Stardew Valley: Skull Cavern Guide

When you thought the mines were tough the game throws you to the Skull Cavern. This is a much more dangerous place but also a place where you can get Iridium ore. These ores are what you need to get the highest tier of tools. But, they’re being guarded by all sorts of nasty creatures. Good thing you have this guide to get you through this new challenge!

Skull Cavern Guide For Stardew Valley

Now for the basics first. You should have already learned these tips from the mines, but here is a refresher course for those who forgot, or had their coop friend do the entire mines for them, and now the friend is asking them to pull his weight and stop petting the dog all day.

Preparation

Check your luck! Once you wake up you should check the TV and tune in to the fortune teller. If you get a lucky day then go into the caverns so you can test your luck!

Bring a lot of food to your journey down the caverns. Food that gives you buffs like increased luck or increased speed is always handy down there! My personal favorite is Spicy Eel because not only does it heal me and give me +1 on Speed and Luck, but it also drops from Serpents which is an enemy in the caverns.

Bombs are your friends! Bring a lot of bombs if possible. You can craft them or buy them from the dwarf in the mines, although they might be a bit pricey so it’s all up to you. Bombs are great for clearing a lot of things in the mines to speed up the process.

Bring your best weapon and your best pickaxe. Make sure your pickaxe is the highest tier as possible since breaking iridium rocks can take a few hits even with an Iridium pickaxe!

Warp totems are also handy to have when going to the desert or going back home and can be a huge time saver. Desert warp totems can be bought from the desert trader for 10 Iridium Ingots and cost around 2 Hardwood, 1 Coconut and 4 Iridium Ore.

While the Farm Warp Totem recipe is automatically learned at Foraging Level 8 and costs 1 Hardwood, 1 Honey and 20 Fiber.

Keep all of your Jade! Jade is actually an important commodity and something you should keep in your Crystalariums. It’s because on Sundays you can go to Desert Trader and trade 1 Jade for 1 Staircase. Staircases are items you put on the ground in the mines or caverns so that you can skip the floor. Very important later on when you just want to farm Iridium and want to go to the lower levels quickly.

Skull Cavern General Tips

Eating food pauses time! Remember that if you’re being mobbed by enemies and start to panic, eat some food. Just right-clicking and activating the prompt stops time and lets you calm down and assess your situation.

Those serpents can be quite annoying. The more you fight them though the more you’ll understand that their hitboxes are actually quite big so remember when to time those swings against them.

The Slime Charmer Ring is a ring you can get from the Adventurer’s Guild after defeating 1,000 slimes. This ring is very useful especially when fighting giant slimes. Remember that these slimes can actually drop Iridium, albeit with a very low drop rate.

The Skull Cavern can be a scary place, but with enough preparation and knowledge on what to do it becomes a breeze, so use this information I gave you and good luck in the Caverns!