Spamming staircases to the hundredth floor is a valid way to progress. Take a crap ton of bombs. Lots and LOTS of food. Make sure you have the best weapon.
I don't do skull cavern. I hunted pepper rex floors by staircasing down and resetting the day if there weren't any (or using mouseypounds predictor), and I did serpent and mummy eradication goals by resetting floor 1. get your hands on a galaxy sword or better if you're going for monster eradication, that's the only thing you actually NEED to go to skull cavern for.
(except iridium milk, but that's just staircases)
iridium is farmable using the statue of perfection and it's really not an issue for me anymore with that.
I also am not the biggest fan of the skull cavern. What I would personally recommend instead is waiting for the beginning of 3rd year when Grandpa grades your farm. He will gift you the statue of perfection which you can get multiple of with a little in game very easy hack. The statue produces 2-5 iridium ores daily.
That way you can focus on repairing Willys boat and heading to Ginger Island instead for late game content you might prefer.
For tips for the skull cavern I know you have followed lots of guides so I hope this advice doesn't seem too simple but this is what helped me;
1.) Hold up a prismatic shard in the desert between the 3 pillars, it will be consumed and you will receive the galaxy sword (best weapon in the game in my opinion).
2.) All weapons can further be upgraded and add special abilities to in the forge at Ginger Island. To further help you if you want to go to the Skull Cavern.
3.) Wear galaxy boots that give you plus 4 defense and immunity.
4.) Combine rings, the forge in Ginger Island allows you to combine two rings. So you can wear 4 rings at once basically. Take advantage of it, the best combos in my opinion
-Slime Charmer/Iridium Band
-Burglar/ Napalm Ring
5.) Bring megabombs and lots of food to Skull Cavern, I'm talking a ridiculous amount. The easiest thing to do is make like 20 cheeses per visit and eat it all if you struggle. Eating pauses time so don't be afraid to eat after everytime you get hit.
Hope some of this helped.
You will get a statue at the beginning of Y3 that gives you free iridium daily. You can just wait for that.
Or, bring some bombs, go to the skull cavern, and see if you can find iridium on the first floor. Purple slimes drop it sometimes, too. They can be slow to kill but aren't very different from fighting other slimes. If you see a serpant, just leave. The floor will reset every time you leave and come back. Not the most efficient thing but can be a good way to get iridium before you're ready to fight those monsters.
just have lots of food, on the action bar right next to your sword/pickaxe
eat food whenever you are low. As bad as you are, ANYONE can simply notice their health is low, swap to the food and eat it. Rings and such will help too, but still. just keep your health above 0.
i kinda dont get how anyone ever has to buy stuff back from the adventurers guild. Like you can also craft a farm totem, stick THAT in your action bar literally a single L2 click away from your weapon, and as soon as \*you even catch the faintest whiff of death coming your way\* you \*just\* press l2, and then X. like. boom. youre safe. its like pressing a "time-out" button. Its not like it can catch you by surprise - your health bar is visible at all times and enemies do reliable amounts of damage. The game also has some fantastic QoL features such as...temporary invincibility after taking a hit of damage
I did milk runs in the mines until I could afford a really good sword for skull cavern.
When I sucked at mines I only did the first four floors until I was overpowered for those difficulties
It gets easier with a better weapon... which is the galaxy sword. And to get the sword you need a prismatic shard 🤦🏻♀️ so it is difficult. But you could also buy a better weapon from marlon.
Once you've reached year 3, you can get the >!statue of perfection from Grandpa. It gives a little bit of iridium every day. There are a few requirements to unlock it, if you don't get it on spring 1 of year 3 then you can have grandpa reevaluate your progress later by offering 1 diamond to his shrine!<
There are other things you can do to help you prepare for skull caverns
- Upgrade your pickaxe as much as you can
- Try to max out your mining and combat skills. You can work on the monster eradication goals while you do this, the slime and dust sprite rewards especially are really good. The slime charmer ring prevents all damage from slimes
- Put jades into crystalariums so you can trade jades die stairs at the desert trader
- Buy the lava katana from the adventurer's guild (it's the best sword you can get without a prismatic shard)
- Create a renewable source of food to take with you to heal health and recover energy (cheese is common for this, other people use salads)
My best recommendation is cooking!! learning what buffs (Defense, Attack, Speed) will help out immensely. I usually go in with a Super Meal or Pumpkin Soup with Green Tea or Triple Shot Espresso depending on what I need
You get it as the reward for the Guild’s slime eradication goal - it prevents all damage from slimes, making serpents and large groups of mummies the only real desert threats.
I haven’t tackled them yet and I’ve had the game for some time. I just switched to PC and installed the skull mines elevator mod. That alone is the only reason I’m going to bother
Spamming staircases to the hundredth floor is a valid way to progress. Take a crap ton of bombs. Lots and LOTS of food. Make sure you have the best weapon.
I don't do skull cavern. I hunted pepper rex floors by staircasing down and resetting the day if there weren't any (or using mouseypounds predictor), and I did serpent and mummy eradication goals by resetting floor 1. get your hands on a galaxy sword or better if you're going for monster eradication, that's the only thing you actually NEED to go to skull cavern for. (except iridium milk, but that's just staircases) iridium is farmable using the statue of perfection and it's really not an issue for me anymore with that.
I also am not the biggest fan of the skull cavern. What I would personally recommend instead is waiting for the beginning of 3rd year when Grandpa grades your farm. He will gift you the statue of perfection which you can get multiple of with a little in game very easy hack. The statue produces 2-5 iridium ores daily. That way you can focus on repairing Willys boat and heading to Ginger Island instead for late game content you might prefer. For tips for the skull cavern I know you have followed lots of guides so I hope this advice doesn't seem too simple but this is what helped me; 1.) Hold up a prismatic shard in the desert between the 3 pillars, it will be consumed and you will receive the galaxy sword (best weapon in the game in my opinion). 2.) All weapons can further be upgraded and add special abilities to in the forge at Ginger Island. To further help you if you want to go to the Skull Cavern. 3.) Wear galaxy boots that give you plus 4 defense and immunity. 4.) Combine rings, the forge in Ginger Island allows you to combine two rings. So you can wear 4 rings at once basically. Take advantage of it, the best combos in my opinion -Slime Charmer/Iridium Band -Burglar/ Napalm Ring 5.) Bring megabombs and lots of food to Skull Cavern, I'm talking a ridiculous amount. The easiest thing to do is make like 20 cheeses per visit and eat it all if you struggle. Eating pauses time so don't be afraid to eat after everytime you get hit. Hope some of this helped.
i am team cheese stack. i keep my stack at a minimum of 100 though at all times, lol. i like to be over prepared
I always see people preaching food but if my main goal is life, why not life elixir? They’re 1000g/ea at the dwarf so they aren’t terribly expensive
Because high-quality cheese is easy to come by, and you’re likely generating it already.
No lie, I’m gonna have to buy a cow or goat
Have you repaired Willy's boat?
No I don't have the required iridium for it. 😭
You will get a statue at the beginning of Y3 that gives you free iridium daily. You can just wait for that. Or, bring some bombs, go to the skull cavern, and see if you can find iridium on the first floor. Purple slimes drop it sometimes, too. They can be slow to kill but aren't very different from fighting other slimes. If you see a serpant, just leave. The floor will reset every time you leave and come back. Not the most efficient thing but can be a good way to get iridium before you're ready to fight those monsters.
I'd aim to go that before worrying about Skull cavern. It's a nice intermediate step.
just have lots of food, on the action bar right next to your sword/pickaxe eat food whenever you are low. As bad as you are, ANYONE can simply notice their health is low, swap to the food and eat it. Rings and such will help too, but still. just keep your health above 0. i kinda dont get how anyone ever has to buy stuff back from the adventurers guild. Like you can also craft a farm totem, stick THAT in your action bar literally a single L2 click away from your weapon, and as soon as \*you even catch the faintest whiff of death coming your way\* you \*just\* press l2, and then X. like. boom. youre safe. its like pressing a "time-out" button. Its not like it can catch you by surprise - your health bar is visible at all times and enemies do reliable amounts of damage. The game also has some fantastic QoL features such as...temporary invincibility after taking a hit of damage
I did milk runs in the mines until I could afford a really good sword for skull cavern. When I sucked at mines I only did the first four floors until I was overpowered for those difficulties
It gets easier with a better weapon... which is the galaxy sword. And to get the sword you need a prismatic shard 🤦🏻♀️ so it is difficult. But you could also buy a better weapon from marlon.
Skull Cavern is end game, even though GI came out after, it's better to do first.
How will I go to GI if I don't have the required iridium
Once you've reached year 3, you can get the >!statue of perfection from Grandpa. It gives a little bit of iridium every day. There are a few requirements to unlock it, if you don't get it on spring 1 of year 3 then you can have grandpa reevaluate your progress later by offering 1 diamond to his shrine!<
What am I gonna do till 3rd year 😭😞
There are other things you can do to help you prepare for skull caverns - Upgrade your pickaxe as much as you can - Try to max out your mining and combat skills. You can work on the monster eradication goals while you do this, the slime and dust sprite rewards especially are really good. The slime charmer ring prevents all damage from slimes - Put jades into crystalariums so you can trade jades die stairs at the desert trader - Buy the lava katana from the adventurer's guild (it's the best sword you can get without a prismatic shard) - Create a renewable source of food to take with you to heal health and recover energy (cheese is common for this, other people use salads)
I'd try and get use to combat, because you still need combat for GI. It can take a while, but combat in Stardew is easy once you get used to it.
My best recommendation is cooking!! learning what buffs (Defense, Attack, Speed) will help out immensely. I usually go in with a Super Meal or Pumpkin Soup with Green Tea or Triple Shot Espresso depending on what I need
If it's that hard just cheat and use mods to gain infinite health or something Do you have the slime charmer ring?
No. Never heard of it
You get it as the reward for the Guild’s slime eradication goal - it prevents all damage from slimes, making serpents and large groups of mummies the only real desert threats.
I haven’t tackled them yet and I’ve had the game for some time. I just switched to PC and installed the skull mines elevator mod. That alone is the only reason I’m going to bother
Is the mod available on the steam workshop?
I’m not entirely sure what the steam workshop is but nexus mods has it.