It’s exciting to hear about your success in catching ten stingrays and setting up four fish ponds! Stingrays are indeed a lively catch. It sounds like you’re aiming to boost your dragon tooth acquisition, perhaps for some of Ginger Island’s unique offerings. You mentioned a 20% increase in dragon tooth chances with your setup, and while enthusiasm is great, let’s clarify a few points about stingray fish ponds and dragon teeth, especially when considering efficient strategies alongside options like waiting for the Travelling Merchant Stardew players often rely on for rare items.
Firstly, enhancing your stingray fish ponds to their full potential requires dragon teeth themselves. Specifically, each pond needs a dragon tooth to increase its capacity from 5 to 10 stingrays. More importantly, dragon tooth production from these ponds only becomes possible once they reach a population of 9 or 10 stingrays. The Stardew Valley Wiki is an excellent resource for detailed information on this, and you can find specific details about stingrays and fish ponds there.
While stingray ponds are valuable for producing items like batteries, if your primary goal is to amass dragon teeth for significant purchases like the Island Obelisk, focusing solely on fish ponds might be a slower path. A more direct and often faster method is venturing into the Volcano Dungeon. Navigating the volcano and mining dragon teeth from the nodes within offers a more consistent source. Additionally, Lava Lurks, those fiery creatures dwelling in the volcano’s lava pools, also have a chance to drop dragon teeth upon defeat. While the drop rate is around 15%, equipping the Burglar’s Ring can double your chances, effectively rolling the drop rate twice per enemy. Keep an eye out for dragon skull areas in the volcano; these can sometimes yield multiple dragon teeth at once, making each volcano trip potentially quite rewarding.
Considering the time it takes to gather resources for the Island Obelisk, incorporating volcano expeditions into your routine will likely provide a steady stream of dragon teeth. This approach can be more efficient than solely relying on fish pond production, especially in the early stages of dragon tooth collection. While the travelling merchant stardew players frequently visit might occasionally offer rare items, dragon teeth are not typically part of their stock. Therefore, actively seeking them out in the volcano or through stingray ponds remains the most reliable strategy.
Dragon teeth become increasingly useful later in the game, notably for purchasing banana seedlings at the Island Trader in exchange for 5 dragon teeth each. If you’re planning a lush greenhouse filled with banana trees, stockpiling dragon teeth is definitely worthwhile. Acquiring these seedlings from Golden Coconuts, obtainable by having Clint break them open, is a much slower process.
To expedite your trips to Ginger Island, remember the convenience of your horse for reaching Willy’s boat quickly. Beach Totems are another excellent time-saver, instantly transporting you to the beach and Willy’s boat whenever you need to head to the island.
