How Do You Get Clay From The Beach Stardew Valley?
Clay is an essential resource to obtain in the farm simulation game Stardew Valley. Found along the beaches, clay is gathered primarily in the early game and utilized for crafting objects like silos to support the player’s farm. With multiple uses, clay is an important material for Stardew Valley players to collect. This guide will cover where to find clay along the beach, the best tools and methods to collect it efficiently, and how it can be used to upgrade your farm.
What is Clay Used for?
Clay is a valuable resource in Stardew Valley that is primarily used for crafting items and constructing buildings on your farm. Some of the main uses of clay include:
- Constructing a Silo to store hay for your animals. Silo requires 100 clay.
- Building a Bone Mill to process artifacts. Bone Mill requires 20 clay.
- Crafting Bee Houses to produce honey. Each Bee House requires 20 clay.
- Making bricks and weathered flooring for your buildings.
- Creating stepping stone paths and other decorative items for your farm.
Having a steady supply of clay allows you to upgrade your farm by constructing new buildings for production and storage. It’s an essential material to gather in order to fully build out your ideal farm layout.
Clay Locations
Clay can be found along the beach in Stardew Valley. The best way to obtain clay is to search for worm spots in the sand and dig them up with your hoe. Worm spots have a chance to produce clay, along with other foraging items like books, driftwood, and winter roots.
According to an informative guide on FreshersLive, the beach is the only location where you can find clay. It cannot be obtained anywhere else on the farm map. Focus your foraging efforts along the shoreline near the tide pools to maximize your chances of uncovering worm spots containing clay.
Best Beaches for Clay
The beach located just south of the farm is considered the most efficient for farming clay in Stardew Valley according to many players. As outlined in the Reddit guide “Quick Clay Farming Guide”, this beach provides a few key advantages:
First, it is located very close to the farm, minimizing the time spent traveling back and forth. The short distance makes it very convenient to go between the beach and your farm storage to empty your inventory.
Second, this beach provides a wide open area with minimal obstacles like trees or boulders. This makes it easier to hoe large sections of the beach continuously without having to maneuver around objects.
Finally, this beach provides a high concentration of artifact spots which have a good chance of producing clay. As you gain Foraging levels, the number of artifact spots increases, making this beach even more efficient.
While other beaches can produce clay as well, the south beach is widely recommended as the best beach for clay farming in Stardew Valley.
Using the Hoe
The most straightforward way to collect clay on the beach in Stardew Valley is to use a hoe. Equip a hoe and head to the beach on a sunny day. Walk along the shoreline near the water’s edge and use your hoe to dig up the sand. Each dig has a chance of producing clay. Using a hoe is not guaranteed to produce clay every time, but it is a reliable method. Persistence and repeatedly digging in the sand patches will eventually yield some clay lumps. According to one Reddit user, the best strategy is to “start digging sideways at the bottom, then when you find clay start digging straight up from that tile and every tile will give you clay” (source). So focus your hoe digging efforts near the bottom edges of the beach and mine upwards in a line once you locate an initial clay deposit.
Best Hoe to Use
The gold or iridium hoe will dig up clay the fastest in Stardew Valley. These higher tier hoes allow you to till more soil in one swing compared to the basic copper or steel hoe. With a wider AOE, you can quickly comb the beach for clay deposits.
Upgrading to the gold or iridium hoe is recommended if farming for clay is a priority. The gold hoe can be purchased from Clint the blacksmith for 10,000g after reaching mining level 6. The iridium hoe is even faster, but requires reaching mining level 9 and costs 25,000g.
Some players advocate using the basic hoe when foraging specifically for clay. The smaller AOE allows you to target the clay deposits more precisely. However, the gold or iridium hoe is still preferred by most for its speed and efficiency. Just be careful not to accidentally destroy the clay if holding down the action button too long.
In summary, investing in the gold or iridium hoe will significantly decrease the time spent collecting clay on the beach. Prioritize this upgrade if clay is needed in bulk for crafting or constructions projects on the farm.
Increasing Foraging Skill
One of the best ways to maximize your clay haul from the beach is to increase your foraging skill. As explained by TheGamer, “This skill applies (more obviously) to picking up foraged items around the Valley, but it’s also the skill you use when chopping down trees.”
So even though clay may not seem like a “foraged” item, the game still uses your foraging skill when determining how much clay you get from each tile you hoe on the beach. Higher foraging skill means a higher chance of getting multiple pieces of clay from each spot.
Some tips for boosting your foraging skill quickly: Equip foraging skill boosting foods like Dish O’ The Sea before beach foraging. Install Tapper machines around Cindersap Forest. Chop down trees and stumps as much as possible. And check the Traveling Cart for any foraging skill boosts.
With higher foraging, you’ll fill up on clay in no time. Just be sure to leave some for neighbor Willy who occasionally comes to the beach searching for clay as well!
Beach Foraging Perks
The Foraging skill in Stardew Valley is increased by gathering items from the beach and other locations around Pelican Town. As your Foraging skill level increases, you gain perks that make obtaining clay easier.
At level 4 Foraging, the chance of finding clay on the beach increases by 10% (Stardew Valley Wiki). At level 7 Foraging, items found while foraging on the beach will be of higher quality. This means you have a greater chance of finding higher quality clay deposits.
Level 9 Foraging provides a 20% chance of double harvest from all beach foragables, including clay deposits. Finally, at level 10 Foraging, all foraged items from the beach are iridium quality. This maximizes the amount of clay you can obtain from each deposit.
Focusing on improving your Foraging skill through beach combing will significantly increase the clay you are able to harvest over time. The Foraging perks make the time invested in leveling up the skill worthwhile.
Seasonal Differences
The amount of clay available on the beach in Stardew Valley changes based on the season. During winter, the beach contains much more clay than other seasons according to players on Reddit (Beach Farm Overview). This is likely because there are fewer foragable items available on the beach in winter, increasing the chances of clay spawning when using the hoe.
In spring, summer, and fall, the beach spawns a variety of shells and other foragables which decreases the chances of clay spawning. Focus clay farming efforts in winter for the highest yield. In other seasons, have patience and persistance when hoeing to accumulate a stockpile of clay.
Summary
To sum up how to effectively get Clay from the beach in Stardew Valley:
- Focus your foraging efforts on the beach areas, particularly around the tide pools
- Use a hoe tool to dig up clay deposits in the sand
- Increase your Foraging skill for higher success rates
- Wait for rainy days, as clay is more plentiful
- Utilize the Beach Forager and Botanist perks for extra clay
- You can find a good amount of clay year-round, with spring being the most abundant
With the techniques outlined above, you can maximize your clay collecting efficiency on the beaches in Stardew Valley. Clay is very useful for crafting and construction projects on your farm.