Iridium Ore
- Thread starter Haylicka
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CryogenCrystals
Farmer
It depends on where you are at in your gameplay to some degree (if you have access to skull cavern for example). You can find more info on that here (be sure to look at its infoxbox on the right too) since it will also provide links on how to reach and obtain the various different sources:
stardewvalleywiki.com
Iridium Ore - Stardew Valley Wiki
Iridium Ore is a resource that can be obtained in a variety of locations (see "Locations" below).
stardewvalleywiki.com
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benjellyman
Planter
when you reach year 2 or three, put a diamond on grandpas shrine. He will see how your farm is doing, and if he approved it, he will give you a statue that give about five iridium a day.
Giant Octopodes
Farmer
Skull Cavern, the deeper the better. You really don't start seeing them pop up until floor 30, by 50 they're likely encountered on just about every floor, and by 100 they're relatively common. There's many threads on the topic of how to delve more effectively in there, but I'll quickly try to sum up some of it:
Use Staircases: You can trade Jade for them at the Desert Trader, Crystalariums can get you lots of Jade, and if you save up a bunch you can delve quite deep quite easily.
Use Bombs: Way faster and Way more effective than pickaxes at breaking rock clusters, ideally bring 30-50 so you can just blow up big clusters on demand.
Use Speed Boosts: Spicy Eel is best, especially if you have Rubies to spare, along with Coffee or Espresso. Any speed boost is better than not though so if all you have is pepper poppers they'll work fine.
Be Lucky: Go on a lucky day per the fortune teller. The luckier the better. That's part of why Spicy Eel is good, plus there are some other ways to improve your luck.
On a casual delve (minimal staircase usage, just enough to escape purple mist or infested floors, with pepper poppers for food) I typically come home with 100+ iridium ore, on a serious delve where I use 50+ staircases off the bat, spicy eel, and use bombs more liberally, I typically come home with 250+ ore, so it's definitely an effective strategy. There are certainly others of course, but I think it's fair to call that strategy a common or popular one, and likely to be the most effective. Best of luck!
Use Staircases: You can trade Jade for them at the Desert Trader, Crystalariums can get you lots of Jade, and if you save up a bunch you can delve quite deep quite easily.
Use Bombs: Way faster and Way more effective than pickaxes at breaking rock clusters, ideally bring 30-50 so you can just blow up big clusters on demand.
Use Speed Boosts: Spicy Eel is best, especially if you have Rubies to spare, along with Coffee or Espresso. Any speed boost is better than not though so if all you have is pepper poppers they'll work fine.
Be Lucky: Go on a lucky day per the fortune teller. The luckier the better. That's part of why Spicy Eel is good, plus there are some other ways to improve your luck.
On a casual delve (minimal staircase usage, just enough to escape purple mist or infested floors, with pepper poppers for food) I typically come home with 100+ iridium ore, on a serious delve where I use 50+ staircases off the bat, spicy eel, and use bombs more liberally, I typically come home with 250+ ore, so it's definitely an effective strategy. There are certainly others of course, but I think it's fair to call that strategy a common or popular one, and likely to be the most effective. Best of luck!
Worblehat
Planter
If Year 3 has started, you should have the Statue of Perfection, which averages one bar worth of iridium ore per day.
Before Year 3, as Giant Octopodes said Skull Cavern is in some sense the "best" approach. For those of us who despise Skull Cavern, the options are more limited. You can sometimes get some from omni-geodes or magma geodes (or golden coconuts, but if you've reached Ginger Island you probably no longer have an urgent need for iridium). It's very rare, but the Travelling Cart sometimes sells ore or a bar. If you start early enough, a Super Cucumber fish pond will occasionally produce some iridium ore once the population is 9+, though in practice just waiting for Grandpa's evaluation on Spring 1 Year 3 may be faster.
One note (possible exploit) about geodes - if you have access to a geode crusher, you can get twice the iridium. Geode output is based on the number of geodes you've opened in that save, but the crusher is offset by one from Clint. So if Clint opens an omni-geode for 3 iridium ore, go put another omni-geode in the geode crusher and you'll get 3 iridium ore again.
Before Year 3, as Giant Octopodes said Skull Cavern is in some sense the "best" approach. For those of us who despise Skull Cavern, the options are more limited. You can sometimes get some from omni-geodes or magma geodes (or golden coconuts, but if you've reached Ginger Island you probably no longer have an urgent need for iridium). It's very rare, but the Travelling Cart sometimes sells ore or a bar. If you start early enough, a Super Cucumber fish pond will occasionally produce some iridium ore once the population is 9+, though in practice just waiting for Grandpa's evaluation on Spring 1 Year 3 may be faster.
One note (possible exploit) about geodes - if you have access to a geode crusher, you can get twice the iridium. Geode output is based on the number of geodes you've opened in that save, but the crusher is offset by one from Clint. So if Clint opens an omni-geode for 3 iridium ore, go put another omni-geode in the geode crusher and you'll get 3 iridium ore again.
Lew Zealand
Helper
If you're at Year 3, do as Nunnya Business said and get a 4 candle evaluation to receive the Statue of Perfection and its daily Iridium production.
I tend not to min/max the game too much during a regular playthrough so I don't have a narrow focus on particular strategies. This means I usually have very little Iridium by the end of Year 2, usually a bar or so from random chance. So the Statue on Year 3 is when I start to accumulate Iridium.
If you're before Year 3, then the other strategies mentioned in the above posts are good. I prefer getting deep into Skull Cavern by spamming down Staircases and then Bombing the daylights out around Level 80 and below to get some good Iridium. My load out is Spicy Eel, Coffee and 2x Immunity Bands.
If you marry Maru or Abigail, they give you Bombs as gifts on occasion which is great. Also great is that you'll be married to Maru or Abigail.
I tend not to min/max the game too much during a regular playthrough so I don't have a narrow focus on particular strategies. This means I usually have very little Iridium by the end of Year 2, usually a bar or so from random chance. So the Statue on Year 3 is when I start to accumulate Iridium.
If you're before Year 3, then the other strategies mentioned in the above posts are good. I prefer getting deep into Skull Cavern by spamming down Staircases and then Bombing the daylights out around Level 80 and below to get some good Iridium. My load out is Spicy Eel, Coffee and 2x Immunity Bands.
If you marry Maru or Abigail, they give you Bombs as gifts on occasion which is great. Also great is that you'll be married to Maru or Abigail.
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Zen_the_Ogre
Farmer
If your year one I would say scoop up some magma geodes. They have a decent return rate on iridium (better than Omni). Also make sure to carry your copper pan and go often those shiny spots.