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Maxwell-0

A guide by SgtZaitsev69

Freedom Suits Me.

Maxwell

Maxwell, the former king of the world, returns to mortality to survive Charlie's new reign. Maxwell is more suited for new players than more experienced players in regular Don't Starve.

Perks and Starting Items (Single Player)

After being unlocked from Adventure Mode, Maxwell comes with the most starting items of any character. Starting with the Codex Umbra, 4 Nightmare Fuel, 1 Purple Gem, Night Armor and a Dark Sword. Coupled with his natural Sanity regeneration of +20 per minute , the sanity drain of the Sword and Armor are negligible and wearing sanity-regaining clothes is a waste of resources unless it is also an armor (like the Scalemail). Maxwell will never lose sanity even at 100 Wetness with wet clothes.

The Night Armor is incredibly useful early in the game for combat with hostile mobs, as it blocks 95% of damage taken by everything. The Dark Sword makes hunting easier and boss fights a breeze. His starting Nightmare Fuel and Purple Gem means he can craft a Shadow Manipulator faster than most characters, allowing access to dangerous and powerful recipes early on.

The Codex Umbra is definitely his most useful item as he can make Shadow Puppets to help with chores and fighting. Summoning a Puppet will cost 55 max sanity, 2 Nightmare Fuel and 15 max health. Puppets last for 2.5 days but can be dispelled at any time by force-attacking them. Puppets will also follow Maxwell into the ocean with their own shadow Row Boats but do not have a sail in the Shipwrecked DLC.

Cons (Single Player)

Maxwell has incredibly low health compared to other characters which makes combat dangerous if caught without his armor. This is remedied with his Night Armor or other armor items. Summoning Puppets is also detrimental to his health if he has 3 summoned. Keeping only 1 puppet summoned unless needed can remedy this. Getting a Meat Effigy will only serve to make Maxwell frailer. This makes Beard Hair useless to Maxwell.

While his sanity regeneration may seem like a benefit, his regeneration can make it hard to farm Nightmare Fuel and reap the benefits of being insane.

Bosses are incredibly dangerous to Maxwell. His low health makes the fight difficult and summoning puppets serves to further weaken him. While during prolonged fights, he can keep his sanity high to avoid Shadow Creatures

Pros and Starting Items (Don't Starve Together)

Maxwell has been changed hugely in Don't Starve Together. His health remains the same, and he still possesses the Codex Umbra and 4 Nightmare Fuel, but he has become balanced for fairness's sake. Maxwell no longer starts with the Dark Sword, Night Armor and the Purple Gem.

His sanity regeneration has been cut down to +6.66 per minute which can be seen both as a pro and a con because it is easier to go insane and reap the benefits of Nightmare Fuel and other magical drops easier. This also prevents him from losing sanity when one person has died and become a ghost.

Maxwell is also able to read Wickerbottom's books and reap the benefits of using them.

The Codex Umbra has also had huge overhauls. Puppets no longer require health to be sacrificed to summon them. Puppets now require a tool depending on the actions you want them to take.

This table shows the requirements for each specific variation of Puppets.

Shadow Helper Description Prerequisites Max Sanity Loss

Shadow Logger

Chops trees closest to the player

2 Nightmare Fuel

1 Axe

-20%

Shadow Miner

Mines rocks closest to the player

2 Nightmare Fuel

1 Pickaxe

-20%

Shadow Digger

Digs up stumps/graves closest to the player

2 Nightmare Fuel

1 Shovel

-20%

Shadow Duelist

Defends the player from attackers as well as attack player's target. Naturally regenerates health.

2 Nightmare Fuel

1 Spear

-35%

Summoning Limitations

  • 4 Harvesters - Remaining Sanity: 40
  • 1 Duelist and 2 Harvesters - Remaining Sanity: 50
  • 2 Duelists and 1 Harvester - Remaining Sanity: 21

Note: Harvesters are resource-gathering Puppets.

Cons (Don't Starve Together)

Maxwell's cons remain largely the same. He is still frail but he can go insane faster, which as I said earlier is both a pro and a con. As he no longer starts with armor, getting into fights is dangerous. Creating Telltale Hearts is often not worth the health penalty and it is better to ask somebody else to make one.

Shadow Duelists are often annoying. In combat, they aren't useful, although they do equivalent damage to a Dark Sword strike, per swing. However, Duelists don't kite, and die after 75 damage is dealt to them, exactly like Maxwell. They can be healed, but armor cannot be applied to them. Duelists automatically attack Monster-type mobs, and non-Monster mobs hostile to Maxwell. However, this also means that Duelists will attack and kill Glommer without provocation.

(Note: I am considering mobs that drop Monster Meat to be in the Monster mob category, with the exception of Deerclops.)

Possible Hidden Perk? Or bug?

It is currently unknown whether an occurrence for many Maxwell players is an easter egg, or simply a bug. The occurrence in question is dealing with Maxwell and Charlie. While surrounded by darkness, Charlie will attack Maxwell 3 seconds later than any other character. While I have tested this personally, it could simply be lag, but many of my Steam friends have also reported this to me.

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