Wilbur's main advantage is his ability to run. This ability is triggered by walking without stopping for 3 seconds, at which point he will start to run and hold his equipped hand-held item with his tail. While running his base speed is increased to 8 (default value is 6), which is 33% faster than normal. This ability provides a significant advantage for getting out of situations that would otherwise overwhelm players, and allow him to explore faster on land.
Wilbur running on all fours.
Wilbur's second advantage is that the Prime Apes consider him as a friend. While they will not aid him in battle without making them followers with Bananas, they will also avoid their typical harassment, such as rushing to pick up harvested items. In addition, since they are friendly, they will continue their helpful actions, such as picking Grass Tufts and Saplings and tossing the harvested items to him. While same effects can be achieved for a limited time by other Characters by feeding a Banana to a Prime Ape, Wilbur can enjoy the benefits without having to find Bananas or periodically feeding Prime Apes, which is especially helpful early in the game. It should be noted that the friendly Prime Apes will still pick up or harvest any Food they can eat, including Vegetables and Fruits grown on Farms built by the player, though they only do this if they are hungry.
Wilbur's ability to produce Manure every 2-5 days is also a minor advantage, allowing access to Farms and easy fertilization without having to find Prime Apes, Water Beefalos or Wildbores, which may be hard to come by in some worlds. Wilbur can also equip a stack of Manure and use it as a ranged weapon. Each throw will remove a single Manure from the stack. Thrown Manure will travel through a parabolic path, unlike Prime Apes' more direct Manure throw, and will land at the targeted area after a delay. When it hits the ground or water, it will deal 10 damage to all nearby Mobs. Thrown Manure is destroyed and cannot be recovered. Hitting a bird with Manure will stun it, allowing it to be captured alive.
Wilbur gains 10 
when eating Bananas.
Disadvantage
Wilbur's most apparent disadvantage is his inability to speak. This makes it difficult for players to receive announcements about incoming dangers, such as Volcano eruptions and Hound attacks, and makes preparing for them more difficult. Players must pay attention to visual and sound clues to get these warnings while playing as Wilbur.
Although Wilbur has greater speed while running, his base speed is slower, with a penalty of -0.5 (5.5 total speed without additional modifiers, which is about 8.3% slower than normal). This puts him at a disadvantage when frequent stops are made while moving, since 3 seconds of movement pass before starting to run. While running, his hunger drains 33% faster than a normal character. Even so, he does arrive at his destination 33% sooner than a normal character, covering the same ground for the same hunger cost.
Tips
- Despite being made with a Banana, Wilbur will not gain extra sanity from Banana Pops.
- Even though Prime Apes are friendly towards Wilbur, the Prime Apes will steal and eat crops on Farms, as well as Berries from Berry Bushes. Players should keep this in mind before building a base near uncontrolled Prime Ape Huts.
- Prime Apes only pick up food if they are hungry (as opposed to always). Players can mitigate this if they drop of excess Seaweed or Berries at the entrance of their base (though not as a stack, as they will pick up the whole stack). Prime Apes will also drop off manure at their hut when they retreat. This can be used to make an automated manure farm with Berry Bushes.
- Splumonkeys and Spider Monkeys do not recognize Wilbur as their king and will not be friendly to him.
- Wilbur's running will not trigger when sailing, and he'll move especially slower than normal when doing so since his walking speed penalty still applies. It is advised to equip speed boosting items such as a Sleek Hat when sailing.
- There's no sailing in Vanilla or Reign of Giants worlds so Wilbur's running speed will come as a big bonus. There are no Prime Apes to be found in those worlds, however.
- Despite low damage and delayed hit mechanic, throwing manure can be useful to aggro Mobs that typically run away from the player (e.g. Koalefants), to capture live Birds or to finish off immobilized Mobs.
| Characters | |
| Don't Starve |           |
| Reign of Giants |   |
| Shipwrecked |     |
| Hamlet |    |
| Don't Starve Together |       |
| Removed |  |
| Unimplemented |        |
| Other |        Minor Characters |