Stardew Valley’s long-awaited 1.6 update is finally here, and with it comes a brand new farm type. You can now choose the Meadowlands farm, but you may have to tailor your skills and stats around that decision. Here are the best skills in Stardew Valley based on the farm you choose.
Stardew Valley Meadowlands Farm
The newest farm in Stardew Valley added during the 1.6 update, the Meadowlands farm is tailored to raising animals. It comes with a coop and two chickens, but the farm is also covered in unique blue grass that the animals love for grazing. If you’re looking to level up your farming stat first, this will be an excellent choice.
On the other hand, while the Meadowlands farm can boost your farming stat, it doesn’t mean all farming is ideal. Given the space that’s taken up for animal husbandry, you have less space for farming crops than the Standard farm. When you reach level five and choose your profession, this farm will be suited for the Rancher over the Tiller.
Stardew Valley Standard Farm
The Standard farm in Stardew Valley is the original farm that’s been around since the game’s release. It gives you ample space to grow crops, while also giving you a fair mix of foraged resources. There is a pond on the farm, but you’re more likely to catch trash in it than actual fish. You can only mine stone on the Standard farm, so you won’t be able to boost your mining stat like you can on the Hill-Top farm.
The best skill for Stardew’s Standard farm is the Farming stat because you can grow both crops and animals. You can then use these resources to craft and make artisan goods, and you can focus on your income. It’s generally better to choose the Tiller profession on the Standard farm than the Rancher because you can earn more from your crops. This farm gives you a bit more freedom to choose your own path in Stardew Valley.
Stardew Valley Riverland Farm
The Riverland farm is the most ideal option for you if your primary focus is Fishing. The fishing stat gets leveled up the more you fish, and you can use the Riverland farm to fish more efficiently than you can in any of the other farms’ water sources. Usually, you’d get lots of trash out of the farm pond, but on the Riverland farm you can pull any of the regular river fish that you’d get elsewhere in town.
70% of the time, you’ll get River fish like Pike from your casts on the Riverland farm. The other 30% of the time you’ll get forest fish like what you’d get in Cindersap Forest. Not only that, but you can get bubble spots that improve your bite rate. You have significantly less room for crops, but you wouldn’t choose the Riverland farm if you want to grow crops.
Stardew Valley Beach Farm
The beach farm is a great multifaced option for players who aren’t concerned about farming crops. You have plenty of forageables on this farm, making it ideal for gathering resources rather than growing them. The Beach farm gives you foraging items you’d find on the beach, but you’ll get forest foraging as well.
Not only that but given that it is still a water-based farm type, you can use it to increase your fishing stats as well. It won’t be as great for fishing as the Riverlands farm because you have higher odds of catching trash. Luckily, you won’t have to run as far to get ocean fish like Tilapia. When it comes to farming, this isn’t going to be the place to focus that skill. There’s only one small patch of land that you’re able to use sprinklers in.
Stardew Valley Wilderness Farm
The Wilderness farm is more challenging without having as much of a reward as the other farm types. Monsters spawn on this farm, but you don’t get experience for your combat stat. Instead, the number and difficulty of the monsters you encounter on the farm will scale with your combat level to make the enemies more difficult.
That being said, this farm is still usable for farming and foraging. It is important to note that the layout of the map itself doesn’t lend itself to extensive farming because there are plenty of cliffs and walls. If you can figure out a good system for making it work, you can make out just fine. The lack of experience gained from combat makes this farm not necessarily “good” for boosting your combat stats, but you’ll at least get more exposure to fighting the monsters in the game.
Stardew Valley Hill-Top Farm
If you’re looking for the best farm to level up your Mining stat, look no further than the Hill-Top farm. It spawns plenty of stone and ore nodes like you were in the mines without the threat of being attacked. While the entire farm won’t be occupied with these resources, you’ll still have to contend with cliffs taking up some of your farming space.
Living here should make it faster and easier to level up your mining stats to earn more per node. The ores that appear will correspond to your mining level, and you’ll gain more experience from mining them as you continue leveling. If you want more ore for crafting you can choose the Miner profession. If you want to make more money, choose the Geologist profession on the Hill-Top farm.
Stardew Valley Forest Farm
The Forest Farm is the best option for leveling your foraging stat as much as possible. The farm has plenty of trees, but it’ll also generate seasonal foraged items like daffodils that you can collect throughout the year. Not only that, but there are berry bushes so you can make your artisanal items from home.
If you’re looking for somewhere to fish, the Forest farm isn’t going to be the best place to do it, although you can catch Woodskips on your farm instead of going to the Secret Woods. You won’t have all that much room for farming crops as compared to how much space will be taken up by trees and foraging, but you can make up for that by making your foraged resources into artisan goods.
Stardew Valley Four Corners Farm
A nice sweet spot amongst the rest of the farms in Stardew Valley, the Four Corners farm has a mix of some of the others all on one map. It’s designed for a four-player multiplayer session, but it can be useful even as a solo player. The farming area is reduced by the cliffs that divide the quadrants, but you get much more variety than usual.
The top left is reminiscent of the forest farm with a stump, weeds, and grass. The top right will be like the standard farm, having the most space for farming out of all the quadrants. The bottom left has a pond that’s 50% forest fish and 50% trash, and the bottom right has a quarry like the Hill-Top farm. You can use these to bolster the stats for the respective activities, but they’ll be much more limited than any of the specified farms.
Regardless of what farm you choose, you can fully level your skills over time as you make your way through the rest of the game. If you do need extra help getting there, check out some of our guides on Stardew Valley like how to make Pale Ale or how to fish and attach bait.
