Oh Bearger, you jerk.

[LadyMeda]

I would love to get the community's advice on Bearger.  How do you deal with/use him to your advantage?  I recently encountered him for the first time (being a very new player).  What follows is a wall of text, but it should be a fun read.  My experience went like this:

 

I started in Spring, which was totally new to me.  I thought you started in Autumn every time, just before Winter.  Quite a surprise, when I'd been stocking up on winter necessities, and ended up needing ice.  I made it through fine though.   Playing as Wigfred, I had nearly two ice boxes filled with food stuffs like jerky and honey for winter.  I was sitting strong, ready for Winter, with a huge beefalo herd to the east for protection.

 

As I was chillin' at my base, a few days before the dreaded season was to begin, the ground began to shake.  A terror-inducing badger-giant-thing appeared and charged towards me.  Within seconds, he had decimated my entire camp, leaving nearly everything I'd worked so hard to build in ruins.  In no time at all, he began eating all my food.  Horrified, I did the only thing I could think of:  I hit him.  

 

He got mad.  Really mad.  So mad that he knocked down anything left standing with one mighty blow, then made chase.  He followed me all the way to my 40-60 strong beefalo herd-- in the middle of mating season.  I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they would protect me.  Oh, was I sorely mistaken.

 

Steak and wool rained down from the heavens like a meat tsunami as he wiped out the entire herd.  Even my newly acquired Glommer and long trusted Chester lay among the carnage.  

 

With nothing left to live for, I ran back to base, grabbed any pathetic armor I had, and donned a tentacle spike.  I figured if I were to die, what better place than along-side my trusty companions.  I did my best to kite him;  one hit and run, one hit and run.  Just to be safe.   After a long while (and some help from a conveniently placed pig village), the terrifying badger-giant-thing went down in a melodramatic blaze of glory.  I spent the rest of the evening laughing maniacally, wallowing in the 60+ steaks and 44 wool left behind (even after Bearger's ravenous snacking).  Then I realized with a sad, ironic tear, that my entire base had been destroyed and I had no way of using all that meat before it went bad.  And to make things worse...  Winter was coming.

 

I haven't been playing very long, but that was by far the most demoralizing experience I've had in Don't Starve to date.   So I ask the community:  How do YOU deal with Bearger?  Can he be used as an advantage?  How can I avoid such utter carnage in the future?  How can I prepare for him?   Last time I didn't even have time to run.

[Problematicr]

Just plant a lot of pinecones and let bearger chop all the forest down, the treeguards will kill him and you'll have a lot of wood plus bearger and treeguards drops

[LadyMeda]

Oh, I like that.  Nice!  How many would you recommend?  50?  100?  200?

[Problematicr]

All the pinecones you have!

Since the treeguard spawn is random you should plant as many as possible.

[Auth]

[Battal]

The Bearger actually spawned inside my base when he showed up.  My poor, poor grass farm ;_;

 

So anyways, I lured him into a Hound Mound setpiece and the dogs ate him like a giant smorgasbord.  And that was the end of that.

[spencer320]

I use the pine trees like was said before. Once I get a bunch of hounds teeth I'll lure him to traps or into the swamp if it's nearby.

The MOST important thing to do is when your being warned "That sounds big!" Run away from your base. I tend to clear an area pretty early on to get charcoal. Once I strip that area clean I'll make it my Giant fighting area. Tooth traps galore, a few out of the way, well placed chests and firepits and call it a battleground!

[the truthseeker]

Steak and wool rained down from the heavens like a meat tsunami as he wiped out the entire herd

That line is so poetically beautifully perfect.

 

 

Bearger (the jerk) is a giant. As noted, you'll get a warning abut giants coming. Never ever stay in a base unless you're absolutely positive you're prepared to instantly (and i do mean instantly) handle them without death or smashing fallout. 

 

As noted above, run somewhere else. anywhere else. If seasonally needed, somewhere near a pit with the appropriate fire type and/or  traps placed. 

 

The simplest if you have had time to prepare is put them to sleep and blow them up with 14 gunpowder, taking care of the 200 health remainder without them dying to fire. Using an old bell on a sleeping giant instead of gunpowder also works (and is a bonus if you put them to sleep with a bunch of trees nearby for wood collecting.) This tactic works with ALL giants.  

Sleep works with sleep darts, pan flutes (including what you find near Glommer,) or (and this is Bearger specific) feeding him 10 honey. If it's just too much to handle, you can also run elsewhere when he is asleep and he will despawn. After destroying a certain amount of structures built by you (and eating all food until finding 10 honey if applicable) I believe he also will leave you alone if you chose to rebuild elsewhere/he went elsewhere and you rebuilt. 

 

Another way is the before mentioned tooth trap zone like you would hounds. Depending on the number, it may not be enough to kill him, but used with ranged weapons/allies, it will hurt enough to kill him or rush in for finishing blows. 

 

if you chose to fight him, the dodge dynamic for kiting works the same. His "slam" is the same distance as his swipe, so just make sure your distance is the same apart. However, he INSTANTLY swipes after a slam, so be warned if you are hit and fall! Fighting this way suggests multiple armors like football helmets or marble armors and nothing short than a tentacle spike (or greater.) Ranged weapons are always appreciated, and there's nothing wrog with bringing a lot of friends to play with him. 

 

Fourthly, is "give him what he wants." Take him to a beehive (regular or killer) and get those bees mad at him, getting the bees to "make a new friend." If they win, fine. if they don't, he then helps get your beehive components and slowly but surely gets that honey he needs. This plan works best with multiple beehives.

(Of course, get him AWAY from your bee boxes/cold boxes unless you want it smashed in his "quest" for honey.)

 

 

And of course, the last trick is to have him rampage in a forest/planted group of many trees to try and spawn Treeguards to play with. Having a pacified Treeguard or Treeguards nearby also works fine.  

 

But when he dies...well, he eats honey, so stay armored (if you know what honey also is guarded by and is inside him....)

 

[LadyMeda]

Wow, that was wonderfully detailed and helpful. Thanks! The importance of having a second, more disposable base is becoming very clear. What happens if I go through a wormhole? Will giants despawn, or will they still be at the other end, destroying stuff?

[the truthseeker]

Wow, that was wonderfully detailed and helpful. Thanks! The importance of having a second, more disposable base is becoming very clear. What happens if I go through a wormhole? Will giants despawn, or will they still be at the other end, destroying stuff?

 

 

Thank you. Glad I could help. 

 

You don't need a whole other "base" per se, but a "staging area" often with fire pits and sometimes traps. (A hound circular trap zone with a fire pit also works well but a narrow stone corridor zone of death with tooth traps would not since they would just swat the walls down.)

 

Wormholes are simply corridors of transport at the cost of sanity (ewww, you're jumping down a freaking two-headed worm!) When you arrive, you will leave them EXACTLY as they were, but "frozen" in their last action as you now (almost always, unless you get one of those freakishly close connected pairs) are several screens away from it--like what happens when away from spider's nexts or pigs villages. Going within a few (around 3) screens of it will "activate" its script again and it will do whatever it was doing before leaving the area. So when in range, it will "destroy" stuff again and continue its reign of jerkiness. 

 

This means, if you rushed away from it in a wormhole JUST before it swiped you, it's going to STAY there if you wormhole back and try to SWIPE you again! 

Best to take the "long way" back then. 

[The Letter W]

Don't let him near your Shootius. He ate mine. <8C

[spencer320]

I actually went thru a wormhole one time cause I wasn't ready for him and he appeared on the other side with me. He was following closely enough that I was worried I might get hit during the jump animation. I only tried it one time so not sure if it's a bug or a thing so careful if he's in hot pursuit.

[drdental]

That was a thouroughly enjoyable and well written story LadyMeda!

 

I second all the advice here and would say that you want to be away from your main base when you hear any of the giants coming, as they can all destroy your hard work if they get inside. Well, not so much the Goose-Moose, but you don't really get a proper warning for her anyway.

 

The idea of having a second 'disposable' base or fighting area is solid. A simple sign or two can be used as a kind of bait. However, be warned that the Bearger and Deerclops can destroy a regular or endothermic firepit, as well as a basic endothermic fire. So if you get a giant in the middle of the night be carefull not to get caught in the dark! A plain ol' campfire can't be destroyed by them as far as I know.

 

As for dealing with them once they spawn; I personally prefer to melee-juke them all just because it feels more epic. It sounds like you got the basic idea with Bearger. You should be able to get two swings in between his and, like the truthseeker said, you need to 'fake him out' once after each of his stomps.

[LadyMeda]

Thanks for the advice on the wormhole and base/staging area. Glad I didn't find out they freeze on the other side the hard way! Now I have a whole new project to work on. Two, actually. Emergency killing area with a few basic supplies and a panic room! Now I'd only hounds would drop more teeth for me...

[the truthseeker]

Thanks for the advice on the wormhole and base/staging area. Glad I didn't find out they freeze on the other side the hard way! Now I have a whole new project to work on. Two, actually. Emergency killing area with a few basic supplies and a panic room! Now I'd only hounds would drop more teeth for me...

Two words: Hound Mounds. 

[Kokojo]

Well it's not secret Bearger is a jerk. I now permanently keep 10 honey near my base in a chest just to lure him out.

He completly ruined my last base (and my last wilson run) and I don't intend to let him ruin my current one. The best tip I personnaly can say is to always have a pan flute or ranged weapon with you in case of an emergency so you can hit him from afar, drag him to a wormhole and then escape in order to make him ''Freeze in time''

Pic of my last downfall.

[Elipod]

I actually went thru a wormhole one time cause I wasn't ready for him and he appeared on the other side with me. He was following closely enough that I was worried I might get hit during the jump animation. I only tried it one time so not sure if it's a bug or a thing so careful if he's in hot pursuit.

 

I had green dragonfly following me into wormhole. I think, they use the same follow function as your allies, when not angry. If you distract or enrage the giant, before jumping into wormhole, he won't follow.

 

[LadyMeda]

@Kokojo. Oh my gawd, the horror! Did you just rage-quit after that?

[TheKingofSquirrels]

Just run away, that´s what I do when I can´t be bothered to fight them. It might take a couple of days for them to to go away, so I recommend having fire pits near by where you can hold up for a couple of nights.

 

The Beargers are the easiest to be honest, you can try to fight him, which you did and you were mildly successful, as long as you kite them and you are armored up you should be fine. Just make sure to get as far away from your base as possible when you start hearing the heavy breathing.

 

As for the others, I don´t even try. Unless you have a pan flute and gun powder, it´s impossible to kill them.  

 

 

[Elipod]

... it´s impossible to kill them.  

 

All you need is fresh world, console commands to summon equipment and giants, and a bit of practice. The only one that's hard to kite is dragonfly, as it keeps moving during swipe attack, so you'll have to take swipe damage and dodge fire rings and fire aura (can land two swings, before you'll start burning). But with some spare armors and healing foods, dragonfly is also killable with melee. Recommended weapon would be fresh hambat.

[Kokojo]

@LadyMeda, I wanted to, but I died moments later from Bearger.

[Auth]

 

As for the others, I don´t even try. Unless you have a pan flute and gun powder, it´s impossible to kill them.  

 

Deerclops = Easy, his building smashing habit is his downfall (Pigs and merms)

 

Goose/Moose = Are you kidding me? Too easy! Just take her to a village! (Maybe buy her a dinner, tell her she looks pretty, say it's getting pretty late, go to her house, some other stuff, moslings spawn)

 

Dragonfly = Free pet! (I know how to make them your slave, I have one currently)

 

Bearger = Say hullo to my swamp forest trap (Tentacles, and teeguards! My own design and idea plz no steal)

[TheKingofSquirrels]

Deerclops = Easy, his building smashing habit is his downfall (Pigs and merms)

 

Goose/Moose = Are you kidding me? Too easy! Just take her to a village! (Maybe buy her a dinner, tell her she looks pretty, say it's getting pretty late, go to her house, some other stuff, moslings spawn)

 

Dragonfly = Free pet! (I know how to make them your slave, I have one currently)

 

Bearger = Say hullo to my swamp forest trap (Tentacles, and teeguards! My own design and idea plz no steal)

 

Dearclops: But they´ve added ice powers to him, can never dodge thouse. I haven´t really given it much practice after my first death of it though. 

 

Goose/Moose: Never tried fighting cause they´ve never been a problem. I´ll try that though.

 

Dragonfly: Forget it. There is no way. And keeping it alive will just result in your base burning down to the ground.

 

Bearger: Easy to kite.

[Malk]

For anyone who don't want to fight le wild giant

Enable console an type this

TheInput:GetWorldEntityUnderMouse():Remove()

U got to have our mouse on it and type that in and BAM

giant disappeared

[the truthseeker]

Dearclops: But they´ve added ice powers to him, can never dodge thouse. I haven´t really given it much practice after my first death of it though.

 

In the Reign of Giants DLC, Deerclops gains the ability to freeze others, including the player. It will take two hits from the Deerclops to freeze something, the first hit will turn the NPC/player blue and the next one will freeze it. This makes certain tactics, involving the use of neutral mobs such as Pigs or Bunnymen, ineffective.

 

Of course you can! Assuming you don't go the easy method and use ranged weapons (Blowdarts work well if you're not risking the sanity and durability on staves) remember it freezes you on the SECOND freezing hit. It takes longer, but can be done if you learn when to go ahead further and when to close in fo attacks and/or bring more friends than you used to.

 

Somehow I've managed to kill them even WHEN frozen and hit, so it simply takes planning and resources. Missing one or the other will get you killed.