In Stardew Valley, there aren’t many types of shoes—only 18 in total. All shoes provide either defense or immunity bonuses (or a combination of both). The defense attribute reduces the amount of damage a player takes. For example, if you wear athletic shoes with a defense bonus of +1, the damage taken from monster attacks will be reduced by one point.
Immunity, on the other hand, decreases the chances of being affected by debuff effects from enemy attacks. Each point of immunity reduces the probability of being affected by debuffs by 10%. When your immunity is greater than 10 points, you will not be affected by any monster debuffs. However, since the highest immunity bonus provided by shoes is +8, you’ll need to combine it with an immunity ring that adds +4 immunity to exceed 10 points.
How to Acquire Shoes
Now, let’s discuss the different types of shoes and how to acquire them. There are several ways to obtain shoes in the game:
- Finding them in chests, breaking barrels, or defeating special slimes in the mines, Skull Cavern, or Volcano Dungeon.
- Fishing treasure chests, which may contain shoes.
- Purchasing them from the Adventurer’s Guild or the shop in the Volcano Dungeon.
Note that the shoes available at the Adventurer’s Guild are unlocked as you reach certain levels in the mines. In the early game, the main way to acquire shoes is by opening chests in the mines. In a standard progression, you will typically find Leather Boots at level 10, Tundra Boots at level 50, Firewalker Boots at level 80, and Space Boots at level 110.
These four pairs of shoes should suffice for the early game, and you can simply replace them according to your progress. Unless you have specific fashion needs, there’s no need to purchase additional shoes from the Adventurer’s Guild. Of course, if you find shoes with better attributes from special slimes or barrels, feel free to swap them out.
In the late game, after unlocking Ginger Island’s Volcano, we recommend trying to obtain Mermaid Boots, Dragon Scale Boots, or Clown Shoes. Mermaid Boots and Dragon Scale Boots can be found in rare chests within the Volcano Dungeon, which contains both common and rare chests. The ninth level of the Volcano Dungeon has a particularly high chance of spawning rare chests, so try your luck there.
If you can’t find Mermaid Boots or Dragon Scale Boots, you can buy Clown Shoes from the Dwarf merchant on the fifth floor of the Volcano Dungeon for 100 Cinder Shard. Clown Shoes should be sufficient for the late game.
Special Shoes
Lastly, let’s discuss the three special shoes and their unique acquisition methods:
- Emily’s Magic Boots: These boots are obtained after marrying Emily and triggering her 14-heart event. During this event, Emily also gifts you a set of clothing that looks great when paired with the boots. Wearing this outfit can give you extra motivation while working on your farm.
- Leprechaun Shoes: These shoes can be acquired randomly from trains passing through the Railroad. The appearance of trains is random, so obtaining these shoes depends on luck. However, their attributes aren’t great, so it’s not a big deal if you don’t find them.
* Cowboy Boots: These boots are unique and, according to the wiki, unobtainable. It is unclear why these boots exist in the game. Perhaps it’s a fashion statement exclusive to the residents of Stardew Valley that we simply cannot attain.
Conclusion
And that’s it! We hope this guide has provided you with valuable information about shoes in Stardew Valley. With a better understanding of the various types of shoes and their acquisition methods, you can now make informed decisions on which shoes to wear or seek out.
