Wolfgang is the second unlockable character (320 XP, see Experience for more information on how to unlock him). He does higher damage in melee and ranged combat and has more health. This gives him great advantages when fighting against Monsters or destroying Spider Dens. He also has a larger stomach at a max of 300 and a starting amount of 200, but his hunger will decrease faster or slower depending on how full it is.
Wolfgang also loses his Sanity 10% more quickly than other characters when in the Dark or when near hostile Mobs such as Spiders.
Special Power
Mighty Form:
This is Wolfgang's buffed form. It's a temporary physical upgrade that is activated when Wolfgangs hunger goes to 225 or above. When this form is achieved Wolfgang's Shirt will be ripped off, he'll gain numerous arm muscles, and will reobtain his original head design.
His Health will go from the regular 200 to 300 (at 300 Hunger). He will receive a Damage bonus from 1.25x to 2.0x when completely full and he will also receive a slight but noticeable speed boost.
Because of this Physical upgrade, Wolfgang's Hunger decreases 3 times faster in this Form (compared to any other character, except Wes).
The magnitude of these bonuses will also decrease as Wolfgang's hunger is drained. Wolfgang Growth
Regular Form:
This is Wolfgang's Starter Appearance. He Starts with 200 Health, and does his regular damage.
Wolfgang's Hunger decreases 1.5x faster than other characters (except Wes).
Wimpy Form:
Wolfgang's Special Power debuff is a physical downgrade when at 100 hunger or less. His appearance will become a sad and more pathetic looking version of Wolfgang.
His max health goes from 200 down to 150 at 0 hunger and his damage goes from 0.75x from the initial downgrade to 0.5x at near starvation.
Wolfgang's movement speed slightly decreases in this state and his Hunger will decrease at the same rate as other characters (except Wes).
These penalties will increase in value as Wolfgang becomes more hungry.
Disadvantage
Because he's a Nyctophobic, he suffers a greater Sanity Drain from Monsters and the dark, so care should be taken with sanity management. If the player has no sanity recovering items it is recommended that they sleep through the night to avoid Sanity drain, since it's harder to refill than Hunger.
The penalty though is really small at only 10% more Sanity loss. A Tam o' Shanter will nullify sanity drain at night and when fighting monsters in mighty form he'll lose less Sanity than other characters, due to the fight's duration being shorter.
Tips
After the "Strange New Powers" update because of Wolfgang's Hunger drain multiplier mechanic timewise it takes him 207 normal Hunger points (exactly 2.5 in-game days) to get from 300 to 0 Hunger making him a little more Hunger resistant than a fully upgraded WX-78. Mighty form lasts only 2 minutes and 41 seconds if not sustained.
A Belt of Hunger will nullify Wolfgang's Hunger problems. This along with the fact that it provides some Sanity regeneration and extends his Mighty form to last almost 4 minutes and a half, make it an excellent item for this character.
In the "Reign of Giants"(RoG) DLC players are able to craft a Hibearnation Vest which also provides a Hunger rate reduction albeit not as big as the Belt of Hunger. That said, the Hiberantion Vest provides the highest insulation against cold and more than twice the Sanity regeneration of the Belt, making it more desirable in Winter even after the player has secured a Belt of Hunger.
Since Wolfgang loses more Hunger in his Normal and Mighty forms, it is advised to stay Wimpy all the time when not wearing the aforementioned Belt or Vest, and only eat to avoid starvation and just before a fight. The penalties when staying Wimpy are only relevant during a fight so the player will not be in danger.
Wolfgang is immune to all damage when changing forms, so don't panic when you're being chased by multiple enemies and are getting low on Hunger.
Due to the way Wolfgang's Health scales between forms it's better to heal when Wimpy and take damage when Mighty, since the healing and damage will be doubled or halved when changing form respectively. This makes healing items up to twice as effective with Wolfgang and attacks up to half as damaging.
Despite looking like a logical food choice for Wolfgang, Meaty Stews are actually too unpredicatble to be useful. Since none of his forms lasts more than 120 points, the Stew will never give back 150 points worth of Hunger and it spoils too fast to be stored as an emergencey "Go-Mighty" food. This role befalls better on Bacon and Eggs for its high spoilage time and Dragonpie for being cheap and quick to consume.
A Tam o' Shanter, providing 6.7 sanity/min is a great item to manage Wolfgang's Sanity. It not only stops Sanity drain at night even for him, but it lasts very long and even provides insulation against the cold. Combining it with a Belt of Hunger will make sure that Wolfgang constantly regenerates Sanity even at night. A Tent combined with Taffy or Pumpkin Cookies is also desirable when trying to get big amounts of Sanity back quickly.
A Hibearnation Vest in RoG is also a good Sanity item with its 4.5 sanity/min. What little sanity is lost at night will be regained back during the day in no time. This will be useful when the player wants to equip something else other than the Tam in the head slot.
Trivia
Wolfgang was added on October 2nd 2012 when the game was still in Beta. Like Willow and Wendy before him he had no special power when implemented and the only thing that differed him from Wilson was the lack of a beard. It was only on November 13th 2012 that an update added perks for the current playable charaters.
Wolfgang's previous perk, before the "Strange New Powers" update, was 75 more health and hunger (maximum of 225 each), and 50% more damage when hitting enemies, similar to his current Mighty Form. He also looked like his Mighty form all the time, though with an intact costume.
Wolfgang's voice is sounded by a tuba and it changes in pitch depending on his current form.
Thanks to his perk Wolfgang is the character with both the highest and lowest damage output in the game. When full Mighty he can do 136 damage in melee combat with a Dark Sword and 200 damage at range with a Blow Dart. In the same way when fully starving he can do as low as 2.125 damage when wielding a Bug Net or Fishing Rod and 13.6 damage with a Boomerang. The highest damage other characters can do is 68 in melee and 100 at range while the lowest is 3.19 in melee and 75 at range.
In RoG thanks to the Morning Star Wolfgang can do as high as 144 damage to wet targets. Also, thanks to Wigfrid the bar for other characters is raised to 85 damage in melee and 125 at range.
Despite his moustache, he cannot grow a Beard stating his skin is too strong for hair.
From the poster in the 4th William Carter Puzzle , it can be assumed that Wolfgang worked on a circus as a Strongman before being trapped in the Don't Starve world by Maxwell. This is all speculation though and nothing official has been said on the matter.
When examining Frog Legs, he states that they "Is delicacy in my country!", suggesting that his nationality could be French.
When examining a Hammer, he states that it "Needs Sickle!", suggesting that he may be (or has been) soviet or just communist.
When examining a Pitchfork, he states that it "Reminds me of childhood," suggesting that he may have been a farmer's son.
Despite voicing his preference for cold temperatures when examining the Thermal Measurer, Wolfgang is just as vulnerable to the cold as other characters.
Wolfgang has a skull.
Wolfgang was previously unlocked after Wendy.
Wolfgang's rather unusual quotes (see his quotes page) may be a reference to the phrase "brains over brawn," in that he has only the latter.
Mighty Wolfgang's scale is 1.25. That makes him the tallest of the playable characters while in this form. His Wimpy form on the other hand has a smaller scale thus making him the shortest of the PCs.
The size of items he's equipping changes with his forms. Smaller when wimpy and bigger when mighty.
Leaving the game and then reloading when Wolfgang's hunger is between 220-225 or 100-105 points and you are either in Mighty or Normal form respectively, when you reload the game you'll be in Normal or Wimpy form. That happens because the game considers Normal form to be between 105 and 225 points, and Wimpy form between 0-105 points, even though to get from Mighty to Normal you need to be below 220 points, and from Normal to Wimpy below 100.
Wolfgang is one of the only two characters, the other being Maxwell, that when struck by Lightning in the "Reign of Giants" DLC are shown to have normal human skeletons.
The Weather Pain in RoG is the only weapon not affected by Wolfgang's damage multipliers making it really effective even when Wimpy.