Opinions on Woodie for medium-level players

[Chromo]

Hi guys, Chromo here again.

As you can probably tell from my profile picture, I main Woodie. The reason I do this is because I like to be able to manipulate my sanity quite easily, and I tend to use a lot of logs during my playthroughs, and I normally keep a stack and a bit on me at all times (I can be quite precautionary at times). Secondly, as far as I can see, he has no downsides. Now, as I have mentioned in the title, I believe he is good for medium level players. This is because for beginners, he can be a bit troublesome, and he also gives people bad habits with flint and tools. For advanced players, he has no upsides, as there are many other ways to quickly farm logs, whether it be as Maxwell, or utilizing the power of giants; this also takes away the benefit of the Werebeaver. Also, the +5 sanity for planting pinecones can actually be a nuisance to advanced players, as they would rather be bordering insanity for the easy nightmare fuel.

Since I'm not as advanced as most of you are, I would love to ask for your opinion. Do you think Woodie is a good character for mid-level players? If not, who would you suggest?

I'm grateful for any replies, but remember; this is strictly for people of medium experience; I don't want any of you quoting Edgy Rick's vids.

[Starlogy]

Personally, I like Woodie more than Maxwell. Don't play either often, but Woodie's better for those who want to be able to take a hit from a boss. Plus being able to control your sanity quickly is nice.

Maxwell can statistically do better, but Woodie has his upsides.

[CatBurger]

Sanity isn't that much of an issue. Sometimes when you are insane the nightmares don't even come, and when they do, they are incredibly easy to kill. If you need quick sanity just craft something new or make a taffy or something. Get a tam o shanter.

Maxwell, in terms of gathering, is just better than Woodie. He doesn't eat his own product, probably does it faster, and can literally afk and do it.

I do like playing Woodie though. In fact, if any character is considered pretty bad, that shouldn't discourage you from playing them. If you are good enough, their downsides aren't very bad.

[Chromo]

35 minutes ago, CatBurger said:

Sanity isn't that much of an issue. Sometimes when you are insane the nightmares don't even come, and when they do, they are incredibly easy to kill. If you need quick sanity just craft something new or make a taffy or something. Get a tam o shanter.

I agree, but this is designed for mid-level players. Many of these people wouldn't feel to happy with being insane whilst doing everyday tasks; this is a good point, but not really focused on the demographic this post is meant for.

[Tumalu]

The sanity is a decent convenience; nightmares aren't hard to kill, but obviously you have to drop whatever you're doing to fight them so you generally don't want to be insane. It lets Woodie easily do things like tank his sanity for nightmares and bounce back, hang out in caves, dig all the graves, or use night armor.

The logs are convenient, but not a big deal, because anyone at any skill level can give a few monster meat to some pigs; and it only takes several pigs to chop nearly as fast as Max/Woodie. Woodie's still more convenient than pigs, for sure- but you don't need to deal with the pigs often. Even just ~30 pinecones will get you like a hundred wood in one trip.

Woodie and Max are kinda close. Woodie arguably has more sanity power but it's not passive, and he can farm logs just as aggressively as Max without using fuel- but he eats them periodically in day-to-day life. He can't farm rocks like Max, and is forced to deal with the curse every full moon; meanwhile, Max's half max hp is often considered a dealbreaker, making Woodie's downsides look trivial.

My final opinion is that Woodie is O.K., but there's a lot of ways to handle your sanity that aren't hard, and just using pigs or giants lets anyone farm logs as fast/faster than Woodie/Max can anyway. Woodie brings nothing special to the table, but his powers ARE convenient. If he's your favorite character, go for it! But honestly, as you get better, getting a bunch of logs/sanity shouldn't be a problem for any character, so you could do better as someone else.

A better character? The general recommendations of Wicker/Wolf/Wig/WX, I guess; any character power discussion tends to end with those four. Once you feel comfortable with their respective downsides of sanity/food/wetness. Woodie -is- good when you aren't great at managing sanity yet, but that's not a tall hurdle to get past. (Max is OK if you just want lots of resources, but he's not a "medium skill" choice with that HP)

Wendy's OK too, especially for players who aren't as comfortable with battle yet- Abigail makes all fights other than bosses/ruins very easy, and you can resummon her early by crafting extra flowers. But once you're comfortable with battling on your own, the other battle perk characters are arguably better. (They'll have an easier time with bosses, for sure)

[Mario384]

To this day I wait for the day Klei makes the beaver good again.  Such a unique feature should not be a freaking downside, especially since it used to be a utility, now it's a nuisance to your average Woodie player.

[Chromo]

2 hours ago, Tumalu said:

Woodie arguably has more sanity power but it's not passive, and he can farm logs just as aggressively as Max without using fuel- but he eats them periodically in day-to-day life.

From what I've found, if you cut own lots of trees, and I mean LOTS, then log eating isn't a problem. Living logs - which you get from treeguards - become all but rare after a few seasons; these beauties give you +50 on the logmetre, and since I always have excess of them, I just munch down on them to keep the metre up.

16 minutes ago, Mario384 said:

To this day I wait for the day Klei makes the beaver good again.  Such a unique feature should not be a freaking downside, especially since it used to be a utility, now it's a nuisance to your average Woodie player.

I think that the beaver does have some new good features in DST; keeping your inventory is absolutely great for the beaver, and not getting your stats set to a certain amount after the transformation is great as well. However, the constant sanity drain and no real combat buff really drags the mechanic down in my eyes.

[Toros]

Honestly, for a player that I consider to be "mid level" (can survive year round on the surface and fight deerclops/bearger solo, can't solo raid bosses.  Can ruin dive but probably not very well before the first winter and still be well-prepared when winter hits) if you're looking for mechanical power there's no reason not to pick Wolfgang/Wx/Wickerbottom.

However, I like Woodie even though his werebeaver form sucks (his human form is pretty alright, and if he had no log meter and no werebeaver form would probably be better overall).

There are two scenarios where Woodie has a unique edge.  The first is joining a server in winter, as Woodie has some free insulation and can easily stay warm and break rocks without flint.  The second is rushing ruins super early as Woodie can just run around as werebeaver.  I don't particularly care for that tactic (I rather go later and clear the ruins and beat the ancient guardian so as not to make two trips) but it's valid.

However, like other have said if you like him just play him.  You don't have to justify your character choice to anyone, because every character is viable in this game.

[Soulk]

2 hours ago, Toros said:

Honestly, for a player that I consider to be "mid level" (can survive year round on the surface and fight deerclops/bearger solo, can't solo raid bosses.  Can ruin dive but probably not very well before the first winter and still be well-prepared when winter hits) if you're looking for mechanical power there's no reason not to pick Wolfgang/Wx/Wickerbottom.

However, I like Woodie even though his werebeaver form sucks (his human form is pretty alright, and if he had no log meter and no werebeaver form would probably be better overall).

There are two scenarios where Woodie has a unique edge.  The first is joining a server in winter, as Woodie has some free insulation and can easily stay warm and break rocks without flint.  The second is rushing ruins super early as Woodie can just run around as werebeaver.  I don't particularly care for that tactic (I rather go later and clear the ruins and beat the ancient guardian so as not to make two trips) but it's valid.

However, like other have said if you like him just play him.  You don't have to justify your character choice to anyone, because every character is viable in this game.

I'm with you, your points are very valid for me.

2 hours ago, Toros said:

because every character is viable in this game.

even wes is pretty viable

@Chromo about your question, indeed Woodie can be a good pick for Mid-Exp players but its also about likes and dislikes, as Toros said you dont need to justify you pick if you enjoy playing woodie go ahead. in my opinion the best pick for people above average knowledge of the games is Wickerbottom hands down, Logs use Beager/Rooks/ Animated skeleton (Late game), want rocks do the same with Bearger/Rook/Animated, want grass twigs use the OP book, want Krampus spawn birds of the world get insane by using the book plus farming feather for darts + krampus + NM fuel.

I consider my self an advanced player because i am able to do this:

Day 1-6 Dragonfly killed and pseudo base construted near dragonfly explored a big the caves for ruin entrances.

Day 6-11 Farm tentacle spots for 5 books make a tentacle trap for Queenbee and kill her, on fullmoon day 11 i use 9 NM fuel on chester to get the shadow version for more slots

Day 11-18 ish, ruin rush where i kill ancient guardian (aiming for lazy explorer/moonstaff) get around 6-10 thulecite armors get around 2 or 3 stacks of NM fuel and most importat magni amulet. (Get around 1 or 2 bundle wraps with lichen + lightbulbs)

Day 18-21 explore a bit more the surface (with shadow chester and magni amulet) to either get a better base location or improve the pseudo base i made.

Day 21-26 prepare all for klaus and kill it. (Get cane if lazy explorer didnt drop)

From day 26 i just farm McTusk party and set a Pig / Rabbit farm

Kill deerclops on 30 and set the ground to farm all the Goose/Goose i see.

After that i do whatever i want xD (kill antlion / set a base on desert) or spend summer on caves fully exploring it idk.

Tame a beefalo prepare the SHadow piece figths.

[landromat]

28 minutes ago, Soulk said:

best pick for people above average knowledge of the games is Wickerbottom hands down

Wes is the best pick for pros, because OP characters make the game boring super fast. People who play Wicker/Wolfgang just want easy mode

[Dr. Safety]

I main both Maxwell and Woodie (what a loser that Dr. Safety guy is, am I right?) but I actually found that Woodie theoretically doesn't need to eat any logs if the player can deal with insanity. I can easily clear out large areas very easily without eating any wood. I always just keep chopping until I turn into a werebeaver. 

"What happens next?" you may be asking. Hold onto your seats ladies and gentlemen because things are about to get serious. (Warning: The answer to that question is one of such unexpectedness, we advise all users reading to prepare for anything. Reveal contents at your own risk)

Spoiler

Keep chopping!  I know right? Didn't see that coming. Those teeth are useful little tools. Who's gonna stop you? There are no dentists in Don't Starve (except maybe Wes... That guy is always filled with surprises). But what happens when you need to pick up your mountains of logs that you just acquired? 

It's simple! Don't stop chomping until you change from that hideous hairy beast into everyone's favorite lovable hairy Canadian. Seriously though... it works. Hell, if you open your big fuzzy beaver mouth and smack your head on enough rocks, you will return to your normal form. Nifty stuff!

Also as a little bonus if you careless like me, the werebeaver can be a great way to save yourself from darkness, freezing, or awkward conversations with your parents. Why would they tell a scary beaver monster about puberty? They are hairy enough. Trust me, my username has Dr. in it. 

[Toros]

27 minutes ago, Dr. Safety said:

I main both Maxwell and Woodie (what a loser that Dr. Safety guy is, am I right?) but I actually found that Woodie theoretically doesn't need to eat any logs if the player can deal with insanity. I can easily clear out large areas very easily without eating any wood. I always just keep chopping until I turn into a werebeaver. 

"What happens next?" you may be asking. Hold onto your seats ladies and gentlemen because things are about to get serious. (Warning: The answer to that question is one of such unexpectedness, we advise all users reading to prepare for anything. Reveal contents at your own risk)

  Reveal hidden contents

Keep chopping!  I know right? Didn't see that coming. Those teeth are useful little tools. Who's gonna stop you? There are no dentists in Don't Starve (except maybe Wes... That guy is always filled with surprises). But what happens when you need to pick up your mountains of logs that you just acquired? 

It's simple! Don't stop chomping until you change from that hideous hairy beast into everyone's favorite lovable hairy Canadian. Seriously though... it works. Hell, if you open your big fuzzy beaver mouth and smack your head on enough rocks, you will return to your normal form. Nifty stuff!

Also as a little bonus if you careless like me, the werebeaver can be a great way to save yourself from darkness, freezing, or awkward conversations with your parents. Why would they tell a scary beaver monster about puberty? They are hairy enough. Trust me, my username has Dr. in it. 

Fyi, werebeaver isn’t immune to freezing in DST.

[Dr. Safety]

5 minutes ago, Toros said:

Fyi, werebeaver isn’t immune to freezing in DST.

My mistake. I just noticed that it freezes slower than when I play Maxwell, which was probably just Woodie's natural cold resistance.

[HamBatter]

7 minutes ago, Dr. Safety said:

My mistake. I just noticed that it freezes slower than when I play Maxwell, which was probably just Woodie's natural cold resistance.

Werebeaver has natural insulation, so it resists freezing is what he means.

It's a bit weird because it also takes longer to warm up, so while you can delay extreme temperature states you'll also have trouble leaving them.

[Dr. Safety]

3 minutes ago, HamBatter said:

Werebeaver has natural insulation, so it resists freezing is what he means.

It's a bit weird because it also takes longer to warm up, so while you can delay extreme temperature states you'll also have trouble leaving them.

I mainly just use it for when I join servers mid winter. Resources are usually plucked so I can't make tools. Teeth come in handy

[landromat]

12 minutes ago, HamBatter said:

Werebeaver has natural insulation, so it resists freezing is what he means.

It's a bit weird because it also takes longer to warm up, so while you can delay extreme temperature states you'll also have trouble leaving them.

Werebeaver has more insulation than woodie's beard?

[Toros]

1 hour ago, Dr. Safety said:

My mistake. I just noticed that it freezes slower than when I play Maxwell, which was probably just Woodie's natural cold resistance.

Woodie has natural cold insulation equivalent to Wilson’s level 2 beard, which is 45 insulation (rabbit earmuffs are 60, winter hat is 120, full wilson beard is 135 and beefalo hat is 240)

1 hour ago, HamBatter said:

Werebeaver has natural insulation, so it resists freezing is what he means.

It's a bit weird because it also takes longer to warm up, so while you can delay extreme temperature states you'll also have trouble leaving them.

 

55 minutes ago, landromat said:

Werebeaver has more insulation than woodie's beard?

Werebeaver has 240 summer and winter insulation and thus resists temperature in both directions.

The stats that make werebeaver suck something awful are the 27.2 melee damage (spear is 34, hambat starts at 59.5, and dark sword is 68) and a whopping 25% damage absorption.  (Log suit is 80%).

Even without the sanity drain werebeaver is garbage at combat.  Terrible armor and damage make it poor for fighting shadow monsters too, since you can’t heal in werebeaver form.

[pedregales]

12 hours ago, Toros said:

The stats that make werebeaver suck something awful are the 27.2 melee damage (spear is 34, hambat starts at 59.5, and dark sword is 68) and a whopping 25% damage absorption.  (Log suit is 80%).

To top that off: grass suit grants 60% damage protection, which means that if you want to fight at all, you are better off with a grass suit and a pickaxe/axe (not Lucy though) than werebeaver, as you have more damage protection, while dealing the same damage.

Overall: I like Woodie, but I don't like his uncontrollability, I mean, how is that that he transforms every full moon and all I can do is throw some logs on the floor in order to detransform?

[Slush]

Personally I prefer maxwell if I were to just use Woodie for gaining basic resources since maxwell can use the minions, but I do love to just go full werebeaver mode and destroy everything. I think I would play Woodie a lot more if they buffed the axe to make it have at least 25 damage to make it worthwhile. But werebeaver is still really fun, nothing's wrong with a little bit of mayhem now and again 

[TheKingofSquirrels]

Woody is unplayable. 

The way the banjo music and the insanity sound effects mix is unbearable. 

And then there's how it looks: the sepia colour + the de-coloring effects of insanity makes them game look hideous. I mean, just look at it...

This can be solved by simply making the insanity damage happen to your character AFTER HE TRANSFORMS BACK.

But at the moment, he's unplayable. 

[Tumalu]

Posting again because I did think of another thing Woodie actually does somewhat excel at; mushtree farming. Lots of blue/green shrooms is a great mass stat restoration alternative for big battles, compared to jerky or other food that takes a hunk of effort to farm up in big quantities. (Although jerky is totally awesome) I'm not sure how aggressively the mush forests respawn if you chop most of it down, but I know in their respective seasons world regrowth puts them back in. Might be easier to see the normal shrooms with the trees gone? <.< (Although then you lose the passive lighting...)

Relevant because I'm not sure bunnymen/lobsters help you chop down trees like pigs do? I never actually tried this. I'm certainly not gonna try to mass tree chop with toadstool... >_> This tip applies to Max too (who certainly could use the help for battles) but he's not exactly a prime choice for the boss/ruins fighting this entails.

As an aside- from that previous post, taking the insanity penalty only apply after you turn back would be kinda nice, you could try to multitool the beaver, although I'm not sure he's faster than a pickaxe anyway. Could be decent in summer/winter if you don't have season gear? He can just plant a stack of pinecones after for sanity.

[Toros]

On 12/9/2017 at 7:59 AM, TheKingofSquirrels said:

Woody is unplayable. 

The way the banjo music and the insanity sound effects mix is unbearable. 

And then there's how it looks: the sepia colour + the de-coloring effects of insanity makes them game look hideous. I mean, just look at it...

This can be solved by simply making the insanity damage happen to your character AFTER HE TRANSFORMS BACK.

But at the moment, he's unplayable. 

Saying woodie is unbearable in werebeaver form is like saying you’re unbearable to be around.  Not true, both are simply unpleasant, and the smart move is to just avoid it happening in the first place.

20 minutes ago, Tumalu said:

Posting again because I did think of another thing Woodie actually does somewhat excel at; mushtree farming. Lots of blue/green shrooms is a great mass stat restoration alternative for big battles, compared to jerky or other food that takes a hunk of effort to farm up in big quantities. (Although jerky is totally awesome) I'm not sure how aggressively the mush forests respawn if you chop most of it down, but I know in their respective seasons world regrowth puts them back in. Might be easier to see the normal shrooms with the trees gone? <.< (Although then you lose the passive lighting...)

Relevant because I'm not sure bunnymen/lobsters help you chop down trees like pigs do? I never actually tried this. I'm certainly not gonna try to mass tree chop with toadstool... >_> This tip applies to Max too (who certainly could use the help for battles) but he's not exactly a prime choice for the boss/ruins fighting this entails.

As an aside- from that previous post, taking the insanity penalty only apply after you turn back would be kinda nice, you could try to multitool the beaver, although I'm not sure he's faster than a pickaxe anyway. Could be decent in summer/winter if you don't have season gear? He can just plant a stack of pinecones after for sanity.

World regrowth for mushtrees is quite slow and only during the relevant season, so it’s not much of a benefit over say, farming them with mushroom planters.

Werebeaver is actually slower at everything but chopping than a tool would be, usually about 1/3 the speed or worse.

Mushrooms are good for stat restoration but for “big battles” you could just as easily use cooked cactus (+15 sanity) and pierogi (+40 hp)

[Tumalu]

Cactus is pretty good, but it takes a lot more effort to make 10 pierogis than to get a bunch of blue mushrooms. It's not so bad once you're very well established and have big food generation methods at your fingertips (at which point jerky rocks so much), but, takes awhile.

I might be overestimating how convenient mushrooms would be past trying to rush ruins/dragonfly ASAP though.

[HamBatter]

The Mushtree idea is pretty good for early short term use, better for the environment than selfishly destroying Mushroom spawners. You can also use the Red Mushtree biome for Pierogis.

And as Woodie naturally gets more Logs, it also makes Log Suits a bit cheaper.

[TheKingofSquirrels]

4 hours ago, Toros said:

Saying woodie is unbearable in werebeaver form is like saying you’re unbearable to be around.  Not true, both are simply unpleasant, and the smart move is to just avoid it happening in the first place.

World regrowth for mushtrees is quite slow and only during the relevant season, so it’s not much of a benefit over say, farming them with mushroom planters.

Werebeaver is actually slower at everything but chopping than a tool would be, usually about 1/3 the speed or worse.

Mushrooms are good for stat restoration but for “big battles” you could just as easily use cooked cactus (+15 sanity) and pierogi (+40 hp)

Are you capable of not behaving like a child and not resorting to personally attacking people? 

Jesus christ, grow the **** up Toros.