Sun Haven: How to become a Master Explorer

In this guide, we are going to go over various ways to increase your exploration skill.

Exploration is covered by various things, from cutting trees to exploring the mines. It focuses on exploring all that Sun Haven has to offer, pretty much! All those little tiny things that are easily overlooked contribute to your exploration, so you want to do as much as you can if you want the skill to increase. If you want to be able to chop down hardwood, or chop down wood faster in general with a better axe, you’re gonna have to level it up a lot.

I’m personally only level 59 even though I already have many hours in this game because I constantly ignore things that could level it up, but not anymore! As we go through this guide, I will be exploring myself, since I need to get it to level 70 and then unlock all the skill points as well for the achievement. Let’s go!

Chopping down trees and hardwood with your axe will increase your exploration skill. This is one of the first things you get to do in the game, so go ahead and cut them all down- not only are you going to need lots of wood for things in Sun Haven, but they’ll grow back eventually, so don’t hesitate!
Chopping down a tree gives you 9 exp, and chopping down the stump gives you 6.
I recommend planting the seeds they give you where you want though, because while you can cut down what’s in the forest too, there’s forageables that spawn on them!

There’s mushrooms…

And spider silk, too!

You harvest the mushrooms by clicking on the tree, and the silk by using a scythe or sword. I’ve leveled up quite a bit in exploration, so I’m not sure the exact number of exp doing these should get you, but for me it was 13 for the mushroom alone and 8 for the silk, meaning it’s probably worth keeping the trees in the forest, or if you are further in the game and already have plenty of wood, growing a forest of your own in some spot of your farm. But… you should also consider growing fruit trees, too!

I’m not sure how many points these are supposed to give either since I’m leveled up and the wiki is inaccurate, (It said some fish give you exploration points but when I fished those fish it did not)
but it was more exp than cutting down a tree for me or foraging mushrooms and webs. Also, the fruit grows faster than the mushrooms and webs, so having a lot of fruit trees on your farm may be one of the keys to mastering exploration.

There are many little items around Sun Haven that will increase your foraging skill.
For example, treasure chests!

You can find these in a lot of places, and I believe each season they respawn for you to collect again. Even if you’re high level and have money and don’t need the litle trinkets inside, don’t pass these up when you’re grinding for EXP- they give you more than cutting a tree does! It all adds up.
In the forests, there’s even more items everywhere for you to forage if you’re grinding; berries, crystals, mana tomes, and money bags!

The crystal gave a little exp, the tome gave about quadruple it. Don’t ignore these on the ground!

The mushroom on the ground gave a little exp, and the berry gave a little exp less than the mushroom. But don’t ignore the berries! No spoilers for those new to the game, but you will thank me later if you save them up!

These little money bags might not give you much gold, but they do give you exp when you pick them up; about 15 I want to say. (I figured out the numbers now; I get 10% bonus exp because of the rings I’m wearing. So, mana tomes give you 30, mushrooms 5, berries 4, bags 15, and crystals also 15 I wanna say. In short, PICK UP EVERYTHING OFF THE GROUND!

You have two beaches; the one on your farm, and the main one under the town, to the right of your farm. Look at these messes!
The clam, seaweed, and wood give you 3 exp, the starfish gives you 4, and the sand dollar gives you 5. Oh, and chests give you 15. Doesn’t sound like much… but let it get messy and it adds up! And I mean REALLY adds up. I cleaned the beach under town, and got over 700 exp!

It’s up to you whether you clear it every day or wait for it to build up. The latter is a bit more satisfying, honestly.

There are destructable items in the mines you can gain exp from, too. like crates and vases and such. So, destroy everything!!!!

Smashing this vase got me 3 exp, but I imagine deeper in the mines various objects might give a different amount. Anyway, if you’re mining, don’t pass these up if you need exploration exp! It may be just a little, but remember, everything adds up in this skill! Oh, and earth, fire, and water crystals show up in the mines as well; so be sure to pick those up as well!

You can craft various jams to increase various skills by using the jam maker that you get from leveling up in farming. 

There’s banana jam, which gives you 50 exp in farming and exploration…
…orange jam, which gives you 60 in exploration….
…shimmeroot jam, which gives you 200 in exploration….
…pricklepop pear jam, which gives you 100 in exploration…
…golden pomegranate jam, which gives you 300 in exploration as well as 150 in farming…
…and last but not least, pineapple jam, which gives you 100 exp in exploration.
However, these jams take a whole day to make just one jar!!! So you’ll probably want to craft more than one jam maker if this is your desired method of exp gain. It’ll take a bit of farming or combat, and once you’re leveled up a lot, these may not be very high numbers of exp for you (which is why you’ll want multiple jam makers.) so do keep that in mind!

Now, tomes! These can be rewarded from quests sometimes, but if your mining level is high enough, there’s a skill to craft them, too! However, it’s tricky because you can only craft a certain amount of tomes a day, and the ingredients seem to change each day. It can be apples, mushrooms, clams, sand dollars, oranges, strawberries, or stone (and probably more things because the wiki didn’t show apples but today it says I’d need 100 of those to craft one) – so make sure you collect as many of those as possible! It gives you one skill point, which means it doesn’t level you up but it does let you choose a new skill- very important if you want the mastery achievement on steam since the level cap is 70 and you cant unlock more without it. 
Anyway, moving on to elixrs! After making these guides so far, Bernard seems to always play some kind of part, so let’s go visit him now. Similar to tomes, Bernard sells you exploration elixrs for only 60 community tokens!
If you have skill points that enhance community token hoarding, this is a steal. For example, once high enough in exploration, there’s a skill to get tokens for loved gifts- so if you grow enough roses, make a bunch of bouquets and give them to everyone… you’ll have community tokens for days. Or I guess you could also be a good citizen and do bulletin board requests.

Speaking of skills, consider investing in this one later in the game! It makes it so you get 6 exp every in game hour while walking with a pet; and it adds up.
(Also bonus movement speed- who doesn’t want more of that???)

Anyway, I hope these tips were helpful to someone out there! There are more items in game that can help you boost your exploration skill, but these are probably the quickest. Have fun exploring in Sun Haven and leveling up, everyone!