Don't Starve Together is a multiplayer survival game that throws players into a harsh, randomly generated wilderness. Your goal is to gather resources, craft tools, and, above all, survive the ever-present threats of hunger, insanity, and hostile creatures. With unpredictable environments and challenging gameplay mechanics, you need to plan carefully to last in this game. This guide will walk you through essential tips & guides to thrive, whether you're just starting or have been playing for a while.
Day One: Gathering Essentials
The first day in Don't Starve Together is critical to ensuring your survival. You'll need to gather the right materials to craft essential tools and set yourself up for long-term success.
Gathering Basic Resources
At the start of the game, focus on collecting flint, twigs, and grass. These materials are crucial for crafting an axe and a pickaxe, which will allow you to harvest wood and stone—resources you'll need to build a campfire and other tools.
Crafting Your First Tools
As soon as you have enough resources, craft an axe and pickaxe. Use the axe to chop down trees and gather wood for your first fire. The pickaxe will allow you to mine rocks, yielding valuable items like gold and flint for future crafting.
Setting Up Your First Base
Once you've gathered enough resources, the next step is to find a suitable location to set up your base. This will act as your central hub for survival.
Location Matters
Choose a base location near essential resources, such as berry bushes, rabbit holes, and trees. Avoid dangerous biomes like swamps or areas populated with spiders, as frequent attacks can disrupt your progress.
Building Your First Structures
Start by crafting a campfire or fire pit. This provides warmth and light during the night. As you gather more materials, expand your base by building chests to store items and science machines to unlock advanced crafting options.
Managing Hunger: Early Game Food Strategies
Hunger is one of the main threats in Don't Starve Together, so maintaining a steady food supply is essential to survival.
Gathering and Foraging
In the early game, focus on gathering food such as berries, carrots, and seeds. These are easily found while exploring and can keep your hunger at bay for the first few days.
Cooking for Efficiency
Once you’ve gathered some food, build a Crock Pot to cook meals. Cooked meals provide more hunger and health restoration compared to raw food. Simple recipes like meatballs are easy to make and highly effective in the early stages.
Mid-Game: Crafting Advanced Tools
As you progress, surviving gets more challenging, so crafting advanced tools is vital for thriving in the wilderness.
Science Machine and Alchemy Engine
Craft a science machine early to unlock new crafting recipes. Then, as soon as you can, upgrade to the alchemy engine, which provides access to even more advanced items like thermal stones and better weapons.
Prioritizing Key Tools
Crafting items such as thermal stones, backpacks, and spears should be a priority in the mid-game. These will help you combat the elements, expand your inventory, and fight off enemies effectively.
Surviving Winter: Cold Weather Tips
Winter is one of the most dangerous seasons in Don't Starve Together. If you're not prepared, it can easily lead to death.
Stockpiling Resources
Before winter begins, stockpile essential resources like firewood, food, and clothing items such as the Winter Hat or Beefalo Hat. These items will help you combat the cold and stay alive during harsh weather conditions.
Creating Heat Sources
Craft an endothermic fire pit and place it in your base. This fire type cools you down during the summer and heats you during the winter. In addition, craft thermal stones to carry with you when traveling away from your base to maintain warmth.
Combat Strategies: Dealing with Hostile Creatures
Combat is inevitable in Don't Starve Together, and being well-prepared is key to survival.
Basic Combat Tactics
When facing enemies like spiders or hounds, use the kiting technique. This involves attacking, then immediately retreating to avoid being hit. Repeat this pattern until the enemy is defeated.
Weapon and Armor Crafting
Craft a spear and log suit as soon as possible. These provide increased damage and protection, making combat encounters less risky. Later in the game, craft more powerful weapons like the ham bat or tentacle spike.
Sanity Management: Avoiding Madness
In Don't Starve Together, managing your sanity is just as important as managing hunger and health. A low sanity level spawns nightmarish creatures that can quickly overwhelm you.
Restoring Sanity
To restore sanity, craft items like garlands from flowers or sleep in a straw roll at night. Picking flowers and eating cooked green mushrooms also restores small amounts of sanity.
Avoiding Sanity Loss
Avoid being out in the dark for too long, as it depletes sanity quickly. Stay away from nightmare creatures and don’t perform too many actions that negatively impact your sanity, such as eating monster meat or staying too close to evil flowers.
Resource Management: Renewable Resources
Efficient resource management is crucial for long-term survival in Don't Starve Together. Learning to utilize renewable resources will ensure you don't run out of essential items.
Renewable Food Sources
In the mid-game, start farming by creating crock pots, drying racks, and farms. Berry bushes and rabbit traps are also renewable food sources that can provide a steady supply of food.
Renewable Materials
Plant saplings, grass tufts, and berry bushes near your base to create renewable sources of these materials. Replanting trees after chopping them down ensures you always have a wood supply.
Exploration: Discovering the World Around You
Exploring different biomes in Don't Starve Together is key to finding unique resources that aren’t available near your base.
Mapping and Biome Importance
Use a map to keep track of important locations like caves, beefalo herds, and pig villages. Exploring allows you to locate biomes that contain valuable resources like reeds, rocks, and spiders.
Setting Up Satellite Bases
If a valuable resource is located far from your main base, consider building a satellite base in that biome. This will allow you to gather resources efficiently without making long trips back and forth.
Playing with Friends: Maximizing Teamwork
Don't Starve Together is best played with friends, and teamwork can make surviving the wilderness easier and more fun.
Dividing Tasks
Assign tasks to each player, such as one person handling resource gathering while another focuses on base defense. Dividing responsibilities ensures that each task is completed efficiently.
Sharing Resources
In multiplayer, always communicate and share resources. Items like food, armor, and healing supplies should be distributed evenly to ensure everyone survives. Use chests in a central location to store shared items.
Late Game: Preparing for Boss Fights
As you progress into the late game, you'll face larger threats, including bosses like the Deerclops and Bearger. Proper preparation is key to defeating them.
Gathering Equipment
Before a boss fight, craft high-tier weapons like the dark sword or tentacle spike. Equip yourself with football helmets and log suits for extra protection.
Combat Tactics for Bosses
Bosses in Don't Starve Together require strategic fighting. Focus on dodging their attacks and only striking when they are vulnerable. Use traps or walls around your base to limit the boss's movement, making it easier to attack safely.
Conclusion
Don't Starve Together is a challenging game that requires a blend of strategic planning, resource management, and survival instincts. Whether you're navigating the early game, surviving seasonal changes, or preparing for late-game bosses, mastering these tips & guides will help you survive and thrive. With teamwork, planning, and a bit of luck, you'll be able to outlast the game's toughest challenges and enjoy the thrill of survival.