Walter (Don't Starve Together)

Walter

DST

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Walter
Status
	130
	110
	200
Damage Modifier	+10 when attacked by Bee mobs
Hunger Modifier	-0.5× when Sleeping
Sanity Modifier	0× in darkness, when being near monsters, structures and/or wearing clothes, 1× when being affected by magic, +6/min when being near Trees, up to -12/min when health is not full
Special Item(s)
Starting Item(s)	×10
Favorite Food
Code	"walter"

Unlocking

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

Unique Items

Walter starts a new world with a Trusty Slingshot, a Pinetree Pioneer Hat, and 10 Pebbles.

Item	Effect
	Ranged weapon that can be used to fire various ammo. Attack speed is 20% faster than melee weapons, and shots do not draw aggro if the target is preoccupied with fighting someone else.
	Equipped in the Head slot. Restores +2 /min, provides +20% Wetness resistance and +60 Overheating protection, reduces Walter's Sanity loss from receiving damage by 50%, and reduces his Sanity drain from being injured by 25%. Durability of 10 days.
	Can be placed to make a Camper's Tent, which functions identically to a Tent, but with a durability of 10 uses. Can be dismantled back into a Tent Roll and ported elsewhere.

Perks

See also: Woby

• Walter has Woby as a companion at all times. Woby functions similarly to Chester and Hutch, but is completely invincible and never targeted by monsters. She has a Hunger stat that can be replenished by feeding her Monster Foods, and at 50 , she temporarily transforms into a giant form and can be ridden like a domesticated Beefalo, with no need for a Saddle.
• Walter is completely immune to negative Sanity auras and can be near their sources with no penalty. However, he is not immune to the Sanity cost from magic items or effects that instantly drain Sanity.
• Walter cooks food in half the normal time, at 0.5 seconds, and can use Willow's Lighter to cook food.
• If there are more than five Trees within a 2.5 tile radius of Walter, he gains a positive Sanity effect of +6 /min, and his Sanity drain from taking damage is reduced by -50%. This does not stack with the Pinetree Pioneer Hat, which takes priority.
• Walter loses Hunger at a reduced rate than normal while sleeping, at a rate of -0.5 /s.
• During nighttime, Walter can right-click on a Campfire to begin telling a random scary story. This generates a positive +10 /min aura for himself and nearby players.
• Walter's favourite food is Trail Mix, which restores an additional +15 than usual.

Slingshot Ammo

Walter has a unique crafting filter that can be used to make various ammunition for his Trusty Slingshot.

Item	Effect
	Deals 17 damage.
	Deals 34 damage.
	Deals 51 damage, but with greatly reduced attack speed on par with a Boomerang.
	Forces the target to lose aggro. Does not work on Giants.
	Freezes the target equivalent to two Ice Staff hits.
	Deals 17 damage and decreases the target's movement speed by 33% for 30 seconds. Does not stack.
	Deals 51 damage and has a 50% chance to summon Shadow Tentacles on hit.

Disadvantages

• The one thing Walter does fear is getting hurt:
  • Whenever Walter takes damage, he loses Sanity equal to double the Health lost. For example, a Spider bite deals 10 damage, so Walter will lose -20 whenever a Spider hurts him and deals full damage. Armor can help reduce the Sanity drain by reducing damage.
  • Whenever he isn't at full Health, Walter suffers from a negative Sanity effect equal to -0.2 /min per 1 missing, capping at -12 /min.
• Walter is not interested in fashion. Clothing items do not affect his Sanity, whether positively or negatively. This means that the player must find other methods to regain Sanity.
• Walter is allergic to bees, taking +10% damage from all bee-related enemies. The extra damage bypasses armour and cannot be reduced in any way.
• Because Walter already has Woby, he cannot adopt a Critter from the Rock Den.

Tips

• Walter provides a unique playstyle compared to the other characters: he is effective for exploring and collecting items on the move, and can be self-sufficient for long periods of time thanks to his fast cooking speed, access to Woby's big form and inventory slots, immunity to sanity drains from dusk/darkness or Worm Holes, and ability to camp overnight with less hunger drain using a portable Tent Roll. This allows him to explore large parts of the map from the get-go, and he is the most effective character for nomadic playstyles or long-duration expeditions away from base.
• On the flipside, Walter is terrible for combat, as his sanity loss from taking health damage can quickly stack up even when armored; taking a few hits while unarmored will often mean going insane. If combat is attempted as Walter, the player should ensure that they have spare armors or foodstuff that can regain health and sanity (such as Cooked Green Caps), as the aftermath of a fight can leave Walter's sanity ticking down quickly.

Sanity

• Sanity can be difficult to control willingly as Walter: while he is effectively able to stay at the same sanity if his health is high, adjusting his sanity cannot be done easily outside of eating certain foods or taking damage, as Worm Holes and sanity-draining auras have no effect. Regaining sanity also takes very long if he only depends on his innate perks. Green Caps are the most effective for adjusting his sanity quickly with minimal changes to his health.
• If Walter is not healing his sanity with foods, he needs to stay in place for extended periods in order to regenerate sanity (eg. staying near many trees and telling campfire stories/sleeping in his Camper's Tent). Be mindful of this before attempting any fights, as the following day/night may be spent just waiting for his sanity to regenerate.
• More than anything, Walter requires some form of armor even during minor engagements, due to how harsh the sanity loss can be. Always be prepared with an extra set of armor if needed.
• Be very careful when at low sanity and health: if Walter's sanity drops below 30 while at low health, his sanity drain means that even if he's killing Shadow Creatures, he will quickly drop past the sanity threshold and make them aggressive again, causing a constant loop of going insane. While this can be useful to farm lots of Nightmare Fuel, it should only be attempted if the player has healing sources for health and sanity.
• Planting several Trees at base is a good way to mitigate sanity loss from missing health: Walter gains +6 /min from having 5+ trees around him, which will cancel out the sanity loss from missing 60 health (since trees halve the sanity loss from missing health).
• If missing sanity, Walter can simply tell a campfire story to himself at night to regenerate some. Ideally, he should tell stories at a Fire Pit that has trees planted around it to get additional sanity gain, and to provide Wetness and Overheating protection while the pit provides light.
• Fights can be initiated around trees to reduce sanity loss during fights. A good example would be the Deerclops, as it can be led to a Forest to fight Spider Dens and chop down large amounts of trees.
• Walter's fearlessness lets him take advantage of several things:
  • Walter loses no sanity from Worm Holes and thus can take them for free.
  • Foraging or chopping trees can be done at night at the very edge of a light source with no penalty, so long as Walter peeks into the light every so often to prevent Charlie from attacking.
  • Caves can be explored with no sanity drain.
  • Bosses can be fought at melee range without fear of their sanity-draining auras.
  • At night, light sources with fuel can be preserved by "flashing" them since Walter loses no sanity in complete darkness - turn them off till right before Charlie attacks, then turn it on again.
• Because Walter is not affected by sanity auras from non-magic equipment:
  • Certain items are pointless for him outside of crafting structures or temperature protection (eg. the Dapper Vest's sanity gain does nothing to him apart from minor insulation, so it should be substituted for the cheaper Breezy Vest).
  • He does not need to dedicate the head or body slot for sanity-regaining equipment, meaning he can wear armors as a default while exploring.
• Followers such as befriended Pigs will still give a sanity over time effect. Walter can make a base near Pig Houses to take advantage of this, along with planting groups of trees.
• Trail Mix is Walter's Favorite Food and is very useful for him: not only is it easily acquired from general exploring/foraging (which is what he excels at), it also keeps for very long (15 days) and restores large chunks of health, allowing it to be used as a dependable healing option to prevent sanity loss, alongside its decent hunger gain (27.5 for Walter). The only downside is that it requires Birchnuts, which do not drop in Winter; ideally, the player should stockpile a stack of Birchnuts to use over the course of Winter, with an unharvested Berry Bush farm ready.
• The Tent Roll should be crafted when able to: while it costs a pricey 15 Cut Grass total to craft, it is much easier to obtain than the Tent, is fully portable with the same amount of uses and healing factor, and is one of Walter's only effective options for regaining sanity if he lacks sanity-regaining foods. It also lets him heal up overnight to prevent high amounts of sanity loss.
  • The Tent Roll should be prioritized instead of building normal Tents when playing with others due to its cheap recipe.
  • As the Tent Roll lets Walter sleep wherever he wants, it can be used as an emergency option if the player happens to run out of light sources at night (or wishes to conserve fuel items).
• The Pinetree Pioneer Hat should be worn when missing health, as it slows down Walter's sanity drain. Otherwise, it should not be equipped outside of using it for protection against rain or overheating, as it will lose durability while worn. In combat, the hat's reduced sanity damage is a good option should the player not have easy access to Football Helmets, but head armor should be always be prioritized if one has it, since the Pinetree Pioneer Hat provides no armor and will result in taking more damage (meaning more sanity drain) despite its perks.

Other

• Walter's fast cooking speed lets him cook large amounts of spoiling food if needed.
• Woby gives Walter the most inventory space out of all early-game characters if they do not find the Eye Bone during the first few days. Taking advantage of this along with a Backpack lets the player hoard items for a base while exploring the map early on.
• Woby can be used as a Monster Meat dump if the player does not have access to a Birdcage.
• The game prioritizes feeding Woby instead of opening her inventory if one has Monster Meat items held, so if one wishes to store Monster Meat items in her inventory, they should open her inventory while holding other items. (By default, normal Woby is fed with left click, and Big Woby is fed with right click.)
• While Big Woby is a great exploring tool, using her to escape from mobs can be risky unless Walter is already riding her, as any damage taken will fling him off and leave him open to attacks.
• As Bees will do 30 damage to Walter even if he is wearing armor, care should be taken when handling Bee Boxes or going past Killer Bee Hives, as Walter can easily die or lose large amounts of sanity (for context, Spiders deal 20 damage to an unarmored character). For the same reason, the Bee Queen is an exceptionally difficult fight that should not be attempted alone or without food for health or sanity.
• Upon spawning, the player should load Walter's Trusty Slingshot with the Pebbles from his inventory, as this frees up an inventory slot.
• The Trusty Slingshot grants Walter a cheap early-game tool for hunting mobs such as Birds and Gobblers, which otherwise require using other more expensive tools to catch/kill.
  • Gobblers will not react to being shot at, which lets Walter pelt them to death for easy Drumsticks.
  • It can be used to grab aggro from distant mobs such as Koalefants or Krampus, which usually requires time to corner (or a Boomerang ready).
  • The default Pebbles ammunition don't do enough damage to instantly kill Rabbits or Birds; Rabbits can simply be chased away from their burrows and shot again, but birds will require at least Gold Rounds.
• Once resources are found, the Trusty Slingshot continues being effective in mid-game, as the variety of slingshot ammo and amount crafted per recipe lets Walter play a support role in combat, either by pestering mobs from afar, or hindering them with debuffs. It does fire slowly compared to other weapons, so it should be used with caution.