Skull Cavern Advice Needed

[Lew Zealand]

-bring some cheap, plain food (salads from Gus) for healing purposes...a common practice is to maintain at least half health, since some of the monsters hit pretty hard and can put you in trouble in a hurry

And you're *real cheap* like me and have the Sewers open, kill the bugs in there for free Algae Soup whenever you pass and have some time. It an OK Energy & Health Source and I pick up a dozen or so every time I visit. Also useful for getting Thatch in the Winter to make Grass Starter for the Spring in Year 2 when money can still be at a premium.

-dont panic when serpents fly at you...I just stop moving and try to time my swings so I can knock it back without taking any damage (easier said than done as the hit detection seems a little wonky sometimes)
-whenever I can, I try to get underneath monsters, as (to me) it seems easier and more consistent to gauge the reach of your sword and keep from getting hit when youre swinging up - happens all the time where im trying to swing to the side and my mouse will be too high or low and cause me to swing upwards or downwards, miss, and take damage. Also, the reach feels a lot shorter when swinging in the down direction, could just be me though...
-and yes, bombs. Bombing a big cluster of rocks almost always reveals a ladder or shaft. Careful with mega bombs though, not always easy to get out of the blast radius

Yes to all of this, swinging down especially with 2 serpents on the screen usually ends up with me at the Clinic and more than a reproving look from Harvey.

 

[redbobcat]

Speaking of plain food, mine go to is Sashimi. You get the recipe from Linus at 3 hearts. Put a couple of crab pots in the pond of your farm. Everything you catch in the traps, besides trash, can go into making sashimi. You will need the bait - made from bug meat or produced by worm bins.

 

[Raistlin212]

Falling asleep in the mines at 2am costs at most 1,000g - that's trivial compared to those other costs. Don't be scared of staying there as long as possible to get those last few iridium nodes.

 

[Jack Of Shades]

Mostly all I can say is luck. And stairs, crap tons of stairs.

 

[Person090]

The skull cavern got me the first time ngl, and since I didn't want to waste money on the dessert obelisk, I just made a warp totem and went down in the caverns, and the personally best food that you can get for absolutely no preparation is the salad so I brought 5 of those. The Pepper Rex's were the real problem tbh, everything else was pretty easy to deal with if you have the galaxy sword

 

[Reluctant Gamer]

For anyone else who needs this info, always go on a LUCKY day (check your fortune in the AM), plus use a luck buff. It took me FOR-EVER to get to level 100, but I needed a ton of luck, plus lots of stairs.

Having seen this thread too late, I wish I’d thought of these tips much earlier lol but SDV is my first video game since the original nintendo, so I’m pretty pleased with myself

This is somewhat embarrassing to admit, but I’ve never made it past level 20 in the skull cavern. I’ve been lucky enough to run into a prehistoric level, but I’d like to make actual progress. I read the wiki page but I’m looking for more help. Thanks!

 

[binsh]

1) Galaxy Sword
2) Practice quick switching of pickaxe and weapon and food, use comfortable hotkeys (1,2,3)
3) Practice timing of attacks and positioning, when perfected you will rarely need food
4) Buffing food - Spicy Eel, Crab Cakes, Pumpkin Soup
5) Non-buffing food - Cheese (gold quality)/Sashimi (made from cheap/crab pot fish)
6) Coffee
7) Bombs

Try and try until you master it. Suggestion for practicing: immediately go there after waking up (teleport) then just do your best. When you die reload and try again.

 

[imnvs]

2) Practice quick switching of pickaxe and weapon and food, use comfortable hotkeys (1,2,3)

For those on PC, the mouse roller can move you through items quickly, making the hotkeys being close to the hand you'll have on the keyboard not quite as necessary. Just to note. (I usually put my food in =, but weapon is 1 and pickaxe 2.)

 

[PoliwhirlTrainer42]

Galaxy sword. Try to get it i got the galaxy sword and i made it to lvl 100 for that nice iridium snake milk

 

[Akemisora]

Remember that opening inventory and eating pause the game time. You can take advantage of it to think what to do next.

I like pumpkin soup + triple espresso combo, luck + defense + speed buffs should make your attempt easier.

Don't waste time to fight too many enemies, especially slimes unless you have to.

If you bring a lot of bombs, then you should have enough stone to make an emergency ladder to skip annoying floor.

Lava katana is okay, I can go deep as far as 50 floors, but galaxy sword is essential if you want to go deeper.

 

[ISSsloth]

Another use for crystalariums is duplicating fire quartz to trade at the desert trader for a quick source of bombs. (I've never actually been to Skull Cavern so thanks wiki)