Stardew Valley mining guide: Best ways to farm Iridium Ore

❘ Updated: 2023-12-12T06:53:00

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Iridium Ore ranks as one of the most elusive materials to find and collect in Stardew Valley, demanding players to progress to a certain level in the game for access. Here’s exactly how to farm the item in Stardew Valley.

Although it’s indispensable for various purposes and crucial for flourishing on bigger farms, obtaining Iridium Ore in substantial amounts necessary for farm prosperity can be quite a tricky endeavor in Stardew Valley.

So, here’s exactly how you can find Iridium Ore in the game, and the best farming methods for getting as much of the resource as possible.

Iridium Ore can be found in the Skull Cavern in Stardew Valley.

How to unlock Skull Cavern in Stardew Valley

Iridium Ore can be found in Skull Cavern, but in order to access this area, you will first need to obtain the Skull Key.

To get the Skull Key, you’ll need to completely clear the initial mines located to the far north of the map above Pelican Town. There are 120 floors of this mine to traverse, and on floor 120 players will be rewarded with a Skull Key that opens up Skull Cavern located in the Calico Desert.

You can reach the Calico Desert via the Bus Stop so long as you have unlocked it.

What’s the best way to farm Iridium Ore in Stardew Valley?

Once you have accessed Skull Cavern, there are two main ways to get to the Iridium Ore quickly and safely: using large quantities of bombs to blast through the cavern, or using staircases to traverse the cavern.

Skull Cavern is a very unforgiving place, and Iridium Ore nodes don’t seem to spawn in bulk until around floor 140 and up. With that said, getting to floor 140 is no easy task and will take several in-game days to accomplish if you are not prepared properly.

It is worth noting that both of these methods will still take a decent chunk of time, as you will encounter several new types of enemies that hit like a Mack truck while you attempt to reach the lower levels.

For each method listed below, you will need to have a good weapon handy as well as meals and energy tonics to make it out of the Cavern alive.

The bomb method

You can bring large quantities of Bombs to blast through the floors of the Cavern, but you’ll have to get large quantities of bombs to do so.

Bombs cost 600 gold each from the Dwarven Trader located on the far East side of the regular mines on your starting island. You can also craft them yourself at Mining Level 6 using four Iron Ore and one coal.

The staircase method

The most efficient way to get to the lower levels is through Staircases. When you enter Skull Cavern, you can immediately drop a staircase of your own that will bring you down to the next floor. This makes dropping several levels at once way quicker compared to busting every rock open until you find a ladder.

You can either craft them yourself for 99 stone per staircase or buy staircases every Sunday from the Desert Trader for 1 Jade each.

If you choose to go the crafting route, you would need 13,860 stone total to craft 140 staircases. It’s also worth noting there is no guarantee that Iridium Ore will spawn on floor 140, it only has a higher chance to spawn at these depths. That means you might need significantly more stone before you can find Iridium Ore.

The best way to farm the Iridium Ore that you need using the Staircases would be to both buy them using Jade and crafting Staircases with Stone. Sticking to one method or the other will waste a lot of precious time needed to do other tasks.

There you have it! That is how you farm Iridium Ore in Stardew Valley at this time. Read below for more tips and tricks on the popular farming sim.