After reaching the bottom of the mines north of Pelican Town and unlocking the Bus, players can access Skull Cavern. These desert mines are considerably more difficult than the mines north of town. They require an iridium pickaxe, a tough weapon, and a little bit (lot) of luck.
PC players have it easy. There's a mod that installs an elevator every 5 floors similar to the mines near town. If you're playing the Stardew Valley 1.6 update on the Nintendo Switch, you'll need to find a way to reach the bottom of Skull Cavern in a single day.
Here are some tips to reach the bottom of Skull Cavern in one day:
Upgrade your Pickaxe to an Iridium Pickaxe
Iridium is one of the most coveted resources in Stardew Valley. As you start to see some Iridium nodes in the first floors of Skull Cavern, it's tempting to use it to craft Iridium Sprinklers. If you want a much easier time in both of the mines, use your first Iridium Ore to upgrade your Pickaxe.
The Iridium Pickaxe makes mining much faster and cost less stamina. You'll be able to harvest stone in one swing, and copper and iron in one swing as well. To increase the amount of Iridium you get, choose the Miner profession when you reach level 5 Mining skill. You'll permanently get an extra ore from every kind of mining node.
Take your gold pickaxe, 5 Iridium bars, and 10,000 gold to Clint to upgrade your pickaxe to Iridium.
Craft as Many Bombs as Possible
Trying to reach level 100 of Skull Cavern in one day is almost impossible without the use of bombs. Even with an Iridium pickaxe, you won't be able to clear even 50 floors by just mining alone. Bombs and Mega Bombs clear entire swaths of the floor at once, increasing your chances of finding the ladder down.
You can craft Bombs using iron ore and coal. I think coal is too valuable of a resource, and Mega Bombs are almost easier to craft. When you're clearing the mines near Pelican Town, don't sell any of the solar essences and void essences that you find! You can use these with some gold ore to craft the best bombs for clearing Skull Cavern.
Once you donate all 4 different Dwarf Scrolls, you can talk to the dwarf merchant sitting to the right of the entrance of the mines in Pelican Town. At that point, you can just buy all the bombs you need to clear Skull Cavern! These 4 scrolls are a random drop in the Pelican Town mines, so it may take a minute to collect all 4.
Use the new Tent Kit
The Stardew Valley 1.6 update introduces the Tent Kit, a new crafting item that lets players sleep outside for the night. To maximize the number of hours you have in the day to reach level 100 of Skull Cavern, sleep outside the desert mine the night before.
Bright and early at 6 AM, you can enter the mines, instead of having to wait for Pam to get to the bus at 10 AM!
To unlock the Tent Kit, you'll have to reach Foraging level 8. Players will also get a tent kit for free after unlocking Ginger Island! To craft a Tent Kit, you'll need 10 Hardwood, 25 Fiber, and 1 Cloth.
Similarly, make sure you bring a Warp Totem: Farm with you for the end of the day! You can use a Farm Totem to teleport right to your front door instead of having to carve out time to walk back to the bus and back to your house.
Use Holes and Staircases
Every so often, you'll uncover a hole in the floor of Skull Cavern. Always take these! These holes in the floor will drop you anywhere from 3 to 7 floors, letting you skip a few. Holes are the ultimate fast track to floor 100 of Skull Cavern.
In case you're in a pinch at the end of the night, craft some Staircases to quickly make it through the last few floors. Staircases cost 100 Stone each and give you an instant pass to the next level. Although this sounds like a lot of Stone, it can be easy to farm stone with the Iridium pickaxe! Don't forget to mine the large boulders in the mines that give you 10 stone each!
Increase your Luck
Luck is an incredibly useful buff in Stardew Valley. Every day when you wake up, check the TV to see what the day's luck modifier is. If the spirits are happy that day, you'll enjoy increased treasure and mining nodes in the mine, as well as luckier item drops and better luck finding the stairs in the mine.
Of course, if you're using the tent kit to start the day in the desert, you won't be able to check your luck modifier for that day. Thankfully there are some easy recipes to give you a luck buff while you're getting to floor 100 of Skull Cavern!
When checking the trader on Fridays and Sundays, make sure you purchase Lucky Lunch, Pumpkin Soup, and Spicy Eel every time she has one! Keep these saved for farming Skull Cavern.
Spicy Eel is also commonly dropped from dragons in Skull Cavern. You may also get the Lucky Ring as a rare drop in Skull Cavern, which gives you a permanent +1 to your luck!
Here are the easiest Luck recipes to unlock in Stardew Valley:
Fried Eel - unlocked by reaching 3 Hearts with George
Lucky Lunch - unlocked by watching the Queen of Sauce on 28 Spring, Year 2
Pumpkin Soup - unlocked by reaching 7 Hearts with Robin
Spicy Eel - unlocked by reaching 7 Hearts with George
Cave Jelly - fish in the red water on floor 100
What's on Floor 100 of Skull Cavern?
Floor 100 is actually NOT the bottom of Skull Cavern. Skull Cavern is bottomless! This dungeon is procedurally generated and will go on forever. You can find videos of serious Stardew Valley players reaching insane levels of Skull Cavern, like this creator that reached level 369 without using any Staircases!
The game provides two checkpoints for Skull Cavern. The first quest wants new players to get to level 25 of Skull Cavern in one day. After you complete this quest, you'll unlock the chance to get Secret Note #10. This note has a higher chance of dropping from using your scythe on the ice crystals in the Pelican Town mines.
After finding Secret Note #10, you'll get a quest to reach floor 100 of Skull Cavern. Once you'll reach it, you'll find the mysterious character Mr. Qi and unlock an entirely new series of end game quests!
If you reach floor 100 before finding Secret Note #10, you'll find a chest with a rare item in it, like the highly sought after Auto-Petter!
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