Don't Starve Slot Machine
Everything about Don't Starve, a survival game by Klei Entertainment, creators of Mark of the Ninja, Shank and N+, among many others. Currently available on Steam, GoG, PS4, XBox One, Switch and mobile. You see, in single-player Don’t Starve Warly’s Chef Pouch reduces spoilage by 50%, but in Don’t Starve Together, Warly players will only see a 25% decrease. Not only will players see a difference in spoilage times, but players will also note that they have access to 8 inventory slots in single-player and only 6 slots in Don’t Starve. @rezecib, Regarding the middle of nowhere screenie, I was thinking maybe get proximity of player to a major base item, such as a science machine and capture that instead if the player is too far away to illustrate what the base looked like at all. It's funny, I totally don't remember seeing a mod to do that yet I do seem to recognise the icon XD.
There’s nothing worse than exploring The Constant in Don’t Starve only to find that all the food you were keeping in your inventory has turned into Rot. While it may have been easy to get around in your first year, once players begin exploring Caves or making their way to visit the Lunar Island, long lasting foods and foods with long spoilage times become imperative.
Players will also want to become of the mechanics in the game, including the perk of food lasting double the length in the frigid Winter and disadvantage of food lasting half the length in the searing Summer.
The reality is that there are a variety of methods of food preservation when it comes to playing Don’t Starve, but some methods take longer for players to get to, as they take more effort, especially if they require a Blueprint.
So, let’s get to talking about all of the ways players can ensure that they keep their food as fresh as possible while playing all versions of Don’t Starve.
HOW SPOILAGE WORKS
Before we get to chatting about the methods you can use to reduce the amount of spoilage your food endures, it’s important to understand the mechanics behind spoilage. Each food, including the different types of vegetables, has a different spoilage rate. Some foods, like the Deerclops Eyeball, have an unlimited spoilage rate, however, some foods like the Roasted Juicy Berries (DST) have a rapid spoilage rate of 1 day.
Due to the way spoilage works, when raw resources are cooked over a Camp Fire, Fire Pit, or Willow’s Lighter the food will rot at a faster pace, however, it will also gain a bit of freshness. What does that mean? Well, it means that you should leave your food raw until you’re ready to munch. At that point, get to cooking to receive the most stats you can. On the flip side, if you’re in need of some nice juicy rot, cook your berries or various vegetables to speed up the spoilage rate.
Similarly, when foods are mixed together in a Crock Pot to make food, the result will often have gained freshness. A good idea is to always mix spoiling food with fresh food to balance out the difference, however, depending on how easy it is for you to get resources, this may not even be a problem for you.
Food that spoils past a certain point will yield lower stats and in cases where players are using Wickerbottom, they will receive even fewer stats from foods that are rotting.
STRUCTURES TO STORE YOUR FOOD
The first trick to keeping your food fresh is to keep it in structures or crafts that can extend their lifespan. Although players will not need all of the methods available to keep food fresh, it’s a good idea to be aware of them as they can exponentially make the game easier to survive in.
The following are all of the things players can prototype to help reduce the speed at which food spoils.
THE ICE BOX
The most common structure players will turn to when it comes to keeping your food nice and chilly is the Ice Box. The Ice Box requires 2 Gold Nuggets, 1 Gear and 1 Board (or 1 Cut Stone in SW, HAM, RoG & DST) to prototype.
Ice Boxes are static structures players can place that will reduce spoilage rates by half. The Ice Box will also store Ice indefinitely, meaning that once you’re comfortable with how much Ice you have, usually after the first Winter, you can live off of it for a few years.
While Ice Boxes will do a great job preserving your food, Ice Boxes can still be destroyed and will often be one of the first targets the Deerclops breaks during its Winter reign. Players need to make sure that whenever they hear Hounds or terrifying seasonal giants approaching that they move away from their base. Mobs can quickly destroy an entire base, especially when it’s the Deerclops, Bearger, or red Fire Hounds. I’ve had to reconstruct our Ice Boxes about 4 times in the past 2 weeks on our public server, simply because the Deerclops targetted the Ice Boxes first and players froze or didn’t know what to do. While you might think Ice Flingomatics in your base will be good enough, sometimes players will leave Ice Flingomatics unfueled, ultimately leaving your base vulnerable to fires.
While I believe that Ice Boxes are essential, especially for multiplayer Don’t StarveTogether servers, I don’t think Ice Boxes are particularly useful in single-player Don’t Starve. As mentioned, since the Ice Box is static you’ll be able to store lots of goodies for your friends, but once that food is out of the Ice Box it’s going to spoil very quickly making it useless for long-term exploration. Food isn’t difficult to get around the base, especially if you’re someone who has built a Pig farm, Improved Farms or a similar food source.
Ice Boxes, at the end of the day, are going to be most helpful when it comes to preparing for long adventures or for making sure that players in your server are always fed. Beyond that, players can also keep food-related dress and gear in an Ice Box to extend their freshness. Equipment that falls under this category includes the Bat Bat, the Ham Bat, Ice Cube, Fashion Melon and most notably the Thermal Stone (which may be useful in Summer.)
If you’re worried about using Gears on Ice Boxes have no fear as you can always choose to destroy the Ice Box with a Hammer in order to receive your Gear back. While not all structures or weapons will return a Gear, the Ice Box is guaranteed to always drop it once demolished or destroyed.
Best food to store in Ice Box: Since the Ice Box is probably not going to be the only structure you rely on to keep your food fresh when playing Don’t Starve I recommend using it to store only Crock Pot recipes focussing on Healing or Hunger.
Limiting the Ice Box to only containing Crock Pot dishes will ensure that your Ice Box isn’t perpetually filled with foods that aren’t necessary. It will so ensure that foods have remained as fresh for as long as they can be as raw ingredients tend to have shorter freshness than their Crock Pot counterparts.
If you need a place to store extra raw foods like vegetables, consider building yourself a second Ice Box (or more), though leaving foods in Improved Farms during seasons that can grow foods is also a feasible option.
SNOW CHESTER
One of the quirkiest ways players can keep food fresh is by travelling with Snow Chester. Snow Chester is one of the many variants of Chester that players can obtain by placing a total of 9 Blue Gems (one in each of his inventory slots) on a full moon. Upon transforming, Snow Chester will become a transportable Ice Box, though he will not be able to store Ice or an Ice Cube indefinitely.
Though Snow Chester is not as powerful as an Ice Box, he does keep Thermal Stones cool for Summer, so I would recommend getting him anyways. Your other option is Shadow Chester, who causes food to spoil quicker. Shadow Chester has his own uses and he used to be my favourite transformation, so make sure you study up on your Chester transformations to make use of this adorable guy in the best ways possible.
I usually use Snow Chester when I’m in groups and need to make sure everyone has enough food to take care of their health. Most notably, I will always travel with Snow Chester when trying to defeat bosses like the Bee Queen, Moose/Goose, Deerclops and Bearger. Make sure you always place Snow Chester away from the fight, though preferably by a Fire Pit, so you can quickly grab healing foods if you run out.
Snow Chester is extremely notable for mid-tier level exploration, especially for players who are teaching friends how to play the game.
INSULATED PACK
Although I have to admit, I don’t use the Insulated Pack, I can’t deny how powerful an item it is. The Insulated Pack requires 3 Electrical Doodads, 3 Gears and 1 Thick Fur.
The only reason I don’t use the Insulated Pack is that it requires 3 Gears, which I don’t really think is worth it when you can get Snow Chester with 9 Blue Gems. Then again, I guess players may want to use their Blue Gems for magic items or for Purple Gems. Either way, if you want an Insulated Pack, get ready to kill a bunch of Clockworks or in Don’t Starve Together you can tumbleweed hunt in the desert the Dragonfly lives in.
Since the Insulated Pack requires players to surrender the chest slot, or “backpack” slot if you have a mod, chances are you will only want one Insulated Pack. Insulated Packs are great for moving all of the contents in your Ice Box to another base, especially if you have a base for every season.
I would also only have one Insulated Pack around your base as they are flammable, cannot go into chests and inevitably have to be on a player to make sure that they are safe. Basically, it’s one of those items you want to make sure is always treated like your baby.
BUNDLING WRAP
By far the most crucial and game-breaking aspect of the game are Bundling Wraps. To prototype a Bundling Wrap, players must either kill Bees in single-player or kill the Bee Queen in Don’t Starve Together.
Although Bees only have a 4% chance to drop Bundling Wrap in Don’t Starve, killing the Bee Queen can be time-consuming, making prototyping Bundling Wrap a mid-to-late game priority in Don’t Starve Together. Though, that being said in Hamlet players can receive the blueprint from the Queen Womant.
Once the Bundling Wrap Blueprint has been acquired, grab yourself a piece of Wax Paper and a Rope and bundle up to four stacks together into one. These stacks can contain resources, food, weapons, or anything you think is important to travel with! I personally recommend putting food in them as Bundling Wraps will make sure that food is stored indefinitely.
Wax Paper has a bit of a process to make. First players will have to destroy a Beehive for its Honeycomb, then players must prototype Beeswax at the Science Machine and then players must prototype Wax Paper using 1 Beeswax and 1 Papyrus (4 Cut Reeds) and finally using the Wax Paper and Rope you can bundle the 4 stacks of items. *wipes brow and sighs* yeah.
I’m currently playing a lot of Wurt, so I make sure I have some Bundling Wraps filled with Dragonfruit, Dragonpies and Dragonfruit Seeds. It’s a bit of an overkill, but when you’re logging onto a server where people play regularly, you never know what food is going to be available to you.
Bundling Wrap is a godsend as it increases your inventory size beyond belief. I recommend looking into it as soon as you can. Bundling Wrap’s best use is to store big stacks of seeds to ensure that you never run out of a certain veggie or for big stacks of already cooked food.
SALT BOX (DON’T STARVE TOGETHER)
A structure that is severely underrated is the Salt Box, which reduces the speed of spoilage by 75% for Meats and their co-related cooked counterparts.
The Salt Box requires 10 Salt Crystals, 1 Cut Stone (3 Rocks), and 1 Blue Gem to craft, so players will have to survive until their first winter before they prototype these helpful suckers.
The Salt Box is where you should hide all of your uncooked Meat and/or Monster Meat if you do not plan on turning them into the Pig King or exchanging them for eggs with an entrapped bird. As mentioned earlier, having a Birdcage is one of the best strategies players can use when playing single-player Don’t Starve or multi-player Don’t Starve Together. You really only need one bird for unlimited seeds, unlimited eggs and a guarantee for fresh food at all times.
The weirdest thing about the Salt Box is the fact that it cannot contain Jerky. While Salt Boxes cannot contain Jerky, as mentioned, Jerky has a 20-day lifespan and players can also use the Ice Box to extend their lifespan to 40 days.
THE CHEF POUCH (WARLY EXCLUSIVE)
I’m not too sure how I feel about the Chef Pouch. While it’s cool that Warly gets an item that reduces spoilage, being that Warly is the food god, but the Chef Pouch only seems useful in single-player Don’t Starve.
You see, in single-player Don’t Starve Warly’s Chef Pouch reduces spoilage by 50%, but in Don’t Starve Together, Warly players will only see a 25% decrease. Not only will players see a difference in spoilage times, but players will also note that they have access to 8 inventory slots in single-player and only 6 slots in Don’t Starve Together. Useful? Maybe. How much? Not really much.
I wouldn’t rely on using Chef Pouches in Don’t Starve Together, especially because of it’s moderate crafting recipe, being 4 Cut Grass, 4 Sticks and 2 Nitre. While those aren’t the most pricy or valuable resources, they aren’t really worth the outcome. Players in Shipwrecked can look at a bit cheaper recipe being 1 Cloth (3 Bamboo) and 1 Rope (3 Cut Grass).
STRUCTURES THAT “RESET” OR REDUCE SPOILAGE TIMERS
Some of the most exciting discoveries I’ve had while playing Don’t Starve Together are the mechanisms in the game that make using storage units fairly useless or at least unnecessary in large quantities.
I cannot tell you how useful it is to have multiple food sources on a server, especially if there is any griefing on the server or players who have expended all of the resources at the base. If you’re in one of these situations, chances are you’re going to need one of the methods below to deal with the food shortages:
DRYING RACK
I know it’s probably a bit weird to see that I’m putting Drying Racks on a list of says to reduce spoilage, but the truth is that Drying Racks are an extremely powerful structure players can use to make sure that they are always sane and make use of all of the food they collect.
Drying Racks require 3 Rope (9 Cut Grass), 3 Sticks and 2 Charcoal and players will want at least 4 Drying Racks. Drying Racks take a long time to make Jerky, especially in seasons like Spring, which cause the Drying Racks to dry Meat slower. At minimum Drying Racks will dry food in 1 day and maximum of 2 days as long as it is not raining. If it is raining, Drying Racks will stop drying altogether.
On multiplayer Don’t Starve Together servers, I recommend having around 10 Drying Racks, although you may choose to have more or less based on the number of players on your server.
Meat is the best food to make into Jerky as it provides players with 25 Hunger, 15 Sanity and 20 Health, while its cooked counterpart only returns 3 Health and no Sanity. Great deal for waiting 2 days for it to dry!
Jerky can be left on drying racks to keep them from spoiling indefinitely, however, Jerky has a long lifetime, sitting at 20 days before rotting. Jerky can alternatively be thrown into the Ice Box if players want to extend their lifetime to 40 days, especially if they are trying to build up their supply for long-winded adventures.
Jerky is one of the most ideal ways players can control their Sanity, especially if they are playing the carnivore, Wigfrid. Unfortunately, when Wigfrid is out of battles for too long, her Sanity gets tricky to deal with, making her Jerky reliance inevitable, unless players would rather use Tents to sleep.
It’s important to note that there are two forms Jerky can take, including regular sized Jerky, which requires a piece of regular Meat to make, and Small Jerky, which can be made from a variety of raw meats, including Batilisk Wings, Drumsticks, Eels, Fish, Fish Morsels (Shipwrecked), Frog Legs, Morsels, Poison Dartfrog Legs (Hamlet), Tropical Fish (Shipwrecked).
Small Jerky is not as useful as regular Jerky as it only provides players with 12.5 Hunger, 10 Sanity, and 8 Health. While these stats should not be ignored for early exploration, I recommend keeping your Drying Racks only for regular pieces of Meat as smaller meat portions can be used to make Crock Pot recipes. While the stats you receive from Small Jerky may not be the most helpful in comparison to regular Jerky, a player will still benefit from Small Jerky’s long perish time, being 20 days as well.
The only bad thing about Jerky is that it doesn’t fill players with a whole lot of Hunger, so players may have to pair Jerky with Meatballs or another high Hunger yielding food.
BIRDCAGE
The Birdcage is one of my favourite structures to build, especially in Don’t Starve Together. When a bird is imprisoned in a Birdcage they can be fed a variety of foods in return for Eggs or seeds. The prior is the aspect we’re going to focus on for the sake of this post.
Since it becomes significantly easier to collect Monster Meat in the middle to late game, players are encouraged to swap some of their Monster Meat for Eggs to either trade with the Pig King, or for foods like Bacon and Eggs, Pierogis and Waffles.
Birdcages make it so players always have a number of fillers and gain access to a variety of more potent foods.
MUSHROOM PLANTER
Mushroom Planters are the best way players can make sure that their Mushroom supply is always topped up. Mushroom Planters require 8 Rot, 5 Manure, and 2 Living Logs.
Mushroom Planters are considered to be farms for Mushrooms and will inevitably provide players with between 4-6 Mushrooms that are at full freshness. Similar to Birdcages, Mushroom Planters can be used to keep Mushrooms that are about to rot from… well… rotting!
Get to chopping trees and summoning Tree Guards, because you’re going to need a healthy supply of Living Logs. Tree Guards may be scary to fight at first, but I promise you, as soon as you start understanding their kiting behaviour, Tree Guards will quickly become one of the easier mobs players can and will regularly farm.
Unfortunately, Mushroom Planters will require players to refuel them with Living Logs every few yields, so players are going to want to make sure that they have a steady supply of Living Logs anyways, making characters like Woodie and Wormwood especially helpful when it comes to harvesting Mushrooms.
BEST FOODS WITH THE LONGEST SPOILAGE TIMER
One of the best ways to deal with spoilage is to deal with the problem straight from the source.
Rule to keep in mind is: if you don’t need a vegetable or fruit turn them into a seed since seeds last 40 days. The only time you will want to hoard up on vegetables and fruits is in Winter, since farms cannot grow food in Winter.
The following are the foods with the longest spoilage timer:
BACON AND EGGS
Hunger: 75
Sanity: 5
Health: 20
Spoilage time: 20 days
Recipe: Bacon and Eggs require 2 Eggs and a Meat value of 1.5 or more, though players cannot have more than 1 Monster Meat or the recipe may result in Monster Lasagna.
I recommend the following recipe 2 Eggs, 1 Monster Meat, 1 Meat/Morsel/Frog Leg.
DRAGONPIE
Hunger: 75
Sanity: 5
Health: 40
Spoilage time: 15 days
Recipe: 1 Dragonfruit and 3 Fillers (including sticks)
HONEY HAM
Hunger: 75
Sanity: 5
Health: 30
Spoilage time: 15 days
Recipe: 2 Meat, 1 Honey, and 1 Filler
JERKY
Hunger: 25
Sanity: 15
Health: 20
Spoilage time: 20 days
Recipe: Jerky requires a piece of Meat to hang on a Drying Rack for 2 Days.
PIEROGIES
Hunger: 37.5
Sanity: 5
Health: 40
Spoilage time: 20 days
Recipe: 1 Meat, 1 Egg, 1 Vegetable and 1 filler. It can only contain 1 Monster Meat.
SEAFOOD GUMBO (SHIPWRECKED & DON’T STARVE TOGETHER)
Hunger: 37.5
Sanity: 20
Health: 40
Spoilage time: 20 days
Recipe: 2.5 Fish and 1 Filler
Don't Starve Slot Machine Play
HONEY NUGGETS
Hunger: 37.5
Sanity: 5
Health: 20
Spoilage time: 15 days
Recipe: 1 Meat, 1 Honey and 2 Fillers
Related Posts
When it comes to staying alive in Don’t Starve and Don’t Starve Together a lot can come down to whether or not you have an accessible light source nearby.
I’m sure we all know how frustrating it is when you’re far into your game when you run out of either Grass or Twigs. “Why is it that I am always missing only one of one or the other?” you question yourself and as you start getting hit by Charlie for the first time, you open your eyes and realize you’re Winona and you’ve taken no damage.
As you close your eyes again you start taking progressive damage from Charlie, ultimately leading to your death. Whammo, game file deleted, the server closed, it’s all over Buckaroo.
So what are the different ways players can keep an area properly lit? What are the easiest ways of making sure that your fate isn’t sealed by the darkness?
Well, it’s going to depend on what version of Don’t Starve you’re playing and whether or not you’re using any mods.
The following guide will take you through all of the methods players will be able to provide themselves with light and strategies for all versions of Don’t Starve (DS, HAM, RoG & SW) and Don’t Starve Together (DST).
CHARACTERS & CHARACTER PERKS
WX-78
I’m going to start off the list of portable light sources with WX-78 who is also considered one of the top characters to choose in Don’t Starve.
Without going too far into it, WX-78 can be used as a portable light source when he is hit by lightning. Players can either wait until Spring, regular rain or can even storm the Ruins in order to get struck by a lightning bolt in the early game.
Once WX-78 has been struck by a lightning bolt he will glow for about a day.
If players are playing Don’t Starve Together thinking of teaming up with a Wickerbottom since she will have access to The End is Nigh, which will summon lightning strikes.
WILLOW’S LIGHTER
Although Willow isn’t going to be as helpful as our friend WX-78, Willow does come with her own infinite lighter in single-player, which lasts for 600 seconds in Don’t Starve Together.
Although Willow’s Lighter can break in Don’t Starve Together, players can craft multiples of it using the Light Tab. Willow’s Lighter is always available to Willow players and requires 1 Rope, 1 Gold Nugget and 3 Petals.
Willow’s Lighter will help slow down the process of Freezing in Winter in the base game of Don’t Starve, however, it does not provide warmth in RoG or DST.
INFROGGLES (WAGSTAFF)
Although I don’t see much about Wagstaff these days, I have to say that Wagstaff is still one of the best characters players can choose in a single-player version of Don’t Starve.
Wagstaff comes with a variety of severe disadvantages, however, with the help of his inventions Wagstaff will be able to either become equal to or more powerful than other characters.
Infrogoggles can be built at any point using Wagstaff’s Tinkering Tab and require 1 Spectoggles, 1 Electrical Doodad and 2 Torches to craft.
Once placed on Wagstaff, utilizing the player’s “head slot”, players will be able to see with Infrared Vision.
Though Infrared Vision isn’t technically Nightvision, players will still benefit from seeing their enemies in the dark, especially if no light sources are available.
WARLY / FOODS THAT PROVIDE LIGHT
Glow Berries are a tricky resource to farm as they require players to kill Depths Worms to acquire. When eaten, a Glow Berry will provide players with 25 Hunger, -10 Sanity and 11 Health. Players will also emit a glow for 90 seconds in single-player Don’t Starve and 240 seconds in Don’t Starve Together.
Warly players can craft Glow Berry Mousse with 1 Glow Berry, 2 Fruits and 1 Filler (that is not Meat or Inedible). Players can technically mix 4 Lesser Glow Berries, but no matter what recipe you choose, the Glow Berry Mouse will provide players with two days of glowing.
Glow Berries and Glow Berry Mousse are somewhat overpowered resources to have, especially if you have some extra Bundling Wrap to keep them fresh.
I would always recommend using Glow Berries or Glow Berry Mousse on yourself before using them on pets in Don’t Starve Together, though I have to admit, I like having my glowing Kittykit by my side at all times.
WINONA’S SPOTLIGHT
I’m honestly not the biggest fan of Winona’s Spotlight, simply because I prefer Mushlights for base lights. Winona’s Spotlights cost 2 Gold Nuggets, 1 Duct Tape and 1 Firefly and follow players when they are nearby.
Quite frankly, I’d prefer to save my resources on Winona’s Catapult, though having one Spotlight can come in handy. Players will never need multiple Spotlights per generator as their light will most commonly stack on players. If players want to have access to lights all around their base they can spread out the Spotlights on multiple generators.
It’s undeniable how useful Winona’s Spotlight can be, especially when placed near farms or around Catapults used for seasonal giant battles.
PORTABLE SOURCES OF LIGHT
The first source of light players can craft are portable sources of light that they can take with them.
Portable sources of light do not require players to disassemble them when moving around the map and will emit light as players make their way around The Constant.
Players will either need to recraft portable light sources when they are extinguished or will have to refuel them with.
HANDHELD OBJECTS
TORCH
The easiest piece of lighting equipment players can craft themselves is the Torch, which requires 2 Cut Grass and 2 Twigs.
Players must hold a Torch in their hand slot as they would a weapon, illuminating everything in front of them, however, preventing them from being able to use tools.
Players can use a Torch to attack enemies, potentially igniting them and causing them to take fire damage, however, igniting an enemy may put the loot they drop at risk as if enemies who provide a burnable item die by fire damage, the loot will be Ashes.
It’s a great idea to keep a stack of Cut Grass and Twigs on you at all times as you can never truly know when you are going to need another Torch.
Torches last for 75 seconds and provide 20% wetness resistance when players are holding said Torch. Torches will usually get players through the night, though depending on the season players may need to craft a couple of Torches to get through.
Players in single-player Don’t Starve will be able to “flicker” torches by lighting them quickly and unequipping them, making it so the durability never drops below 100%. Flickering only works in single-player Don’t Starve and only works when a torch is at 100% and not a percentage lower.
Torches will burn up to 150% faster if players are in extreme cases of precipitation.
When used as a weapon, Torches will deal 17 damage per strike, not including the fire damage.
Torches are craftable in all versions of Don’t Starve.
LANTERN
Players can craft a Lantern using 3 Twigs, 2 Ropes and 2 Light Bulbs which will provide them with 7 minutes and 48 seconds of light.
Players will need an Alchemy Engine to craft the Lantern.
The Lantern is usually my “go-to” when it comes to which light object to use as Lanterns allow players to keep their head slot open and I commonly main Wigfrid.
While Lanterns have to be held in order to light the area around a player, they can also be placed on the ground when a player is resting or collecting resources.
I have to admit that Lanterns can be a bit annoying to maneuver, especially if you have a full inventory and you need to pick up your Lantern.
If players want to continue using a Lantern after it has burned out, they can refuel it using FIreflies, Slurtle Slime or Lightbulbs.
Fireflies refuel the Lantern by 38.5% or 180 seconds. Though using Fireflies to refuel a Lantern will provide players with the most fuel, Fireflies are non-renewable in the base game and RoG, however, players will be able to locate infinite Fireflies in the Oasis Desert during Summer if playing Don’t Starve Together.
Bioluminescence (SW) refuels the Lantern by 38.5% or 180 seconds. Though opposed to what I said earlier, players in Shipwrecked may want to stick to using Fireflies as they are renewable when using a Slot Machine.
Light Bulbs refuel the Lantern by 19% or 90 seconds. Light Bulbs require exploring Caves in RoG and DST.
Slurtle Slime refuels the Lantern by 9.5% or 45 seconds. Slurtle Slime can also be found in the Caves of RoG and DST.
Players are able to “flicker” using a Lantern in all versions of Don’t Starve.
STAR/MOON CALLER’S STAFF
Requiring an Ancient Pseudoscience Station to craft, players can craft a Star Caller’s Staff using 4 Nightmare Fuel, 2 Living Logs and 2 Yellow Gems.
Unfortunately, the Star Caller’s Staff is extremely expensive and requires players to either collect Yellow Gems from Ancient Statues in the Caves or by going through Tumbleweeds in Reign of Giants.
Upon being triggered, the Star Caller’s Staff will summon a Dwarf Star that lasts for 2 minutes, providing both light and heal that is equivalent to the 3rd tier of Campfire heat.
Dwarf Stars are unstable and may ignite flammable objects in the surrounding area, so if players want to use the Star Caller’s Staff instead of using Fire Pits, just make sure you’re not near anything important.
Players can place the Star Caller’s Staff into the Moon Stone in Don’t Starve Together during a full moon to create a Moon Caller’s Staff, which creates a Polar Light.
Polar Lights will cool down players instead of heating them.
MORNING STAR (RoG)
Requiring an Alchemy Engine to prototype, the Morning Star takes 2 Nitre, 2 Electrical Doodads and 1 Volt Goat Horn to craft.
The Morning Star is one of the most interesting weapons players can yield in Don’t Starve as the Morning Star begins to lose durability as soon as it is placed in the player’s hand.
The Morning Star is most notably used for attacking wet Mobs as they will take double the damage from it, making the Morning Star extremely effective in Spring.
I love using the Morning Star for fights that happen at night, especially against Seasonal Giants or larger baddies.
Oh, I guess they are also rather impressive against Tentacles and other wet creatures… Morning Stars ahoy!
TAR LAMP (SW)
Requiring 1 Seashell and 1 Tar to craft, the Tar Lamp has a 75 second burn time, just like a Torch, however it can be held or placed on the ground.
Tar Lamps can be turned on or off and can also be used on Boats using the lantern slot.
Tar Lamps are extremely cheap to craft and are a great alternative to the regular Torch.
BOTTLE LANTERN (SW)
Requiring an Alchemy Engine to prototype, the Bottle Lantern needs 2 Bioluminescence and 1 Empty Bottle to craft.
Just like the Tar Lamp, Bottle Lanterns can be held as well as placed on the ground, however, they provide players with 8 minutes of light and can be refuelled using Fireflies or Bioluminescence.
Think of the Bottle Lantern as the Shipwrecked version of the regular Lantern.
Bottle Lanterns can also be dropped by Blue and White Whale Carcasses.
CLOTHING & DRESS WEAR
THERMAL STONE
Requiring an Alchemy Engine to Craft the Thermal Stone requires 10 Stones, 3 Flint and 1 Pickaxe to craft and while it’s primary focus is to reduce heat in Summer and raise your heat in Winter, but did you know that in some version of DS, like DST, the Thermal Stone will emit small amounts of light when it is heated.
While Thermal Stones aren’t going to be your primary light source, in the Winter months, players can rely on the light from their Thermal Stone to complete certain tasks such as chopping down trees, constructing walls or other obscure tasks players would have difficulty completing when they have a torch in hand.
I truthfully spend the majority of my Winter using the Thermal Stone for light instead of a Torch, especially if I’m spending time gathering resources and feel comfortable burning down forests to keep my Thermal Stone hot.
Note that Winter is the only season I recommend using a Thermal Stone for light as using a hot Thermal Stone in Autumn or Spring may lead to Overheating.
MINER HAT
Requiring 1 Straw Hat, 1 Gold Nugget, and Fireflies, the Miner Hat is by far one of the most useful pieces of lighting gear.
Using a Miner Hat will give you access to your hands at all times, making it possible for players to use tools or fight enemy mobs while still remaining in the light.
Miner Hats require an Alchemy Engine to prototype and will provide players with 20% water resistance.
A Miner Hat will last 7 minutes and 48 seconds every time it is at full charge and it can randomly be found around The Constant placed around Skeleton Set Pieces.
If players want to continue using a Miner Hat after it has burned out, they can refuel it using FIreflies, Slurtle Slime or Lightbulbs.
Fireflies refuel the Miner Hat by 38.5% or 180 seconds. Though using Fireflies to refuel a Miner Hat will provide players with the most fuel, Fireflies are non-renewable in the base game and RoG, however, players will be able to locate infinite Fireflies in the Oasis Desert during Summer if playing Don’t Starve Together.
Bioluminescence (SW) refuels the Miner Hat by 38.5% or 180 seconds. Though opposed to what I said earlier, players in Shipwrecked may want to stick to using Fireflies as they are renewable when using a Slot Machine.
Light Bulbs refuel the Miner Hat by 19% or 90 seconds. Light Bulbs require exploring Caves in RoG and DST.
Slurtle Slime refuels the Miner Hat by 9.5% or 45 seconds. Slurtle Slime can also be found in the Caves of RoG and DST.
An odd but interesting aspect of using the Miner Hat is the fact that Pigs, Bunnymen and Splumonkeys can also wear them to light up their surroundings. If a Pig wears a Miner Hat they will no longer panic in the darkness.
Players can acquire a Miner Hat in all versions of Don’t Starve, though I’ll quickly mention that players wishing to use a Miner Hat in Hamlet will need to acquire it from the Pigg and Pigglet General Store.
MOGGLES
Requiring an Alchemy Engine to craft, Moggles are by far an essential for Reign of Giants and Don’t Starve Together players, especially when they are storming the Ruins.
Moggles require 2 Moleworms, 2 Electrical Doodads, and 1 Glow Berry and will allow players to see everything with Nightvision.
Moggles last for 12 minutes and require Glow Berries or Lesser Glow Berries.
Glow Berries restore Moggles by 33.25% (4 minutes) and Lesser Glow Berries restore Moggles by 6.25% (45 seconds).
Moggles cannot be built in Shipwrecked and will require players to bring it through a portal. Instead of Glow Berries, players can use Dragoon Hearts to refuel the Moggles.
Moggles cannot be built in Hamlet either, however, they can be bought for 20 Oincs at The Sow’s Ear Hat Shop at the Pig City. Glowberries can be bought for 20 Oincs at ‘The Sty’ Oddities Emporium and will refuel about a third of the Moggles durability. I would recommend heading over to the base world or Reign of Giants or buying yourself a new pair of Moggles instead of wasting your Oincs on Glow Berries.
Moggles are the only light source that provides players with Nightvision, which reveals the whole screen, however, I’m not a fan of the way the Nightvision makes things look and prefer to use other light sources.
Moggles may be extremely powerful, but I’m happy to choose a different method to light the way, especially because Glow Berries aren’t the most fun to farm and truthfully… Actually, I won’t spoil it 😉
WARNING: Moggles will be destroyed once they reach 0 durability, making it extremely important for players to refuel them early before they disappear.
CORK CANDLE HAT (HAMLET)
Requiring a Science Machine to prototype, the Cork Candle Hat is a hat item that requires 4 Cork and 2 Iron Ore to craft.
While the Cork Candle Hat provides a bit less light than a Torch, Cork Candle Hats are inexpensive and can easily be refuelled using Cork for 37.5% durability or 45 seconds.
Players can also flicker while using a Cork Candle Hat and I would strongly recommend using these suckers for your regular adventures around The Constant.
Cork Candle Hats provide players with 2 minutes of light when worn.
COWL (HAMLET)
Requiring an Alchemy Engine to prototype, players will need 2 Pig Skin, 1 Batilisk Wing and 1 Compass to craft a Cowl.
Cowls act very similarly to Moggles, however, they provided sonar-based night vision, which activates every 5 seconds.
Cowls last for 16 minutes, however, they cannot be refuelled, unlike Moggles.
STATIONARY LIGHT SOURCES
There are many stationary light sources players will be able to build while in all versions of Don’t Starve, though I can’t claim that all stationary light sources are useful or the right choice for players to use in every circumstance.
In many cases, stationary light sources will need to be refuelled, though many of the DLCs provide players with stationary light sources that do not need to be refuelled.
The following are all the stationary structures and resources players can build to help light up their surroundings.
CAMPFIRE
While always available, the Campfire is going to be a light source you use infrequently.
Campfires require 3 Cut Grass and 2 Logs and while cheaper than a Fire Pit, the Campfire is a one-time-use object that can be refuelled before the flame depleted, however, it may also set flammable objects around it on fire.
Campfires are most useful when players do not have enough Twigs in their inventory for a Torch or when players need to quickly warm themselves up before continuing to journey across The Constant.
Once a Campfire has completely burned out it will turn into a single piece of Ash.
I usually ask myself the following questions before placing a Campfire:
Do I need warmth? Is this a place I am going to visit regularly? Is this an area in between two bases? Is there anything in this area I’m interested in burning down, especially for charcoal?
Don't Starve Slot Machine
In most cases, these questions will help me decide which type of structure I want to work with, and commonly takes me out of the “use a Campfire” mindset as other resources can be more useful.
FIRE PIT
Requiring 2 Logs and 12 Rocks to construct, the Fire Pit is a permanent structure that can be placed and refuelled as needed by players.
Fire Pits last twice as long as Campfires and are less susceptible to rainfall.
Players will not be able to move Fire Pits after they are placed unless they destroy it with a Hammer or Deconstruction Staff.
As mentioned when talking bout Campfires, I personally rely on Fire Pits for the majority of my “getting warm needs” and would recommend that you do the same.
Since Fire Pits can be relit at any point, it doesn’t really matter how many Fire Pits you build on the map and it is actually highly encouraged that you place Fire Pits all around to ensure that you are never in a situation where you freeze to death.
For players creating multiple bases, don’t just place a Fire Pit at the bases, but also place a few along the way, especially if your bases are very spread apart. Not only will this ensure that players can get nice and toasty anytime they need, but it will also ensure that players have a quick place to cook raw materials along the way.
If you have enough resources, I would recommend that you place extra Crock Pots by any Fire Pits you end up placing. My reason for saying this is, while it’s not necessary to have food waiting for you at any Fire Pit, it is helpful to have ways of mixing raw ingredients or spoiling ingredients, especially if you about to starve to death.
One of the greatest things about Fire Pits is the fact that they appear on the map, similar to a waypoint. You can use Fire Pits as a way of marking important resources on the map, though that’s not really what this post is about.
Note that Fire Pits can attract seasonal giants such as the Deerclops and Bearger. Fire Pits can also be destroyed by said seasonal giants and generally any mobs that have an earthquake or ground shaking sort of attack.
If you place a Fire Pit in the wrong place I would recommend taking a Hammer to it so you can get some of your resources back, however, if players want all of the resources used to create the Fire Pit they will need to use a Deconstruction Staff.
PUMPKIN LANTERN
Requiring an Alchemy Engine to prototype, the Pumpkin Lantern can be crafter using 1 Pumpkin and 1 Firefly.
The reality is that Pumpkin Lanterns are extremely useless and provide very little light to players. Ignore these bad boys…
ENDOTHERMIC FIRE
Requiring a Science Machine to craft, the Endothermic Fire acts very similarly to a Campfire, however, instead of warming up players it will cool them down.
Endothermic Fires require 3 Cut Grass and 2 Nitre to craft and are unable to cook food.
Also similar to Camp Fires, Endothermic Fires will burn out and become a piece of Ash.
Endothermic Fires are most useful when players are about to overheat in Summer, though if players need quick light, using Nitre for these bad boys may be a bit of a stupid idea.
ENDOTHERMIC FIRE PIT
Requiring the Alchemy Engine, Endothermic Fire Pits are the Fire Pit version of the Endothermic Fire.
Endothermic Fires Pits are extremely costly coming in at 4 Cut Stone, 2 Electrical Doodads and 2 Nitre.
By far, I find Endothermic Fire Pits to be the most important type of Fire Pit players can create as there are fewer methods to cool down than to warm up.
Like their smaller companion, Endothermic Fire Pits will reduce the temperature of the player, however, players will not be able to cook on an Endothermic Fire Pit and instead will have to use a regular Fire Pit or Crock Pot.
Endothermic Fire Pits are more fuel-efficient than Endothermic Fires and as is with the Fire Pit, Endothermic Fire Pits can be refuelled at any point by players.
Due to how expensive and useful Endothermic Fire Pits are, I strongly recommend that you always keep an extra one pre-built at all times, because there’s nothing worse than overheating or freezing because you didn’t have the inventory space or quickness to drop the right type of Fire Pit.
NIGHT LIGHT
Although a bit pricy, the Night Light is one of the quickest and easiest methods of lighting your base in all versions of Don’t Starve.
Night Lights require a Prestihatitator to prototype and will need 8 Gold Nuggets, 2 Nightmare Fuel and 1 Red Gem to craft.
Gold Nuggets shouldn’t be a problem to get, especially if you make yourself familiar with the Pig King and are not playing a monster like Wurt, Webber, Wilba or Wortox.
Red Gems shouldn’t be too difficult to come across, especially if players are regularly securing gems from Red Hounds during Summer and Autumn. You may want to use some of your Down Feathers for a Luxury Fan, to make sure your loot doesn’t burn to a crisp!
Night Lights last for 175 seconds when fueled by 1 Nightmare Fuel, making farming creatures like Tree Guardians really useful. Night Lights can be fueled by a maximum of 3 Nightmare Fuel at a time.
There are a few other downsides to Night Lights as they do not provide heat, unlike Fire Pits and Campfires and they will reduce a player’s Sanity by 3 per minute.
Players can avoid taking Sanity loss by standing a distance away from the Night Lights.
The only character who is immune to the Sanity penalty from Night Lights is Willow, who actually gains 7 Sanity per minute when standing next to them. Quite frankly, that perk alone makes Willow insanely competitive to play, especially if she lights a Night Light after slaying a number of Shadow Creatures with BERNIE! Mmmm, juicy, best Nightmare Fuel grinder in the game.
Night Lights are most useful for Cave exploration as players will be surrounded by hoards of mobs that provide Nightmare Fuel.
Night Lights can also be lit using a Fire Staff and one charge will fuel the Night Light by the same amount as 1 Nightmare Fuel.
Beware! Night Lights are much like Fire Pits and can be tampered with by Night Hands, you’re going to have to chase those buggers away if you don’t want to be left for dead with Charlie.
OBSIDIAN FIRE PIT (SHIPWRECKED)
With Shipwrecked comes a bunch of new Obsidian recipes including a variety of weapons, tools and the Obsidian Fire Pit.
Requiring an Alchemy Engine to prototype, the Obsidian Fire Pit can be crafter using 8 Obsidian and 3 Logs.
Notable features of the Obsidian Fire Pit include the fact that it lasts 3 times as long as a Campfire and 1.5 times the length of a normal Fire Pit.
Obsidian Fire Pits are the most resource-friendly type of Fire Pit (or Chiminea) that players can place in SW.
It should also be noted that Obsidian Fire Pits are immune to being extinguished to Strong WInds, however, can be flooded or turned off by Ice Flingomatics.
Are Obsidian Fire Pits necessary? No, I prefer other options to it, especially because Obsidian is so useful for other recipes, tools and resources.
CHIMINEA (SHIPWRECKED)
Acting just like a Fire Pit, Chiminea are always available to be crafted in SW and requires 2 Limestone, 2 Sand and 2 Logs to craft.
Chimineas are considered a necessity in SW as they will protect the fire from being extinguished in Hurricane Season when players experience Strong Winds, and heavy amounts of Rain.
A Chiminea also keeps fires safe from Flooding, though it’s important to note that Ice Flingomatics will still get up to their shenanigans of turning off a Chiminea anytime it is placed too close.
BUOYANT CHIMNIEA (SHIPWRECKED)
Similar to the land version of the Chiminea, Buoyant Chimineas are always available, however, they require 6 Limestones, 6 Tar and 4 Sand to craft.
The main difference between regular Chiminea and the Buoyant Chiminea is the fact that the Buoyant Chiminea can and has to be placed on the Ocean.
Buoyant Chimineas are also unaffected by Strong Winds and Rain, making them extremely powerful and making it a necessity to always have one prebuilt or have the ingredients available for quick placement.
LAMP POSTS (HAMLET)
Requiring the Key to the City and access to the City Planning Tab, the Lamp Post is the most overpowered source of light players can build in Hamlet.
Lamp Posts require 1 Alloy, 1 Electrical Doodad and 1Lantern to craft and will provide light infinitely in the area surrounding them.
Wait, did you read that right? Yes, you do not have to refuel Lamp Posts and you can place them anywhere in the world once you have access to them, making battles against Charlie… well… 100% avoidable!
For players playing Don’t Starve Together, there are actually mods you can use to import the Lamp Post which you can check out here.
If players destroy a Lamp Post using an Executive Hammer, they can technically refuel their Lanterns indefinitely, though I would recommend building as many Lamp Posts as you can so you can avoid using other lighting equipment in general.
MUSHROOM LIGHTS (DON’T STARVE TOGETHER)
There are two variants of Mushroom Lights that players, being the Mushlights (1 Shroom Skin and 1 Bucket-o-Poop) and Glowcaps (1 Shroom Skin, 1 Board and 1 Bucket-o-Poop).
Mushrooms Lights require players to either kill the Toadstool in the Caves or can be obtained from a loot stash after killing Klaus.
Both types of Mushroom Lights have 4 slots of inventory, though players will only be able to place a single item in each slot.
The items that can be placed in Mushroom Lights include Light Bulbs, Glow Berries, Lesser Glow Berries and Mushroom Spores.
Mushroom Lights will keep any of the items kept inside of them fresh for 75% longer than usual and the more items found inside of the Mushroom Lights, the brighter the Mushroom Light will be.
Although Mushlights are cheaper to craft than Glowcaps, players may want to focus on crafting Glowcaps as they can provide players with a variety of colours including:
CYAN
2 Blue Spores
2 Green Spores
ORANGE
3 Red Spores
1 Green Spore
PINK
3 Light Bulbs
1 Red Spore
PURPLE
1 Red Spore
3 Blue Spores
WHITE
1 Red Spore
1 Green Spore
1 Blue Spore
1 Empty Slot
or simply Light Bulbs
YELLOW
2 Red Spores
2 Green Spores
Spores will add a darker or deeper colour into the Glowcap and Light Bulbs will simply add white light or make the light brighter.
The reality is that Glowcaps aren’t that much more expensive than Mushlights and with the ability to change the colour Glowcaps provide, players will be able to create more personal base designs.
HOW DO I LIGHT MY BOAT IN SHIPWRECKED?
Sailing the high seas can be complicated when players are trying to get around in Shipwrecked, but players have a few options to choose from when it comes to which type of light they would like to use, especially if they expect to be sailing for extended periods of time or expect to use the same boat for long periods of time.
BOAT TORCH (SHIPWRECKED)
Requiring a Science Machine to prototype, the Boat Torch needs 2 Twigs and 1 Torch to craft and can be used to provide light on any Boats other than Rafts.
Boat Torches must be attached to the Boat players wish to light and while they can be turned off to preserve their fuel, they are not able to be refuelled and will disappear once depleted.
Boat Torches provide players with 1 minute and 45 seconds of light and much like the Thermal Stone, players may want to use a 1% Torch to craft the Boat Torch in order to doubly save on resources.
BOAT LANTERN (SHIPWRECKED)
Similar to the Boat Torch, the Boat Lantern requires 2 Twigs, 1 Empty Bottle and 1 Firefly and will last 7 minutesand 48 seconds.
Unlike Boat Torches, Boat Lanterns can be refuelled by using Bioluminescence or Fireflies. As mentioned earlier, players may want to focus on getting Fireflies using the Slot Machine.
Players can also receive a Boat Lantern when they trade Surf ‘n’ Turf to the Yaarctopus.
Boat Lanterns should be the primary method players choose to use to light their voyages.
BEST LIGHTING MODS
Excerpt from: Best Don’t Starve Together Mods [2020 Top Multiplayer Mods]
[Hamlet] Lamp Post by KaiserKatz
I can’t deny how overpowered the Lamp Post Mod is, but the truth is… Lamp Posts exist in Hamlet and the good lord, of whom I do not believe in, knows that I hate dying to Charlie. What I hate more than dying to Charlie is having new players enter a server and die to Charlie in a matter of seconds only to type in chat, “pls, where’s base, how do I res?”
Light up that home ho’s. You’re going to appreciate it.
BETTER ICE FLINGOMATIC by Nyoraia
If you want to take things one step further with the Ice Flingomatic, consider getting yourself the Better Ice Flingomatic Mod, which will allow players to customize a variety of options on their Ice Flingomatic including:
🎮 Adjusting fuel consumption
🎮 Adjusting the range of the Ice Flingomatic
🎮 The ability to ignore Campfires, Fire Pits, Night Lights, Endothermic Fires and Endothermic Fire Pits without using emergency mode.
There are a few customizations players can make using this mod that will require players to go into game files, so I would recommend reading the full description to learn your capabilities.