Lightning Rod/DST

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Highly conductive!

Wickerbottom

Lightning that would strike nearby will instead strike this, charging it.

-Scrapbook Description

The Lightning Rod is a Science Structure that attracts Lightning strikes. It requires 4 Gold Nuggets and 1 Cut Stone to craft and a Science Machine to prototype.

Lightning rod protects from Lightning strikes that originate 40m (10 tiles) from the lightning rod's placement spot. Lightning ignites flammable items such as Grass Tufts, and Chest within 4m (1 tile) of its target. Lightning can possibly target players 30m from its origin, and hence it may originate just outside the lightning rod 40m protection radius and strike a player 11m away from the lightning rod. A single lightning rod thus only provides 10m radius of lightning-proof coverage for the player. The area between 10m and 40m has some lightning protection, but it is not 100%.

Placing a lightning rod every 56m (14 Tiles) would optimise the number of lightning rods for 100% lightning coverage. However, considering that lightning rods are rather cheap, and that there may be overlapping coverage with Ice Flingomatic to extinguish any fire from lightning, base layout may not need to optimise around lightning rods. 2-4 lightning rods, instead of 1, is still recommended for a base of 1-6 Ice Flingomatics.

The Lightning Rod also provides a small radius of light (but not heat) after absorbing a Lightning bolt, which is just bright enough to prevent Charlie from attacking. The light lasts for up to a 1440 seconds, but the light will darken at daybreak after 960 seconds.


In Don't Starve Together WX-78 can use a recently-struck Lightning Rod to receive charge.

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  • The Loyal Smite'ning Rod skin was awarded for watching 6 hours of Don't Starve Together on Twitch from starting from March 25, 2021 to April 8, 2021. It is also available in the Klei Rewards shop for 1,200 Klei points.

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  • On a boat, using a lightning conductor can save room that would have been taken up by the lightning rod.

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