Combat - Stardew Valley Wiki (2024)

Combat is the skill associated with fighting monsters, such as in The Mines or the Skull Cavern. Combat is increased by killing monsters, with more difficult monsters granting more experience.

Each increase in Combat Level adds 5 HP (health points) to the player's health meter, with the exceptions of levels 5 and 10. Health points are only increased when levelling up to levels 5 or 10 if the Fighter and Defender professions are chosen. Level-ups may also add Crafting or Cooking recipes. Unlike other skills, there is no proficiency effect from this skill since weapons do not require energy.

During the first few days in Stardew Valley, the Mines are closed due to an accident by Joja Corporation. On or around day 5, the player will receive a letter in the mail from Joja Corp, explaining that the landslide blocking the mines has been cleared, and the mine entrance will be open. At this point, combat becomes available to players. An exception is those who chose the Wilderness Farm, which starts with monsters at the first night.

As with other skills, note that experience level is increased immediately upon slaying a monster, but the "level up" window doesn't appear until the player sleeps (or until all players sleep in multiplayer).

Note that killing monsters on the Farm grants only 1/3 of the standard amount of experience.^[1]

Combat Skill

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Cooking Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Choose a Profession:
Sturdy Ring Bug Steak	Life Elixir	Roots Platter	Warrior Ring	Fighter All attacks deal 10% more damage. (+15 HP)	Scout Critical strike chance increased by 50%. (+0 HP) (Note that the increase is multiplicative. The formula is: critChance = critChance * 1.5)
Level 6	Level 7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting / Cooking Recipes:	Fighter:	Scout:
Slime Egg-Press Oil of Garlic	Ring of Yoba Thorns Ring	Slime Incubator Explosive Ammo	Iridium Band Squid Ink Ravioli	Brute Deal 15% more damage. (+0 HP) (Stacks multiplicatively with Fighter)	Acrobat Cooldown on special moves cut in half. (+0 HP)
				Defender +25 HP.	Desperado Critical strikes are deadlier. (+0 HP) (2x Critical strike damage)

Experience Points

The following table lists the experience points gained for killing the indicated monster. (This data can be found in Data\Monsters.xnb as well as the constructors for Grub and Fly in the game code. In the Quarry Mine and dungeon floors of the Mines, monster data are set by MineShaft.getMonsterForThisLevel and the constructor for Bat in the game code.)

Substats

Consuming certain foods or drinks, wearing particular Footwear or Rings, and choice of Weapon can all give Stat Bonuses that affect the player's Combat ability.

Attack affects how much damage the player does with each weapon strike.

Crit. Power adds additional damage when hitting a critical strike.

Defense affects how much damage the player takes from enemy strikes.

Immunity affects the chance to be afflicted with certain debuffs.

The Weight of a weapon affects how far an enemy will be knocked back when struck with the weapon.

Weapon Speed and Player Speed are also a factor in successful Combat.

Critical hit chance

Critical hit chance is computed in the following order:

1. Each weapon has a base critical hit chance. For example, the Galaxy Sword has a critical hit chance of 2%^[2].
2. In 1.5, the Aquamarine forging increases crit chance in an additive manner via the following formula: critChance += 0.046 * forgingLevel. For example, with 3 Aquamarine forged, the crit chance is increased by 13.8%. With the Galaxy Sword, this means the chance is 15.8%^[3].
3. If the weapon is a dagger critChance = (critChance + 0.005) * 1.12^[4].
4. If a single aquamarine ring is used, critical hit chance is increased in a multiplicative manner by 10%. If two aquamarine rings are used, the critical hit chance is increased in a multiplicative manner by 20%^[5].
   1. So with the galaxy sword and 1 ring and 3 forging: 15.8*1.1 = 17.38%.
   2. With 2 rings: 18.96%.
5. If the Statue Of Blessings gives the Blessing of Fangs buff, an additive 10% is added to the crit chance.^[6] A player using a Galaxy Sword that is triple-enchanted with Aquamarine and equipped with 2 aquamarine rings has an 18.96% chance to crit, increasing to 28.96% with the Blessing of Fangs buff from the Statue Of Blessings,
6. The Scout Profession further increases critical hit chance in a multiplicative manner by 50% with the following formula: critChance = critChance * 1.5^[6]. For the galaxy sword with 2 rings, 3 forging, the Blessing of Fangs buff from the Statue Of Blessings, and the scout profession, the critChance is: 28.96 * 1.5 = 43.44%.
7. Finally, every point of luck from food and rings increased crit chance in an additive manner by 2.5% with the following formula: critChance += LuckLevel * critChance / 40^[7].

The Desperado profession increases the damage of critical hits again by 2x after all bonuses are applied. Further information about this is discussed in Crit. Power.

References

History

• 1.6: Monsters defeated on the farm now grant 1/3 the normal amount of XP, instead of no XP.