It seems like the concept of Don’t Starve Together is right in the name, but you’re dead wrong if you think food is the only thing to worry about here – literally. Of course, you’ll need a food source, but darkness and monsters are just as lethal as running out of food, if not more.
And in a game with so much to do in order to simply survive, it can be intimidating to dive right in. Because of this, we’ve gathered our beginner’s tips into a Don’t Starve Together guide of sorts, seeking to help you not starve in DST.
Updated on May 31, 2023 by Gabrielle Castania: With the Taking Root Update for Don’t Starve Together landing in April 2023, DST has seen yet another influx of new and returning players. As such, we wanted to come back and update our beginner’s tips list in our Don’t Starve Together guide to include even more tips than before. Good luck out there!
15 Gather And Collect Constantly
The great thing about Don't Starve Together is that it provides activities for players of all levels of experience or skill levels to participate in. For instance, there are always materials and items worth gathering and scavenging around your camp.
Time is of the essence and your time should always be used efficiently. Whether you're chopping down a tree, planting pine cones, or fueling the campfire there is also something worth doing.
14 You Don't Share Maps
In a multiplayer game like Don't Starve Together, communication is key to helping you and your teammates survive together, but you don't all share a map - each one is individual to what you yourself have seen so far.
This means that each one of you will need to venture out if you'd all like a complete map, and although this is a dangerous idea, having at least some communal areas unlocked will facilitate easier communication and navigation.
13 Read Before Choosing A Character
Like other games of its ilk, the characters you can choose from in Don't Starve Together all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, and all of them will come into consideration as you play, so you'll need to weigh the pros and cons of each carefully before committing.
For example, Wigfrid is best for combat, but she can only consume meat-based products. Warly has his very own crockpot, but his hunger level is much quicker to deplete.
12 Coordinate Characters With Your Team
Given that each character has their own strengths, you'll need to spread out your abilities and delegate roles if you hope to survive in Don't Starve Together - after all, not everyone can be the fighter if you all hope to live.
When beginning your game, discuss who's going to be who. There's no shame in swapping roles, but knowing which characters do what, and how each person on your team likes to play the game, will make far a far smoother survival experience in the long run.
11 Don't Make Camp Too Fast
It's tempting to want to find a place to settle down in Don't Starve Together sooner than later, but don't just pick anywhere to call home - do some scouting and make sure it's a good location before putting down roots there.
You'll want access to resources, paths, different biomes, and more, so be sure you'd like to settle someplace before you actually do it. Nothing is stopping you from moving later, but it's a big pain to do so, and in a game where survival becomes tougher the longer you play, prime real estate won't be on your mind once the hunger sets in.
10 Beefalo Are Your Friends (Except For When They're Not)
In a world where most things are out to kill you, you may be surprised to learn that the giant wooly pals, Beefalo, can be of great help to you. If you're on good terms, they'll charge approaching mobs, and will reliably leave piles of Dung for you to utilize back home.
Just be careful that it's not Mating Season, though. If your Beefalo friends have red butts, leave them alone - they will attack on-sight if you go near them during mating season. Likewise, don't attack them, either, as attacking a single Beefalo turns the entire herd against you.
9 Make A Backpack Or Find Chester To Expand Your Inventory
We promise, it won't be long until you're weighing up what you do and don't need to make space in your incredibly limited inventory. However, you've got a few ways to expand your carrying capacity when you're out exploring the world.
Backpacks are fairly easy to make and can be worn on your physical body as you run around the world. Chester, on the other hand, is a sentient treasure chest, but you'll need to find an Eye Bone and keep it on you at all times to get him to follow you.
8 Fire Spreads Fast, And It's Hard To Stop
It's shockingly easy to set fires in Don't Starve Together, and lighting one offers benefits like light, warmth, and even charcoal when they're done burning. Just know that, unless you're setting it in a proper place, fire spreads fast - and it can absolutely jump from flammable item to flammable item to spread the damage even further.
Not only can fire very much kill your player, but it'll also burn up anything you were carrying, too, unlike other deaths in the game. It also chars the resources it consumes, so we hope you're able to keep your flames maintained.
7 Make A Crock Pot ASAP
As the name of the game suggests, food is a huge problem you'll face in Don't Starve Together, but you're able to forage for food, begin farms, and even make more filling meals - you'll just need a Crock Pot.
Not only do meals cooked in a Crock Pot restore more hunger, but they can help with both your sanity and health, and may even convey additional benefits like helping you combat extreme heat or cold.
6 If Your Group Is Large, Leave Someone Behind To Keep House
Groups of two players may not be able to spare the manpower, but if you're playing in a big enough group, it can only help you to leave someone behind at camp once you're settled to be in charge of cooking and homesteading.
Once you've got crops growing, food in the Crock Pots, walls to be built, machines to make, and monsters to fend off, you'll want someone around your base to keep up with everything while the group is out exploring and fighting, lest your base fall to the wayside when you need it the most.
5 Don't Eat Monster Meat Unless You're Really, Really Desperate
While there are indeed plenty of uses for Monster Meat in Don't Starve Together, actually consuming it isn't a great idea. If you're playing as a human character, it'll fill your hunger a bit, but will decrease both your health and sanity.
However, if you put Monster Meat in a Crock Pot with an Egg, you can make Meatballs that are safe to eat for everyone. Add in some Morsels, and you'll get Bacon and Eggs instead. Cooked like this, Monster Meat is fine, but leave it until you're truly desperate for food otherwise.
4 Jerky Is An Easy Staple
There is indeed an Ice Box in Don't Starve Together that really steps your food game up a notch, but finding the materials to make one will likely take you a while, as they require the oh-so uncommon and completely unrenewable item, Gears, to create.
Thankfully, you can use Drying Racks until you've got a more withstanding way to store your food to dry out Meat into Jerky, which keeps better than fresh-cooked meals and produce.
3 Keep A Good Supply Of Meat
With crops quicker to spoil and meat-based products easier to turn into foods you can keep for a long time, you'll need a fairly constant source of Meat until you're able to begin storing your food more efficiently in order to capitalize on our suggestion to live off Jerky.
Rabbits make for one of the absolute best sources of Meat in Don't Starve Together, since you can catch them directly when you're able to make Traps to place over their Rabbit Hole. They're not the largest haul of Meat you can get in the game, but they are easy to get, and they spawn year-round.
2 Winter Will Be Here Faster Than You Think
When you start Don't Starve Together, unless you've tweaked your settings, you'll be beginning in Springtime, meaning Winter feels pretty far off. But don't get too comfortable - it'll be here well before you know it.
Winter is brutal to play through - you can freeze if you're too far from warmth, farms can't grow any crops, naturally-growing items will slow to a near-stop in terms of their respawn times. Do your best to prepare for the worst.
1 Endless Mode: Play Forever
In a game as fun as Don't Starve Together, it can be genuinely frustrating to feel like you're doing well, just to get wiped out by an unexpected mob or harsh weather when Winter hits. Enter, Endless Mode.
While there are a few ways to respawn in the normal game, Endless Mode allows you to respawn whenever, wherever to keep playing in the same save. You'll lose a bit of your max health and will need to go find your dropped inventory, but it's a small price to pay for eternal life.