Malbatross

Exclusive to:

Malbatross
	5000
	75 (150 to Mobs) (56.25 )
Attack Period	4
Attack Range	5 (3 AoE)
Walking Speed	3
Special Ability	Creates Waves. Uses dive and swoop attacks.
Drops	×7, , ×3-29 ×2.3, (5%), for , (on hit and swoop).
	"malbatross"

“A fowl beast indeed!”

–Wilson

“Uh... nice bird?”

–Willow

“Big fishy bird!”

–Wolfgang

“What a horrid bird!”

–Wendy

“THE AWFUL WATER BIRD MUST DIE”

–WX-78

“It appears to be of the family Diomedeidae.”

–Wickerbottom

“It just had to be a giant bird.”

–Woodie

“I've no desire to do battle with that thing.”

–Maxwell

“I will slay the föur-winged beast!”

–Wigfrid

“Woah! That's a big bird!”

–Webber

“Très mal, indeed.”

–Warly

“Big Tweeter”

–Wormwood

“Yeesh, you're a big fella!”

–Winona

“It's bad luck to shoot it down, but what do I know? Hyuyu!”

–Wortox

“Bad bird!”

–Wurt

“Woah, look at that wingspan!”

–Walter

“Of course this couldn't be just a quiet, pleasant boat trip...”

–Wanda

The Malbatross is a Boss Mob exclusive to Don't Starve Together, introduced in Return of Them.

Deep Bass Shoal map icon.

Only 25% of the Deep Bass shoals with a map icon can spawn the Malbatross when visited. After 3 days, the Malbatross despawns and again, 25% of the Deep Bass shoals are randomly selected to spawn the Malbatross. The Malbatross also has a 10% chance to spawn when a player hooks a Deep Bass. The Malbatross respawns 5 to 15 days after dying.

Upon death, the Malbatross drops 7 Meats, 2 Blue Gems plus 30% to get one extra, 5% of a Yellow Gem, one Malbatross Bill, 3 Malbatross Feathers plus two times 30% to get one extra plus 24 minus the amount spawned by hitting the Malbatross.

Behavior

The Malbatross is neutral towards players. It does attack hostile mobs that come near it. Fishing deep bass in the shoal when the Malbatross spawns in will cause it to become aggressive.

When not fighting, it moves around and dives to catch Ocean Fishes, creating a circle of waves. Waves will push away a Boat and apply 9 to player.

The normal attack of the Malbatross deals 75 damage to players and 150 to Mobs. If the Malbatross is over a boat, the attack also does 5 damage to the boat and pushes it away. If the Malbatross is over the Ocean the attack also creates 3 waves. Each hit on the Malbatross can drop up to 4 Malbatross Feathers, each feather having a 5% chance of dropping.

When the Malbatross' health goes below 66%, it will dive and run away from the player, creating a circle of waves. When the Malbatross' health goes below 33%, it can swoop over the player, destroying every Mast in its wake. Each Mast destroyed spawns 3 Malbatross Feathers plus two times 30% to get one extra.

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

Number of Hits

Item
	5	0	0
	15	0	0
	20	0	0
	25 - 33	0 - 0	0 - 0
	25	0	0
	≥32	≥0	≥0
	32 as	0 as	0 as
	50	0	0
	50 - 99	0 - 0	0 - 0
	50	0	0
	56 (34 )	0 (0 )	0 (0 )
	74	0	0
	74	0	0
	84	0	0
	148, 112 or 84	0, 0 or 0	0, 0 or 0
	85	0	0
	85 - 169	0 - 0	0 - 0
	92 - 184 -	0 - 0 -	0 - 0 -
	99	0	0
	100	0	0
	114	0	0
	116 (70 )	0 (0 )	0 (0 )
	118	0	0
	125	0	0
	148	0	0
	148 (50 )	0 (0 )	0 (0 )
	164	0	0
	168	0	0
	184	0	0
	246	0	0
	250	0	0
	295	0	0
	368	0	0
	1177	0	0

It takes 4 blasts to freeze a Malbatross with an Ice Staff. It takes 5 Sleep Darts to put Malbatross to sleep.

Tips

• If the player wishes to deliberately hunt down Malbatross, using an Ocean Trawler with Monster Meat/other Meats as bait over a Deep Bass Shoal almost instantly spawns it.
• Keeping the boat's anchored is strongly recommended, so that Malbatross has substantially more trouble pushing the vessel around.
• Ensuring Malbatross stays within melee range is the key to winning the fight.
  • Hitting Malbatross 5-6 times before running to the other side of the boat will generally keep it within range, without it damaging the player with its normal attack in the process.
  • In addition to the player's melee weapons, a Pan Flute or enough Blow Darts is recommended for hitting the Malbatross at a range, in order to start the fight or incase it attempts to fly away from the player.
• The player will likely need a separate boat from their main boat for fighting Malbatross, incase the fight goes badly and the boat is lost or sunk.
  • If this strategy is used, the boat should have an Anchor (but no Mast, as Malbatross may destroy it), a chest with enough Boat Patches and wood for oars/repairing the boat, a Fire Pit for light and warmth, and optionally a Tin Fishin' Bin for bringing back the collected fish from the Ocean Trawler.

Trivia

• Malbatross was introduced in the Salty Dog beta update.
• The name Malbatross is likely a portmanteau of "marlin" and "albatross" given the Malbatross' blue color and having both fish and bird characteristics.
• Warly's quote also points out that the first syllable of its name sounds like the french word for "bad" or "evil".
• It no longer drops an Advert as of the March 2022 QoL update.

Gallery

• 

  A dead Malbatross in the ocean.

• 

  A sleeping Malbatross in the ocean.

• 

  A frozen Malbatross.

• 

  The Malbatross as seen in the Salty Dog update trailer.

• 

  The Malbatross as seen in the Salty Dog update trailer.

• 

  The Malbatross featured in a promotional animation for the Salty Dog update.

• 

  The Malbatross featured in a promotional image for the Don't Starve Together QOL update.

• 

  The Malbatross as seen in a drawing from Art Stream # 89.

• 

  The Malbatross as seen in a drawing from Art Stream # 98.

• 

  Concept art of mutated Malbatross shown off in a Klei Stream.

• 

  Further Iteration on Malbatross's design.

• 

  Further Iteration on Malbatross's design.

• 

  Further iteration on Malbatross's design.

• 

  Further iteration on malbatross's design.