Walter gaming Tips and Q&A

[Valase]

7 minutes ago, _mylilsunshine_ said:

How's the threshold with planar defense in mind? I get that day-to-day won't have you fighting planar enemies but still, just fun to know

the amount of planar damage gets reduced by the armor flat planar defense, then the excess goes directly into the damage threshold, so if an amor has 5 planar defense and the attack deals 15 planar damage, you get bucked off.

[_mylilsunshine_]

7 minutes ago, Valase said:

the amount of planar damage gets reduced by the armor flat planar defense, then the excess goes directly into the damage threshold, so if an amor has 5 planar defense and the attack deals 15 planar damage, you get bucked off.

I see, so you're most likely going to get bucked off no question asked the moment you face any medium-major planar enemy. That makes Dreadstone armor even less attractive when riding Woby, still good as an on-foot armor though.

[readkey]

8 hours ago, Chewabacca said:

Day-to-day I'd rather use log suit over marble because of the exact issue you mention. If the marble suit slows you down so badly that when you're taken off-guard and bucked you don't want to wear it, then you're practically playing like you have no body armor at all. Sure, it's good for increasing Woby's threshold, but a log suit still raises it to 40 and is usable on foot. I use marble suit sometimes, of course, but more for special occasions like boss fights where even just one hit could buck me off if I'm not wearing marble.

Also on the subject of the body slot: having to fight Bee Queen hitless has made me appreciate body slot items that aren't the backpack or armor more. I know armor is nearly useless for the fight, and since I'd usually be able to do a boss fight without a backpack, it made me want to wear something actually useful in the body slot. This isn't just true for Bee Queen, but for a lot of situations where the risk of getting hit is low. I'm not saying Walter players should never wear backpacks or armor, because most of the time I do still use the body slot for storage, but be aware of your options and what's right for each situation, especially since you also have 9 extra slots from Woby. Most other body items are seasonal gear, like the puffy vest and the floral shirt, which are always nice, but I really like the hibearnation vest for keeping me as warm as a puffy vest while reducing Walter's hunger drain to the point where he has effectively the same hunger as a normal survivor. Durability is awful though.

I always appreciate body slot items when I was playing with a group of friends. I used to donate all the season gears like eyebrella and tam/beefalo hat to them, so most of the times I have to use rain coat and puffy vest instead. 
 

Hibernation vest is good as tier 3 winter gears actually allow you to last slightly longer than thermal stone. You should have enough sewing kit to sustain it by the time you get it. 

[Guille6785]

Finally got around to commentating my Walter run I did a couple weeks ago, it contains a bunch of useful Walter tips so I thought it was worth sharing in this thread: 

 

[_mylilsunshine_]

1 hour ago, Guille6785 said:

Finally got around to commentating my Walter run I did a couple weeks ago, it contains a bunch of useful Walter tips so I thought it was worth sharing in this thread

dang i was going to plug your video in and glaze it myself, but yeah i'm still gonna glaze it anyway. i particularly love the tech for dfly and toad, especially dfly inspired me to fight melee wall-less

[Dingle]

8 hours ago, Guille6785 said:

Finally got around to commentating my Walter run I did a couple weeks ago, it contains a bunch of useful Walter tips so I thought it was worth sharing in this thread: 

 

They changed the Wagstaff event part names during the Winona skill tree update. It was to make her Calibrated Perceiver match what they wanted it to look like for her, I think.

This really threw me off, too, when it happened. I didn't catch why I kept messing up the Wagstaff event for awhile.

[Chewabacca]

15 hours ago, Guille6785 said:

Finally got around to commentating my Walter run I did a couple weeks ago, it contains a bunch of useful Walter tips so I thought it was worth sharing in this thread: 

 

(hey @Walrusst on the off chance you haven't seen this yet, I remember talking with you about how it was a shame that lunar Woby hadn't gotten much screen time on any big DST YouTube channel)

On the planar damage stuff we were talking about earlier: did the math and it seems like the post-rift armor sets (brightshade and void) will keep you from getting bucked off in one hit even by most planar enemies, as long as you wear the right sets for the 25% reduction. The exceptions are Armored Bearger and Crystal Deerclops. If Walter is lunar-aligned, that will bring it down to Armored Bearger, though Bearger is probably slow enough that getting bucked off with him isn't the big deal it is with Bee Queen, plus there's no risk of him despawning.

[_mylilsunshine_]

I recently finished my Walter boss-run, reaching 250 days-ish because I love goofing around. Here are some thoughts about the playstyle, items I didn't use before, anything of note etc. etc.:

• Overall, Lunar-alignment is the way to go. The game (currently) already favors Lunar with how prevalent Shadow-aligned creatures are even pre-Rift, like Nightmare Creatures (especially helpful if you can't manage sanity), Damaged Clockworks, 2nd-phase Ancient Guardian, Nightmare Werepig, etc. Void-gear bonus is good, but really insignificant in Walter's case. Void Robe negates Sanity drain aura, which Walter could already do himself; Brightshade Helm is a Desert Goggles and negates Charlie's damage, extremely helpful when you don't have enough sanity to light up your enlightenedCrown. The Brightshade Helm & eCrown combo allows me to abandon using the Lantern in the late game. In terms of weapons, the Shadow Maul&Reaper are cool, but they require you to mostly sit on a boss/monster to reach maximum damage, while the Brightshade Sword provides solid damage from the start, always. The Gloomerang is cool if you don't want to use your Slingshot, I guess-- but the Brightshade Staff is extremely useful against Fuelweaver, and if you AOE-apply the Brilliance debuff on a group of mobs and use the Staff, it makes for some silly and crazy Crowd Control. Everything else negative I've mentioned it here. Lunar Woby is excellent in all cases, and can have 100% uptime if you like. There are very few situations in which a teleport-dash from Shadow Woby would be necessary.
• About the skill tree, I will rate the skill based on how likely I would take it.
  Spoiler

  1. Shattering Rounds: I skipped straight to Moonshots as it is just infinitely better than Stinger rounds, and the effort is not that much more either. Good AoE, good single-hit, economical, and readily available. Great for the no-slow Bee Queen fight. 5/5
  2. Utility Rounds: still haven't found a use for Honey rounds, they're a bit impractical, and Shockscraps are still as expensive as ever. The Saffron feather cost is such a bottleneck. 0/5
  3. Lucky Rounds: I've grown fond of Kablooies. Amassing materials for Gunpowder is easy thanks to Miner Woby and spoiling Eggs at Toadsool. Seeing that 238 damage hit from crit + Scrappy Frame charge shot is gloooooooorious. Good for Crab King snipe. Dreadstone is a staple economical ammo with the Possessed Band + Picker Woby combo if you ever get to it, but I skipped straight to Husk rounds. 4/5
  4. Shadow Slinger: Horror round is good supplemental damage, and Icker is great utility. But I don't use slow-down effect, and I can live without some extra damage. The Alignment bonus is negligible if I don't get hit by Shadow-aligned creatures. 1/5
  5. Lunar Slinger: the underdog, the misunderstood, the GOAT. Brilliance debuff + fast Vine from Husk combo can compete with Cursed round + slow-down combo, and exceed it against Planar-enemies. Brilliance debuff also puts a glow on creatures, letting you dodge around in the dark if you have no other light sources and have to wear the Brightshade Helm. 5/5
  6. Ammo Smith: if you fight with the Slingshot, this is a must-take. If you want to produce a lot of ammo, this is a must-take. You're severely crippling yourself if you use the Slingshot in any capacity and do not take this skill. The faster-craft is extremely noticeable. 6/5
  7. Ammo Hoarder: pretty expensive for what it can do. If you carry a lot of knick-knacks and bubblegum ammo, then this can be useful. But the Slingshot doesn't automatically pull ammo from the container so that's a big minus. 06 slots x 120 ammo = 720 items for one inventory slot, or you can carry 40&40 to craft 1200 items for two inventory slots instead. 0/5
  8. -===-=-=------------=-=-=-=---------=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=------------------=-===========-=-=-=
  9. Basic Customization: pretty good even if you only use the Slingshot for utility. It's a prerequisite for better upgrades so 5/5.
  10. Advanced Grips: the difference that the Jelly Grip provides is extremely substantial. I would've not used the Slingshot to fight if it wasn't for this thing. The Glommer Grip is also cool, and the Void Grip is stinky based alone on the fact that it's ramping. You have to shoot 9-10 shots with the Void Grip to catch up with Jelly. 5/5
  11. Advanced Bands: only introducing 02 new items, one of which is (partially) hidden from the player. And then again, these two items provide very little upgrade for the cost of a skill point. I only take this in the late-game as a novelty, even then I don't really need the Possessed Band. 2/5
  12. Advanced Frames: the Thulecite Frame's effect is great, opening up AoE-option for a lot of rounds. I personally like the fact that the secondary shot comes out very fast. The Scrappy Frame opens up x2 damage charge shot, letting you snipe Bishop, Crab King, Brightshade, and more! If you have the time to fight, this essentially saves you 50% ammo. I would rather put an enlightenedShard into a Mushlight than craft the Scrappier Frame. 4/5
  13. -===-=-=------------=-=-=-=---------=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=------------------=-===========-=-=-=
  14. Twine Twirler: the fact that it opens the Rope recipe for you means that you can get the Portable Tent scienceless if you get the Sleeping Bag from the Oasis Lake but that's quite niche though. Cheaper rope is cheaper rope, and faster crafting is always greatly appreciated. I build a lot so I always find myself missing Grass, I can't imagine a world without this skill, 5/5
  15. Pioneer's Panache: the bonus is not significant enough over everything else on the skill tree, and I say this as someone who wears the Pinetree hat 24/7 for vanity. It's a cute skill for multiplayer though. 0/5
  16. Special Treat: non-perishable food, instantly a win, not to mention it's 50% more efficient than feeding Woby Monster meat. Even this skill doesn't synergize with the Portable Racks, I would still take it because of how good bigBy is. 5/5
  17. Let's Rack and Roll: three portable drying racks? Sign me up! Dried Kelp is such a power food, and who would say no to some Jerkies? Even this skill doesn't synergize with Woby treats, I would still take it because of how good dried food is. 5/5
  18. Field Medic: the healing efficiency alone makes this skill worth taking, but also use healing items faster? Awesome. Flutter strip is amazing when you have Picker Woby picking up Butterfly wings and you farm Butterfly Wings next to a Lava Pond. Since faster healing is so good, I often find myself just chomping down on Spider Glands, not even Healing Salves. I never crafted healing items of any kind with how abundant Glands can be, maybe that's a minus. Even though I get hit a lot, I don't find this skill that necessary. 2/5
  19. Campfire Enthusiast: it's cute, I won't lie, but I can't be tied down to a place for light and/or sanity. It doesn't even heat up your Thermos that much. Good for multiplayer I guess, synergizes with your innate fast cooking trait too. 0/5
  20. Woby Here, Woby There: tbh the only time I've used this skill was for Woby to transport Ruins loot to a stair, while I wait for the Nightmare Phase to end. Any other time I still need Woby close to me, the wait time makes this skill not that worth it. 1/5
  21. -===-=-=------------=-=-=-=---------=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=------------------=-===========-=-=-=
  22. Pep Pup: if you ride Woby, this is a must-take, no-brainer, absolutely no compromise, just upsides across the board. This skill alone brings Woby up to par with Glossamer Pudgy and Ornery/Default. 6/5
  23. Scruffy Sprinter: this brings Woby up to par with a Glossamer Rider, from day 1 which is insane. Also a must-take for me. 6/5
  24. Dashing Doggie: I only take this because it's a prerequisite. If I don't take alignment Woby, then I will never take this skill. You get no invincibility frame for dashing and it stutters you out of sprinting too. 0/5
  25. Shadow Woby: I feel like this is overrated. 0/5
  26. Lunar Woby: amazing, exceptional, splendid. So much so that I believe it to be overpowered, and I don't take it until I have defeated Celestial Champion. 5/5
  27. Roaming Retriever: it's fine. Woby can help you pick up Butterfly wings, Poop, Seeds, resources, and later Dreadstone round. But I find it better to just load her inventory up with my tools and essentials. 2/5
  28. Furry Forager: more berries for my small tummy? Yes please. More cactus for my tiny head? Absolutely. More bananas for some of the most overpowered cooked dishes in the game? Sign me up! More Glowberries for my ugly-ass Moggles? I appreciate it. 4/5
  29. Helping Horns: a bit hunger-intensive, but once you get some Woby snacks stocked up, she's a great Miner, not so much a Chopper. She can mine Ruins statues, Lunar altars, and Underwater Salvageables. She can help you mine Marble Shrubs too. Truly the bestest girl. 5/5
• Before this, I've never used the Bone Armor, mainly because I thought that I would get hit a lot, so it would be useless. I realized I had really underestimated it. Now I use it constantly, especially in the no-hit Bee Queen fight, DFly melee fight, or even just while harvesting Honey. And about the Bee Queen fight, Scalemail is a genuinely good armor if I ride Woby. I've learnt that Marble Suit is your friend, not Rift-gear, not thulecite-gear, thanks to its 95% damage reduction. You can tank one hit from any boss as long as it is under 200 physical damage and Woby won't buck you off.
• My gear progression: Ruins rush -> Dragonfly (melee) -> Bee Queen -> Celestial Champion (melee 1st and 2nd phase, range 3rd) -> Tame a Pudgy Beef -> Fuelweaver. Most of the game I will be using Ruins gear. I have abandoned Log Suits and Football Helmets which makes me sad.

recently I've been practicing a 14-day boss-run, killing as much as possible. here's a tree that I devised for the run, it's crazy how flexible walter can be now, he's like a little swiss army knife. and his upgrades don't take away from his melee combat ability either, if you can manage to not get hit a lot, you'll manage:

Spoiler

- no reason to get the affinity rounds, but we still need 02 skills to unlock ammo smith, so I pick the next best things: moonshots and kablooies. i've found that you can often find 1-3 gunpowders in a terrarium chest, meaning 90 kablooies rounds, which is really nice for the crab king sniper fight (shooting him with a scrappy frame, that's 238 damage on a crit). moonshots can help with the bee queen fight if it ever comes to that.

- the only (mini)-boss that i fight with the slingshot is the malevolent rabbit. melee is still king when it comes to resource and time efficiency, especially when we don't have the jelly grip. but i need the scrappy frame, and the thulecite frame can help with freezing larvae in the dfly fight, so i take the skill. if i ever kill bee queen though, i'll take the jelly grip skilll.

- when in a boss-rush, having another you is an amazing advantage, and that's why you pick everything woby related. snacks and racks for bigBy, you don't need much to mainntain her for 14-days. miner woby for the ruins, and forager woby for more food because god knows i struggle with hunger. i find lunar woby infinitely more useful and powerful than shadow, allowing you to quickly map out crucial POIs, and still has a dash for bosses. picker woby is decent for the early game as she can pick up twigs, butterfly wings, resources, etc. for you, i've found that i can generally let her forage a berry and pick it up herself while i'm in timbucktu doing other tasks. inventory management between her and mine is a pain though, so i don't pick it.

- lunar woby is also amazing for the affinity, as most bosses in the game is shadow-aligned and you still need to deal with nightmare creatures.

- cheap rope is cheap rope, and it's faster crafting so it saves some time. i get hit a lot so i might consider picking efficient healing instead.

What about the survival aspect, outside of boss-run?

• Woby and Chester allow me to drop any kind of Backpack altogether, which opens up a lot of Clothing options. For Winter, the Puffy Vest is amazing, and later the Hibearnation Vest helps with Hunger. For Summer, I find overheating happens a lot more quickly than Freezing, so the Floral Shirt is appreciated; but it can't be repaired so that's a minus. The Summer Frest is another option that has a really cool skin too. Skins are important to me so I'm glad I finally have the chance to craft Bodyslot Clothing. I prefer Ice Chester over Shadow, as it can cool down Thermos and preserve Freshness.
• Walter benefits from Kelp, Honey, and Leafy Meat a lot more than other survivors. These three alone will cover most if not all of your food needs. Your sanity can go from 100 to 0 really quickly, and the most efficient way to gain that back is through food. Dried Kelp and Leafy Salad are my staple, Soothing Tea after I've got a Polar Bin.
• idk that's it, even though this is a survival game, surviving is not really that difficult or intelectually stimulating.
• it's your game so you can disable wildfire, frog frain, lunar hail, red hound waves, etc. etc. if you want, i won't judge, nor does it matter to you anyway 
• my favourite walter outfit?

[_mylilsunshine_]

Anyone knows how useful the Bee Queen crown is to Walter? Before I weave this skin? Although he isn't affected by the Sanity drain aura, it is still there and can be converted to a Sanity gain aura, useful for when you need to recover Sanity in combat without food, and you recover as much as you are hit.

It's just that I've never found a situation where I need the crown, maybe I got too comfortable with food.

[Crimson Hollow]

6 minutes ago, _mylilsunshine_ said:

Anyone knows how useful the Bee Queen crown is to Walter? Before I weave this skin? Although he isn't affected by the Sanity drain aura, it is still there and can be converted to a Sanity gain aura, useful for when you need to recover Sanity in combat without food, and you recover as much as you are hit.

It's just that I've never found a situation where I need the crown, maybe I got too comfortable with food.

I never use them... might be a bit useful if ur getting hit a lot during afw fight

[_mylilsunshine_]

Just now, Crimson Hollow said:

I never use them... might be a bit useful if ur getting hit a lot during afw fight

i do get hit a lot... but i plan on using a Pudgy Beef for that fight in the future so idk

i have deconstructed the crown for more jelly though, thought it was hilarious

[Crimson Hollow]

9 minutes ago, _mylilsunshine_ said:

i do get hit a lot... but i plan on using a Pudgy Beef for that fight in the future so idk

i have deconstructed the crown for more jelly though, thought it was hilarious

me every time I get a bq crown from klaus xd

[_mylilsunshine_]

As a player, I've always been a Beefalo-hater because of how much power one can give to a character. Defense, speed, attack, everything to cover weaknesses and exacerbate strengths. I don't mind how a Beef can enable characters, like Wendy or Wolfgang, but I do mind the feeling that you have to tame a Beef for optimal gameplay and you're missing out without.

As a Walter main, I dislike taming Beef even more because of how much one can outshine Woby as a mount pre-skill tree. Woby used to have 10 max speed, which is the same as a Pudgy & Glossamer, but it decayed at a faster rate and you couldn't feed Woby while mounted (and no non-perishable food as well as a hunger meter) so maintaining that 10 speed was a pain. Woby's buck threshold used to be 5 damage (i think), meaning any 100-damage hit with a Marble Suit, so you can't even tank an Ancient Guardian hit. A Beefalo was a no-brainer, non-negotiable upgrade for little Walter.

But now? With the buffs to mount Woby, worker Woby, and the Slingshot, a Beefalo is more of a side-grade than an upgrade, which is very enticing. So I decided to tame a Pudgy Beefalo with a Glossamer Saddle, as I have no need for a Rider nor an Ornery. Plus, Pudgy Beef synergizes very well with one of Walter's best-in-slot the Enlightened Crown, as well as giving him a means of passive sanity recovery.

and how can you say no to that silly face!

With Ms. Moo-na Lisa as my primary mount and Woby staying perpetually small, here's my new experimental skill tree:

• Abandoning the mount branch gives you at least 04 free points, meaning you can take other less popular skills, like Advanced Band, without feeling too bad. Why do I still have Pep Pup and Drying Rack if they only work for big Woby then? Because I don't build Drying Racks in my base so I use Woby's instead. Pep Pup extends her big form duration so more time for drying, and Woby Snack is still very efficient. I like Dried Kelps. I have Mr. Bearger as my free labor so no need for Hard-headed.
• The free points allow me to try out the Dreadstone + Possessed Band + Picker Woby synergy, which needs 03 points to work. And my impression? Underwhelming. I make more than enough Husk rounds to last me a lifetime, and they outclass Dreadstone in terms of DPS. Also, now I realize, Woby can't pick up items when she is scared. So she won't pick up Dreadstone rounds while you're in combat, not saving you much time, if any at all. Woby also picks up any item which can be very annoying as I have her as my designated tool belt. I don't want poops and seeds clogging up that inventory. A sad experience if I'm being honest.
• The Ammo Pouch is good, surprisingly. Inventory space is inventory space, which is always welcomed. You either choose to bring the materials and craft the ammo yourself or bring along a good amount of pre-crafted ammo. It can use some QOL changes like automatically pulling the same type of ammo from the pouch as the ones in your slingshot, but yeah it's actually more decent than I thought. The crafting recipe is a bit expensive though, so I don't see myself crafting it until the mid or late-game.
• Moonshots are still great for AoE and Crowd Control, much more reliable than Kablooies. Kablooies are the funny boolets for sniping Crab King, or if you enjoy hearing vine boom sound in your game. Don't ask me about Shockscrap.
• Something I can try: using Woby Here, Woby There more now that I don't need Woby by my side as much, so waiting for her to deliver items won't be too much of an issue.
• About the Beef: I didn't know you can pick Cacti without taking damage while riding a Beef. So you can have damage-free Cacti while Woby is foraging for +1 and picking it up by herself down there! Do I miss the speed of Lunar Woby? Kind of. But I don't have to travel the world for resources and exploration as much, and I have more free time now that I defeated all bosses so I can afford to take leisurely strolls with my Beef. I tame one around the time I prepare for Celestial Champion so I can have a Pudgy Beef the moment I get the Crown. Also, craft the Glossamer Saddle with a Construction Amulet unless you want to chase Butterflies.

I guess I'm a big Beef-lover now