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Wolfgang

Gunpowder is a Science Item and explosive Weapon. It requires 1 Rotten Egg, 1 Charcoal, and 1 Nitre to craft and an Alchemy Engine to prototype. Rotten Eggs are produced by waiting for Eggs to rot, and can usually be found in Pengull nests sometime after Winter ends. Charcoal can be obtained by burning trees. Nitre is dropped from mining boulders, or by digging up Moleworm burrows in the Reign of Giants DLC.

When placed and lit on fire, Gunpowder will explode after 3–6 seconds, destroying objects and dealing massive damage in a small radius (less than three Wall unit, or 3/4th of a Turf unit.). It deals 200 damage per charge and can be exploded in stacks, which is more than enough to instantly kill an unarmored character at full health (with the exception of Wigfrid, an upgraded WX-78 or (DS only) Wolfgang). This damage is not affected by a Character's damage multipliers.

Any loot dropped by Mobs killed with Gunpowder will turn to Ashes or the cooked version of their respective Meat (Cooked Morsel, Fried Egg, etc.), except for loot dropped from Dragonfly in the Reign of Giants DLC and Don't Starve Together.

Flammable items such as Cut Grass left on the ground can act like a fuse to chain explosions from one clump of gunpowder to the next over an arbitrarily large area (unless it's raining).

Gift Icon Downloadable Content[]

In the Shipwrecked DLC, Gunpowder can be used to craft Coconades and Boat Cannons. It can also be used to destroy Obsidian Boulders. Gunpowder sinks in the water, meaning it cannot be used to fight the Sealnado, Tiger Shark, or Quacken in the water.

In the Hamlet DLC, Gunpowder can be used to load the Blunderbuss, a ranged weapon dealing 200 damage. It can also be used to destroy Suspicious Cracks in the Ancient Pig Ruins.

Don't Starve Together icon Don't Starve Together[]

In Don't Starve Together, Giants and bosses from A New Reign gain a resistance to explosive damage when it's received within a short time span. This resistance will fade completely if no other explosive damage is done within 10 seconds. Gunpowder sinks in the water, meaning it cannot be used to fight Malbatross and Crab King without sacrificing a boat, unless an ice flingomatic is used.

Monsters with resistance:

Formula:

  • explosions add (explosion damage / 8000) * 100% explosive resistance
    • each Gunpowder adds 2.5% and 0.2 seconds of decay time
    • each Slurtle Slime adds 0.625% and 0.05 seconds of decay time
  • resistance remains at full strength for 2 seconds
  • resistance then decays by 12.5% per second
  • maximum time for resistance to decay to 0% is therefore 10 seconds.

Icon Tools Usage[]

Gunpowder
Coconut
Rope
Science Machine
Coconade
Shipwrecked icon
Gunpowder
Coconut
6×
Log
5×
Science Machine
Boat Cannon
Shipwrecked icon
Gunpowder
Cut Stone
2×
Blueprint (rare)
Cannonball
4×
Don't Starve Together icon

Placeholder Trivia[]

  • Gunpowder was added in A Little Rain Must Fall update.
  • Gunpowder explosions can cause structures to drop their resource, but not if they are on fire.
  • Gunpowder explosions have the same lighting effect as a Lightning strike.
  • In earlier versions of the game, Gunpowder explosions in Caves could cause Earthquakes.
  • Real-life black powder is made by combining charcoal (carbon), nitre (potassium nitrate), and sulfur which is mistakenly believed to smell like rotten eggs (an average egg contains about 0.2 milligrams of sulfur).
  • Realistically, a pile of gunpowder would only burn, not explode. It needs to be contained (like inside a coconut) to allow pressure to build.
  • Gunpowder can be set off by Moleworms.

Blueprint Gallery[]

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