Intro
Coal is one of the most valuable resources you’ll need in Stardew Valley. From your very first season, it’s used to craft essential items like Scarecrows to protect your crops. Later in the game, you’ll need hundreds of pieces of coal for Keg sheds, Preserves Jars, Bee Houses, and other crafting recipes.
In this guide, I’ll show you the fastest and most efficient ways to farm coal, so you can choose the best method based on where you are in your playthrough.
Quick Answer
The fastest way to farm coal in Stardew Valley is by clearing out Dust Sprites on floors 40–79 of the Mines. Once you’ve unlocked the Burglar’s Ring, Dust Sprites will frequently drop 1–2 pieces of coal, making this the most efficient farming method in the game.
Keep reading to learn how to optimise this strategy and discover the other worthwhile ways to obtain coal.
Watch the method in action
Here’s a short clip showing exactly how I farm 160 Coal in one run.
Best Way to Farm Coal (Step-by-Step)
What You’ll Need
While you don’t need any special items to farm coal this way, a few upgrades will make the process much more efficient.
- Burglars Ring
- Monster Musk
- Bombs
- Food Buffs (I recommend Spicy Eel and Triple Shot Espresso)
- A Strong Weapon
Burglar’s Ring
If you only go out of your way to unlock one item for Coal farming, make it this one.
WHY I RECOMMEND IT
The Burglar’s Ring gives every defeated enemy another chance to drop loot. Against Dust Sprites, that means more Coal from every run through the mines.
HOW TO GET IT
The perfect thing about this method, is it’s also the best way to get the Burglar’s Ring. Just go and kill 500 Dust Sprites, then you can claim it from Gil at the Adventurer’s Guild. Then go and kill more Dust Sprites for more Coal.
This is one of the best Rings in the game. The ability to double the loot from monster’s doesn’t just mean more monster loot, but also more food and other useful items too.
Monster Musk
More monsters means more loot, and more Coal
WHY I RECOMMEND IT
Monster Musk doubles the number of monsters that spawn, allowing you to kill kore Dust Sprites. Killing more Dust Sprites means more Coal for you.
HOW TO GET IT
The recipe is unlocked by completing the Wizard’s Prismatic Jelly Special Order. Crafting one requires 30 Slime and 30 Bat Wings.
Bombs
Bring 10–20 Bombs to quickly clear rocks and reveal ladders. As you farm, you’ll usually gather enough materials to craft more, making them well worth bringing along.
Food Buffs
Movement speed is your biggest friend when farming Dust Sprites.
I recommend bringing:
- Spicy Eel for the Speed and Luck buffs.
- Triple Shot Espresso to stack another Speed boost.
The faster you move between rooms, the more Dust Sprites you can kill each day.
Other Buffs
The Prospector Profession which is an option at Level 10 Mining (provided you chose the miner profession at level 5) will double the chance to find Coal from rocks. If you are later in the game and have access to the Statue of the Dwarf King, you will want to see if the power that increases chances of coal dropping is available too.
While in general this method is about farming Sprites for coal, you will get a fair bit by also breaking rocks when needed to find ladders.
A Strong Weapon
Finally, bring the best weapon you have available. Ideally, you want to kill Dust Sprites in a single hit so you can clear floors as quickly as possible.
If your weapon isn’t cutting it, here’s my guide on how to get the Galaxy Sword. It’s one of the best weapons in the game and makes farming Dust Sprites much faster.
Seven Dust Sprites in One frame, and you can definitely expect more with Monster Musk active.
The Method
Head to The Mines and start on floor 40, where the Ice Levels begin. From there, work your way down through floors 40–79, defeating every Dust Sprite you come across.
Dust Sprites have one of the highest coal drop rates in the game, which is why this method is so effective. With a Burglar’s Ring and Monster Musk, it’s realistic to farm 200+ coal in a single day. Even without either upgrade, collecting around 100 coal is still very achievable.
To get the most out of each run, keep these tips in mind:
- Don’t go chasing every Dust Sprite. If you spot a lone Dust Sprite on the other side of a maze-like room, don’t waste time trying to reach it. You’ll usually find larger groups as you continue exploring, making your time much better spent moving forward.
- If you enter an infested (overrun) floor filled with Slimes, simply leave and take the elevator to another Ice Level. Fighting through dozens of Slimes just to reach the next ladder is usually much slower than finding another floor with Dust Sprites.
- Keep an ear out for Dust Sprites. Dust Sprites make a distinctive high-pitched sound as they move around. If you don’t hear any when entering a floor, it’s often quicker to leave and continue searching for a better one.
- Reset the Floors. Once you’ve cleared several floors you can take the elevator back to floor 40. Monster spawns rest whenever you leave and re-enter the mines.
160 Coal from one run, and it wasn’t even a full day
When to buy Coal from Clint
Once your farm has a consistent flow of money, you may be better off buying Coal directly from Clint. You’re trading money for time. Instead of spending an entire day farming Dust Sprites, you can simply buy the Coal and get back to whatever project you’re working on. This is definitely an option to consider if you’re bringing in more money than you realistically need each week.
Another thing to note is that the prices of Coal in Year 1 are far cheaper than those in Year 2 and beyond. A piece of Coal from Clint in Year 1 is 150G, where as in Year 2 onwards it shoots up to 250G a piece. If you’ve had a profitable first year, it’s well worth stocking up before the price increase.
TIP
You should also think about stocking up on Wood and Stone in Year 1 too. Wood goes from 10G to 50G, and Stone goes from 20G to 100G in Year 2. If you have spare gold near the end of Winter Year 1, buying extra Wood and Stone is one of the best long-term investments you can make.
What about Charcoal Kiln’s?
Charcoal Kilns solve one resource shortage by creating another. Wood is arguably the most used resource, and you will need plenty in your Stardew Valley journey. Unless you have a Tree farm, I wouldn’t recommend Kiln’s being a primary way of getting Coal. You’re better off saving your wood and farming dust sprites instead.
In Year 1 however, it’s actually cheaper to buy Wood from Robin and convert it into Coal than it is to buy Coal directly from Clint. You save 50G by buying 10 pieces of wood from Robin, and chucking it into a Kiln.
If you do decide to use Charcoal Kilns, each one costs 20 Wood and 2 Copper Bars to craft. Every batch then converts 10 Wood into 1 Coal over the course of 30 in-game minutes.
Conclusion
Farming Dust Sprites is the best way to build up a healthy stockpile of Coal, especially early in the game. As you unlock items like the Burglar’s Ring, this method only becomes more efficient. Later on, once your farm is bringing in plenty of gold, don’t be afraid to buy Coal from Clint to save yourself valuable time. Charcoal Kilns can be useful if you have an abundance of wood, but for most players I wouldn’t recommend relying on them as your primary source of Coal.
More Stardew Valley Guides
Enjoy this guide and want more? Here are some more guides to help you on your Stardew Valley Journey