Secret Tips And Tricks For Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is a relaxing game in which you inherit a farm and pursue an idealistic life in the country. You can plant various crops and take care of barnyard animals. There is a wide range of loveable characters to meet and befriend along the way as well.

Despite the game being quite laidback, running a farm can be challenging. You only have a limited amount of time and energy each day. Alongside this, there are plenty of challenges and goals to strive for. Fortunately, there are plenty of hidden tips and tricks to help make farming life all that more enjoyable.

Updated October 8, 2024 by Jacqueline Zalace: Looking for more Stardew Valley tips and tricks that not everyone may know about? We’ve updated this list with a few more tips to help you become an expert farmer in no time!

21 Prepare For Events In Advance

Many events occur yearly in Stardew Valley, from Easter egg hunts to a Halloween maze. Most of the time, you can just show up to enjoy the festivities, but a few events are worth preparing for well in advance. The main one is the Stardew Valley Fair on the 16th of Fall. You want to bring nine high-quality items from various categories to do well in the Grange Display.

This includes crops, flowers, animal products, and more. The tip the game doesn’t tell you is that since this competition happens each year, you could set aside a winning combination of items in a chest and have them ready to reuse again and again.

Additionally, preparing a high-quality ingredient for the Luau festival on the 11th of each summer, such as iridium or gold wines and cheeses, is one of the most useful Stardew Valley tips. This will get you the best reaction from the Governor and help with your friendships around town.

20 Maintaining Friendships Isn’t For Forever

Typically, your level of friendship with each person will deteriorate if you do not speak to them every day. Fortunately, the game’s friendship mechanic does make things easier for you. Once you reach ten hearts – or eight hearts for a marriage candidate NPC, their friendship points will never go down.

So, as soon as you max out a friendship, you no longer need to worry about checking in all the time. You’ve got some permanent friendships for years, even if you hardly speak to them again. With this in mind, focusing on just one or two neighbors at a time can be a valuable strategy. You can focus on maxing out their hearts before moving on to someone new.

One of the best Stardew tips for raising hearts is to gift a villager their favorite gift on their birthday to earn additional friendship points.

19 You Can Decorate Almost Anywhere

As you progress through Stardew Valley, you eventually unlock more areas you can make the most of, from the Spa to Ginger Island. It is possible to put down objects in these different parts of town. For example, you can add artisan machines along your frequent routes out of your farm or perhaps give the quarry an additional purpose beyond a source of rocks and geodes. You can also decorate areas with paths and other trinkets to make the town fit your desired style.

Getting creative with decorating the town can be a fun way to spend the winter when you don’t have to worry about your crops as much. The only thing you have to be wary of is the walk paths of NPCs. If you avoid blocking their routes, you can build almost anywhere without it being destroyed.

18 Be Prepared For The Skull Cavern

The Skull Cavern is a difficult challenge, so you don’t want to rush in. Ensure you are prepared for it by taking note of a few Stardew Valley tricks that’ll help. For example, the day before you visit the cavern, you’ll want the right equipment, including a decent weapon and your trusty pickaxe already in your inventory. You’ll also want many bombs, food, and ladders to navigate the different levels.

The faster you can get to the lower levels, the more rewards you’ll be able to find, which is the primary goal.

On the day, you’ll want to maximize your limited time there. A Desert Warp Totem will ensure you can start mining first thing in the morning. Don’t worry about passing out after 2 am, as you’ll quickly earn back the money you lose. You’ll also want to check your fortune on the television, as it’s far more beneficial to go to the cavern on lucky days to gain the best loot.

17 The Mountain Lake Is One Of The Best Spots For Fishing

There are multiple places to go for relaxing fishing sessions in Stardew Valley, such as the river or the ocean. Each location has its benefits and will have a preferred season for you to go fishing there. O of all the options, it is best to go to the mountain lake, no matter the season. Most of the fish here can be caught between 6 am and 7 pm, giving you a pretty big timeframe to work with.

Although you won’t be able to get every single type of fish at the mountain lake, you will get a nice variety throughout the seasons, with a few consistent fish to catch all year round, such as Carp and the Largemouth Bass. The main benefit of the mountain lake is that you are far less likely to pick up random trash items; this means that you are wasting less energy during your fishing trip.

The Trap Bobber is a valuable investment that helps catch the more frantic fish. This attachment slows the escape meter when not reeling a fish in.

16 Study The Map And Make Use Of Shortcuts

This next Stardew Valley hint is all about efficiency. You only have a set amount of time each day to complete all of your chores and complete any objectives you might have. Because of this, you’ll want to save as much time as possible whenever you can.

When you start a new day, have a plan of action and try and focus on just those tasks. It’s a good idea to study the map and get to grips with all the key locations. This will ensure you aren’t heading in the wrong direction at any point and wasting those precious minutes. You can also complete tasks in specific orders to ensure you aren’t going back and forth all day.

Once you know your way around the world, you’ll want to use as many shortcuts and the fastest routes as possible. For example, if you plan to spend the day in the mine, you should head north from your farm. It is far faster than making your way all through town to reach the mine. Eventually, you can unlock the Minecart after completing the Boiler Room Bundles. This will allow you to speed to locations with ease.

After completing the Community Center/Joja Warehouse storyline and fully upgrading your farmhouse, you can purchase additional shortcuts around town from Robin.

15 Place Tappers On The Trees Near The Bus Stop

Tappers are a great way to produce maple syrup, oak resin, pine tar, and sap. You need to reach Foraging level three, and then you can craft them with wood and copper bars. Since you can place these on any tree, it is a great idea to make use of the trees away from your farm. With the Tappers out of the way, you can do whatever you want with the trees on your actual farm.

A great alternative location for your tappers is the bus stop just outside your farm. These trees are out of the way but still within easy reach for harvesting. The trees will always be there, giving you a reliable source to tap from.

One of the most essential methods of progression in Stardew Valley is the rebuilding of the Community Center. To do so, you must complete all of the bundles to unlock new items and other valuable rewards. These bundles list things you need to track down and find to achieve them.

An excellent way to ensure you don’t accidentally sell or discard a required item is available in the inventory screen. There is a Community Center icon to the right of your inventory that you can select to go to the bundles. Keep an eye on this icon when you are browsing through your inventory. When you hover over an item needed for a bundle, this icon will begin to glow. It is a subtle clue, so keep checking the icon to ensure you don’t miss out on completing any bundles.

Avoid selling or donating anything new until you know it’s not used for a bundle or quest.

13 The Star Quality Of Crops Does Not Influence Artisan Goods

Creating artisan goods is a vital Stardew Valley Strategy. Crops come in four levels of quality: regular, silver, gold, and iridium. The higher quality crops will sell for higher prices on their own and offer increased energy and health benefits. Despite this, the quality of these crops will not affect the quality of the artisan goods you produce.

Almost every artisan good will sell for a multiplied total of the base price of the item used to make it. So, for example, truffle oil sells for twice the sell price (1,065 gold) of a regular-quality truffle (625 gold), while an iridium-quality truffle sells for more (1,250 gold) than the oil it can be made into.

However, this changes with the Artisan profession. With this in mind, when you put crops into the various artisan machines, such as the Cask or the Keg, you’re best off first using the regular-quality items. The higher quality items are best being sold immediately since they do not guarantee a high-quality artisan product.

Unlocking your farmhouse’s basement provides an excellent storage space for your Artisan equipment.

12 Mature Crops Can Still Grow Giant

Every so often, you can wake up to see a giant cauliflower, melon, or pumpkin. This happens only when there is a three-by-three grid of the same type of crop. Unfortunately, the chance of this happening is slim.

Luckily, you don’t have only a single chance for these big crops to spawn. Instead of rushing to harvest crops when they are fully matured, leave them (while still watering them each day). It’s still possible for them to convert into a giant crop — it doesn’t need to be the first day these crops mature. It is also interesting to know that giant crops do not die at the change of a season.

Be wary of leaving crops to potentially grow large so close to the end of a season. You might still lose them if they do not become big crops as the season changes.

11 Holding Hay Makes Petting Animals Easier

One of the many wonderful tasks of Stardew Valley is making sure all of the animals are happy and taken care of. A crucial part of this upkeep is ensuring the animals have been petted at least once each day.

Unfortunately, it is very easy to open up the mood dialogue box constantly while petting the animals. This can be frustrating, especially when there are a lot of animals in a small area. Therefore, it is helpful to know that this dialog box will not appear when you hold up a hay piece. This allows you to run around petting your animals quickly without too much of a delay.

The more loved your animals feel, the higher the chance they will produce better quality goods.

10 You Can Get Pam To The Bus Faster

Once the bus is restored, you must wait until Pam is ready to drive. She arrives at the bus stop around 10 am, meaning you can’t get to the desert by bus any earlier.

However, if you wait around Pam’s home before she leaves, you can stand in the way of her usual route. After a few seconds of being blocked, she becomes frustrated and runs to the bus stop. With Pam ready sooner, you will now have a little extra time to spend exploring the Skull Cavern. This is one of the simpler but still useful tips for Stardew Valley beginners.

9 Fences Can Create Self-Sustaining Grass Feeders

Animals require a constant supply of fresh grass each day. Although grass can spawn naturally, you will often need to start a new patch of grass with a Grass Starter pack. This is especially true when the animals eat every last piece of grass within their enclosure, leaving none to spread.

A great way to avoid this situation is to place down a Grass Starter pack and then place a fence post right on top of the same space. This will ensure that the animals cannot eat this particular tuft of grass while simultaneously spawning new tufts.

Having plenty of grass for your animals to eat outside will help you save up your silo supplies for winter.

8 Junimos Can Be Made To Appear Each Day

Junimos are wonderful forest spirits that help you out in various ways, such as by helping to restore the Community Center. Eventually, you can purchase a Junimo hut from the Wizard. Then, when crops are ready to be harvested and are within range of the Jumino hut, a group of Junimos will venture out into the farm to gather the produce for you.

Once they have finished harvesting any nearby crops, they will head back inside and won’t come back out until there are more crops to harvest. But, there is a way to make sure they will grace the farm with their presence every day. You’ll just need to fence off at least one crop that is ready to harvest. The Junimos will be unable to reach it but will still come out to try.

It might be a little cruel, but it does mean that you can enjoy seeing the Junimos every day, making the farm feel a little bit more magical.

7 You Can Repeatedly Till The Same Dirt In The Mines

While exploring the mines, you can do more than fight enemies and break rocks. If you bring a hoe with you on your adventure, you can till the soil in the mine, with a chance of finding artifacts, cave carrots, clay, and geodes.

If you use a pickaxe on the dirt, you can un-till it. Then, you can use the hoe once more on the same spot and have a chance of finding yet another item. Another way to reset the dirt is to leave and re-enter the mine. The same soil will be ready once more to be tilled and hopefully full of additional valuable loot.

6 Your Horse Can Sell Ice Cream

From Thursday to Tuesday, Alex will open up the ice cream stand during the summer and, unsurprisingly, sell ice cream. These delicious snacks are great gifts for the majority of the villagers. Unfortunately, Alex only runs this stall during the summer, between 1 and 5 pm.

However, you can use a strange but helpful trick to get unlimited access to the ice cream stand. If you park your horse behind the stand, it will seem as if they are the owner. You can then use the ice cream stand, as usual, no matter the season. It’s undoubtedly one of the more surprising Stardew Valley secrets and tips out there, but it’s fun to use.

Ice Cream is liked by almost everyone except for Emily, Harvey, Krobus, Leah, Leo, and Willy. It is a great gift to treat people with, especially Demetrius, who loves Ice Cream.

5 You Can Fish Up Unlimited Void Mayonnaise

Void Mayonnaise is a mysterious artisan good that is a great item to sell but not the easiest to get ahold of. Luckily, there is a way to grab a hefty supply of it. After you complete the Dark Talisman quest, you can find the Witch’s hut. The hut is guarded by a goblin henchman, who will not budge until you give them a jar of Void Mayonnaise.

If you fish in the swamp during this quest, there’s a 25 percent chance of catching some Void Mayonnaise. But this only happens if you do not have any void mayonnaise already in your inventory. A handy trick during this moment is to place a chest down nearby to store the Mayo. Then, with none in your inventory, you can continue to make use of that 25 percent chance of finding more.

Once you give the goblin a jar of Void Mayonnaise, the 25 percent chance of finding Void Mayonnaise in the swamp goes away, so make use of this trick while it’s possible.

4 You Can Rearrange Artifacts In The Museum

At the start of the game, you may just be randomly placing artifacts. Once you get enough though, you may feel like you want some sort of organization. Thankfully, this is possible, and the process is pretty easy.

To rearrange the artifacts, simply head to Gunther near the entrance. On the counter, you should see a little piece of paper and a pencil. Upon interacting with it, you’ll be able to freely arrange any existing artifact within the museum.

3 Your Horse Can Take The Parrot Express

Once you make you way to Ginger Island, you can use Golden Walnuts to unlock the Parrot Express. This is a fast-travel system that lets you quickly visit each area of the island. If you happen to have the horse flute, you’ll be able to summon your horse to be by your side on Ginger Island.

When your horse has arrived, you can hop on and then enter a Parrot Express hut! Both you and your horse will be transported together, ensuring that nobody is left behind.

2 The Shipping Bin Can be Moved

The shipping bin is typically found directly to the right of your farmhouse, but if this doesn’t suite your needs, then you can simply move it somewhere else. By speaking to Robin, you can open the building option menu; at the bottom of this, there is an icon you select to move buildings around.

When pressing this, you’ll see a zoomed-out map of your farm. From here, just select the shipping bin! If you need more than one, you will also be able to add extra bins to your farm wherever you want.