After your first year or two in Stardew Valley you might start to think you've seen everything the game has to offer. Your farm will be filled to the brim with barns and sheds. You might even think there's nothing left for you to spend your money on. You couldn't be more wrong.
Stardew Valley keeps expanding, and some of the games best items won't be available until you've mastered your farm. You will need a large fortune to afford some of these items, but all of them will permanently change how you play the game.
10 Sprinklers
Sprinklers will be obtainable early on in your career, and you'll be thankful. Watering your crops every day isn't hard work per-say, but we still don't want to do it. The sprinklers will give you that luxury at farming level two for the low-low price of one cobber bar, and one iron bar.
The original sprinkler is alright, but it only waters the four closest adjacent tiles. The Quality Sprinkler will be unlocked at farming level six and will reach all eight spots it touches, but the Iridium Sprinkler at level nine will water 24 squares every morning. This is when the lazy farmer in you will really come out.
9 Fully Upgraded Coops And Barns
When you first get a barn or coop, they come with a lot of upkeep. You will have to lay out hay for them every morning and collect the animal products. This is simply too much work. We want our animals to be a passing afterthought that slowly earns us money.
To make this happen, you're going to need to fully upgrade your animals' houses. Once fully upgraded, and assuming you have a silo, hay will automatically be funneled into your animals' troughs as long the silos have hay to dispense. Finally, outfit your buildings with Auto-Grabbers to automatically collect any materials for the day. After that, you'll only be good for giving out pets.
8 Geode Crusher
The Geode Crusher is obtained via the Special Order board in Fall of year one. Clint wants you to slay 50 of a given monster, and in return gives you the schematics to make them whenever you want. Initially, this might seem like a waste. The crusher demands coal for every geode, and our main man Clint only asks for 25 gold.
The Geod Crusher does have one very, very particular use though. It involves a bit of a glitch, so this may not be for everyone, but the Geode Crusher is 'one geode behind' Clint. This means that if you have multiple of the same geode, and Clint opens something great like a Prismatic Shard, taking the same type of geode to a crusher will result in another of what Clint opened, so long as it's the very next geode you open.
7 Explosive Ammo
Explosive ammo won't be available until combat level eight, but once you reach that, you've obtained the fasted mining resource in the game. Explosive ammo is loaded into the slingshot and can be purchased for 300 gold at the Adventurers Guild, or crafted in stacks of five for one iron bar and two coal.
Explosive ammo can drastically improve your spelunking capabilities. Speedrunners use explosive ammo to blast through the mines to find staircases, and as a bonus, they also do a great deal of damage. Just be careful. You do put yourself at risk by playing with this ammo.
6 Galaxy Hammer
Galaxy weapons will be a goal for any player, but there's a debate over what's best between the sword, dagger, and hammer. Let's put that entire argument to bed; the Galaxy Hammer is the best weapon in the game, and we won't be accepting any comments, questions, or concerns.
Why is it so good though? Well, this one is also technically a bug, but when you use your power attack to slam the ground, you can spam the normal attack button and register multiple slams at once. This will obliterate your enemies as entire life bars are demolished in the span of a second, and suddenly the only thing that can take you out is yourself.
5 Lightning Rods And Solar Panels
Batteries will open up a host of crafting options from decorative lighting on your farm, to Iridium Sprinklers and Crystalariums. The latter of which can be used to replicate any gem other than prismatic shards. This might entice you to farm as many Battery Packs as possible.
To do such a thing, you'll want to harness the power of lightning itself - nothing farmers aren't known for. Lightning Rods will provide you will batteries during rainstorms, and once you've completed the Special Order, Island Ingredients, you can harness the power of the sun through Solar Panels for more passive generation.
4 Horse Flute
The horse will, or should be, your closest friend and confidant. They're faster than you, they don't require any food, and when others will leave you, the horse will always return. Invest in the horse as soon as possible and never look back.
Unfortunately, however, the horse can't follow you outside the valley. Unless you have the Horse Flute, of course. It can be purchased from Qi on Ginger Island for 50 Qi Gems. Now, you can summon your steed where ever and whenever you please. Save for indoors. It is still a horse, after all.
3 Auto-Petters
Depending on your play-through, you may not even know Auto-Petters exist. They can only be purchased from Joja Mart after you finish their warehouse, meaning they're very rare to come by in Community Center runs. The only way to obtain them is from rare mob drops or from treasure rooms in Skull Cavern. Sincerely, good luck if you decide to farm for these.
Auto-Petters do as advertised. They will pet your animals each morning for half affection, as long as it's placed in their coop or barn. Additionally, you can pet them manually to earn full affection, meaning you can get affection-and-a-half per day. Or you can just ignore your animals, rack up affection, and reap the iridium quality benefits.
2 Obelisks
The Obelisks will likely be one of the last additions you ever add to your farm because quite frankly, they're only for the obscenely rich. The Obelisks will teleport you to the mountains, beach, desert, or Ginger Island. The first two cost a cool half a million gold, while the latter two cost an even million.
That's a steep price, but the reward is worth it. Never having to craft another Warp Totem is just the tip of the iceberg. You will save hours in travel time over a single year. You will never have to wait for Pam to be by the bus stop, and Ginger Island will only ever be a click away.
1 Return Scepter
There is one ultimate time saver that will irrevocably change your Stardew Valley experience. You only have so many hours in a day, and for most of your playthrough you have to account for the travel time back home, or else pass out on the streets. The Return Scepter puts an end to all of that by allowing you to teleport to your front door from anywhere in game. Suddenly, every day can be pushed to the last ten minutes.
Obtaining the Scepter isn't easy, however. It's sold by Krobus in the sewers for a hefty two million gold. It's easily one of the most expensive items in the game, but it's beyond worth it. Spend every last minute of your day doing whatever you want, and when you're done, warp home just in time to see the clock strike 2:00 am.