Willow (Don't Starve Together)

Willow

Don't Starve

DST

Origin

Quotes

Gallery

Unlocking

Like most characters in Don't Starve Together, Willow is available for free.

Unique Items

Willow starts a new world with her Lighter and Bernie.

Item	Utility
	Has similar utility to a Torch, but with an increased durability at the cost of a reduced light radius. The Lighter can also be used to cook food, each use depleting 1% durability. Willow regains +0.6 /min while the Lighter is equipped.
	Can be equipped in the Hand slot, granting Willow +60 Freezing resistance and +2 /min. When Willow is at ≤21.6 (18%) Sanity and Bernie is placed on the ground, he will transform into a giant and defend Willow from hostile creatures; However, if a different insane survivor is nearby or there is already a BERNIE! for all accountable Willows, any spare Bernies will not grow in size and instead taunt enemies to redirect their aggro onto him. Bernie has a durability of 15 days (1000/2000 when transformed), though he can be fully repaired with a Sewing Kit or Trusty Tape.

Perks

• Willow is immune to fire damage, whether from being set on fire, being too close to fire, or extinguishing smoldering objects.
• Willow's body temperature increases at a reduced rate compared to other characters, at a rate of +0.5° per second with no Summer clothing or cold Thermal Stone.
• Any fuel that Willow adds to a fire has +50% fuel value than normal.
• Willow cooks food in half the normal time, at 0.5 seconds.
• Willow regains Sanity when in proximity to fire. The strength of the effect depends on the intensity of the fire and her proximity to it, capping at +11 /min when directly next to a raging fire; It also stacks if there are multiple fires in proximity to Willow. This can be exploited by igniting several flammable objects for a large positive Sanity aura.
• Willow has a 1.1x Sanity modifier, making all Sanity effects +10% stronger on her. This does not apply to Foods with Sanity bonuses.
• Willow's favorite food is Spicy Chili, which restores an additional +15 than usual.

Disadvantages

• Despite her reduced rate of warming, Willow is not immune to overheating. If the player is careless when using her fire-based abilities, they can easily let her body temperature get too high and begin taking damage.
• Willow hates the cold, and suffers additional penalties from it:
  • While freezing, she takes damage at an increased rate of -2.5 /s and suffers a negative Sanity effect of -1.833 /min (the drain accounts for Willow's Sanity modifier).
  • Willow has a small amount of negative insulation from freezing, which makes Winter clothing slightly less effective on her.
  • Willow is more susceptible to being frozen solid, and takes less frost levels to be frozen solid.
• Willow's Sanity modifier applies to both positive and negative Sanity auras by +10%, meaning that she will go insane faster than normal, especially when paired with her below-average Sanity stat.
• Willow performs a charging animation when casting a spell, which cannot be interrupted; If she is hit during the animation, the spell will fail and the Ethereal Embers will be wasted.

Skill Tree

See also: Insight

Lighter

Skill	Prerequisites	Description	Notes
Controlled Burning	Available from start	Controlled fires you set won't spread, and burnable loot will just smolder. Items like torches and Willow's lighter have a 100% chance to ignite enemies.	Objects that Willow lights on fire will have a different burning animation and do not spread to other objects. Willow can light the controlled burning objects again ("Stoke Fire") to make the fire able to spread. Items dropped from ignited mobs will not be burned to ashes. Flammable items will smolder and cookable item will still be cooked. This means that Willow can freely ignite enemies without destroying their invaluable drops. Torches and Willow's Lighter now have a 100% chance of igniting entities upon hit.
Burn Duration	Unlock "Controlled Burning"	Creatures burn for a longer time.	Entities that Willow lights on fire will burn for 3x longer than normal (18s for small mobs, 24s for medium mobs, and 30s for large mobs).
Fire Fighter	Unlock "Burn Duration"	Your fires deal more damage to creatures over time.	Entities that Willow lights on fire will take 1.5x burning damage.
Brighter Lighter I	Available from start	Increases your lighter's brightness a little.	Increases the light radius of Willow's Lighter to 1.5 tiles.
Brighter Lighter II	Unlock "Brighter Lighter I"	Increases your lighter's brightness a lot.	Increases the light radius of Willow's Lighter to 2.5 tiles.
Hungry Lighter	Available from start	Stop things from burning by absorbing the flame (even when they're only smoldering) with your lighter.	While equipped in the Hand slot, right-clicking Willow's Lighter will cause her to channel an endothermic reaction through it, extinguishing all fires within a 0.625 tile radius. This effect can be channeled, enabling Willow to continue moving as she absorbs surrounding fire.
Ember Tender	Unlock "Hungry Lighter"	Collect and use Embers to perform Pyrokinetic effects. You can collect Embers from burned creatures with your lighter. Use Embers to refuel the lighter.	Ignited creatures that die within 10 tiles of Willow will drop Ethereal Embers, the amount depending on their size, which can be absorbed into Willow's inventory using her Lighter and used to either refuel it or cast various fire spells. One Ember will also drop if any Willow with this skill dies. Unlocks the spell Flame Cast, which costs 1 Ember: Willow selects a point within 2 tiles of her, igniting everything within a 0.375 tile radius of the point on fire. Entities ignited by this spell take 2x fire damage than normal.
Spontaneous Combustion	Unlock "Ember Tender"	Use Embers to ignite creatures in an area around you.	Unlocks the spell Combustion, which costs 4 Embers: Willow sets everything within 2.5 tiles of her on fire, starting with the closest objects and moving out to reach the furthest. Entities ignited by this spell take 2x fire damage than normal.
Fire Ball	Unlock "Ember Tender"	Use Embers to create a ball of flame for heat and light.	Unlocks the spell Fire Ball, which costs 2 Embers: Willow creates a Fire Ball within 2 tiles of her. The Fire Ball functions identically to a Dwarf Star, albeit with a reduced duration of 8 minutes.
Burning Frenzy	Unlock "Ember Tender"	For 60 seconds, add 25% weapon damage when attacking burning targets.	Unlocks the spell Burning Frenzy, which costs 2 Embers: Willow deals additional +25% Physical Damage against burning entities for 1 minute, indicated by a radiant circle on the ground around her. This includes the physical damage of the spells: Lunar Flame and Shadow Flame.

Bernie

Skill	Prerequisites	Description	Notes
Patch Up I	Available from start	Bernie's health regenerates slowly.	Bernie regains +1 /s.
Patch Up II	Unlock "Patch Up I"	Bernie's health regenerates faster.	Bernie regains +2 /s.
Bearly Sane I	Available from start	Bernie will become animated at a higher sanity threshold.	Bernie animates at ≤36 (30%) Sanity.
Bearly Sane II	Unlock "Bearly Sane I"	Bernie will become animated at an even higher sanity threshold.	Bernie animates at ≤60 (50%) Sanity.
Hot-Headed	Unlock "Bearly Sane II"	Bernie will take it upon himself to taunt and attack any nearby lunar-aligned or shadow-aligned creatures.	Bernie animates when hostile Lunar Aligned or Shadow Aligned creatures are nearby, regardless of Willow's current Sanity.
Accelerant I	Available from start	Bernie's movement speed is a little faster.	Increases Bernie's movement speed by 15%.
Accelerant II	Unlock "Accelerant I"	Bernie's movement speed is much faster.	Increases Bernie's movement speed by 30%.
Tough Stuffing I	Learn a total of 4 "Bernie" skills	Bernie's total health is a little higher.	Increases Bernie's maximum by 15% (total of 2300).
Tough Stuffing II	Unlock "Tough Stuffing I"	Bernie's total health is a lot higher.	Increases Bernie's maximum by 30% (total of 2600).
Burning Bernie	Learn a total of 8 "Bernie" skills	Igniting Bernie will give him a fiery aura for a short time. Enemies that attack an ignited Bernie will take damage back.	Willow can set Bernie on fire using a Torch, her Lighter, or a spell to give him a fiery aura for 20 seconds and give off light. Enemies that attack Bernie while the aura is active take 50 Physical Damage, with no cooldown. If BERNIE! is either Shadow or Lunar Aligned from the Affinity skill, his fiery aura will change colour based on the current alignment, but it does not affect the damage reflection.

Affinity

Skill	Prerequisites	Description	Notes
Shadow Bernie	Unlock a total of 6 "Bernie" skills. Defeat Ancient Fuelweaver. Have no Lunar Affinity skills.	Tap into the darkness to strengthen Bernie's planar attack and defense, particular against lunar enemies.	BERNIE! becomes Shadow BERNIE!, gaining +10% protection from Shadow Aligned creatures and dealing +10% damage to Lunar Aligned creatures. Shadow BERNIE! now has Planar Entity Protection, with an additional 15 planar defense and 5 planar damage.
Shadow Fire-Raiser	Unlock a total of 7 "Lighter" skills. Defeat Ancient Fuelweaver. Have no Lunar Affinity skills.	The Queen will reward your loyalty with the power of shadow fire. Summon multiple tendrils of black flame to seek out hostile targets.	Unlocks the Shadow Flame spell, which costs 5 Embers. Willow sends out five lines of shadow fire in different directions, which home in on hostile creatures and each deals 150 damage (60 physical and 90 planar) for a total amount of 750 damage. Each flame also deals +10% damage to Lunar Aligned creatures.
Lunar Bernie	Unlock a total of 6 "Bernie" skills. Defeat Celestial Champion. Have no Shadow Affinity skills.	Entreat the moon to strengthen Bernie's planar attack and defense, particularly against shadow enemies.	BERNIE! becomes Lunar BERNIE!, gaining +10% protection from Lunar Aligned creatures and dealing +10% damage to Shadow Aligned creatures. Lunar BERNIE! now has Planar Entity Protection, with an additional 15 planar defense and 5 planar damage.
Lunar Fire-Raiser	Unlock a total of 7 "Lighter" skills. Defeat Celestial Champion. Have no Shadow Affinity skills.	The Cryptic Founder will reward your curiosity with the formula for lunar flames. Use Embers to blast cold lunar flames.	Unlocks the Lunar Flame spell, which costs 5 Embers. Willow sprays fifteen volleys of lunar flame in a 1x2.5 tile line, which can be channeled for up to 5 seconds and deals AoE damage, similarly to a Possessed Varg's frost breath. Every tick of the lunar flame deals 50 damage (20 physical and 30 planar), accumulating to 150 damage (60 physical and 90 planar) of one second, for a total of 750 damage. The flames also deal +10% damage to Shadow Aligned creatures.

Tips

• There is no cap to the amount of sanity that Willow can gain from multiple fires, so the player can drop multiple flammable items nearby (Grass, Logs etc.) and then set them on fire to gain massive amounts of sanity and warmth. Note that a single stack counts as a single fire, so any items will need to be dropped separately. This is only really worth it if the player can construct an Ice Flingomatic or has the Hungry Lighter skill, which can preserve the items at little cost, and a way to set the items on fire such as a Campfire, a Dwarf Star or an Fire Ball.
• Despite its utility, it is advised to get at least a better portable light source than Willow's Lighter. Things like Miner Helmet, Lantern or her Fire Ball skill will provide much better light radius and versatility than the Lighter, which can provide more usage and abilities for her to survive or fighting bosses in the dark. However, Willow's Lighter is far more efficient on resources than normal torches. Additionally, Willow's Lighter branch skills do provide Brighter Lighters skills if one prefers using it.
• Her resistance to Overheating can be useful during Summer.
• Willow's low base sanity allows her to easily avoid Shadow Creatures, as she only needs to be at around 19 sanity for them to disappear. BERNIE! can also help her in most boss fights that have high sanity drain, which prevents any Shadow Creatures lurking from disturbing the fight.
• Most characters can help Willow in maintaining or creating Bernie, in exchange for protection from insanity: when paired with Webber or Wilson, Willow can make her Bernie more easily. Paired with a Wickerbottom, Bernie will provide protection from being attacked by Shadow Creatures for Wickerbottom to read Books. Paired with a Winona, Bernie can easily be repaired with her Trusty Tape.