So, either you’ve just completed your first Winter or you’ve gotten unlucky and have a Spring start in Don’t Starve: Reign of Giants (RoG) or Don’t Starve Together (DST).
While the reality is that Spring isn’t the most challenging season to get through inDon’t Starve or DST, Spring does come with many more challenges than Autumn. In my opinion, I find Spring to be reasonably easy to deal with when you’re on your own playing single-playerDon’t Starve, however, Spring can quickly become stressful when playing with friends in DST.
Spring, like all of the other seasons, comes with a list of changes to the environment, mobs and also adds a few new mechanics to the game.
The following guide will take you through everything you need to know while getting through the Spring. If you are looking for a guide to tell you how to prepare for Spring, I recommend checking out my Winter Guide.
Players have a 50% chance to start in Spring versus Autumn. Although it can be challenging to differentiate between Autumn and Spring, there are a few hard tells that will let players know. For example, during Spring, the player’s screen will have a bit of a green tint to it.
If players are still uncertain of whether they are in Spring, they can look at some of the following mechanic changes to confirm.
RAIN AND LIGHTNING (CHANGED WEATHER MECHANICS)
One of the most significant difficulties you will face in Spring is the substantial amounts of rain. Rain is especially problematic for players who have chosen to use WX-78as WX-78 takes damage when exposed to rain or experiences Wetness. Although rain can negatively affect WX-78, Lightning Strikes will cause WX-78’s special ability, System Overload, to become active.
Rain can also be problematic for Willow players if the temperature drops too low and she begins freezing. In general, it’s a good idea to keep an eye out on your Wetness meter as a full Wetness meter will make your body temperature drop by 30 degrees, so, effectively that also means that players’ body temperature will decrease by 15 degrees when at half Wetness. Players are encouraged to take off their wet clothes by a lit Fire Pit to help dry them off and warm up.
Since we’re talking about characters, let’s bring up the adorable Wormwood. Wormwood is the only character who was meant to thrive in the Spring as he blooms, causing him to gain up to 1.2x movement speed at the cost of 2x Hunger drain.
Rain can be combatted with an Umbrella, though if a player wants to ensure that they are safe for the whole season, I would recommend crafting yourself anEyebrella (15 Twigs, 4 Bone Shards and 1 Deerclops Eyeball). Eyebrellas provide players 100% protection from both Wetness and Lightning, making it one of the most powerful hats inDon’t Starve (RoG)andDon’t Starve Together (DST).
Since Umbrellas take a tool slot, players will often find themselves having to swap out the Umbrella for Axes, Shovels, Pickaxes or other tools. Umbrellas will also make it difficult for players to fight against mobs, especially it the Rain is torrential.
If players are on a multi-player server and don’t want to wait for the next Winter to kill the Deerclops, players can craft Rain Hats(2 Moleworms, 1 Straw Hat, and 1 Bone Shard) instead. Rain Hats are not as effective as the Eyebrella, though they do also give immunity to Lightning.
Speaking of Lightning, although Lightning can be combatted with Lightning Rods, it can become a problem in open areas while farming. Lightning can set any “flammable” object on fire, and if players are not safe, their base may be set ablaze due to the Lightning. For this reason, I strongly suggest players spend as many resources as they can on Lightning Rods. Make sure that all of your farms are protected, including
The first time I playedDon’t Starve, I thought I would be safe harvesting honey from my Bee Boxes, but those beauties burnt to a crisp within minutes. I was only able to harvest one Bee Box before another was set ablaze, quickly starting a brush Fire. Within seconds all of our Flowers were burnt to a crisp, unsurprisingly also igniting the nearby Trees. Let me repeat myself in more blatant words. Nothing is safe from Lightning. Build yourself Lightning Rods everywhere you have a resource, even if you don’t think you need it because “you won’t be there long.” It doesn’t matter; there’s a chance it will burn and knowing the RNG in Don’t Starve, you’re simply going to regret it!
Lightning can also be combatted withIce Flingomatics, which become especially handy in Summer. In my opinion, Ice Flingomatics should be made sparingly, as they take quite a bit of resource to make. So, save those lovely machines for your main base.
Unlike Wildfires, Lightning affects all biomes and no biomes are safe from the destruction Lightning can cause. If you haven’t already built Lightning Rods in Winter, make it your first priority to build Lightning Rods in Spring. Unsurprisingly, the first day of Spring tends to consist of heavy rain.
PLANTS GROW FASTER IN SPRING (CHANGE IN FOOD MECHANICS)
During Spring, food shouldn’t be much of an issue as all plants have a 33% growth increase. Due to the boost in plant growth, Farms become extremely powerful, especially if you manage to farm a Dragon Fruit. Dragon Fruit is used for cooking one of the best foods in Don’t Starve, beingDragon Pie. Dragon Pie requires 1 Dragon Fruit and 3 Twigs and provides players with 75 Hunger, 5 Sanity and 40 Health.
Since seeds only have a chance to grow into a Dragon Fruit, I would also recommend building yourself a Bird Cage if you haven’t already so you can easily farm Dragon Fruit seeds. If a player feeds a caged Bird a fruit or vegetable, the Bird will give the player one to two seeds of the same fruit or vegetable.
If players are not interested in running Farms or don’t have the resources, players can continue to focus on planting Berry Bushes, which also grow 33% faster in Spring.
Players should no longer rely on Ice for fillers as Mini Glaciers will begin melting. Players can continue to farm some Ice but should place it in an Ice Box as a precaution for Summer.
Spring also means that there will be more Mushrooms in the overworld, as naturally spawned Mushrooms only grow after a rainfall. So, for those of you Wickerbottom players who need some extra assistance with Sanity, get to picking!
Players will also notice flowers begin to spawn sporadically during Spring without the help of homeless Bees.
BEES ARE NOW HOSTILE (CHANGE IN MOB MECHANIC)
During Spring, Bees will become hostile, even if players have the “Killer Bees” setting off as hostile Bees are not technically Killer Bees. Although you may want to assume that Bee Box Bees are not hostile, you’d be wrong, so make sure you have a Beekeeper Haton you to reduce the amount of damage you take from Bees.
Bees can be especially annoying as all mobs will chase players for 33% longer than other seasons. So, whether it’s Frogs, Hounds or Pigs, you’re going to be running a bit further than usual to drop aggro.
BEEFALO ARE ALWAYS IN HEAT (CHANGE IN MOB MECHANIC)
As much as I believe that Beefalo are our friends and that players should base near them, Beefalo become problematic in the Spring since they are always in Heat.
Spring will make sure that your Beefalo herds are nice and big, but the only time you’re going to want to be around said Beefalo is if you’re wearing a Beefalo Hat or it’s night and you’re shaving them with a Razor. I’ve definitely made the mistake of basing too close to Beefalo, thinking that I would be okay running away from them when in reality I just ended up being massacred trying to kite them.
Beefalo migrate, you actually don’t know if they’re going to make their way into your base if they are too close.
SAY HELLO TO MERMS (CHANGE IN MOB MECHANICS)
For all you lovely Wurt players, as soon as Spring hits you can start welcoming back your Merm friends that live in their Craftsmerm Houses. Be ready to say goodbye to them as soon as Winter comes back though!
SAY GOODBYE TO THE RABBITS (CHANGE IN FOOD MECHANICS)
During Spring, Rabbit Holes collapse on themselves, no longer providing Rabbits unless the player chooses to dig up the Collapsed Rabbit Hole. Digging up a Collapsed Rabbit Hole will effectively cause the Rabbit Hole to disappear forever, lowering the number of Rabbits able to spawn in the future.
The only time I recommend digging up a Rabbit Hole, in general, is in an emergency where you are about to die of Hunger. You never know when you can use another Rabbit, especially if you haven’t built the Prestihatitator yet.
LUREPLANTS & MEAT BULBS BEGIN SPAWNING (NEW MECHANIC)
During Spring, players will experience a new and confusing item/mob called the Lureplant. When the Lure Plant is broken, it will produce an item that can be placed in your inventory called the Meat Bulb. Meat Bulbs can be placed on the ground to make the Lureplant respawn.
While Lureplants are not offensive, they do spawn Eye Plants that will attack players and pick up resources off the floor, Crock Pots, Drying Racks, etc. Eye Plants will cause the picked up resources to move to the Lureplant. If the Lureplant is destroyed within 15 seconds of an Eye Plant eating a resource, players can retrieve the resource, effectively making an automatic farm. If resources are not retrieved before a maximum of 20 seconds, the resource will be consumed or “digested.”
Players can avoid Lureplants by placing artificial flooring, such as Carpet, using a Pitch Fork. Players can also prevent damage from Eye Plants when playing Wormwood as Lureplants are not aggressive towards him. Wormwood is also the best character to use while making a Lureplant farm, especially if you pair him up with a Wickerbottom who reads Birds of the World.
FROG RAIN (NEW MECHANIC)
Frog Rain is by far the most annoying mechanic players will have to deal with in Spring, especially when playingDon’t Starve Together.
Frog Rain acts similar to normal rain, however, it will include a horde of aggressive Frogs that will not despawn. Frog Rain can last for a day and will take place wherever the player is standing, so if you’re trying to run to another biome for protection, it isn’t going to work!
While Frog Rain can provide players with an unreal amount of Frog Legs, all Frogs will swarm players once one is hit by a player. This “swarm A.I.” is very similar to Spiders, so be careful, or like our first go around with Frog Rain, you’ll end up having to restart 3 or 4 times.
There are a few strategies to combat Frog Rain, however, the method you choose will depend on what resources you have and whether or not you’re comfortable with battle. In general, I would avoid combatting the Frogs by yourself, as Frogs will stun-lock you and also cause you to drop items from your inventory. Instead, I would recommend leading the Frogs to other mobs such as Pigs, Beefalo, Lureplants or even the Moose/Goose (often Moslings at the time).
Dependent on how many players are in your server, a Beefalo herd should be able to take care of the Frogs, though as we quickly learned on a 4-Player server, Frog Rain can wipe out a herd of 10 Beefalo in a matter of minutes. If you are playing on a server with multiple people, the best option for dealing with Frog Rain is leading the Frogs to a Moose/Goose. Both the Moose/Goose and Moslings should be attacked by the Frogs. Players can then choose whether or not they want to assist the Frogs in killing the Moose/Goose or can wait until the Frog Rain subsides, leaving the Moose/Goose unkilled.
If players are too nervous to stand near the Moose/Goose or get into any fights with the Frogs, players can head down into the Caves until the Frog Rain is over. Since rain also occurs in the Caves, players should not return to the surface until they no longer see dripping from the Cave ceilings.
Note that sometimes Frog Rain triggers the spawning of a Moose/Goose, simply due to the fact that the Frogs will commonly aggro Moslings on their own.
MOOSE/GOOSE (SEASONAL GIANT / BOSS)
The Moose/Goose is the silliest seasonal Giant in my opinion, although that’s fairly clear since it’s a hybrid of a Moose and a Goose.
The Moose/Goose can appear as early as 2-4 Days into Spring and will only spawn if there are three, or more “base structures” built in close proximity to each other. Base Structures can include things like Science Machines, Alchemy Engines, Crock Pots, Drying Racks, Lightning Rods, or Ice Flingomatics. InDon’t Starve Together the Moose/Goose can have up to 9 spawn locations.
Players may first find the Moose/Goose in the form of a Moose/Goose Egg, which can be struck with a Hammer in hopes of hatching 5 Moslings. If a Mosling gets attacked it will let out a cry, ultimately causing the Moose/Goose to come down and protect them. When a Mosling is killed the other Moslings will become aggressive towards players, using a whirlwind attack similar to the Weather Pain, though Moslings will also cause a Lightning Strike.
Players using WX-78 are encouraged to use the Lightning Strikes from Moslings as an easy way to access System Overload.If players are not using WX-78, they are encouraged to use the Eyebrella or a Rain Hat to protect themselves from Lightning Strikes. Players can also place a Lightning Rod by Moslings to prevent being struck by Lightning, however, placing a Lightning Rod is less useful/effective.
Unlike the Deerclops, the Moose/Goose does not have AoE damage, meaning that Beefalo become a viable option for killing the Moose/Goose. Players can either lead the Moose/Goose to the Beefalo or vice versa. Still, I would highly recommend constructing yourself a Beefalo Hat to avoid being attacked by the “horny” Beefalo.
If players are still struggling with killing the Moose/Goose they may want to use Sleep Darts (2 Cut Reeds, 1 Stinger, and 1 Jet Feather) orPan Flute (5 Cut Reeds, 1 Mandrake, and 1 Rope)and Gunpower (1 Rotten Egg, 1 Charcoal, and 1 Nitre). Once players have put the Moose/Goose to sleep, they can place 14 Gunpowder below its feet to reduce its health to 200, quickly taking it down with 2 Blow Darts. Players who are in single-player Don’t Starve can also use the Old Bell to summon Big Foot, though this can only be done in single-player Don’t Starve as the recipe for the Old Bell is unattainable in Don’t Starve Together. (Thank you Don’t Starve Fandom for that strategy!)
At the end of the day, if players are too scared or don’t want to deal with this seasonal Giant, they can wait it out until the Summer, when the Moose/Goose will ultimately despawn.
Although the Moose/Goose can be scary, Moose/Goose and Moslings will drop Down Feathers, which are used to craft the Weather PainorLuxury Fan. The Luxury Fan is a mighty item inDon’t Starve (RoG & DST) that will reduce a player’s temperature by 50 degrees and can put out Fires. Since the Luxury Fan can put out Fires it comes in useful for players who have not built Ice Flingomatics. InDon’t Starve Together, the Luxury Fan can cool off multiple players at once.
