Guides/Character Guide - Maxwell

"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 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.