Best settings for a newbie solo DST run

[Malicius]

Hey all, wanted some quick advice on the best settings to try a solo run for a new-ish player to Don't Starve (played DS in the past)

- Any recommended character?
- Any recommended world setting?
- Endless or Survival?

Thanks!

[wawawiwa]

play on endless unless you want to relieve the DS experience with amulet

default world is setting is fine for newbie and vet tbh, that said, make the world smaller to make sailing experience less boring

maybe wanda, her gameplay is quite unique

[Pip]

Wanda's decent for intermediate to advanced players, but I wouldn't suggest her to a new player. Wigfrid, Wolfgang, and Wickerbottom are a decent trio, but Wigfrid is probably the best for newer players, since she encourages fighting without the high consequences for other characters.

[Ailes]

Wendy is easy mode. She has no downsides other than direct melee attacks from her being slightly weaker. But that's basically what her ghost companion, Abigail, is for. Other characters like Wig and Wicker outright disallow you from eating lots of things or sleeping and are more tricky to play.

[KaveMan]

Wigfrid is NOT a good choice for new players., You need prior experience about the game to ensure her survival.

PS: Doesn't matter if we tell them, Do this or that. They won't even know what it is they should be doing, Until they play the game and learn anything. YouTube won't teach them how to play either, Must play the game and do stuff through repetitive action, and commit what they learn to memory.

[bob644016]

I would recommend keeping default world settings. For the mode, I would recommend Survival, or if you find the game really difficult you could settle for endless, but don't ever think 'it's alright if i die i'm on endless mode', as if you ever want to play survival mode that will not work. Do not play Relaxed mode, as you can literally just afk on a boat and you will never die. Make sure to enable the caves too (they aren't on by default).

If you have nearly no knowledge of the game, i would suggest wilson, willow, webber, or wx. I would suggest to not pick Wigfrid, Wendy, Wes, or Wanda. Wigfrid encourages 'hold f to win', making other characters seem harder because they cannot do that (she also needs you to kill creatures bc of the carnivore thing, and beginners likely will not want to fight), Wendy encourages 'let abigail deal with it and just run away', Wes... you know why, and for Wanda you need to know how to rush the ruins to get any use out of her, and beginners would not know how to do that. You also don't have wanda unlocked on the get-go, so unless you want to spend money to get her, you cannot play as her from the start.

After you get the hang of the basic survival and combat, i would suggest you go play on public servers (i suggest the Klei dedicated servers). Playing with other people makes you have a better experience, let's you ask for help if you get stuck, and they can give you tips about the game. Do note though that nobody knows how to correctly make Tall Scotch Eggs. It is 1 tallbird egg, 1 POINT of vegetable, and 1 or 2 sticks. Cactus flesh and farm crops count as 1 POINT of vegetable, while mushroom caps count as 0.5 POINTS of vegetable, meaning you need two of them. Other than that most them know that what they're saying is reliable information, although you should look at the wiki some of the time to make sure.

Do note that this is just what worked for me. I played webber and wx when i started, then played with randoms for a long time, tried out new characters, and came to my final resting place as a wanda/wortox/maxwell main in the Eastern US Klei servers who tries to rush celestial champion. DST has choices for those who want it to be easier. You can play wendy in a relaxed autumn-only world and have berry bushes set to the max if you want, but it will make the game feel way harder if you ever want to play wilson in a Klei server.

[Tenebris]

Originally posted by KaveMan:

Wigfrid is NOT a good choice for new players., You need prior experience about the game to ensure her survival.

This exactly. You basically cut out half of the long term gameplay with Wigfrid, in that of farming for food, and don't learn what non-meat foods are really good (Like blue/greencaps, cactus flesh, etc)

Plus she teaches terrible combat habits due to her tanky nature

[Lysergian]

I agree with all the prior info, but i do have a character suggestion. wendy or webber are amazing picks for newer players since their reworks, although wendy's low damage output can be a pain and webber's low sanity pool (100 max vs wilson's 200) can be an issue. wendy is ideal if you are nervous about being swarmed by things, but you shouldnt rely on abigail for everything as she can be easily overwhelmed by things with fast attack patterns, beefy healthbars, strong attacks, things that will come to eachother's aid (minus spiders and bees), giants, or things that cant be stunlocked. (I.e. pigs, treeguards, beefalo) Overall, webber or wilson are solid bets as webber's only downside is he's considered a monster but spiders are better anyway, and wilson has become much more interesting to play as since his rework.

and then i also have a few random tips i've picked up while playing.

• things will not smolder in the oaisis desert (round cactus i think) so making a summer base could be good idea
  
• you and your things will be completely cool underground, so summer is ideal for cave exploration
  
• if your health and/or sanity are low, take a trip to the lunar grotto. gather blue shrooms (preferably more then you need as they can always be used as filler) then heal up. chop some lunar mushtrees using a 5 chop pattern then baiting the explosions, then use the mushrooms until you start seeing gestalts, if you arent already. then just get as close as possible, then let them attack you. i usually use this if i dont have any green caps but am very low on health
  
• if you are a bit nervous to face deerclops, simply make another boss do it for you! be sure you have a bush hat on hand, and i typically use the terrarium and eye of terror. be sure you can take a hit or two. Making them fight eachother is as simple as getting the eye in the path of one of clops' attacks, or clops in the way of a charge. once they are agroed onto eachother, sit back and watch the chaos unfold. (Be careful of peepers, that bush hat might come in handy.)

And remember, this is a game of hard knocks! every death will teach you what did and didnt work.

[Ailes]

I don't think Webber is a good choice. Many new players seem to pick him and die quickly due to his low sanity, that's a classic DST experience on public servers. Sanity management seems to be one of the hardest things for new players to figure out. And they also unknowingly aggro creatures as Webber that would otherwise be harmless. With Wendy/Abigail a lot of weaker mobs, especially hounds, are no problem, never are. Abigail can be used to "test" how dangerous a creature is without endangering yourself directly. Abigail dies instantly? Better don't try to engage that hostile thing in melee then.

[bob644016]

Originally posted by Lysergian:

• things will not smolder in the oaisis desert (round cactus i think) so making a summer base could be good idea

Just a small correction: round cacti and tumbleweeds means you have found the dragonfly desert. Lumpy cacti and volt goats means you have found the oasis desert.

[Nhika]

I would say Wanda for the pet, but learning how to kite and fight the "easy" mobs is huge.
Wolfgang is the easiest character to play, and all you need is to work out every now and then, prob safest choice for solo playstyle even for ignorant people like me lol.

[Sentry coming up]

Originally posted by Lysergian:

I agree with all the prior info, but i do have a character suggestion. wendy or webber are amazing picks for newer players since their reworks, although wendy's low damage output can be a pain and webber's low sanity pool (100 max vs wilson's 200) can be an issue. wendy is ideal if you are nervous about being swarmed by things, but you shouldnt rely on abigail for everything as she can be easily overwhelmed by things with fast attack patterns, beefy healthbars, strong attacks, things that will come to eachother's aid (minus spiders and bees), giants, or things that cant be stunlocked. (I.e. pigs, treeguards, beefalo) Overall, webber or wilson are solid bets as webber's only downside is he's considered a monster but spiders are better anyway, and wilson has become much more interesting to play as since his rework.

and then i also have a few random tips i've picked up while playing.

• things will not smolder in the oaisis desert (round cactus i think) so making a summer base could be good idea
  
• you and your things will be completely cool underground, so summer is ideal for cave exploration
  
• if your health and/or sanity are low, take a trip to the lunar grotto. gather blue shrooms (preferably more then you need as they can always be used as filler) then heal up. chop some lunar mushtrees using a 5 chop pattern then baiting the explosions, then use the mushrooms until you start seeing gestalts, if you arent already. then just get as close as possible, then let them attack you. i usually use this if i dont have any green caps but am very low on health
  
• if you are a bit nervous to face deerclops, simply make another boss do it for you! be sure you have a bush hat on hand, and i typically use the terrarium and eye of terror. be sure you can take a hit or two. Making them fight eachother is as simple as getting the eye in the path of one of clops' attacks, or clops in the way of a charge. once they are agroed onto eachother, sit back and watch the chaos unfold. (Be careful of peepers, that bush hat might come in handy.)

And remember, this is a game of hard knocks! every death will teach you what did and didnt work.

Just saying that Oasis does not have round cacti and Webber also has the downside of not being able to use pigs as protection (also neutral spiders don’t attack other hostile mobs unless provoked and don’t defend Webber unless allayed)