Inventory management (willow)

[shaurun]

I struggle with inventory management, specifically for Willow, so I want to know how you make it. 

E.g. for Maxwell all I need is book, nighmare fuel, magiluminesence, walking cane, dreadstone helmet, dark sword, top hat. So 3 items equiped, 4 items to carry, 12 slots left for anything+top hat inventory space.

 

Willow is too inventory heavy:

1. lighter
2. Bernie (or even 2 Bernies)
3. clothes patch
4. embers (better 3 stacks)
5. tem o shanter / eyebrella
6. walking cane

--- total 4-7 slots, add here magiluminesence, nightmare fuel, armor, weapon = 7-10 slots, so only 5 left

 

Yes I don't count backpack, I know. Just trying to come up with what Willow should have...with 5 slots, she obviously needs materials to craft tools if neccessary (Maxwel only needs hammer early game), and she needs food, and she also needs to collect all spider/dogs loot all the time, so her space is really narrow, What are her mandatory slots when you play?

[ThymeSpirit]

Why do you need 3 stacks of embers at all times? Even 1 full stack is more than enough for daily needs. Same wtih more than 1 Bernie and sewing kit - unless you're going to fight a boss you don't need that on you. Also if you're using a backpack, you probably shouldn't be carrying a magi all the time. And if you have brighter lighter skills, even just the 1st one, you can also ditch the lantern for 1 extra slot.

In general, you should change your inventory based on what you're doing, you're not supposed to be prepared for everything at all times.

[Yuuko]

Lighter, embers (1 stack,) cane, magi, seasonal like eyebrella or beef hat, nm fuel, weapon, armor, hat.

Bernie is only really useful in certain niches.  Beyond early game where I might need to drop him as a distraction, moon storm where he can solo protect the invention from birds while I chase tools, or occasional other niche stuff he can stay in base.  He really isn't that useful most of the time.

Embers only 1 stack for occasional lunar flame or fireball, or to refuel lighter.  The only time I carry multiple stacks is clearing bee queen b/c you can for like 4 stacks.  Like Bernie, Lunar flame isn't that useful most of the time.  While Dark Flame is able to dump a few stacks as bonus damage during a big fight, you'd be packing those embers in but leaving the boss fight with empty space.

PS - you didn't count seasonal item for Max, but did for Willow.  That puts Max at 8 vs Willow at 9, basically Ember dif.  Max gets the fortune of sharing the most versatile resource of the game as the cost for his abilities, and cheap too - 5 casts per nm fuel, stacks to 40.  Embers aren't so useful and add another stack.  Bring it up with Klei?

fwiw - I love going magi + nm fuel and ditching lanterns and back packs.  Its great b/c nm fuel is easy to farm, doesn't spoil, and can be farmed basically anywhere.  Here is the thing, you can kinda do that with Willow's lighter too...  So what I've been doing recently - instead of magi as my primary light source I use my lighter, tame a beef starting early game and a piggy pack.  I still get the magi but I have all that extra space from the piggy pack, even more speed, and its just as easy to get more embers as it is nm fuel.  I usually tame a rider or normal b/c I fight with Willow on foot to use my lighter.

If you don't want to tame a beef, you could drop the speed boost from magi and go lighter, embers (1 stack,) cane, seasonal item, weapon, armor, hat.  Any time you need to use a hand slot and light at the same time just drop a fireball.  They're really cheap.

[Captain_Rage]

Twigs, Grass, Willow's Lighter, Sewing Kit, (Embers), seasonal headwear, some armor, a weapon, Thermal Stone, food, Beefalo Bell and a Life Giving Amulet.

[arubaro]

2 hours ago, shaurun said:

Willow is too inventory heavy:

1. lighter
2. Bernie (or even 2 Bernies)
3. clothes patch
4. embers (better 3 stacks)
5. tem o shanter / eyebrella
6. walking cane

You dont need an extra bernie and sewing kit outside of ruins clean and boss fights

[DinsdaleP]

3 hours ago, shaurun said:

Willow is too inventory heavy:

1. lighter
2. Bernie (or even 2 Bernies)
3. clothes patch
4. embers (better 3 stacks)
5. tem o shanter / eyebrella
6. walking cane

1. Lighter is often unneeded, put it into Chester/Hutch and only get it if you require it's usage

2. One Bernie is enough for damn everything besides some boss fights, only Armored Bearger pop to mind

3. No need for sewing kit in general, but since you'll be repairing Bernies, keep the ones that only have a single use left, and bring one if you feel like you'll need to repair Bernie later on. Solid tactic for ruins clears, for example. Keep it in Chester/Hutch just the same.

4. One stack for everyday usage and have a spider farm. As long as you're above 4 embers, you can easily farm a lot more with Combustion.

5. Tam is just bad for Willow, you need to stay below 60 sanity anyway, and Eyebrella is seasonal.

That's two slots on Willow, one in Chester/Hutch. Add Magi, NFM (half stack max, you'll get more thanks to Bernie), weapon, armor goes on your head (Dreadstone Helm recommended), Cane to your hand. Throw in a miner hat for light, and you'll still have plenty of slots left.

Don't bring materials for tools, craft what you'll need at your base and bring 'em only when you actually need it. Hunting for pig houses and digging out things? Hammer, shovel, that's it. Mining for ice? Pickaxe. Yadda yadda yadda.

I was initially worried about inventory management on Willow, but then I've spent most of my run with Magiluminescence equipped nearly all the time and my backpack as base decoration once again... so I'd say she's pretty solid in that regard.

[shaurun]

Thanks a lot for the advices. They are pretty similar, so common suggestions are: 1 embers stack, drop Bernies/sewing kits unless needed, probably drop lighter. You also suggest to not wear tam. 

My current setup after changes applying adviced changes is:

1. lighter (I don't have farm yet, so collecting embers manually, Also I play lights out world and max light from lighter, plus it helps with cooking on feet so I can't drop it yet)
2. 1 stack of embers
3. [body slot] magiluminesence
4. 1 stack of nightmare fuel
5. life giving amulet
6. [head slot] tam (I don't actually need more nightmare fuel + it's seasonal)
7. [hand slot] walking cane 
8. armor 
9. weapon
10. thermal stone (winter only)

Looks better, so appreciate your advices.

However I would still reply/ask something to understand the difference between playstyles.

12 hours ago, ThymeSpirit said:

Why do you need 3 stacks of embers at all times? Even 1 full stack is more than enough for daily needs.

That's true, it appears I don't need. I was greedy because when you fight hordes of mobes, a lot of embers dropped, and I didn't want it to dissappear. It can't be put into backpack, you know.

12 hours ago, ThymeSpirit said:

Same wtih more than 1 Bernie and sewing kit - unless you're going to fight a boss you don't need that on you.

Now I pick Bernie for ruins/sailing/farming spiders only. Thanks!

12 hours ago, ThymeSpirit said:

And if you have brighter lighter skills, even just the 1st one, you can also ditch the lantern for 1 extra slot.

I don't use lantern/miner hat as Willow.

12 hours ago, Yuuko said:

Lighter, embers (1 stack,) cane, magi, seasonal like eyebrella or beef hat, nm fuel, weapon, armor, hat.

Bernie is only really useful in certain niches.  Beyond early game where I might need to drop him as a distraction, moon storm where he can solo protect the invention from birds while I chase tools, or occasional other niche stuff he can stay in base.  He really isn't that useful most of the time.

Embers only 1 stack for occasional lunar flame or fireball, or to refuel lighter.  The only time I carry multiple stacks is clearing bee queen b/c you can for like 4 stacks.  Like Bernie, Lunar flame isn't that useful most of the time.  While Dark Flame is able to dump a few stacks as bonus damage during a big fight, you'd be packing those embers in but leaving the boss fight with empty space.

I think those are very good advices, so I changed my playstyle accordingly.

12 hours ago, Yuuko said:

PS - you didn't count seasonal item for Max, but did for Willow.  That puts Max at 8 vs Willow at 9, basically Ember dif.

Maxwell typically doesn't need seasonal gear, TBH. I use thermal stone for him in winter; in spring he could need lightning protection but mostly I heal with glomer goop as him so actually he doesn't need anything, and for summer he goes to caves. Willow, however, needs something in winter and spring to my expierence, 

12 hours ago, Yuuko said:

fwiw - I love going magi + nm fuel and ditching lanterns and back packs.  Its great b/c nm fuel is easy to farm, doesn't spoil, and can be farmed basically anywhere.  Here is the thing, you can kinda do that with Willow's lighter too...  So what I've been doing recently - instead of magi as my primary light source I use my lighter, tame a beef starting early game and a piggy pack.  I still get the magi but I have all that extra space from the piggy pack, even more speed, and its just as easy to get more embers as it is nm fuel.  I usually tame a rider or normal b/c I fight with Willow on foot to use my lighter.

I've switched to magi with Willow just recently, and yes nightmare fuel is not a problem to get for Willow so it's very good. I used rider beefalo with same strategy you described but midgame I dropped it, because it feels playing as beefalo all the time . I love beefalo taming and do it for every character except Wolfgang and Walter, currently I'm trying to change my mindset and use beefalo only early game and for moving heavy items. I think magi suits mage characters more than beefalos conceptually.

12 hours ago, Captain_Rage said:

Twigs, Grass, Willow's Lighter, Sewing Kit, (Embers), seasonal headwear, some armor, a weapon, Thermal Stone, food, Beefalo Bell and a Life Giving Amulet.

Life giving amulet is a great item to always carry as Willow. I suppose. I'm a bit confused why you pick twigs/grass while having lighter? You fon't mention flint/gold, so it seems you use it for torches? Also sewing kit only for seasonal items or you bring Bernie?

11 hours ago, arubaro said:

You dont need an extra bernie and sewing kit outside of ruins clean and boss fights

That's true.

10 hours ago, DinsdaleP said:

5. Tam is just bad for Willow, you need to stay below 60 sanity anyway, and Eyebrella is seasonal.

I disagree about tam. I don't know why I need to stay below 60 sanity all the time. Willow farms nightmare very fast if needed, so I find it more useful to keep sanity high. Also in light out world I found that tophat + lighter in the hand is enough to make you sanity stable all the time (I have 2 lighter radius skills, don't know if it would work w/o it). With tam I cover sanity + winters cold.

I have a common question because there are many suggestions to drop Bernie and some - to drop lighter also:

How fo you feel playing Willow if you do that?

I use lighter as a light source and to cook the food despite of game stage, simply because this way I can forget about torches, campfires, lamps and so on. It make Willow different.

Bernie also makes her different but I can imagine it like "okay, I leave Bernie at base for newbies protection", that's how I contribute. And I still take it with me when I go somewhere I expect danger. 

Dropping these items feels like Maxwell w/o book, despite I can be pure embers mage.

[Yuuko]

14 minutes ago, shaurun said:

Maxwell typically doesn't need seasonal gear, TBH. I use thermal stone for him in winter; in spring he could need lightning protection but mostly I heal with glomer goop as him so actually he doesn't need anything, and for summer he goes to caves. Willow, however, needs something in winter and spring to my expierence, 

Thermal stone is still an inventory slot though.

I go back and forth between thermal and weather gear depending on what I'm up to.  For boss fights where I want to wear magi + armor I use fireball with thermal to maintain when moving in / out of range, but if I'm gathering resources I'll use the insulation gear.  In winter insulation gear works well with Willow b/c she can easily top up to 70 degrees and I think insulation gear gives her longer between recharges that way so it works well when I can afford the equip slot.

Even with beef I can't drop magi lol the move speed is addictive.

Are you solo / using chester?

Why tam over beef hat?

[grm9]

11 minutes ago, Yuuko said:

In winter insulation gear works well with Willow b/c she can easily top up to 70 degrees

how is it different in comparison to others, out of curiosity? you don't get heated up faster if you stay in the range in which other characters take damage from burning trees and thermals can get heated up to 90 degrees by trees, so they're almost as effective as 240 insulation, which willow also doesn't fully get because willow has -30 winter insulation instead of 0

[Yuuko]

42 minutes ago, grm9 said:

how is it different in comparison to others, out of curiosity? you don't get heated up faster if you stay in the range in which other characters take damage from burning trees and thermals can get heated up to 90 degrees by trees, so they're almost as effective as 240 insulation, which willow also doesn't fully get because willow has -30 winter insulation instead of 0

Time.  You have to burn several trees to get to that temp, where Willow can just extinguish and relight anything to keep the process going.  When there aren't trees around she can put down a bait station for the same effect, and just hammer it and take it with her.  Heating up is pretty convenient for her.

I feel like thermals must not fully heat as well as players do either.  Any time I reach 70 degrees holding a thermal I lose a lot of temp right away when I leave, like thermals only really heat to around 50 degrees when I'm at 70.  Like they heat slower or something.  The only time I get long lasting thermals is when I keep them near lava pits.

[shaurun]

40 minutes ago, Yuuko said:

Are you solo / using chester?

Solo. My Chester stays at base all the time, I don't have habit to use it. Probably I should in solo world, just don't have a habit)

42 minutes ago, Yuuko said:

Why tam over beef hat?

I use beefalo hat when taming beefalo early game since I can't skip him going into mating mood.

Tam gives me both, inslation and sanity, and tam+lighter = increasing santy (as well as tophat+lighter = no sanity loss). Maybe it's just my playstyle: I see more profit staying sane rather than insane, it saves me a lot of time because I don't fight nightmare creatures while doing peaceful staff like exploration and resource gathering. Also it's very important to me to stay sane while sailing since I play alone since Wavey Jones actually is able to sink the boat when you're soloing (I had such case).

[DinsdaleP]

7 hours ago, shaurun said:

I disagree about tam. I don't know why I need to stay below 60 sanity all the time.

Bearly Sane II activates at 60 sanity, and if you need Bernie, you NEED Bernie. It doesn't make much sense to carry him around if you can't drop him and have him activate. Tam is also bad because it's an insulation item, which have decreased effectiveness for Willow and are mediocre anyways - you should be using thermals with her (and everyone besides Wurt).

 

7 hours ago, shaurun said:

I have a common question because there are many suggestions to drop Bernie and some - to drop lighter also:

How fo you feel playing Willow if you do that?

While I never leave Bernie at base, the lighter mostly stays in chester/hutch and I rely on a completely different skill. No lantern either, only mining hat for light on the move (so I can use the cane at the same time), and when I need a stationary light source, I just throw down a Fire Ball instead of dropping a lantern. Saves another slot, and mining hat has a bigger radius baseline that the lighter ever can. It can also be used to heat both yourself and your thermal stone up.

[Jakepeng99]

22 hours ago, shaurun said:

- total 4-7 slots, add here magiluminesence, nightmare fuel, armor, weapon = 7-10 slots, so only 5 left

That is alot of slots when combined with backpack.

[grm9]

8 hours ago, shaurun said:

I use beefalo hat when taming beefalo early game since I can't skip him going into mating mood

you can feed a beefalo stuff and carry it around with yourself until you get an alchemy for a saddle, and, ideally, get a saddle around day 3-4 at least, i didn't need to deal with it attacking me every time i did it that way

8 hours ago, Yuuko said:

feel like thermals must not fully heat as well as players do either.  Any time I reach 70 degrees holding a thermal I lose a lot of temp right away when I leave, like thermals only really heat to around 50 degrees when I'm at 70.  Like they heat slower or something.  The only time I get long lasting thermals is when I keep them near lava pits

it's probably because they can reach lower temperature in comparison to you without you noticing, you'd notice that you're freezing if you go to 0 degrees but a 0 degrees thermal in winter would still be yellow iirc

[Mr Giggio]

3 stacks of ember and u dont know where the problem is

In general for day by day situations one stack is more than enough and when u about to do bosses like bqueen u can go for 2 for consistency 

[EATZYOWAFFLEZ]

9 hours ago, Yuuko said:

the move speed is addictive.

WX calls to you...

[Captain_Rage]

Twigs and Grass simply tend to accumulate. They are not for Torches but rather to get the Beefalo going. xd I used to virtually always carry two Lanterns to use as soon as darkness set in but after the addition of the skill tree they got superseded by Willow's Lighter, since it gives off about the same amount of light plus is super forgiving to refuel. One Lantern can still be kept as a true emergency / deployable backup (usually you can get away with equipping the light source but if a fight ensues; although when riding an Ornery Beefalo you can still fight as normal).

That is how I play the overwhelming majority of the time. When playing alone after having defeated the shadow and lunar bosses the inventory looks a tad different but mostly the same. Other people might play differently. xd

I am surprised to read that so many players carry Bernie in their inventory, lol.

[Frosty_Mentos]

Rushing bundles greaty reduces her burden of items, but often if I don't need either Bernie or lighter I often just leave those things behind. At best I keep just a stack of embers for the sake of it or the lighter.

Lighter 
embers (situational)
tamoshanter (situational, swappable with light sources and hats)
cane
thermal (situational)
Amulet (situational, I have piles of them set up in some areas sometimes, or just keeping one incase gonna fight something.)

At best carrying 3-5 items. If I got a base going I don't need more stuff. Lighter is always useful for her.
Bernie is best for hounds or ruins raids or generally just battles, not necessary to carry.

When traveling to do raiding or fighting I'd keep Bernie, Embers and Sewing kits/Trusty tapes for sake of extra damage. If I don't need fire I can only just keep Bernie to do all work.

It's not hard to sort this inventory if you can make due with tossing something away you don't need. Swapping choosing stuff is key to sorting out what you need at the time.

[Cruvimaster]

On 1/26/2024 at 6:05 AM, shaurun said:

I struggle with inventory management, specifically for Willow, so I want to know how you make it. 

E.g. for Maxwell all I need is book, nighmare fuel, magiluminesence, walking cane, dreadstone helmet, dark sword, top hat. So 3 items equiped, 4 items to carry, 12 slots left for anything+top hat inventory space.

 

Willow is too inventory heavy:

1. lighter
2. Bernie (or even 2 Bernies)
3. clothes patch
4. embers (better 3 stacks)
5. tem o shanter / eyebrella
6. walking cane

--- total 4-7 slots, add here magiluminesence, nightmare fuel, armor, weapon = 7-10 slots, so only 5 left

 

Yes I don't count backpack, I know. Just trying to come up with what Willow should have...with 5 slots, she obviously needs materials to craft tools if neccessary (Maxwel only needs hammer early game), and she needs food, and she also needs to collect all spider/dogs loot all the time, so her space is really narrow, What are her mandatory slots when you play?

If you're going to play Wanda then...

The most penalized character in the slots is by far Wanda.

Klei created a solution for Wigfrid. I hope they do the same for Wanda.

[arubaro]

16 hours ago, Cruvimaster said:

If you're going to play Wanda then...

The most penalized character in the slots is by far Wanda.

Klei created a solution for Wigfrid. I hope they do the same for Wanda.

NF to refill the weapon (situational), 1 healing clock and 1 tp clock

[Cruvimaster]

2 hours ago, arubaro said:

NF to refill the weapon (situational), 1 healing clock and 1 tp clock

You're kidding, right? 1 healing clock?

[arubaro]

1 hour ago, Cruvimaster said:

You're kidding, right? 1 healing clock?

Yes? The only thing that can damage you is hounds, which they are rare BS which are stationary and you have extra range atack making hounds and BS' atacks easier to kite and temperature..

If you go to a boss fight you can bring as much as you want or craft a chest and drop clocks inside

Even if you carry 2 on daily tasks isnt that much problem considering that she doesnt need to carry other stuff

I played her a lot and did the silly thing of carrying 2 healing clocks all the time until i realized what i was doing (and back in the day hound waves were way more common and dangerous)

[Cruvimaster]

1 hour ago, arubaro said:

Yes? The only thing that can damage you is hounds, which they are rare BS which are stationary and you have extra range atack making hounds and BS' atacks easier to kite and temperature..

If you go to a boss fight you can bring as much as you want or craft a chest and drop clocks inside

Even if you carry 2 on daily tasks isnt that much problem considering that she doesnt need to carry other stuff

I played her a lot and did the silly thing of carrying 2 healing clocks all the time until i realized what i was doing (and back in the day hound waves were way more common and dangerous)

By your logic Wanda still continues to lose slots, as all the other characters do not need healing.

If you don't fight anything in the game, you don't need to use healing items. Only Wanda passively loses her life. So only she has slots punishment.

And when she needs it to fight, Wanda will have a healing of 20 points (8 age converted to health) occupying 01 slot while characters with standard mechanics (Wilson, Wolfgang) will occupy the same 1 slot with 1,600 points (40 Pierogis).

And there will be a 2 minute wait before you can use the watch again.

20 x 1,600. Very cool!!

And I won't even mention how much health recovery you can store in the Polar Bearger Bin item (1 slot).

[arubaro]

24 minutes ago, Cruvimaster said:

By your logic Wanda still continues to lose slots, as all the other characters do not need healing.

If you don't fight anything in the game, you don't need to use healing items. Only Wanda passively loses her life. So only she has slots punishment.

And when she needs it to fight, Wanda will have a healing of 20 points (8 age converted to health) occupying 01 slot while characters with standard mechanics (Wilson, Wolfgang) will occupy the same 1 slot with 1,600 points (40 Pierogis).

And there will be a 2 minute wait before you can use the watch again.

20 x 1,600. Very cool!!

And I won't even mention how much health recovery you can store in the Polar Bearger Bin item (1 slot).

??? Still, is just one slot. In not discussing how much healing wanda needs or how good or bad it is

You said that wanda has inventory problems, i said not, you said wanda needs more than 1 healing clock i said not. Period

[Yuuko]

4 hours ago, Cruvimaster said:

And when she needs it to fight, Wanda will have a healing of 20 points (8 age converted to health) occupying 01 slot while characters with standard mechanics (Wilson, Wolfgang) will occupy the same 1 slot with 1,600 points (40 Pierogis).

And there will be a 2 minute wait before you can use the watch again.

20 x 1,600. Very cool!!

And I won't even mention how much health recovery you can store in the Polar Bearger Bin item (1 slot).

They don't compare so straight across.

1) 40x perogies takes a lot longer to prepare, where Wanda can have 2-3 clocks literally forever.  They don't break once made.

2) Don't often actually USE 40x perogies.  If I finish a fight and I only used 5, thats 5x40 = 200 health I actually used from that slot.

4) Normally I'm wearing dreadstone for 90% armor on other characters, but on Wanda I keep 95% night armor.  Cut whatever healing a different character needed in half.

5) Wanda actually stays much safer with her clock.  Both bosses and normal mobs have a tougher time hitting her.  Not that she can't get hit, but she definitely has an easier time of it.

What I usually run as Wanda: healing watch, base watch, AC, cane, magi, dreadstone hat, night armor, nmf = 7 items.  As posted before for Willow I usually run lighter, ember (1 stack,) cane, magi, weapon, armor, hat, nmf = 8 items.  My Willow is actually cramped 1 slot behind my Wanda.  I could ditch magi since I don't need it for light source, but dang that speed is addictive...

When I go to a boss fight I usually bring 2 healing clocks, but that is when I go to a big boss fight.  I definitely don't need to run around with that all the time.