Everything you need to know to Don't Starve

A guide for beginners to start so that you can survive for more than 4 days.

I won't tell you strategies or how to play, but I'll explain how things work and you'll figure out the way you like to play by your own. Because I don't really like guides that tell you what to do and how, step by step, since that's the whole point of playing (at least this type of games).

Introduction

Hi, I already have a guide for Don't Starve (single player edition) that I wrote some time ago, you can see it here. But now I started to play Don't Starve Together (DST) and with the Reign of Giants (RoG) DLC so I decided to make a new guide with more information.

I personally don't enjoy guides that tell you how to play step by step and what's "the right way" to do things because then it takes away the exploration and the fun of figuring things out by yourself; so in my guide I'll just give you the basic information you need to stop being a newb and to be able to play with your more experienced friends. Of course you'll probably still die a lot but that's the point of the game and that's the best way to learn.

Also I wanted to recommend this guide from Lord Azeroth, he lists in a really cool, simple and minimalistic way what to expect from each day and what do you need to survive each season. I recommend to see it only after you have played for a while (+15 hours) to avoid ruining surprises and get the best experience, but do whatever floats your boat.

I do not own the Shipwrecked DLC yet, I'm waiting for a discount or something and I have no money atm so you'll probably not find any info on that here, I'm sorry.

Lore

This is the tip of the iceberg:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0QhvmisGWU

There're some images on Klei's website that tell the story behind all of this, if you're interested this is a good place to start. There's a lot of speculation and theories going around.

• Wilson[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Grows a magnificent beard[dont-starve-game.wikia.com].
  
• Willow[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Immune to Fire damage. Has a sweet Lighter[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]. Lights fires when nervous.
  
• Wolfgang[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Gets stronger with a full belly. Is afraid of the dark and monsters.
  
• Wendy[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: 'Haunted' by her twin sister[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]. Comfortable with darkness. Doesn't hit very hard.
  
• WX-78[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Not a picky eater. Charged by lightning, damaged by water. Can upgrade with Gears.
  
• Wickerbottom[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Knows many things. Self publishes books[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]. Can't sleep, hates food spoilage.
  
• Woodie[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Has a lovely axe[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]. Has a terrible secret[dont-starve-game.wikia.com].
  
• Wes[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Can't talk. Has trouble staying alive. Practices balloonomancy[dont-starve-game.wikia.com].

If you have Reign of Giants then you have access to:

• Wigfrid[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Excels in battle. Gains power from fallen foes. Only eats meat.
  
• Webber[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Is a monster. Can befriend spiders. grows a silky smooth beard.

And Shipwrecked DLC includes:

• Walani[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Loves surfing. Dries off quickly. Is a pretty chill gal.
  
• Warly[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Has distinguished tastes. Cooks in custom cookware[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]. Has a stylish chef pouch[dont-starve-game.wikia.com].
  
• Wilbur[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Can't talk. Can run. Is a monkey.
  
• Woodlegs[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]: Can sniff out treasures. Captain of the "Sea Legs[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]". Pirate.

If you want to learn more about them then head this way[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], each has different personality, abilities and disadvantages.

Getting started

The menus are pretty self explanatory so I don't think I need to cover that, the only things that need explanation are the game modes[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], there're three:

• Survival: default mode, intended to be a cooperative, more difficult mode. Dead players become ghosts [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]that drain the sanity of living players by 3.3/min. When all players die a timer starts and if no one gets revived or a new player comes in the world resets when the timer is over.
  
• Endless: More relaxed mode that doesn't force players to cooperate. The world never resets and players may resurrect themselves at the spawn portal.
  
• Wilderness: Like other survival games. Players spawn in random locations across the map, there're no ghosts. Players who die are returned to character select wiping their map (not the map itself but what you see pressing M) and respawning them in a new random location. There is no way of resurrecting someone.

Note: you don't earn drops if you're playing in Offline mode, so if you want to get them while playing by yourself just Host a game and make it private. If you don't know what I mean by drops then go to the drops section.

HUD

(Heads Up Display)

• You can expand your inventory using a backpack, piggyback or a krampus sack[dont-starve-game.wikia.com].
  
• Health and hunger are self explanatory, but sanity[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] may need a little more explanation, click on the link for more information.
  
• The clock: the yellow zone is daylight, red zone is dusk and blue complete darkness. You'll not need a light source until it's blue, after that if you don't have any source of light you'll not survive the night.
  
• You can access the map pressing M and the pause menu with Esc.
  
• To see who else is in the server press TAB.

Survivng the first night

You won't survive the night without light because Charlie[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] (also known as Night Monster or Grue) comes for you. She'll start to attack if you're in complete darkness for like 4 seconds.

So, to survive the first night you'll need a controlled fire[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], you've 3 options for now:

Campfire [3 cut grass + 3 logs]: temporal use, burns twice as fast as fire pit, if you add too much fuel* it'll start setting in fire things around it.

Fire pit [2 logs + 12 rocks]: it's permanent (unless you destroy it with a hammer), they're less susceptible to rain and only need fuel to light up again.

Torch [2 cut grass + 2 twigs]: if you want/need to keep moving, it won't last long, it's a small source of light and it's used as a tool so you will be completely vulnerable. You also can also set things on fire if you want.

*Easy to find items you can use as fuel[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] are: petals, twigs, logs, charcoal, pine cones, cut grass.
You can cook food[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] in campfires and active fire pits, just left click them in you inventory and left click the fire, it's better to eat cooked food since you get more benefits from it (health & hunger).

To get the logs you'll need an axe [1 twig + 1 flint]:


Also, see the berries that are in my inventory? Food spoils[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], mine were fresh, so they've a green background, but as they decay that background will start to turn yellow, orange and then red, then it spoils. The benefits you get from eating food keep lowering as it starts to decay, it's way better to eat them when it's still fresh than when it's stale.


It's a good idea to keep at least one renewable source of food in camp, either with farming or trapping.
There are 2 types of farms[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]:

• Basic farm [8 cut grass + 4 manure* + 4 logs] = takes 40 daylight hours and has 20 uses.
  
• Improved farm [10 cut grass + 6 manure + 4 stone] = takes 20 daylight hours and has 30 uses.

After the uses have run out you have to re-fertilize, to plant you only need to put the seeds birds drop, you don't need anything else.

The traps[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] are easier to craft [6 cut grass + 2 twigs], they have 8 uses. The best place for them is outside rabbit holes, but you can use them to catch frogs and spiders as well.
*You can get manure [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]to fertilize where the beefalos and pigs hang out, you can also use rot.


These are the basic things you need to survive. Now go my child, go and explore and don't starve.

What's this?

Now, you have grasped the basics, you can go and live and play and try not to die. But, there are things around that you'll find and ask yourself: what the hell do I do with this? should I pick it up? will it kill me? is this safe? should I run the other way? is the man with candy will give me more candy if I hop in the van??

Well, I love/hate this part of starting a new game, where you have to google and read stuff to know or just try it to see it for yourself and die. I love this because everything is new and newfangled, but I hate it because it makes me feel dirty, like a cheater, to search for it, but if you don't then you might miss lots of cool stuff from the game.

These are some of the things you may encounter early in-game that you won't know what to do with, and other stuff that you could do but you won't know about it unless you search for it, but you won't search for it because you don't know about it.


If you find something like this , pick it up, you've found yourself a chest with legs, Chester[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]. As long as you have it, he'll follow you and you can store things inside his mouth; but be careful, he can die (he drops everything and respawns after 1 game day).


You might find touch stones[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] around, these are resurrection stones, they can only be used in Survival mode tho', they'll spawn in other modes but they'll be just decorations.



If the overland dangers are not good enough for you, then you can go underground, mine this things and you'll find a sinkhole, the entrance to a cave[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]. Beware, as it's pretty obvious: caves are dark, where there is darkness your sanity drains and Charlie will attack. And what can you find in the caves? well a lot of cool stuff and more things trying to kill you.
NOTE: If you're hosting the server you need to activate caves in order for them to spawn. Do this in the server options menu (before entering the world).



If one day you find that this creep is following you around trying to hit you, don't try to kill it (yet), it's a Treeguard [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]and it spawns when you've chopped down a lot of trees, it will most likely kill you if he hits you 3 times and he has a lot of health. To make him stop following you around plant a lot of pine cones close to him until he stops. The best way to kill it is to lead him to mobs like the pigs or beefalos in heat.



Wormholes [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]are safe to use, if you have sanity enough to lose. Every time you travel through a wormhole you'll lose 15 sanity and followers (friendly) will travel behind you, what this thing does is connect two parts of the map, you go down one you appear in the other one, but there's no way of saying which one until you try it.

Fighting

You'll probably ask yourself at the beginning if that spear in the craft menu is the only weapon you'll be able to use, it's not. These are the craftable weapons[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]:

• Spear [dont-starve-game.wikia.com][2 twigs + 1 rope + 1 flint] = 34 damage | 150 hits
  
• Poison spear (SW)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 spear + 1 venom gland in Science machine] = 34 damage | 150 hits
  
• Obsidian Spear (SW)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 spear + 3 obsidian + 1 dragon heart in Obsidian workbench] = 51 - 102 damage | 375 uses
  
• Ham bat[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 pig skin + 2 twigs + 2 meat in Alchemy engine] = 59 damage | 10 days
  
• Sleep dart[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [2 cut reeds + 1 stinger + 1 jet feather in Science machine] = if the player attacks the mob will wake up, some mobs require up to 4 darts | 1 use
• Fire dart[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [2 cut reeds + 1 charcoal + 1 crimson feather in Science machine] = sets the target on fire | 1 use
  
• Blow dart[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [2 cut reeds + 1 hound's tooth + 1 azure feather in a Science machine] = 100 damage | 1 use
  
• Poison dart (SW)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [2 reeds + 1 venom gland + 1 jet feather in Science machine] = 2 damage every 10 seconds for 2 minutes, resulting in 26 damage total. Any food dropped by a poisoned mob will be stale.
  
• Boomerang[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 board + 1 silk + 1 charcoal in Alchemy engine] = 27.2 damage | 10 uses. You have to catch it (holding down the action key, space bar) when it's coming back or it will hit you and remove twice the durability.
  
• Bee Mine[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 board + 4 bees + 1 flint] = the mine will explode when something comes near it and spawn 4 aggressive bees, though you're safe.
  
• Tooth trap[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 log + 1 rope + 1 hound's tooth] = 60 damage to mobs in proximity | 10 uses, need to be reset after every use.
  
• Coconade (SW)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 coconut + 1 gunpowder + 1 rope in Science machine] = 100 damage. Explodes and sets nearby targets on fire.
  
• Cutlass supreme (SW)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 dead swordfish + 2 gold nuggets + 1 twig] = 68 damage | 150 uses | Deals additional 34 damage against Sealnado.
  
• Weather pain (RoG)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [10 down feather + 1 volt goat horn + 1 gears in Alchemy machine] = 7 damage per second | 15 uses | Creates a tornado to damage enemies and destroy objects.
  
• Morning star (RoG)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 volt goat horn + 2 electrical doodas + 2 gold nuggets in Alchemy machine] = 6 minutes of durability | Damage: 43.35 (dry) & 72.25 (wet) | Emits light. Does more damage to wet targets.

You may use some tools as melee weapons[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] as well, but that's not recommended.

And craftable armors:

• Grass suit[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [10 cut grass + 2 twigs] = 225 hp durability | absorbs 60% of physical damage
  
• Log suit[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [8 logs + 2 ropes in Science machine] = 450 hp durability | absorbs 80% physical damage
  
• Seashell suit (SW)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [10 seashells + 2 seaweed + 1 rope] = 750 hp durability | Absorbs 75% of physical damage. Protects the player from getting poisoned by physical contact.
  
• Marble suit[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [12 marbles + 4 ropes in Alchemy engine] = 1050 hp durability | Absorbs 95% of physical damage & slows you down 30%
  
• Limestone suit (SW)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [3 limestone + 2 ropes in Alchemy engine] = 825 hp durability | +2 sanity per minute | Absorbs 70% of physical damage. Reduces speed by 10%.
  
• Obsidian armor (SW)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 log suit + 5 obsidian + 1 dragon heart in Obsidian workbench] = 1,350 hp durability | +3.3 sanity per minute | Absorbs 70% of physical damage. Grants immunity to fire damage. Ignites attackers.
• Football Helmet[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 pig skin + 1 rope in Alchemy engine] = 450 durabilty | absorbs 80% of physical damage.
  
• Scalemail (RoG)[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 scales + 1 log suit + 3 pig skins in Alchemy machine] = 1,800 hp durability | +3.3 sanity per minute | Absorbs 70% of physical damage. Grants immunity to fire damage. Ignites attackers.

You'll probably find the tentacle spike[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] lying somewhere in the marsh biome[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], they're somewhat common, they're pretty usefull as they do 51 damage and have a durability of 100 uses.

You may also find lying around an ice staff[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] or fire staff[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], they're ranged weapons and can freeze or set fire to the target, they drain 1 sanity with every use and have a durability of 20 uses.

Wigfrid (RoG) has unique access to the battle spear[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] and battle helm[dont-starve-game.wikia.com].

NOTE: Some information about the Shipwrecked items might be wrong or incomplete. They haven't updated the wikia in some time and I don't have the DLC to check if it made it into the game.

Cooking

Cooking using the crock pot[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [3cut stones + 6 charcoal + 6 twigs] is the best way to get all the benefits from your food, so you should probably craft one as soon as you can, it also makes the winter a little less hard.

This are the most useful recipes:
Note: I am listing the easiest way to make the recipe, but there might be other ways to make it, if you want to see the specific requirements click on the name. The list's objective is to be an easy and quick reference to use while in game.

Dish	Adds	Ingredient	Ingredient	Ingredient	Ingredient
Pierogi [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]	40Hth | 37.5Hgr | 5S				No twig, moleworm, mandrake
Spicy Chili [dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [RoG]	20Hth | 37.5Hgr | 0S
Meaty stew [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]	12Hth | 150Hgr | 5S				No twig, moleworm, honey, tailbird egg nor mandrake
Meatballs [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]	3Hth | 62.5Hgr | 5S		No twig, mandrake nor honey	No twig, mandrake nor honey	No twig, mandrake nor honey
Bacon and eggs [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]	20Hth | 75Hgr | 5S
Froggle bunwich [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]	20Hth | 37.5Hgr | 5S			No mandrake, eggs nor honey	No mandrake, eggs nor honey

If you have Shipwrecked then you can just keep making this, it's too op. You can even use as many monster meats as you want:

Dish	Adds	Ingredient	Ingredient	Ingredient	Ingredient
Surf 'n' Turf [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]	60Hth | 37.5Hgr | 33S

Winter

Winter[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] lasts for 16 days; beginning on day 21 and ending on day 36. This will make your life harder, so be prepared. There are mobs that only appear on winter and others that only do in summer, so you'll be seeing different monsters around, some plants will go to sleep and others will awake, just like in real life.

Also, you can freeze [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]to death, so you have to use winter clothing[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] (you'll probably find some around if you explore enough the first 20 days) or if you use Wilson or Webber let their beard grow for insulation. Although, this will only give you more time, you still have to go to a fire constantly to get your temperature up again.

If you wish to read a complete guide about winter, go here[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], but again, to fully experience the game it's better if you try by yourself and die sometimes first trying to figure it out on your own.

[TAKKÄ]

Thanks a bunch. I'm having trouble deciding because of different reviews (expected) and now I'm pondering between DST or the Megapack (gyahhh!).

[gay]

TAKKA I haven't played it in a while but DST gives you access to some DLC content that you would need to pay for if you got DS. There's a few differences between them but personally I don't see a reason why get DS when you can get DST, I would recommend to look into these differences though.

[TAKKÄ]

Does anyone recommend getting DS over DST for begginers? This guide for some reason caught my interest in the game real quick. And it's 2020!

[Nezzy]

how to become alive after becomeing a ghost

[Draupnir]

sorry but winter lasts 15 days and u did not talk about summer that is more dangerus then winter :P

[gay]

Glad it's being useful for you :)

[quantumness]

I have been playing with no guides for more then 100 hours and this guide is just the type of material I need to learn enough without spoiling the game too much. The cooking part of the game makes me disinterested sometimes, knowing that I could have recovered a lot of hp instead of eating some foods is helpful for me.

[Heckike]

Sick, well done!