Expansions

A New Reign was the first great content era for Don't Starve Together, delivered across a series of free updates from April 2016 through September 2017. It transformed DST from a faithful multiplayer port into a game with its own identity — complete with a deeper story, fearsome endgame bosses, and the first survivor created exclusively for Together.

The era's narrative hook is immediate and chilling: Maxwell is gone. The former King in Shadow has been freed from the Nightmare Throne, and Charlie — Maxwell's betrayed sister — has taken his place as the new Shadow Queen. The Constant has a new, crueller ruler, and the stakes of every expedition into the dark have quietly changed.

Mechanically, A New Reign rebuilt the endgame. Caves and ruins were stitched into a single connected underground world, the surface was rebalanced with tougher seasonal challenges, and a wave of new raid bosses arrived to give established survivors something to dread. What had been a sandbox with no destination became a game with a brutal, lore-rich late-game worth pushing toward.

The single most important lore development in Don't Starve Together's history happened before A New Reign even shipped: the Nightmare Throne changed hands.

At the end of the original Don't Starve's Adventure Mode, Maxwell is freed from the Throne and a new puppet takes his place — usually Wilson. In DST's canon, Charlie — Maxwell's sister, who was transformed into a monster when she touched the Throne in the single-player world — now sits on it willingly. She rules The Constant as the Shadow Queen, and every night when the darkness kills you, it is Charlie who comes for you.

This narrative shift colours everything A New Reign introduces. The Ancient Fuelweaver deep in the ruins is tied to the same nightmare throne. The shadows feel more organised, more purposeful. Even the game's opening cutscene was updated to reflect Charlie's reign: she is the last face you see before the world loads.

The lore threads laid down in A New Reign would later be picked up by Return of Them, which pivoted the story from the shadows below to the moon above — setting up a cosmic conflict that still drives DST's narrative today.

A New Reign introduced four major raid bosses, each designed for a coordinated team with prep time and dedicated loadouts. They sit at the heart of DST's endgame progression.

Bee Queen

The Bee Queen is a punishing swarm fight that spawns from a Gigantic Beehive found in the deciduous forest. She endlessly summons Grumble Bees while her sting delivers a stacking poison effect. The fight demands clear roles: one player kites the Queen while others clear the adds. Dropping Bee Mines and using Sleep Darts to control the swarm makes this fight manageable. Her loot includes Royal Jelly, the Bundling Wrap blueprint, and the Bee Queen Crown — one of the strongest helmets in the game.

Klaus

Klaus is a winter encounter centred on the Loot Stash, which can be unlocked with a Deer Key found in suspicious dirt piles. The fight begins against Klaus and his two Gem Deer — one red (fire) and one blue (ice). Kill both deer first to strip Klaus of his elemental attacks; the fight becomes straightforward after that. Klaus drops the coveted Krampus Sack, the Tam o' Shanter, Walrus Tusk, and Bundled Supplies containing rare seasonal loot. The Winter's Feast event makes the Loot Stash appear year-round.

Toadstool

Toadstool is an endurance battle in the mushtree forest of the caves. Mining a giant glowing mushroom summons it — or summon the much harder Misery Toadstool variant by mining a spiked mushroom instead. This is a 20+ minute war of attrition with spore clouds, spawning mushroom minions, and area-of-effect attacks. Bring full healing, sanity food, and a plan to survive the fight's second phase. Loot includes Mushtree Blueprints, Living Logs, and Shroom Skins for crafting.

Ancient Fuelweaver

The Ancient Fuelweaver is endgame capstone of A New Reign, fought in the Atrium deep beneath the ruins. To summon it, assemble a Shadow Heart from Nightmare Fuel and insert it into the ancient skeleton. The fight has three interlocking mechanics: Woven Shadows that must be killed to expose the boss, a Shield phase requiring every player to stand in its light beam, and Bone Cages that periodically trap a teammate and need to be smashed open. Assign a cage breaker, a shadow killer, and two dedicated damage dealers. Winning drops Shadow Heart, Thulecite Fragments, and the Skeleton Blueprint — and advances the server's narrative toward Return of Them content.

Beyond bosses and story, A New Reign overhauled the game's mechanical foundation with lasting consequences for every server.

Caves & ruins integration

The underground was reworked into a single, seamless layer with no separate surface entrance loading screen. The Atrium was redesigned as the gateway to the Fuelweaver fight, with ancient murals, nightmare fuel deposits, and a deliberately oppressive atmosphere. This made spelunking a core part of the endgame loop rather than a side activity.

World regrowth

One of the era's most important quality-of-life additions: trees, grass tufts, saplings and berry bushes slowly regenerate over time in the wild. This made long-running servers viable for the first time, since the land no longer grew permanently barren around a settled base. It remains one of the defining features of DST compared to the original game's finite resources.

Winona — the first DST-only survivor

Released in September 2017 as the era's capstone, Winona was the first survivor created exclusively for Don't Starve Together. A tough former factory hand, she builds faster, repairs gear with Sewing Tape, and constructs an entire Engineering tab of Generators, Catapults, and Spotlights that turn base defence into an automated kill zone. Her arrival proved that DST would develop its own roster of survivors, not just re-use the original game's.

Combat & balance rework

A New Reign also rebalanced the surface world. Seasonal giants got tougher, new armour and weapon tiers appeared, and the Crock Pot and healing systems were tweaked to make longer boss fights sustainable. The cumulative effect was a world that expected you to be competent by day 50 and ready for an endgame by day 100.

Return of Them followed from 2019 onward and pointed survivors in an entirely new direction: out to sea and up to the stars. Where A New Reign deepened the land, Return of Them added a whole second frontier — the ocean, the moon, and the celestial mystery tying them together.

The story pivots from the shadows underfoot to the light above. The moon, always present in The Constant's sky, is revealed to be a real, reachable place with its own ecosystem, resources, and a looming threat called the Celestial Champion. The lore reframes the entire Don't Starve universe: the nightmare throne is a shadow-side manifestation of a conflict between shadow and lunar forces that predate both Maxwell and Charlie.

Delivered in themed content chapters, each with its own title and trailer, the era added boats and sailing mechanics, ocean fishing, the Lunar Island, new raid bosses, and ultimately a post-game Rifts system that continues to receive updates today. It is by far the largest content addition DST has ever seen.

The ocean is Return of Them's headline feature: a vast, navigable sea that surrounds every landmass and holds resources, secrets and dangers the shore never offered.

Building a boat

Boat Kits, Anchor Kits, Mast Kits and Steering Wheels let you assemble a custom vessel. Fit it with a mast for speed, an anchor to stop, a steering wheel to turn, and Boat Patches to repair leaks — because waves and combat will damage your hull, and a sinking boat dumps everything into the sea. Boats can also mount Cannons for ranged sea combat and Lanterns to navigate at night.

Ocean biomes & resources

The ocean isn't just open water: it has distinct zones. Sea stacks hold stone and flint, kelp patches provide a renewable food source, driftwood washes up to be harvested, and deep ocean areas hide the biggest fish and the most dangerous encounters. Waterlogged biomes with ancient trees and Moon Quay, the pirate monkey island, add distinct destinations.

Ocean fishing

A dedicated ocean-fishing system with its own rod, lures and tackle receptacle. Unlike the simple freshwater rod, sea fishing is a timed minigame: hook a big catch, then reel it in while managing line tension. Nine species of ocean fish, plus the odd trinket or boot, await patient anglers. The richest fishing grounds attract the Malbatross, the ocean's feathered apex predator.

The Hermit Crab questline

A slow-burn questline on the Hermit Crab island rewards patient sailors who ferry items between the mainland and the sea. The eventual reward chain culminates in access to the Celestial Tribute — a key item for the Lunar Island's endgame.

The Lunar Island is Return of Them's most transformative discovery — a fragment of the moon that has fallen into the ocean, bearing alien flora, resources and a new story arc.

Finding it

The Lunar Island is always present in every world, somewhere beyond the fog of the ocean map. You find it by sailing and exploring — no keys, no events. Its approach is marked by increasingly strange geology and a shift in the ambient colour palette from sepia to cool lunar blue.

Flora & resources

The island is home to Moon Rocks, Moon Glass, and Pure Brilliance — materials that feed an entirely new Celestial crafting tree. Stone Fruit bushes produce edible rocks. Lunar Mothlings drift across the island. Saladmander mobs defend the island's resources, and the Gestalt state of sanity on the island changes how survivors interact with the strange moon-tech.

Celestial crafting

The Celestial Orb, Celestial Sanctum and Celestial Tribute form a new crafting progression parallel to the science and magic trees. Moon Glass weapons (the Glass Cutter and Hammer), the Moon Caller's Staff (which summons a friendly moonstorm), and the gear needed to summon and fight the Celestial Champion all come from this branch.

Moonstorms

Once you activate the island's altar, Moonstorms begin to sweep across the mainland — eerie glowing weather that transforms mobs into lunar variants and drops Pure Brilliance. The storms are dangerous but also the only renewable source of the materials needed for high-end celestial crafting.

Return of Them added three major bosses, each marking a different phase of the era's progression.

Crab King

The Crab King is a sea boss found in a ring of rocks in the open ocean. Summon him by placing gems into a central deposit — the gems you use determine his attack patterns and loot. He uses claw slams, gem-powered projectiles, and a healing phase where his claws must be destroyed to push the fight forward. Crab King drops Pearl's Pearl (advances the Hermit Crab questline), Barnacles, and Trident components. He is considered one of the hardest and most gear-dependent fights in the game.

Malbatross

The Malbatross is a giant seabird that arrives when you fish in deep-ocean fishing spots. It fights entirely on the water, using wing sweeps that knock players off boats and create waves that damage vessels. Keep your boat patched, stay mobile, and bring sea-friendly weapons. Its loot includes Feathery Canvas (the fastest sail in the game) and the Malbatross Bill, a high-damage spear alternative.

Celestial Champion

The Celestial Champion is the era's story capstone, fought on the Lunar Island after assembling the Celestial Tribute. It has three phases: a grounded melee form, a floating spellcaster phase, and a final transformed state combining both. The fight demands a team comfortable with dodging area attacks, managing moonstorm mechanics, and keeping sanity in the island's lunar-aligned environment. Victory drops the Tell-Tale Heart (a team-wide revive), Pure Brilliance in bulk, and the satisfaction of having completed Return of Them's central narrative.