Stardew Valley Best Professions (Ranked Worst to Best)

Updated:

07 Apr 2023

What Are The Best Stardew Valley Professions?

In this article I’m going to be helping you to figure out what professions are best for you to go with or which aren’t all that great.

Let’s be honest, when reaching level five and the decisions start popping up it can all be extremely daunting, especially if you’re new to stardew valley.

We’re going to go over all of the options and what each one uniquely brings to the table, as well as help you figure out which option is best for you.

10. Trapper (Worst)

Here we have the most useless item in the game, the crab pot, and for some reason a lot of them.

What does the trapper profession entail?

To choose to be a trapper means you choose to have the resources to craft a crab pot reduced. It seems kind of useless, seeing as in my experience I always catch trash in my crab pots and rarely catch anything actually useful or profitable. Not to mention, crab pots are also expensive and I’d rather not waste my time on something that isn't in my opinion half as useful as its worth.

Bonuses and Stats

Here’s the thing, there aren’t really any stats that come with this profession! All this does is reduce the resources it takes to craft a crab pot. However, if you reach level 10 as a trapper you can choose the Mariner, which will keep you from catching trash anymore. I guess that's kind of okay? Not really. Crab Pots are useless.

Profession Review

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, this profession is otherwise pointless..

There are little to no benefits in this profession, especially when you compare it to its brother profession which we’ll discuss later.

Crab Pots cost entirely too much and reap little to no reward. It's simply and impractical profession to choose.

Profession Rating 1/10

9. Gatherer (Worst)

Every tree in stardew valley is useful. Don't sell wood people.

What does this profession offer?

When leveling up in the foraging skill, you have the option to choose the profession of Gatherer. This profession offers you the option to sell wood, an entirely vital resource in the game, for 50% more of a profit than what it’s usually worth. In other words, this profession is entirely ridiculous. Who sells wood?!

Bonuses and Stats

Wood is worth 50% more if you sell it but….who sells wood?

Choosing Lumberjack upon reaching level 10 will give you 12 hardwood per day from the secret forest and gives all trees the chance to drop hardwood. This is nice and all, but you can pretty much already harvest 12 hardwood a day and the chances of regular trees dropping it aren't all that high.

Choosing Tapper upon reaching level 10 will give you the perk of syrups to be worth 25% more.

Profession Review

I find this quite ineffective seeing as you shouldn’t be selling wood at all. Wood is one of the main crafting ingredients needed through the entire game.

Even if you do choose this, and advance to level 10 the benefits aren't exactly worth the time or effort to even reach said level 10.

If you do chop down every tree and manage to balance selling the wood and using it for crafting, you’d have to constantly worry about planting more trees and waiting for them to grow. I’d find this to be extremely annoying and entirely too time consuming to actually be profitable..

Profession Rating 3/10

8. Fighter (Subpar)

Nobody likes spending time in the mines, yet we have to.

What does this profession offer?

Unless you tend to spend all of your time in the mines fighting slimes and ghosts, this profession doesn’t offer much. Personally I hate spending time in the mines, and I never really choose fighter for the simple fact that its additives aren't all that great unless you spend 99% of your valuable time in the mines.

Bonuses and Stats

All attacks deal 15% more damage.

Attacks also deal 15+ Hp.

Upon reaching level 10 in this profession you can choose Brute or Defender, which pretty much add onto the same first two stats from before and don’t help all that much.

Profession Review

Although at first glance this profession looks amazing, upon further research this professions brother profession is much better and useful, and we’ll get to it later.

Upon reaching level 10 in this profession, it doesn’t offer what I hoped it would. It just adds onto the other stats, and by the time you reach level 10 you really don't even need the added bonuses seeing as your weapons will be amazing.

All in all, personally, I wouldn’t choose this profession. It could be good for someone who is bad at the combat aspect of the game but even if you are I guarantee you’ll get better without this profession.

Profession Rating 3/10

7. Miner (OK)

Again, spending more time in the mines. *sighs*

What is this profession about?

If you struggle getting a lot of ore, this is a good profession to help with that.. This profession basically increases your ability to get more ore from mining. The bonus isn’t great, but it’s a nice touch.

Bonuses and Stats

A 25% chance to get +1 ore for every ore you mine.

Getting enough ore can be a bit difficult, so this profession can add onto you getting more ore per rock you mine, which is a nice bonus

This profession doesn’t add as much as far as stats or bonuses, which is a huge let down because the potential is there.

Profession Review

Compared to its brother profession, this one offers only one thing that can be useful but at the same time, not so much.

When reaching level 10 here, you can choose blacksmith which can help you offload some ore you’ve more than likely stacked up with the added +1 bonus. However, I don’t suggest selling ore.

Again, if you reach level 10 in this profession you can choose Prospector which can help with coal which we all know is a pain to get early in the game. However if you’re at level 10, you should be good with coal already.

Profession Rating 4/10

6. Rancher (OK)

A farmer taking care of his sweet little animals. Maybe I'm a sucker for animals, but even in this game they melt my heart.

What is this profession about?

This profession can be a really good choice good if you’re into the animal raising aspect of the game which many people are. This will boost the profit of animal goods, which can be helpful. However this compared to the other profession you can choose, it doesn’t hold up well.

Bonuses and Stats

Animal products worth 20% more.

At reaching level 10 you can choose coopmaster, which will increase the incubation speed on any eggs you’re incubating.

You can also choose Shephard upon reaching level 10 which will increase your heart rate with your animals faster. However, I don’t get the point unless you’re selling your animals which you shouldn’t be doing seeing as its not profitable at all.

Profession Review

I don't entirely see the point or like this profession. Animals are expensive, and raising their hearts just to sell them can actually hinder rather than help your profits.

Compared to the other profession you can choose on reaching level 5, this one basically sucks.

Even if you intend to have a lot of animals, this won't help you boost your profit seeing as it only boost raw animal products, rather than artisan goods and you should always turn your animal products into artisan goods to maximize your profits.

Profession Rating 4/10

5. Scout (OK)

*raging battlecries into the mines* This isn't worth it.

What makes this profession worth it?

Again, maybe it’s because I’m not into the mines and fighting aspect of the game, but I didn’t rate either combat profession very high. However this one is better than what the latter offers. This profession will help with critical strikes, which can be a great additive for someone like me who sucks at combat.

Bonuses and Stats

Critical strike chance improves by 50%.

Upon reaching level 10 you can choose Acrobat, which makes your special moves cooldown reduce by half.

You can also choose Desperado upon reaching level 10, which will make your critical strikes deadly.

Profession Review

I prefer this profession, simply because I use the the special moves quite often and having their cooldown cut in half later is a tremendous help.

Critical strikes chances being improved by half is a huge help, especially lower in the mines.

Combining this profession with good weapons can make you nearly unstoppable in the mines, and we all want that.

Profession Rating 5/10

4. Geologist (OK)

All of Stardews precious, precious gems.

Why should you choose this profession?

This profession peaked my interest in the first playthrough for many reasons. I would have felt like I basically screwed myself out of some amazing perks had I not chosen this profession. This profession will make gem farming way easier which is extremely helpful throughout the entire.

Bonuses and Stats

Around a 33% chance for gems too appear in pairs

Imagine finding not one diamond, but two. Total score.

Geodes also count as gems, so in this case, double geodes.

Profession Review

If you love double anything, which you should in stardew, this profession is perfect.

Upon reaching level 10 you can choose Excavator which will again increase the chances of finding geodes and is great for achievement hunters.

Upon reaching level 10 you can also choose Gemologist, which will increase your profit from gems by 30% if you’re into selling them which I don't see the point of but to each their own I guess.

Profession Rating 6/10

3. Gatherer (Good)

Look at all those foragables!

What does this profession offer?

This is one of my favorite professions in the entire game.. This profession doubles your chances for foragable items and the level 10 perks are amazing no matter which one you choose.. Seeing as foragables are good for crafting, gifting, and selling, you can’t really go wrong here.

Bonuses and Stats

Increases chances of doubling up on forgeable items by 33%

When you reach level 10 you can choose Botanist which will make every item you forage a higher quality. This means they’ll sell for more.

You can also choose tracker, which will help lead you in the direction of foragable items. Pretty neat right?

Profession Review

I mainly use foragables for gifting and I know how frustrating it is to not be able to find what I’m looking for. I love how this has a tracker option, and it’s quite useful.

Finding more than one foragable is also a huge help, seeing as sometimes you can go days in game without finding what you seriously need which has almost made me rage quit multiple times.

Higher quality is always what I strive for, and having the option to choose that upon reaching level 10 really gave me hope. Higher quality means more money, and that’s the entire point of this.

Profession Rating 7/10

2. Fisher (Great)

All of Stardews fish in one place!

Why is this profession a good choice?

Fishing in game can be quite difficult for some people in the early stages but for me, it's one of my favorite parts of the game. This profession offers amazing fishing perks that can help anyone succeed at the fishing aspect of the game.

Bonuses and Stats

Fish are worth 25% more in profit

Upon reaching level 10 you can choose angler, which will boost your fish to be worth 50% more. This is an insane added perk because you can spend an entire day fishing and bring in a quite large profit.

You can also choose pirate upon reaching level 10, which doubles your chances of fishing up treasure, which can some in handy for finding those elusive iridium bars.

Profession Review

Having fish be worth 75% more after adding all of the perks is an absol. Especially since I find fishing to be one of the main aspects of making money in the game.

The level 10 perks are better than mostly all of the other professions, and I find that great.

Having the option to double your treasure hunting chances is also a great added perk, seeing as it can be quite difficult to find treasure at all.

Profession Rating 9/10

1. Tiller (Best)

Lastly, the entire point of the game, farming.

Why is this profession the best?

The entire point of Stardew Valley is to farm. This profession focuses on that aspect of the game. Whether you like farming or not, you have to do it and this profession helps immensely with that.

Bonuses and Stats

Crops worth 10% more.

Upon reaching level 10 you can choose Artisan, which increases the value of artisan goods by 50% and as we all probably know, artisan goods are a huge way of making a big profit.

You can also choose Agriculturist at level 10 which will allow your crops to grow 10% faster. This can come in handy when you only have a few days left in the season to grow crops that otherwise wouldn’t have made it.

Profession Review

There is nothing bad that I can say about this profession. Everything you choose is going to benefit your profits.

Can you imagine your artisan goods being worth 50% more than they already were originally?? Give me that money!

Having the option to have your crops grow faster is tremendously helpful seeing as fertilizer can get expensive depending on how much you need.

Profession Rating 10/10