How to Get Clay in Animal Crossing
Building your dream island paradise in Animal Crossing: New Horizons requires a massive collection of raw crafting components. Among these essential resources, clay stands out as a critical building block for structural items, beautiful pottery, and various fencing options. Knowing how to efficiently farm this material will prevent progression bottlenecks and keep your island development projects moving forward smoothly.
Mining Rocks with Your Shovel
The primary method for gathering clay involves striking the large grey boulders scattered around your island. Equipping a stone shovel or iron shovel allows you to hit these rocks up to eight times consecutively if you setup properly. Each successful strike has a random chance to drop stone, iron nuggets, or the precious clay you need.
To maximize your resource yield, you must mitigate the knockback effect that occurs after every strike. Digging two holes directly behind your character creates a reliable barrier that keeps you within striking distance of the boulder. Ensuring the surrounding nine squares are completely clear of weeds and items will give the dropping materials an empty space to land.
Traveling via Nook Miles Tickets
If you have exhausted all the available boulders on your home turf, purchasing a Nook Miles Ticket offers an excellent alternative. These special vouchers can be bought from the Nook Stop terminal inside the Resident Services building. Handing the ticket to Orville at the airport opens up travel to randomized mystery islands.
Every mystery island you visit contains a fresh set of untouched rocks ready for harvesting. Traveling this way allows you to bypass the standard daily resource limits imposed on your main island. This strategy proves incredibly useful during the early phases of the game when building materials are in exceptionally high demand.
Popping Floating Balloon Presents
Keep your ears open for the distinct whistling sound of the wind, which signals a floating balloon present is traveling across the sky. Utilizing your slingshot tool to drop these packages down frequently rewards you with valuable bundles of crafting items. Blue balloons in particular are highly known by the community to carry resource drops.
Opening these gifts can instantly reward you with five pieces of clay at once, saving you significant mining time. It is always wise to carry a spare slingshot in your pocket so you never miss an unexpected aerial opportunity. Just make sure the package falls onto clear land rather than into a river or a dense patch of flowers.
Utilizing Clay for DIY Crafting
Once you have gathered a substantial stockpile, you can head over to any crafting bench to begin creating advanced items. Clay serves as the foundational ingredient for essential structures like the classic brick oven and the sturdy silo. Keeping a healthy supply in your home storage ensures you are always prepared for future construction updates.