Willow Skill Tree Ideas (From a long time Willow main)

[Nikki Darks]

So, I've spent some time discussing skill trees for all the characters with people, but mostly Willow.

To get right to it, these are the skills I would like to see in Willow's skill tree, as a Willow main with over 2000 hours just on her!

Infinite Lighter
This one is self explanatory, just give her lighter its infinite durability back so she can equip her friends with a cheap, infinite light source with very low light radius.

Contrary to popular belief, this will not be OP for as long as Hutch gives infinite light, Lanterns exist and Miner hats exist!

Better Bernie
Bernie should get around 80% damage reduction against shadow specifically, and BERNIE! should move faster!

Bernie, contrary to popular belief, is not this end all solution to insanity. He is outclassed by Wolfgang, Wanda, Wigfrid, Wortox with a hambat and log suits. Bernie deals 50 damage every 2-3 seconds or so, he can't heal (unless you walk up to him to use a gland or a healing item) and he has no damage reduction like players do! He gets easily overwhelmed and his taunt is NOT permanent!

BERNIE! has this glaring issue of transforming back into his idle state if Willow is too far away from him, and this happens because he can't keep up with the player's movement speed, so making him move faster would be a fantastic QOL buff that'd allow you to explore the world with him still in his BERNIE! state!

Some Willow specific skills that aren't tied to items 
Overheating immunity or just extremely high summer insulation, a speed boost near fires, wayyyy better fuel efficiency (let's say around double the regular player fuel efficiency?) for fires and make the fires she lights spread faster (griefing arguments please go away, those are irrelevant).

Willow would work perfectly with overheating immunity, it'd make her fire sanity perk beyond convenient since you won't need to worry about overheating, and she'd be able to shine (no pun intended) in summer. Trust me, other characters' perks are much more "OP" than overheating immunity, tested and it felt alright.

Gaining bonus movement speed near fires would enable Willow to utilize fire in combat, more so against bosses but it's still really good! Being able to light a boss on fire to get a movement speed boost would make her kiting a lot better. Note that the movement speed would only work near open fires, not lighters or torches! I made her gain double speed from fires and it felt really good, but I'm not the best with numbers, but those are easy to tune anyways!

Making the fires that she lights spread faster would allow her to clear out areas and collect charcoal a lot faster than other players, which would help with getting crockpots set up, as well as drying racks. 

Trying to balance the game around griefing is a loser's bet, torches exist.

These last ones are a bit, on the wilder side of things, but also maybe not?

Willow could regenerate lost max health when on fire, like cauterizing her wounds! And Willow could craft throwable matches that light things on fire from afar, they'd cost a single twig and charcoal to craft!

Thank you for reading, these were my random Willow skill ideas as a Willow main with over 2K hours on the character!

Been here since the freezing when insane downside, send help...

[Captain_Rage]

None of these suggestions would add anything fun or interesting to playing Willow. A few of the suggestions would only contribute to normalizing poor changes that make the game less consistent, like being able to outrun bosses. Throwing matches to light objects on fire? Why waste skill points on such a thing when the Fire Staff already exists and only has minute uses?

I am only writing this to add that I am very curious what skills Klei will add to Willow but I really hope it won't be any radical changes. Even unlockable and purely cosmetical emotes are preferable over barely noticeable stat boosts. Bernie is fine as he is. There are already characters with mobs and summons as a theme. No need to go overboard with every perk of every character.

Yes, those are subjective opinions.

[Brago-sama]

 

13 minutes ago, Captain_Rage said:

barely noticeable stat boosts

So far all the skill trees have at least one % booster to a passive (Wolfgang 1 shot work%, Wormwood bloom tree, Woody fast gather, Wilsons torch time and beard insulation) so im 90% sure Willow will have either Fuel effeciency branch, sanity near fire branch, or both. Imo practically a given

[GenomeSquirrel]

I'm not sure how to make fire fun

Ideas I've mulled over were easier enemy burnings/panics, letting fires last for much longer while on a screen sized radius along Willow, more in terms of a burning tree than fire pits, and increasing fire's damage near Willow

 

Even with the charcoal fad, I can't think of any new crafts with coal or ash

[Mike23Ua]

Hear me out on these:

First & Most important thing- Willow needs to be able to transition BERNIE! In and out of caves without having to make him tiny and stash in her inventory again.

It just makes sense that a character who’s Bernie companion is designed to fight Shadow Monsters, to also have the ability to use Nightmare Fuel to Refill her lighter.. why this isn’t a thing already I’ll never know..

Willow may be known as the “Firestarter” but I think what would REALLY be cool is if she could also effectively put out fires just as fast as they’ve started, as in… Making her the one character in the game who excels best in Summer, and can single handedly put out a Science Machine that has already caught fire thanks to Summer Wildfires.

Speaking of Wildfires… Willow can get an actual Quote warning the player of one about to start “Ahh I just love the smell of burning wood..”

I fully expect a Overheat resistance skill set.. perhaps even being able to stand in a raging forest fire completely immune to its effects for a time period.

Wormwood got Light Bulbs to follow him around, Willow could get some cool floating fireballs that are similar.

She also needs some sort of synergy with the Fiery Pin, like seriously… why is this a Wicker Item? Would be cool if she can combine her lighter with the pin to craft something to make Albus Dumbledore light stealing pin jealous.

Lastly- Enlightened Bernie. 

Thank You that is all <3

TL:DR- Fire Immunity, Overheat Resistance Skill Tree, Ability to put out fires after they’ve already started raging.

[Brago-sama]

I could see them adding a really flamable structure craft thats always prioritized for summer smoldering and can maybe be set on fire multiple times before either disapearing or needing refuel

Doesnt go against her nature and technically makes base safer from fires in summer

[Nnumber3]

hmmmm, been trying to figure out how to make a compelling skill tree for willow, i tried using the same principal as my Winona skill tree, but there is different states and didn't work out well, as all the things I thought of for her is a bit boring, she needs more items bit fire items seem to be inherently bad, even buffing fire damage to seems underpowered. buffing her lighter was similarly underwhelming, my only idea being infinite uses and being able to light fire pits being any of use. The collateral damage seems to be more of a issue then greifing for me, as if they make structures immune to flames, other things like trees, and flammable things in general still catch on fire, and you still need ash and characal, and leaving ugly spots of nothing or burnt trees. making her fire not spread makes it feel... not like fire, just glorified poison, and not satisfying at all. 

My best idea was for her to specialize in Over time damage, but still difficult to think of over 15 skill points.

For bernie, its easy to just give him area attack and health and such, but I don't want to make filler skills when not needed, since her character is inherently flawed, we can't just do stat boosts like Wolfgang. my best bet was a combo attack, yet it still seems wrong.

Such a weird character to make a skill tree for.

 

here is Winona skill tree i made if your curious: My take on a Winona Skill tree - [Don't Starve Together] General Discussion - Klei Entertainment Forums

 

 

[Cheggf]

Personally I think that balancing the use of fire to accent damage is very fun, and really spices up the bland and simplistic combat this game has. But I doubt they'd ever go that direction with her, everyone always says she should get boring fake fire that has no risk and just automatically kills things without thought. 

[Nnumber3]

1 hour ago, Cheggf said:

Personally I think that balancing the use of fire to accent damage is very fun, and really spices up the bland and simplistic combat this game has. But I doubt they'd ever go that direction with her, everyone always says she should get boring fake fire that has no risk and just automatically kills things without thought. 

yeah, Kei would have to strike the perfect balance to not harm other people's experiences but still feel like FIRE, can't wait for kei skill tree for her.

[Jakepeng99]

None of these give Willow a role and are more of Qol changes, i agree bernie should be able to go through wormholes and stuff. I would like Willow to be a fire mage, abslrbing fire as mana.

[Antynomity]

3 hours ago, Cheggf said:

Personally I think that balancing the use of fire to accent damage is very fun, and really spices up the bland and simplistic combat this game has. But I doubt they'd ever go that direction with her, everyone always says she should get boring fake fire that has no risk and just automatically kills things without thought. 

I don't really think you can have much risk with current fire mechanics, with smoldering being the main way fire spreads in DST it's much less punishing to mess up than in DS where entire forests go up in smoke in literally a few seconds due to how rapid it is there.

[Cheggf]

1 minute ago, Antynomity said:

I don't really think you can have much risk with current fire mechanics, with smoldering being the main way fire spreads in DST it's much less punishing to mess up than in DS where entire forests go up in smoke in literally a few seconds due to how rapid it is there.

I mean losing the drops. Everyone hates that mechanic but I like it. Needing to estimate the enemy's health, pace yourself, and not overuse fire is fun. 

[Antynomity]

19 minutes ago, Cheggf said:

I mean losing the drops. Everyone hates that mechanic but I like it. Needing to estimate the enemy's health, pace yourself, and not overuse fire is fun. 

Yeah, that counts, forgot about that because the last time I lost a drop I cared about to fire was a long time ago, because I make sure for fires to not reach them. Good point.

[Nnumber3]

5 hours ago, Cheggf said:

I mean losing the drops. Everyone hates that mechanic but I like it. Needing to estimate the enemy's health, pace yourself, and not overuse fire is fun. 

You do know little reward for doing that is? fire does like 10-20 damage at MOST, and instead of smacking him with a torch of fire staff, you can just smack him again with a hambat, not mentioning how trying to hit them with a melee weapon is a pain while there on fire without hurting your self. I would be fine using fire like that but its just a unneeded hazard to every1 around you. It does so little while the punishment is so high it does not make sense. Even with willow its not worth it, like the guy above guy said,  it's just easier to NOT fight with fire as people would just avoid catching them on fire as they want 100% the drops Faster than using another weapons,and being slower and have a chance to lose the drops. they would have to buff the damage of fire a lot to make it worth it, but even if they did its not worth accidentally losing the drops you were working hard for, and i can see people who don't know the exact health of a boss, setting it on fire, losing the drops, and every1 in the group gets nothing.  Kei is kinda forced to not make loot burn to make fire good, it could do 999999 damage but still be horrible as the drops burn. 

[Nikki Darks]

I should've probably mentioned that, as a Willow addict main, she's close to being a perfect character...

Sooooo naturally, the changes I suggested were not that huge due to me, well, liking her as is, and I'd just want some small improvements and QOL changes here and there.

Also, wanting THE FIRESTARTER to get perks which make her better at PUTTING OUT FIRES is the equivalent to making Wormwood get better tree chopping or plant burning perks...

Or giving Maxwell better lunar magic perks, or Wigfrid veggie hunger bonus perks, you get me?

[JJ0264]

Lighter Path

Spoiler

Candle Wick 1: lighter has a 25% durability increase

Candle Wick 2: lighter has a 50% durability increase

Candle Wick 3: lighter has a 75% durability increase + torch radius

 

Lighter Upgrade 1: Willow can craft Lighters without gold

Lighter Upgrade 2: Lighter can dry players 33% faster when held

Lighter Upgrade 3: Lighter can absorb fires for durability + 100% chance of setting mobs on fire (attacking)

 

Lighter Mastery: Willow can cook 5 ingredients for 1% durability + lighter has 1 inventory for food

Bernie Path

Spoiler

Pick up Plushie: Willow can pick up Big Bernie + Bernie moves faster

Cheaper Crafting: Bernie's craft doesn't need beefalo hair

Needle & Thread: can 100% repair Bernie's [1 uses] (1 silk, 1 bone shard)

 

Punching Bag: Bernie's has a 1.5 second shield

Boxing Paws: BIG Bernie has AOE damage

Health Regen: BIG Bernie passively regen health (25% less than Were-moose)

 

Glow-in-the-Dark Bernie: Bernie lights up green at night, slightly better than touch [same durability as her lighter] (2 silk, 2 beard hair, 2 lesser glow berries)

Bomber Bernie: Suicidal Bernie that runs to the nearest mob and explodes [1 uses, 500 damage] (2 silk, 2 beard hair, 2 gunpowder)

Fire Starting Path

Spoiler

Overheating resistance 1: 33% increase

Overheating resistance 2: 66% increase

Overheating immunity 3: Willow is immune to overheating

 

More Fuel 1: Willow only needs 2 logs for max fires

More Fuel 2: Willow only needs 1 log for max fires

Extra Flare: Willow has 25% more damage + durability with fire items 

 

Lava Pool Craft: Willow can craft Lava Pools (6 gold, 12 charcoal, 1 red gem), they can be destroy by green staff or hammer only

Fire Barrier Spell: traps and burns mobs for 30 secs [300 damage], it's slightly smaller than the Klaus fire spell [5 uses] (2 nightmare fuel, 2 fire darts, 1 red gem) player can walk in and out of the barrier

 

Affinity

Spoiler

Light: Shadow Sweeper: BIG Bernie does 25% more damage to shadow monsters + little Bernie's have 50% damage resistances to shadow damage + Willow can toggle BIG Bernie to little if she wants

Dark: Seeing Things?: BIG Bernie can be active while sane + little Bernie's prevent burnable loot (even if the mob die's to fire) + Willow can toggle BIG Bernie to little if she wants

 

[Jero-San]

I think that something that would be really cool for Willow is to tap into her connection to witches.

Making her essentially a real fire bender. I'd imagine you could make it so fire damage is way more efficient as Willow, so that you can kill enemies faster if you focus is combat. Or make it so the enemies set on fire by Willow will not spread that fire, countering, arguabely the biggest drawback of using fire as a combat tool.

Another idea I had was that the mastery unlock can maybe be some item similar to the Gas Passer from Team Fortress 2, where enemies that are hit with it take more damage from fire damage in general.

[Captain_Rage]

Instead of turning Willow into some generic fire sorceress, which plenty of games already have, or going for some flat stat boosts that wouldn't add anything interesting or fun to the Willow experience (why do you want to give her a perk to dry fast when losing sanity and freezing when wet is one of the few downsides that makes playing the character interesting??).

Give her something fun or thematically interesting. Since people are s****ing on everything related to the ocean, why not give her something fun to do there? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_keeper , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharology. Let her build lighthouses on Sea Stacks to lighten up the way or some burning buoys with a similar purpose.

The Flare is a niche item but sees a use every blue moon or so. Give it a fun tweak for Willow. It could also serve as a utility item out at sea, or scare / fluster any mobs on the screen.

[-Variant]

I'm trying not to stick my nose into many skill tree threads regarding Willow since I don't want to overhype myself for it.

One thing I want to state though, I really, really don't want her to become a traditional "witch" character.
Too sensical, too tame.

I like it when they sort of make subtle jokes or nods at her being a witch like in her funko pop or advertisements, but her actually becoming a 'witch character' would be dreadful. I don't want her powers or immunity to be written off as just some fire magic...

I initially fell in love with Willow because of her character just being that of 'some woman who's immune'. I like her immunity not being explained, it's fun, mysterious, really reminiscent of old DS when she characters just had sorta vague quirks to them.
(Also you can have her gain more control over fires without needing to go that extra mile and over explain it.)