The Permian Expansion

The developers dropped the Permian update, also know as patch 1.6.1 or **the Great Rain Forest Collapse** to end the Arthropods' reign. This update reduced the rate of plant spawning and the oxygen levels in the environment. As a result, the giant Arthropods ceased to exist. This enabled terrestrial Vertebrates to develop a foothold in the meta, eventually leading to Reptile builds dominating it. Arthropods wouldn't become top-tier again until Insects earned the Eusocial ability a few expansions later.

During the Permian Period (299 – 252 MYA), the Earth's crustal plates joined to form a single, huge continent known as Pangaea. Marine species such as brachiopods, gastropods, cephalopods, and crinoids were found in Panthalassa's enormous ocean. Reptiles surpassed amphibians and arthropods in dominance on land.

## Notable Builds

### C Tier

Ophiacodon (Snake Tooth) was a banned synapsid belonging to the family Ophiacodontidae. It was one of the first playable synapsids in the game. This build would have a low Mobility stat because of its huge head and sprawling posture. Its Health stat, on the other hand, would have been moderately high. Due to the scutes on its stomach, it would also have a moderate Defense stat. Finally, despite having a lot of little teeth, its jaws have a high Power stat. It can only hunt in shallow water and is specialized in it because it not only lacks the terrestrial Mobility needed to take down massive terrestrial builds, but it is also a horrible swimmer. Furthermore, it would have limited swimming mobility. It possessed weak teeth compared to other synapsids and had to swallow its prey whole. It is, however, a competent and powerful shallow-water camper and alpha predator in its meta.

### B Tier

Secodontosaurus (cutting-tooth lizard) is a banned pelycosaur build which was playable during the Late Carboniferous to the Early Permian meta. It has an unique snout that was designed for sniping burrowing players. This build's Health stat was average with good Mobility. Its jaws would give it an average Power stat. Because of its sail, it most likely possessed minimal stealth, but other than that, little is known about this build. Its sail provides thermoregulatory abilities and promotes Intimidation by making it appear bigger. Overall, it is just an average pelycosaur build specialized for sniping off burrowing players.

### A Tier

Scutosaurus is a banned armored reptile main from the Permian Expansion, the possible originator of the turtle guild. By speccing into upright legs, this build moves with relatively low stamina loss, putting it a step beyond other pareiasaur builds. It also possessed the **[Amphibious]** ability. This build has massive bones backed by a robust muscle foundation, giving it a high Health. Surprisingly, it also lived in herds, which gave it an edge in dodging jankers like Inostrancevia. It not only featured excellent armor, but it also had spikes for great defense. Its poor Mobility prevents it from reaching S-tier.

Helicoprion was a Permian Expansion banned fish build. This build was once portrayed as a Shark build, however it was later discovered to be a ratfish, closely linked to the chimaera guild. It is also now recognized that this build's tooth whorl is linked to its lower jaw. This build had a tooth whorl, perfect for bodying builds like squid and fish, thus the high Power stat. Its health is likewise excellent, as seen by its rapid growth. It's also remarkably portable. It had no losing late-game contests. However, like Ptychodus, it was demoted to S-tier because to its overspecialization, as its main attack, which could easily one-shot a player, only worked against Squid and Shark players.

### S Tier

Gorgonopsids are synapsids from the Late Permian epoch. They were the most powerful predators on the Pangaea server at the time. With powerful running limbs and the saber-tooth weapon. They were related to the mammal class, which finally took control once the dinosaurs were banned. Because of its concealment, this build has a decent Stealth stat. Its canines and its relatively high bite force give it an extremely high Power stat. Some of the most massive Gorgonopsids, such as Inostrancevia, have above-average health. Finally, they demonstrated above-average mobility. Intelligence and defense were most certainly subpar.

During the Permian expansion, the Dimetrodon was a top-tier build. They were easily S tier in terms of mobility and intelligence at the time. It offers stats of an excellent well-rounder at the period.

The sail allows the user to make it look like it is in a higher weight class. It also made flipping Dimetrodon upside-down impossible, and because it was cold-blooded, its sail was the ideal instrument for gathering sunlight. This had certain drawbacks as well, such as decreased stealth and a larger hurt box, but they were minor because the strike was so powerful that players couldn't risk taking damage. Dimetrodon was one of the first builds to incorporate parenting into its strategy, which elevated it to the top tier. Instead of hoping that the eggs don't overheat or freeze, the Dimetrodon gained access to one of the most powerful (at the time) moves, **[Incubate]**. This allows low level Dimetrodon players to spawn in without strange conditions, but it also results in a game over at the start of the game, which players find extremely aggravating.

## The Great Dying (Transitioning to Triassic)

At the end of the Permian Expansion, update 2.1.1 came, with the community given name: "**The Great Dying**". as a Result, 96% of the Marine Player-base quit, and, 70% of all Terrestrial Species, with all servers' difficulty being increase by more than 10x, Veterans say.

How the Developers when about with the Great Dying was to start a massive Volcanic eruption in Siberia, which lead to a Cascade of other world events, Spawn rates for Plants, water, and even Essentials like Oxygen, were at record lows. Just before the great dying, the all-powerful Reptile faction had split into two. the Therapsids (what would come to be Mammals), and the Archosaurs (Crocodilians, Pterosaurs and Dinosaurs). before the patch, both of these had started to innovate in their own unique ways, in attempts to claim the top spot in the meta. And so, when the Great Dying (Update 1.2.1) hit, the Triassic Arms Race began.

1. ↑ https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/permian-period.htm
2. ↑ https://news.mit.edu/2015/siberian-traps-end-permian-extinction-0916
3. ↑ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12759-9