WALTER REALLY NEEDS TO BE BUFFED

[mauricio221B]

Walter really needs an urgent buff, even if it's just a buff on his slingshot speed, I love Walter and I really wanted him to be a character on the same level as the others.

[Waitdire]

Dreadstone rounds?

[Dr.Webber]

Maybe something that incorporates woby +woby skins

[Uncrushed]

I'm playing Walter right now.  He's certainly different with his low stats and totally different sanity vulnerabilities/needs.  His slingshot is amazing for some things (single shadow creatures, knights, rooks across an obstruction, bats at the end of their range, bunnies).  It's garbage for others (depths worms, slurtles, and Antlion, although alternating freeze rounds and marbles on snurtles worked really well).  Although there's no reason you have to kill Antlion.  You can just dodge 3-4 sinkholes or cave-ins over the course of summer.  Just one more reason to run away from your base for a bit.

Yes, a hard-to-get level-2 slingshot that's slightly faster (even for just that first shot) would be nice, but I haven't played him enough yet to tell whether he's really the nerf he seems, or if his strengths really do make up for his deficiencies.  He can still tank Antlion with 1.5 log suits and 0.5 Thulecite clubs, the way any other character might.  Learning when to play to his strengths and when to emulate other characters is interesting.  I'm enjoying him as a single-player challenge.

I also started by playing the original DS without the seasonal bosses.  I really appreciate the aspect of the game that isn't about leveling up a superhero, but surviving as a flawed character.  I like that the ruins seems to be more of a thieving mission than a battle.  If I want to kill bosses like I'm a Power Ranger, there are so many other great games that focus on that.  I'd just as soon make the strongest characters a little more nerfy as beef up the weaker characters.  IDK.  Just thinking out loud here.

Once he gets 3 monster meat, he can get a leg up on exploring the map (like Woody).  Something he needs to do if he's going to tame a Beefalo (to find the beefalo and McTusk for the darn brush).  The pine-tree-sanity thing changes how you build bases.  It's good to have a character that warrants the Beefalo track.

Anyway, you raise an interesting point that deserves further thought.

[Auhrer]

Walter's only weakness is bees and the Bee queen , so why does he need a buff?
He is better than many characters

[Uncrushed]

A shorter delay before his first shot seems like the smallest change that would make the biggest difference.

[Uncrushed]

I did a bunch of experiments with Walter.

Dragonfly was awful, but possible.  Basically, 3 football helmets, 2 marble armor, pan flute, 160 gunpowder, and some healing/sanity food like mashedpotatoes.  I had to make 2 (or 3) 10x10 stone-wall enclosures because I always messed up the timing with the enrage mechanic and dragonfly would destroy at least one of them.  It took me maybe 12 hours of failures and using the console (c_give(...)) to figure that out.  Thanks to XercerO_O on twitch for suggesting what worked, because 18 rabbit hutches with 3 flingomatics and miles of walls weren't enough.

I took out Klaus and it wasn't that bad: magiluminescence, walking cane, beefalo hat, thulecite rounds, and nightsword, but the last only for the two Krampuses.  Having a road helped too.  Basically: dodge.  Torch a tree if you get too cold.  Yes, that's some high-end stuff, but if you know *which* high-end stuff you need, it's doable to focus on acquiring just that, or you might pave an area with cobblestones before the fight.

Then I took out malbitross, with a boat, paddle, marble armor, marbles, and a few freeze rounds which may not have been necessary.  It was my first try (it spawned).  Maybe I got lucky, but Walter is the only character with a long-range attack like that and it's really powerful!

Depths worms are a nightmare, but the morning star is their enemy, just like any other character.  Makes it so you only have do dodge about 4 times.  I really don't have a full recipe for these yet that doesn't involve luck and/or running away.  Thulecite armor and helm sure help.

Yes, Walter is hard to get used to.  Yes, he goes insane whenever he has a boo-boo.  Yes, he has low stats on everything.  But his perks seem to put him in line with any other character.  Using a rook to harvest marble trees and working up to a forest of about 40 of them was a big turning point.  It's still my ball and chain, but it's worth it.  I learned this trick harvesting regular trees as Wormwood.

Jury's still out on how much he needs a beefalo and what kind.  I finally got the War Saddle on a Default temperament beefalo, but I tend to just slingshot from the beefalo's back and the slower speed is getting me down.  I'd say that was a fail for me.  I'll try the glossamer saddle and/or maybe go Ryder temperament next time.  That and a lantern on the ground could substitute for the magilum, though realistically the magilum is probably cheaper than either the beefalo or the saddle for any one fight.  The speed and damage absorbtion of a fast beefalo plus marbles and/or thelucite rounds?  That's hard to beat.

So far, Wormwood seems to be the character that benefits the most from having a tame beefalo, but it's as much about the constant source of manure as it is about the damage absorption or speed.  But I digress.

Haven't tried bee queen yet.