The math behind every fight
Don’t Starve combat is arithmetic wearing a costume. Your damage per second is your weapon’s damage divided by its swing time, and your survivability is your armor absorption × durability. The cached item data gives exact numbers, so you can plan a kill before you swing. A Battle Spear deals 42.5 damage per hit and lasts 200 uses; a Hound has 150 health and 20 damage, so the spear kills it in 4 hits while the Hound needs 8 hits to break the spear. That is a fight you win by math alone.
This guide uses only numbers traced to the local dontstarve-items.json and dontstarve-mobs.json caches. See the mobs guide for enemy stats and the boss guide for giant health pools.
Weapon damage and durability
| Weapon | Damage | Durability | Craft tab | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle Spear | 42.5 | 200 uses | Fight | 0 |
| Cork Bat | 51 | 20 uses | Fight | 1 |
| Cutlass Supreme | 68 (102) | 150 uses | Fight | 2 |
| Cactus Spike | 17 | 5 uses | — | — |
| Dart | 100 | — | Fight | 1 |
| Coconade | 250 | — | Fight | 1 |
The Cutlass Supreme is the damage king at 68 damage (rising to 102 with its buff) and 150 uses, while the disposable Coconade throws 250 damage in one use for siege moments. The Dart at 100 damage is a ranged option with no listed durability cap in the cache.
Armor and protection
Damage soaking is where late-game survival is won. The cached armor values:
- Cactus Armor — 17 damage reflect, 450 hp durability, built from a Log Suit plus 3 Cactus Spikes.
- Limestone Suit — +2 sanity per minute, 825 hp durability, but slows speed by 10%.
- Thulecite Crown — absorbs 90% of physical damage, 1200 hp, and triggers a protective force field.
- Vortex Cloak — absorbs 100% of non-shadow damage, grants +10 inventory slots, but drains sanity equal to 20% of absorbed damage.
- Snurtle Shell Armor and Shelmet — both appear in the cache as durable head/body options for cave runs.
“Absorbing 90% of a hit means a 200-damage charge from a Clockwork Rook becomes 20 damage to you,” the cached Thulecite Crown note implies, which is why ancient gear dominates boss fights.
Kiting high-health mobs
Kiting is hitting and retreating so the enemy’s attack period works against it. A Tentacle has 500 health and a 2-second attack period; with a 42.5-damage spear you need 12 hits and must dodge 34-damage swings between them. A Varg at 600 health and 50 damage on a 3-second period is slower but hits harder, so a longer leash works.
Key kiting numbers to memorize:
- Hound — 150 health, 20 damage, kite in a circle.
- Clockwork Knight — 300 health, 40 damage, period 2.
- Tentacle — 500 health, 34 damage, period 2.
- Rock Lobster — 1125–1800 health, kite only if you out-damage its 56.25–90 damage.
- Bee — 100 health, 10 damage, trivial to kite.
Weapon choice by target
For trash mobs, the Battle Spear (42.5, 200 uses) is the workhorse. For bosses, bring the Cutlass Supreme (68) or stack Coconade (250) bursts, and wear Thulecite Crown (90% absorb, 1200 hp). The items guide covers the full gear list, and the crafting guide shows the recipes that build this kit.
Weapon DPS and kill math
Damage per swing is only half the story; durability decides whether a weapon survives the fight. The cached item data lets you compute exact kill counts. A Battle Spear at 42.5 damage over 200 uses kills a Hound (150 health) in 4 hits and a Tentacle (500 health) in 12 hits, leaving 188 uses of margin on the latter. A Cutlass Supreme at 68 damage (up to 102 buffed) over 150 uses kills the same Tentacle in 8 hits and Bearger (3000 health) in 45 hits, comfortably inside its durability.
The disposable options are for burst, not wars of attrition. The Cork Bat hits 51 damage but lasts only 20 uses; the Coconade throws 250 damage in one use and the Dart lands 100 damage at range. Against a Varg (600 health), a Cutlass Supreme needs 9 hits while a Battle Spear needs 15 — a meaningful difference when the Varg deals 50 damage every 3 seconds.
Kill counts from the cached numbers:
- Hound (150 HP) — 4 hits with Battle Spear, 3 hits with Cutlass Supreme.
- Tentacle (500 HP) — 12 hits with Battle Spear, 8 hits with Cutlass Supreme.
- Varg (600 HP) — 15 hits with Battle Spear, 9 hits with Cutlass Supreme.
- Bearger (3000 HP) — 71 hits with Battle Spear, 45 hits with Cutlass Supreme.
- Moose/Goose (3000 HP) — same 71 / 45 split as Bearger.
The takeaway is that a 42.5-damage spear is fine for trash mobs but a 68-damage blade is mandatory for boss-tier health pools above 1000. Pair either with the Thulecite Crown (90% absorb, 1200 hp) from the items guide so the hits you take matter less than the hits you land. The boss guide applies this math to every giant in the cache.
Picking the right tool
The cached numbers make the choice automatic. Trash mobs (Hound 150 health, Frog 100 health) die to a Battle Spear (42.5 damage, 200 uses); boss-tier pools above 1000 health demand the Cutlass Supreme (68 damage) or a Coconade (250 damage) burst. Never bring a stick to a 3000-health giant — the math in the boss guide shows why a 42.5-damage spear needs 71 hits and will break before the kill without healing.
Layer armor to match. The Thulecite Crown (90% absorb, 1200 hp) turns a 200-damage boss swing into 20, and the Vortex Cloak (100% non-shadow absorb, +10 slots) adds carry space for the Bisque (60 health) you will need mid-fight. That combination is the entire combat loop, repeated from the mobs guide to the base building guide.
Where to go next
Practice the ratios in the beginner guide, then apply them in the base building guide where you will defend against waves. The tips and tricks page has more combat habits.