Stardew Valley: Best Order To Upgrade Tools

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In Stardew Valley, the tools you utilize play a crucial role in accomplishing tasks, standing out as your most vital possessions. These tools can be enhanced from their initial versions to their Iridium variants; however, each upgrade comes at a price.

Typically, you’ll require a substantial amount of ore, cash, and several days for each individual upgrade. It often takes more than an entire game year for all your resources to reach the top-tier quality (Iridium grade).

As a gamer, I’d say it’s super useful to understand where to focus my initial efforts. Here’s the order I usually suggest: prioritize the first tool upgrade first, then gradually work your way through the rest. Generally, I don’t advise dumping all resources into one area straight away.

In the initial stages of play, it’s highly advantageous to focus on a single tool more than others. If you’re aiming for something specific from the get-go, here’s my suggested sequence to help you work most effectively.

1.
Backpack

Stashed Away

It’s quite clear that among all the upgrades, the backpack ones are the simplest to acquire and also the most beneficial in the entire game, regardless of your skill level or playstyle.

Increasing not just twice but three times your stockpile significantly alleviates the heavy responsibility of inventory management, allowing you to store greater amounts of produce, minerals, seafood, fruits, and monsters’ spoils.

In every fresh game, my initial significant investment is consistently the Large Pack, followed by gathering sufficient funds for the Deluxe Pack prioritizing it over upgrading other tools first.

As a devoted enthusiast, I can’t help but emphasize that this option spares you from unnecessary journeys back home, addresses the concern of disposing valuable items due to limited storage, and undeniably stands as the most logical preference when prioritizing your needs.

2.
Pickaxe

Mining Away

When approaching this tutorial with a balanced viewpoint, it’s clear that Mining should be your initial focus for skill development. This is because nearly all tool enhancements demand raw ore, making Mining an essential starting point if you aim to gather these resources efficiently.

To excel effectively in the initial levels of the mine using the standard pickaxe and some dynamite is possible. However, when you reach mining Iron, Gold, and particularly Iridium, an upgrade becomes essential for your progress.

A gold pickaxe facilitates effortless ore collection, simplifying the process of acquiring resources for your pickaxe improvements and basic tool maintenance as well.

As a gamer, let me tell you from personal experience, it’s definitely worth the journey to Iridium! The Skull Cavern can be quite an obstacle if your mining skills aren’t top-notch. But when you’re mining at peak efficiency and every rock shatters with just one hit, it’s downright satisfying!

3.
Fishing Rod

Hook, Line, and Sinker

You might find this surprising, but do consider exploring fishing rod enhancements whenever possible. The main reason being that fishing offers a good source of income during the early stages, and it’s quite straightforward to engage in.

At Fishing Level 2, you’ll be able to purchase your initial rod upgrade, and at Fishing Level 6, you can acquire the Iridium Rod. This skill is quite simple to advance, and both items are affordably priced – just 7500g for the rod, offering a substantial boost in fishing capabilities.

This device enables you to connect both the lure and fishing gear, significantly boosting the success rate of your catch. On top of enhancing the performance of your gear, it makes fishing a more profitable activity in terms of time, as it becomes even more productive than it previously was.

If these improvements were affixed to ores, they would probably decrease in price, but given their low cost and high potential for profits, I strongly recommend considering them as a top priority if you’re looking for simple ways to generate income during the early stages of the game.

4.
Axe

Breaker Buster

Obtaining a steel axe is quite essential since it’s the only tool capable of felling the massive logs cluttering your farm. These logs can sometimes obstruct crucial parts of your farm, which is a significant issue.

These logs obstruct the Enchanted Forest, a place where many players, including myself on occasion, prioritize enhancing their Axes to Steel as quickly as possible through continuous upgrading.

To put it simply, creating a Gold or Iridium Axe is generally unnecessary because their main purpose is just to increase tree-chopping efficiency, unlike other tools that offer distinct advantages.

Instead of manually chopping down every tree, you could significantly increase your efficiency by strategically positioning a few Mega Bombs near them. These bombs have a much greater reach than manual labor, rendering the upgrade for manual chopping largely unnecessary.

5.
Watering Can

Sprinkled On

For most players unwilling to devote all their time to crafting Iridium sprinklers, the Gold Watering Can is an exceptional upgrade, even if min-maxxers view it as unnecessary effort.

As you progress from watering individual tiles, at the highest level ‘Golden’, you move on to watering groups of 9 tiles. If you advance further to ‘Iridium’, your watering range effectively doubles, significantly reducing the tedious time spent on manual farming.

To put it another way, the efficiency of sprinklers is so remarkable that it significantly boosts productivity. If you’re planning to automate your farm with sprinklers, I would strongly suggest upgrading to either the Steel or Gold level.

For those who manage large farmlands requiring daily manual watering, this upgrade is a valuable time-saving solution that allows for optimal utilization of time and energy, rather than squandering it on crop maintenance.

6.
Hoe

Till We Part

Apart from the initial stages of play, the Hoe seems unnecessary as you can perform the same function of cultivating larger spaces using bombs, which are significantly more efficient if you have enough funds available.

Investing in a Hoe provides long-term cost savings for accomplishing the same tasks, and it’s particularly advantageous for Clay and Snow Yam farming when upgraded. However, its benefits don’t extend beyond these aspects.

When it comes to using your Hoe, you won’t find much necessity for it in extensive areas, rendering upgrades beyond Steel questionable, given that a Steel Hoe is more than sufficient, especially if you dislike bombs.

I’ve only upgraded my Hoe to Iridium when I had an abundance of the rare purple resource, and I preferred matching the color scheme across all my tools, though it holds little practical significance.

7.
Trash Can

Tossed Aside

Updating your Trash Can next to your inventory isn’t essential in most cases, as I seldom find the need for it. While it offers a small refund when discarding items, you could choose to just not dispose of things instead.

Reducing the clutter in your stock, which has little value, doesn’t significantly impact your total profits. Selling 10g from a heap of rocks won’t provide a substantial boost to your earnings either.

Regardless of how insignificant the loss might seem to you, if you keep discarding something, you’ll end up forfeiting a substantial 40% of its worth, even under the most favorable circumstances.

During the initial stages of play, it’s wiser to return home and store your items in your inventory for safekeeping if you’re concerned about potential financial losses. However, in the advanced stages when you’ve amassed a substantial amount of money, doing so becomes irrelevant.

8.
Scythe

Death Be Upon Ye

Although Scythe upgrades don’t require spending money, they aren’t particularly valuable things to focus on prioritizing. They’re primarily awarded for accomplishing challenging tasks.

Obtaining the Golden Scythe involves navigating the challenging dungeon near the Quarry, a rather difficult task. Upon completion, you’ll be granted an increment in your tool’s reach and a slight boost in the amount of hay gathered while mowing grass.

Instead of the Iridium Scythe, consider this: This scythe, known as the Iridium Scythe, allows you to harvest your crops slightly faster than usual. However, the benefit it offers is minimal compared to the colossal amount of work required to amass 100,000 mastery points, which is the only way to obtain this addition.

Typically, I find it challenging to secure these two upgrades, and getting the Scythe upgrade often feels like luck rather than a planned strategy. It’s not usually a focus or something I’d advise deliberately pursuing.

9.
Pan

Sifting Through Trash

I’ve already emphasized this point previously, but let me clarify for those who might be unsure. Panning is a poor choice and an extremely inefficient way to utilize your time.

I would only suggest these upgrades if you’re aiming to optimize your ring combinations. On Ginger Island, mining for the Luck Ring is the most efficient method to achieve it.

To put it simply, I never suggest trying this method except at the absolute final stage of the game. The upgrades can somewhat improve your experience, but they’re effective only if you manage to obtain another opportunity for an upgrade.

This method for obtaining ores is highly inefficient when compared to other strategies within the game, offering minimal returns on investment. It’s a choice that primarily caters to the most devoted players, providing little benefit to the average gamer.

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2025-05-18 21:40