Wendy is not a character I would choose for my personal playthroughs because she is more of a passive player and I like the active gameplay. Her sister is a good use for fighting mobs, such as spiders and bees, and can even be a good distraction to pass through the Guardian pigs. That is pretty much it. Her reduced sanity loss can be helpful especially during the fifth chapter, Darkness. Her biggest disadvantage is that she has a 25% damage reduction making her one of the worst characters for combat. That can be tricky while fighting MacTusk and his hounds, as you have to deal with them pretty quickly – and taking more hits to kill them doesn’t help at all. Overall, Wendy isn’t the best choice and, in my opinion, has to take this 10th place.
9.Wolfgang
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Best Use – Mighty State
Disadvantage – Fear from monsters and the dark
Stats: Health – 150 to 300, Hunger – 300, Sanity – 200
Damage modifier: 0.5x to 2x
Sanity modifier: -1.1x
Speed modifier: 0.9x to 1.25x
His starting form is his Regular form. He has 200 health and will stay in this form while his hunger is between 100 and 225. His stronger form is his Mighty form, which will be activated after his hunger exceeds 225 points. His maximum health will go from 200 to 300, his damage will increase between 1.25x to 2x and he will also receive a 25% movement speed boost. However, because of this state, his hunger will decrease quicker than in the regular state. The third and last state is Wolfgang’s Wimpy State, which occurs on 100 hunger and less. His maximum health goes down to 150 and his movement speed decreases by 10%. His damage will be 0.75x to 0.5x, depending on hunger. Honestly, I might be biased on this, because I don’t really like Wolfgang that much but him being afraid of monsters and dark is going to make issues along the way. His Mighty state requires more food and the Adventure mode kinda lacks it. And it’s just not that worth it in my opinion. Yes, he deals more damage in his Mighty State than all the other characters, but you’re not dealing with any big mobs and a ham bat or a tentacle spike will do.
8. Woodie
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Best Use – Werebeaver, and Lucy
Disadvantage – Turning back to Woodie after the Werebeaver form
Stats: Health – 150, Hunger – 150, Sanity – 200
Damage modifier as Werebeaver: +41 and 20% armor
Speed modifier as Werebeaver: 1.1x
Woodie can be pretty useful for gathering logs as he has Lucy, his trustworthy axe. He can turn into Werebeaver after hitting trees with an axe for too long in a short period of time, or during a full moon. While turning into his cursed state, he drops everything from his inventory, because Werebeaver doesn’t have access to it at all. The hunger meter will disappear and will be replaced by the Beaverness meter. It has a value of 100, and it will decay at a rate of 2 points every 2.5 seconds. Damage taken by the Werebeaver will also decrease the Beaverness meter. To keep the Werebeaver up and running, you have to consume logs, grass, and anything related to that, living logs being the best out of all, giving 50 points. The Werebeaver can chop trees, dig, mine, demolish structures and fight mobs. When fighting, he deals 51 damage, which is pretty decent. He has night vision and he is excellent at searching for the Things since he is immune to rain and winter. It can’t be all rainbows and sunshine, of course, that is why, if you change back to Woodie, your sanity and health will be drastically low, and you are again vulnerable to winter, rain, and heat. So, if you don’t turn back into Woodie in an adequate place with good resources, you might die.
7. Wigfrid
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Best use – her fighting skills
Disadvantage – can only eat meat
Stats: Health – 200, Hunger – 120, Sanity – 120
Damage modifier – 1.25x (caused), 0.75x (taken)
Wigfrid deals 25% extra damage to the mobs, and by killing them she receives sanity and health. She spawns the Constant with her Battle Spear and Battle Helmet which are both decent for combat, especially if your generated world lacks resources. Her only disadvantage during adventure mode might be her hunger for meat. The adventure mode has some meat options, mostly Tallbirds, sometimes Beefalos and Pigs. Being a carnivore, she cannot eat mushrooms, so the sanity can’t be easily controlled. You need good sanity control because some passages in the Adventure Mode require low sanity to pass, some of them require higher sanity. She gains sanity easily, when fighting mobs, however, losing sanity won’t be that easy, unless you spend some time in the darkness, maybe.
6. Willow
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Best use – her lighter
Disadvantage – Insanity fires
Stats: Health – 150, Hunger – 150, Sanity – 120
Sanity modifier: up to +10/min per nearby fire
Willow is not my best choice when it comes to Survival mode, but when it comes to Adventure mode, she can be pretty good. She spawns with her own portable light source, Willow’s Lighter. It has infinite uses and is similar to a torch. Even though it’s not as good as a Miner’s Hat, it doesn’t require any fuel, and it does spawn with Willow, so it is considered a great advantage, especially during the Darkness level. You can also cook your food on it, and therefore no need for unnecessary campfires. Her sanity control is pretty much a piece of cake since she can eat mushrooms to lower it and light fire to gain it. She is also immune to fire damage and therefore can get warm easily during winter. The only thing you should be careful about is her “insanity fires”. When Willow drops to 60 sanity and below, she will randomly light something on fire. This can cause your base to burn down. Use Willow for a fast search of The Things and moving fast from one level to another.
5. Maxwell (*SPOILER ALERT*)
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Best use – Codex Umbra, Shadow armor, Dark Sword
Disadvantage – Low Health
Stats: Health – 75, Hunger – 150, Sanity – 200
Sanity modifier - +20/min
Okay, let’s say you finished the Adventure Mode once, obviously, your next best choice is Maxwell himself. He enters the Constant with his own armor and weapon, as well as his book, Codex Umbra, along with 4 Nightmare fuel and a purple gem. I think no one else spawns with that many items as Maxwell. He has a sanity regeneration of 20 points per minute, and the Dark Sword is one of the strongest weapons in the whole game. He is overall a very strong character. He can spawn his fellow shadows from the Codex Umbra and they can help him gather resources. The biggest disadvantage is his low health. With only 75 points, you really have to be careful not to be hit, as even one hit by a mob can be life-threatening.
4. Wickerbottom
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Best Use – Her knowledge
Disadvantage – Can't sleep
Stats: Health – 150, Hunger – 150, Sanity – 250
Wickerbottom is an awesome character because she doesn’t need a Science Machine to prototype items. This will come in handy in the early gameplay because you can craft various tools and armor, and even winter items. Wickerbottom’s downside is that she suffers from insomnia and therefore can’t sleep at all. So do not waste your resources for crafting tents or sleeping rolls. Her other downside is that she can’t eat spoiled food as it will drastically drain her sanity. Adventure mode should be pretty quick, so there is no need for sleeping anyways, and as you progress through the world, you will be cooking and eating food on the go. Therefore, her disadvantages are not that drastic.
3. Wilson
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Best Use – His Beard
Disadvantage – none really
Stats: Health – 150, Hunger – 150, Sanity – 200
Wilson’s beard is one of the best when it comes to insulation in Winter, and since there are levels where there is mostly winter or even levels where it’s only winter all the time, Wilson is one of the best characters to use in the Adventure mode. He has no disadvantages except not having more advantages than his beard. But honestly, it’s enough for a pretty much vanilla adventure mode, with no extra excitement and no extra issues apart from the ones you already have. Using Wilson in Adventure Mode and facing Maxwell at the end is rather poetic since he is the main protagonist after all.
2. Webber
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Best Use – can befriend spiders, can eat monster meat
Disadvantage – mobs hostile to spiders, are hostile to Webber too
Stats: Health – 175, Hunger – 175, Sanity – 100
Webber has an appearance of a spider, and therefore, spiders are neutral towards him and can be befriended. This is very advantageous since most of the levels are full of spiders. It is also useful for farming silk for a Top Hat, or farming spider glands for health gain. Top Hat is a good Sanity boost if the Tam o’ Shanter can’t be obtained. Being a monster, he can eat monster meat, and there is a lot of that in the adventure mode. One of his disadvantages is that all the mobs who are hostile towards the spiders are also hostile to Webber. But, let’s be real, everything in Adventure Mode is out to get you, so this is not that big of a deal. Another disadvantage is his low Sanity which is pretty annoying since you will have to deal with Shadow Creatures most of the time.
1. WX78
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Best Use – upgradable via gears, system overload
Disadvantage – rain damage
Stats: Health – 100 to 400, Hunger – 100 to 200, Sanity – 100 to 300
Speed modifier – 1x to 1.5x
WX78 is a mediocre character, if not upgraded. If you use 15 gears, WX78 will reach his maximum upgrade and will have 400 health, 200 hunger, and 300 sanity. That makes his stats the highest out of any other character, and we all know that gears are not an issue in the Adventure Mode. Of course, he can also eat them anytime he is hungry, insane or his health is low, along with the other food. He can eat even spoiled food with no downsides, however, this does not apply to food that generally lowers your stats, like Monster Meat, for example. His biggest disadvantage is his damage during rain. However, if struck by lightning, he goes into System Overload, and with that, his movement is increased by 50%, he emits light and he is immune to freezing. This makes WX78 the OG of Adventure Mode, placing him in 1st place.
