Are you having a dry spell getting your hands on some Stardew Valley Clay? Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered!
Considering the massive amount of content introduced to the game since its release, knowing all the right tips in Stardew Valley can become tricky. Nevertheless, you need to be aware of them to get the best out of your new life in Pelican Town!
What Is Clay in Stardew Valley?
Clay is a natural resource that can primarily be obtained by tilling the ground with a Hoe. Artifact Spots are especially useful to dig up when trying to find it. Clay is surprisingly scarce and much harder to find than other natural resources such as Wood, Sap, and Stone.
It’s also possible to receive Clay from Geodes once you have them cracked open by Clint or from the multiple Clay Nodes on Ginger Island. Although neither of these methods is reliable, the latter is more of a late-game strategy.
The good news is – since Clay is a natural resource, it’s completely renewable. As such, you can follow the techniques below to obtain it indefinitely!
Stardew Valley Clay – All Sources Explained
Before you start beating yourself up over how you can get some Clay in Stardew Valley, check this out. Below are all the sources of Clay, ranked! If you follow these strategies, you’ll rack up tons of the stuff in no time!
Tilling Soil & Sand
The most reliable and efficient technique of finding Clay is through tilling patches of available soil and sand. You can do this through the Hoe tool. Each time you till a piece of land, there’s a slight chance for it to contain 2-3 pieces of Clay. Naturally, a higher-tier Hoe translates to a more significant number of tilled plots, increasing the amount of Clay you find.
The soil on your farm and any other areas of the map, including the Mines, can be tilled to have a shot at finding Clay. You can do the same for sand; however, this is scarce and is mainly found on the beach. There aren’t any differences in the probability of receiving Clay, whether you’re tilling soil or sand. Both of them are equally effective and viable for finding the resource.
This method is especially useful because of how easy and quick it is. There’s a massive amount of readily tillable soil on your farm. Additionally, whenever you go to sleep, some of the tilled soil that isn’t utilized for farming will automatically fade away – allowing you to till it again and get more Clay!
Digging Up Artifact Spots
The second best method of finding Clay in Stardew Valley is to dig up Artifact Spots. These are tillable plots in a 1-tile radius that contain different Artifacts, Secret Notes, and Lost Books. They can be dug up using the Hoe tool to unearth the item within.
As seen in the picture, Artifact Spots can be identified by 3 wriggling worms coming out of the ground. These are easy to notice and scattered throughout the map (even in the Mines). They’re randomly generated, so keep your eyes peeled!
Although these Artifact Spots primarily contain key items, they can feature pieces of Clay from time to time. The drop rates for Artifact Spots containing Clay vary between seasons and locations. Generally, you’ll have a 24-60% chance of finding a stack of 1-3 Clay from an Artifact Spot dug up during the Summer and Fall seasons.
This probability rate is decreased by almost 50% during the Winter season. Nevertheless, Artifact Spots are much more commonly seen in the Winter, so it’s more of a tradeoff rather than a definite reduction!
Mining Clay Nodes in Ginger Island
Technically, this is the most reliable source of Stardew Valley Clay. However, since this method is restricted to Ginger Island, a super-late game portion of the game, it’ll only be viable if you’ve unlocked the area.
If you’re unaware, Ginger Island contains a Dig Site next to the Island Field Office. This area is initially inaccessible because the bridge leading to it is broken. You can repair this by offering 10 Golden Walnuts to the Parrot perched on the post next to the bridge. Once done, a ton of Parrots will show up and fix the bridge for you, allowing you to access the Island Dig Site.
The Island Dig site, similar to the Quarry, contains different types of rocks and nodes replenished daily. Clay Nodes can be regularly found in groups within this Dig Site. Mining these will always produce Clay, and since these are regenerated each day, you can repeat this process to get as much of the resource as you need!
Breaking Geodes Open
Another method of obtaining Clay in Stardew Valley is to break open Geodes. You can naturally find a ton of Geodes while exploring the Mines and the Skull Cavern. You can get these geodes cracked open for 25g by visiting Clint, the blacksmith.
There are a total of 4 types of Geodes – Geode, Frozen Geode, Magma Geode, and Omni Geode. Each has its characteristics and featured objects. Unlike other items, the chances of finding Clay from Geodes don’t depend on the type of Geode you use.
All Geodes have a 1/16th (6.25%) chance of containing Clay. Additionally, if your Geode contains Clay, it will only have a single piece. This low yield, combined with the abysmal drop rate, makes this our least preferred method of finding the resource.
That does it for all our methods of obtaining Clay in Stardew Valley.
If you think we missed something or have a better technique to showcase, feel free to share it below!
