The objective of Don't Starve Together is pretty much right in the name. You and your friends are in a world where darkness is your worst enemy and your daily goal is to find enough to eat, while you work to build a base camp and fight to survive against monsters.
It's very popular with a large, dedicated community and receives frequent updates and tweaks, making it into a dynamic, expansive game. Unfortunately, that means that getting into it can be kind of overwhelming. It's notoriously difficult without much of a learning curve at all and there aren't very many starter guides available that don't require further research to understand. Luckily, this list is here to help out any new players who are trying to find their footing.
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Updated February 1, 2022, by Jerrad Wyche: In late January 2022 developers Klei Entertainment announced a new seasonal event celebrating the Year of the Catcoon. This update not only adds the new Year of the Catcoon-themed items, but there are several game changes and bug fixes as well. With new content being added, it's always an opportunity for new players to jump in and see what Don't Starve Together has to offer.
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12 Gather & Collect Constantly
The great thing about Don't Starve Together is that it provides activities for players of all levels of experience or skill levels to participate in. For instance, there are always materials and items worth gathering and scavenging around your camp.
Time is of the essence and your time should always be used efficiently. Whether you're chopping down a tree, planting pine cones, or fueling the campfire there is also something worth doing.
With a multiplayer experience like Don't Starve Together communication is critical, so it's important that you and your teammates understand what's going on.
Understanding from the beginning that maps aren't shared will go a long way in communicating where you're located without confusing other people. To date, there is no way to share map knowledge with fellow survivors but it is a requested feature from the community.
10 Do Some Research About The Characters
Every character has a creative appearance that hints at their unique strengths, abilities, and weaknesses in the gameplay.
Wigfrid can only eat meat, but she's one of the strongest in battle, and she's able to craft special weapons and armor. Wendy is haunted by the ghost of her dead twin sister who jumps into battles for her, isn't too bothered by the dark, but doesn't hit very hard at all. Warly has a portable crock-potfrom the beginning and can use it to make special recipes, but his hunger drops significantly faster than anyone else's.
If you don't want to spoil anything by venturing onto fan wikis and the like, just be sure to carefully consider the bullet points on the character selection screen. They provide decent clues about what a particular character will excel at and what they might be weak to.
It's especially important for groups to coordinate the characters they pick - even if the only information they have to go on is from the character screen - so they can all work together towards their shared goal (survive!).
9 Craft A Pickaxe Instead Of An Axe
When you enter the open world of Don't Starve Together, you'll be introduced to the resources and crafting system in-game. You'll be able to get things like Flints and Twigs pretty quickly after you spawn. As a result, it can be tempting to immediately craft an Axe (which only requires one Twig and one Flint). In this case, fight your natural instinct to craft!
It'll be much more useful for you to save those resources and craft a Pickaxe instead. With your new tool, you can mine rocks, which will give you even more flint that can be used to create an Axe afterward! Depending on where you spawned in, it might be hard to find three pieces of flint otherwise. This will make achieving your goals in subsequent days a much smoother process.
8 Werepigs Are A Thing (And They Can Be Useful)
You'll very quickly be introduced to the various mobs of the Don't Starve Together open-world. Some are around all day, while others only come out at night. Pigs and Guardian Pigs are some of the easiest to encounter - and they have a chance of becoming a "Werepig" during a full moon (or after being fed four pieces of Monster Meat-related foods).
Just like normal Pigs, Werepigs will stop to eat anything that's on the ground near them (as well as raw Mandrakes). However, like other Monsters, they'll attack anything that comes near them (with the sole exception of Were-Woodie, a character that gamers can choose to play).
A Werepig's total health is 525 (over 2x the amount of a normal Pig) and they have a -100/min impact on Sanity (one of your four stats, seen in the top right of the screen), so they're sort of a pain to deal with.
The reason that they're useful for you and your objective is that they have a guaranteed drop of two pieces of Meat and one Pig Skin. You and your team can farm them by feeding nearby Pigs or Guardian Pigs your excess Monster Meat - which you're bound to come into after a while of taking out your assailants. Once you kill the Werepig you've created, you can reap the rewards - kind of like trading in Monster Meat for regular Meat.
7 Fire Spreads Really, Really Quickly And It's Hard To Stop
Starting a fire in Don't Starve Together is (frighteningly) easy: just use the "Light" option on a flammable object when you're holding a Torch (or play as Willow, who comes equipped with a Lighter). You'll find that there are lots of benefits to fires, such as warmth, light, and charcoal.
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It's dangerous to be in the dark at night, so for that reason (among many others) it can occasionally be tempting to start a forest fire instead of creating some kind of contained vessel, like a campfire. However, it's risky. Fire spreads very quickly, and it can jump over even the tiniest things, like Mushrooms and Seeds, to continually spread across the map.
The fire will be dangerous for players since it can kill you, but, whereas in a normal death you could usually retrieve the contents of your inventory, a fire death means that everything you were holding on to will be destroyed. Finally, keep in mind that you're depending on the environment to survive (which is the whole point of the game), so burning it all down will also significantly weaken your position.
If you do decide to start a fire, the trick is to have a controlled burn. Plant trees for the sole purpose of burning them down, far away from literally anything else. This will help you earn valuable resources, like charcoal. However, if you're considering a fire for emergency purposes (such as night coming on quickly) - just try to clear out as much of the area as possible first.
6 A Crockpot Should Be One Of Your First Goals
Food is one of the most valuable resources in Don't Starve Together. After you've gotten a Science Machine (an item that allows you to access extra recipes to craft), you'll be able to make a lot of things under the "Food" tab. Hold off, though, because one of your first goals should be a Crock Pot. It's a relatively high cost for beginners, since it takes three Cut Stone (nine Rocks), six Charcoal, and six Twigs, but it's worth it.
There are several recipes that provide varying levels of Hunger, Health, and Sanity. On top of those obvious benefits, some recipes even bring other perks; Spicy Chili and Ice Cream can help fight off freezing and overheating, respectively.
Food prepared in a Crock Pot will only begin to spoil once it's been harvested - you can take advantage of this in order to keep your food fresh for longer. Eventually, you'll get an "Ice Box," which helps with the same problem, but it's a good solution in the meantime.
5 Monster Meat + Crock Pot = Wasteful (Unless You're Careful)
Monster Meat is dropped by slain Monsters, including Spiders and Hounds. Cooked or raw, it's toxic to nearly every character and causes a drop in Health and Sanity. As a result, it's practically pointless other than baiting creatures or Werepig farming.
However, Monster Meat can actually be used in a Crock Pot - you just need to be very careful. Only use one and ensure it isn't the main ingredient in your recipe. For example...
- Monster Meat and Eggs creates Meatballs
- Monster Meat, Eggs, and Morsels creates Bacon and Eggs
Using too much Monster Meat will create Monster Lasagna, a toxic dish with a drastic penalty to Sanity.
You can also feed Monster Meat to caged birds in order to get an Egg.
4 Create Drying Racks Until You Can Get An Ice Box
When you first hear that there's an Ice Box - that can be used to extend the life of food and ingredients - in the game, you may be desperate to craft one. However, crafting them requires Gears. Gears are uncommon since the only guaranteed drop of a Gear is from defeating a Clockwork and they're one of the only non-renewable resources in the game. There is also a small chance of finding Gears in Graves and Tumbleweeds.
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Luckily, there's an alternative to an Ice Box: Drying Racks. To make one, you'll need three Twigs, two Charcoal, and three Rope (so nine Cut Grass). The Drying Rack can turn any type of Meat into Jerky. Jerky can still be used in any recipe as Meat, but it resists spoilage significantly longer.
3 Make Sure To Settle Down Near A Good Source Of Meat
Location is an integral part of setting up a base camp (if you decide to have one). There are lots of benefits to having one central location to head back to each night (especially if you're in a group and can all fight the monsters off together). Your objective of the day can surely wait until tomorrow.
The best place to settle down is somewhere near a readily available food source.The absolute best option is somewhere near several rabbit holes - ideally at least four - within a few feet from where you'll be setting up. Rabbits spawn year-round, so they can be used as a food source as long as you're able to get your hands on them. Beefalo are a good food source, too. However, they have a mob mentality when one is attacked. If no one is playing as a "Monster" character (such as Webber or Wortox, who will be attacked on sight), then living near Pigs is always an option.
2 Winter Is Ridiculously Difficult And Fast-Approaching
You start Don't Starve Together in Spring, so Winter can feel far away. However, the coldest season is no joke when you're depending on the environment to achieve your goals. It's coming at you a lot faster than you think.
Once Winter is upon you, you'll notice some immediate changes. First, your character will start to freeze if they get too far away from a fire. This can be remedied with a Thermal Stone and several different pieces of Winter clothing, which all require hunting some combination of Beefalo, Catcoons, Spiders, Rabbits, and Koalefants to make. There are some cute changes, like Winter variations of some animals, but for the most part, things only become more difficult. Frogs will no longer spawn and Bees will stop making Honey. Berry Bushes, Saplings, and Grass Tufts slow to a near-stop, and Farms will no longer produce any crops.
One of the upsides is that Winter slows food rot down by 25 percent, so it sort of balances itself out somewhere, as long as you make sure that you're properly prepared.
1 There's No Shame In Playing On Endless Mode
There are a few different modes available in Don't Starve Together. The default mode, Survival, will give a game over once everyone in the world dies. That's fine for some people and the players having the objective of "just survive as long as possible" is the intended way to experience Don't Starve. However, if you're more interested in longevity and investing time into world-building and exploration than an endurance test, then Endless mode might be right for you.
On Endless mode, deaths don't really matter as much. Your inventory spills everywhere in both modes, forcing you to go find it, but in Endless Mode you can respawn yourself as many times as you need to using in-game items: the Portal or a Touchstone. You can also use Console Commands to respawn.
NEXT: Don't Starve: Tips For Navigating Through Caves