Stardew Valley Expanded Highlands Guide: Unlock, Monsters, Fish, and Loot
The Highlands in Stardew Valley Expanded
The Highlands is a late-game SVE combat region reached by Marlon's boat at Adventurer Summit. It contains the main Highlands map, Lance's outpost, the Highlands Cavern, the Diamond Cavern, seasonal monsters, four unique fish, and a one-time boss progression reward.
How to unlock the Highlands
- Meet Lance at the Volcano Caldera. After his introduction, enter the Farm on a sunny day between 6:00 AM and 10:00 AM to see his follow-up event.
- Reach two hearts with Lance. Enter the Farm between 6:00 AM and 11:00 AM to receive Marlon's message. SVE also permits a late-game alternate trigger if you have the Galaxy Sword, Skull Key, and either Movie Theater completion flag.
- Enter the Adventurer's Guild. Marlon introduces the month-long Marlon's Boat special order.
- Deliver all five stacks directly to Marlon.
| Delivery | Required |
|---|---|
| Void Essence | 100 |
| Solar Essence | 80 |
| Slime | 50 |
| Bat Wing | 40 |
| Bug Meat | 30 |
Completing the order sets the marlonsBoat progression flag. See Marlon's follow-up Farm event, then go to Adventurer Summit; the boat access point is active there after that event.
Highlands monsters and monster-crop seeds
The seed drops below come from dedicated Highlands spawn groups. Damage can vary by season or challenge configuration, so health and the progression drop are the most useful planning values.
| Enemy | Health | Important drop | Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonal Slime | 350 | Slime Seed | Highlands |
| Wilderness Golem | 525 | Stalk Seed | Highlands |
| Dust Spirit | 250 | Fungus Seed | Highlands ruins |
| Shadow Brute | 400 | Void Seed | Highlands Cavern |
| Shadow Shaman | 300 | Void Seed | Highlands Cavern |
| Shadow Sniper | 300 | Void Seed | Highlands Cavern |
Slime Seed, Stalk Seed, Fungus Seed, and Void Seed grow into the four crops required by Lance's later Monster Crops order: Slime Berry, Monster Fruit, Monster Mushroom, and Void Root.
The Highlands boss
The boss is a custom Pepper Rex commonly identified by its Bully Rex sprite. It has 13,000 health, deals 135 damage, resists stun and instant-kill effects, and appears as a single daily boss while its rescue event remains incomplete.
The first version of its loot table includes the Golden Key, which advances the Highlands Dwarf rescue. Its other possible loot includes an Ornate Treasure Chest, a standard Treasure Chest, gold and iridium bars, and a Dinosaur Egg. After the rescue flag changes, the recurring boss table no longer includes another Golden Key.
Highlands fish
All four Highlands-specific fish can be caught in every season and from 6:00 AM through 2:00 AM. Their location and base sale price differ:
| Fish | Where to fish | Base price |
|---|---|---|
| Highlands Bass | Highlands river | 200g |
| Fiber Goby | Highlands pond | 250g |
| Gemfish | Highlands Cavern | 800g |
| Diamond Carp | Diamond Cavern | 575g |
The Diamond Carp location entry uses a 50% location weight. The final catch still depends on the normal fishing selection rules, fishing level requirements, and other eligible catches in that water.
Treasure and mining notes
- The Highlands Cavern creates 22–32 mineral forage spawns per day. The challenging-cavern configuration declares an additional group of 12–24.
- A rare Prismatic Shard forage rule uses a 1% roll and lets a successful spawn remain for four days.
- One Ornate Treasure Chest appears at a fixed Highlands tile each day until the early Lance Highlands sequence reaches event 65360186.
- The surface Highlands also refreshes large forage, logs, stumps, boulders, slime eggs, saplings, and seasonal items, so leave inventory space before taking the boat.
Version: Stardew Valley Expanded 1.15.11.