Don’t Starve – Best Weapons & How to Get Them

Find out which weapons are the best in Don't Starve and how to acquire them.

Jeremy Kanjanapangka

Published: Mar 30, 2023 06:14 am

To survive the world of Don’t Starve, it will take more than just your wits. You need sturdy weapons if you hope to stand any chance against the strange and hostile creatures of the world, so here is everything you need to know about Don’t Starve’s best weapons and how to get them.

The best weapons in Don’t Starve

Weapons in Don’t Starve can be broken down into three categories: Melee, ranged, and unique. Our guide will list the best weapons from each category, so feel free to jump around to the weapon type that interests you the most.

Best Melee Weapons

The Dark Sword

The best melee weapon in the base version of Don’t Starve is the Dark Sword, which deals 68 damage per hit and lasts for 100 swings. Unfortunately, it also drains 20 sanity per swing, so you must be careful not to swing it recklessly, lest you go insane.

To craft the Dark Sword, you need:

Nightmare Fuel x 5: Dropped by Shadow Creatures that spawn when your sanity is low, and crafted from the Prestihatitator using Dark Petals x 4.
Living Log: Dropped by Treeguards and Totally Normal Trees.

Cutlass Supreme

An alternative melee weapon is the Cutlass Supreme, which is a part of the Shipwrecked and Hamlet DLC. The Cutlass Supreme deals 68 damage per hit and lasts for 150 swings. It is similar to the Dark Sword in power, minus the annoying sanity drain.

You can buy both the Cutlass Supreme and Dark Sword from The Boar’s Tusk weapon shop in Pig City for 50 Oincs each. You can also craft the cutlass if you do not own the Hamlet DLC but own Shipwrecked.

To craft the Cutlass Supreme, you need:

Gold Nuggets x 2: Mine from boulders with gold veins inside.
Swordfish: Kill Swordfish that spawn in deep ocean areas.
Twig: Collected from Saplings, Spiky Bushes, and Spiky Trees.

The Glass Cutter

Notably, the Cutlass Supreme does not exist in the multiplayer expansion, Don’t Starve Together. Instead, the Glass Cutter is the best melee weapon in that game, as it also deals 68 damage per hit but only lasts for 75 swings.

The Glass Cutter has a unique trait in that it loses half durability whenever it is used against Shadow Creatures, which somewhat makes up for the lower max durability compared to the Cutlass Supreme.

To craft the Glass Cutter, you need:

Board: Made from refining Logs.
Moon Shards x 6: Mined from Moon Glass boulders and Hot Springs (Throw a Bath Bomb into the spring and mine it on a full moon night) found in the Lunar Island biome.

Best ranged weapons

Blow Dart

The best ranged weapon in the base version of Don’t Starve and Don’t Starve Together is the humble Blow Dart, which deals 100 damage per shot. You can snipe enemies from a safe distance with the Blow Dart.

To craft Blow Darts, you need:

Hound’s Tooth: Dropped by any kind of Hound, like the ones that periodically storm your base.
Azure Feather: Dropped by blue birds. Use Bird Traps baited with seeds to catch them easily.
Cut Reeds x 2: Collected from Reeds that spawn in Marsh biomes.

Blunderbuss

If you own the Hamlet DLC for the single-player version of Don’t Starve, the best ranged weapon is the Blunderbuss. The Blunderbuss has no durability, but it must be reloaded with Gunpowder.

To craft the Blunderbuss, you need:

Boards x 2: Made from refining Logs.
Gears: Dropped by Clockwork enemies.
Tenpiece Oinc: Trade items to Pig Traders.

To craft Gunpowder, you need:

Rotten Egg: Any egg turns into a Rotten Egg when it spoils. Capture a bird with a Bird Trap and place it in a cage, then feed it food to get easy eggs.
Charcoal: Light a tree on fire, then chop down the charred remains.
Nitre: Mined from boulders.

Best unique weapons

Now, we have only been talking about conventional weapons so far, but we would like to share with you some out-of-the-box weapons that can really pack a punch if used right.

Old Bell

The first unique weapon is the Old Bell, which exists only in the single-player version of Don’t Starve. Upon ringing the bell, a massive foot drops onto your location after a slight delay, dealing a whopping 1,000 damage to anything crushed by it, including yourself!

To craft the Old Bell, you need:

The blueprint itself, which is obtained from random Tumbleweeds or by mining Glommer’s Statue found in Deciduous Forest biomes.
Glommer’s Wings: Dropped by Glommer. Yes, this means you have to kill the innocent creature, you monster!
Glommer’s Flower: Picked from Glommer’s Statue every full moon. A new flower appears every full moon, alongside a new Glommer if the previous one was killed.

The Old Bell is a little tricky to use, but because it is renewable, it is a great tool for taking down the fearsome bosses of Don’t Starve.

Gunpowder

The second unique weapon is the aforementioned Gunpowder. If you are playing Don’t Starve Together or you do not have the Hamlet DLC, Gunpowder is a great weapon to use against bosses.

You can use Gunpowder without the Blunderbuss; simply drop Gunpowder on the ground, then light it with a Torch, and watch the fireworks. Anything caught in Gunpowder explosions take 200 damage, and Gunpowder is easily renewable.

Those are all the best weapons to use in Don’t Starve. Which weapons are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!