In Stardew Valley, raising your friendship level with the town villagers can be a rewarding experience and give you further insight into the residents and their backgrounds. It's also a requirement for dating or marriage. What's more, special events play at certain heart levels with the characters.

Increasing your friendship with Maru can be achieved by helping to complete quests anytime she posts on the ''Help Wanted'' board. However, it is faster to improve your friendship with her by gifting some of her favorite objects in the game and achieving certain levels of friendship with her will trigger some interesting cutscenes that players don't want to miss.

Updated on January 10, 2024, by Andrea Sandoval: Maru is one of the most interesting bachelorettes in Stardew Valley. She works at the clinic with Harvey, and she spends most of her free time working on inventions because she's extremely smart and creative. Getting the cutscenes with Maru is one of the most rewarding experiences in the game. We updated this article to include more information about Maru's heart events and how to trigger them.

Every Maru Heart Event

Ideal Gifts For Maru In Stardew Valley

In terms of the best gifts to advance your friendship with Maru, they can be somewhat harder to obtain than other characters. Following in the footsteps of her dad, Demetrius, her loved gifts heavily revolve around science-based objects. The easiest to obtain is Gold Bars, made from ore found at 80+ mine levels, or by growing cabbages or strawberries. If cooking is your preferred gift of choice, she enjoys Cheese Cauliflower or some Pepper Poppers.

If you don't fancy spending time in the mines or growing cabbages, there's always the option to gift her a Battery Pack obtained from Lightning Rods, but this is heavily reliant on thunderstorms, so it could be time-consuming.

Receiving "The Talk" From Demetrius

Maru's Two Heart Event

In the two heart event, you find Maru and Demetrius testing soil samples in their house. Maru exits for a moment to collect more samples, and Demetrius states that Maru is a good kid and doesn't want anything getting in the way of her future.

The dialogue that follows does not affect your relationship with Maru but does your friendship with Demetrius. Selecting the dialogue ''(Say Nothing)'' will earn you +10 friendship points with Demetrius, and then he and Maru return to work. However, selecting ''Actually, your dad was being weird'' will force him to apologize and lose you 100 friendship points with him.

Maru Has A Little Accident In The Clinic

Maru's Four Heart Event

Upon reaching four hearts with Maru, enter the Clinic when she's working. You see her complain about her job and then drop a glass when startled by your entry. Worried about Harvey's reaction, you are presented with the following dialogue options. Selecting ''Just scoop it off the floor'' will lose you 50 friendship points, and Maru is annoyed by you trying to get her to lie.

However, choosing ''Tell Harvey it was my fault'' will lose you 20 points as Harvey knows it was Maru, and he is disappointed she lied to him. The best option to select is ''Tell Harvey it was an accident,'' which earns you 50 points. Maru nervously admits the truth, but Harvey reassures her it was an accident, and thanks her for her dedication and hard work.

Maru Shows The Player The Stars

Maru's Six Heart Event

Reaching six hearts with Maru will trigger an event when entering the mountain on a sunny day, between 9 pm and 11:40 pm. Maru is looking through her telescope and wants you to look through it and see the stars. Selecting the dialogue ''A beautiful planet'' will increase her friendship by 30 points.

However, selecting ''A cold, dark abyss.' will decrease it by 30 points, as Maru is disappointed you don't see the universe the same way she does. Maru looks like she's about to tell you something but changes her mind and continues talking further about the stars. The cutscene ends with the player character happy about the beautiful night shared.

Maru Shows Off One Of Her Inventions

Maru's Eight Heart Event

In the eight heart event, enter the Carpenter's shop anytime Maru is there. She is excited about showing off a new machine and asks you to put your hand on it for a demonstration. She flips a switch, and you get an electric shock. Maru quickly applies some burn cream and asks if you're okay.

Selecting the dialogue ''It’s okay, it doesn’t even hurt'' will increase your friendship by 30 points, as Maru is relieved she hasn't hurt you further. But if they select ''You'd better be, this hurts like crazy!'' it obviously makes her feel bad, and you lose 50 points. Either way, Maru is disappointed she ruined the moment.

Maru Creates A Robot

Maru's Ten Heart Event

Entering the Carpenter's Shop between 9 am and 4 pm with a 10-heart relationship, you will find Maru wanting to show you her big project that she finished. She activates a self-aware robot. Demetrius walks in and is frightened by the robot and encourages Maru to give it its freedom when the robot requests to explore space.

Saying you're impressed with the robot will earn them 50 points, as Maru appreciates your understanding. If you select ''you should have made that robot your slave'' you will lose 50 points, unless you select the options ''just a piece of machinery'' or ''MariLDA deserves her freedom'' to cancel out the loss. If you select ''I would put her to work on the farm,'' you will lose 50 points as Maru is extremely disappointed in you.

The Last Romantic Moment With Maru

Maru's Fourteen Heart Event

When Maru is your wife, and you have a 14-heart relationship, two cutscenes will occur. Entering the Farmhouse between 6:10 am and 5 pm on any day but Sunday in any season but winter, Maru will greet you by telling you of a rare astronomical event happening tomorrow night that she wants you to watch together.

The next day, on entering the Mountains between 10 pm and 1 am, you and Maru stand near a telescope reminiscing about your relationship. After seeing a comet, Maru encourages you to make a wish and then asks you what the wish is. Selecting any of the dialogue options will not affect the relationship and is your last major cutscene with Maru and one of the most romantic moments in a video game.