Stardew Valley: Botanist or Tracker – Which Profession Is Better?
We’ve covered several professions in the past couple of Stardew Valley guides. Those professions were related to fishing skills and farming skills respectively. Today we’re going to focus a bit more on the foraging skill that allows you to choose between great professions. At level 5 you have the choice between forester and gatherer, and choosing gatherer unlocks botanist and tracker as soon as you reach level 10. Today’s guide is going to focus on those level 10 choices. Let’s see, botanist or tracker, which profession is better in Stardew Valley?
Botanist makes all forageable items iridium quality
Botanist is a profession that can be unlocked as soon as you’ve reached level 10 in farming skill. The botanist can be unlocked only if you’ve chosen the gatherer profession at level 5. Botanist profession makes all your foraged items to be of iridium quality. This is the highest available quality in the game and makes all products associated with the foraged items of better quality as well.
The items that can be foraged are wild horseradishes, daffodils, leeks, dandelions, spring onions, morels, etc. All of the mentioned items (and many others) are going to be of the highest possible quality. This affects products made out of these foraged plants as well. Making truffle oil out of iridium quality truffles will make oil of better quality and in turn, it will be worth more.
Giving other NPCs iridium quality foraged items greatly increases relationships with them. This is an added bonus as well although not the primary reason why botanist is such a great choice of profession. The iridium quality bonus affects the foraged items you have planted with seeds as well. This is especially useful during winter, as foraged crops will amount to a good chunk of your overall income.
With the tracker profession, you will find forageable items easier
The tracker profession is the other choice you get as soon as you reach level 10 in foraging skills. The tracker profession makes it easier to find forageable items by revealing them on-screen with blue arrows so you don’t have to wander around aimlessly.
The tracker has little use when it comes to earning money, but it can be a great time saver when it comes to completing achievements and finding artifacts.
For players who don’t lack money and pretty much have enough income to wrap up all farm upgrades, the tracker is a perfect profession since it makes finding artifacts easier. And let’s face it most players that have maxed out everything on their farm will eventually struggle with artifacts since there’s no way to rush them per se. It’s all about luck and perhaps other buffs (like the pirate buff) that make it easier to find artifacts.
The tracker profession will save you tons of time looking for forageable items like worm tiles, truffles, and other “treasures” scattered around the world of Stardew Valley. But besides that, it has little use. And if you’re especially lucky and have no trouble locating artifacts, it has even less use.
Botanist or tracker which profession is better?
If you want to make some money in the long run go for the botanist. Iridium quality bonus on every single foraged item amounts to a lot of money in the long run, especially if you will eventually focus on crafting artisan goods. Forageable items are not that difficult to find after all, especially if you have extra time on your hands.
However, things change a bit once you’ve hit the late game and you have money to spare. In the late game, you might focus on collecting achievements now that money is really no issue. In that case, to save yourself some time and sanity go for the tracker. The tracker reveals locations of forageable items on the map with helpful blue arrows so you will never wander around in random directions looking for worm tiles. This will greatly affect your chances of finding artifacts especially if you have a pirate bonus from the fishing profession active as well.
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