Miner or Geologist Stardew Valley Perk Guide

• About
• Latest Posts

Callum Marshall

Callum is the gaming managing editor and a certified Stardew Valley aficionado, pouring hundreds if not thousands of hours into this relaxing indie title. While overseeing the day-to-day running of the site, you'll commonly see Callum carve out some time to produce some content on one of his favorite games of all time, and lead from the front. Callum has been around the block within the gaming industry, working as an Editor-in-chief for a number of well-respected gaming outlets, he has worked as a games tester, he has gaming podcast experience, has worked in gaming PR. Basically, you name it, and Callum was probably there or somewhere on the periphery.

Latest posts by Callum Marshall (see all)

• Stardew Valley Roleplay Ideas – A New Way to Farm - May 9, 2023
• Stardew Valley Multiplayer Guide: Farm With Friends - February 27, 2023
• Stardew Valley Feast of the Winter Star Guide: A Winter Wonderland - January 23, 2023

As you progress through Stardew Valley, the player will be able to hone their skills and pick up some new perks and powerups that will help them improve their farmstead and make the most of every passing day in the game. There are Stardrops that players can find which will offer permanent boosts to your energy levels; there are questlines and tasks that will reward the player with new crafting recipes that offer game-changing items.

Plus, with each passing day, your experiences will give you the knowledge you need to make the right decisions in-game and make the most money possible. However, we would argue that the perks that the player has access to by raising their XP for their respective core skills offer some of the best unlockables within the game.

The core skills, such as farming, mining, foraging, fishing, and so on, offer unique perks at level five and at the max level, which is level ten, and when the player reaches these levels, they will be given two options to choose from.

It’s worth saying that in these scenarios that no one option is strictly better than the other; however, each skill will appeal to a certain type of playstyle, and making the wrong choice does have the potential to wreck your playthrough later down the line, so we want to make sure that you don’t suffer this fate and today, we are looking specifically at the mining-related choice of Miner or Geologist.

This choice is a tough one that will really shape how you go about mining from there on out and how you try to make a profit from mining within Stardew Valley. However, the game never really explains the full effects of these choices, and it can be hard to make an informed decision. This is why we expect that you are here.

So we want to give you an extensive rundown on what each of these choices will mean for you and allow you to make the best decision for yourself. Here is our Miner or Geologist Stardew Valley Guide.

What Are the Miner and Geologist Perks?

Before we discuss what these various professions offer to you, the player, it’s probably best if we tell you exactly what these perks are and what they have to offer. Who knows, at a glance, you may be able to immediately pinpoint which of these skills work best for you. Here are the two perks below:

Miner

Earned by: Reaching level five mining skill

Effect: Offers +1 ore per vein

This skill is great for those that hate the early game grind of finding copper, iron, and gold ore. With this skill, every time you find an ore vein and mine it, you will be granted one extra lump of ore. This may not seem like a lot, but considering how often you mine ore veins, the extra ore will really pile up.

Geologist

Earned by: Reaching level five mining skill

Effect: A 50% chance of extra gems to appear my mining nodes

When it comes to making quick cash, providing gifts for other Pelican Town residents, or adding stuff to your Crystalarium for continued profits, there is no substitute for a shiny gem, and with the Geologist perk, you’ll have a 50% chance of receiving gems in pairs when you mine a node.

Then to add value to this already brilliant perk, this also applies to geodes too, so when you visit Clint or break them down in your own Geode Crusher, you’ll potentially be getting your hands on a cavalcade of shiny goodies.

Why Choose Miner?

So now that you have an idea of what each profession offers, we should discuss why you should choose each, beginning with Miner. Players should consider the Miner profession if they want to make quick progress through the early game. This is because with the added ore per vein when out on mining trips, players will suddenly realize that they have more ore than they would have had otherwise.

This allows players to easily build more structures, craft useful items with ease, create more machines to boost their profits, and, if you have an excess, you can also sell your smelted bars for a quick cash boost.

Then as you get further into the game, you may realize that Iridium ore is quite a useful commodity not only for building and crafting luxury items but also for unique opportunities like fixing the boat to head off to Ginger Island. So having access to one extra ore when you find an Iridium vein is quite a big deal.

However, on the flip side, this perk will only serve you well for the early and mid-game. Eventually, all ore is available in great quantities, and if you really want more, you can buy it with the abundance of funds that you probably have. So if you want to have a simple, early game but have to work harder in the late game, then miner is the way to go.

Pros

• It makes the early game a breeze
• It can be used to gather Iridium in higher volumes
• It can be used to smelt bars to sell

Cons

• Ore becomes much less of an issue late game, making this perk redundant

Why Choose Geologist?

Then we move on to Geologist, the perk that allows you to potentially double your gem intake when visiting the mines. You may be of the opinion that gems are limited in terms of their functionality, but we want to put that theory to bed. While these items don’t have the same usability in terms of crafting and building when compared to ore, they have other functions that ore cannot replicate.

No one will appreciate a Copper Bar as a gift. However, we can assure you that if you offer certain people in the town a Diamond, Ruby, Emerald, or Amythest, they will be overwhelmed with joy. This will allow you to boost your relationship with them, and this will allow you to unlock special gifts, new recipes and even help you start a family with the bachelor or bachelorette of your dreams.

Then outside of just gifting your fellow townsfolk, you can also use gems to make quite a lot of money. If you double these up with the use of Crystalariums, you can create tonnes of reproducing gems at no added cost and see your profits soar. Then additionally, the player will also be able to donate their additional gems to the Museum.

When you just get one gem per node, you will naturally be reluctant to give up your shiny new find. However, if you have two in your inventory, it’s much easier to give one away to Gunther, and ultimately this will offer a variety of gifts along the way as you fill your Museum in full.

However, what we will say about this profession, is that this perk becomes much less useful when you max out your relationships with the gem loving individuals in the town and you fill the Museum with all the gems available.

This profession definitely has less of a money-making potential than the Miner perk, so if that is what matters to you, we would probably push you in the other direction. However, if you care about completing all aspects of the game and progression through Stardew Valley’s content, then Geologist is the way to go.

Pros

• It makes finishing the Museum much easier
• Has decent money-making potential for early game players
• Gems make great gifts

Cons

• Once you max out relationships and complete the Museum, it becomes rather useless
• Miner has better money-making potential.

Which Is Better?

This will depend on the playstyle of the player who is reading this guide. Each of these perks offers unique things that will ultimately be helpful in your adventure. There is no wrong answer, and neither choice will truly ruin your run in Stardew as both of these perks become rather redundant as you play through the late game. However, if we were to stick our neck out and just choose one, we would choose the Geologist perk.

This is because while the Miner perk makes the early game grind much less of a chore, the Geologist perk makes stuff within the mid-game much easier and more manageable. This is a much more desirable thing as these mid-game aspects are naturally harder and more time-consuming. Plus, through completing these mid-game tasks, you’ll earn rewards aplenty.

Can You Change Your Perks?

An important thing that you should know which will perhaps help you get the most out of both of these perks is that with the Statue of Uncertainty. This is a shrine that players can interact with, which will allow them to select certain skills and change the alternative option for that particular core skill and level for a fee of 10,000g.

There is no penalty for doing so aside from the loss of a chunk of change, and you can do it as many times as you like too. You just pay, choose the particular skill you want to alter, such as Fishing, Farming etc. Then go to bed that day, and the prompt to change the professions will pop up at the end of the day.

To do this, you will have to get access to the sewers, though, and you can only do this by filling up your Museum. So if you want the freedom to chop and change the perks that you earn, be sure to get a sewer key and bring your cash with you! 

FAQs

Miner or Geologist Stardew Valley: Final Thoughts

As you can see from the information above, there is no right or wrong answer to this question when it comes to choosing the Miner or Geologist perk. Each perk will appeal to different players with different playstyles. However, if we had to make a personal choice regarding the two, we would have to go with the Geologist perk.

This is because this skill allows you to fill up your Museum faster and still provides plenty of money-making potential, making it a multi-functional perk. We hope that this guide allows you to make a smart, informed decision that will serve you well when building your late game farm and as always, thank you for reading!