Stardew Valley: 10 Tips To Level Up Mining Fast (2024)

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Starting out with no experience in Mining in Stardew Valley can be daunting. So many important parts of the game are reliant on the resources and rewards you find in the Mines. Coal, Stone, and metallic ores are all needed to craft the different machines and buildings on your farm that bolster your other skills, like Farming.

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How do you start to level up this skill, then? The game doesn't give you a tutorial, but instead sends you into the Mines with nothing but a busted sword and an old pickax that you naturally start bashing rocks with. Here are some tips to either help get you started boosting your Mining skill or allow you to do so even faster than before.

10 Go To The Mines On Rainy Days

When Going Underground, The More Energy The Better

A lot of Stardew Valley veterans might insist that you should devote your rainy days to fishing. If your priorities change and you need cash now, you can indeed spend time at the lake, river, or ocean instead, as such days can be very lucrative in that regard.

However, if it's Mining that you're devoted to, using rainy days to your advantage can really help you along. If you don't have sprinklers set up on your farm yet, that means you're manually watering everything. As a result, you're likely to be running low on energy quite early in the day. When it rains, you don't have to do that, and can take that full energy bar into the Mines instead.

9 Always Break Silver Rocks

These Rocks Can Be Very Valuable

As you take continued trips into the Mines, you'll notice that one of these things is not like the others. The silver rocks give you guaranteed experience points and stone. Of course, they have a chance of dropping Geodes and other goodies like Coal and Ore.

These silver rocks can be found anywhere rocks appear naturally, like in the Mines or even on your farm. On days when you're just trying to descend as fast as possible, you may want to skip these (with energy being such a precious resource), but when you have the energy, or you're not looking to go deeper into the Mines that session, smash these rocks whenever you see them.

8 Always Break Gem and Ore Nodes

Rocks And Gems Can Reward The Player With A Significant EXP Boost

Similarly to silver rocks, you'll find stones that contain Copper (five exp), Iron (12 exp), Gold (18 exp), and, later on in the Skull Caverns, Iridium (50 exp). You'll also find stones that contain one of the following kinds of gemstone (or mineral as Gunther would classify them for the Museum):

• Amethyst (16 exp)
• Aquamarine (40 exp)
• Diamond (150 exp)
• Emerald (80 exp)
• Jade (40 exp)
• Ruby (80 exp)
• Topaz (16 exp)

Often, you'll be able to tell what type of node it is, as each one of them has a noticeably different appearance. Breaking any one of them will net you a valuable resource or gemstone, as well as the all-important mining experience. Keep an eye on your energy meter (that's crucial Stardew Valley advice more broadly), but try not to pass up the chance of a nice chunk of exp from a Node if you can help it.

7 Eat Foraged Goods Or Buy Food From Gus

Food Can Offer A Quick Energy And HP Boost To Keep You Mining For Longer

As you walk back and forth from the farm to the mountains, there is a good chance you'll come across different foods on the ground. Pick those up and eat them in the Mines. If you run low on energy, you won't have to leave the Mines early if you bring food with you to keep your stamina up.

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In addition, if you have the spare money (or really want to make progress in the Mines), you can always buy food from Gus. He always carries Salads, which cost 220 gold apiece but give you back 113 energy and 50 health. This can be invaluable because, of course, the more time you spend in the mines the more chances you have to increase your Mining proficiency.

6 Upgrade Your Pickaxe As Soon As Possible

Timing Your Upgrades Can Make Your Mining Efforts Much More Effective And Efficient

Typically, on a standard playthrough of Stardew Valley, the first tool you upgrade is going to be either your Axe or your Pickaxe. If you're primarily focused on Mining, then the easy choice is to upgrade your Pickaxe at Clint's at the first opportunity. Here's what you'll need to do just that:

Your beginning Pickaxe is fine until you hit about floor 40 in the Mines. From there, you'll really start to slow down, as rocks and Iron Nodes will take more hits (which means more energy expended). You'll then feel your progress getting even slower around floor 80. For the most efficient progress, then, try to time your upgrades to make mining easier as you progress further and further.

5 Get To Floor 100

Valuable Treasure Awaits That Will Maximize Your Efforts

Once you've upgraded your Pickaxe considerably, you might feel as though mining isn't too bad. If you really want to start having a good time, though, you should get to floor 100 as quickly as you can. You're given a reward for every ten floors you descend, and floor 100 offers a very valuable one.

This will, in most cases, be your first Stardrop. A Stardrop completely refills your energy bar and gives you a permanent energy increase into the bargain. Not only will this help keep you mining for longer and make you less dependent on food, but it will help in all other areas of your gameplay too. This tip may take some considerable time to achieve, but it's a crucial long-term goal to aim for. Skull Cavern also has a grueling 100 levels, for players up to the challenge.

4 Reset Mine Floors

Experienced Stardew Valley Players Get The Most From Their Mining Using This Method

Once you've made it to the iron and gold floors of the Mines (floors 40 and 80 respectively), you can start resetting the mine floors. What does this mean? Essentially, you'll be making use of the elevator by traveling between the floor you desire and the top of the Mines quickly, thereby refreshing everything on that floor.

The reason fans do this is to make it much easier to grind one of the metallic nodes. For instance, if you need a lot of Iron for one of your crafting recipes, you can use the elevator to get to level 40, then go to floor 41 where Iron starts to spawn. From there, collect anything you see, leave, and then (after waiting ten in-game minutes) go right back to floor 41 and repeat the process. It's a much more efficient and rewarding way to mine.

3 Use Bombs Or Explosive Ammo

Explosives Are Much Quicker, And You Don't Miss Out On The EXP

One of the easiest ways to rack up points quickly is to use bombs. You can also use the Slingshot or Master Slingshot and craft Explosive Ammo, but there are some caveats to that strategy: You have to reach Combat level 8 to do so, and the unwieldy nature of Slingshots makes them rather impractical.

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You can unlock the crafting recipe for Cherry bombs, Bombs, and Mega Bombs. Cherry Bombs are rather more accessible because you learn to craft them at Mining level one. When you use these convenient explosives to blow up stones, not only have you saved energy, but you also get the experience points for anything you blew up.

2 Don't Worry Too Much About Luck

Lucky Days May Not Necessarily Be Of Much Help

Luck can be a very important stat in Stardew Valley. Every in-game day has a different Luck value associated with it, which you can check using your TV. Most of the time, you'll want to go to the Mines on either Stardrop days (which are the luckiest of all), or Pyramid days (which aren't far behind).

While Luck is important, though, you don't need to solely base your decision on the day's Luck value. You may just need stone for a building or ore for something you're crafting. Staircases and gemstones can be scarce and there might be lots of monsters depending on the day's Luck, but if all you're doing is resetting floors, then Luck doesn't really need to be a factor.

1 Always Kill Special Slimes

Don't Miss Out On The Special Items They May Be Holding

Special Slimes are, essentially, a gift, and you should defeat every single one you see down in the mines. Not only does this help with Combat and the Monster Slayer goals, but it can indirectly be a huge help in leveling up your Mining skill.

Special Slimes can appear in any color and are marked by a little star on their antennas. They're important targets because they can drop Special Items. These can be weapons, boots (essentially armor), and rings. This will allow you to deal with enemies faster, see and collect items better, and quickly move on to lower floors. If you're able to snag some of these items, they can offer a very valuable boost.

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