Mining and Combat in the Valley

Featured Image From: ArrPeeGeez

In the past two weeks, I have talked about some of the main skills within Stardew Valley. First I spoke about farming and foraging and just last week I gave some information on fishing. This week I will be talking about the final two skills within the game, mining, and combat. In this post, I will discuss how to level in each skill, what tools/weapons available, ores/monster drops, and locations where you can participate in these skills.

Locations Where You Can Mine and Fight Monsters

First I am going to go through some locations where you can both mine and fight monsters. In the majority of these locations, you can participate in both skills; however, I will list a couple of locations that you can only either mine at or participate in combat. I will also give you sources that show what ores, monsters, and other items you will encounter in these different locations. There is an abundance of different things you will encounter so it’s virtually impossible to list it all in this post.

The Mines

Within the game, there are multiple places that you can mine at. However, the mines are the location most associated with the skill. The mines are located in the mountain region (next to the lake). Within the mine, there are 120 levels that change every time you visit. Ore type and quantity increase as the player moves deeper into the Mines. To advance within the Mines, a ladder must be revealed on each floor. The ladder will sometimes appear when rocks are broken or after an enemy is defeated. There is also an elevator within the mines that saves your progress (saves at every 5 levels you reach). Within the mines, you must be careful because you can either pass out from exhaustion or because of low health. If you happen to pass out because of exhaustion you will lose 10% of your gold (up to 1,000 gold). If you pass out because of low health you will lose that 10% of gold and various items you were carrying. You can recover lost items by contacting Marlon at the Adventures Guild. One lost item (or stack of items) can be purchased there, any time after passing out due to low health. Below I’m providing a link that shows all ores, monsters, and other items you can find in the mines

The Skull Cavern

This cavern is very similar to the normal mines. The Skull Cavern is located in the northwest area of the Desert. It is initially locked and requires the Skull Key to gain access. The level system and advancing are the same as the mines but there is no level limit like the mines. There also isn’t an elevator to save your progress. If you pass out within the Skill Cavern you will face the same consequences as the mine has. The chance to find iridium ore increases steadily as you descend into the Skull Cavern. The monsters in the Cavern also have a chance to drop ore and iridium bars, as well as special items. The monsters within the cavern are also stronger than one in the mines.

The Quarry Mine

Within the mountain region, there is also the Quarry Mine. Way on the east side there is a bridge that leads to the quarry (this bridge can be rebuilt by completing a community center/ Joja mart bundle). The cave entrance is located on the left edge of the Quarry, north of the bridge. The quarry mine resets at the end of the day, instead of when exiting it, so it cannot be repeatedly “farmed” in a single day. The Quarry Mine contains three monsters Haunted Skulls, Copper Slimes, and Iron Slimes. The mine is populated with common gray and brown rocks and Copper and Iron Nodes. At the end of this mine, there is a great reward. At the end of the cave is a statue of the Grim Reaper, and upon the first encounter, the statue holds the Golden Scythe. When the statue is right-clicked on, the scythe will be added to your toolset if your inventory. The cut radius of the scythe is larger and you have a better chance of obtaining hay from grass.

The Volcano Dungeon

The last main location you can mine at is the Volcano Dungeon. The Volcano Dungeon is located at the north end of Ginger Island. To get to the Dungeon you must cross a river of lava. The lava river can be crossed by pouring water on it with a watering can. Mystic Stones and iridium nodes occasionally appear in the dungeon. Unlike The Mines and the Skull Cavern, leaving and re-entering the dungeon does not result in monsters spawning again on the same day. Unlike the Skull Cavern or the Mines, the Volcano Dungeon does not have ladders or instant exits on every level. There is an exit on the 10th level in the lower-left corner that takes the player back to the entrance of the tunnel and allows them to unlock the gate for future access to the forge.

Hill Top Farm

In a past post, I have talked about the Hill Top Farm. Selecting this farmland type when creating your world you are able to do a little mining from your farm! On the farmland, there is a mineral deposit that provides opportunities to mine for different ores and minerals.

Wilderness Farm

Just like the Hill Top Farm, I have talked about the Wilderness Farm too. At night time, monsters come out at this farm time type letting you level up within the combat skill and obtain more monster drops.

Mining

Helpful Tools

Before you go out to start mining, it is important what tools are available to you. The most common tool for mining within the game is the pickaxe. Within the game, there are 5 different types of pickaxes

Starter Pickaxe

When starting the game you are given a handful of tools. One of these tools is a regular pick. This pickaxe can break any rock that is located in the mines on levels 1-40. However, the pickaxe isn’t as efficient breaking different nodes that drop ores.

Copper Pickaxe

The next tier of pickaxe is the copper pickaxe. To upgrade to this pick you will need to go to Clint (the blacksmith) and pay him 2,000 gold and give him 5 copper bars. This pickaxe can break rocks on levels 1-79 of the mines. It is also more efficient than the starter pickaxe.

Steel Pickaxe

The next tier after copper is the steel pickaxe. To upgrade to this pickaxe 5,000 gold and 5 iron bars. This pickaxe breaks the same rocks that the copper one does, but helps us more in a couple of ways. With the steel pickaxe, you can break the pesky boulders that are scattered on your farmland. You can also use this pickaxe to break the small wall to the right when first entering the mines. By breaking this wall you will meet a new character (don’t want to spoil!)

Gold Pickaxe

The next tier available is the gold pickaxe. To upgrade to this you will need 10,000 gold and 5 gold bars. With this pickaxe, you are able to break any rocks that are on levels 1-120 of the mines. You are also able to break meteorites.

Iridium Pickaxe

Last but not least is the Iridium pickaxe. To obtain this last tier of pickaxes, you must have 25,000 gold and 5 iridium bars. This pickaxe can break any rocks, nodes, etc, and can break rocks in the Skull Cavern in one hit.

Other Tools

Even though pickaxes are the main tool to use within the mining, there are some other tools that you can benefit from. Within the game, there are different types of bombs available. The cherry bomb and regular bomb can help you blast any rocks or nodes instead of using pickaxes and decrease your energy. You are also able to create staircases within the game. You can place these staircases into a mine and it leads you to the next level. These are very helpful when you are trying to find the ladder to the next level by just mining rocks or killing monsters.

Leveling Up

As you can probably guess, breaking rocks is the main way to level up within the skill of mining. Different rock types give different numbers of experience points. Below is a chart that shows you how much experience you can get to level up from different types of rocks.

Just like the other skills, you are able to choose different professions when you get to levels 5 and 10. Below are the different options available to you.

Combat

Helpful Weapons

Before getting into individual weapons, I want to tell you some facts about weapons in general. Weapons are quite different from other tools not just because they are used to kill monsters. One great thing about using weapons is that they don’t use any of your energy. You also don’t upgrade weapons. most weapons can be found as monster drops, purchased from the Adventurer’s Guild, or found in chests in the mines. There are quite a few weapons in the game so I will go over the different categories of weapons (like swords, clubs, etc.) then I will give you a link to see all the weapons within the categories.

Swords

Like any game, swords are popular within Stardew Calley. Swords let you do quick attacks but have low swinging delays. They also have a secondary attack that puts you in a blocking position. This blocks the damage a monster tries to deal you and deals that damage back at them. Blocking can also knock back flying monsters.

Daggers

Daggers have you may know can be seen as smaller versions of swords. These weapons also you to do fast attacks, but at a limited range. Their secondary attack causes the player to stab multiple times in quick succession.

Clubs

Clubs are heavy weapons compared to swords and daggers. However, they have a wider swing range. Their secondary attack causes the player to slam the ground in front of them, causing an area-of-effect attack in a radius around the player that has strong knockback.

Slingshots

Within the game, there are only two obtainable slingshots. The damage for slingshots is based on what you use for ammo. Iridium ore is the best to use for ammo because it deals the greatest amount of damage (any type of fruit is the worst for ammo). To place ammo within your slingshot you select what you would like to use for ammo then right-click on the slingshot. Below is a chat on what items you can use as ammo.

Leveling Up

As you have probably figured out, to level up within your combat skill you are going to need to go out a slay some monsters. Each type of monster gives you a different amount of experience points. Below is a chart that shows you a list of monsters and the number of points they give.

Just like all other skills, at levels 5 and 10 you get to chose different professions within the combat skill. Below are the choices available to you.

I hope that the information I have given you has helped you learn the basics of these two skills. If you have any questions or feedback about anything, don’t be afraid to ask in the comments. I have enjoyed reading your guy’s comments about how my blog has been helping you and about your activities in the game on your own worlds!

All charts and photos are from Stardew Valley Wiki