WX-78

"LIFE IS INEFFICIENT"

- WX-78 WX-78 is the fourth unlockable Character (960 XP, see Experience for more information on how to unlock it). WX-78 is a self-sustaining automaton who hates all living matter. It can eat stale and spoiled Food without Health or Hunger penalties. However, food penalties that occur even if the food is not spoiled (such as eating Monster Meat) still take effect.

WX-78, being a robot, will take damage when it is in the Rain. The amount of rain does not matter and WX-78 will always receive 0.5 Health point of damage every 3-5 seconds. The damage will not stun it when taken, similar to Fire damage. When taking rain damage, WX-78 periodically emits light due to sparks flying off its body. This provides enough light to prevent Charlie from attacking it, but WX-78 will suffer great sanity loss from the darkness. Using an Umbrella though will prevent the health loss and the sparks.

SYSTEM OVERLOAD
The first power is SYSTEM OVERLOAD, activated by being struck by Lightning. In thunderstorms, WX-78 will draw in lightning similar to a Lightning Rod and can set fire to nearby objects when struck. This will cause it to instantly regain its health, gain a speed boost, and emit an amount of light similar to a Torch. It will also prevent it from freezing for the duration of the effect. WX-78 will lose 33 Sanity when initially struck, and can also be struck multiple times even while already overloaded. SYSTEM OVERLOAD will last roughly 1 day. Being near a Lightning Rod or using an Umbrella will prevent WX-78 from being hit by lightning.

SYSTEM OVERLOAD will also be initiated when lightning strikes WX-78 subsequently after the following occasions:
 * Immediately after teleportation with the Telelocator Staff, due to the subsequent lightning strike in the immediate area.
 * When respawning via Touch Stone.
 * When damaging an Ancient Pseudoscience Station (via hammer or Damaged Rooks) in Ruins, due to the subsequent lightning strike.

Upgrading
The second power is WX-78's ability to consume Gears to upgrade itself. When eating a Gear WX-78 will receive an upgrade for its maximum Sanity, Health, and Hunger.

The max amount of Gears that can be consumed to gain stat upgrades is 15. However WX-78 can still consume gears to gain the initial 60 Health, 50 Sanity and 75 Hunger that WX-78 always receives when consuming gears. This means for WX-78, Gears can be used as a sort of non-spoiling superior version of Jerky, although it should be noted that Gears are abundant only in Ruins.

Each upgrade adds 20 health, ~6.66 hunger, and ~13.33 sanity. The stepped upgrade effects on sanity and hunger can be seen in the table below.

Reign of Giants icon.png of Giants
In the Reign of Giants DLC, with the addition of the Wetness mechanic, the way WX-78 is damaged by rain changes a bit. WX-78 will take a maximum of 0.5 damage every 3-5 seconds when totally unprotected. If WX-78 has 50% waterproofing from its equipment (i.e. a Pretty Parasol), it'll take 0.25 damage every 3-5 seconds while it's raining. If WX-78 is still wet after it stops raining, it will take damage at a rate of 0.3 damage every 3-5 seconds until it is dried off. If WX-78 is not very wet, it won't get "drying damage" for very long (further rewarding high waterproofness), but if it is soaked, it could last quite a while.

In addition to this, there are many new Chess biomes scattered around the world in Sandbox Mode which may have Clockwork Monsters, making it easier to acquire Gears without having to go underground or to a new world. Also, Tumbleweed has made Gears renewable, which means using gears as un-perishable food is much more viable.

Trivia

 * WX-78's voice is sounded by what is explained as a "crazy processed synth".
 * WX-78 has a skull in the game files. Also when struck by lightning in the Reign of Giants DLC you can see its skeleton, suggesting that WX-78 may actually be a human wearing a mechanical suit or simply has a metallic structure based on human skeletal anatomy.
 * WX-78 is described as "hating all living matter"; however, it shows empathy for machines, saying "OH NO. WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU?" when examining gears.
 * WX-78 has, besides its Empathy Module, lots of other technical components such as a Chemical Engine acting as a stomach, Optical Sensors acting as its eyes, a CPU functioning as its brain, a Processing Unit is described as being its head, and when it sleeps it activates Sleep Mode.
 * WX-78's name may be a reference to the RX-78 series of mobile suits in the Universal Century gundam series. The most notable being the RX-78-2, the main mobile suit of the original gundam series.
 * There are numbers on the side of WX-78's character image. The numbers are 11522914. If converted into letters, (Via 1=A, 2=B, etc.) it spells KEVIN, which is the name of the lead developer of Don't Starve.
 * Upon beating Adventure Mode as WX-78, it is referred to as "it" in the epilogue, implying that its appearance and AI are not meant to simulate a specific gender.
 * Although WX-78 shows hatred toward all living matter, it has a soft spot for Bees, as well as Lureplants, as when they are examined WX-78 says "A MINDLESS DRONE. I LIKE HIM." and "AWW, IT IS JUST AS EVIL AS I AM."
 * Despite the fact it was built, WX-78 states that it may of had a sort of mother when examining the Science Machine or the Metal Potato Thing, and it is also possible that it was created by Maxwell for his clockwork army.
 * Although it takes damage from being drenched in the rain, it can still eat watery foods such as Pomegranates, Meaty Stew, or even Watermelons without being harmed. This is most likely due its insides being waterproofed.
 * WX-78 is oddly inconsistent with its punctuation in quotes.
 * It makes a faint 'keek' noise as it walks.
 * There are a few inconsistencies in WX-78's references. When it examines a Slurper WX-78 will say "IT VIOLATED MY SMELLING MODULE" but when it examines a Durian, it will say "GOOD THING I LACK A NOSE". This may be intentional or just an error.

Gallery
WX-78