Darts are craftable ranged weapons that cost 2 Cut Reeds, a type of Feather, & another item to prototype at a Science Machine. Blow Dart, Fire Dart, and Sleep Dart are present in the base game; Poison Dart is available in the ShipwreckedDLC; and Electric Dart is exclusive to Don't Starve Together. Each dart has only one use.
Fire Dart costs 2 Cut Reeds, 1 Charcoal, & 1 Crimson Feather to craft. On use, it deals 0 direct damage but up to 120 fire damage.
Mobs killed by fire drop food as cooked (e.g. a Rabbit would drop a cooked Morsel); most other drops turn to Ashes. Firing at a Spider Den will destroy it (without dropping any loot) and force Spiders out. Fire Darts can also set Hay and Wood walls on fire.
This article is incompletebecause it lacks info about how many Sleep Dart shots will put Hamlet mobs to sleep. Please help to improve the article, or discuss the issue with the community on the comment section.
Sleep Dart costs 2 Cut Reeds, 1 Stinger, & 1 Jet Feather to craft. On use, it puts the target to sleep; however, the creature will wake up immediately if attacked. Some Mobs are sleep-resistant, requiring up to five darts.
Butterflies, Depths Worms, Ghosts, Mandrakes, Shadow Creatures, and Tentacles are immune to Sleep Darts.
In DST, select Mobs (mostly bosses) have the diminishing returns trait (bolded in the table below). Their sleep time will be gradually reduced each time they are put to sleep, down to a minimum of 0.2 seconds; otherwise, it will return to normal duration.
Electric Dart was introduced to DST in the A New Reign update. It requires 2 Cut Reeds, 1 Gold Nugget, & 1 Saffron Feather to craft. The base damage is 60, but being electrical gives it a 1.5x modifier, raising damage to 90; moreover, a wet target provides an additional 1x modifier for a total of 150 damage (for characters with normal damage modifiers). Like the Morning Star, it can electrify Volt Goats for acquiring Electric Milk.
Striking Carving and Striking Statue deals only 34 damage with the Blow Dart.
In the old Research system, the research cost for every dart was 100.
Should one die to a Volt Goat electrified by Electric Dart, their cause of death will be listed as "Shenanigans".
Bugs
Shooting a dart with certain headgears equipped will cause Wilson's hair to briefly glitch through them.
When shooting wet darts in RoG, one dart may slip out of grasp and the rest will disappear.
Sometimes, especially when attacking stationary targets, the dart will not disappear after being shot but instead hover erratically near the target.
A bird shot with a Fire Dart while on fire will behave normally, despite showing flames and taking fire damage; it may even fly off, with a cooked Morsel or Ashes falling from the sky shortly.
Gallery
Original HD Fire Dart icon from Bonus Materials from CD Don't Starve.
Original HD Sleep Dart icon from Bonus Materials from CD Don't Starve.
Wilson with a Blow Dart.
Attacking with a Blow Dart.
MacTusk using a Blow Dart. It has a longer range but does less damage.
MacTusk Front view, shooting diagonally.
Wilson about to shoot a Fire Dart.
Gobbler after being shot by a Fire Dart.
A Gobbler killed by a Fire Dart; notice the burning trees.
A Redbird set on fire.
A glitching Blow Dart projectile.
Blow Dart as seen on the poster for the Birds and the Bees & Dogs That Want to Kill You update.
Fire Dart as seen on the poster for the Long Live the Queen! update.