Stardew Valley: Forester or Gatherer?

Let’s take a look at one of the most discussed questions about Stardew Valley. Should you choose forester or gatherer? It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced player or just started playing this game, on levels 5 and 10 you face a difficult issue. You need to choose your new profession, which will have an impact on your skills further. First of all, you have to notice that this choice is not the most important one. Your profession won’t change all your game significantly, but it will determine which skills to develop faster, and which parts of the game will become easier for you.



At the fifth level, most players need to choose between becoming a forester or gatherer. Choosing each one of these professions, you’ll get a certain advantage on the level 10, since it will determine your further specialization. Stardew Valley offers you a wide range of combinations, which are more or less profitable. To help you with such a choice, we made this simple Stardew Valley guide. Enjoy!

Forester

In Stardew Valley, foraging includes two basic skills. On the one hand, you can choose tree cutting, which will help you increase related Stardew Valley skills and get more wood. On the other hand, you can search for any useful goods.

If you want to be a forester, you’ll get a chance to improve your profession up to lumberjack level, as well as to tapper. However, it will happen only at level 10. What are the advantages of choosing a forester profession? Let’s be honest, such a profession is not popular and we can tell you that it’s one of the most underrated professions. Why so? Well, the wood isn’t really popular for sale. Usually, it isn’t sold with great profits, because most of players are focused on other skills. Despite that, it still gives you a 50% increase of the cost of your wood. The reason for such an underrated status is that you get most bonuses only during the very first days of playing the game.

You get certain profits from each tree, if you don’t cut stumps. Let’s think how much it is in gold. There are 5 saps, a seed and 12 woods. Twelve woods are worth 36G. For five saps you can get either 10G or fertilizer. As for seeds, three of them can easily turn into forty five points of energy. It gives you even bigger income than working on Stardew Valley farms, because working on crops requires a lot of extra efforts, such as watering your plants and buying new seeds.

Choosing a lumberjack profession at level 10, you won’t need to search for the hardwood in the secret area all the time. Lumberjack gets increased profit from each tree, along with another quite important advantage: a chance of getting from 22 to 44 gold from every tree you cut. With this skill, you don’t need the hardwood too often, so you get an extra time for your farm.

As for tapper, this profession is least popular among players. The point is that, as a rule, syrup cannot get an extra bonus from the artisan. Even though syrup production doesn’t require much work, it can give you only 25% bonus, which is not the best indicator, honestly.



These are key features of the forester profession. Along with a forester, Stardew Valley offers you a chance to become a gatherer. Let’s talk about it.

Gatherer

Choosing gatherer, you get a great advantage, because you can get more goods. If you want to craft more doing less job, then gatherer is a perfect skill for you. You can also get a chance of a longer day, since your energy increases. Every gatherer has a chance of doubling an item that he picks up. At level 10, a gatherer can become a tracker or a botanist.

Becoming a tracker, you’ll see little arrows. These arrows will point you where you can find more items. A lot of players love this feature, but don’t underestimate the botanist skill. Every botanist is a kind of king Midas, since every item he touches turns into a gold star quality. If you plant forage seeds that you found, get ready for gold star plants! In case it’s not enough for you, here is the last advantage: 15% chance to double your harvest. For those who don’t like winter, it may be a great solution, since winter seeds won’t let your farm stay useless.

So, Who is Better?

As you can see, all of these professions offer you certain advantages. However, wood isn’t the best choice for those who are interested in money making. Tracker also cannot compete with other skills of this level. At the same time, if you’re patient enough, botanist can be considered a good choice, even though we don’t know who needs so much gold star items. Lumberjack is also a good choice, because everyone needs hardwood.

Generally, this choice only depends on your preferences. Read our Stardew Valley tips and weigh up the pros and cons. Try new professions, improve new skills and enjoy your Stardew Valley farming!