Combat

Combat is the skill associated with fighting monsters in The Mines, The Skull Cavern, or on the Wilderness Farm.

During the first few days in Stardew Valley, the mines are closed due to an accident by Joja Corporation. On or around day 5, the player will receive a letter from Joja Corp. explaining that the landslide blocking the mines has been cleared, and the mine entrance will be open. At this point, combat becomes available to players who have not chosen the Wilderness Farm.

Combat is increased by killing monsters. Each increase in Combat Level adds +5 health and one or more Crafting recipes.

Combat Skill

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Cooking Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Choose a Profession:
Sturdy Ring Bug Steak	Life Elixir	Roots Platter	Warrior Ring	Fighter All attacks deal 10% more damage. (+15 HP)	Scout Critical strike chance increased by 50%. (+0 HP) (Note that the increase is multiplicative. The formula is: critChance = critChance * 1.5)
Level 6	Level 7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting / Cooking Recipes:	Fighter:	Scout:
Slime Egg-Press Oil of Garlic	Ring of Yoba Thorns Ring	Slime Incubator Explosive Ammo	Iridium Band Squid Ink Ravioli	Brute Deal 15% more damage. (+0 HP) (Stacks multiplicatively with Fighter)	Acrobat Cooldown on special moves cut in half. (+0 HP)
				Defender +25 HP.	Desperado Critical strikes are deadlier. (+0 HP) (2x Critical strike damage)

Note that critical chance bonuses are multiplicative, not additive. Even with all possible bonuses, it's around 5-10% crit. chance at best (the actual base critical chance is unknown, and possibly influenced by Luck), so even with the Desperado Profession it can be difficult to justify over the flat damage increases of the Fighter branch.

Stat Bonus

Consuming certain foods or drinks, wearing particular Footwear or Rings, and choice of Weapon can all give Stat Bonuses that affect Combat.

Attack affects how much damage the player does with each weapon strike.

Crit. Power adds additional damage when hitting a critical strike.

Defense affects how much damage the player takes from enemy strikes.

Immunity affects the player's ability to recover after being hit by an enemy.

The Weight of a weapon affects how far an enemy will be knocked back when struck with the weapon.

Weapon Speed and Player Speed are also a factor in successful Combat.