Blue Hound/DST

Don't Starve

DST

Blue Hound
	100
	30 (22.5 )
Attack Period	2
Attack Range	3
Running Speed	10
Drops	(×2) (20%)
Spawns From
Special Ability	Freezes nearby creatures and player upon death Can travel both land and water
	"icehound"

“Are there hounds for every season?”

–Wilson

“Gross! Cold!”

–Willow

“Bow wow!”

–Wolfgang

“He has a cold, dead heart.”

–Wendy

“IT LIVES TO FREEZE”

–WX-78

“What a strange, cold beast.”

–Wickerbottom

“Arctic hounds?”

–Woodie

“How quickly they forget...”

–Maxwell

“Curious, it appears blue gems are sometimes formed within them.”

–Wagstaff

“Teeth öf fröst!”

–Wigfrid

“He has a chilling look in his eyes.”

–Webber

“What a chilly pup.”

–Walani

“Away, frozen diable!”

–Warly

“Packs quite a chilly bite!”

–Woodlegs

“'TIS BIG BRRR WOLF”

–Wilba

“Brrr Woofer”

–Wormwood

“Am I supposed to be scared? Because I am.”

–Wheeler

“Keep those fangs to yourself.”

–Winona

“You wouldn't want to eat an imp. Much too stringy.”

–Wortox

“Chilly doggy.”

–Wurt

“Friends of yours, Woby?”

–Walter

“What did I ever do to you?!”

–Wanda

The Blue Hound (also known as an Ice Hound) is a Hound that can spawn in the Winter and Spring during Hound attacks and from Hound Mounds. Blue Hounds have less health than regular Hounds, but deal more damage and cannot be frozen with the Ice Staff. When killed, Blue Hounds always drop 1 Monster Meat and 2 Hound's Teeth, with a chance to drop 1 Blue Gem.

In ROG, Blue Hounds can freeze the player and nearby creatures when they are killed. Killing one Blue Hound will give the player a blue tint, and killing a second one will freeze the player for about 5 seconds. Any attack will release a frozen character, and killing one can freeze another nearby Hound.

Two Blue Hounds always accompany the MacTusk N' Son hunting party. They will be found sleeping outside the Walrus Camp when the party retires at dusk.

Occasionally, the player can encounter Blue Hounds as part of an Ice Staff Trap. Four to five Blue Hounds sleep around the Ice Staff, and if the Ice Staff is taken, they will wake up and attack. The player will lose a large amount of sanity, and it will start to rain. If encountered, it is better to kill off each Hound individually, as they will not awaken upon the assault of their brethren.

If a player tracks a Varg, the Varg can spot the player and howl, calling two Hounds to help attack the player. Depending on the season, these Hounds can be normal, Blue, and Red.

A character that has died and became a Ghost can haunt a Hound, giving it a chance of becoming either a Red Hound or a Blue Hound (50/50 chance). After the Hound has converted, it will panic for a short while, before continuing with what it was doing, such as attacking other players. Hounds will also spawn from the Moon Stone and the Hound Suspicious Moonrock when the Star Caller's Staff is inserted into the Moon Stone during a Full Moon.

As of the Turn of Tides beta, Hounds can swim in the ocean and may transform into Horror Hounds after death on the Lunar Island.

Periodic Hound Attacks

“Did you hear that?”

–Wilson

“Show yourself!”

–Willow

“I hear puppies!”

–Wolfgang

“The hounds are baying.”

–Wendy

“SOMETHING IS COMING”

–WX-78

“Something is approaching.”

–Wickerbottom

“There's something out there.”

–Woodie

“The hounds are growing restless.”

–Maxwell

“Hounds! Coming to eat me, no doubt.”

–Wagstaff

“The beasts are appröaching...”

–Wigfrid

“Doggies are coming!”

–Webber

“Junkyard dogs incomin'.”

–Walani

“I recognize that sound. Hunger.”

–Warly

“Whut be thet noise signallin'?”

–Woodlegs

“DOGS OF WAR IS LET LOOSED!”

–Wilba

“Woofers!”

–Wormwood

“How am I supposed to explore with those dogs running around?”

–Wheeler

“Are those dogs I hear?”

–Winona

“The beasts are baying!”

–Wortox

“Glurp... doggies coming...”

–Wurt

“Woby? Do you hear something?”

–Walter

“Wait a tick... did you hear something?”

–Wanda

When a Hound attack is imminent, snorting and growling sounds will be heard. These sounds start off softly and grow louder as the Hounds approach. Characters will also call attention to these sounds with phrases such as, "Did you hear that?". Usually, these warnings appear at least twice before the Hounds come. When the Hounds appear, the growling sounds will be replaced with the very real running and panting sounds that Hounds make when they attack. Any spawning hounds appear within a 30 unit or 7½ pitchfork tile radius of the player.

Wes cannot speak and therefore do not have distinguishable warnings. Attacks will escalate and peak at day 100. Periodic hound attacks are a threat in a Sandbox Mode. The default attacks escalate making them dangerous to fight alone.

Hounds do not appear in Caves. Instead, Depths Worms attack in waves similar to the way Hounds do above ground.

Blue Hounds accompany normal Hounds during Winter and Spring. Blue Hounds will appear less often than normal Hounds.

Blue Hounds can spawn with normal Hounds during Winter. The chances of Blue Hounds spawning with a pack increases with each day survived.

Day	Time between each hound spawns (seconds)
Day 1 to 20	3 to 8
Day 21 to 60	2 to 5
Day 61 to 100	0.5 to 3.5
Day 101 or more	0.5 to 1.5

Day	Special Hound Spawn Chance
Day 1 to 16	0%
Day 17 to 31	10%
Day 32 to 51	20%
Day 52 to 76	33.3%
Day 77 or more	50%

Default setting	Next attack	Hounds	Warning time before attack (seconds)
Day 1 to 8	5 to 8 days	2	120
Day 9 to 10	5 to 10 days	2	60
Day 11 to 25	5 to 10 days	3 to 4	60
Day 26 to 50	7 to 12 days	4 to 6	45
Day 51 to 100	9 to 14 days	5 to 7	30
Day 101 or more	11 to 16 days	7 to 10	30

Hound attack frequency can be configured in the World Customization.

Custom setting	Next attack	Hounds	Warning time before attack (seconds)
Never	--	--	--
Less	6 to 13 days	3 to 4	60
More	4 to 11 days	4 to 6	45
Lots	3 to 8 days	5 to 7	30

According to the script, the default hound attacks eventually escalate to "crazy" (settings as per the last entry in the Default settings table above).

Currently the only way to eventually get to a "crazy" level of hounds is to leave the hound attack setting on default. All other settings are constant (as described above). In other words, currently it is only possible to make the hounds easier in the long term (but more difficult early on), or to leave them as default.

In DST, hound attack frequency and amount were changed in the 2022 March QoL update. Hound Attacks become less frequent as the player survives more Days. After Day 25, there is a chance that 5 hounds will merge into a Varglet.

Hound Attacks can still happen while the player is out at sea, as Hounds can swim.

Behavior

Hounds are naturally aggressive, but easily distracted as they will attack all creatures on sight. Hounds will immediately charge the player when they spawn during a Hound attack. After a while, they can become distracted by nearby Mobs or Meat.

If a Hound's target is completely surrounded by Walls, they will attack the Walls in an attempt to reach their target. If there is breach in the Walls, Hounds will run through it.

In ROG, regular Hounds can spawn from Hound Mounds. These Hounds will only stray a certain distance from their Mound, but if they spot the player, they will chase them to a considerable distance. Hounds will retreat to their Mounds if they are unable to catch their prey.

Fighting Strategy

See also: Hound Wave Survival Guide and Hound Repelling

Hounds are much faster than the player and cannot be outrun unless they become distracted or belong to a Hound Mound. The player can use a Walking Cane or run along a Road to outrun them.

Hounds will bite as soon as they are close enough to the player and pause for a slight moment before and after they chomp. It is possible to dodge their bite and then strike twice during the pause, although this proves difficult when multiple Hounds are attacking. Wearing an item that slows the player, such as the Marble Suit, will greatly increase the chance of being bitten. Once a Hound executes an attack, successful or not, it may stop to bark. When they do this, they will now target the nearest Mob or Meat.

One simple strategy to defeat Hounds, especially later in the game, is by simply filling up a large area with a set of Tooth Traps. Players can simply equip armor, and then run around the trap field avoiding attacks until the Hounds are killed. The trap field should be built away from the base and other flammable structures, to avoid uncontrolled fires caused by Red Hounds. The broken traps can be replaced by using the teeth obtained from the Hounds, making this a self-sustaining method to deal with Hound attacks.

If they attack a Mob that fights in a group such as a Beefalo, they can quickly be dispatched. If one does not wish to cheese the Hounds using Beefalos, and does not wish to or cannot yet use Tooth Traps, tanking them with a Dark Sword and Night Armor is advised, although the player should be careful to not be stunlocked during large waves.

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill Hounds when playing with characters with a default damage modifier. The Weather Pain is not included due to the random nature of its projectile.

Tips

• While Hounds are attacking, Chester can and will be targeted.
  • The same goes for Glommer.

Beefalo attacking Hounds.

• 2 or 3 Hounds can usually be defeated, without issue, by using a Spear, Log Suit, and Football Helmet. A player can even tank the damage when kiting is not an option.
• One can create a walled-off area with an entrance filled with Tooth Traps. Incoming Hounds can be funneled through the entrance, killing off most, if not all. A Fire Pit and other supplies can be kept inside for night attacks.
• Hound attacks on sea will make them "wet", meaning electric damage can be used very effectively during hound attacks.
• Iit isn't recommended to fight hound waves at sea during Summer or Autumn as the death of Fire Hounds can easily cover the boat in fire.

Trivia

• Blue Hounds were added in A Winter's Tale update.
• According to Wickerbottom, a Hound's Tooth contains brimstone, also known as sulfur. In folklore, sulfur is often associated with demons, implying that the in-game Hounds are Hellhounds, a supernatural dog common in some mythologies or beliefs.
• Maxwell comments that he had a lot of surplus Gems when examining Blue Hounds. This reveals that the freezing resistance Blue Hounds have is caused by the Blue Gems in their body. This may also have caused their "blue" fur, although the grayish teal coloration they sport is a common pigmentation in many real-life mammals, especially those living in colder climates.
• The Blue Hounds have a dark blue nose when awake. Should they fall asleep, however, then their nose will change to the color of an ordinary hound's nose.

Bugs

• Saving the game when the Hound attack warning begins and then loading that save will cause the attack to become bugged. The Hounds will arrive extremely late, up to 7 days, and the warning will persist indefinitely, making the player unable to use Tents and other items that require a "safe" condition.
• Occasionally, dying in a Cave and getting resurrected on the surface (perhaps when Hound attacks are supposed to begin) will cause the growling and snorting sounds to play in half-day intervals while the character remarks that the Hounds are coming, but they will not appear until a Hound attack in 3–10 days, where the warnings properly play close together.
• Sometimes, Hound attacks will 'reset'; the growling warning will last longer and only two normal Hounds will spawn, just as the first Hound attack.
• Saving and exiting the game during a Hound attack, and then loading the save will cause all of the Hounds to become temporarily distracted.
• When a Hound attack is about to occur, going into the Caves and then back to the Surface will cause no Hounds to spawn. Restarting the server between entering and leaving the Caves will fix the bug.

Gallery

• 

  A running Blue Hound.

• 

  A snapping Blue Hound.

• 

  A dead Blue Hound.

• 

  Two Blue Hounds following MacTusk.

• 

  Blue Hounds sleeping in the Ice Staff Trap set piece.