Sanity

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Sanity HUD icon

“I get crazy when I don't sleep.”

–Wilson

Sanity is the character's "mental health" in Don't Starve. The Sanity icon, represented as a picture of a brain, is located near the character's Health and Hunger. Characters can gain and lose sanity in various ways. A small animated arrow appears over the 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%. The sign that sanity is low enough for Shadow Creatures to attack is when 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 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.

Temporal Sanity Table

Name	Sanity (/min)	Notes
• Sanity aura of	≤+40	Must be very close to benefit from aura.
• Sanity aura of a	≤+25
• Sanity aura of a friendly , nearby or held , and • Sanity aura of a glowing	≤+25	Must be very close to benefit from aura.
• Playing as	+20, +6.75 in
• Being near a fire as ()	≤+11 per fire	Amount depends on strength of fire.
• Being near a fire as	≤+10	Amount depends on strength of fire.
• Wearing 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 • Wearing while on a Boat	+6.67
• Sanity aura of	+6.25	Must be very close to benefit from aura.
• Wearing	+4.44
• Wearing	+3.33
• Wearing or holding	+2
• Wearing	+1.33
• Sanity aura of a	?
• Wearing	-2	For One-Man Band this is the default insanity aura without followers.
• Insanity aura of	-3	Only when active. Except for
• 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 -0.98 instead of -1.67
• Wearing soaked items.	-6 per item
• Being on land as	-4.8
• Dusk, Night and Caves	-5
• Total darkness	-50
• Wearing	-3.3
• Being Poisoned	-6
• Insanity aura of • Wearing	-6.25
• Wearing	-10
• Wearing or holding	-12.5
• Insanity aura of	≤-10
• Insanity aura of	≤-15
• Insanity aura of	≤-16.7
• Insanity aura of	≤-25
• Insanity aura of	≤-25	Increases by approximately -5/min per 20 coins collected
• Wearing and having or befriended	-2 (-25 per follower)
• Insanity aura of	≤-40
• Insanity aura of	≤-40	Shadow Creatures spawned from Nightmare Lights are not present during the "warning" phase of the Nightmare Cycle.
• Insanity aura of	≤-100
• Insanity aura of	≤-400
• Insanity aura of during a Full Moon • Insanity aura of during a Full Moon • Insanity aura of • Being swarmed by	?

Character Specifics

Wilson looking around from paranoia.

Sanity maximums:

150-300 Max Sanity - WX-78 (depending on upgrades)

100-300 Max Sanity - WX-78 (depending on upgrades)

250 Max Sanity - Wickerbottom

200 Max Sanity - Wilson, Wendy, Wolfgang, Woodie, Maxwell, Walani , Warly , Wormwood , Wheeler , Winona

150 Max Sanity - Wes, Wagstaff, Wilbur , Wortox

120 Max Sanity - Willow, Wigfrid , Woodlegs

100 Max Sanity - Webber , Wilba

Characters with the potential to stay sane longer:

Maxwell - Sanity is restored at a rate of 12.5 points per minute.

Maxwell - Sanity is restored at a rate of 6.25 points per minute.

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, but this is compensated by fights being shorter if fighting while 'Mighty'.

Wigfrid - Gains Sanity after killing Mobs.

Walani - Due to her drying off quicker, the combined Sanity loss from wetness would be reduced over time.

Warly - Gains more Sanity from Crock Pot meals.

Wilba - 1.5x Sanity is lost while in darkness. In her Werepig form, she do not lose any Sanity in darkness.

Insanity Effects

The screen when at 0 sanity.

≤ 80%

• Mr. Skits will appear.

≤ 65%

• Shadow Watchers and Night Hands appear at night.

≤ 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.

≤ 50%

• Crawling Horrors and Terrorbeaks are visible.
• Insanity ambience becomes audible.

≤ 45%

• Whispering can be heard.

≤ 40%

• Rabbits transform into Beardlings.
• Bunnymen transform into Beardlords.

≤ 15%

• The screen is surrounded by red tendrils.
• Crawling Horrors and Terrorbeaks will attack.
• Player holds head with hands and rocks back and forth.
• The "day to night" transition jingle becomes warped.

 ≤ 10%

• Lighting becomes dim.

Lunacy

Lunacy is a mechanic exclusive to the Don't Starve Together Return of Them beta. When on the Lunar Island, Sanity transforms into Lunacy. It works inversely to Sanity, as the more sanity you have, the worse the effects of Lunacy are. The less sanity you have, the more Lunacy is nullified. There is a special animation for characters at the Lunacy effect threshold.

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.

Gallery

A pin of the Sanity symbol from Klei's online store.