Blake’s Guide Of Not Starving!

Overview

(THIS GUIDE IS VERY OLD AS YOU CAN TELL FROM THE DATE AND WAS MADE FOR EARLY DON’T STARVE STRATEGIES. THANKS TO ALL IT HELPED MANY YEARS AGO AND IF IT STILL HELPS YOU TODAY THEN AWESOME!)

The Characters

All of the characters have a advantage and disadvantage so every character is good at something while the other isint. This catagory is only the characters that you can play as so far in Don’t Starve! Another fact, no community characters will be on this guide only legit characters from the makers of Don’t Starve.

Wilson

Wilson is the first character and is the main character in Don’t Starve that you play as. His only perk is that he grows a ”magnificent beard” while having no downsides! He has a max sainty of 200, a max health of 150, and a max hunger of 150. He does the normal amount of damage and has no special item that he spawns with. He is without a clue my favorite character and you will learn to love him!

Willow

Willow is the first unlockable character and the 2nd character you will play as. She is immune to fire damage. When she is going insane she will be nervous and set a small fire under her legs, this fire can spread to anything nearby so don’t be close to your base while insane! She has a max of 120 sainty, a max of 150 health, and a max of 150 hunger. She also does the normal amount of damage and spawns with ”Willow’s Lighter” which is just a infinite torch that has the same moves that a torch can do. Since it will never wear down, you can use the torch to explore and find a place to set up camp in night without having to build a campfire and wait all night to go explore again.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang is the 2nd unlockable character and is the 3rd character that you play as. Wolfgang does a lot more damage to enemies when at high health. This gives him an advantage when fighting monsters and destroying spider dens, bee hives, ect. Wolfgang has a max hunger of 300, a max sainty of 200, but his health is anywhere between 150-300 because Wolfgang is stronger when hes full of hunger but when hes hungry his health will drop. He does damage when hungry less then normal but when fully hunger he does 2x the normal damage! Wolfgang will also lose a lot of sainty quick from being in darkness or near ANY hostile mob which is a huge disadvantage.

Wendy

Wendy is the 3rd unlockable character and will be the 4th character you play as. She relates everything to death including herself at times. She has a max sainty of 200, a max health of 150, and a max hunger of 150. She does a little less damage then normal, and his haunted by her twin sister Abigail. Wendy can spawn Abigail with a flower that Wendy spawns with called ”Abigail’s Flower”. When doing so you need to have no monsters around but need a blood sacrifice (an animal of any sorts) to spawn her in. When Abigail comes Wendy will lose 25 points of sainty and Abigail will not despawn untill she is killed.

WX78

WX-78 is the 4th unlockable character and is the 5th character you will play as. He hates all living creatures and can eat stale and spoiled food without health or hunger drops. However, eating food like monster meat will still have effects for eating such things. Since WX78 is a robot, he gets damaged in the rain and will take 1 damage every 2 seconds standing in the rain. WX78 will emit light when raining due to sparks flying off himself from the rain. This provides enough light to freely travel and not get attacked. He starts off at 100 for each health,sainty,and hunger, but can improve himself by eating gears so his health has a max from 100-400, a max sainty of 100-300, and a max hunger of 100-200. Does the normal amount of damage and does not spawn with a special item.

Wickerbottom

Wickerbottom is the 5th unlockable character and is the 6th character you will play as. Wickerbottom can make science machine recipes without needing one in the first place! She can also do some alchemy engine recipes aswell. She cannot sleep in a tent, bed roll, or fur roll due to her being an insomniac. She also receives a HUGE sainty loss when eating spoiled foods. Wickerbottom can also make books and can cast spells with diffrent kinds of book types. She has a max health of 150, a max hunger of 150, and has a huge max sainty of 250! She does the normal damage and spawns with 2 paper.

Woodie

Woodie is the 6th unlockable character and is the 7th character you will play as. Woodie is the 1st character to transform his physical form, due to his curse. When he turns into a ”werebeaver” he will drop all of his items and can chop and kill litterally anything like a hammer would. The bars will be replaced with a log bar and to keep it up you must consume anything wood wise to stay in that state. When Woodie transforms back he will have 50 of every bar. He has a max health of 150, a max hunger of 150, and a max sainty of 200. He does normal damage when Woodie but does the same amount of damage as a tentacle spike when werebeaver. Spawns with Lucy the axe which is Woodies only freind and has infinite uses. However, Lucy will warn Woodie if hes cutting down too much trees, causing Woodie to instantly turn into a werebeaver. Truly a terrible secret indeed.

Wes

Wes is the 7th unlockable character and is the 8th character you will play as. Wes has lower health, sainty, and hunger than anyone else and hunger goes down a lot quicker. He is a mine so he does not talk instead, gives random mime-like moves that give no real info of what your looking into. He cannot be unlocked with experience however, you must find him in adventure mode. He has a max sainty of 150, max hunger of 113, and a max health of 113. He does -0.25x less damage than normal. He does however spawn with a item called Pile o’ Balloons. He can make a balloon using up 5 sainty per balloon and it has unlimited uses for the Pile. A balloon can do 5 damage to an enemy and you can do a chain reaction effect with balloons do cause massive damage. (WARNING) Play as Wes at your own risk or if you want a real challenge to the game.

Maxwell

Maxwell is the 8th unlockable character and is the last character you will play as for now. Maxwell had lower health but increases sainty by 20/min because of his dapper style. Sainty gain clothes will do minimal help for Maxwell. This is so Maxwell can use dark armor/sword without any bad effects. When you start with Maxwell you spawn with 1 dark sword, 1 night armor, 4 nightmare fuel, and 1 purple gem allowing to make a shadow manipulator faster than others. He has a max health of 75! A max hunger of 150, and a max sainty of 200. Does normal damage and is reccomended that you use that dark armor or a marble suit when playing as him.

Wigfrid

Wigfrid is an DLC character from ”Reign of Giants” and is unlocked by gaining enough XP to unlock her. She is the 9th unlockable, playable character. She has 120 Sanity, 200 Health, and 120 Hunger. She comes with her own Battle Helm and Battle Spear as well as 4 things of meat! She also deals a whopping 25% extra damage with weapons and takes 25% less damage from all sources! When she kills an enemy, she gains 25% of the enemy’s attack damage as Health and Sanity! Except for the Eye plant. The BIG disadvantage is she can ONLY eat meat and meat related food recipes, which sucks alot.

Webber

Webber is also another Unlockable character from the DLC ”Reign of Giants”. He is the 10th unlockable and playable character so far in Don’t Starve. You can unlock Webber by finding his skull in Adventure mode in RoG and burying it in an open grave. He has a very low Sanity of 100, 175 Health, and 175 Hunger. Just like Wilson he can grow a beard. He starts out with 2 things of monster meat and some spider eggs. Spiders of all kinds, even queens are neutral torwards Webber since he has the spider like body. He can create more spider dens with 12 Silk, 6 Spider glands, and 6 Papyrus and can upgrade them himself with more silk! Webber can give a spider meat and it will follow you for how much meat you give it. (1 meat = 1 Day, 100 Meat = 100 Days). He also does not lose sanity from being near any type of spider at all and is not slowed down by the web around the spider dens! The only real disadvantage is that normal mobs that are hostile torwards spiders like Pigs and such attack Webber on sight.

Strategy’s I use for all of them!

This section will tell you what I do when I play as the character and what advantages there is to learn! There is aways a good side with every character if you know how to play as them. This also includes custom characters that other steam users make because they can have benefits as our normal characters do!

Wilson’s Strategy

When I play as Wilson I never shave his beard unless I need sainty badly (40-0), Since its vital to have a big beard for winter, and if I want to make a Meat Effigy which acts as a respawn but useing it will lower your max health by 30. So if your using Willson you really only need to do these 3 things to use the most out of his beard.

Willow’s Strategy

Willow might be my favorite character besides Wilson because of how awesome of a character she is. She is a really good character for beginners and is a good character for experts since she has an advantage everyone can love. She has her own lighter that is basically a torch with unlimited use! Also shes immune to fire. A good way to use her is in your early days or in your later days take some food and the lighter to travel at night since you won’t be attacked or get overwhelmed in darkness. This is good for finding a base or taking a trip to explore and can be used very effectively. Another one of her perks is that she lights fires when nervous. A good way of controling this is to either #1 Stay away from your base untill your are sane since some items can be burned if left lying around, and #2 is stay close to trees if you need charcoal since this is a way of burning anything without having to use williow’s lighter or make a torch!

Wolfgang’s Strategy

This guy named Wolfgang is really good for players who getting food isint a problem. Since he does a lot more damage when full of hunger he can be used to kill lots of mobs that would take normal characters lots of time! Using Wolfgang with a darksword can defendily win you a fight over anything really (Even a deerclops!). Although Wolfgang is afraid of mobs and darkness so this could be a problem. Since deerclops already give any characters LOTS of sainty drop when around it, this guy could be the main reason why you go insane in the winter. A good way to control this is to make stuff that can increase your sainty before fighting monsters or going to travel.

Wendy’s Strategy

Wendy is a girl that you might think is a bad character but in reality she is a character with a very good trait! She can summon her dead twin sister Abigail once and she will help fight hostile mobs with her and she will not dispawn untill she dies. Wendy also dosent lose a lot of sainty when in the darkness so that could be good for traveling and keeping sainty at high! She dosen’t hit too hard so a good idea is to find a swamp and lure some enemies to kill tentacles to get tentacle spikes since they deal a good bit of damage. My advice? Travel with her often with Abigaill by her side and aways have armor and tough weapons on you so you can get that edge you need to survive.

WX78’s Strategy

Since there was a change of his perks I haven’t played much as him but I do know some tricks with him! Since he has a 100 max on everything it is a good idea to get stocked up as quick as possiable but him needing very little food to get full and not a lot of sainty based things to do! Consuming gears will level up your max health,sainty,hunger. If you completely max out WX78 he will have more health than any character making him a good fighter and can absorb lots of damage. However, what I would advise is that try to avoid as much fighting as possiable when your at 100 health as you can die quickly. I only charge enemies I know I can kill when at 100 such as rabbits, beefalo, spiders, ect.

Wickerbottom’s Strategy

Wickerbottom is the character you want to play as if you want stuff to get done quickly and don’t mind if you can’t sleep. She is very useful for the begining of your adventure so I recommend to Not build a shadow meniplulator unless you want one or if more recipies are requried with one because Wickerbottom can craft things that would need one by just using a Alchemy engine! She can’t sleep so find other uses of sainty which is to make books! Making books boosts your sainty and these books can have a type of power to REALLY get the edge on some fights. I advise using her with knowing this info so you don’t use up materials to make stuff not needed like a science machine! You don’t even need one at ALL if you play as her. She is truly a character for people who make lots of progress.

Woodie’s Strategy

This guy is probably the hardest to come up with a stradegy for (Even harder than coming up one for Wes!). Since every full moon you turn into a werebeaver either you like it or not it is hard to survive since when you transform back to woodie you have 50 of all bars. Being a difficult player to play as I advise not choping down too many trees at one time so you can’t be a werebeaver for a while longer. Another thing you can do is if you know your gonna turn into a werebeaver is to be near your base with sainty increasing things, food, and stuff to heal up with. This could make being a werebeaver a breeze. Or try to not be around hostile mobs when you know your turning into it because they will wait till you wake up and kill you!

Wes’s Strategy

Wes is a character that ONLY EXPIRIENCED DON’T STARVE PLAYERS should play as since he is the hardest to survive as! I am very expirienced but he is still a challenge for even me and many other Don’t Starvers! Since he has lower health and hunger and it drains faster gather as MUCH FOOD as you can and try to get spider glands and such. A good efficient stradegy to do with him is make balloons around your base with pathways that you can go inbetween in. This way if monsters are chasing you, you can run back to base safely while you can lure the monsters into the balloons causing massive damage! Another thing is since he is weaker than most enemies equip him with good armor and powerful weapons and ALWAYS have a steady supply of food on you where ever you travel.

Maxwell’s Strategy

The big man himself is a pretty weak player to play as. Since he has a max of 75 it is Highly reccomended to equip him with dark armor or marble suits as he really needs them in a fight. Since he spawns with a dark sword go ahead and slay as much enemies and animals as you want to get food and such OR save it for hound attacks and treeguards, deerclops, ect. Maxwell is a character I once again, rarely play as due to his perks. He is also appeared to only play if your expirienced with Don’t Starve. Hes a fun character to play as and is a character that can survive very well if you know how to use him like I can, but my advise? SAVE that darksword for like I said, bosses and such but feel free to kill some things to get food and such with it. Also a good way to use him is to only equip the dark armor during difficult fights so you won’t have to lose much sainty then wearing it all the time.

Wigfrid’s Strategy

Wigfrid is interesting as she can only eat meat. So my opinion on how she should be played would be set up your base around an area full of meat. Like for instance, beefalo herd, tall bird nests, penguin nests, pig villages, ect. This would be vital for you surviving since you can only eat meat and so on. Also use the 25% extra dmg and beefyness to your advantage! Charge fights that would normally be tough and don’t be afraid of getting hit acouple of times! You should really never back down from a fight since Wigfrid regens health and sanity from killing enemies!

Webber’s Strategy

Webber is one of the most confusing and weird characters now in Don’t Starve as he basicly is a mob! A spider! While playing as him use spider nests to really have luck on your side when in tough battles! Often raiding other nests to build new nests I should say of your own! Also I would say to stock up on meat so when your traveling you can lead an army to fight for you, even spider queens will follow you! Another good thing to use is hopefully you can get yourself a bush hat. Since normal mobs attack you now you can hide from them to avoid a fight you don’t want. Final say; stay near your spider buddys to always have the edge on most situations. Like set up camp by spider nests!

Winter time with Vive!

Winter is without a clue the hardest season to survive in and everyone who has made it to the winter will tell you the same thing. Ive had my share of dieing because of it being winter but I really haven’t fully expirienced winter because (believe it or not) I never have encountered a deerclops before even though I set them to default and more! I will still give tips on how to survive there attacks but they will not be coming from personal expirience, but I will update this and give my own tips and such when I do encounter a couple. Anyway, this section will tell you what is HIGHLY RECCOMENDED to have for winter and the best ways of surviving it!

Stocking up on food!

Make sure to stock up on meat before winter sets in and make plenty of meaty stews as they can fill the hunger of mostly every character and give a nice health boost! A MUST NEED for your food in the winter is an ice box as they slow the progress of spoiling and can make ALL food last even longer. Word of advise do not cook your food and then stick it in the ice box, it is better to wait till the food gets stale THEN cook it and put in in the chest to make it last the longest. Farms don’t grow as fast as in the summer and you will need manure or guano to make most crops grow. Nearby rabbit holes are good for this occasion since you can set up traps and get fresh morsel that you can make into meaty stew. If you happen to become completely starving in the winter don’t be scared to eat monster meat as it will fill your hunger well when cooked and cooking 4 meats in the crock pot will make monster lasagna which increases your hunger by a good amount but decreases a lot of health. Also drying your meat to monster jerky is an EXCELLENT way to make food without losing so much health.

Sleeping the winter away

If you really don’t like the winter sleeping it away is a good idea to do. Make a tent since it has multiple uses and you can sleep alot. After a couple of days of using it 4-5 days break it down with a hammer to get back half of the resources made to make it to make another one and rinse and repeat. Or if sleeping rolls is your thing stock up on grass and Try to make fur rolls which require bunnymen fur. It will last longer and will help you sleep better too! But to be honest, make the MOST of your winter as sleeping it away could prove to be a waste.

Winter enemies!

Ice hounds, Mactusk, Weetusk, Treeguards, Deerclops, Pengull’s, ect, can be a huge problem for you not surviving winter. They will probably be the MAIN reason you die other than starving. Ice hounds are proven harder to kill and are very powerful. Mactusk and his party are a HARSH group to mess with since Mactusk has a blowdart and it will go on for 2 screen lenghts to kill whatever it needs to. Weetusks are less harder to kill and easyier to kill but are still hard to kill in groups. Treeguards are an enemy that can really mess you up. They are hard to kill and should only be attacked with a log suit and spear or anything higher in tiers. Pengulls are not a threat unless you attack them. You can get there eggs and make good food with it if your fast enough to get them but attacking them will cause a HUGE group to come after you and they hit hard. A good way to get the eggs from them is to look to see which ones are laying the eggs, then chase them out of the group and kill them so the group won’t notice. Last but not least the Deerclops is the last thing you want to encounter in the winter or it can be the best thing to find. They can make the player have INSANE amount of sainty drop when around him and will usually kill an unarmored player in 1-2 hits. There is an easy way of killing him or avoiding him. He can be kited and killed but there is a good chance he can kill you still. When killed he drops 8 meat and a deerclops eyeball. You could avoid him by being a bush with a bush hat but the chance that you will pull it off is very slim. Another way is that he can break 2 buildings you have made like a hammer would then he will run away. This could be the best way if you can remake the buildings or if you can’t withstand a fight like that. All together avoid all monsters unless its vital you need whatever drops they give.

Make the most of your winter

Winter is usually a time where the player can’t really explore much because of freezing tempetures. What I take winter as is a time to gather as much wood as possiable and make 1-2 chests just full of wood for needed things. Also just collecting seeds, mining rocks, and much more stuff so that you will be set for when summer comes around. It could be a bit boring but it will make sure you made your winter worth it in the longrun! (Doing this every winter can lead to high amount of days survived).

Hope this helped!

I hope this guide has helped you out in someways or another because It took me a while to make a guide about how I play this game! I am sure that this will help someone and I hope it helped you, pass this guide around to your freinds who play Don’t Starve as this could be a good guide for new players and ect. Remember to rate and favorite this aswell as it encourages me to do more guides in the future! Good luck surviving and best wishes to you and hope you Don’t Starve!