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What happens at 10 hearts depends on your relationship
| Relationship status | Meter and threshold | Does ordinary neglect decay stop? |
|---|---|---|
| Regular villager | 10-heart meter | Yes, at maximum friendship. (Stardew Valley Wiki) |
| Marriage candidate, before a bouquet | Meter capped at 8 hearts; friendship can rise to 2,249 points, just below 9 hearts | Yes, at the 8-heart cap. (Stardew Valley Wiki) |
| Dating marriage candidate, after a bouquet | Meter unlocked through 10 hearts | Yes, once they reach 10 hearts, while they remain unmarried. (Stardew Valley Wiki) |
| Spouse | 14-heart meter | No. Spouse friendship can decay when you do not interact. (Stardew Valley Wiki) |
Each heart represents 250 friendship points. The visible heart count only makes sense when you account for the relationship status and its meter cap. (Stardew Valley Wiki)
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Before dating, a marriage candidate stops at 8 hearts
Marriage candidates have their final two hearts greyed out until you give them a bouquet. Before that, friendship can rise beyond eight hearts to 2,249 points—just short of nine hearts—without ordinary decay. Giving a bouquet unlocks the meter through ten hearts and signals romantic interest. (Stardew Valley Wiki)
Dating candidates stop decaying at 10 hearts
After you give a bouquet, ordinary friendship decay resumes until the candidate reaches ten hearts. At ten, that decay stops as long as the character remains an unmarried dating candidate. You do not need to keep gifting them simply to prevent ordinary neglect decay at that threshold. (Stardew Valley Wiki)
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Marriage raises the cap—and changes the rule
Marriage expands the spouse meter to 14 hearts. Unlike a dating candidate at ten hearts, a spouse can lose friendship when left without interaction. So if you see a spouse’s hearts fall, the relevant threshold is the 14-heart spouse meter, not the dating cap. (Stardew Valley Wiki)
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.If hearts appear to be dropping, check the status
- Not dating: A regular villager’s decay stops at the ten-heart maximum.
- Dating, no bouquet: A marriage candidate is capped at eight hearts; points may accrue to just below nine hearts without decay.
- Dating after a bouquet: Ordinary decay stops when the candidate reaches ten hearts, provided you are not married.
- Married: The spouse meter reaches fourteen hearts, and friendship can decay without interaction.
These are the base-game rules described by the Stardew Valley Wiki. They do not establish behavior for every platform-specific bug, mod, or future game version.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Rank #4
- You’ve inherited your grandfather’s old farm plot in Stardew Valley. Armed with hand-me-down tools and a few coins, you set out to begin your new life.
- Now with Multiplayer! Invite 1-3 players to join you in the valley! Players can work together to build a thriving farm, share resources, and build relationships with townspeople or each other.
- New Single Player Content! Including the new Winter Market Festival, more collectibles, added character cut-scenes and even hats for your horse!
Rank #2
- Create the farm of your dreams: build your farm from the ground up on 1 of 5 map layouts suited to your play style!
- mmaster your branching skills: raise animals, grow crops, start an orchard and build useful machines!
- become a part of the local community: get to know all 30+ residents of Pelican town!
- customize your farmer: there are hundreds of character customization options to choose from!
- settle down and start a family: share life on the farm with 1 of 12 characters you can date and marry, and even have children with!.explore vast, mysterious caves! Encounter dangerous monsters and valuable treasures!.spend a relaxing afternoon at one of the local fishing spots: the waters are teeming with seasonal varieties of delicious fish. Craft bait, bobbers, and crab pots to help you in your journey toward catching every fish and becoming a local Legend!.
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