Krampus (plural Krampii) is a neutral monster that steals the player's stored items and items left on the ground. Krampus appears when overzealous hunters gain too much naughtiness from killing innocent creatures too fast.
It takes 3 blasts from the Ice Staff to freeze Krampus and 1 shot from a Sleep Dart to put him to sleep. When killed, Krampus will drop any stolen items, two pieces of Charcoal, one Monster Meat, and, very rarely, his Krampus Sack (1% chance).
Behavior
Krampus moves fairly fast and deals 50 damage per hit. He runs away when approached, similar to the behavior of a Gobbler or MacTusk. He will break Chests to steal items and will pick up most items lying on the ground in the player's vicinity, including Backpacks. He will keep running around the player until no more items exist on-screen, then disappear into his sack.
Two Krampii spawned at once. One is stealing an item with his sack.
Naughtiness is generated by killing certain creatures (either with a weapon or by "Murdering" them in the inventory).
Once the player reaches a threshold of naughtiness (a random number between 31 and 50), Krampus will spawn. One Krampus can spawn before day 50, two or three after day 50, and two, three or four after day 100 (see Bugs), all counts being equally likely. After Krampus appears, the naughtiness level is reset to 0.
Each minute of restraint (⅛ of a day) reduces naughtiness by 1, meaning the player can reduce their naughtiness by 8 points by not attacking an innocent creature for one day. As the player gets closer to spawning Krampus, a hissing noise will be heard, warning the player every time innocent creatures are killed.
It is worth noting that setting creatures ablaze will not raise the player's naughtiness level. This is because the fire is considered to be the killing factor. The same goes for Tooth Traps, Bee Mines, Gunpowder, and Slurtle Slime, as they are all considered to be environmental damage. This is not to be confused with cooking caught creatures over a Campfire or Fire Pit which does increase the naughtiness of the player and can earn a Krampus visit.
Krampus, especially when more than one spawns at the same time, can wreak havoc in a player's base without adequate preparation. Players are advised to pay attention to the signs of naughtiness, and only summon Krampus when preparations are complete; away from important items and the player's base. Krampus can be summoned by killing a number of passive creatures in quick succession. Rabbits can be collected with Traps then "murdered" in the inventory. Birds can be summoned using a Feather Hat, then either captured and murdered by Bird Traps or directly killed using a Boomerang.
Krampus can be kited, a process by which the player attacks, moves away to avoid an attack, then attacks again. It is possible to strike Krampus one time in between attacks. Krampus' high melee damage and tendency to avoid the player makes him difficult to deal with using melee weapons. However, his low health makes ranged weapons, especially Blow Darts, effective. If melee is the only option, players should wear Armor and use high damage weapons such as a Dark Sword or Ham Bat to avoid significant health loss. He can also be put to sleep or frozen, to make him an easy target. Placing a number of easily obtainable items such as single pieces of Twigs, Cut Grass or Pine Cones will keep the Krampii occupied allowing the player to close enter melee range. Since Krampus is considered a monster, Pigs and Bunnymen are aggressive towards Krampus by default, so Pig Villages or Bunnymen Villages can be utilized to kill Krampus.
Downloadable Content
In the Reign of Giants DLC, killing Glommer will immediately summon Krampii as it increases naughtiness by 50 points, the exact amount needed to spawn Krampus.
In the Shipwrecked DLC, Krampus will be wearing a Floral Shirt on his visit to the islands. Also, killing the Seal form of Sealnado will summon Krampus immediately. Eating Shark Fin Soup adds 10 points of naughtiness, which can also be used to summon Krampus. Killing Doydoys adds progressively more naughtiness as there are fewer Doydoys in the world. Killing the last two Doydoys will guarantee a Krampus spawn each, however, this is not recommended as this makes it impossible to breed more Doydoys later. This can be circumvented by bringing two Doydoys to the Volcano, as it is considered a separate world, or by collecting enough materials to fabricate 2 Doydoy Nests + having a minimum of 2 Doydoy Eggs: so, despite killing the last two Doydoys remaining alive, the player can repopulate the island when placing the eggs in the empty nest.
As Krampus cannot spawn on the Ocean, he will not appear immediately if the player is at sea while exceeding the naughtiness threshold. This delay also applies if the player kills an innocent creature on land using a ranged weapon from a Boat, i.e. a Boat Cannon. Krampus will then spawn once the player kills the next creature while on land. Entering the Volcano at the peak of the naughtiness threshold will also cause it to spawn instantly.
In the Hamlet DLC, Krampus has the ability to enter pig shops and the players home. Royal Guards also do not attack Krampus, so the player will receive no help from them.
Don't Starve Together
In Don't Starve Together, naughtiness is calculated individually for each player. While Krampus spawns in the vicinity of the naughty player, anyone near them will also hear the warning hisses. In A New Reign, 2 Krampii per player engaging in the fight will be summoned by Klaus, when his health drops to 50%.
Tips
Summoning Krampus at night will summon sleeping Krampii, including during a Full Moon, which allows them to be easily killed. This can be combined with picking Glommer's Flower, which only spawns during Full Moons. Killing Glommer, which follows its flower, guarantees a Krampus spawn.
Tooth Traps are not very effective against Krampus since there is a chance that he will steal the trap instead of activating it.
Various forms of "Krampus traps" can be created utilizing their behavior of stealing items:
Placing a Chest with dummy items surrounded by Bee Mines.
Placing a Chest full of Killer Bees.
Placing a Chest and attacking him while he is busy stealing the dummy items.
A Frog's tongue attack will make Krampus drop stolen items (if they do not kill him outright).
The Krampus Sack does not burn, but all other drops will be turned to ash if Krampus dies from fire damage.
In the Shipwrecked DLC, Krampii can be lured to their death by placing a Coconade on the ground and lighting its fuse. Krampii will attempt to steal the Coconade, which can explode near them or in their inventory after they steal it, instantly killing them.
Before the Six Feet Under update, Krampus' eyes and "mouth" were originally yellow-green with side-way slit pupils. After said update, he was given a new look. He was re-textured with completely white eyes and a purple "mouth".
Despite this, however, Krampus's icon for the World Customization remains unchanged.
According to the code in kramped.lua, the plural of Krampus is "Krampii". This name is used when calculating how many should spawn at the same time.
Krampus is a beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries, thought to punish bad children during the Yule season by whipping them into submission. Krampus is said to capture particularly naughty children in his sack and carry them to his lair. Krampus' contrast to Saint Nicholas is reinforced by the Charcoal he carries. Traditionally, naughty children are punished with coal in their stockings.
Krampus might also have some references to the Scandinavian Yule Goat, an old pagan tradition originating from Norse mythology. Note that Krampus' horns resemble ones of an ornamental straw goat and in Finnish tradition, young men used to wear goat heads made out of straw (notice the Krampus' figure) in the Yule season, while going house to house demanding food and alcohol. The Finnish version of Santa Claus still has the name of the Yule Goat.
Krampus also appears similar to reports of the Jersey Devil, a winged red horse with horns. However, Krampus has no wings and has a much thicker tail than a horse, more like a kangaroo or lizard. He also fights similar to a kangaroo's "kickboxing", standing on its tail and kicking with both feet.
In the older versions of Shipwrecked DLC before the Home Sea Home update, Krampus appeared to have four arms, two carrying his sack and two sticking out from his sides.
The Krampus Profile Icon in Don't Starve Together includes the flavor text "The Krampus is compelled to visit all naughty denizens of The Constant."
Krampus plays a key role in the animated short Possessions that introduced the DLC character Wortox in Don't Starve Together.
In the animated short Possessions Krampus has yellow eyes with black pupils, unlike his in-game model that has white eyes with no pupils.
Bugs
In the base game and the Reign of Giants DLC, there is a bug in the code that prevents the 100 days scale up from happening, so the number of Krampii spawned will not exceed 3. This bug is fixed in the Shipwrecked DLC, correctly spawning up to 4 Krampii after day 100. The fix will be effective in any Shipwrecked compatible worlds.
Hitting Krampus as he jumps into his sack will cause him to reappear and become invincible. Krampus will not be able to move and cannot be killed (he can still be frozen and put to sleep like normal).
Sometimes, two Krampii can spawn at the same time. This only occurs before day 5.
Gallery
Several Krampii.
A sleeping Krampus.
A dead Krampus.
Krampus intimidates the player by sticking out his long black tongue.
When attacking, Krampus stands up on its tail and hits with both legs like a kangaroo.
A Krampus escaping into its sack, taking all stolen items (old appearance).
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these creatures
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these creatures
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these creatures
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these creatures
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these creatures
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these creatures
Behavior
