, they play similar to Lurdu and often make the same mistake of being too far away from water for their own good.

-----------------

Kronosaurus

Only a real threat in open water. You can actually dive into small bodies of water to kill them now and then. You do more damage then them and have more HP on average.

-----------------

Elasmosaurus

Same as above, only you're less likely to find them in smaller bodies of water, where Krono and Mosa tend to dominate.

-----------------

Coahuilaceratops

The new guy on the street. An omnivore, as likely to want to eat you as you are to eat it. Rex is well suited to dealing with Coah; however, you need to pick your engagements wisely. The major weakness of the Coah is how slow they are; they are susceptible to tail riding or being flanked by a Rex partner; and provided you get behind them they likely won't last long.

Exhausting Bite also drains their stamina, which they require to use the stomp attack- their highest damage ability. However, be warned. Trying to facetank a Coah is often a death sentence for a rex, as they take reduced damage from the front. Also be warned of being overwhelmed by them, if you face more then two, it might be wise to retreat and come back later when odds are more favorable.

Well, that's it everyone. I may make updates and include more stuff in the future as they come to me, but for now? It's time for me to get some rest.

Growing an Apex in this game is hard. There's no doubt about it. You're not going to succeed every time. Mistakes will happen, you will experience setbacks. But failure isn't something to be afraid of; every failure is an opportunity to improve.

Keep at it; and one day you may be one of the top Apex's of the server you play on; and even if you don't? I hope you have fun trying regardless. If I can grow a large Rex, it's possible for anyone.