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Repelling hounds gets increasingly difficult the longer one survives, and here are some tips to hold them back.
Technique 1: Panic Room
This is a structure often referred to as a Deathtrap. This is a large structure made out of Walls (preferably Stone, as they are non-flammable) and filled with Tooth Traps or Bee Mines (preferably Tooth Traps). It should have a Fire Pit in case you are fighting the hounds in winter or at night. You can try to kite them, but you can tank them best inside your panic room. If your room is big and filled with traps, most of the hounds should take a lot of damage or even die.
Technique 2: Creature Protection
Hounds will attack EVERYTHING, and this can be used to your advantage by distracting them with other mobs.
Note that ALL of the strategies listed below involving mobs not normally hostile to Hounds (ie not Pigs or Bunnymen) are made MUCH easier with a Bush Hat if used correctly. By hiding before the growling signalling Hound waves ends, the first wave of hounds will not aggro onto you and instead run around aimlessly before eventually finding something else to target.
Lure a pack of hounds to a Pig Village, and watch the hounds meet their defeat. However, this tactic is not the best for obtaining Monster Meat as the pigs will eat any monster meat you don’t pick up first, and might even transform into a Werepig if you are not careful. Also, Pigs will retreat into their houses at night, making this strategy ineffective for Dusk- and Night-time hound waves.
You can do the same with Beefalo. Move far away from the hounds (or hide with a Bush Hat), and they will eventually attack the Beefalo. A moderately sized herd of Beefalo will usually be able to beat the Hounds handily, only losing if the herd happens to be at low health. This is even easier when the Beefalo are in heat during Spring, as they will instantly aggro on the hounds (though they might also attack you if you don’t have a Beefalo Hat). Unlike with pigs, this can be done at Dusk, giving you a small bit of time to continue or maybe pick up some loot. Just make sure you don't leave it too late.
During winter, Pengulls can be used to repel hounds to great effect due to their swarm tactics and large flock size. Run around a bunch or use a Bush Hat to get one of the Hounds to attack a Pengull, provoking the entire flock to attack and eventually leading to a massive brawl between Hounds and Pengulls. A moderately large flock of Pengulls will usually be able to deal with the Hounds (although the same canot be said for smaller flocks). This is notably an extremely profitable way to deal with Hounds, as you will get a large amount of Morsels, Drumsticks, Jet Feathers, Eggs, Monster Meat and Hound’s Teeth from all the dead mobs. Even better, whichever side wins will usually be sufficiently weakened that the player can easily finish off the last few stragglers by themself.
You can do exactly the same with Bees, however this is the hardest way to do it if there’s only 1 or 2 Beehives nearby. Preferably, get a Hound to attack a Bee Hive so that Killer Bees will attack the hounds. Alternatively, you can lead a bunch of Hounds to a Killer Bee Hive, getting the hounds killed in a much smaller amount of time. Be cautious though as the Killer Bees will aggro on you as well once the hounds are dead.
You can also lead hounds to Rabbit Hutches to have Bunnymen attack the hounds if you have some built. This combos well with Pig Houses as they will allow for hound protection at any hour.
Also you can lead a few hounds to a Houndius Shootius. However, they are very difficult to craft, and aren’t even guaranteed to beat a hound wave by themself without dying and thereby losing the precious resources used to create one.
Thanks for reading my guide to advanced hound repelling! This guide was made by DragonMaster9240, a huge Don't Starve fan.