The Ultimate Guide to Combat in Stardew Valley

We're finally there, the final skill in Stardew Valley!
Combat is a very complicated skill. There's so many aspects to it that other skills have nothing like. There's multiple stats, instead of one tool you have dozens of weapons, and instead of energy, it involves health!
Hopefully by the end of this, you have a good idea of what the skill is all about!

Sections:
0:00 - Intro
1:07 - A Wide Overview
3:28 - Stats
6:46 - Weapon Types
7:50 - Weapons Floors 1-40
11:00 - Weapons Floors 40-80
12:55 - Weapons Floors 80+
14:45 - Skull Cavern Weapons
16:10 - Post-Game Weapons
18:55 - Rings
23:47 - Boots
25:09 - Level Up Rewards
_____________________
Here's the lofi Stardew Valley music I use a lot:

[salmence]

There was a lot to cover, so I inevitably missed some things:
- The Dark Sword is dropped from Haunted Skulls, and is the only weapon with a vampirism effect. It's a bit weaker than the obsidian edge, but it can be really useful if you get lucky enough to find it early in Haunted floors of the mines.
- the Thorns ring deals damage back equal to what you sould've taken at 0 defense, unless it's less than 10 damage, where it's then lower than what you would take.

Please enjoy the video despite their absense!

[beanslinger]

Thank you Salamence for showing us the art of setting up 6 dragon dances.

[cartoonkelly]

This Last Airbender opening is absolutely inspired it makes me smile every time. Not sure if I’ve mentioned that yet.

[flamingturnip]

I found the iridium needle and immediately felt like I was straight up exploding my enemies. I thought it was hilarious and now I love it.

[i_am_ergo]

Great guide!
A few things you should've probably mentioned besides the stuff in the pinned comment.
1. Since you mentioned the Nausea debuff, you should've probably added that it prevents you from eating any foods and drinks EXCEPT ginger and ginger ale, which so happen to remove the debuff. Most people knows this, but for completeness' sake, it was worth mentioning.
2. Since it's a guide to combat, it was worth talking about the process of combat itself as well as its quirks. For example, not all enemies have infinite aggro range. Ghosts do, but serpents don't. Another one is that your attack range isn't equal on all sides — since the attack originates in the top half of the character entity, you can reach farther up than down. That's why you want to position yourself below the enemies whenever possible.
But otherwise, yeah, very complete and informative. Thanks!

[Amelia-onxgntp]

Always happy to see another Sal video! Would you consider making an “Ultimate Guide to Multiplayer”? I realize it would be more difficult as research would inherently require someone else to help, but I feel there’s a big gap in content there. I’m in my first serious multiplayer save and am continuing to be surprised

[mybrainbroke]

salmence is the uncle iroh of the stardew community, always giving everyone amazing advice and kind words

[klutterkicker]

Something interesting I noticed while playing: When you use a weapon's special attack, it triggers a cooldown for all weapons of that type (sword, dagger, club) but not for weapons of the other type. If you want to, you can swap weapons and use one special attack after another.

[HelloMxMath]

Some important notes:
Slimes aren't the only monsters that drop the special items, they are just the only ones where it is easy to see when they are special.
This also missed most of the remixed weapons (probably because they are harder to get). My personal favs are the femur -because I like bones but also it is a club- and the ossified blade -which probably isn't as good as the obsidian edge you could get instead but it looks amazing.

Also bone sword is a personal fav. I end up using it more than obsidian edge if I get one from skeletons cause I just love the speed.

[AstorEzequiel]

24:00
I'm sure that someone already pointed it out, but you get the Leather Boots as a reward in Floor 10
And the Space Boots as another reward in Floor 110

Edit:
24:18
BUH- IT'S EVEN RIGHT THERE XD

[stonkman]

There is actually a pretty obscure ring you missed that can be found in the Volcano Dungeons: The Phoenix ring. This ring doesn't do anything on its own, but when you "Die" it will revive you with 50% of your HP. This can only work once an in game day. It is found in Volcano Dungeon Rare Chests. Otherwise, great video! :)

[canihaveyourdog]

Are those other Stardew YouTubers in the intro? I'm just now noticing this after watching your guide videos so many times. Invaluable series. Packed with easy to understand explanations, and also your voice is soothing. Thank you for your hard work

[bigp]

Playing the Goron City music while talking about the forge > brilliant

[camwyn]

Thank you for these guides. They've really helped me get back into the game after years away.
And for getting ready to do a foraging only challenge run

[KitsukiiPlays]

Isn’t it weird that you can’t ship a sword or ring but bombs are ok?

[RAthulK]

Me who wore topaz ring to floor 120: MY LIFE IS A LIE

[Sin_Lord]

AAAAHH I've been so excited for this one!!! I love the combat, all the drops and rewards and the challenge! I'm so happy this vid is finally here!!

[egg]

This is what I needed, since I needed to find the best weapons. Great guide!

[thijsvons]

I would love for you to do a MARGO playthrough. The combat and other things are expanded in an amazing way!

[SuperBeast]

I've had incredible luck in my current playthrough. The first time going into the skull cavern I got a lucky ring and within like 5 pannings I got a lucky ring on ginger island. I was blown away. Also in almost 1200 hours of early to mid game play I've gotten the neptune sword 2 times and 1 of them I accidentally threw in the water 🥲