What do you need to craft the Element?

Element requires 100 Element Shard.

What is Element used for in ARK: Survival Ascended?

Endgame fuel and currency — everything Tek runs on it. Powers Tek: The Tek Generator, Tek structures and Tek weapons and tools all draw on Element. Nothing else will run them. Shards and Dust are the small change: Element Shards and Element Dust convert to and from Element, and some Tek items take the smaller denominations directly. Dust is also what a Gacha eats best on Extinction. Too scarce to burn on ordinary work: Anything an Electrical Generator can power should be run on Gasoline. Element is for the things that have no alternative.

ELEMENT

A strange, highly advanced material humming with energy. It dissolves when transferred across ARKs.

What it's for → Used in 40 recipes →

What It's For

what the game files don't say

Endgame fuel and currency — everything Tek runs on it.

Powers TekThe Tek Generator, Tek structures and Tek weapons and tools all draw on Element. Nothing else will run them.
Shards and Dust are the small changeElement Shards and Element Dust convert to and from Element, and some Tek items take the smaller denominations directly. Dust is also what a Gacha eats best on Extinction.
Too scarce to burn on ordinary workAnything an Electrical Generator can power should be run on Gasoline. Element is for the things that have no alternative.

Fuel, compared

what each one will actually run

Thatch Burns in a Campfire or a Torch and nothing else. It is what you have on day one and it is gone in moments — a stopgap, not a fuel.

Wood The standard early fuel: Campfire, Standing Torch, Refining Forge, Smithy-era cooking. Lasts far longer per unit than Thatch and you can harvest it forever.

Sparkpowder Burns much hotter than Wood in the same fires, so a Preserving Bin or a slow forge run needs fewer refills — but it costs Flint and Stone you would rather spend on Gunpowder.

Gasoline The industrial tier. Nothing else runs an Industrial Forge, Fabricator, Chemistry Bench, Industrial Grill, Industrial Cooker or Electrical Generator. Once you can make it, it is the fuel your base runs on. Best

Element — this item Tek only — Tek structures, the Tek Generator and Tek gear. Endgame fuel, and far too scarce to burn on anything a Generator could power instead.