In Don't Starve, Webber can safely eat Monster Foods without any adverse health effects, he grows a silky smooth beard, and he can befriend Spiders. He starts the game with 2 Monster Meat and Spider Eggs, which can be used to plant a Spider Den. If the Hamlet DLC is enabled, then Webber will start with the Shamlet Mask.
Webber's different stages of beard growth.
Webber grows a beard made of Silk much like Wilson grows one made of hair. It takes 3 days per stage of beard growth, a total of 9 days for full length (compared to 16 days for Wilson). When he shaves with a Razor, he gains 10 
and Silk drops to the ground. Webber's silky beard provides 3/4 as much insulation from freezing as Wilson's beard would. When Webber is revived by a Touch Stone, Meat Effigy, his beard will disappear.
Below is the days it takes Webber to grow his beard to the next stage, along with the number of Silk gained and insulation provided with each stage.
| Days until growth | Length | Silk yield | Insulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 days | Short beard |  x1
|
11.25 |
| 6 days | Long beard | ×3
|
33.75 |
| 9 days | Silky Smooth beard | ×6
|
67.5 |
Shaving every 3 days is half as efficient as waiting for the full beard to grow out (0.33 Silk/day vs. 0.67 Silk/day).
Spiders (including Spider Queens, all forms of Cave spiders, as well as the venomous variant of Spider Warriors found in Shipwrecked) are neutral towards Webber, regarding him as one of their own. Webber does not lose Sanity from being close to spiders, and does not alarm Spiders when he walks on the sticky webbing around a Spider Den, nor does his walking speed lower either. Webber can upgrade Spider Dens with 5 Silk, and alternatively can craft new Spider Dens from 12 Silk, 6 Spider Glands, and 6 Papyrus, within the Structures tab.
Webber can befriend Spiders by giving them Meat. A Spider fed this way and up to 2 other spiders within 15 units (3.75 Pitchfork tiles) will follow Webber and protect him for up to 2.5 Days (20 minutes). Spiders will follow for 19.2 seconds per Calorie in the Meat (4 minutes or half a day for a Morsel). Befriending spiders that were spawned by Spider Queens does not grant any potential extra spiders, only the one you fed.
Disadvantage
The downside to Webber's spidery traits is that "good" mobs that are hostile to Spiders will also be hostile to Webber. This means that Pigs, Bunnymen, Catcoons, as well as Bottlenose Ballphins and Wildbores in Shipwrecked, will attack Webber on sight and cannot be befriended.
Webber has a lower Sanity maximum, meaning he will experience changes in sanity far faster than other characters, and is more susceptible to Shadow Creatures.
The world of Hamlet is significantly more dangerous to Webber, as all Royal Guards as well as Pogs will attack him on sight, unless he is wearing the Shamlet Mask. Additionally, Spider Monkeys are incapable of being befriended by Webber and pose the same threat to him as any other character.
Tips
- Webber's low sanity can easily be managed by crafting a Top Hat out of the Silk he collects from farming Spiders or shaving his Beard.
- As the beard doesn't grow longer after 9 days and the player loses it on resurrection or by changing characters, it is most efficient to shave after every 9th night.
- The beard will take exactly 9 days to grow to its full length (full length at the beginning of day 10), and since Winter starts on day 21 on default settings, the player can shave once to get the Silk and still be able to get a full beard for Winter. The player can easily survive Winter with just a full beard and a Thermal Stone.
- It is advised to shave at the beginning of Summer due to the beard accelerating the rate at which Webber overheats and providing no benefits when fully grown.
- Webber keeps his beard when he uses a Wooden Thing to move to a new world. This proves useful in Adventure Mode when "The King of Winter" or "The Game is Afoot" are still to be encountered.
- Due to his perks, Webber makes an excellent character for Caves and Ruins exploration as there are far more Spiders underground than there are Bunnymen.
- Befriended Spiders will eat any Meat, Pig Skins and Bunny Puffs dropped from their kill after a short time, so the player needs to act quickly if they want to collect these drops.
- Spiders will occasionally attack Walls, so it is recommended to place any Walls away from the Spider Dens.
- Spiders will attack Chester on sight. This can be used to player's advantage with smaller dens, using him as bait. However, with larger dens, it is recommended to either leave Chester away from Spiders.
- Since Webber does not trigger the spawning of Spiders when he walks on webbing, it is advised to use Glommer to make the Spiders come out whenever they are needed. It can trigger the webbing even when in flight and Spiders are not hostile to Glommer so there's no risk to it.
- Feeding Meat or Pig Skin to a Spider will cause multiple spiders to follow Webber within a small radius. With only a few pieces of easily acquired meat (i.e. Frog Legs, Morsels), Webber can amass a very large following by only feeding a few spiders.
- Since Webber can use Meat to recruit new Spiders under his control, one can have the Spiders attack any creatures that drop Meat upon death, and in addition to the fresh Meat to potentially be used to recruit even more Spiders, any Spiders that should fall in battle could leave behind Monster Meat, also usable to recruit.
- It is advised to befriend Cave Spiders and Spitters for one's personal army. While Cave Spiders and Webber can tank the enemy, Spitters can decimate them from afar, away from danger.
- Webber is able to eat all types of Meat raw without any ill effects, however it is still advisable to cook any meat the player won't be eating immediately because of the cooked meat's 15 day spoil time, more than twice as long as its uncooked form takes to turn into Rot.
- Webber is able to eat Monster Meat raw without any ill effects, and cooking Monster Meat does not increase its hunger value. However, it is still advisable to cook any meat the player won't be eating immediately because of the cooked meat's 15 day spoil time, more than twice as long as its uncooked form takes to turn into Rot.
- Befriended Spider Warriors can be used to easily hunt small animals (Butterflies, Rabbits, etc.) as their jump attack has enough range to kill small prey before they can run.
- Note: To order a spider to attack another spider, press whatever key/button for attacking an enemy (For example, "F" on keyboard), then immediately move the character to cancel the attack. If it is done too fast, nothing will happen. If done too slow, the player will end up attacking the spider, and some spiders will try to attack back. If timed just right, Webber will say something (Example: "En garde!") but won't attack, thus making the ally spider do the work for the player and starting the war.
- In the Shipwrecked DLC, Fire Packim Baggims will attack Webber and Spiders.
- To safely and easily collect large amounts of Monster Meat, Silk, and Spider Glands, players can use the following technique:
- Plant multiple Spider Dens in a small area.
- When Spiders are wandering around during the dusk/night, feed one a piece of Meat and order it to attack another Spider.
- This will cause all of the Spiders nearby to swarm the offending follower.
- This will cause a huge war amongst the Spiders with all Spiders nearby killing each other.
- Simply hold Spacebar for PC, A for Xbox One, or "X" for PS4 in the middle of the battlefield to collect dropped items. Alternatively, one can use The Lazy Forager to automatically pick up items.
| Characters | |
| Don't Starve |           |
| Reign of Giants |   |
| Shipwrecked |     |
| Hamlet |    |
| Don't Starve Together |       |
| Removed |  |
| Unimplemented |        |
| Other |        Minor Characters |