Surviving in Don’t Starve Together hinges on your ability to defend yourself. This guide covers essential combat strategies, focusing on equipping your character and mastering the art of kiting. Whether you’re facing hounds, spiders, or other deadly creatures, this Don’t Starve Together guide PDF will help you thrive.
Gear Up for the Fight
Before venturing into the wilderness, equipping your character with armor and a weapon is paramount. Most enemies in Don’t Starve Together can inflict significant damage, so preparation is key.
A basic Log Suit provides a substantial 80% damage reduction. Keep an eye on your armor’s durability. If it breaks, a backup in your inventory will automatically equip. Pair a Log Suit with a spear, and you can confidently handle smaller threats like hounds while minimizing health loss.
Creating an emergency fighting gear stockpile is a smart move for unexpected encounters.
Tip: To safeguard your backpack, equip a Log Suit from your inventory before a fight, then pick up your backpack afterward. This prevents you from losing items upon taking damage.
Tip: A player with 1 HP is better than a dead player. If death is certain, flee. You can often escape fights and return later when better prepared.
Mastering the Art of Kiting
Kiting is a fundamental combat technique in Don’t Starve Together. By learning enemy attack patterns and exploiting their cooldowns, you can defeat foes without taking damage.
The core of kiting revolves around the B.A.R. principle:
- Bait: Enter an enemy’s attack range to provoke an attack.
- Avoid: Move out of the attack’s range before it lands.
- Retaliate: Strike immediately after the enemy attacks, taking advantage of their post-attack cooldown.
- Retreat and Repeat: Back away to prepare for the next dodge. Repeat this cycle until victory.
Tip: Enemy attack cooldowns vary. Some enemies have short cooldowns, while others have longer ones. Adapt your attacks to maximize safe hits.
Remember that both you and most enemies are stationary while attacking. Staying calm and taking a single step back can effectively bait and avoid attacks.
Practice is crucial to improve your kiting skills. Start with armor for protection and practice on easier enemies. Increased movement speed can aid kiting, but lag can hinder it. Using the WASD keys for movement is essential; clicking while attacking will only result in another attack, not movement.
Bees are excellent for practicing movement and attacking. They are slow, easily stunned, and have limited range and damage. Angering a beehive and kiting the resulting swarm can be a valuable learning experience. Use the “F” key to attack the nearest bee, then retreat before other bees can sting you. Repeat this process to develop a feel for movement and attack timing.
Conquering Spider Nests
Spiders are a prime source of silk and spider glands. Silk is used for crafting essential tools, while spider glands revive ghosts or provide healing. You can also obtain monster meat as a byproduct.
When clearing spider nests, consider their tier. Tier 1 nests are easy, containing only three normal spiders. Tier 2 and 3 nests feature Warrior spiders, which have four times the health of normal spiders and possess a leaping attack. Attacking a spider near a tier 2 or 3 nest can trigger multiple Warrior spiders to emerge simultaneously.
To tackle these higher-tier nests, lure spiders out by stepping on their webbing. Gain their attention, and lead them away from the nest. Once a safe distance away (a few tiles from the webbing), eliminate them and collect the loot. Repeat this until the nest is clear. Spiders will respawn later, providing more opportunities for resources.
Attacking a tier 2 or 3 nest will always spawn at least one warrior spider. Destroying a tier 3 nest rewards a substantial amount of silk and a spider egg, allowing you to establish a new nest elsewhere.
Tip: Spiders are susceptible to stun-locking if you consistently hit them. Kiting is unnecessary for isolated spiders. Three solid spear hits will defeat one; be mindful of other spiders nearby.
Exercise caution during dusk or night, as spiders leave their nests to roam. Attacking a spider will alert nearby spiders. This can be hazardous in areas with many spider nests clustered together.
Surviving Hound Attacks
Hound attacks are a constant threat. Being equipped with armor and a weapon is crucial, even if it’s just a grass suit and an axe.
During early hound attacks, take the initiative. Early waves are small, and eliminating them quickly, as they approach one at a time, prevents fighting multiple hounds simultaneously.
You can safely kite lone hounds, landing two hits after baiting and dodging their bite. After the two hits, retreat, bait another bite, and attack again.
Kiting multiple hounds is more challenging. Run, and wait for a safe opportunity to strike a hound once or twice, especially if other hounds are occupied. Baiting and dodging multiple bites to synchronize their attack cooldowns can be helpful. Practice is essential!
Try to guide them around the edges of the land to take advantage of their long animations when jumping in and out of the sea.
Later hound attacks become more frequent and dangerous. Employ creative strategies. Lure them into tooth traps, tentacles, or other hazards if you are unprepared for a direct fight. Hounds are aggressive and will bark before targeting the closest mob. Use this to your advantage, causing them to attack other creatures.
Tip: Be wary of red and blue hounds. They have less health than regular hounds but explode upon death. Red hounds ignite nearby objects, while blue hounds freeze them (including other hounds!). These hounds drop gems, making them a worthwhile, albeit risky, target.
Conclusion
Mastering combat in Don’t Starve Together requires a combination of preparation, skill, and strategy. By equipping yourself properly and mastering kiting techniques, you’ll be well-equipped to face the dangers of the Constant. Remember to download your Don’t Starve Together guide PDF to keep these tips handy!
Chapter Goals
- Practice kiting on single enemies. (Bait, Avoid, Retaliate, Retreat and repeat!)
- Survive a hound wave.
- Clear a tier 2 or 3 spider nest.
