Losing sanity slowly consumes your health, lowering your max hp and leaving you vulnerable. Throughout Nalcott many things can lower your sanity including mobs, contaminated water, and eating some foods without cooking them. This guide explains how to restore Sanity with rest, food, and other consumables. As well as how to manage and avoid losing Sanity while you play.
Consumables
Consumables are the main way to restore sanity. They do this by restoring sanity, regenerating sanity, or becoming immune to sanity loss for a period of time. Restoring sanity gives you back the max HP you lost but it doesn't heal you.
Sanity Gummy
Eating a sanity gummy is a great way to restore sanity. Be aware, if you are in a zone where the stardust pollution is higher than your resistance then after restoring sanity you lose it again. When that is the case, wait until you leave the highly polluted area to consume sanity gummies.
Sanity gummies are crafted in a stove. You need boiled or purified water, sugar, and wood to cook a sanity gummy. Boiled water is dirty water, from inland water sources, cooked in a stove.
You get sugar from cooking beets. An easy place to get beets is the second settlement Meyers Market. There are farming plots for a few different vegetables in Meyers Market, beets being one of them. The beets plot is located on the south side of Meyers Market, next to the fishing dock. If the beets plot doesn't have enough you can run around the edge of the town to find some more. Sugar is used for other recipes as well so it doesn't hurt to collect extra.
Astral Dewlets
You receive 20 Astral Dewlets every day and can use them to buy some sanity gummies in a pinch. You can also use them for activators (healing syringe), an adrenaline shot (self revive), flatbread (food), or orange juice (drink). To get to the Astral Dewlets page go to the Esc Menu and click Events tab on the left or hit F3. Then go to the Regular Event tab.
Fruit Tea
Drinking fruit tea restores hydration and sanity. Fruit tea is cooked on the stove. The ingredients you need are specific plants, boiled or purified water, and wood. The plant you use gives the fruit tea an extra effect.
The recipe takes Coneflower, Sage, Bellflower, Honeysuckle, Scarlet Calamus, and Yellow Lotus each of which add unique effects.
- Coneflower
- Gives a sanity regenerating effect, which is the strongest option by far.
- Sage
- Increases the duration of dish effects. Fruit Tea does not have a dish effect duration.
- Bellflower
- Enhances the effect of dishes. This increases the hydration and sanity amounts gained by drinking Fruit Tea.
- Honeysuckle
- Applies a healing over time effect, it is slow but saves you some meds.
- Scarlet Calamus
- Reduces the weight of dishes.
- Yellow Lotus
- Increases the duration of the dish so it doesn't spoil as fast.
Grilled Mushrooms
Another easy way to restore sanity is by eating grilled mushrooms. You make grilled mushrooms in a stove and the only ingredient is mushrooms. A nice place to find mushrooms is along the railroad to the north of Meyers Market. They grow between the bridge and the tunnel on either side of the railroad.
Corn Ale
Towards the end game you can start making Corn Ale. You need the water purification system and the brewing barrel memetics. Corn Ale is made by putting purified water and corn into the brewing barrel and waiting until it ferments. You can connect pipes straight from the water purifier to the brewing barrel to keep a steady supply of purified water in it. To acquire the corn you have to either set up a farm or get it from the wilderness all around Nalcott. In the south of Meyers Market there is some corn in a farming plot next to the beets. Along with there being a decent amount of corn around the edge of Meyers Market.
Sleeping
Resting in a bed slowly restores sanity and heals you up at the same time. Purchasing a blueprint for a bigger bed from a settlement vendor increases the restoration speed.
Deviations
There are a couple Deviations that can restore your sanity. To get a better understanding of how Deviations work, checkout the "How to Use Deviations" guide.
Festering Gel
You receive the Festering Gel deviation after killing the first monolith boss. Take it back to your base and put it in an Isolated Securement Unit by pressing "F" and right clicking the Festering Gel. If there is another Deviation already in the Isolated Securement Unit you can press "F" to go inside it and press "U" to withdraw the Deviation. Then press "G" to sync it to your Cradle or press "F" to look inside and click the "Synchronize to Cradle" button in the bottom right. Now when you hold "E" you have the option to place or throw the Festering Gel which then forms itself into a barrier. You can hide behind the barrier or just stand next to it to restore your sanity and health to full. Deviations need to recharge their energy before you are able to use them again, but this process doesn't take long. Festering Gel heals you so fast that you can hold "E" and put it away once you heal to full so that the time it takes to recharge is shorter. The Festering Gel is definitely a contender for the most useful combat Deviation for defense.
Hug-In-A-Bowl
When Hug-In-A-Bowl is in an isolated securement unit it produces materials that you can use to make soup. This soup restores sanity just like sanity gummies. It takes some time for it to generate its materials but over time it makes enough soup to keep you sane. An early spot to find a Hug-In-A-Bowl is to the north of Meyers Market hiding under the double bridge.
What to Avoid
Several things across Nalcott lower your Sanity. A few to keep an eye out for are:
- Eating raw food
- Swimming in contaminated water
- High pollution zones without appropriate level gear
- The number shown on the backpack is the areas pollution level
- Some mob attacks decrease sanity on hit
- Contaminated black pools of liquid on the ground
Gear
Gear pieces have pollution resistance which gets higher as you upgrade. Every ten levels you can equip the next tier of gear. You need the materials from the equivalent level zones to make the higher tier items. Hovering the town symbols on the map tells you what level the area is.
Whims
When under 50% Sanity you start receiving Whims with a positive and a negative effect. Although some Whims are beneficial they only last 10 min and it's not worth losing your health to get them. You can technically get them while at your base and cure the sanity by resting in a bed but then you only have it for 9 more min after leaving your base.
How to Restore Sanity Recap
It's important to keep your sanity high so be sure to stock up on sanity restoring consumables. As well as avoiding activities that raise your sanity and try not to get hit by too many mob attacks. Meyers Market has a lot of the materials in and around it that are used for items that restore sanity. Coneflower gives a sanity regenerating effect to Fruit Tea which keeps your sanity from lowering for an extended period of time. So while exploring be sure to collect them as much as possible. Don't forget to upgrade your gear to the relevant tier to your level and if you are struggling, synchronize a Festering Gel Deviation for its sanity restoring ability. Furthermore, while you are at your base hop into bed to restore your sanity over time and save your consumables for adventuring.
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Written by: Soap_GOD
Reviewed by: mkaytea, Tenkiei
