latest update Improving Circuits with Community Feedback: Balance & Utility.

[Deurus]

❤️Please share your QoL suggestions so we can add them to this topic. Hopefully, the developers will implement them in the next update.

This is a collection of small and easy-to-implement changes, mainly focused on the circuits. I hope both the developers and the community can review this post, so we can together refine and better shape the new content being added to the game. 

Checkout more information about ➜ Circuits - Don't Starve Wiki

General Suggestions:

• Adding a sound cue when circuit cooldown finishes for better feedback and timing.
• Adding ability wheel/menu for gamma circuits actions in addition to a toggling off option for them.
• Right To Modify: Extra Bonus, Allow Biodata to be acquired from breaking down Circuits with the Circuit Extractor, yielding <50% of Bio Data used to craft them.

⮟ ALPHA CIRCUITS 

Spoiler

Super / Hardy Circuit: 
Their protection relies on percentage-based reduction (Alpha Tinkering II), which tends to scale poorly against smaller hits and overlaps with armor, making the benefit less noticeable in many situations.

Suggestions:

• Change  +:
  • Grants -2 physical damage received.
  • Diminishing returns for damage reduction with more circuits: -2, -4, -5.5, -7, -8, -9, -10.
  • Damage reduction is calculated before armor and cannot be reduced below 5.
    Example: With one Hardy Circuit, a Spider would deal 18 damage, which would be reduced to 3.6 damage when wearing a Log Suit or Football Helmet.
• Change +: 
  • Grants -5 physical damage received.
  • Diminishing returns for damage reduction with more circuits: -5, -9, -13.
  • Damage reduction is calculated before armor and cannot be reduced below 5.
    Example: With one Super-Hardy Circuit, a Spider would deal 15 damage, which would be reduced to 3 damage when wearing a Log Suit or Football Helmet.
• Spoiler

   

Note: Credits for @IneedANames and Uncompromising Mode team.

⮟ BETA CIRCUITS  

Spoiler

Super / Illumination Circuit: 
Currently, both act as directional lights (Beta Tinkering II), making feel redundant. Furthermore, this makes it pale in comparison to the optoelectronic circuit.

Suggestions:

• Keep Illumination Circuit as directional flashlight.
• Change Super-Illumination to a player-centered light (at least torch radius). Since it’s meant to be an upgraded version of the previous.
• Beta Tinkering II: No longer affect the Illumination Circuits.
• Beta Tinkering I: Now Increase brightness intensity of All illumination circuits. (no radius change; it only makes the light less dim).
• Spoiler

  

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Spatializer Circuit:
The Spatializer Circuit arrives too late in progression (after Mysterious Energy is active), especially given the utility it provides. Also, Refrigerant / Thermal circuits don’t affect items stored in Spatializer slots, despite being part of the main inventory. 

Spoiler

Suggestions:

• Allow full interaction between Refrigerant/Thermal circuits with Spatializer slots to keep consistency and utility.
• Allow items to enter opened spatializer slots when picked up.
• Allow items in spatializer to be used in crafting. By either opening or closing each container slot at the same time.
• Replace scan unlocking from  Krampus to  Scrappy Werepig.
• Recipe adjustment:
  •  From x8, x1 to ➜ x8, x1.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Chorusbox Circuit:
It remains a bit underutilized and could be expanded to affect more creatures.

Suggestions:

• Beta Tinkering I:  Extra bonus, having at least one Chorusbox Circuit makes Powder Monkeys and Prime Mates non-hostile toward WX-78.

Note: refence of Bink's Brew | One Piece
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Range Booster Circuit:
Right now affects the camera distance and a few tools, to better align with the expanded vision range, it could include an additional bonus.

Suggestion:

• Give a small Stackable map reveal range increase to the player (similar to Pirate Hat in Shipwrecked).

Spoiler

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Optoelectronic Circuit:
Beta Tinkering I currently only removes the night vision filter, which makes the bonus feel minor.

Suggestions:

• Beta Tinkering I: no longer affect Optoelectronic Circuit.
• Beta Tinkering II :   Now Allows to see/walk freely through sandstorms and removes the night vision filter if you're using an Optoelectronic Circuit.

⮟ GAMMA CIRCUITS  

Spoiler

Redigestion Circuit:
While Nutribricks are thematically out of place for WX-78, their usability is overly restrictive and inefficient, requiring extra steps just to become consumable while offering limited practical payoff as food or fertilizer.

Suggestions:

• Allow interruption of redigestion animation.
• Allow bulk processing of rot/rotten eggs.
• Replace Nutribrick with Bio-Oil:
  • Bio-Oil:
    • Non-spoiling.
    • Stackable (20).
    • No fertilizer value.
    • Non-survivor food.
    • Can be used as fuel for ,/,, granting +3 min (which equalsx2 or x4 respectively).

Note: Aligns with real life process called "pyrolysis" (organic waste → usable fuel).
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Blocking Circuit: 
It has Inconsistent protection against item-displacing enemies beyond Moose/Goose. And its damage reduction should be tweaked to be more valuable.

Spoiler

Suggestions:

• Adding a Hotkey activation.
• Extend full protection to all item-knockout sources while active.
• Increase damage reduction from 80% to 100%, but it breaks after a damage threshold like Snurtle Shell Armor.
• Allow Blocking to protect armor from taking damage, meaning damage is absorbed by the block and received in you instead of being applied to armor. (Saving armor durability)
• Recipe adjustment:
  • From x4, x1 to ➜  x4, x1.

Note: Snurtle Shell armor can be obtained from  (75%).
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Sonic-Invoker Circuit: 
The player activates the sonic waves but the effect delay allows enemies to act first. (See Demostration Below)

Spoiler

Suggestions:

• After activation, implement an immediate “panic” effect on enemies to improve combat responsiveness, reliability, and reduce unfair hits.
• Adding a Hotkey activation.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

One of my other suggestions:

Edited April 30 by Deurus

[Jakepeng99]

It would probably be fair if you added an option for none but I voted for the moggle circuit. It would be good if it let you go through sandstorms

2 hours ago, Deurus said:

Adding synergy: Slightly increases pickup range for auto-grabber.

It does this already

Or at least should do it 

[Deurus]

1 hour ago, Jakepeng99 said:

It would probably be fair if you added an option for none but I voted for the moggle circuit. It would be good if it let you go through sandstorms

It does this already

Sounds good, I Will add that. I suppose your idea is to add that as beta Tinkering II bonus right?

Maybe the range increase on rangebooster its not working as intended with the auto-grabber.

I put on the ground Some items to Show that it have the same range with an without the rangebooster circuits.

Edited April 27 by Deurus

[doritosdamafia]

37 minutes ago, Deurus said:

Sounds good, I Will add that. I suppose your idea is to add that as beta Tinkering II bonus right?

Maybe the range increase on rangebooster its not working as intended with the auto-grabber.

 

i think you cut part of the video, we can't see you using the drones

Edited April 27 by doritosdamafia

[Deurus]

22 minutes ago, doritosdamafia said:

i thin you cut part of the video, we can't see you using the drones

The chassis pickup the closest thing automatically and you can also trigger them to pick something anytime you took anything from the ground. Yet i can Confirm that range booster doesn't affect them 🙁. But we can agree that their intelligence for picking up objects is very limited

Edited April 27 by Deurus

[doritosdamafia]

2 minutes ago, Deurus said:

The chassis pickup the closest thing automatically and you can also trigger them to pick something anytime you took anything from the ground. Yet i can Confirm that range booster doesn't affect them 🙁.

i think that only the skill affect the pick drones, now to know if it is a bug or not, we need to ask a dev

[Tired_Awaii]

I think, for the chassis at least, the reason it's not increasing the pickup range for the drones is because the way warm standby works. The skill does as it states by letting them use beta circuits while on standby but it doesn't inherit the effects given by the beta tinkering skills. Normally the rangebooster circuit only increases the range at which you can zoom out, the circuit's ability to boost the range at which drones work is locked behind the beta tinkering skills so that effect isn't being inherited. If warm standby also took into consideration the effects of beta tinkering then it should work how you expected it to. The same thing happens with the rangebooster skill itself, the chassis don't really inherit any of the skill tree's effects besides the extra charge/circuit slot and warm standby.

[Deurus]

3 minutes ago, Tired_Awaii said:

the chassis don't really inherit any of the skill tree's effects besides the extra charge/circuit slot and warm standby.

Thats really dissapointing for a perk. So essencially Warm Standby perk only affects a few circuits :

• Spatializer.
• Thermal/refrigerant.
• Illumination.

[OrangeNibble]

6 minutes ago, Tired_Awaii said:

I think, for the chassis at least, the reason it's not increasing the pickup range for the drones is because the way warm standby works. The skill does as it states by letting them use beta circuits while on standby but it doesn't inherit the effects given by the beta tinkering skills. Normally the rangebooster circuit only increases the range at which you can zoom out, the circuit's ability to boost the range at which drones work is locked behind the beta tinkering skills so that effect isn't being inherited. If warm standby also took into consideration the effects of beta tinkering then it should work how you expected it to. The same thing happens with the rangebooster skill itself, the chassis don't really inherit any of the skill tree's effects besides the extra charge/circuit slot and warm standby.

It's kind of weird. I feel like they should just have the skill tree effects. Is there any reason for them not to?

[Tired_Awaii]

1 minute ago, Deurus said:

Thats really dissapointing for a perk. So essencially Warm Standby perk only affects a few circuits :

• Spatializer.
• Thermal/refrigerant.
• Illumination.

Chorusbox also works, at least for tending plants I haven't properly checked if the sanity effect is also applied but I'd imagine so.

[whiteking]

Obviously, wx is not ready yet. If you want to launch a qualified wx, it should need to be modified for at least 3 to 4 weeks

[Jakepeng99]

7 hours ago, Deurus said:

Sounds good, I Will add that. I suppose your idea is to add that as beta Tinkering II bonus right?

Maybe the range increase on rangebooster its not working as intended with the auto-grabber.

 

I put on the ground Some items to Show that it have the same range with an without the rangebooster circuits.

I didn’t vote for the blocker circuit but maybe it could also reduce armour loss

[tHe_silent_H]

for 4 gamma slots, and an annoying to obtain crafting material blocking really does need to be better, i still vote on salt death(in the files) for Slurtles to increase or guarantee drop of the shelmet

[Deurus]

4 hours ago, Jakepeng99 said:

maybe it could also reduce armour loss

15 hours ago, Deurus said:

Suggestions:

• Increase damage reduction from 80% to 100%, but it breaks after a damage threshold like Snurtle Shell Armor.
• Allow Blocking to protect armor from taking damage, meaning damage is absorbed by the block and received in you instead of being applied to armor. (Saving armor durability)
• Recipe adjustment:
  • From x4, x1 to ➜  x4, x1.

Note: Snurtle Shell armor can be obtained from  (75%).

 

like This or as a passive thing?

Edited April 27 by Deurus

[Deurus]

On 4/26/2026 at 8:20 PM, doritosdamafia said:

i think that only the skill affect the pick drones, now to know if it is a bug or not, we need to ask a dev

With the last update Is working now! 😀, Here is how much it increases with maximum circuits (I forgot to mention I'm using the signal booster perk). They Pick pretty much anything around them while in chassis, otherwise you need to pick something in order to activate the function. So dropping something at your feet and picking it up again is the best way to take advantage of the extra range of the range-Booster circuit.

   

 

 

 

Edited April 28 by Deurus

[doritosdamafia]

9 minutes ago, Deurus said:

With the last update Is working now! 😀, Here is how much it increases with maximum circuits (I forgot to mention I'm using the signal booster perk). They Pick pretty much anything around them while in chassis, otherwise you need to pick something in order to activate the function. So droping something in your feet its the best way to take advantage of the extra range from the range booster.

 

   

 

 

 

this range with the idea i give almost now, the grabber drone can be very good

[Argwarn]

Just kill Glommer for the spatializer
it's worth it

[doritosdamafia]

14 minutes ago, Argwarn said:

Just kill Glommer for the spatializer
it's worth it

the problem is not the mob for the scan, but the resource it need to craft that can only be obtained in a moonstorm or later and you can just fight klaus for the scan

Edited April 28 by doritosdamafia

[Argwarn]

Just now, doritosdamafia said:

the problem is not the mob for the scan, but the resource it need to craft that can only be obtained in a moonstorm o later and you an just fight klaus for the scan

oh I just noticed it's the infused one ,yeah that takes a while 

[Deurus]

10 hours ago, Argwarn said:

oh I just noticed it's the infused one ,yeah that takes a while 

Its Just one step before you fight Celestial Champion:

So you have to complete Pearl´s Quest, Kill Crabking (retrieve Celestial tribute), Get Celestial detector (retrieve Celestial Sanctum Pieces) and finnally reunite all the 3 pieces to activate Moonstorms and get the Infused Shard. x_x .

Edited April 29 by Deurus

[Kacpert25]

On 4/26/2026 at 11:30 PM, Deurus said:

Spatializer Circuit:
The Spatializer Circuit arrives too late in progression (after Mysterious Energy is active), especially given the utility it provides. Also, Refrigerant / Thermal circuits don’t affect items stored in Spatializer slots, despite being part of the main inventory. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Suggestions:

• Allow full interaction between Refrigerant/Thermal circuits with Spatializer slots to keep consistency and utility.
• Allow items to enter opened spatializer slots when picked up.
• Allow items in spatializer to be used in crafting.
• Replace scan unlocking from  Krampus to  Scrappy Werepig.
• Recipe adjustment:
  •  From x8, x1 to ➜ x8, x1.

I'd also like the Spatializer to be obtainable earlier. However, I also think access to slots with infinite capacity before activating lunar rift is too much.

I'd prefer adding a weaker version of the Spatializer, taking up two slots and able to hold a maximum of 4-5 stacks of the item. 

The current Spatializer would then require this weaker version, biodata, and 1 pure brilliance.

 

[Deurus]

12 hours ago, Kacpert25 said:

I'd also like the Spatializer to be obtainable earlier. However, I also think access to slots with infinite capacity before activating lunar rift is too much.

I'd prefer adding a weaker version of the Spatializer, taking up two slots and able to hold a maximum of 4-5 stacks of the item. 

The current Spatializer would then require this weaker version, biodata, and 1 pure brilliance.

I understand that having infinite capacity in one slot too early is too much. A two-slot version, but weaker (without infinite space but with increased capacity), would be useful.

Let's consider the advantages we gain at that point in the game by obtaining the Spatializer circuit:

• It can be combined with the x2 Refrigerant/Thermal circuit to keep things fresh or spoil faster. (In the hypothetical case that the final version interacts with each other)
• It can be used to carry an infinite stack of useful items like:
  • Nightmare fuel, biodata, hound teeth, and pig skin.
  • Logs, grass, ropes, and twigs.
  • Gears, rocks, nitre, gold, flint, and marble.
  • Fertilizers (guano, rot, manure, etc.).
  • Weapons (darts). Healing items (Honey Poultice, Healing Salve, and Jellybeans)

Other solutions for transporting items way earlier in the game:

• Bundling wrap (4 in 1 slot)
• Portable Storage I & II (3-6 slots + teleport content)
• Possed chassis (15 slots per chassis)

Even with all of the above, I would also like an option like the one you mentioned. That said, we would only double the maximum stack size in the slot. I find it interesting and hope it aligns with the developer's vision. I've been trying to think of other scans and items, but it's difficult. Perhaps another stage to obtain the spatializer circuit would be after Shadow rifts but in that case, the style would have to be changed to better suit the theme: 

Edited April 30 by Deurus

[Dinoel]

Auto-grabbers are terrible. When held by the player, they identify items to collect based on the inventory—like the W.O.B.O.T., for example. However, instead of being fully automatic, they only activate when you start collecting manually, and that is AWFUL.

If I have one Grass in my inventory and walk past a Grass patch, it doesn't pick it up automatically; it waits for me to grab one manually and only then checks if there are other items nearby to collect. What’s the point of it being automatic only when mounted on a chassis?

To me, the logical way would be: if I have one Grass in my inventory, the auto-grabber should automatically collect 39 more and stop once the stack is full (40 Grasses, for example). If I wanted to collect more than one stack, I’d just put one Grass in multiple slots (e.g., 3 slots with 1 Grass each), and the auto-grabber would fill those 3 slots automatically for a total of 120 Grasses. Wouldn't that make much more sense?

[MediocrePlus]

On 4/28/2026 at 1:17 PM, Deurus said:

With the last update Is working now! 😀, Here is how much it increases with maximum circuits (I forgot to mention I'm using the signal booster perk). They Pick pretty much anything around them while in chassis, otherwise you need to pick something in order to activate the function. So dropping something at your feet and picking it up again is the best way to take advantage of the extra range of the range-Booster circuit.

 

   

 

 

 

Can you clarify; Is this the player WX socketed with Rangeboosters and the Chasis empty? but if the player has range boosters; then every nearby drone regardless of which chasis it is attached to gets increased range?

Or does socketing a Chasis with rangeboosters increase the range of that individual chasis.

[Deurus]

On 5/1/2026 at 9:26 PM, Maximise said:

Can you clarify; Is this the player WX socketed with Rangeboosters and the Chasis empty? but if the player has range boosters; then every nearby drone regardless of which chasis it is attached to gets increased range?

Or does socketing a Chasis with rangeboosters increase the range of that individual chasis.

Both have a Pure Horror insert.The one on top has x7 range boosts. The one below has 0.

But be aware, when I uploaded that video, the buff that makes them move faster than using Nightmare Fuel hadn't been implemented yet.

The range boosters only affect the drones who are linked to you directly. With the warm stanby perk the range boosters can increase the range of the drones linked to a chassis.