No matter what you’re doing in Stardew Valley, you’re earning experience that will eventually go towards increasing your level in a variety of skills. It’s a fairly straightforward system, but it’s filled with intricacies that are useful to know if you want to make the most of your leveling experience. 

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There are five different skills in Stardew Valley:

  • Farming
  • Mining
  • Foraging
  • Fishing
  • Combat

Not only does leveling each skill provide you with new perks, recipes, and items, but you’ll also gain higher proficiency per level you gain in a skill. This higher proficiency means that tasks require less energy, so you can do more with each day. 

Table of contents

  • Experience breakdown in Stardew Valley
  • How to gain easy experience in all skills in Stardew Valley
    • How to get Farming experience in Stardew Valley
    • How to get Mining experience in Stardew Valley
    • How to get Foraging experience in Stardew Valley
    • How to get Fishing experience in Stardew Valley
    • How to get Combat experience in Stardew Valley

Experience breakdown in Stardew Valley

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Each skill in Stardew Valley requires a total of 15,000 experience to reach level 10, broken down into the following individual amounts of experience per level:

LevelLevel experienceTotal experience11001002280380339077045301,30058502,15061,1503,30071,5004,80082,1006,90093,10010,000105,00015,000

The ways in which you’ll gain experience in Stardew Valley vary depending on which skill you’re gaining experience for, with specific tasks providing experience towards a particular skill. 

How to gain easy experience in all skills in Stardew Valley

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If you’re trying to get experience in Stardew Valley, then the Book of Stars is something that you should always keep an eye out for. When used from within your inventory, it provides a boost of 250 experience for every skill, helping to speed up the process.

The Book of Stars can be obtained in the following ways:

  • Purchased from the Bookseller for 15,000 Gold
  • Possible reward from the Raccoon after completing the fifth request
  • Can be found in Mystery Boxes or Golden Mystery Boxes

Each skill has a specific book that can also be used to boost experience:

  • Stardew Valley Almanac (Farming)
  • Mining Monthly (Mining)
  • Woodcutter’s Weekly (Foraging)
  • Bait and Bobber (Fishing)
  • Combat Quarterly (Combat)

Each book can be obtained from the Bookseller for between 5,000 and 10,000 Gold. When used from within your inventory, each book will provide a 250 experience boost to the corresponding skill. 

How to get Farming experience in Stardew Valley

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Increasing your Farming skill level will result in increased proficiency when using a Hoe or a Watering Can. As you might expect, gaining experience in the Farming skill is done by completing tasks around the farm. 

Each of the following tasks rewards five experience points per action:

  • Harvesting crops
  • Petting animals
  • Milking or shearing animals
  • Picking up animal products

Although using a Hoe and Watering Can is very much an integral part of the Farming experience, these actions sadly do not reward experience points alone. 

For a temporary level boost in Farming, you can try the following meals:

MealLevel boostDurationMaple Bar1 level16:47Hashbrowns1 level5:35Complete Breakfast2 levels7:00Pepper Poppers2 levels7:00Tom Kha Soup2 levels7:00Farmer’s Lunch3 levels5:35

For each Farming level you gain, you’ll unlock some rewards. Here’s what you can get for reaching each level:

LevelRewards1Scarecrow recipe
Basic Fertilizer recipe2Mayonnaise Machine recipe
Stone fence recipe
Sprinkler recipe3Bee House recipe
Speed-Gro recipe
Farmer’s Lunch recipe4Preserves Jar recipe
Basic Retaining Soil recipe
Iron Fence recipe5A choice between Rancher and Tiller professions6Cheese Press recipe
Hardwood Fence recipe7Loom recipe
Quality Retaining Soil recipe8Oil Maker recipe
Keg recipe
Deluxe Speed-Gro recipe9Seed Maker recipe
Iridium Sprinkler recipe
Quality Fertilizer recipe10A choice between Coopmaster and Shepherd if you chose the Rancher profession
A choice between Artisan and Agriculturalist if you chose the Tiller profession

How to get Mining experience in Stardew Valley

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While there is a bigger variety of ways to gain experience points for Farming, you’ll only gain experience in Mining by breaking rocks and each increase in level will reduce the energy spent when using a Pickaxe. 

Different rocks give a different number of experience points:

Rock typeExperienceBasic Rock1Gray Boulder0Rock (if Coal drops)5Dark grey or black Rocks 3Amethyst Node16Aquamarine Node40Diamond Node150Emerald Node80Jade Node40Ruby Node80Topaz Node16Gem NodeDepends on the type of dropped gem. See the numbers above.Mystic Stone50Copper Node5Iron Node12Gold Node18Iridium Node50Geode Node8Frozen Geode Node16Magma Geode Node32Bone Node6Clay Node6Cinder Shard Node12Omni Geode Node64Radioactive Node18Mussel Node5Calico Egg Node50Coal Node10

If you’re too impatient to level up the long way and want a temporary level boost in Mining for any reason, the following meals will increase your level for a short period of time:

MealLevel boostDurationSquid Ink Ravioli1 level4:39Banana Pudding1 level5:01Eggplant Parmesan1 level4:39Maple Bar1 level16:47Cranberry Sauce2 levels3:30Magic Rock Candy2 levels8:24Miner’s Treat3 levels5:35

As you progress through the Mining levels, you’ll unlock the following rewards:

LevelRewards1Cherry Bomb recipe2Staircase recipe3Miner’s Treat recipe4Glowstone Ring recipe
Transmute (Fe) recipe5A choice between Miner and Geologist professions6Bomb recipe7Transmute (Au) recipe8Mega Bomb recipe9Crystalarium recipe10A choice between Blacksmith and Prospector if you chose the Miner profession
A choice between Excavator and Gemologist if you chose the Geologist profession

How to get Foraging experience in Stardew Valley

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Foraging includes anything that involves gathering materials from the ground or chopping down trees. Increasing your Foraging level will decrease the energy drained when using an Axe.

As with Mining, the experience you gain from each action varies depending on the action itself:

ActionExperienceChopping down a tree14 Removing a tree stump2 Removing a twig1Harvesting Moss from trees1Shaking berry bushes1Removing large stumps or logs25Foraging items from the ground7Growing items from wild seeds2Panning7Collecting Mushrooms from the Farm Cave or Mushroom Logs5Collecting fruit from the Farm Cave7Digging a Seed or Artifact Spot15Destroying a Green Rain weed15

Certain foods can also be eaten to increase your Foraging level, although this effect is temporary. Here are all of the meals you can consume to provide a temporary boost:

MealLevel boostDurationPancakes2 levels11:11Autumn’s Bounty2 levels7:41Survival Burger3 levels5:35Tropical Curry4 levels5:01

Reaching a new level in Foraging will unlock a new reward, granting items that are helpful when it comes to Foraging:

LevelReward1Wild Seeds (Spring) recipe
Field Snack recipe
Trees now sometimes drop seeds2Charcoal Kiln recipe3Cookout Kit recipe
Moss Soup recipe4Wild Seeds (Summer) recipe
Tapper recipe
Mushroom Log recipe5A choice between the Forester and Gatherer professions6Lightning Rod recipe
Wild Seeds (Fall) recipe
Warp Totem: Beach recipe7Wild Seeds (Winter) recipe
Warp Totem: Mountains recipe
Tree Fertilizer recipe8Survival Burger recipe
Warp Totem: Farm recipe
Tent Kit recipe9Rain Totem recipe10A choice between Lumberjack and Tapper if you chose the Forester profession
A choice between Botanist and Tracker if you chose the Gatherer profession

How to get Fishing experience in Stardew Valley

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Fishing is probably the easiest of all skills to level in Stardew Valley, with experience being gained in all of the following ways:

  • Catching Fish (experience depends on the quality and difficulty of each Fish)
  • Catching Trash, Algae, or Jelly (3 experience each)
  • Harvesting Crab Pots (5 experience each)
  • Collecting items from Fish Ponds (10 experience each)

Increasing your level not only increases your proficiency when using a Rod, but each level will also provide the following perks:

  • Increased minimum fish size
  • Increased Bobber bar height
  • Decreased maximum bite time (reduced by 0.25 seconds per level)
  • Increased casting distance at certain levels (see table below)

If you want to temporarily boost your Fishing level, for instance, to help capture the Legendary Fish, then you can eat the following meals:

MealLevel boostDurationChowder1 level16:47Trout Soup1 level4:39Maple Bar1 level16:47Shrimp Cocktail1 level10:02Escargot2 levels16:47Fish Taco2 levels7:00Fish Stew3 levels16:46Dish O’ the Sea3 levels5:35Lobster Bisque3 levels16:47Seafoam Pudding4 levels3:30

Of all the skills, Fishing has the most rewards available for leveling. Here’s everything on offer for increasing your Fishing level:

LevelRewards1Casting distance increased by one tile2Bait recipe
Fiberglass Rod and Bait unlocked at Willy’s Fish Shop3Crab Pot recipe
Dish O’ the Sea recipe
Crab Pot unlocked in Willy’s Fish Shop4Deluxe Bait recipe
Worm Bin recipe
Recycling Machine recipe
Deluxe Bait unlocked in Willy’s Fish Shop
Casting distance increased by one tile5A choice between Fisher and Trapper professions6Bait Maker recipe
Spinner recipe
Trap Bobber recipe
Sonar Bobber recipe
Iridium Rod, Sonar Bobber, Lead Bobber, Spinner, and Trap Bobber unlocked at Willy’s Fish Shop7Cork Bobber recipe
Treasure Hunter recipe
Cork Bobber and Treasure Hunter unlocked at Willy’s Fish Shop8Deluxe Worm Bin recipe
Barbed Hook recipe
Dressed Spinner recipe
Barbed Hook & Dressed Spinner unlocked at Willy’s Fish Shop
Casting distance increased by one tile9Seafoam Pudding recipe
Magnet recipe
Magnet unlocked at Willy’s Fish Shop10A choice between Angler and Pirate if you chose the Fisher profession
A choice between Mariner and Luremaster if you chose the Trapper profession

How to get Combat experience in Stardew Valley

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Combat is the final skill in Stardew Valley, and experience is gained through defeating monsters in the Mines, Skull Cavern, or the Volcano Dungeon. As with Mining and Foraging, the amount of experience you’ll gain will depend on what kind of monster you kill. 

Here’s how much experience you can get for killing each monster:

MonsterExperienceMonsterExperienceGreen Slime3Dust Sprite2Bat3Frost Bat7Lava Bat15Iridium Bat22Stone Golem5Wilderness Golem5Iridium Golem15Grub2Cave Fly10Frost Jelly6Slime10Ghost15Carbon Ghost20Duggy10Rock Crab4Truffle Crab4Lava Crab12Iridium Crab20Squid Kid15Shadow Brute15Shadow Shaman15Skeleton8Metal Head6Bug1Mummy20Big Slime7Serpent20Mutant Grub6Mutant Fly10Pepper Rex7Haunted Skull15Tiger Slime20Lava Lurk12Hot Head16Magma Sprite15Magma Duggy18Magma Sparker17False Magma Cap14Dwarvish Sentry15Putrid Ghost25Shadow Sniper20Spider15Stick Bug4Royal Serpent20Blue Squid15

For increasing your Combat level, you’ll unlock the following rewards:

LevelRewards1Sturdy Ring recipe
Bug Steak recipe2Life Elixir recipe3Roots Platter recipe4Warrior Ring recipe5A choice between the Fighter and Scout professions6Slime Egg Press recipe
Oil of Garlic recipe7Ring of Yoba recipe
Thorns Ring recipe8Slime Incubator recipe
Explosive Ammo recipe9Iridium Band recipe
Squid Ink Ravioli recipe10A choice between Brute and Defender if you chose the Fighter profession
A choice between Acrobat and Desperado if you chose the Scout profession Post Tag: ConcernedApe Stardew Valley Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy Join The Conversation