Just finished adventure mode. Any maxwell tips?

[JosePapp]

I finished adventure mode and I'd like to see maxwell tips strats. 

I summon forth @oCrapaCreeper as a recognized maxwell main

[kiwikenobi]

What I learned from firsthand experience is: learn to use the default inventory without a backpack and always wear a log suit. Maxwell is so frail, he really needs the extra protection. The first time I tried playing as Maxwell, I was surprised at how vulnerable I felt with the lower HP. It feels like everything is about to kill you at any given moment. The log suit gives you peace of mind, if nothing else. Football helmets are good, too, but log suits are easier to get the materials to craft.

That said, I main Wilson, and I only dabbled briefly with Maxwell, so maybe there are other ways to deal with Maxwell's frailty that people who use him more often can recommend.

[G-Forces]

I personally would play adventure mode again so i wouldn't have to play Maxwell, but short of that i would have football helmet equiped constantly.

[oCrapaCreeper]

I'm not active enough I guess, I didn't see this somehow.

Maxwell is good because while he is frail, his perks let him ignore a lot of micromanagement in this game and rush game progression. He can fight pretty much anything in the game at the start due to his armor and sword, and his sanity lets him not give a crap about a lot of things other characters need to be cautious of and lets him be more flexible (no need to wear sanity-restoring items, for example. Even in caves.) He also starts with a purple gem and nightmare fuel, so he can rush a Shadow Manipulator pretty fast.

Some more specific tips, just random off the top of my head:

 

Spoiler

 

• Use his starting sword and armor to carry you through the beginning of a new world. Don't be afraid to use them, you can always make more. If it means you'll be able to get things like gears faster, then just use them.

 

• Use magic items more often than you would any other character, as Maxwell can shrug off their sanity cost like the magician he is. This is also true for most actions that drain sanity, such as eating blue mushrooms or digging graves, or eat glommer goop.

 

• Using his book can eat up a lot of fuel. I usually just make a dark petal farm and then refine the flowers into fuel. Find a set piece with them or wait for a full moon, and then drop homeless bees near them so they constantly pollinate the flowers and spread them. Farming fuel from the ruins by waiting out nightmare cycles is also very effective if you can survive and have patience.

 

• There's not a lot to say about the Shadow Puppets. They aren't like DST, and they preform their actions pretty slowly. They're not useless, just kind of underwhelming for what they cost. They can get a lot done if you have all 3 out at once, but just having 1 out isn't going to change a lot. If you are on water, they do summon their own shadow boats in water to keep following you, unlike other land-followers.

 

• Always have a helmet on of some sort. Maxwell is so squishy you can't afford to take full damage from anything, really. Items like Tam o' Shanters or Top hats are more or less useless to Maxwell, so you can always have something else in his head slot 24/7.

 

• Maxwell is a beast against wetness. He can be 100% wet, wear wet items, and his sanity still won't drain. The only thing you're at the mercy of is freezing and slippery tools, but those are are a minor annoyance at worst.

 

• Don't place effigies.  Unless you have the items to let you survive with 45 health all the time, you'll just waste it when you otherwise would have survived having 75 health instead of 45. Something you can do though is pre-build one, and only place it when you know you'll need it, kinda like how you would use a LifeGiving Amulet to save yourself right before you die. Speaking of the amulet, always have one of those on you if you can, by the way. They heal Maxwell pretty well and his squishy nature already demands you do use them over effigies.

 

• If you need to go insane on purpose, it can be annoying if you don't use a nightmare amulet since the guy just doesn't care about anything scary anymore and remains dapper. Of course, there are ways to get around it. You can have 3 shadow puppets out at once and that will leave him at 35 sanity, letting you easily shift between both states, which is actually a nice perk. Holding a dark sword alone will negate his dapperness exactly, combining it with the armor at the same time will constantly drain his sanity by 10 per minute. Jump through a wormhole over and over again, -15 per use. Just some examples.