Though Clay isn’t one of the most useful resources in Stardew Valley, many players look for it like it is a rare jewel. Clay won’t make you a lot of money in normal circumstances, but if you play a bit with the system, you might just become the richest resident in Pelican Town.
Clay farming has become one of the most renowned speedrun strategies when it comes to making money in the first few days in Stardew Valley. You will often see players on YouTube abusing this mechanic to get 2 to 3k g in the first two days.
Recommended Read: How to Plant and Grow Trees in Stardew Valley
There is a common way to get Clay in Stardew Valley, and there is a “cheaty” way to do it. In this guide, we will present both ways to allow you to get as much as you want, in whatever way you want to do it.
To get Clay in Stardew Valley, players will need to till Artifact Spots, dirt, or sand using a hoe. Each time they do this, there is a chance that Clay will pop out of the ground.
Table of Contents
- How to Get Clay in Stardew Valley the Vanilla Way
- How to Farm Clay in Stardew Valley – Clay Farming Explained
How to Get Clay in Stardew Valley the Vanilla Way
The easiest way to make sure that you get Clay in Stardew Valley is to always till Artifact Spots on the map. Artifact Spots are the places on the ground where you can see some weird worms jumping out.
If you hit one of these spots with your hoe, you will get an item. You can get a lot of things by tilling Artifact Spots, so make sure to always give them a hit when you see them.
By doing this, you will surely get some Clay here and there, which will allow you to use it for most of the things it is needed for.
There aren’t a lot of items that need Clay to craft. The most important thing that you can make with Clay is the Silo, which requires 10 Clay to build. Other than that, you will most likely never use Clay in Stardew Valley.
How to Farm Clay in Stardew Valley – Clay Farming Explained
Clay farming is a special mechanic that allows Stardew Valley players to get as much Clay as the Energy bar allows them.
Needed Tools
To do this, you will only need a Hoe and a Pickaxe. A lot of Energy would also be useful, as your character will get very tired.
Clay farming involves profiting from the coding of the game. The way Stardew Valley works is that Clay randomly moves each time you use a Hoe on the ground.
This mechanic allows you to figure out where Clay will appear and always get it when you till the ground.
Finding the Right Spot
To start, you will need to head over to the Beach. The exact place where you start tiling on the Beach won’t be as important, but you will need a lot of space.
Once you find a good place where you think you can start, hit the ground with the Hoe. If you get Clay, good. If not, hit the same place with a Pickaxe to put the sand back, and then hit it with the Hoe again.
Follow this process in that one tile until you get Clay to come out.
When this happens, you will have to start moving around like a horse in chess to find the exact locations where Clay will pop out.
Make sure to enable the “Always Show Tool Hit Location” to help you see the tiles and use this method properly.
Once you hit the starting spot and Clay pops out, you will now easily figure out where Clay will appear.
Farming Clay
In the image above, you can see the exact pattern that Clay will spawn on the Beach in Stardew Valley.
The red square is where you start. Once Clay pops out, you will have to move like a horse in chess (1 tile up and 3 tiles right) to the next Clay space (orange square).
You will have to do this horse L movement 5 times and till all of the orange squares in the image above.
Once you get all of the orange squares, you will have to hit the light blue spots exactly the same as before. The first one you have to till out of the light blue squares is on the same line as the first and last square you tilled.
The way this works is that you will always have to start from the left and head upward to the right to get Clay, as in the image above. You can see the exact order you have to till the colored squares in the image.
A good way to remember how to till the Beach to farm Clay in Stardew Valley is: 6 – 4 – 6 – 4 – 1 – 1.
The 6-4-6-4 stands for the first four diagonal lines of Clay that you will have to till. Once you finish them, you will have to go to the second square you tilled at the start and go one tile to the right and then one downward, hence the 1-1.
Once you start doing the yellow line of squares, you can just follow the 6-4-6-4 formula to continue doing this forever. The only thing that will stop you is the Energy bar.
What to Do If You Can’t Till the Land or Miss a Tile
There are random spots on the Beach where you can’t till the land.
When this happens, just hit a random spot on the ground with the Hoe since the game will then move the Clay to the next spot.
This also works if you miss a spot. If you miss a spot at some point, just move to the next square in the formula.
The Clay moves every time you hit the ground with a Hoe, so even if you miss, it will move to the next spot.
That’s everything you need to know about how to get Clay in Stardew Valley!
Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.
