Help:Strategy

So: your friends are telling you that only pros can play Starve.io because it's too hard but you have no idea on how to become better? This wiki and this page are here to help. Starve.io is a hard and very complicated game already and will get more and more complicated over time, so you'll need to refresh your strategies every once in a while. This page is here to help you become better at the game.

Overall

The most important thing in this game is to survive the cold, hunger, thirst and aggressive players which attack you for no reason. Many possible strategies are listed below...

Choosing a Server

The first thing you should do is find a server that suits you. To do this, you have to take into account the lag/latency and player count. Under normal circumstances you would want a server with little to no lag. The further the server is from your device, the more lag. For example: If you lived in Texas, you should choose one of the Texas servers and not Roubaix (Europe). Another example is if you were to live in Moscow, you would want to play on a St. Petersburg server and not an LA server.

Another factor to consider that contributes to lag is player count, as the more players there are on a server, the more data the server has to compile and the lower the tick rate (No, not frame rate: that is only client-side) goes. Speaking of player count, there are some advantages and disadvantages for high and low player counts: With a high player count, it’s easier to make teammates so you can kill hostile mobs faster (Okay fine, you can kill players faster too, but I honestly think that takes a lot of preparation and don’t recommend it from the time it will take to do it), however progression rate is much lower while starvation rate is much higher because more people need resources, and there are only so many to go around. As for lower player counts, it is much easier to progress and survive (not mentioning the lag we were talking about earlier) but it might be harder to find a teammate that you can progress with. Another thing is that it’s easier to join servers with low player counts because of the servers’ player limits: 33, 67 and 100.

Spawn and First Day

Your first day (and night) are probably the most difficult in the game - even though your status bars are full, they will quickly decrease and you might die. I guess the first thing we should cover is spawning in the nighttime: You have 2 choices: either die, wait until day and respawn, or try to survive the night and start during the day. If you went with the second choice, and see no campfire anywhere, here is what to do: first find a tree and get 10 wood, with which you can craft a wooden pickaxe (for efficiency, find two trees near each other and hit both at the same time). Then, hit some more trees and rocks until you have 25 wood and 5 stone, with which you must make a campfire. Quickly place it down, preferably close to a lake or the ocean in case you get thirsty at night. Another good place is near a berry bush or resource nodes. Before it dies out, gather resources and make a new campfire and wait till day. Keep in mind that the fire can expire by the end of night if you spawned in at the beginning of the night and that you might take some damage from the cold. A normal fire lasts half a night, and the Big Fire the entire night (and some of the day).

Now that it’s day, you should gather resources. Gather as many as you can, and make sure you have a Big Fire or 2 normal fires for the night. Try to make a workbench (35 wood and 15 stone) ASAP, so you can start making stone tools. You can also try to find one, which is probably easier to do. One of the most efficient things you should also do is: If you have 5 or more berries, use three of them (also 20 wood) and craft a seed near a campfire, so you can start farming food if you ever run out. Since one berry bush is enough the feed on player, the berries from the other one can be used to make even more bushes. These can help if you are extremely low on hunger, or to fill up with on long journeys.

Make sure your auto-feed (R key) is on so you don't accidentally starve!

Early Game

Now that you have a workbench, a slowly growing plant and a wooden pickaxe, you should start going for stone tools. But before you start going on adventures, make a tier 2 campfire for the night so you won’t get caught without a fire and freeze. But remember that 2 fires are better than 1 campfire, as you never know when you have to move. Get 50 wood + 15 stone to make a stone pickaxe and 50 wood + 25 stone for a stone sword.

A stone sword is the better choice because you can hunt faster for a backpack for that costs 6 thread and 5 wolf fur. You can gather many wolves and then kill them at the same time. It's the first item you'll need to craft after stone gear because it'll be hard to manage inventory without it. Make sure you have your status bars full before crafting it since it takes quite a long time.

Q: Aren’t spears better?

A: Spears have longer range but do less damage, thus it takes a long time to kill mobs or players. They’re effective for hunting rabbits, but that can easily be overcome by trapping them against a tree or something and smiting them with a sword. But the range is very useful when fighting players with swords trying to kill you. Spears are very useful in the ocean. The increased range is vital for hunting piranhas safely. Spears are very useful for the winter, because the winter animas move faster than you. Swords are generally better for a faster game, but it's up to you to choose, depending on your style.

Q: Why the backpack and not the IKEA Manual or golden tools?

A: The bag adds 5 more slots to the player's inventory, 14 in total. Inventory management is easily one of the biggest hassles in early-game, and having the extra space allows you to easily carry around useful later-game gear (such as said IKEA book, golden tools, chapkas, helmets, bandages ect.) as well as being able to store the many materials needed to craft aforementioned gear.

Once you have the backpack I personally go for the IKEA manual (and I recommend it to you as well) which takes 4 thread, 4 wolf fur and 4 paper, equating to 4 wolves and 2 spiders to kill as well as 80 wood. This item allows you to craft anything 3x faster when equipped. This substantially speeds up the game, being especially useful when crafting large amounts of items such as walls, cooked meat and campfires. Having a book is also essential for the crafting of amethyst tools, because without the book, it would take so long to craft the tools that you'd die of hunger or cold before the crafting is done.

Enhancing Survival Chances

After you got a Stone Weapon and some food, it'll be easy to survive as long as you remember to collect resources and drink water. You may be attacked by players attacking you for no reason, so try to avoid other people, especially their bases.

Another Possibility is to start building a base only for you/your team. To make your base more useful than protecting you from Wolves and Spiders, you need to place some crafted Berry Bushes and later also a few Chests inside. See "Your Own Base" for more information. This Style has also a "good karma" version, which is achieved by teaming with everybody you see and letting the Base open for Players.

It is also possible to start killing everybody you see, but unless you have good weapons/armor, you will get yourself killed by someone. It's very easy to make enemies in starve.io if you go around attacking/killing people, and I personally have killed many PKers who made an enemy out of me by attacking me or my teammates. Only kill people who are aggressive to you.

Possible Playing Styles:

Intelligent-Collecting aka. Nomadic Style (This is the best strategy; after you get good gear feel free to switch to others though. This means you just go around getting resources, and don't build a base until you have diamond/amethyst/dragon stuff. Bases are a waste of resources til lategame)
Neutral-Building aka. Castle Style (slower progress, and a waste of resources if you don't have diamond/amethyst/dragon stuff. This style is when you build a base too early and waste resources on it)
Good-Building aka. Hotel Style (helps others, but you obtain much less food. It is fun though. This is when you mass produce berry farms or wheat, to feed people)
Unskilled Pking aka. Suicidal Noob Style (absolutely not recommended, this is when you have bad weapons/armor but still try to attack people)
Skilled Pking aka. Soldier Style (once you get good weapons/armor, you kill only a few people, such as people who have murdered innocent people, people in clans, or competitors to you)
Farmer Style (Similar to Good-Building style, but instead of making any structures, you simply create massive farms for food).
Pirate Style: Go in the sea and destroy treasure chests. Make sure you have bridges and an explorer hat so you can escape piranhas and breath in the sea.

Base Building

You may want to build a base in your play-through. Bases can be useful for protecting chests if you have to put items in storage, your plants if you start a farm, and you and your team-mates from animals and PK-ers. However, a base requires maintenance, and building one will probably restrict your movement.

If you decide to create a base, make sure you build it in a liveable location. The ideal place would have:

Large nodes of Gold and Stone resources nearby.
Access to a water source (a well, lake, or the ocean).
Incorporate clusters of trees, for faster wood gathering.
(optional) Be far away from bases of high-level players.
(optional) Natural berry bushes nearby.

Some other general tips for base builders:

A centralised base location allows for shorter running distances.
Natural resource nodes, like trees and rocks, are indestructible, and make good walls.
Put walls more tightly around natural blocks like trees, so that people can't 'glitch' through.
Having your base incorporate the border of the map means less walls are needed (especially at corners), and gives easy access to huge amounts of wood in the forest and winter biomes.

When you need a lot of wood, find a spot with two trees and hit the two at the same time.
Player-made plants die after being hurt by tools (use your hand for harvesting) AND after about 5 days
Wood walls aren't recommended as they get easily destroyed by tools. Use stone walls, or higher.
Plant plots are required for growing plants in the winter biome, or on open water (as well as a bridge).
Opening doors with even just your fists will slowly destroy them.
The wrench is cheap in costs, and allows you to repair structures.

Since the VAMOS A LA PLAYA update came out it added the water bar. This means you will need to make sure your base is relatively close to a water source, unless you have plenty of water bottles so you don't dehydrate.

Mid Game

Now you set your sights on the unforgiving Arctic wasteland to the North and in particular, its treasure trove of precious diamonds, ripe for the taking (unless if an annoying clan is camping the diamond nodes).

In order to survive the increased loss of heat and harsher conditions your next priority should be to have acquired: the backpack, IKEA manual, and coat (if not available, a peasant's tunic or earmuffs can suffice, although you may need more fires).

A consideration may be to have a base for the storage of additional items in chests, as inventories tend to become crowded by this point. However, crafting the backpack should have created enough space (so long as you are removing unnecessary items as you go along), such that base building is not required and may even wisely be postponed till enough gear has been gathered to appropriately defend a base against raiding.

The chapka/coat (the coat being a direct upgrade from earmuffs) will liberate you from the constant need to be around a camp fire, allowing productive use of the nighttime. This makes for a good time to gather resources since many players will huddled around fires instead of competing for use of mobs and nodes. The coat will allow you enough time to make adequate headway into the winter biome, before needing to place another fire.

Having made the coat, you won't need any more mob drops (unless you still need the IKEA manual, which is highly unlikely). Its advisable to discard any remainder unless you want the explorer hat. The explorer hat reduces mob hostility when worn, which might come in handy when moving past arctic mobs, which are very dangerous (and can move faster than the player). However, for more experienced players, this would be considered a waste of time acquiring. If this is your first foray into the icy lands, then consider getting it though.

The winter biome has no food source besides dangerous mobs so take with you approximately 35-50+ cooked meat or about 180 berries. This will give you long enough to reach the diamonds, mine enough for all diamond gear and return home. You should be able to have enough food, simply from all the wolves and bears you have already had to kill.

Another, reasonably viable possibility is starting a wheat and / or berry farm and either gathering 180+ berries, producing around 30 sandwiches / cakes OR baking about 75 cookies.

You will also need 30+ fires for a successful expedition, though this may need to be supplemented by mining wood and stone while travelling. You will find yourself placing fires fairly often during the day and every 10 steps at night, so stock up, or you will have a miserable trip and exposure to too much risk of death.

Finally, either 15 full bottles or a water bottle and a shovel is needed to satisfy thirst as there are no ponds. The former method takes only 2 slots, but is less reliable. the latter is recommended. You need to dig up 20 ice, and melt it with a heat source into an empty bottle to produce viable hydration. This can be done whenever you stop by a campfire to regain heat.

Expedition tips:

Get hold of 60-300 diamond depending on what gear you want. If you just want the diamond pickaxe(20)+sword/spear(40), get 60, if you want the diamond helmet(100) as well and maybe even the diamond shovel(20), get 160 total. If you are going for full amethyst everything, get 420 diamonds. That's how many diamonds it costs to make all your gear amethyst. Be warned that it takes a lot of time to get 420 diamonds and that you'll need to kill arctic animals to provide food.
Move as far around the arctic mobs as possible (they are lethal if aggravated).
- If they aggro on you, put something other than fires between them and you or hide behind a natural resource.
- If they still follow you around the object, just keep moving around it and place fires so that you regain heat all the way around.
- Don't panic and don't fight it unless you know how. Spot your opportunity and break away.
- If you must fight, place a fire in the open and circle it while occasionally stabbing the predator. Takes a while to kill... and be careful.
- Spears are arguably better than swords for killing arctic animals, as they allow you to attack from a safe distance (or even from behind small nodes).
- Sometimes you might want even want to take an Explorer's Hat if you really need to. If you want to avoid them and have little defense this is a last resort backup. You'll also obviously need at least a coat.
Constantly monitor the cold bar.
- Place fires by nodes and mine while warming up. Craft while moving.
- Harvest ice while heating up. Make sure to always have a full bottle
Press R to use auto-feed for efficient use of food (it will only feed when none is wasted)
Be very wary of players. Combat will revolve around heat management. Having to run away at night is almost a death sentence.
- Stay away from players with diamond/amethyst swords unless they speak cordially. Trust is up to you.

One very annoying thing that you can do is mine 60 diamond, and then block the entrances of the cave. These will take forever to destroy, granting you enough time to get you amethyst. Once you are out, it is recomended to destroy the walls.

Sometimes, players may wish to craft diamond gear while out in the field. As long as there are no players nearby, make sure to craft it quickly and always use an IKEA manual to craft diamond or amethyst gear. Additionally, make sure to have relatively high food and cold, and be near a heat source. You can also just return to the forest, but that increases your risk if you need to engage in PvP before you're able to craft your diamond stuff

Good luck!

New Playing Styles:

Neutral-Collecting aka. Nomad Style (you still go around collecting resources, but this time as something already with the gear you need)
Neutral-Building aka. King Style (more like Castle Style, you decide to build a base)
Evil-Serial Killing aka. Genghis Khan style (ambush players when you get their trust, or kill them outright. When there are accounts, if you do this then, you will be hated by everyone. Make sure to use a name that you will never use again, or maybe a nemesis' name).

What Now?

So now that you possess those sick diamond items, the world is your oyster. (Still avoid high aggro, leader-board players)

Some options:

Go for amethyst! (dragons can be trapped with walls, or use explorer hat).
Become king of the seas and slayer of krakens (and treasure chests).
Acquire high level loot. (obtain cap and scarf, super hammer etc)
Start a hotel. (pick a nice location, build some furnaces, bridges or a well, some berry bushes or wheat plants, and all the facilities a player could need - there's nothing more joyful than having 20+ players flocking to your paradise and loving you for it)
Or for fun, just troll players (make sure to get good gear, because some people will be angry with you)
Build the biggest base, the world has ever seen / Become a tribal chieftain.
Be a PKer (player killer). This gets boring after a while though, and it's better to help some noobs and to pass on your stuff once you get bored with the game.
Start a farm (grow berries, wheat and pumpkins for people to eat).

When you have to disconnect soon, it would be very nice to give somebody everything you possess, using a chest. Remember, what goes around, comes around.

Be a good person and don't waste your items by dying without sharing them!

General Tips

When you need a lot of wood, mine the trees along the southern winter border, as you can easily get over 1000+ wood.
If you quickly need a lot of wood or stone,find two trees or stones next to each other and start mining them.
When fighting arctic foxes, note that they are a bit faster than you, so when attacking stop attacking every couple of seconds to not get killed.

Category	Guides
Database	Recipes - Key Binds
Tutorials	The Road to Amethyst - Part One - The Road to Amethyst - Part Two Blue Orb & Cube - Strategies - Crafting - Zombie Guide
Knowledge-base	Strategy - Base - Guide - Base Building