How To Play As Maxwell In Don’t Starve Together

When you first create a world in Don’t Starve Together, you’ll have to choose between several characters. While you could go simple and pick an iconic character like Wilson, you can also go for a more mature character, such as Maxwell.

If you chose Maxwell and aren’t entirely sure how to play as him, you’re in luck! In this guide, we are going to take a look at everything you need to know about playing as Maxwell, including the basics, as well as tips to help you both survive and thrive in the world. Maxwell is unlocked from the start of the game; no unlocking is required.

Maxwell Basics

When choosing a character, you can find Maxwell available with the following stats.

• 75 HP
• 150 Hunger
• 200 Sanity

Additionally, the following information will be provided.

• Is dapper, but frail
• Can split his mind into pieces
• Draws power from shadowy equipment
• Was once the king of the world
• Enters the Constant With:
  • Codex Umbra
  • 6x Nightmare Fuel

For now, most of this isn’t important. What you need to focus on here is his stats; Maxwell has very low HP, but the Codex Umbra can function as a weapon/protection. We’ll go over this book more in a bit, but for now, choose Maxwell, and then start playing!

Overall, if you have never played Don’t Starve Together, it may be a good idea to get started as another character so you can learn the basics of the game. If you are feeling daring though, you can jump right into playing Maxwell immediately.

Maxwell & Sanity

What is not mentioned in the character screen is Maxwell’s ability to regenerate Sanity. If you are brand new to Don’t Starve Together, this is essentially your mental health. As Sanity lowers, you will start to see shadows and apparitions around the screen. Additionally, the screen will begin to distort, with this becoming more obvious at lower Sanity levels.

Generally, Sanity will need to be recovered through certain activities, such as sleeping, eating, or even making a prototype. With Maxwell though, you don’t really have to worry about this. While it’s true that his Sanity can get low, he also has the fantastic ability to regenerate it.

Each minute, Maxwell will regenerate nearly seven Sanity. If you are just exploring the world without doing much, your Sanity will stay relatively high. With the Codex Umbra, you can summon puppets, which costs a chunk of your Sanity.

What Is The Codex Umbra?

We’ve mentioned it a few times, but what exactly is the Codex Umbra? This is a book that Maxwell begins the game with. By clicking on it, you will be able to create one of the following puppets.

Tips For The Codex Umbra

Each time you use the Codex Umbra, it will lose some durability. Rather than completely breaking, it will just remain at zero percent; by using Nightmare Fuel, you can increase its durability and continue to use it.

In addition to using durability, the Codex Umbra will cost you varying amounts of Sanity. With Sanity that regenerates, this isn’t too bad. You are able to summon multiple puppets/traps at a time, so if you plan on creating a group, you’ll need to keep an eye on your Sanity. Otherwise, if you just need one puppet and have high Sanity, there is nothing to worry about.

So, how do you actually use this in an efficient manner? Firstly, to cope with Maxwell’s low HP, we highly recommend summoning Shadow Duelists to fight for you. Rather than engaging in close combat yourself, you can summon a few duelists that deal damage for you. This works best in the early-game when enemies aren’t too tough and you don’t have proper gear.

Enemies will target you, even if they are being attacked by a Shadow Duelist. As such, we suggest running away if you aren’t confident in your own skills.

The damage that they do depends on your own equipment, so we suggest crafting the Dark Sword as soon as you can. This sword typically drains Sanity when being used, but this does not affect Maxwell at all. To make it, you just need one Living Log and five Nightmare Fuel (combined at the Shadow Manipulator).

In terms of Shadow Workers, you can use these if you need to do some resource grinding. By plopping down just one Shadow Worker in a dense forest area, you can get a lot of wood. The worker will automatically gather, even if you don’t have the associated tool. This means that you can mine with a worker if you don’t have your own pickaxe.

Nightmare Fuel Farming With Maxwell

Nightmare Fuel is important if you want to continue using the Codex Umbra. Thankfully, it’s relatively easy to farm the fuel with Maxwell. By using Shadow Sneak, you can turn rabbits into their Shadow version (Beardlings), which drops Nightmare Fuel upon death.

With this in mind, you can create an enclosed area to hold rabbits. After using Shadow Sneak, you can turn the rabbits into their Shadow version and then kill them. While this is very brutal, it’s a good way to get a lot of Nightmare Fuel.

If you aren’t anywhere near setting up a farm, you can also target individual rabbits. This isn’t the best option in the long run, but it can be helpful when you are still early into the game.

Overall, as long as you have your Codex Umbra in hand, you’ll be able to collect some Nightmare Fuel.

Maxwell’s Tophat

The Magician’s Tophat is a unique item that is made with one normal Tophat and two Nightmare Fuel. The hat functions like a normal hat, but if you play as Maxwell, it works as a storage system.

Yes, you heard that right. The Magician’s Tophat connects to the Magician’s Chest. This is a storage unit made with one Silk, four Boards, and nine Nightmare Fuel. These aren’t too difficult to obtain; if you use Shadow Sneak to get Nightmare Fuel, you should have enough to make the top hat and chest.

The shared storage has a total of 12 slots, which really comes in handy. If you have items that you want to keep safe, or if you feel like doing some resource farming, don’t forget to use this combination of items!

Since the Magician’s Tophat is a hat, Maxwell can also wear it (it needs to be worn in order to access the storage).

Final Tips To Play As Maxwell

Overall, playing as Maxwell means that you will need to take full advantage of the Codex Umbra. Utilize Shadow Sneak to farm Nightmare Fuel, fend off enemies with Shadow Duelists, and gather mass amounts of resources with Shadow Workers.

We suggest playing as a different character if this is your first time diving into Don’t Starve Together (or survival games in general). Experiencing the game with a character that has a Sanity drain and can’t summon puppets will help you gather your bearings and learn the basics of the game. Additionally, it may be good to start as someone who has a bit more HP.