Desert Island Escape Abilities - Pros and Cons (incomplete, help appreciated)

[Charcolor]

In case anyone else wants to get every target score possible for those sweet MEOW coupons, I wanted to compile a guide of the abilities and their pros and cons.
However, I don't have a lot of amiibo cards, so I haven't used all the abilities. Most of my information comes from the Animal Crossing wiki, so if anything is incorrect or not detailed enough please tell me! Also, the wiki page used different names for the abilities than those used in my version of the game. I'll try to list every name for each ability, but if I'm missing one let me know about that too.

I'd also really appreciate it if you can tell me the abilities of any special characters that aren't mentioned in this post, as I only have 2 NPC amiibo cards and all I know about the others is from other posts on this forum.

Chef du Jour - squirrels, hamsters

• Pros: Can cook up food supplies no matter the circumstances (unless resting from being hurt).
• Cons: Cannot move if cooking food, rations cooked are random.

Dexterity - octopi, monkeys, Mabel, Porter

• Pros: Can detect materials on adjacent spaces, and can craft tools on their own.
• Cons: Cannot move if crafting a tool.

First Aid/Healer - sheep, goats, Luna

• Pros: Can heal the injuries of any player, including themselves.
• Cons: Healing other players uses up food.

Fish Fetcher - cats, Chip, Katie

• Pros: Can fish without a rod (and will always catch fish if equipped with a rod). Fish spaces don't count against the amount of spaces they can move.
• Cons: Only has a 50-50 chance of catching fish unless using a rod. Automatically moves to fish spaces, which can ruin a planned path.

Flight - birds, Phyllis, Pete, Pelly

• Pros: Can fly over water spaces and rock spaces, which would be impassable otherwise.
• Cons: Can't move very far, and can't move to adjacent spaces.

Gimme! Gimme! - pigs, anteaters

• Pros: Receive more rations of food, and don't need medicine for injuries.
• Cons: Have a chance of eating a portion automatically, reducing the amount of rations.

Going the Distance/Hearty Traveler - horses, ostriches, Jingle

• Pros: Can move lots of spaces (6 spaces).
• Cons: Will not clear the fog adjacent to them without the aid of a watchtower.

Headlong Charge - bulls, cows, rhinos

• Pros: Will automatically pick up items and drive away enemies.
• Cons: Can destroy watchtowers. Pitfalls and enemies will stop their movement.

Honey Hunter - bears, bear cubs

• Pros: Beehive spaces don't count against the amount of spaces they can move. Will always get honey if equipped with a net.
• Cons: Will automatically move to beehive spaces attempt to drive away bees, with a 1/4 chance of being stung unless equipped with a net.

Hunter - eagles, Redd, Tom Nook

• Pros: Skilled with slingshot, have a chance to obtain food or medicine from defeated enemies.
• Cons: Less likely to escape pitfalls.

Lone Wolf - wolves, tigers

• Pros: Can camp by themselves, which is useful for broader exploration.
• Cons: Will refuse to pick up tool materials or medicine.

Sleepy - rabbits, alligators

• Pros: Sleeping will increase the amount of spaces the player can travel.
• Cons: Sleeping skips a turn.

Sniff 'Em Out! - dogs, chickens, Isabelle, Digby, Harriet

• Pros: Can detect nearby fruits, medicine and materials (including raft materials).
• Cons: Cannot detect beehives, enemies or pitfalls.

Stealthy Movement/Soft-Footed - deers, ducks

• Pros: Can avoid confrontation with nearby enemies.
• Cons: Cannot flee after choosing to see what the enemy is.

Strong & Fearless/Fearless - lions, gorillas, elephants, hippos, Phineas

• Pros: Will automatically break adjacent rocks.
• Cons: unknown

Swimmer - frogs, penguins, Lottie, Lyle, Kapp'n

• Pros: Can swim 6 spaces in water.
• Cons: Can only move 3 spaces on land, scare away fish when swimming.

Tunnel Digger - mice, Resetti

• Pros: Can dig tunnels to any visible space and can detect adjacent pitfalls.
• Cons: Have a varying chance of failing digging the tunnel, and will not move any spaces after digging to one.

Whimsy - koalas, kangaroos, Katrina

• Pros: Can sometimes move 7 steps.
• Cons: Spaces moved are decided by a wheel, which contains only 7s and 0s.

I don't have too much information so I'd really appreciate if you guys can give me anything that may be helpful!

 

[Fantasyland]

I had no idea about most of these, thank you so much! I don't know what information you're missing, this seems like a pretty comprehensive guide.

Question: are amiibos just like regular villagers? I had assumed if I scanned in an amiibo for a game something special would happen... as it is, it just doesn't seem worth it if I already have good villagers for the game. I currently use a koala (Melba) and two deer (Deirdre and Lopez) and they get me through!

 

[Claude]

You have to pay in play coins to use your town's villagers, though, right? If you use Amiibos or Amiibo cards, you don't have to.

 

[Charcolor]

I had no idea about most of these, thank you so much! I don't know what information you're missing, this seems like a pretty comprehensive guide.

Question: are amiibos just like regular villagers? I had assumed if I scanned in an amiibo for a game something special would happen... as it is, it just doesn't seem worth it if I already have good villagers for the game. I currently use a koala (Melba) and two deer (Deirdre and Lopez) and they get me through!

yes they are, except they don't use up play coins. i think it'd good to have amiibos or amiibo cards so you can have a bigger variety of options for your abilities, especially for towns like mine that focus on a single species.

other than the stuff i mentioned in the first post, i'm also lacking information about some of the abilities, not just the ones that i don't know the cons of. for example, the whimsy and stealthy movement abilties aren't too clear to me.
since you said you use deer (which have stealthy movement) and i don't can you tell me something i've been wondering about? do you know what the enemy is before choosing to fight or flee? the only information i have about that ability is from the wiki and it's kind of confusing to me.

- - - Post Merge - - -

i'm also missing some species' abilities, like ducks.

 

[Reineke]

I've been playing quite a bit of this, so I'll try to help.

Redd is a hunter. I remember he had more trouble getting out of pitfalls than the other characters.

Katrina's trait is whimsy. I only played one round with her, but it went pretty well! The wheel spins with alternating 0's and 7's, but the 7's are much larger, so I never hit zero. Maybe I was really lucky though? Either way, I'd say give them a shot.

Phyllis and Pete both have flight. Flight works by moving 2 spaces at once 2 times, so you really need to plan your campsite carefully for the next day around them.

Gimme Gimme characters have the additional benefit of being resilient. I played a round with Gala the pig, and she got stung by bees and then picked herself up again and was able to keep going! No medicine needed. Soooo self-healer? Immunity? something like that.

Isabelle, Digby, and Harriet all have sniff it out.

Phineas is fearless. He can only move 3 steps.

Thanks for aggregating all this information!

 

[Charcolor]

I've been playing quite a bit of this, so I'll try to help.

Redd is a hunter. I remember he had more trouble getting out of pitfalls than the other characters.

Katrina's trait is whimsy. I only played one round with her, but it went pretty well! The wheel spins with alternating 0's and 7's, but the 7's are much larger, so I never hit zero. Maybe I was really lucky though? Either way, I'd say give them a shot.

Phyllis and Pete both have flight. Flight works by moving 2 spaces at once 2 times, so you really need to plan your campsite carefully for the next day around them.

Gimme Gimme characters have the additional benefit of being resilient. I played a round with Gala the pig, and she got stung by bees and then picked herself up again and was able to keep going! No medicine needed. Soooo self-healer? Immunity? something like that.

Isabelle, Digby, and Harriet all have sniff it out.

Phineas is fearless. He can only move 3 steps.

Thanks for aggregating all this information!

thanks! this was very very helpful!!
i didn't add moving 3 spaces to the cons of fearless because i think a lot of characters are like that. or at least a lot of mine are. 3 spaces seem to be the norm.

 

[Charcolor]

i'm gonna bump this because i want people to help give more info!

 

[miraxe]

Mabel (the Amiibo figure- not sure if she has a card) has the ability Dexterity.

 

[Charcolor]

Mabel (the Amiibo figure- not sure if she has a card) has the ability Dexterity.

thanks!! i'm pretty sure she has a card, she's on the packaging for series 3 cards

 

[ZebraQueen]

No offense
But I made some few days ago a thread like this
Just saying

 

[Gaby]

Lottie is a swimmer

She was also sweating a lot on land xD makes me wonder how she gets through all her work at the Happy Home Academy xD

 

[Fantasyland]

other than the stuff i mentioned in the first post, i'm also lacking information about some of the abilities, not just the ones that i don't know the cons of. for example, the whimsy and stealthy movement abilties aren't too clear to me.
since you said you use deer (which have stealthy movement) and i don't can you tell me something i've been wondering about? do you know what the enemy is before choosing to fight or flee? the only information i have about that ability is from the wiki and it's kind of confusing to me.

Since Melba is whimsical, I can answer any questions about that, too. From what I've seen in gameplay, she just either moves 7 or 0 (but sometimes the game gives you a bump to a better option, and it bumps her from 0 to 7) and she seems to be super duper strong. She's only ever lost to an enemy once, and that's when the wheel landed on a 10% chance of losing.

As for the deer, you don't know what the enemy is. You just go to a ? space, see the bushes, and hold your breath. It doesn't seem to matter what the strength of the enemy is, it's the same chance any way. If you sneak past the enemy, you move on, but the enemy still inhabits the square (just like if you lost to the enemy). If you get caught, you have to fight it, and you usually have a low-ass chance of winning.

 

[Charcolor]

Since Melba is whimsical, I can answer any questions about that, too. From what I've seen in gameplay, she just either moves 7 or 0 (but sometimes the game gives you a bump to a better option, and it bumps her from 0 to 7) and she seems to be super duper strong. She's only ever lost to an enemy once, and that's when the wheel landed on a 10% chance of losing.

As for the deer, you don't know what the enemy is. You just go to a ? space, see the bushes, and hold your breath. It doesn't seem to matter what the strength of the enemy is, it's the same chance any way. If you sneak past the enemy, you move on, but the enemy still inhabits the square (just like if you lost to the enemy). If you get caught, you have to fight it, and you usually have a low-ass chance of winning.

thanks for the help!!

 

[Gaby]

I have a question about deer, I have been playing with Bruce and while he says, "let's sneak away" he always ends up fighting it. He's only ever snuck away once in the gazillion times he's landed on a centipede/snake tile. Why?? Is it something I have to do to help him escape or does the game automatically draw between staying and going?

 

[calintz]

don't know if we have a save post feature here like reddit, sooo i'll just post here to save this, haha. \o/;;;

 

[Fantasyland]

I have a question about deer, I have been playing with Bruce and while he says, "let's sneak away" he always ends up fighting it. He's only ever snuck away once in the gazillion times he's landed on a centipede/snake tile. Why?? Is it something I have to do to help him escape or does the game automatically draw between staying and going?

You're just having rotten luck You can't do anything to make it better. Sorry this is happening to you!!!

 

[Gaby]

You're just having rotten luck You can't do anything to make it better. Sorry this is happening to you!!!

Aww ok! XD I went to a spot with like 5 question marks, about 3 or 4 were centipedes and he got stuck with fighting them each time! I really do have rotten luck haha~

 

[D-HEX]

I was just playing this and I was using the amibo cards for Porter, Stinky, and Cap'n
Stinky is a cat so he has fish fetcher.
Cap'n has swimmer.
Porter has dexterity.
unfortunately these are the only cards I have so this is all the help i can give

but wait i have all the squid kid amibo's and i had cece (callie) and viece (marie) move in from their r.v.'s since they are both squirrels they have chef du jour. but regular amibo villager's would be interesting to find out more about.

 

[Charcolor]

I was just playing this and I was using the amibo cards for Porter, Stinky, and Cap'n
Stinky is a cat so he has fish fetcher.
Cap'n has swimmer.
Porter has dexterity.
unfortunately these are the only cards I have so this is all the help i can give

but wait i have all the squid kid amibo's and i had cece (callie) and viece (marie) move in from their r.v.'s since they are both squirrels they have chef du jour. but regular amibo villager's would be interesting to find out more about.

thanks for the help!!

 

[Sour of Abnaxus]

Apologies if this thread is too old/inactive, but I've acquired some amiibo figures not listed and can inform you that Reese and Cyrus have the dexterity trait. And being a dog, K.K. Slider has Sniff em out and Celeste has Flight. I thought I'd mention them even though they are represented by type, since other NPCs are listed.