The Best Villagers to Befriend First in Stardew Valley

In Stardew, some friendships are worth more than others.

There’s nothing like starting a new Stardew save - your farm's a mess, your energy's too low to do anything about it, and the villagers? Well, they're a mixed bag of charm and indifference until you love bomb them with their favorite things. While tempting to make a beeline for your favorite villagers (looking at you Hayley, Harvey and Sam ❤), there are a few unexpected villagers that strategically makes sense to prioritize first.

Forging friendships with these villagers early in the game can provide significant advantages and access to resources that would normally take a few in-game years to unlock. Below I break down my top picks for villagers to befriend early on, what’s in it for you, and how to unlock those hearts quickly and efficiently (because early in game we can’t afford to waste diamonds and truffle oil for friendship!) 

Villager #1: Pam

Pam probably isn’t high on your list to befriend first (let alone befriending her at all) - but strategically, she is an excellent villager to become buddy-buddy with. The gifts she will send you after befriending her are some of the most valuable out of all the villagers. 

Most notably, Pam will periodically send battery packs in the mail, a huge advantage for early game. Battery packs are required for crafting several key items like the Iridium Sprinkler, Crystalarium, and the Farm Computer - items that will be very helpful as your farm grows. But obtaining battery packs requires some work: 

Typically to get a battery pack, you first have to construct Lightning Rods, place them around your farm and wait for a thunderstorm (there’s a chance for storms randomly throughout the year, but the only guaranteed storms happen on Summery 13 and Summer 26). The following day, you will be able to harvest a single battery pack, and unless you have quite a few lightning rods set up by Summer Year One (which would require you reaching pretty deep in the mines to get Iron Bars and Quartz for Refined Quartz), you likely are going to have to wait until Year 2 to actually harvest multiple Battery Packs. 

Luckily for you, your new bestie Pam’s got you covered! She will periodically send Battery Packs as a gift once you reach a high heart level with her. Super handy! 

She also sends things like Beer (this is great for gifting to other villagers since it’s liked by most everyone, or you can sell it for 200g if you’re strapped for cash) or Energy Tonic (replenishes 500 Energy and 225 Health, SO helpful for the mines, and worth noting this typically costs 1,000g to purchase from Harvey’s Clinic!)

How to befriend Pam quickly:

The other benefit to befriending Pam first? Some of her favorite gifts are really easy to acquire in Fall Year 1:

Pam’s Loves (raises friendship by 80 points): 

We all know Pam loves her beer, but did you know she also loves Parsnips? Parsnips grow in Spring, take only 4 days to grow, and cost only 20g if you buy from Pierre’s. 

Pam’s Likes (raises friendship by 45 points):  

If you don’t want to waste precious crops on Pam (which honestly I get) - she also Likes Daffodils. Since they’re a liked gift, not loved, it will take a little longer to raise your friendship level if you go this route, but considering Daffodils are so abundant in the fall, gifting to Pam is a great use for them!

Villager #2: Caroline

Caroline isn’t typically a character I go out of my way to befriend (maybe because I’m typically trying to romance everyone and I can't be with her?) but you’d be mistaken to write off Caroline, especially early in game. After reaching 2 hearts, Caroline will share the tea sapling recipe with you - one of the easiest and most low-maintenance crops to grow!

One of the benefits to tea saplings is they require ingredients that are easily obtained - 2 Wild Seeds, 5 Fiber and 5 Wood. You can easily craft a handful of Tea Saplings just using items you’ll naturally collect as you go about your game. 

20 days after planting, Tea Saplings turn into Tea Bush that drops 1 Teaf leaf every day during the last week of the season (AND they produce leaves in Spring, Summer, and Fall. This means if you befriend Caroline quickly in the game, you can in theory get your tea saplings planted in time to harvest for 3 full seasons your first year of the game. 

Oh, and did I mention you don’t need water tea saplings and they don’t die during winter - they’re like trees with one great difference: unlike most trees, these will grow if you plant them in Winter! They’re seriously like a super crop.  

If you do opt to farm the Tea Bushes, you can use the Tea Leaves it gives you to brew into Green Tea using a Keg  - Green Tea is sellable for 100g / 140g Artisan price, and offers +30 Max energy and +0.5 Speed if consumed. For a little more profit, you can also turn Tea Leaves into Pickled Tea with the Preserves Jar for 150g / 210g Artisan price). 

But maybe I don’t want a farm full of Tea Bushes, you might say - why would I care about this? Because at minimum, crafting and selling a Tea Sapling is always more profitable than selling the individual ingredients alone. If you’re not one to hoard every item you come across (admittedly this is me) - you can craft a Tea Sapling and depending on the Wild Seeds used to produce it, can make between 75g and 200g - when money is tight early game, this isn’t a bad route to go. 

How to befriend Caroline quickly:

Caroline’s Loves (raises friendship by 80 points): 

Unfortunately Caroline’s Loves are a bit difficult to acquire early in game, but if you wait until Summer, the Summer Spangle is a great option for Caroline. Otherwise, you’re probably better off with giving her something she likes or a Universal Like item. 

Caroline’s Likes (raises friendship by 45 points): 

Like Pam, Caroline also likes Daffodils, which can be found foraging in the Spring, as well as Wild Horseradish - between these two easily forgeable Spring items, it’s easy to rack up hearts with Caroline pretty quickly in your game. Ironically, the other item she likes is Tea Leaves (and loves green tea) - so eventually, you can use your Tea Bush to quickly gain more friendship with Caroline. 

Villager #3: Linus

He may love trash, but rest assured that Linus’s gifts are anything but trash! Linus’s “theme” for gifts is mostly fish-related items - he will periodically send fish like Catfish and Largemouth Bass (and while both of these are fairly common, it’s worth noting that Catfish and Largemouth Bass are both needed for the Fish Tank in the Community Center). He also will send you cooked dishes like Maki Roll, Fried Calamari and Sashimi - great for regifting, consuming yourself or selling even if you’re in a pinch. 

After reaching 3 hearts with Linus, he will send you the Sashimi recipe - Sashimi is a versatile recipe since it uses any Fish, and it’s liked by most villagers (and loved by Sebastian, an easy way to win his heart!). Sashimi is also needed in Year 2 for a request by Pierre, so inevitably you’ll need to learn how to make this. Another interesting use case for Sashimi is using it to uplevel your fish sales - if a fish is worth less than 75g, Sashimi is more profitable to sell than the original fish (Feels like I may need to create a “when to craft Sashimi guide” now..)

During his 4 hearts event, Linus will give you the recipe for Wild Bait -  and you can only get this recipe from Linus! This handy bait makes it possible to catch two fish at the same time, extremely helpful for when you’re early in game and trying to make money FAST. Note that catching two fish using Wild Bait does not double your fishing experience points, but it does count if you’re doing a special order quest, where both fish caught will count towards that goal. When used in a Crab Pot, Wild Bait decreases the chance of catching trash versus using your standard bait. 

Lastly at 7 hearts, Linus will send you the Fish Taco recipe- a handy recipe loved by Caroline and Gus that’s also a great way to replenish energy and boost your fishing skills. Yum!

How to befriend Linus quickly:

Linus’s Loves (raises friendship by 80 points): 

Here’s where it gets tricky. Unfortunately most of Linus’s loved items are difficult to come by early in game - Dish O’ The Sea is likely the easiest to gift, assuming you have the recipe (requiring Fishing Level 3 + recipe for Hashbrowns), but you’ll need an upgraded house with a kitchen to cook this. Linus also loves Yams, but since those are a Fall crop, you’ll have to wait a few seasons to gift those. If you’re hoping to befriend him sooner, your best bet is to utilize foraged items that Linus Likes (which thankfully, is most of them).

Linus’s Likes (raises friendship by 45 points): 

Linus likes basically all things forgeable - Dandelion, Leeks, Daffodils, Wild Horseradish, Spring Onion, you name it. It’s easy to pick these items up and gift them to Linus!

And there you have it: the ultimate starter guide to maximizing your Stardew social strategy. Sure, Hayley and Harvey may be calling your name, but a little patience (and strategic gift-giving) goes a long way.