Some suggestions about Webber's Skill Tree

[WeAreHungry]

Abstract: Webber, one of the earliest characters in Don't Starve, has a unique style and operational characteristics in the sandbox game. However, even after rework, the character's appearance rate in Don't Starve Together remains low. Based on thousands of hours of gameplay understanding and mod-making experience, this article offers some suggestions on the shadow and celestial skill branches for Webber.

Keywords: Webber; spider; celestial; shadow 

1. Background of Skill Tree Design
Although Webber develops quickly in the early game and has a low survival difficulty, his unique appearance and detailed gameplay are not favored by most new players. Additionally, due to his low strength ceiling and difficulty in cooperating with other players, he is often abandoned by veteran players. Webber's swarm tactics can even cause server lag or crashes. These factors lead to the character being frequently kicked out of multiplayer games, and even in single-player games, his appearance rate is much less than Wurt, who can be considered his superior substitute. Since the character's image is hard for most new players to accept and his operational characteristics do not help new players understand the game flow, while his spiders are difficult to compete with professional characters in crafting and gathering, this article suggests positioning him as an advanced combat character. By creating powerful spider companions or completely abandoning them, Webber's ceiling can be raised, and the number of spiders reduced to solve his main dilemmas.
In the lore of Don't Starve, Webber is the youngest survivor in terms of mental age, and celestial and shadow influences may have a greater impact on him. Therefore, this article focuses on the celestial and shadow skill branches, with the basic skills aimed at improving his cooperative ability in the early game. 

2. Skill Tree Design Ideas 

2.1 Basic Skills
Thanks to the joint efforts of mod authors and players, suggestions for Webber's quality of life skill tree have become increasingly complete. Therefore, this article provides only three suggestions, with others available on Steam Workshop and forums, and will not elaborate further on this part.
(1)Teammates can use Webber's repellent box to temporarily make wild spiders lose their target and escape.
(2)After Webber's death, spider companions will fall into a long panic state, giving teammates enough time to complete battles or retreat. Spiders will also remain in a panic state for a while after being dismissed.
(3) Webber will generate a package at his offline location that does not affect other players' movement and clicking, and all spider companions will hide in this package until Webber re-enters the game. 

2.2 Shadow Skill Branch: The Dark Assassin Sacrificing Spiders to Strengthen Oneself
Combine one Pure Horror and three nightmare fuels to create a "Despair Switcherdoodle". Using it on spiders will transform all spiders of the same species within a certain range into spider_shadelings (appearance like a "Spider Shadeling", it won't get startled, can't be dismissed, can't be healed, can't be picked up, and can't enter traps.) within a certain range and permanently hire it, existing for up to 60s, health=100, speed=8, teleport distance=6, attacking Webber's target by teleporting to it and self-destructing if within 6, causing fear in the explosion range, damage=200. Using the switcherdoodle on oneself increases an upgrade slot (up to 10). When Webber has at least one upgrade slot, the maximum number of spider companions is 12 , but Webber gain 20% base speed and two skills:
(1) Cooldown=10s, Webber pounces to a target location within range=8, quickly swinging four shadow claws on his head to deal 120 planar damage to targets within range≤2 in 1s. During the skill duration, Webber cannot move but his attack damage is doubled, and every 100 damage dealt reduces this skill's cooldown by 1 second, while each creature killed reduces this skill's cooldown by 5 seconds.
(2) Cooldown=10s, Webber summons a spider_shadeling lasting 10s nearby.
Webber gains 25 health, 20 sanity, 25 hunger, and occupies an upgrade slot for each spider eaten. (If you don't want to eat spiders, you can also change to using the corresponding switcherdoodles) Eating different types of spiders provides different buff effects: spider increases skill(2)'s spider_shadeling summon, spider_warrior increases skill(1)'s jump distance by 1 and area of damage by 10, spider_dropper increases sanity cap by 10, spider_hider increases work efficiency by 10%, spider_spitter increases base damage by 10%, spider_healer increases health cap by 25, spider_water increases base speed by 10%, spider_moon clears upgrade slots.
Webber drops carried items when using any skill.
All spider_shadelings belonging to the player disappear immediately after Webber leaves the server. 

2.3 Celestial Skill Branch: The Glorious Commander Sacrificing Oneself to Strengthen Spiders
Webber can use an extremely expensive "Enlightenment Switcherdoodle" to transform a spiderqueen or moonspiderden into a BrillianceSpider and permanently hire it. Additionally, the switcherdoodle can convert a level 3 spiderden into a moonspiderden. Hiring a BrillianceSpider reduces Webber's health and hunger cap by 40, sanity cap by 15, base damage by 25%.
BrillianceSpider (it can be repaired with moon rocks and glass, won't get startled, can't be healed, can't be picked up, and can't enter traps.) has health=1800, 25% damage reduction, speed=5, damage=120, and generates 4 spikes near the attack position, attack period=2. BrillianceSpider's passive skill:
After combat starts, summons a "spider_gestalt" (appearance like a Gestalt spider_spitter, it won't get startled, can't be dismissed, can't be healed, can't be picked up, and can't enter traps.) every 10s, existing for up to 60s, with a maximum of 4 spider_gestalts per BrillianceSpider. Spider_gestalt has health=100, speed=6, attack_ranged=10, and teleports like a terrorbeak when damaged. BrillianceSpider's active skills:
(1) Cooldown=10s, attack_range=10, pounces to a target deals 300 area damage and generates 12 spikes around the impact point.
(2) Cooldown=10s, attack_range=20, fires a special moongleam at the target, slowing all targets in the explosion range.
Webber can attach in a gestalt form to his BrillianceSpider and gain control. In this state, Webber is immune to all damage and negative effects, gains a small range of night vision, and sanity is replaced by enlightenment reaching the current cap (opposite to wearing a Nightmare Amulet), but can only control the BrillianceSpider. The attached BrillianceSpider gains 0/s-5/s health regeneration varying with the moon phase and three new skills (Webber's skill wheel has a total of 5 skills):
(3) Command all BrillianceSpiders in range to enter defense mode(like Rock Lobster), increasing damage reduction to 80% and gain 5/s-10/s healing effects that vary with the lunar phase. Nearby spider_gestalt and spider_moon heal BrillianceSpider like Woven Shadow until fully restored. Releasing the skill again commands all BrillianceSpiders to exit defense mode.
(4) Command all spiders in range to move to a location.
(5) Cooldown=30s, a battle cry resets all BrillianceSpider skills, and all spiders respond, gaining planar defense for 30s and forcing enemy in range to switch targets to BrillianceSpider.
Teammates can right-click to enter an unattached BrillianceSpider (which is equivalent to entering a tent that doesn't require food and has extremely high efficiency), the BrillianceSpider will switch to defensive mode. Right-clicking again or moving will exit and end the BrillianceSpider's defensive mode.
Teammates can right-click to place statue items on BrillianceSpider, right-click again to remove them, using skills will drop the item.
Webber does not die immediately when health reaches zero but attaches to the nearest BrillianceSpider, recovering health to 1.
BrillianceSpider explodes violently upon death, dealing 400 area damage and kill any players inside (including attaching Webber).
BrillianceSpider can only be dismissed with nightmare fuel, teleporting to an open area and becoming a moonspiderden.
After Webber leaves the server, all spider_gestalt belonging to the player disappear immediately and BrillianceSpider enters defense mode. 

2.4 Appearance of BrillianceSpider
Unfortunately, I couldn't draw with a mouse, so a textual description is provided as a reference:
BrillianceSpider can combine artistic elements from the spider queen, moonspiderden, spider_moon, and celestial_champion. Since it doesn't produce spiders, it is not as bloated as the spider queen. The abdomen is based on moonspiderden, with claws turned into glass spikes, and white light emanating from the holes, with the rest covered in moon rock armor for a heavy feel. Six moon rock legs are of equal length and quite sturdy, with glass claws resembling a pickaxe. The head is covered in moon rock, with many glowing slits for eyes, and three exaggerated glass pincers on a triangular mouth. In defense mode, BrillianceSpider resembles a fortress, with a towering abdomen like an inner castle, and legs and glass spikes forming towers and walls. 

3. Conclusion
The intention of this article is to increase Webber's gameplay and bring his strength to the average level of future versions. The shadow branch leans towards short-term saves, while the celestial branch is more suited for long-term saves. Both branches raise the strength ceiling while addressing issues of lag caused by spiders and accidental damage from leaving the game. Hopefully, one day all unpopular characters can shed their former labels, allowing players to comfortably experience the interesting content of each character.

Limitations: The design in terms of cooperative ability may not be perfect, and harmonious discussion and supplementation are welcome in the comments. 

[WeAreHungry]

In my opinion, the setting where Webber eats spiders better fits Metheus's corruption of younger characters. While reducing the game's difficulty, it also creates a stronger contrast with the celestial branch. Of course, using Switcherdoodles would sound more pleasant, but "The Constant" has always been a cruel world. I also think that when using skills, heavy items like statues should be automatically dropped, and then picked back up after the battle ends.

Edited August 7, 2025 by WeAreHungry

[WeAreHungry]

 I believe gaining power should come at a cost, so I designed some "related to sacrifice" elements to make the character appear more balanced, rather than allowing both herself and the fish to gain significant boosts.