Friendship Mechanics in Stardew Valley — Hearts, Decay & Events

Friendship Points — Actions & Values

How Hearts Work — The Point Scale

Each heart represents 250 friendship points. The maximum for non-marriageable characters is 10 hearts (2,500 points). The maximum for marriageable characters is 8 hearts (2,000 points) before dating, 10 hearts (2,500 points) while dating, and 14 hearts (3,500 points) after marriage.

Friendship is capped at 8 hearts for marriageable characters if you have not yet given them a Bouquet (purchased from Pierre's for 200g). You must give a Bouquet to unlock the dating status and allow friendship to grow to 10 hearts. After 10 hearts, give a Mermaid's Pendant (purchased from the Old Mariner on rainy days) to propose marriage.

Non-marriageable characters have a 10-heart cap permanently. They cannot be romanced, but raising them to 10 hearts still unlocks all their heart events and in some cases provides unique rewards (like Willy's 5-heart reward of a recipe, or Linus's mountain shortcut at 4 hearts).

Friendship Decay — When and How Much

Friendship decays by 2 points per day for every villager you do not interact with. Over a 14-day game season, neglecting a villager costs 28 points — just over one-tenth of a heart. This is slow enough that occasional forgetfulness rarely causes significant friendship loss, but consistent neglect over multiple seasons can gradually erode relationships you have built.

Friendship decay does NOT occur on festival days — the game treats these as non-decay days regardless of interaction. Spouses and roommates (like Krobus) do not experience friendship decay in the same way as regular villagers, though neglecting your spouse for extended periods still has consequences.

To maintain 10 hearts with a non-spouse villager, simply talking to them once every few days combined with two weekly gifts is sufficient. The decay of 2 points per day is easily offset by a single daily greeting (+20 points).

Heart Events — What They Are & Why They Matter

• Heart events are cutscene-style story events that trigger when you reach specific heart levels with a villager. Each character has 3–5 heart events, typically at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 hearts.
• Heart events must be triggered in order — you cannot see a character's 6-heart event if you skipped their 4-heart event. If you skip a location-specific heart event, it may not re-trigger automatically; you must revisit the trigger location.
• Heart events for marriageable characters at 10 hearts are marriage-level events and are required before you can propose (along with the Bouquet and Mermaid's Pendant steps).
• Some heart events give tangible rewards — Demetrius's 2-heart event gives access to the farm cave option, Linus's 4-heart event opens a mountain shortcut, and Robin's 6-heart event gives a blueprint.
• Multiple heart events can trigger in the same week if you rapidly raise friendship — you might see 2 or 3 heart events with the same NPC across a few days during aggressive friendship building.

Multiplayer Friendship — How It Differs

In multiplayer Stardew Valley, each player has their own independent friendship score with every villager. One player's friendship does not affect another's — if one player gifts Abigail and another does not, their friendship scores diverge independently.

This means multiplayer farms can divide NPC management efficiently: one player focuses on befriending Sam, Alex, and Haley while another focuses on Harvey, Penny, and Maru. Both players benefit from the heart events they personally trigger.

Marriage in multiplayer works the same as single-player — each player can independently marry a different NPC, and both spouses can live in the farmhouse simultaneously. However, both players cannot marry the same NPC.

Efficient Friendship Strategy — Raising 10+ NPCs Simultaneously

• Gift on Tuesdays and Thursdays for most NPCs — these days hit most villagers in their accessible locations.
• Focus loved gifts on characters you want to marry first, liked gifts on others to maintain decay prevention.
• Use Saloon evenings (Wednesday–Saturday) to talk to and sometimes gift multiple NPCs in one location.
• Never miss birthday dates — a birthday loved gift is worth 2 normal visits and 1 gift combined.
• Complete the Help Wanted board quests from Pierre's — each quest gives +150–250 friendship with the requesting NPC and gold.
• Attend all festivals — festivals stop friendship decay for that day and sometimes provide bonus friendship through interactions.
• Stock a fridge full of easy liked/loved gifts: a Crystalarium running Amethyst provides Emily loved gifts; Goat Cheese satisfies many NPCs; Maple Syrup is widely liked.

Friendship Decay Math — Heart-by-Heart Reference

Loved / Liked / Hated Items — Universal Categories

Bouquet vs Mermaid's Pendant — Marriage Timeline

The Bouquet (200g at Pierre's General Store) is the dating item — give it to a marriageable NPC at 8+ hearts to officially start dating them. Until you give the Bouquet, friendship with marriage candidates is capped at 8 hearts (2,000 points). The Bouquet removes this cap and unlocks growth up to 10 hearts. Dating an NPC doesn't lock you in — you can break up by talking to them and choosing the relevant dialogue, or by gifting another Bouquet to a different NPC (which triggers a jealousy event).

The Mermaid's Pendant (5,000g from the Old Mariner who appears on the beach during rainy weather) is the marriage proposal item. Give it to a 10-heart, currently-dating NPC and they accept marriage. Three in-game days later, the wedding ceremony takes place at your farm. Important: you must have completed the NPC's 10-heart event AND have a 'large enough' farmhouse (Level 2 upgrade minimum) before the wedding can occur.

Pacing: most players reach 10 hearts with their target spouse in ~30–40 days of focused gifting (4 weeks loved-gift cadence + daily greetings). The Bouquet must be given at 8 hearts, so realistically the timeline is: 0 → 8 hearts (~25 days), Bouquet, 8 → 10 hearts (~10 days), 10-heart event, Mermaid's Pendant, 3-day wait, wedding. Total ~40 days from zero friendship to married, achievable within a single in-game season.

The Mermaid's Pendant can only be purchased from the Old Mariner on the beach during rainy days. Track rainy weather predictions on the TV (Pam's weather report) and head to the beach immediately on a rainy day to find him. Without rain you cannot purchase the Pendant.