Stardew Valley is all about becoming part of a community, and doing that means befriending all the various villagers that live in and around Pelican Town. While players will eventually want to earn hearts with every character in the game, players on a new save or starting Stardew Valley for the first time should spend their very limited socializing free time wisely and become friends with the villagers who give the most valuable friendship rewards.

The three best villagers to start with are Pam, Caroline, and Linus. These three NPCs are easy to befriend, as they all have extremely accessible loved or liked gifts for players in their first Spring. After gaining hearts with this trio, players will be able to unlock an incredibly useful range of items for crafting, selling, and gifting. While other NPCs, like Willy, Shane, and George are also great first friends to make, this trio has the best value for time spent in those crucial early days of the game.

You Should Befriend Pam Early On

The Bus Driver With The Pricey Gifts

Of all the friendly and cool villagers that players encounter in Stardew Valley, Pam usually isn’t on the top of the list of most approachable. An unemployed bus driver, Pam is the mother of Penny, but she chooses to spend most of her time either wandering around JojaMart or sitting on the couch in her trailer before heading to the saloon every night. Most of her dialogue has a mopey tone, which doesn’t inspire much interest in new players, especially since her very first introduction to the player is Pam telling the player to not be a jerk.

Despite this uninspired start, Pam is a character that is both easy to earn hearts with and gives valuable gifts in return. Pam has a huge range of loved gifts, which includes easily sourced items like beer and parsnip. Beer is always available for a low cost at the Stardrop Saloon, and parsnips only take four short days to grow in Spring. Since Pam’s birthday is conveniently on Spring 25, all players need to do is say hello with a parsnip on hand and they’ll rapidly build friendship with Pam, which is especially easy since she’s easy to find in the Saloon every night.

Battery packs are used to craft iridium sprinklers, crystalariums, and mini-jukeboxes.

Despite her dialogue mentioning not having much money, Pam sends a few pricey gifts in the mail to the player once they have enough hearts. Her gifts include beer, which is only useful for selling, as well as energy tonics and battery packs. Energy tonics instantly restores 500 energy, which makes them incredibly useful for days spent in the Mines or Skull Caverns. Battery packs are another insanely useful item that can be used in a fair few late-game crafting recipes. Pam also sends two recipes, Cheese Cauliflower and Stuffing, the latter of which has a nice defense boost.

Befriending Caroline In Stardew Valley Has Perks

Access To A Special Artisan Item

A much friendlier character that every player should seek out in Spring of their first year is Caroline. The mother of fan-favorite Abigail and wife of fan-least-favorite Pierre, Caroline spends most of her days near the town square or in her house and the attached General Store. Caroline is one of the more forgettable NPCs in Stardew Valley, but she is still worth befriending early on due to how easy it is and one key item she gives players access to.

Most of Caroline’s loved gifts are difficult to source early on in Stardew Valley, like tropical curry or fish taco. Fortunately, her liked gifts, daffodil and wild horseradish, are so easy to find in Spring that players will likely see a few on the ground on their way to town. Caroline’s birthday isn’t until Winter 7, but speaking to her daily and gifting a daffodil every day will quickly earn enough hearts to unlock Caroline’s most valuable gift.

Once players have two hearts with Caroline and enter the sunroom next to her kitchen, a cutscene will trigger in which Caroline shows off her indoor garden and offers a cup of green tea. From this point forward, players can access the sunroom anytime they want, which also allows them to harvest tea leaves from Caroline’s tea bush once a day during the final week of every season. The day after the cutscene, Caroline will send the player a letter with the recipe to craft tea saplings.

Green tea is a great artisanal item to brew on the farm, and Caroline’s friendship is the easiest way to access it. Tea saplings grow into tea bushes, which produce tea leaves at the end of every season. Tea leaves can be placed in a keg or preserves jar, which makes green tea and pickled tea leaves respectively. Green tea boosts energy and gives a small speed stat increase, while pickled tea leaves sell for 150 gold each.

The real value, however, comes from the tea sapling, since it only needs five fiber and wood, alongside 2 wild seeds, to produce and earns 250 gold once sold. Update 1.6 did slightly nerf the value of tea saplings, as previously they sold for 500 gold, a significant amount of money for early-game farms. Nonetheless, Caroline is still worth befriending early on since players only need to reach two hearts before unlocking tea products.

Befriend Linus ASAP For Great Benefits

Forageables And Valuable Recipes

An older man, Linus prefers to live out in the wilderness in his tent rather than in town. His chosen lifestyle seems to have caused him difficulties with other people based on some of his dialogue, but he gets along well with the player since he respects the down-to-earth lifestyle of running a farm. Linus can often be found in his tent or in the surrounding woodsy area, which makes him easy to find for daily chatting and gift-giving.

Linus is by far the easiest Villager in Stardew Valley to quickly befriend. Like Caroline, he has some slightly difficult loved gifts, but his liked gift list contains practically every single forgeable from every season. Seeking out Linus every day with whatever can be found around will result in players quickly racking up hearts in no time at all, and since his birthday isn’t until Winter 3, it’s worth visiting him often.

Of all the easier Villagers to befriend, Linus provides a lot of early game benefits. In the mail, Linus will send mountain lake-themed items, including catfish, largemouth bass, and some fishy dishes like maki roll, fried calamari, and sashimi. Once players have at least three hearts with Linus, he’ll send over the recipe for sashimi in the mail, which is a great meal for anyone trying to marry Sebastian.

At four hearts, Linus will teach players how to craft wild bait. This recipe makes it possible to catch two fish at the same time, which can be great for early-game fishing expeditions to make even more money for less work. Finally, at eight hearts, Linus will send over the recipe for fish tacos, which most other NPCs like as a gift. Becoming Linus’s friend early on in Stardew Valley is a great and easy way to access some unique items and make more gold in those first few poor seasons.