📖 Bat Wing Alchemy: Turn Cave Bats Into Don’t Starve Gold

1. Bat Wing Basics: Drops, Rates & Where to Find Them

Batilisk Wings are a Meat Food Item dropped by Batilisks - the small, aggressive bats that live in caves. They look like a single leathery wing ripped straight from a bat.

Drop Rates

Where & When Batilisks Spawn

Batilisks are cave-dwellers that visit the surface at night:

• On the surface, they emerge from Sinkholes (cave entrances) at dusk
• Typically ~3 Batilisks spawn per Sinkhole (up to ~6 later in game)
• Fewer bats spawn during Winter (they "hibernate")
• In caves, they spawn from ceilings during dusk and night cave phases
• In Hamlet DLC, Vampire Bats serve a similar role and drop "Batilisk Wing?" items

Identifying a Sinkhole

Look for these signs to find a Sinkhole:

• A cracked circular formation often surrounded by guano and bones
• Small bat-like shadows flitting around
• Initially covered by rocks requiring a pickaxe to open
• The presence of Guano piles is a dead giveaway

A Sinkhole with bats emerging at dusk - your source for Bat Wings

Batilisk Behavior

• Health: 50 HP
• Damage: 20 per hit
• Behavior: Target players or nearby creatures with meat
• They make a distinct squeak before attacking
• Can fly over walls but won't cross open water
• Cause a small sanity aura drain when near (-25 Sanity/min)

2. Battling the Bats: How to Survive (and Win) Batilisk Encounters

Kiting 101

Batilisks have a predictable attack pattern that can be exploited:

• When a bat is about to attack, it pauses and makes a distinct "squeak" sound
• Strike during this pause to interrupt its attack
• With a Spear (34 damage), kill bats in two hits
• With a Tentacle Spike or better (51+ damage), one-hit kills are possible
• Hold F (default combat key in DST) to auto-attack bats as they swoop in

Tank if Needed

If kiting isn't your thing or multiple bats attack simultaneously:

• Wear armor (Log Suit + Football Helmet give 80% damage reduction)
• That 20 damage bite becomes only 4 damage with proper armor
• Face-tank a few bats and spam attacks if needed

Dealing With Swarms

If you have multiple bats attacking at once:

• Lead them through a zig-zag so they string out
• Use Tooth Traps to thin the horde
• Lead them to Spider Dens - spiders and bats will fight each other
• Run to nearby Beefalo or Pigs for assistance

Multiplayer Coordination

In DST, if multiple players are present when bats swarm:

• Decide quickly who will tank or be bait
• Consider huddling together so bats target the group
• One player can wear armor and draw aggro while others attack from behind
• Gang up freely - friendly fire isn't an issue by default

Environmental Helpers

Leverage other mobs to help fight bats:

• Bunnymen: Consider them allies against bats (they view bats as monsters)
• Pigs: Will fight bats if they see them
• Catcoons: Sometimes jump and swat at small creatures including bats

Avoiding Bats Entirely

If you're not ready to fight:

• Don't open Sinkholes if you want to avoid bats on the surface
• Base far from open Sinkholes (bats roam only a screen or two away)
• Create a small bat containment area away from your base
• Run away until dawn when bats will return to their holes

3. Efficient Bat Wing Farming: From Pest Control to Production

Basic Farm Setup

The simplest farm involves positioning yourself near a Sinkhole at dusk, killing bats as they emerge, and collecting wings. However, there are more efficient methods.

The "Bunny Circle" method - Rabbit Hutches around a Sinkhole for automatic bat farming

The Bunny Circle Method

Perhaps the safest and most hands-off method:

• Place several Rabbit Hutches in a ring around a Sinkhole
• Bunnymen spawn at dusk and will attack Batilisks on sight
• The bunnies will kill the bats for you - just collect the drops
• Remember to feed the Bunnymen carrots periodically or they'll starve
• Recipe: 1 Bunny Puff + 4 Carrots + 4 Boards per Rabbit Hutch

Winona's Catapults

If you play as Winona or have her on your team:

• Deploy 2-3 Catapults near a Sinkhole powered by a Generator
• Catapults automatically fling rocks at bats, dealing AOE damage
• Two catapult hits will kill a bat
• The benefit over bunnies: no feeding required
• The downside: need to refuel generators occasionally

Multiple Sinkholes Strategy

For maximum yield:

• Exploit all Sinkholes on the map (typically 2-5 in a world)
• Each one can spawn ~3 bats nightly
• With a 75% drop rate, that's ~2.25 wings per night per sinkhole
• With 4 sinkholes, potentially get ~9 wings per day
• In multiplayer, assign each player a sinkhole "station" to farm

The Guano Biome Tactic

In some worlds, you might find a "Guano biome" - a rocky area with multiple sinkholes close together:

• Create a dedicated outpost in this biome
• Consider placing Crock Pots and chests to process wings on-site
• Each dusk, roam the area collecting guano and fighting bat waves
• Be careful - multiple sinkholes can produce overwhelming numbers of bats

Caves Farming

Don't forget you can farm bats inside caves as well:

• Batilisks roost on cave ceilings and periodically flutter down
• Set up camp in a cave with Bunnymen for protection
• Advantage: no seasons in caves means bat spawn is consistent year-round

4. All Uses of Bat Wings: Cooking, Crock Pot, Crafting, and More

Eating & Cooking Bat Wings

For eating, you have three options:

• Raw Consumption: Not recommended due to -10 sanity penalty, though it provides modest hunger restoration
• Cooked Wing: Better option - provides +8 Health and +18.75 Hunger with no sanity effect
• Drying Rack (Best): Place on a Drying Rack for 2 days to get Small Jerky, which gives +8 Health, +10 Sanity, and +12.5 Hunger

Crock Pot Recipes

Bat Wings can be used in many Crock Pot recipes. Remember they count as 0.5 meat and 0.5 monster food:

Crafting with Bat Wings

Other crafting uses:

• Bat Cowl (Hamlet DLC): 1 Batilisk Wing + 1 Pig Skin + 1 Manure creates a wearable hat that provides minor night vision
• Arboretum Experiment (DST Halloween): 1 Batilisk Wing + 1 Living Log creates a potion at the Mad Scientist Lab to grow a Totally Normal Tree

Other Interactions & Uses

• Pig King Trading: Hand a Batilisk Wing to the Pig King for 1 Gold Nugget
• Befriend Catcoons: Feed a Bat Wing to a Catcoon to make it your temporary pet
• Lure/Bait: Dropping a Bat Wing on the ground creates a "food lure" for certain creatures
• Werepig Transformation: Feeding a Bat Wing to a Pig Man contributes to turning it into a Werepig (since it's monster food)

5. Advanced Strategies & Synergies Involving Bat Wings

Long-term Storage Strategies

For extended survival, manage your Bat Wing resources carefully:

• Dedicated Drying Racks: Set up multiple racks specifically for Bat Wings
• Rotation System: Hang new wings as soon as you harvest jerky for continuous supply
• Bundling Wraps: Combine 4 Bat Wings in a wrap to freeze their spoilage indefinitely
• "Semi-Dry" Method: Leave jerky on the rack until needed - unharvested jerky doesn't spoil

The Gold Factory

Convert Bat Wings into a steady gold supply:

• Each Bat Wing = 1 Gold Nugget from the Pig King
• With a bunny farm killing 6 bats a night, that's potentially 6 gold daily
• Useful for crafting Gold Tools, Winona's catapults, or other gold-intensive projects

Emergency Healing & Sanity Kit

Keep a supply of processed Bat Wings for emergencies:

• 5 cooked wings = 40 HP on the go (similar to a Honey Poultice)
• Small Jerky serves as "mini sanity pills" (+10 sanity each)
• Having a few pieces of Small Jerky in your inventory can save you from Shadow Creatures
• Unlike Green Caps (which hurt health), jerky provides sanity with health gain

Sanity Management for Bat Farmers

Create a positive sanity loop from bat farming:

• Fighting bats costs sanity (proximity aura drain)
• But drying their wings produces jerky that gives sanity
• This creates a feedback loop: lost sanity while farming is regained by consuming the products
• For example, fighting 4 bats might cost ~10 sanity, but drying those 4 wings gives jerky totaling +40 sanity when eaten

Other Advanced Applications

• Werepig Farming: Feed 4 Bat Wings to a single Pig to force-transform it into a Werepig
• Trading with Players (DST): Become your server's wing supplier, especially during Halloween events
• Warly Synergy: Provide wings to Warly players who need specific meat ingredients for their special recipes

6. Spoilage & Storage Mechanics: Keeping Your Wings Fresh

Spoilage Times

• Raw Batilisk Wings: Spoil in 6 days (roughly 1.25 game seasons)
• Cooked Batilisk Wings: Spoil faster, generally ~3 days
• Dried (Small Jerky): Lasts 20 days, excellent for long-term storage

Relative spoilage times for different forms of Bat Wings

Storage Methods

To extend the life of your Bat Wings, use these storage options:

• Ice Box: Slows spoilage by 50% (raw ~12 days, jerky ~40 days)
• Salt Box (DST): Slows meat spoilage to 25% speed (raw wings last 24 days, jerky 80 days)
• Bundling Wrap: Pauses spoilage indefinitely when items are bundled
• Drying Rack: Food being dried spoils very slowly or not at all; unharvested jerky doesn't spoil

Managing Spoilage Tips

1. Refrigerate First: Always store wings in an Ice Box when possible
2. Cook Before Rot: If a wing is about to turn, cook it to get a bit more life out of it
3. Salvage Nearly-Spoiled Wings: Place wings on a drying rack even if nearly spoiled - the drying process pauses spoilage
4. Use Rot as Fertilizer: If wings do spoil, use the rot as fertilizer or fuel

HAZARD WARNING

Be mindful of Lightning and Fire Hazards: Lightning can cook raw meats in your inventory, halving their freshness. Wildfires can burn stored food, including items in wooden chests. Use Ice Flingomatics in summer to protect your food storage.

7. Multiplayer & Niche Uses in DST

Bat Waves in DST

Don't Starve Together has unique bat mechanics:

• In DST, if caves are enabled and a Sinkhole is open, Batilisks periodically swarm the surface at dusk
• If one player opens a new cave, warn others that bats might start appearing at night
• Drops are shared - with 75% drop rate, a group can quickly accumulate wings

Coordinated Bat Farming

Team strategies for efficient bat handling:

• Divide Roles: Assign one player (perhaps Wolfgang or Wigfrid) as the dedicated "exterminator"
• Light Management: Use lanterns or miner hats at dusk so you're not caught in darkness
• Enemy Distraction: If a Hound wave coincides with bats, kite them into each other
• Communication: Ping the map or use a flute to signal an incoming bat wave

Hallowed Nights Event Special

Team Bat Bat Strategy

Coordinate with teammates to maximize Bat Bat effectiveness:

• One player (Wormwood or Wigfrid) can main Bat Bat for lifesteal while others provide sanity restoration
• A player wearing a Bee Queen Crown provides a passive sanity aura to counter Bat Bat's sanity drain
• During boss fights, have a dedicated healer with a Bat Bat while others focus on damage

Trading Economy

On multiplayer servers, Bat Wings can become a valuable trade commodity:

• New players often need certain resources - become your server's wing supplier
• During Halloween, trade wings to players wanting to craft seasonal items
• Exchange wings with Warly players who need meat ingredients for special recipes

8. Lore, Trivia & Flavor

Character Quotes

Don't Starve characters have unique examination quotes for Bat Wings that add personality:

Fun Facts & Trivia

• "Batilisk" is the official name of the cave bats – a pun on "bats" and "basilisk"
• In the Hamlet DLC, bat wings are called "Batilisk Wing?" (with a question mark), implying the Hamlet folk aren't sure what it is
• Despite being a wing, you unfortunately can't use it to fly
• Batilisks were part of the original cave content lore, appearing in the Underground update poster art
• In game files, they had an inventory image even before being properly implemented in some contexts

Recent Update History

Importantly, no significant nerfs to Bat Wings occurred in recent updates. The trend has been buffs (higher drop rates, more uses), making Bat Wings much more useful now than in earlier versions.

Conclusion: Embrace the Wing!

From a creepy cave curiosity to a cornerstone of your survival strategy, Bat Wings have come a long way. They exemplify what Don't Starve is all about – turning the bizarre and dangerous into something beneficial with a little know-how.

Next time dusk falls and you hear that telltale flutter and squeak, don't panic; get your helmet on and your weapon ready, because "That'll teach those bats."

Go forth and make those wings work for you. And remember Wilson's wise words when he cooked up a Bat Wing: "At least it's not coming back." Bon appétit and happy crafting, survivor – you've earned your wings!