Which artifact is in The Caverns of Lost Hope?

The Caverns of Lost Hope holds the Artifact of the Cunning, which is tribute for Dragon, Dinopithecus King, Crystal Wyvern Queen, Hydraskos, the Unbroken.

Where is the entrance to The Caverns of Lost Hope?

The entrance is at 45.9, 88.9 on The Island.

What should you bring to The Caverns of Lost Hope?

SCUBA Armor Stimulant A High qualty Crossbow Good qualty Harpoon Launcher With Spear Bolts Food, e.g. Cooked Meat Fria Curry before going underwater A tamed Aquatic dinosaur (preferably a Basilosaurus)

THE CAVERNS OF LOST HOPE

Artifact of the Cunning · cave on The Island

View on The Island map → Artifact of the Cunning →

Screenshots

with the interior map click to expand

The Cave

guide

The Caverns of Lost Hope is an underwater Cave on the east coast of The Island map. The cave contains the Artifact of the Cunning, needed to summon the Dragon. It is a challenging area of the map, especially for lower levels (40 and under).

Hazards

Extremely cold temperatures.
A vast portion of the cave is underwater.
Extreme quantities of overleveled Mosasaurus, Plesiosaur, Tusoteuthis and other dangerous aquatic creatures.
Swarms of creatures boosted by Alpha Megalodon can cause your mount to get stuck and lose health quickly.
Large groups of Xiphactinus can maneuver around your tame, stacking their bleed effect on it and drain its health very fast.
Massive groups of overleveled Megalodon can pin you down leaving you unable to escape, and shred your mount in seconds. On top of that they also get a boost to their damage and resistance when in groups (and from nearby Alpha Megalodon!) and deal bleeding damage (since TLC3).
Never underestimate this cave and bring your own Megalodon to counter this threat, especially in Singleplayer!
If you are unlucky with spawns, even an imprinted Mosasaur with 20k Health and 1k Melee Damage can die quickly this way. There is also a bug where a lot more creatures than usual spawn in this cave the first time you clear it after a dinowipe. Spawns should be more reasonable after that.
When soloing this cave, it is recommended to ride a Basilosaurus and have the Megalodon follow you as they cannot be grabbed or shocked, allowing you to traverse the cave relatively safely.
Surprisingly, the water within the cave is well lit and does not require a SCUBA Mask.
Be cautious when moving through the cave as creatures can be found hiding inside the walls.

Recommended Equipment

SCUBA Armor
Stimulant
A High qualty Crossbow
Good qualty Harpoon Launcher With Spear Bolts
Food, e.g. Cooked Meat
Fria Curry before going underwater
A tamed Aquatic dinosaur (preferably a Basilosaurus)

What You'll Be Dealing With

assembled from what lives in this cave 12

UnderwaterShockGrabs and pinsPoison and gasCold

Alpha Megalodon — An Alpha Megalodon: enough damage to kill most aquatic mounts.
Angler — Lures, then bites hard, in the dark.
Dunkleosteus — High armour and health; slow, but it destroys what it catches.
Manta — Fast, and hits hard for its size in shallow water.
Megalodon — Fast, and does enough damage to kill a swimmer immediately.
Mosasaur — Very high health and damage in water.
Piranha — Attacks in shoals the moment you enter the water, and does not stop.
Do not enter the water on foot. There is no gear answer, only a mount.
Plesiosaur — Very high health, and large enough that it fills a corridor.
Cnidaria — Shocks on contact, dismounting a rider and stunning a swimmer.
Electrophorus — Shocks you in the water, which stops you swimming and stops you fighting back until it ends.
Never enter water that has one in it on foot — the shock lasts long enough to drown you.
Tusoteuthis — Grabs a survivor or a mount and drowns them.
It out-ranges almost everything. Do not fight it in the open water of a flooded cave.
Eurypterid — Applies torpor and Swamp Fever-style damage over time in water.

Not a threat: Ammonite, Trilobite

Each line above is a fact about the creature and its own in-game behaviour — attributed to this cave only because the cave contains it. It is not a walkthrough, and it does not claim to describe the layout or the route.