Gus Stardew Valley: Gift Guide

With our Gus Stardew Valley Gift guide, you’ll make friends with Pelican Town’s favorite bartender in no time!

Last updated: February 2022

Gus owns and operates the Stardrop Saloon, and you’ll see a lot of him if you’re the type who likes to go to the town’s only pub to eat and socialize with the other residents. Gus will mostly be standing behind the saloon’s bar counter, and you can interact with him by ordering food, having a conversation, or giving him gifts. While most players would probably be more focused on building heart levels with other characters, especially the romanceable ones, it’s still worth the effort to establish a friendship with Gus for unlocking events and recipes.

In order to max out his heart levels, you’ll need to regularly talk to Gus and give him gifts that he will like. In this Gus Stardew Valley gift guide, we’ve listed out the best and worst items that you can give this character to unlock friendship rewards in the game!

GUS STARDEW VALLEY: LOVED, LIKED, AND NEUTRAL ITEMS

LOVED

Gus will respond to these gifts with, “You’re giving this to… me? I’m speechless.” Raises his heart level by 80.

• Universal Loved Gifts: These are items that almost every villager will be very happy to receive. You will know the gift is “loved” when you see a heart bubble pop up after giving the item.
  • Prismatic Shard
  • Pearl
  • Rabbit’s Foot
  • Golden Pumpkin
  • Magic Rock Candy
• Diamond: This can be sourced by mining or fishing for treasure chests.
• Tropical Curry: A recipe you can learn from the Ginger Island Resort
• Fish Taco: A recipe you will get in the mail as a reward for achieving 7+ heart levels with Linus
• Escargot: A recipe you will get in the mail as a reward for achieving 5+ heart levels with Willy
• Orange: A fruit you can harvest in the summers from Orange Trees.

LIKED

Gus will respond to these gifts with, “Oh goodness, are you sure?”. Raises his heart level by 45.

• Universal Liked Gifts: Almost every villager in Pelican Town will have a favorable response to these items. Gus, however, dislikes Coleslaw which is a Universal Liked Gift.
  • All Vegetables except Hops, Tea Leaves, Wheat, and Unmilled Rice
  • All Flowers except Poppy
  • All Gems except Prismatic Shard
  • All Fruit Tree Fruits except Mango and Banana
  • All Cooked Dishes except Bread, Egg, Strange Bun, and Seafoam Pudding
  • All Artisan Goods except Oil and Void Mayonnaise
  • Maple Syrup
  • Life Elixir
• Daffodil: A flower you can forage or harvest via planting with Spring Seeds.

NEUTRAL

You will get an “Oh, that’s sweet. Thank you” response from Gus. Raises his heart level by 20.

• All Universal Neutral Gifts
  • Roe
  • Fried Egg
  • Nautilus Shell
  • Truffle
  • Tea Leaves
  • Hops
  • Sweet Gem Berry
  • Wool
  • Wheat
  • Squid Ink
  • Rainbow Shell
  • Clam
  • Duck Feather
  • Coral
  • Bread
• All Milk, Eggs (except Void Egg, and Dinosaur Egg, which is considered an Artifact), Fruit (except Salmonberry and fruits from trees)
• Winter Root
• Morel
• Ginger
• Leek
• Dandelion
• Chanterelle
• Hazelnut
• Common Mushroom
• Purple Mushroom
• Snow Yam
• Magma Cap

With this list from the Gus Stardew Valley gift guide, you’ll find it incredibly easy to max out Gus’s heart levels within the first year!

DISLIKED AND HATED ITEMS 

DISLIKED

Gus will respond with, “No, no, no…” This will decrease his heart levels by 20.

• Universal Disliked Gifts:
  • All Artifacts, Building Materials, Sprinklers, Fences, Geodes, and Geode Minerals, Tackles, Fish, Fertilizer, Bombs, Floors, Paths, and Seeds
  • Mined goods except the ones mentioned in his liked/loved/neutral list
  • Cave Carrot
  • Oil
  • Unmilled Rice
  • Wheat Flour
  • Void Egg
  • Solar Essence
  • Vinegar
  • Tea Set
  • Spring Onion
  • Oak Resin
  • Rice
  • Qi Fruit
  • Driftwood
  • Pine Tar
  • Field Snack
  • Void Essence
  • Jack-O-Lantern
• Salmonberry
• Wild Horseradish

HATED

You will receive a “This is absolute junk. I’m offended” response from Gus, and your heart level will decrease by 40 points.

• All Universal Hated Gifts:
  • All Monster Loot, Trash, Fossils, and Bait
  • Void Mayonnaise
  • Fairy Dust
  • Seafoam Pudding
  • White Algae
  • Torch
  • Snail
  • Secret Note
  • Seaweed
  • Hay
  • Iron Ore
  • Energy Tonic
  • Carp
  • Golden Coconut
  • Sea Urchin
  • Warp Totems
  • Sugar
  • Poppy
  • Oil of garlic
  • Journal Scrap
  • Radioactive Bar or Ore
  • Sap
  • Treasure Chest
  • Strange Bun
  • Explosive Ammo
  • Flute Block
  • Glass Starter
  • Copper Ore
  • Artifact Trove
  • Drum Block
  • Error Item
  • Crab Pot
  • Qi Seasoning
  • Dragon Tooth
  • Torch
• Quartz
• Holly
• Coleslaw (a notable exception to most Cooked Dishes, which Gus likes in general)

If you’ve read to this part of our Gus Stardew Valley Gift Guide, you’re now well equipped with what to NOT give Pelican Town’s resident foodie and chef if you want to keep on his good side. Raising and keeping your heart levels up will reward you with the following recipes in the mail:

• Salmon Dinner
• Cranberry Sauce

Let’s go back to Gus’s loves and likes!

CONCLUSION

No more gifting awful gifts and having awkward conversations with this comprehensive Gus Stardew Valley Gift Guide! Keep his list of likes/loves and dislikes/hates in mind, and you’ll be smooth sailing from hereon. If you want to read more gift and friendship guides for Stardew Valley, see the rest of our articles on the game. You can also visit the Official Stardew Valley site or their Steam Page.

If you love everything Stardew Valley, we’re sure you’ll also enjoy our article about Robin’s Schedule!