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Sanity Meter

Glommer See also: Enlightenment

I get crazy when I don't sleep.

Wilson

The sound effect that play once the threshold of insanity is crossed.

Sanity is the Character's "mental health" in Don't Starve. The Sanity Meter Sanity icon, represented as a picture of a brain, is located near the character's Health Meter Health and Hunger Meter Hunger. Characters can gain and lose sanity in various ways. A small animated arrow appears over the Sanity Meter icon, indicating an increase or decrease in Sanity. The size of the arrow signifies the rate of gain or loss.

As sanity decreases, the player's vision becomes shaky, over-saturated, and bright, whispers are heard, and Shadow Creatures start to appear. These creatures become "physical" and aggressive and will attack the player when their sanity is below 15%. When sanity is low, the player's character covers their ears and closes their eyes while rocking back and forth, as if experiencing a bad headache.

Being alone in the wilderness will take its toll. Generally speaking, being in close proximity to Monsters, Darkness, Rain, eating bad or raw Food, or using various magic items decreases sanity; while wearing certain clothing, eating Jerky and Crock Pot food, being near friendly Pigs, and sleeping increases sanity. See the Sanity Tables below for a complete list.

Insanity Effects

Complete Insanity

The screen when at 0 sanity with distortion off.

Sanity Meter ≤ 80%

Sanity Meter ≤ 75%

  • Night Hands appear at night.
  • The screen starts shaking.
  • Color desaturation begins.

Sanity Meter ≤ 60%

  • Eyes appear in the darkness.
  • The screen starts getting distorted.
  • Lighting is desaturated in the Surface World and Caves. Lighting brightens in the Ruins.
  • Willow begins lighting fires. (Don't Starve icon)

Sanity Meter ≤ 50%

  • Crawling Horrors are visible.
  • Shadow Watchers appears.
  • Insanity ambiance becomes audible.
  • When inactive survivors begin shaking with their head in their hands.

Sanity Meter ≤ 45%

  • Whispering can be heard.

Sanity Meter ≤ 40%

Sanity Meter ≤ 15% for effects to appear and ≥ 17.5% to disappear

  • The screen is surrounded by red tendrils.
  • Obelisks will swap from being raised to lowered and vice versa
  • Present Crawling Horrors and Terrorbeaks will attack.
  • Up to one Crawling Horror spawns at a time.
  • The "night to day" transition jingle becomes warped.

Sanity Meter ≤ 10%

  • Terrorbeaks spawn.
  • Up to two Crawling Horrors or Terrorbeaks spawn at a time.
  • The screen becomes even more distorted.

Instant Sanity Table

Action Sanity
• Eating Magic Water (Hamlet icon) +150
• Resurrecting a Ghost Player (Don't Starve Together icon) +80
• Sleeping in a Tent Siesta Lean-to

• Eating Ice Cream Brainy Matter Lobster Dinner Jelly Salad
• Eating Gears as WX-78 Portrait

+50
• Sleeping on a Straw Roll Fur Roll

• Killing a Terrorbeak
• Eating Banana Pop Surf 'n' Turf Caviar Iced Tea Spicy Vegetable Stinger Tea Salsa Fresca Creamy Potato Purée Moqueca

+33
• Repairing a Relic Chair

• Eating Melonsicle Seafood Gumbo

+20
• Killing a Crawling Horror

• Eating Taffy Pumpkin Cookies Jerky Cooked Green Cap Cooked Cactus Flesh Fresh Fruit Crepes Mussel Bouillabaise Sweet Potato Souffle Tropical Bouillabaisse Feijoada Steamed Ham Sandwich Cooked Lotus Root Royal Jelly Fancy Spiralled Tubers Puffed Potato Soufflé Moon Moth Wings
• Prototyping a new item using Science Machine Alchemy Engine Prestihatitator Shadow Manipulator Piratihatitator Hogus Porkusator
• Learning a recipe from Blueprint

• Summoning Abigail build as Wendy (Don't Starve Together icon)

+15
• Eating  Small Jerky Cooked Blue Cap Dried Kelp Fronds Lobster Bisque California Roll Snake Bone Soup Asparagazpacho Glow Berry Mousse Hot Dragon Chili SaladVolt Goat Chaud-Froid

• Eating Monster Tartare(Shipwrecked icon)
• Shaving a Beard
• Eating Banana Cooked Banana as Wilbur Portrait
• Planting Seeds Grass Tuft Sapling Bamboo Patch Viney Bush Nettle Vine Coffee Plant Spiky Bush Pine Cone Birchnut Coconut Jungle Tree Seed Jungle Burr Seed Pod as Wormwood Portrait
• Getting hit by Gestalt Enlightening Snare

+10
• Eating Grilled Watermelon +7.5
• Eating most Crock Pot Dishes except for those shown elsewhere in this table and Wet Goop

• Eating Watermelon Cactus Flower Lotus Flower Fried Blooming Tuber Tribute Roast Electric Milk
• Picking Flower Seashell Exotic Flower Flower rosewhen playing as any other character that isn’t Wormwood

+5
• Riding a wave on a Surfboard

• Throwing Rawling
• Eating Fish Heads on a Stick

+1
• Using a Ice Staff Fire Staff -1
• Attacking wearing Enlightened Crown while Sanity is above 85% -1
Sneezing -3
• Eating Dark Petals Durian Extra Smelly Durian Monster Jerky Lichen Cactus Flesh Cooked Coffee Beans Coffee Cooked Bean Bugs Cooked Gummy Slug Gummy Cake Roast Onion Roast Garlic Stuffed Pepper Poppers Potato Cooked Kelp Fronds

• Picking Evil Flowers
• Using Pile o' Balloons
• Using Slotmachine
• Picking Flower Exotic Flower as Wormwood Portrait
• Digging up Tree stumps or Grass Tuft Sapling Bamboo Patch Viney Bush Nettle Vine Coffee Plant as Wormwood Portrait
• Eating Soul as Wortox Portrait

• Adding fuel to Vortex Cloak

-5
• Eating Spoiled Food

• Eating Meat Morsel Drumstick Frog Legs Cooked Monster Meat Cooked Red CapBatilisk WingLeafy Meat Glow Berry Dragoon Heart Shark Fin Soup Limpets Seaweed Bean Bugs Gummy Slug Flytrap Stalk Lesser Glow Berry Roasted Pepper Onion Garlic Fish Cordon Bleu Poison Dartfrog Legs Kelp Fronds
• Digging up a Grave32
• Digging through a Dung Pile with bare hands
• Crafting Brew of Phobic Abatement Brew of Phobic Abrogation Flask of Sanguine Mixture Canteen of Sanguine Mixture Dram of Psychic Fortitude Tumblerful of Psychic Fortitude Sulfuric Crystals of Lime Sulfuric Crystals of Saltpeter

• Bats from opening a Chest or chopping a tree during Hallowed Nights (Don't Starve Together icon)
• Being hit by Manure thrown by Splumonkey Prime Ape

-10
•Eating Monster Meat Blue Cap Deerclops Eyeball Rhino Horn Phlegm Shark Fin Mussel Eye of the Tiger Shark Pepper

• Going through a Worm Hole Electric Isosceles
• Using The Lazy Explorer
• Entering map boundaries in Shipwrecked
• Being carried by BFB Head

• Unsummoning Abigail build as Wendy (Don't Starve Together icon)

-15
• Eating Monster LasagnaMonster Tartare

• Being attacked by Charlie
• Using Star Caller's Staff Deconstruction Staff Moon Caller's Staff
• Crafting Totally Normal Root
• Picking up more than 20 Soul as Wortox Portrait

-20
• Reading Applied Horticulture Sleepytime Stories The End is Nigh

• Getting hit by lightning as WX-78 Portrait

-33
• Eating Green Cap Glommer's Goop

• Reading Birds of the World On Tentacles
• Using Telelocator Staff The Lazy Deserter
• Spawning Abigail build in singleplayer Don't Starve as Wendy

-50
• Blowing from Queen Womant - between 25-50
• Using a Codex Umbra -55 Max Sanity
Resurrection via Life Giving Amulet Meat Effigy Touch Stone Set to 1/2
of maximum
• Absorbing damage via Vortex Cloak Damage absorbed ÷ 3.4
• Eating Grim Galette Set to Current health + 5

Temporal Sanity Table

Name Sanity (/min) Notes
• Sanity aura of Celestial Champion Phase 1 ≤+400
• Sanity aura of Celestial Fissure ≤+100
• Sleeping in Tent Siesta Lean-to
60 Drains 60 & 20Hunger Meter/min respectively
• Sanity aura of Music Box Hutch Misshapen Bird Moonblind Crow ≤+40 Must be very close to benefit from aura.
• Sanity aura of a Magic Flower +36 Decreases hunger (roughly 0.5 per second) in exchange for sanity.
• Sanity aura of a Dwarf Star Old ≤+25
• Sanity aura of a Sisturn +25 Sisturn must contain petals in all four slots.
• Sanity aura of a friendly Pig Bunnyman Wildbore Bottlenose Ballphin, nearby Parrot Pirate, and Sand Castle

• Sanity aura of a glowing Brainy Sprout

≤+25 Must be very close to benefit from aura.
• Playing as Waxwell Portrait +20,
+6.75 in Don't Starve Together icon
• Being near a fire as Willow Portrait (Don't Starve Together icon) ≤+11

per fire

Amount depends on strength of fire.
• Wearing Enlightened Crown +10
• Being near a fire as Willow Portrait ≤+10 Amount depends on strength of fire.
• Wearing Lucky Beast Head Lucky Beast Body Lucky Beast Tail and using /dance emote +6.67 Can increase up to +20/min if there are other players nearby (wearing a costume piece and dancing).
• Wearing Tam o' Shanter
• Wearing Shark Tooth Crown while on Boats
+6.67
• Sanity aura of GlommerFriendly Fruit Fly or Pudgy Beefalo +6.25 Must be very close to benefit from aura.
• Being inside Slanty Shanty +6.25
• Wearing Hibearnation Vest Royal Crown +4.44
• Wearing Top Hat Cat Cap Floral Shirt Dapper Vest Thulecite Suit Scalemail Fashion Goggles Desert Goggles +3.33
• Wearing Feather Hat Summer Frest Breezy Vest Puffy Vest Life Giving Amulet Chilled Amulet Magiluminescence Construction Amulet The Lazy Forager Belt of Hunger Pretty Parasol Tropical Parasol Limestone Suit Windbreaker Sleek Hat Pirate Hat Pith Hat Pinetree Pioneer Hat or holding Rawling +2
• Wearing Garland Winter Hat +1.33
Day on Lunar Island +0.625
• Wearing Seawreath -1.33
• Wearing Spiderhat One-man Band Fashion Melon -2 For One-Man Band this is the default insanity aura without followers.
• Insanity aura of Night Light -3 Only when active, except for Willow Portrait
Rain ≤-3.3 Sanity loss depends on "precipitation rate".
Wetness ≤-3.3 Sanity loss is not linear, e.g. at 50 Wetness the sanity loss is -1.67 instead of -3.33
• Wearing Nightmare Amulet -3.3
• Being on land as Woodlegs Portrait -4.8
Dusk, Night and Caves -5
• Wearing soaked items. -6
per item
• Being Poisoned -6
• Insanity aura of Houndius Shootius Build -6.25
• Wearing Silver Necklace to forestall a Werepig transformation -6.6
• Insanity aura of Scorpion ≤-10
• Wearing Gas Mask Night Armor

• Total darkness on Lunar Island

-10
• Being attached by Gnat Swarm -12.5
• Wearing Bone Helm or holding Dark Sword -20
• Insanity aura of Evil Flowers Spider Slurper Depths Worm Dangling Depth Dweller Level 1 Snaptooth Seedling Viper Snake Poison Snake

• Insanity aura of Spider Warrior Cave Spider Spitter(Reign of Giants icon)

≤-25
• Insanity aura of Slotmachine ≤-40 Increases by approximately -4/min per 10 coins collected
• Wearing One-man Band and having Pig or Bunnyman

befriended

-2
(-25 per follower)
• Insanity aura of Hound Red Hound Blue Hound Spider Warrior Beardling Beardlord Tentacle Baby Tentacle Ghost Build Nighthand Shadow Tentacle Crocodog Yellow Crocodog Blue Crocodog Sea Hound Spider Warrior (Venomous) Crab (insanity) Pirate Ghost Spider Monkey Snaptooth Flytrap Ancient Spirit Antlion Stalker minion1 Stalker minion2 Clay Hound Cave Spider Spitter Vampire Bat ≤-40
• Total darkness -50
Freezing as Willow Portrait Don't Starve Together icon -100
• Insanity aura of Treeguard Crawling Horror Terrorbeak Werepig Palm Treeguard Swimming Horror Shadow Knight Shadow Bishop Shadow Rook

• Insanity aura of Klaus Klaus2 BFB Head Pugalisk Ancient Herald Large Iron Hulk

≤-100
• Insanity aura of Deerclops Spider Queen Bearger Dragonfly Sealnado Reanimated Skeleton Caves Reanimated Skeleton Forest Reanimated Skeleton Atrium Klaus2 Ancient Herald Large Iron Hulk ≤-400
• Insanity aura of Ancient Obelisk Nightmare Rampart ≤-800
• Insanity aura of Nightmare Light ≤-900 Shadow Creatures spawned from Nightmare Lights are not present during the "warning" phase of the Nightmare Cycle.

Character Specifics

Wilson fear

Wilson looking around from paranoia.

Sanity maximums:

150-300 Max Sanity - WX-78 Don't Starve Together icon (depending on how many Processing CircuitsDon't Starve Together icon/Super-Processing CircuitsDon't Starve Together icon are installed)
100-300 Max Sanity - WX-78 (depending on upgrades)
250 Max Sanity - Wickerbottom
200 Max Sanity - Wilson, Wendy, WolfgangWoodie, Maxwell, Walani Shipwrecked icon, Warly Shipwrecked icon, Wormwood Hamlet icon, Wheeler Hamlet icon, Winona Don't Starve Together icon, Walter Don't Starve Together icon, Wanda Don't Starve Together icon
150-200 Max Sanity - Wurt Don't Starve Together icon (depending on King of the Merms)
150 Max Sanity - Wes, Wagstaff, Wilbur Shipwrecked icon, Wortox Don't Starve Together icon
120 Max Sanity - Willow, Wigfrid Reign of Giants icon, Woodlegs Shipwrecked icon
100 Max Sanity - Webber Reign of Giants icon, Wilba Hamlet icon
75 Max Sanity - Wes Don't Starve Together icon

Characters with the potential to stay sane longer:

Wendy - 0.75x Sanity is lost while in darkness or near monsters.
Willow - Gains Sanity while near a fire.
Wolfgang - 1.1x Sanity is lost while in darkness or near monsters.
Maxwell - Sanity is restored at a rate of 20 (6.75 in Don't Starve Together icon) in points per minute.
Wigfrid Reign of Giants icon - Gains Sanity after killing Mobs.
Walani Shipwrecked icon - Due to her drying off quicker, the combined Sanity loss from wetness would be reduced over time. She also does not have a sanity drain from Wetness itself, although she does have a sanity drain from Wet Items.
Warly Shipwrecked icon - Gains more Sanity from Crock Pot meals.
Wilba Hamlet icon - 1.5x Sanity is lost while in darkness, but no loss of sanity in darkness in Werepig form.
Wormwood Hamlet icon - Gains Sanity when planting most Plants. Don't Starve Together icon He doesn't have a sanity drain from Wetness itself and Wet Items.
Wurt Don't Starve Together icon - Doesn't have a sanity drain from Wetness itself and Wet Items. Gains Sanity when holding Fish.
Wanda Don't Starve Together icon - Takes half the sanity drain from staff items when middle-aged, and a quarter the sanity drain when old-aged. Loses only a third the usual sanity drain from equippable Shadow Items (the Dark Sword and Night Armor) when middle-aged, and no sanity drain when old-aged.

Placeholder Trivia

  • Sanity was added in the Insanity! update.
  • Distortion can be turned off in the Options menu, removing the blurry effect on the edges of the screen that occurs from Sanity loss. This can also boost performance on slow systems.
  • In the Hamlet DLC, when being in any interior, there is no loss of sanity in Darkness.
  • The sound effect that plays once full insanity is reached is a distorted version of the Dawn theme.

Blueprint Gallery

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