Don't Starve Together: Survival Guide

A survival guide for Don't Starve Together: the first days, seasons, the tech tree, base building, food and Crock Pot recipes, character picks, bosses, and the endgame.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the September 11, 2026 hotfix following Cursed Confrontation Part 1 (June 11, 2026). Klei updates DST regularly; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Day 1 loop: Pick up grass, twigs, flint, berries, and carrots. Craft an Axe and a Pickaxe, and gather logs and rocks.
• Never stand in the dark. Darkness kills you almost instantly (Charlie). Always have a Torch or Campfire ready before dusk.
• Build a Science Machine early. It unlocks most basic crafts. The Alchemy Engine comes after.
• Plan for your first winter. By default, Autumn lasts 20 days and Winter arrives after it. You need warmth items, food stockpiles, and a base with fire.
• Hound attacks come periodically. You hear growling first. Fight near pigs, beefalo, or Tooth Traps, or near other players.
• Watch three meters: Hunger, Health, and Sanity. Low Sanity spawns shadow creatures.
• Use the Crock Pot. Cooked dishes restore much more than raw food.
• Pick a beginner-friendly character: Wilson, Wigfrid, or Wolfgang.
• In multiplayer, set up one shared base. Share chores: one player gathers, one cooks, one fights.

Seasons (default world settings)

Season | Default length | Main threats | Prep

Autumn | 20 days | Bearger (late autumn) | Stockpile food, build a base, get a Crock Pot

Winter | 15 days | Freezing, Deerclops, fewer plants | Winter Hat or Beefalo Hat, Puffy Vest, Thermal Stone, fire, Ice Box

Spring | 20 days | Rain (wetness drains sanity), lightning, frogs, Moose/Goose | Umbrella or Eyebrella, Lightning Rod

Summer | 15 days | Overheating, wildfires, Antlion sinkholes | Endothermic Fire, Ice Flingomatic, Thermal Stone chilled, Umbrella, Summer Frest

Season lengths are server settings, so check your world's settings.

Tech Tree

Station | Unlocks

Science Machine | Basic tools, structures, clothes

Alchemy Engine | Advanced gear, Thermal Stone, Lightning Rod, Ice Box, and more

Prestihatitator | Early magic items

Shadow Manipulator | Advanced magic (Night Armor, Dark Sword, Telelocator)

Ancient Pseudoscience Station | Ruins tech (in the Caves)

Celestial / Lunar stations | Moon tech (from the Lunar Island and later content)

Once you prototype a recipe at a station, you can craft it anywhere afterward without standing near that station.

Food and Crock Pot

Food matters more than anything else in DST. Key sources:

• Berry Bushes and Carrots: Transplant bushes near your base and fertilize them.
• Farms: The farming system includes seeds, soil tending, and nutrients. Plants grow best when you care for them properly.
• Meat: Hunt rabbits, beefalo, and spiders (Monster Meat), or use traps.
• Drying Racks: Turn meat into jerky, which keeps longer.
• Ice Box: Slows spoilage.

Reliable Crock Pot recipes

Dish | Ingredients (simple version) | Why

Meatballs | 1 meat + 3 fillers (berries, ice, etc.) | Cheap and filling. The go-to early game dish.

Honey Ham | Several meat items + honey | Big hunger and health restore

Dragonpie | Dragon Fruit + fillers | Strong all-round restore

Pierogi | Meat + egg + vegetable + filler | Great for healing

Fishsticks | Fish + twig + fillers | Good health restore

Bacon and Eggs | Meat + eggs | Very filling late-game dish

Avoid putting twigs into meat dishes unless the recipe needs them, and don't use more than one Monster Meat unless you want Monster Lasagna.

Base Building

Build near:

• Grass, Saplings, Berry Bushes (or transplant them)
• Beefalo herds (for protection against hounds, and Beefalo Wool)
• A Pig Village (for protection and Pig Skin)
• Boulders (for rocks, flint, and gold)

Essential base structures:

• Fire Pit (reusable, safer than a campfire)
• Science Machine, then Alchemy Engine
• Crock Pots (two or more)
• Ice Box and Drying Racks
• Chests
• Lightning Rod (spring)
• Ice Flingomatic (summer, to stop wildfires)
• Walls and Tooth Traps against hounds

Characters

Every character has perks, drawbacks, and a skill tree. Klei keeps adding skill trees to characters. The most recent was WX-78's Skill Spotlight (April 16, 2026), which expanded its circuit system and added new circuits.

Character | Perk | Good for

Wilson | Balanced and grows a beard for warmth | Learning the game

Wigfrid | Gains health and sanity from fighting, only eats meat | Combat and boss fights

Wolfgang | Mightiness meter: gets stronger by working out (Dumbbells, Gym) and fighting; weak and scared when it drops | Fighting and heavy lifting

Willow | Fire immune, has Bernie | Early game safety

Wickerbottom | Crafts powerful books, starts with extra tech | Support, farming

Webber | Friendly with spiders | Silk farming, spider armies

Wendy | Has Abigail, a ghost companion | Solo early game

Warly | Chef with a portable crock pot and spices | Food-focused players

WX-78 | Robot with circuits | Advanced players

Wormwood | Plant-based, strong at farming | Farming

Bosses

Boss | Season / trigger | Tip

Deerclops | Winter | Kite it away from your base. It smashes structures.

Bearger | Late autumn | Destroys stuff and eats food. Fight it in open ground.

Moose/Goose | Spring, from nests | Kill the Mosslings first or they swarm you

Antlion | Summer (sinkholes) | Feed it to stop sinkholes, or fight it in its arena

Dragonfly | Desert, any time | Needs strong armor and fire protection. Kill the larvae.

Klaus | Winter, from Loot Stash | Great loot. Kill Klaus without killing both of his deer, or he enrages.

Bee Queen | Giant beehive | Strong in a group

Toadstool | Caves | Slow, high health. Fight in groups.

Ancient Guardian | Ruins | Leads into endgame ruins tech

Crab King | Sea | Requires boats and preparation

Ancient Fuelweaver | Atrium (Caves) | Major late-game boss

Celestial Champion | Lunar content | Final boss of the Return of Them storyline

Cursed Confrontation Part 1 (June 2026) added a new Sanctum area, including a final-room boss encounter that gives the Keystone. It also added a Sanctum Smithy, the Heat Gland (dropped by Geothermites), Thermic Tools, Coals as a new trap, a new thermal healing salve, and the Waymark Compass. The September 11, 2026 hotfix stopped Life Steal (Batbat, Bat Hat, Shadow Mauler) from working on plant-like creatures, Spider Dens and Bee Hives, and fixed several bugs. Cursed Confrontation Part 2 entered beta on September 3, 2026 with new creatures (Hound Batilisk, Rock Master); it isn't on the live branch yet.

Caves and Ruins

• Cave entrances are Plugged Sinkholes. Mine them open with a pickaxe.
• Bring Miner Hats or Lanterns and plenty of light sources.
• Ruins are deep inside the caves and contain Thulecite and endgame gear. They also have Nightmare Cycles, which spawn stronger shadow creatures.
• Caves are useful in summer because they're cooler.

Sanity

Loses sanity | Restores sanity

Darkness, monsters nearby, eating certain foods (e.g. Monster Meat, some raw items) | Sleeping (Tent, Straw Roll), certain cooked dishes, picking flowers, Garland, Top Hat

Wetness (rain, water) | Drying off, sanity-restoring clothing and items

Nearby player ghosts | Reviving dead teammates

Low sanity spawns shadow creatures. A small amount of low sanity is how you farm Nightmare Fuel, which you need for magic items.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Getting caught in the dark without a torch.
• Building your base in the middle of nowhere instead of near beefalo or pigs.
• Not preparing for winter until it starts.
• Fighting hounds in the open alone.
• Wasting food by eating it raw when the Crock Pot is nearby.
• Letting fires spread in summer. Use Ice Flingomatics.
• Ignoring wetness in spring. Wetness drains sanity and makes you drop tools.
• Killing both of Klaus's deer, which enrages him.

Advanced Tips

• Farm Beefalo for wool, manure, and protection.
• Set up a Birdcage to get seeds and eggs.
• Use Walking Canes to move faster.
• Stack Tooth Traps at your base entrance for hounds.
• Tame a Beefalo to ride it. It's a powerful late-game combat partner.
• Check each character's skill tree after updates. Most characters now have one, and it changes how they play.
• Coordinate roles in multiplayer: a dedicated fighter (Wigfrid or Wolfgang), a crafter (Wickerbottom), and a farmer (Wormwood).

FAQ

What's the best beginner character? Wilson, Wigfrid, or Wolfgang. Wilson is the most balanced.

How do I survive my first winter? Stockpile food, get a Winter Hat or Beefalo Hat, a Puffy Vest, and a Thermal Stone, and keep a fire going.

What's the easiest Crock Pot recipe? Meatballs: 1 meat plus 3 fillers.

How do I get Nightmare Fuel? Kill shadow creatures, which appear when your Sanity is low.

What's the newest content? Cursed Confrontation Part 1 (June 11, 2026) added the Sanctum's final room and the Keystone, Thermic Tools, Coals, and the Waymark Compass. The latest hotfix is from September 11, 2026.

Can I play solo? Yes. Host a private world or play offline.

Sources

• Don't Starve Together Version History 2026 (Don't Starve Wiki)
• Klei Forums: Don't Starve Together game updates
• Klei Forums: Don't Starve Together 2026 roadmap
• Steam News Hub: Don't Starve Together