Located just Northeast of the Carpenter's Shop, the Mines is an important location in Stardew Valley. In this guide we will go over the ins and outs of the Mines, and provide information that will help you be successful in the most dangerous place of Pelican Town.
The Mines are unlocked on the fifth of Spring, just a few days into your adventure. Before entering, you will want to ensure that you have a pickaxe and a weapon before heading inside as both are required for progression.
Once inside, to the left you will notice a mine cart. This mine cart can't be accessed until you complete the corresponding Community Center bundle, which allows you to teleport between several locations on the map. To the right you will notice a ladder. This ladder will take you to the first level of the Mines. Lastly, to the top you will notice an elevator. For every five levels of progress you make in the Mines, you will be able to resume progress by using the elevator. In a sense you can regard it as a checkpoint system.
There are two things to be concerned with while in the Mines: HP and energy. HP is depleted when you are hit by enemies, and upon death you will lose 10 levels of progress as well as some items from your inventory. Meanwhile, energy is depleted as you use your pickaxe to mine rocks. Loss of all energy will result in you waking up back at your farm with a moderately sized bill to pay to the town's doctor.
In order to progress, on most levels you will need to mine rocks and kill enemies until a ladder shows up. The spawn is random, and as such you'll need a bit of luck to complete levels quickly. There is no secret to it, so you'll just need to be patient and persistent.
There are two exceptions to the standard 'kill and mine' rule for progress. For one, you may encounter a level that indicates it has been "infested" by monsters. On these levels you must kill every enemy in order to spawn the ladder. Lastly, you may choose to craft a ladder, which on use will allow you to go to the next level. In the event that you're having trouble progressing, bringing a ladder or two with you is a good idea to avoid frustration.
It is important to stay well-equipped while in the Mines. At level 90 you will earn a very powerful weapon called the Obsidian Edge, so you may want to hold off on purchasing any weapons until that time. However, in the event that you're struggling on pre-level 90, you may choose to visit the Adventurer's Guild to the East to purchase one of the many weapons, boots, and rings offered there. It's worth mentioning that the Adventurer's Guild is the only place where you can sell weapons and equipment as these items can't be placed in your shipment box back at the farm.
There are a total of 120 levels in the Mines. As mentioned previously, you will unlock an elevator checkpoint every 5 levels. Every 10 levels you will encounter a treasure chest. The rewards range from weapons to boots. Completion of all 120 levels will grant you the Skull Key, which allows you to enter the very challenging Skull Dungeon in the Desert.
New enemies, ore, and gem types will be encountered as you progress further in the Mines. As such, progression will become more difficult, but the rewards become much greater. There are many Community Center Bundle items, as well as items of great sale value, that can be encountered in the Mines. So, it's a great place to spend time when you aren't busy tending to your crops and farm animals.
10 Quick Mines Tips
Use rocks and the terrain to your advantage on non-flying enemies.
Prioritize flying enemies as they will chip away at your health easily.
You may want to save progression for rainy days where you can focus the entire day on clearing Mines levels.
Smelt your ore to greatly increase its value and use it for tool upgrades such as the Steel Axe.
Bring your geodes to the Blacksmith.
Complete the Boiler Room Community Center Bundle early on to gain access to a mine cart that will take you directly into the Mines from the Bus Stop or Blacksmith.
Buy a new weapon at the Adventurer's Guild or bring food if you're struggling to progress.
Equipment can be sold at the Adventurer's Guild.
Bring a crafted ladder with you to skip a level.
Don't push your luck as death has a huge price to pay.
20 Tips and Tricks for Stardew Valley
Prioritize the Community Center
Prioritize the Community Center. Several major developments are locked behind full completion of one of the Community Center's six sections. For example, the Boiler Room has arguably the easiest bundles to collect and will unlock the ability to instantly move between three spots on the map. Bridge repair and bus repair are two other incredibly useful features that you will want to complete with haste.
Don\'t forget to equip your boots and rings
Simply having these items in your inventory won't do you any good. You need to drag one to the appropriate equipment slot in the main menu in order to benefit from them.
There are a variety of rare items in the game that you can either sell or donate to the Museum. Although it may be tempting to sell these items, there are some useful rewards (one in particular that is a necessity) that you are going to want to get, and there's no other way to obtain some of these items than to donate dozens of coveted items to the museum.
Repair the Beach bridge ASAP
For only 300 wood the second half of the beach will allow you to collect a variety of sea-oriented items every day including mussels and sea urchins. These items hold some monetary value and are great gifts for most of the villagers.
Upgrade your axe and pickaxe when you can
For a few thousand gold and just a few smelted bars, you can significantly increase the potential of your tools. The three tools in particular that you want to upgrade are the axe, pickaxe, and watering can. While upgrading the watering can will save you time, upgrading the axe and pickaxe will allow you to gather new resources (tree stumps, big rocks, etc) which is essential to success. They also make it easier to gather large volume of a resource since you have to take fewer hits with each upgrade.
Clearing floors of the Mines requires a lot of time, which may not be feasible for you on any ordinary day where hours and lots of energy are spent watering crops. So, you may just want to save progression for rainy days when you can skip the responsibilities of crop growth.
You can collect hidden items from worms
You might notice in the soil of some locations around the map there are worms moving around. If you hit these spots with your Hoe, you'll receive a random item. Some of the items are junk, but there are artifacts and useful resources to be found, too.
You can break up stacks of items
Simply press the shift button and right click when selecting an item with two or more volume in a stack to begin separating it into smaller chunks. This is particularly useful when you want to sell all but one of something.
How to make money fast
Making money is one of the primary objectives of Stardew Valley. In most cases it comes down to understanding what has the highest return on investment, and investing as much of your capital and time as possible into these options. Some crops are better investments than others, and fishing as well as the Mines can be a great means of supplemental income. You can read more about how to make money quickly here.
Check Pierre\'s General Store board every day
New quests will be presented on the board every week or so. In addition, you'll be able to see when festivals are coming up and whose birthday it is. You definitely don't want to miss giving a gift to someone on their birthday, that's for certain.
Use the pickaxe to clear tilled soil and crafted items
If you're bothered by misplaced soil, simply hit it with your pickaxe to return it to normal ground. The pickaxe can also be used to clear other things, such as crafted items and crops that you want to kill.
Get sprinklers and fertilizer
Placing Quality Sprinklers will save you time each day, time that you can use to fish or perform other useful tasks. Fertilizer grants a higher chance of obtaining high quality crops when harvesting. Using both of these items liberally on your farm will net you the best results.
Start gifting early
Having a positive relationship with the Villagers of Stardew Valley is important to being able to complete some quests and getting the most out of holiday festivals. Also, marriage is a neat objective that you will likely want to use at some point, even if only to have a kid. Since you can only gift a villager two gifts per week, you'll want to start gifting early, and pay attention to what people like and dislike. You can find out what items every villager loves and hates in our guide here.
Invest heavily in crops at the beginning of each month
Most crops grow past their initial harvest, but wither at the end of the month. To get the highest return on investment possible, initiate growth of as many crops as possible on the first day of the month, and don't forget to use fertilizer for maximum gains.
Where to find the major quest items
Robin's Lost Axe is near Marnie's Ranch. Mayor's Shorts are in Marnie's bedroom, and require at least two friendship stars with her to access. The Skull Key is used in the Desert, which requires completion of a Community Center bundle to access. A Pale Ale requires both a Keg and Hops to craft. There are other quest items, but these are the ones that most often stump players.
How to get to the next level of the Mines
Each floor of the Mines requires you to defeat enemies and mine rocks until a ladder is randomly revealed. There are also certain levels that are overrun with enemies that require you to defeat every enemy on that level to find the ladder. You can alternatively use a crafted ladder to get to the next level. You can learn more about the Mines and how to complete all of its 120 levels in our guide here.
You may want to avoid animals
Chickens, cows, ducks, and the other farm animals require one hay per day each in order to survive. In its current state, the game doesn't spawn enough grass to cut in order to make it through the first year of Winter, so you'll end up spending tens of thousands of dollars on hay if you have several animals during the season. Due to this, most members of the community agree that sticking to crops, clearing the Mines, and fishing are more reliable methods of money making. Although, you will need to keep in mind that several of the collections in the Community Center require animal-based items.
Don\'t forget to craft items
Several of the game's most useful items are crafted. Take for example the keg, tapper, and bee house, three items which allow you to make good supplemental income at low investment, in addition to allowing you to collect several necessary items for the Community Center.
