One of the most important decisions inStardew Valleyis deciding who to marry of the twelve romance candidates in and around Pelican Town. For most players, this decision typically comes down to personality and which NPC gels best with the player’s tastes, but post-marriage benefits can also factor into it. Upon marriage,every potential spouse will periodically give the player gifts, and while most are similar enough to make any price difference negligible, there are a few exclusive items that only come from specific marriages.
The most common gift to receive from a spouse is, by far, a meal. On rainy days or random days when the player’s husband or wife is relaxing at home,they’ll give a nice meal, drink, or item that can aid gameplayor even be gifted right back to keep the relationship at maximum hearts. While these are usually nice, what truly makes a spouse a standout in terms of rewards are exclusive items that can’t be found by any other means.
12Shane Isn’t A Great Gifter
Drinks & Pizza Miss The Mark
Frankly, in terms of rewards, Shane is one of the worst spouses. His story of overcoming his demons is touching, but once he moves onto the farm, he’s, unfortunately, still a slob, and his gifts still include alcohol, which seems to negate most of his heart events about avoiding it for good. Once married, Shane will gift the player a beer, large egg, pale ale, void egg, pepper poppers, omelet, and pizza, which areall lame presents, especially in comparison to other spouses.
The inclusion of eggs in his gifts is nice, given his dedication to his chicken, Charlie, but they’re not incredibly useful, since most players will have one or two upgraded coops by the time they’re ready for marriage. The one benefit that comes frombuilding a relationship with Shane is unlocking blue chickens, but players don’t need to marry him for this unique reward.
11Alex’s Coolest Reward Still Lacks Wide Appeal
Special Football Events, Just For The Guys
Of all the potential romantic partners, Alex has some of the worst spouse rewards. Usually, Alex will gift the player a survival burger, dish o’ the sea, fried eel, crispy bass, baked fish, omelet, hashbrowns, or pancakes.None of these items are particularly exciting, besides the survival burger, or provide any great benefits that other spouses also provide, which sinks him to the bottom of the list just above Shane.
While Alex does provide a unique change to the town with his 14-heart event, it actually just costs the player 5,000 gold and results ina tiny football watching room in the Stardrop Saloon for all the guys in town. This is somewhat cute, but it’s not much of a reward for the player unless they’re extremely enthusiastic about Super Bowl parties.
10Elliott Takes More Than He Gives
A Fishy Range Of Gifts
Like Alex, Elliott simply doesn’t provide enough unique gifts to rank higher on the list, especially considering how most of his own loved gifts are pretty pricey, which makes wooing him harder than the average marriage candidate. Once the player has married Elliott, he will potentially gift coffee, baked fish, fried calamari, chowder, and fish stew on random days.
While coffee is a great gift, the rest arejust average meals that the player can make easily for themselves. Elliott’s poetic personality is great, but his fishy meals make for disappointing spouse presents.
9Haley Makes Nice Food, If Nothing Else
Sweet Treats For The Player
Another of the more difficult marriage nuts to crack is Haley, primarily due to her cold-shoulder attitude to the player at the beginning of their relationship. Once married,Haley does gift a nice variety of foods—which hints at more skill in the kitchen than any of her dialogue reveals—but none of the meals are especially stand-out.
Haley will gift cookies, blueberry tarts, pancakes, poppyseed muffins, maple bars, fried eggs, omelets, hashbrowns, pancakes, bread, chowder, eggplant Parmesan, bean hotpot, and parsnip soup, depending on the weather. None of these provide a particularly good buff, butthe sheer variety of fun foodsdoes place her above Elliott and his pescatarian diet.
8Sam’s 14-Heart Event Is A Solid One
A Unique Boombox For His Spouse
Sam has, truly,the weirdest mix of spouse gifts in the game. His dialogue mentions finding these things rolling around in the back of a drawer, which both fits his personality and makes a lot of sense considering what players receive. Sam will gift his spouse a cactus fruit, coconut, earth crystal, geode, pizza, or pancakes, the latter of which he admits are instant pancakes because he still doesn’t know how to cook.
What brings Sam up further in the ranking is his unique 14-heart event item, which isa special boombox that plays a song he wrote for a children’s TV show.The item is fun, and though it only plays one song, it’s a meaningful gift from Sam about his passion for music.
7Sebastian Has At Least One Strong Offering
Coffee & Frogs
Closer to the middle of the list is aromance with Sebastian, whose spouse gifts aren’t terrible but don’t pack the same punch as other marriage candidates. Among his possible gifts to the player are coffee, obsidian, void essence, bat wing, frozen tear, amethyst, and cave carrots.Seb ranks slightly above Sam due to the coffee, which is a great item to save up for exploring the Mines or Skull Caverns.
Sebastian does eventuallyadd a frog terrarium to his spouse room. As the player can’t do anything with the frogs or move the terrarium around the house, however, it doesn’t really count as a spouse reward.
6Harvey’s Meals Have Nice Perks
Healthy Meals From The Town Doctor
The (likely) oldest marriage candidate inStardew Valleyand the town doctor,Harvey provides the healthiest meals for the playerin keeping with his responsible personality, though he’ll stillcharge his spouse in an emergency. After marriage, Harvey will gift complete breakfast, salmon dinner, crispy bass, fried eel, carp surprise, and vegetable medley to the player on random days.
Complete breakfast is a standout gift, since it provides +2 farming, and puts Harvey further up the rankings. Unfortunately, Harvey doesn’t have any special unlockable items after marriage, but the range of cooked items and their boosts make him a solid partner in terms of rewards.
5Abigail Is For The Fighters
Gifts Fit For An Adventurer
Nearing the higher end of the list is Abigail, asher extensive range of potential gifts makes her a more interesting and useful spouse. On any given day or rainy evening, Abigail gives the player solar essence, bat wing, void essence, amethyst, fire quartz, parsnip soup, tom kha soup, trout soup, chowder, lobster bisque, a cherry bomb, a bomb, fried mushroom, or crab cakes.
While the meal gifts aren’t incredibly exciting and don’t provide buffs, thecherry bomb and bomb make her an excellent spousefor players who want to spend time mining and fighting monsters, which fits well with Abigail’s personality and heart events. Unfortunately, Abigail doesn’t provide any unique gifts, but her range of normal items is more useful than the average spouse.
4Maru Has A Great Everyday Selection
Bombs, Bombs, & More Bombs
Utility-wise, Maru may be the very best spouse inStardew Valley. While she sadly doesn’t provide any unique gifts, which is a shame after her heart event reveals she’s capable of designing a sentient robot, her everyday gifts are all excellent. Maru will give the player quality fertilizer, refined Quartz, gates, bomb, rice pudding, blueberry tart, cookies, chocolate cake, cherry bomb, bomb, fried mushroom, crab cakes, and Warp Totems for the farm.
The food items are good, butthe stand-outs are the bombs and warp totems, which make adventuring much less time-consuming. The gift of a gate is strange, but is helpful, and helps make Maru a more interesting spouse overall.
3Leah Has A Memorably Funny Gift
Special Art To Decorate The Farm
Due to her artistic nature, Leah ends up giving the playera few special items that can only be obtained by building a relationship with her.While you can get a sculpture from her far before marriage, a hilariously bad portrait of Marnie (which Marnie politely, but firmly, turns down) can only be obtained from the 14-heart event.
Beyond these special items,Leah gives a great range of normal presents. These include chanterelle, common mushroom, red mushroom, morel, coffee, wild horseradish, daffodils, leeks, dandelion, cactus fruit, fiddlehead fern, spice berry, sweet pea, and salad. Leah is especially advantageous if theplayer picks the fruit bats for their caveearlier on, since Leah can provide every mushroom type on her own.
