Stardew Valley Combat Guide

Stardew Valley features a relatively basic combat system. While exploring certain areas of the game, you may run into monsters that are capable of hurting you. This guide covers just about everything you need to know about what to expect with combat while playing Stardew Valley.

Combat Information

Swinging a weapon or scythe does not cost energy, but axes and pickaxes do; never use your axe or pickaxe to fight an enemy.

Stats

Weapons and food sometimes have an effect on combat. These stats include weight, speed, critical attack power, defense, and immunity.

• Weight - affects the distance an enemy is knocked back.
• Speed - affects how fast the player moves
• CRIT Power - affects how hard the player's critical strikes hit.
• Defense - affects how much damage the player takes.
• Immunity - affects the time a debuff is applied to the player

Blackout/Death/Knock Out

If you hit points are reduced to zero, you will blackout; a villager will find you and either wake you up or send you to the doctor, Harvey.

Death/blackout is very costly. Whenever you blackout, you have a chance to lose a random number of items in your inventory (including your weapon) and a somewhat random amount of gold. In the mines, you will forget a random amount of levels (normally 5-10 levels), effectively wiping away some progress in the mines.

Combat Areas

Luck has a small impact on combat areas (Lucky Lunch, Pumpkin Soup, Spicy Eel, and Fried Eel); luck provides more ore veins, item drops, and the chance of ladders/holes.

The Mines

The mines are located in the northeast part of Stardew Valley and can be accessed after the 5th day of your first spring. Rocks can be mined for stone and it's possible to find ore of various types while exploring the mines. After reaching the bottom of the mines (level 120), you are rewarded a Skull Key that grants access to the Skull Cavern.

The elevator allows the player to quickly travel to levels in 5 level increments (1, 5, 10, ..., 120). A minecart can be unlocked at the community center that allows fast travel between the mines, town, bus stop, and quarry (also unlocked in the community center).

Skull Cavern

Skull Cavern is located in the northwest part of Calico Desert. Upon the first time of entering it, Mr. Qi offers a reward of 10,000g after reaching level 25. It has more difficult monsters, but offers much better rewards, like iridium ore (the monsters have a chance of dropping iridium bars, too).

Bring lots of food because the monsters hit really hard (cactus fruit found in the desert works well), some bombs to kill mummies, and maybe a warp totem to get back home if it gets too late (or dangerous!).

Skull Cavern does not have an elevator, so the player will need to decend from the first floor every time, but there is a chance of finding a hole that allows the player to drop multiple levels (and does a little bit of damage).

Combat Professions

Stardew Valley has 6 combat related professions. The professions essentially break down to luck vs consistency.

These professions are largely a coinflip, with the only poor choice being Defender. Fighter > Brute has a slight edge over Scout > Desperado, but both profession choices are fine. Acrobat is good if you use special attacks, but I have found that special attacks are pretty marginal right now.

Weapons

There are three melee weapon choices and one ranged weapon choice in Stardew Valley.  

Swords

Sword are the most common weapon type and the weapon of choice for most people in Stardew Valley. It is strongly suggested that you get down to level 90 in the mines as quickly as possible to get the Obsidian Edge; once you've completed the Mines, you can find Lava Katana's in the Adventurer's Guild.

Swords (and maces) have a sweeping attack that allows you to attack multiple enemies that are anywhere in front of you (up to 180 degrees or shoulder-to-shoulder).

The sword's special attack is a block.

Note (untested): When you find a Prismatic Shard, it is recommended that you place it in a Crystalarium instead of handing it over to Gunther. Your first copy can be given to Gunther and any additional copies should be saved if you happen to lose your sword.

Daggers

Daggers are fast, low damage weapons that benefit highly from critical strikes. Daggers attack in a jabbing motion in front of you (opposed to a swinging motion like the other two weapons).

The dagger's special attack is a quick three strick attack.

Clubs

Clubs are slow, high damage weapons. The wood club and wood mallet can be found in the mines (around levels 40-60) and can make progressing down to level 90 much easier (at that point, you'll want to use the sword, Obsidian Edge).

The club's special attack is a ground slam that knocks back all enemies.

Slingshots

Slingshots are a rarely used, ranged weapon that uses ammo (rocks or crafted explosive ammo) in Stardew Valley. The Master Slingshot can be used to knock fruit out of trees.

Clothing

Headwear is currently strictly cosmetic, they provide no combat bonuses.

Rings

A player can wear two of the following rings:

Iridium Band + Burglar's Ring is the best all purpose ring combination of the game; you can swap the Buglar's Ring with another Iridium Band if you'd like.

Stacking two of the same damage rings is not recommended. For example, an emerald ring + ruby ring will provide slightly more damage than ruby ring + ruby ring.

Warrior Energy

Warrior's Energy is an attack buff that provides +10 attack for 5 seconds when you kill an enemy.

Yoba's Blessing

Yoba's Blessing is a defensive buff that provides invincibilty for 5 seconds after getting hit by an enemy.

Footwear

A player can wear one pair of the following footwear:

Defense provides a slightly higher benefits because not all monsters provide negative status effects. Space Boots are best in slot although sneakers or cowboy boots have a better appearance (for "Fashion Valley").

Monsters

You have a chance of encountering the following monsters while going through the mines and Skull Cavern:

Cute Slimes

All slimes have a chance to spawn as a "cute" slime. Cute slimes have 25% more HP and deal 1 additional damage. They also have a chance to drop a rare item.

Monster Eradication

Gil, inside the Adventurer's Guild, offers rewards for killing certain types of monsters. The majority of the rewards are so-so at best, with Buglar's Ring being the main exception and the Slime Charmer Ring being almost required for slime farming.

Resources

• Official Website
• Steam Page
• Official Wiki
• Official Forum
• SDV Subreddit
• Farm Planner