Shadow Manipulator

Shadow Manipulator
"Is this even science anymore?"
Crafting	×3 ×1 ×7
Tab
Tier
Perk	Unlock additional crafting recipes.
Code	"researchlab3"

“What have I created?”

–Wilson

“A dark and powerful energy radiates from it.”

–Willow

“What has Wolfgang done?”

–Wolfgang

“I have learnt unspeakable things.”

–Wendy

“PERHAPS IT IS TOO POWERFUL.”

–WX-78

“Perhaps I have gone too far.”

–Wickerbottom

“OK, I kind of get it now.”

–Woodie

“This is where I do my own personal research.”

–Maxwell

“For harnessing the dark forces lurking about.”

–Wagstaff

“A mystical thing.”

–Wigfrid

“We should be careful around that.”

–Webber

“Manipulating shadows sounds tough, glad I don't have to.”

–Walani

“It boggles the mind.”

–Warly

“Witchcraft wit' this 'un, no two ways about 'er.”

–Woodlegs

“WILBA HAVE'TH THE MAGICS”

–Wilba

“More magics”

–Wormwood

“Oooh. Dark and mysterious. I like it.”

–Wheeler

“Not sure how it works, but I'm gonna find out.”

–Winona

“There's magic fun to be had here.”

–Wortox

“Glurp... shouldn't play with that.”

–Wurt

“Is it really magic?”

–Walter

“Shadow magic's just a tool, like anything else.”

–Wanda

The Shadow Manipulator is the tier 2 Magic station which unlocks all of the Magic Tab recipes. It requires a Prestihatitator to prototype and costs 3 Living Logs, 1 Purple Gem, and 7 Nightmare Fuel to craft. Prototyping an item using the Shadow Manipulator will increase Sanity by 15, like any other station.

Craftable Items and Structures

See also: Crafting
Shadow Manipulator allows the prototyping of any following items and structures. Once prototyped, the craftables become unlocked on the Magic Tab, Refine Tab or the Crafting Menu and will no longer require the player to be next to the Shadow Manipulator to craft. As the Second Tier Magic structure, all craftables offered by Prestihatitator can also be accessed and prototyped from a Shadow Manipulator. Some character exclusive items also need to be prototyped using a Prestihatitator or a Shadow Manipulator.

Meat Effigy

Shadow Manipulator

Pan Flute

One-man Band

Night Light

Life Giving Amulet

Chilled Amulet

Ice Staff

Nightmare Fuel

Purple Gem

Dark Sword

Night Armor

Bat Bat

Belt of Hunger

Nightmare Amulet

Fire Staff

Telelocator Staff

Telelocator Focus

Dripple Pipes

Seaworthy
only on worlds linked to

Root Trunk

Pugalisk Wand

Skyworthy
only on worlds linked to

Ocuvigil

Moon Dial

Freeze Rounds

Slow-Down Rounds

Backtrek Watch

Alarming Clock

Downloadable Content

In the Shipwrecked DLC, the Shadow Manipulator can be flooded.

Tips

• Chopping down a Totally Normal Tree and digging up its stump yields enough Living Logs to craft a Shadow Manipulator without the need to kill a Treeguard. However, making other items such as Dark Swords would require Living Logs.

Bugs

• In Winter, snow on top of the device disappears with the rising and falling animations (when the player is near).

Skins

See also: Belongings#Shadow_Manipulator

Shadow Manipulator comes with multiple different skins it can be crafted with or later changed using a Clean Sweeper in Don't Starve Together. Ancient Sigil belongs in the Builder's Belongings Chest within the Year of the Carrat collection while Reclaimed Relic was released in the Adventurer's Belongings Chest, included with the Spring Cleaning Bundle. Both skins are of Woven - Elegant rarity and can be woven with 1350 spools, unraveled into 450 spools or obtained from Weekly Drops. Enchanted Crystal was a part of the crystalline collection wave of Twitch Stream drops and can be obtained from Klei Rewards. Monstrous Horror was a part of the Hollowed Nights Collection as the Twitch Stream drop of Holloween 2021.

Woven - Elegant
Ancient Sigil
You have the most unnerving feeling that you're being watched.
See ingame

Woven - Elegant
Reclaimed Relic
Something dark seems to have taken root...
See ingame

Loyal
Enchanted Crystal
Specially designed to conduct magical energy... and look very fancy.
See ingame

Loyal
Monstrous Horror
This evil monstrosity will aid you in bringing horror to the world.
See ingame

Gallery

The Shadow Manipulator's animation when the player is nearby.

A Shadow Manipulator when not close to a player.

A burnt Shadow Manipulator from the Reign of Giants DLC.

Shadow Manipulator as seen in the poster for A Little Rain Must Fall update.

Dont Starve research machines gif by Kelly

Trivia

• The Shadow Manipulator was added in A Little Rain Must Fall update.
• A Shadow Manipulator can be found in the Miner's Camp set piece.
• The Shadow Manipulator was the tier 3 Science research lab before Science and Magic research were separated into different categories.
• In Don't Starve Together, the Clean Sweeper also used to require a Shadow Manipulator to be prototyped until March 2022 Quality of Life update where it was moved to Science Tier 2 and its recipe was changed from 6 Dark Petals and 3 Living Logs to 4 Petals and 1 Twig.