'Stardew Valley' Iridium Tips: Find Out How To Mine And How To Buy This Rare Resource

After the release of a 1.1 update on Oct. 7 , Stardew Valley fans have been heading back to the farm once again and noticed they need something: iridium. Iridium is one of the rarest resources in Stardew Valley and the question of where to find iridium is among the toughest to answer in the game. It’s incredibly useful though as the iridium hoe , i ridium pickaxe , i ridium axe and i ridium watering can are the best tools in the game. There’s an i ridium sprinkler too, but I found that the quality sprinkler is a much better investment in terms of cost vs function. But I digress. This is about finding iridium Stardew Valley , and here’s how to do it:

Stardew Valley Iridium Tip: Mine It

Because it’s a rock, your natural inclination will be to look for places in Stardew Valley to mine iridium. You can’t find it everywhere, though. The best place to find it in the first mine is between levels 115-120. You can also find it in the Skull Cavern in the desert (accessed after you get the skull key) between levels 70 and 80. An update in March increased the frequency every ten levels deeper in the Skull Cavern and users are confirming there is iridium to be found the deeper you go. Iridium can also be found in omni geodes and magma geodes, so keep an eye out for those when you’re spelunking levels 115-120, too. And if you choose the Geologist skill at mining level 5 and the Excavator skill at mining level 10 it will further increase the odds that a piece of iridium is sitting inside those geodes.

Stardew Valley Iridium Tip: Buy It

One of the things I like a lot about Stardew Valley is that it doesn’t take long to feel rich. And there’s nothing that says “rich guy” more than spending exorbitant amounts of money to save yourself some hassle. And when it comes to finding iridium in Stardew Valley the hassle is a big one. So, if you’ve set up a solid farm and have some money to burn there is a method that allows you to buy your way to an iridium stash.

First and foremost, there is no reliable vendor for iridium. The travelling cart that appears south of the farm every Friday and Sunday occasionally sells iridium bars, but the inventory is always random. It sells for around $3-5k per bar and since you need a total of 20 bars to upgrade all your tools you’ll have to drop $60-100k but most of your iridium troubles will be over. An additional five iridium bars wouldn’t be a bad investment if you also wanted to make the slime hutch, the crystalarium or the slime incubator.

The other reliable way to buy your way to iridium richness is to travel by bus (once you unlock it) to Oasis and purchase omni geodes from Sandy for $3k a piece. You then have to go to the blacksmith and have them cracked open and hope for iridium inside. According to the Stardew Valley wiki players can expect 100 omni geodes to yield about 10 to 15 Iridium Ore. At five ore ber par, you’re looking at around 1,000 geodes purchased to get the 20 iridium bars needed to fully upgrade your toolset.

Stardew Valley Iridium Tip: F--k It

This last tip isn’t a tip, I know, but I feel it should be mentioned. I’m currently running a highly lucrative winery without the aid of any iridium tools or gadgets. Seriously, I’m a multi-millionaire, thanks in large part to my greenhouse full of ancient fruit. Personally, I feel the amount of time and effort undertaken to get iridium tools is a fool’s errand if your endgame is running a successful farm. If you’re a completionist, hey, I get it and good luck on the hunt. But if you’re a returning player who feels stuck in the middle there’s a lot of other ways to make money and get ahead. You don’t need the best tools to be the best farmer. And the appeal, to me, of a game like Stardew Valley is that it's low pressure. So don’t sweat it if your hoe ain’t shit.

For more information on all things Stardew Valley check out our beginner’s guide and our fishing guide . You can also use the wonderful Stardew Wiki which has loads of useful info.

Are you still looking for iridium in Stardew Valley ? Find any iridium in undiscovered places? Too busy fishing? Let us know in the comments!