Out of all the items in Stardew Valley, the slingshot seems to cause the most confusion for players. Many have called it unwieldy, even so much as suggesting to just put it in a chest and forget about it after obtaining it. We don’t recommend this, as it certainly has its uses — once you figure out to use the slingshot, that is. That’s why we’re here, to tell you exactly how to use this contraption and what it’s good for, as well as what it’s not good for.
How to Use the Slingshot in Stardew Valley
The slingshot is first found once you reach level 40 in the mines. Before you can use the slingshot, you’ll need to load it. The standard ammunition for this weapon is stone, but you can experiment with many other items. Once loaded, you’ll need to use the correct buttons to aim and fire the slingshot.
The process isn’t especially complicated. However, because Stardew Valley is available on so many platforms, the buttons you need to use will differ. Here’s a full breakdown of how to load, aim, and fire the slingshot no matter which device you play on.
How to Load Ammo
- On PC, open inventory and click on your chosen ammo, then hover it over your slingshot and right click. That will load the entire stack into your slingshot. Just as well, you can Shift+right click to grab a half stack if you do not wish to load all of a single item
- On mobile, open inventory and tap on your chosen ammo to grab the whole stack (or tap and hold to begin loading a partial stack), then drag it over to your slingshot and release
- On Xbox consoles, open inventory and press A on your ammo for a full stack, or press X to grab a partial quantity into your cursor, then move it over to the slingshot and press X again to load it
- For Playstation consoles, open inventory and press X for a full stack, or Square for a partial stack, drag to your slingshot and press Square again to load
- On Nintendo Switch, open inventory and press B on your chosen ammo for a full stack, or Y for a partial stack, drag to slingshot and press Y again to load
How to Aim and Fire the Slingshot
Now that you know how to load the slingshot, it’s time to take aim and fire:
- On PC, hold down left click on your mouse and drag it back away from where you want to aim. You will see a reticle appear in front of your character indicating where they will fire
- On mobile, tap on your character to pull back on the slingshot, then drag away from where you want to aim, then release to fire
- On Xbox/PS/Switch, hold the Use Tool button (X, Square, or Y respectively) and use the left stick to aim your reticle, then release to fire
A Few Extra Tips
Now that you’re well-versed on it’s use, here’s a few additional tips for using the slingshot:
- Once you reach Combat Level 8, you can craft five explosive ammo with one Iron bar and two Coal. With a two-tile effect radius, this ammo is extremely useful for mining large areas without using up lots of energy. Once unlocking the recipe, they can also be bought in the Adventurer’s Guild for 300g
- You can load ore as ammunition. The rarer the ore, the more damage it deals out
- You won’t make friends with this weapon. Shooting any villager with it will decrease your friendship with them by 30. So ,unless you want to be the town pariah, watch where you aim it in town!
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