The year as a number line
Don’t Starve seasons are not flavor — each one changes which mobs spawn, which bosses appear, and how fast your food rots. The cached dontstarve-mobs.json and dontstarve-items.json give hard numbers, so you can prep on data instead of dread. Bearger and Moose/Goose both carry 3000 health and define the autumn fight window; Frog (100 health) and Mosquito (100 health) define the wet spring; Hound (150 health) waves can hit any season.
This guide quotes only cached numbers. The boss guide covers the giants and the winter guide covers cold storage.
Mob health by season
| Season | Signature mob | Health | Damage | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | Frog | 100 | 10 | Rain-spawned swarms |
| Spring | Mosquito | 100 | 3 (hit) / 34 (explosion) | Wet weather |
| Summer | Bee | 100 | 10 | Hive disturbances |
| Summer | Lavae | 500 | 50 (Fire) | Cave/heat linked |
| Autumn | Bearger | 3000 | 200 (to mobs) | Pre-winter giant |
| Autumn | Moose/Goose | 3000 | 150 (to mobs) | Pre-winter giant |
| Winter | Hound | 150 | 20 | Recurring waves |
| Winter | Varg | 600 | 50 | Pack leader |
Food spoilage across the year
Spoil time dictates your seasonal pantry. The cached food data ranks keep-time clearly:
- Honey — 40 days (best long-term stock for winter).
- Trail Mix — 15 days (healing snack that bridges seasons).
- Bisque / Lobster Bisque / Meated Nettles — 8–10 days.
- Cactus Flesh / Cactus Flower — 10 / 3 days.
- Banana Pop / Melonsicle / Ice — 3 days (eat fresh or preserve).
Going into winter you want the 40-day and 15-day tier dominating your stores; the food guide explains the preserving containers that stretch the shorter tiers.
Boss windows you can plan around
The cached boss numbers give you a calendar:
- Bearger — 3000 health, 200 damage, speed 3–6, the autumn wall.
- Moose/Goose — 3000 health, 150 damage, speed 8, fast and mobile.
- Sealnado — 3000 health, 75/250 damage, speed 5–8, another 3000-health threat.
- Tiger Shark — 2500 health, 100/225 divebomb, ocean-bound.
- Quacken — 1000 health, 50 damage, the lightest boss in the cache.
“Giants arrive on a schedule, so the fight is won in the crafting station weeks earlier,” the cached notes imply, which is why the crafting guide and combat guide are seasonal prep, not optional reading.
Surviving the transitions
Each season change is a logistics check. Spring’s Frog (100/10) and Mosquito (100/3–34) pressure your base; summer’s Bee (100/10) and Lavae (500/50) test your armor from the items guide; autumn’s giants test your DPS; winter tests your pantry. The base building guide shows how to wall and light for all four.
Seasonal food and spoil numbers
Each season rewrites your pantry, and the cached food data makes the keep-time ranking that should drive your storage. Stock the long-keep tier before winter and you remove hunger from the equation; rely on the short-keep tier and you will be foraging in the snow.
| Food | Spoil time | Health | Hunger | Sanity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honey | 40 Days | 3 | 9.375 | 0 |
| Trail Mix | 15 Days | 30 | 12.5 | 5 |
| Bisque | 10 Days | 60 | 18.75 | 5 |
| Lobster Bisque | 10 Days | 60 | 25 | 10 |
| Meated Nettles | 8 Days | 20 | 37.5 | 5 |
| Cactus Flesh | 10 Days | −3 | 12.5 | −5 |
| Cactus Flower | 3 days | 8 | 12.5 | 5 |
| Banana Pop | 3 Days | 20 | 12.5 | 33 |
| Melonsicle | 3 Days | 3 | 12.5 | 20 |
| Ice | 3 days | 0.5 | 2.3 | 0 |
The data says spring and summer are for eating the 3-day perishables (Banana Pop, Melonsicle, Ice) fresh while they are abundant, autumn is for preserving Bisque (10 days) and Meated Nettles (8 days) ahead of the giants, and winter is for the 40-day Honey and 15-day Trail Mix you stockpiled. An Insulated Pack (50% slower spoil) from the items guide stretches every tier, which is why the winter guide builds its whole plan on these numbers.
The mob side repeats the same logic: spring’s Frog (100/10) and Mosquito (100/3–34) pressure your base, summer’s Bee (100/10) and Lavae (500/50) test armor, autumn’s 3000-health giants test DPS, and winter’s Hound (150/20) and Varg (600/50) test your walls. The base building guide is where those pressures meet your camp.
Applying the seasonal numbers
The data only helps if you act on it each transition. In spring, expect Frog (100/10) and Mosquito (100/3–34) pressure and keep a Battle Spear (42.5 damage) ready; in summer, the Bee (100/10) and Lavae (500/50) test the Thulecite Crown (90% absorb) from the items guide; in autumn, the 3000-health giants test your Cutlass Supreme (68 damage, 45 hits) DPS; in winter, Hound (150/20) and Varg (600/50) test your walls and your Honey (40-day spoil) pantry.
The cached numbers make this a checklist, not a surprise. Stock the long-keep tier before the snow, build the right weapon before the giant, and wall the right side before the waves. The base building guide and winter guide turn each line of this checklist into a built structure, and the boss guide covers the fights themselves.
Full giant health ladder (cached)
The cached mob data ranks the giants by health so you can size the threat before it sizes you:
| Giant | Health | Damage | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bearger (DST) | 6000 | 175 | 3–6 |
| Moose/Goose (DST) | 6000 | 150 | 8 |
| Bearger | 3000 | 200 | 3–6 |
| Moose/Goose | 3000 | 150 | 8 |
| Sealnado | 3000 | 75 / 250 | 5–8 |
| Tiger Shark | 2500 | 100 / 225 | 8 |
| Varg (DST) | 1800 | 50 | — |
| Quacken | 1000 | 50 | — |
| Clockwork Rook (DST) | 900 | 45 / 90 | 5 |
| Ewecus (DST) | 800 | 60 | — |
The DST rows are the live (updated) versions and carry roughly double the single-player health, so treat the 6000-health ceiling as the real bar if you play the current build.
Where to go next
New players should read the beginner guide first, then the tips and tricks page for habits that survive every season. The mobs database lists all cached creatures.