Wendy Don’t Starve Guide: Mastering the Art of Flower Power

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Alex Maksymiw

Having learned the tricks of the trade regarding games journalism at Veryali Gaming, Alex is now a key member of the Ready Game Survive team, and loves nothing more than grabbing a controller and bracing himself for a devastatingly brutal battle for survival. Outside of traditional survivals, Alex loves immersive RPGs, has spent more time in Skyrim than he dare admit, and he also loves playing guitar.

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Introduction

Survival at its toughest, the Constant is the unforgiving world of Don’t Starve, and Don’t Starve: Together. Klei Entertainment leaves the player to chart their own path facing the supernatural and unrelenting trials of Winter and the Constant. So it becomes a wonder how a child-like Wendy could even survive the harsh environment. However, Wendy is not alone, haunted, and protected by the ghost of her dead sister Abigail; Wendy has more than enough skills to outwit the dangers of the maddening realm she finds herself in.

I’ve been bopping back and forth to this whimsical world since its release in 2012, and Wendy, along with Wilson and Willow, will always be my OG crew who first introduced me to the whacky world of Don’t Starve. Every character is unique in Don’t Starve, and I find that every character has a unique playstyle and abilities that keep me coming back.

There’s more to the character we’re featuring in this Wendy Don’t Starve guide than the daisy chain-making kid who got sucked into the Constant. She has family ties to Maxwell, and the events of losing her sister have turned her melancholy and death-obsessed. She’s a lonely spirit that makes Don’t Starve and the Constant all the creepier.

So without further ado, let’s put on our Log Suit and summon our ghostly protector Abigail.

Key Details Up-Front

Is winter closing in, and you haven’t got time to read the whole article? No worries, here is all the key information about Wendy up-front:

Despite Wendy’s great Sanity stats, Wendy has low Health and Hunger stats, and to make matters worse, she deals 25%, but with the help of her ghostly sister, she can turn the tide in battle.

• Wendy enters the Constant with Abigail’s Flower, a unique item to Wendy that takes 2-4 days to bloom before Abigail’s ghost can be released.
• To summon Abigail, the player must drop the bloomed Abigail’s Flower on the floor and kill a mob within its vicinity at the cost of fifty Sanity points.
• Wendy has a decent Sanity resistance, granting her 25% less sanity drain while in the dark depths of caves and during Dusk and Night time.

Abigail makes up for Wendy’s weak attacks as the ghost attacks in an AOE, making her great for taking out groups of mobs like Hounds, Bees, Spiders, and Killer Bees.

Wendy and Abigail are at their strongest in Don’t Starve: Together, as Abigail can now be leveled up to increase her health to a maximum of 600 points. However, Abigail deals less damage, and her damage is distributed to all enemies in her vicinity.

So two enemies would take half of Abigail’s base damage. To balance this, Klei Entertainment updated Abigail’s attacks to damage lower Wendy’s health more.

Wendy’s Heart-Wrenching Story

Wendy’s backstory is in line with all the other tragic stories within Don’t Starve, excluding Woodie’s. He’s just a lumberjack who can transform into animals. Wendy’s story reminds me of the dark yet heartwarming Roald Dahl stories like James and the Giant Peach or George’s Marvelous Medicine.

The Wish You Were Here animated short is one of Klei Entertainment’s best character shorts. If you’ve played Don’t Starve, then you know Abigail’s death is coming; however, Klei Entertainment still manages to subvert your expectations and pull at the heartstrings.

The introduction to the Wish You Were Here animated short establishes that Wendy is the sensible, quiet sister while Abigail is the more spirited, playful one, as the short opens with Wendy being interrupted by Abigail while she reads a book in the cliffside house garden.

Abigail and Wendy run off into the garden to play; it’s clear that Abigail is the adventurous one climbing on rocks and daring the edge of a cliff, while Wendy hangs back, watching with concern. Abigail climbs the largest rock, but with an error, in misjudgment, she trips and falls.

Wendy runs over in horror and scales the rock to find Abigail emerging from a bush, giggling and covered in flowers. Wendy’s fear turns to joy and laughter as she takes one of the flowers and places it in her hair, realizing she has been tricked.

The two sisters return to the garden chasing each other merrily and playing until John Carter, their father, and brother to William Carter (Maxwell), calls them.

In an instant, the color drains from the animation and Wendy’s face as her joy turns to sorrow and depression. The camera pans over as Wendy looks back at Abigail, only to find herself alone before she glumly drapes her feet across the lawn to John Carter.

As the two enter the house, we see a flower from the bush Abigail fell into wisp in the air to reveal a ghostly apparition for a brief second.

The Wish You Were Here Short leaves it somewhat ambiguous whether Abigail fell into the bush or not. However, Abigail likely fell off the cliffside into the rocks and sea below. The version we see in the short is likely a figment of Wendy’s imagination as she longs to play with her sister again.

A Trail of Clues Revealing Wendy’s Story

Klei Entertainment isn’t the most forthcoming when it comes to the story of Don’t Starve and the survivors that are trapped in the Constant, and this is what makes the story of Don’t Starve so compelling you just got to love a bit of ambiguous storytelling. There are many clues in Don’t Starve and Don’t Starve: Together that reveal Wendy’s story. Blink, and you’ll miss them!

The Wendy page in the Don’t Starve: Together Compendium offers a few more incites into Wendy’s backstory. It explains that, driven by grief, Wendy turned to the occult to try and communicate with Abigail’s spirit on the other side. Wendy tried just about everything and was about to give up hope. She received a message from the other side with instructions on how she once again could be reunited with Abigail.

I’m certain the voice that contacts Wendy belongs to Maxwell after the Nightmare Throne corrupted him; after examining a Maxwell Statue in Don’t Starve, Wendy states, “He Brought Me Here.” We get even more background on Wendy from the vignette loading screens from Don’t Starve: Together; normally, you have to unlock these. However, you can view every single vignette used in Don’t Starve: Together on Steam Guides.

We learn from these that in the search for Abigail, she became obsessed with death and communicating with the other side. As a result, Wendy became an easy target for Maxwell to lure her to the constant under the guise that spirits have more power in the supernatural world of the Constant.

Wendy’s Don’t Starve Abilities

• Wendy is not scared of the Dark and has a 75% slower Sanity drain from all Sanity Auras.
• Wendy can summon her sister’s ghost to attack mobs for her.

Wendy is a powerful character if played correctly, thanks to her abilities. On her own, Wendy is weak, with only her Sanity stat being decent. Her -0.75 Sanity Multiplier makes Wendy one of the best characters for players that struggle with staying sane.

Now When night falls in Don’t Starve, spooky creatures like the Shadow Hand come out to torment your character. However, But ain’t scared of no ghosts as she is not scared of the dark; this doesn’t make her immune to Shadow Creatures that lurk in the dark, but it grants her a Sanity buffer to Sanity Auras and at night.

Summoning Abigail: Wendy’s Spectral Guardian

Wendy enters the Constant with Abigail’s Flower, a unique item that only Wendy can use. The flower can summon Abigail’s Ghost to fight for Wendy once it has fully bloomed.

Summoning Abigail’s ghost is Wendy’s only ability, but she cannot summon Wendy whenever she wants, as the blooming process can take up to 2-4 days.

Once the flower has bloomed, the player must drop it on the ground and kill a nearby mob. Killing mobs in your inventory, such as Rabbits, doesn’t count. However, if Wendy dies, Abigail will spawn. This can be useful for retrieving your items after you’ve spawned from a Touch Stone.

Although a ghost, Abigail can die if she takes too much damage. Once defeated, she will drop the Abigail Flower, which will need to be stored until it blooms again in a couple of days.

New Wendy players will find it hard to understand when they should summon Abigail. From my experience playing as Wendy, I recommend that you summon Abigail at night as this will only cost 40 Sanity points instead of 50 points in the day.

Don’t Starve: Together Abilities: Abigail Rework

Klei Entertainment turns Wendy’s flowering necromancy skills to a hundred. In Don’t Starve Together, the player no longer has to wait around for Abigail’s Flower to bloom or kill an enemy to summon Abigail.

But that’s not all Abigail has had a huge rework from everything to her movement and attacks.

in DST, Abigail’s attack damage is determined by Wendy’s Health. The lower Wendy’s health, the more damage Abigail deals, making for some interesting and risky strategies in combat.

• Abigail deals with 20 health while Wendy is at full 150 Health points.
• At half Health Abigail will deal 30 damage.
• Abigail can deal 59 damage, while Wendy has one health point.

Obviously, it’s not ideal to wander around the Constant with one Health point unless you are playing in Co-op, and even then, it’s bound to get old for your partner to resurrect you constantly.

It’s important to note that Abigail’s strength of the attack is distributed between all enemies being attacked, but despite this, Abigail is still a boss at taking out groups of mobs.

Power Up! Levelling Abigail’s Spirit Energy

Abigail sits at 150 base health which isn’t a lot when you consider that she is often used to fighting off big groups of enemies. She can be easily overrun by strong enemies such as Tall Birds and even a second wave of Hound attacks.

Remember Abigail acts as a tank for Wendy, and as soon as she dies do you know who the horde of Spiders is going to target next? You!

Don’t threat, as you can double her health from 150 to 300 and 600 Max Heal.

To double her health, you must ensure that Abigail survives a day and double it again in two days.

At 600 Health, Abigail can tank even the strongest enemies and make Tall Birds look like Chickens.

If you don’t have two days to spare, then you can get a level two Abigail within just half a day by crafting the Sisturn. A unique structure for Wendy rapidly speeds up the leveling process for Abigail. For good measure, the Sisturn emits a +25% Sanity Aura.

The Sisturn will only activate when each of its four inventory slots has been filled with Flower Petals. Remember that Flower Petals will rot over time, so you must refill the Sisturn every couple of days.

To craft a Sisturn, the player will need the following:

• Cut Stone x 3
• Boards x 3
• Ash x 1

Unleashing the Power of Abigail in Combat

Any enemy and creature, big or small that attacks Wendy while Abigail is present will become her new target.

Abigail works as an excellent tank for Wendy in both Don’t Starve and Don’t Starve: Together. The player can position themselves to attack a couple of enemies as Wendy and quickly retreat and wait for the enemies to aggro back onto Abigail.

This will allow you to get extra damage in and spare Abigail from a couple of enemy hits. You shouldn’t have too much of a problem taking out groups of enemies, as enemies will get stun-locked when attacked by Abigail. This helps to keep enemies targeted on Abigail instead of Wendy.

In DST, Abigail will stay in Wendy’s immediate area, meaning that it’s entirely possible to survive an entire night using Abigail as a dim light source.

Making Friends with Pipspook

Whether it’s their cute tuft of hair or friendly nature, one thing is for sure Pipspooks are cute, helpful ghosts that are essential to any Wendy player.

Pipspooks are small ghosts that appear near gravestones that the player can interact with to receive Mourning Glory flowers, a key ingredient in making any Ghostly Elixirs under the Ectoherbology crafting Tab but more on those spectral potions later.

These little blue Pipspooks won’t leave the Constant until they’ve retrieved their lost belongings. They will approach Wendy and Abigail and lead them to their lost belongings. Some Pipspooks have multiple items that Wendy will need to collect.

Once all Pipspooks items are retrieved, they will happily pass onto the other side leaving bundles of Mourning Glory flowers behind.

Only Wendy can interact with Pipspooks, likely due to her sensitivity to the supernatural and spirits. This mechanic is fantastic as players will have to balance their time collecting Mourning Glory flowers along with the piles of other survival chores it also highlights that although Wendy has explored the occult and supernatural, she is an ally of the dead.

Ectoherbology: Crafting Spooky Potions and Elixirs

Don’t Starve may have its fancy Hamlet, Shipwrecked, and Reign of Giants DLC but Don’t Starve: Together is the superior survival game when it comes to character features. In Don’t Starve: Together, Wendy can show off her ghostly knowledge of Ectoherbology and put those Mourning Glory flowers she received from the Pipspooks to work.

Ectoherbology is a unique crafting category for Wendy where the player can brew spooky elixirs to both cares for Abigail and boost her spectral powers. Let’s take a look at what you can make:

• Revenant Restorative: Triples Abigail’s Health Regeneration rate for a day at maximum healing of 960 health points.
• Spectral Cure-All: Restores 20 health points per second for Abigail and lasts thirty seconds.
• Unyielding Draught: Extends Abigail’s shield for an extra half a second and lasts for an entire day.
• Distilled Vengeance: Extends Abigail’s shield for an extra half a second and deals damage to enemies.
• Nightshade Nostrum: Increases Abigail’s damage output by allowing her to deal with nighttime damage in the day.
• Vigor Mortis: Increases Abigail’s speed by 75% for one day.

Wendy’s Strengths

Despite being obsessed with death and constantly going on that she doesn’t have a soul, Wendy has a strong noggin being able to resist insanity-inducing spectacles like Shadow Creatures and even the dark. Therefore I’d consider playing Wendy if you struggle to maintain your character’s Sanity.

Super Strong in Caves and Undercover of Darkness

Because Wendy resists Insanity Auras from the darkness of Night, Dusk, and Caves, she is a fantastic character to play in the Reign of Giants DLC, as Abigail and Wendy are the real monsters of the Caves and Ruins. However, if you’re just getting started playing Wendy, I would spend some time learning Abigail’s movement.

In Don’t Starve, Abigail trails behind Wendy at a slower speed. This can be dangerous for Wendy as Abigail will take time to catch up with Wendy and fight any aggro enemies. It also means that it’s harder to get Abigail out of danger when she has critical health.

Great Character for Beginners

Wendy is a great alternative to Willow if you want a strong AOE attack but without the messy fire and low Sanity. Willow can decimate enemies with a large AOE fire but to release the ball of fire, Willow must drain her sanity.

On the other hand, Wendy can defeat large groups of mobs with Abigail at the cost of only 50 Sanity. Making Wendy a great pick if you want a similar effect but more robust Sanity and control over your targets.

Willow’s ability fire starting ability can end a Don’t Starve run in seconds if you’re not careful; you can set your entire base on fire. You will never get this problem with Wendy, but you will have to spend a lot of time maintaining her Health and Hunger stats.

Getting Around Wendy’s Weaknesses

Wendy’s biggest weakness is her low attack damage. It makes it very difficult to take on most mobs in a fight, and fighting strong mobs such as Hounds and even bosses should never be attempted without the help of Abigail. However, her low attack damage becomes less of an issue once the player crafts some higher-tier weapons.

Sharpening Wendy’s Weapons

Remember that she only deals 25% less damage than most of the other Don’t Starve survivors meaning that her damage becomes less of a problem when you acquire higher-tier weapons. For example, the spear deals 34 points of damage; however, when used by Wendy, it only deals 25.5 damage per hit.

Upgrade to a Bat Bat, and Wendy will deal pretty much the same damage as a basic Spear. However, I tend to seek after a Tentacle Spike if I encounter the Swamp Biome early in the game, as it’s relatively easy to acquire, and it deals a base damage of 51 or 42.5 in Wendy’s case.

All you need to do is find a group of Merms and Mermhouses and let them attack each other. Alternatively, you could even spawn Abigail in and let her deal all the damage.

How to Unlock Wendy

You won’t have to work too hard to unlock Wendy as she is part of the original line-up and the third character the player unlocks in Don’t Starve. To unlock her, the player must earn 640 Experience Points, equating to surviving 80 days in the Constant.

Wendy’s Playstyle

The Don’t Starve race starts as soon as you enter the Constant, so I recommend that you utilize Wendy’s power as soon as Abigail’s flower blooms to help take out Spiders for Silk for crafting essential tools like the Fishing Rod and bug-catching Net, and Bird Trap so that you can keep on top of your hunger. Remember that Wendy only has 150 Hunger points making it hard to maintain her hunger while staying productive.

Alternatively, you could use Abigail to take out a Bee Nest and Bees to gather honey to craft Honey Poultice to restore health.

Preparing for Hounds

However, Hounds will generally attack the player around day 9, so make sure that you save Abigail’s Flower for the Hounds as you don’t want to be caught off guard as Wendy, which leads me to defense. As we know, Wendy’s low Health, combined with low-damage attacks, means she cannot sustain many hits in a battle; therefore, crafting defensive equipment should be your main priority when first loading into the Constant.

An Armored Wendy Is a Safe Wendy

I take it a step further if I find a patch of Clockwork enemies and Marble structures like trees by kiting the Clockwork Rook into Clockwork Knights and the Marble Structures and picking up the Marble to be used in crafting a Marble Suit and Gears that the Clockwork Knights drop so that I can craft a Fridge or Ice-Flingomatic for later.

• It’s relatively easy to kite the Clockwork Rook as they will stomp the ground before charging in a straight line that gradually corners towards you.

Key Quotes: The Melancholy Melody of Wendy’s Voice

If you haven’t noticed by now, every character’s voice in Don’t Starve is voiced by an instrument aptly picked to match their personalities. An Alto Flute plays Wendy’s voice, and all her quotes are pessimistic and death related.

Don’t Starve is a wonderfully crafted game where the player must do a lot of digging if they want to discover the narrative and backstory for the survivors of the Don’t Starve universe. The blink or you’ll miss it story hints in the animated shorts and quotes keep you on your toes and engaged with the world.

If you spend enough time playing Wendy in Don’t Starve, you’ll learn a lot about her character’s history and the Don’t Starve world. There are hundreds of lines of dialogue in Don’t Starve, so I’ve only included major quotes that reveal her story and important gameplay cues.

Essential Wendy Gameplay Quotes

There are three stages to Abigail’s flower; the flower icon, along with these Wendy quotes, will indicate how far along the flower is to bloom, along with vague steps to summon Abigail. The first three are easy to understand.

Holding Abigail’s Flower: “It’s still so pretty.”

Stage 1 of Abigail’s Flower: “It was my sister’s flower. She’s gone far away.”

Stage 2 of Abigail’s Flower: “I can sense Abigail’s presence growing stronger.”

Stage 3 of Abigail’s Flower: Abigail is almost here!”

Abigail’s Flower is ready in inventory: “Abigail is ready to play, but she needs some space.”

When Wendy says this line of dialogue, it means that Abigail can be summoned, and the player needs to drop the flower onto the ground.

Abigail’s Flower is ready: “I need to show Abigail how to play.”

When you see this creepy quote, you need to kill a mob near the flower to summon Abigail.

Empty Sisturn: “It’s a memorial to my sister… but it’s so bare…”

Some flowers in the Sisturn: “Abigail always loved flowers…”

Full Sisturn: “I won’t let you fade away, Abigail. Never.”

Essential Wendy Quotes that Reveal Clues of her Story

These quotes reveal strips of information on Wendy’s character and background. Although we never learn who Wendy and Abigail’s mother was. It’s revealed that she was a caring mother to the twins. The quotes are one of my favorite aspects of Don’t Starve as they bring the characters to life.

Yellow Moonlens: “What color were mother’s eyes?”

Yellow Gem: “It reminds me of my mother.”

Sewing Machine: “Mother liked to sew matching outfits for Abigail and I.”

Eating Holiday Cheer: “Abigail, it’s like I can taste mother’s cooking…”

Sweet Potato Casserole: “Oh Abigail, remember how mother would make this every year?”

Fiery Pen: “Father had one very similar. I doubt it ever started a fire, though.”

Maxwell: “I feel a strange kinship with him.”

Maxwell Statue (Don’t Starve): He brought me here.”

Maxwell Statue (Don’t Starve: Together): “Did it go as you planned?”

Reviver (Woodie): “Abigail likes you… but she likes Lucy more.”

Wardrobe: “It reminds me of a story I used to read with Abigail.”

FAQs

Conclusion

I’ve written a bunch of Don’t Starve character guides for Readygamesurvive, and I keep catching myself declaring that each character is in my top favorite, and besides Wes, there aren’t many characters that I don’t like in Don’t Starve.

Each character has its own unique abilities, playstyle, and personality that keep the game feeling fresh. So here I am again, stating that Wendy is one of my favorite characters.

Wendy is very fun to play; her abilities are well-balanced. Abigail always has just enough power to have fun causing chaos to Spider Dens and is an essential tool you can use to strategize for bosses and the harsh seasons of Don’t Starve.

On the other hand, Wendy has low health and hunger but a decent Sanity stat that trades off the low attack damage. The result is a unique Don’t Starve and Don’t Starve: Together experience.