Slime Rancher: Complete Guide

A complete guide to the original Slime Rancher: your first days on the ranch, how slimes, plorts and the market work, largos and the Tarr, ranch expansions and upgrades, the zones in order, Slime Science, the Ogden, Mochi and Viktor expansions, and money-making strategies.

Researched September 2026 — current as of version 1.4.4 (December 2021), the final major patch. The game is complete; Monomi Park's ongoing work is Slime Rancher 2. Check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Vac, feed, collect, sell. Slimes eat food and produce plorts. Sell plorts at the Plort Market on the ranch for Newbucks. That's the whole economy.
• Start with Pink Slimes. They eat anything, are harmless, and fill your first corrals.
• Put different slimes in separate corrals at first. Mixing only makes sense once you understand largos and the Tarr risk.
• Never let a largo eat a third plort type. A largo that eats a plort from a slime type it isn't made from becomes a Tarr, a black-and-rainbow slime that eats everything, including other slimes.
• Water kills Tarr. Keep water in your vacpack whenever you're working with largos.
• Plort prices change daily. Selling a lot of one plort drops its price the next day. Spread sales across types.
• Upgrade your vacpack early. Health, energy and tank capacity upgrades at the Ranch House make exploring much safer.
• Build a Garden and a Coop. Growing your own food means you're not stuck foraging every day.
• Feed Gordo slimes. These giant slimes burst when fed enough and drop rewards, often including Slime Keys.
• Watch the day/night cycle. Some slimes (like Phosphor) are nocturnal, and the Tarr and other dangers show up more at night.

The Plort Economy

• Each slime type produces its own plort with its own base value.
• Prices fluctuate daily and saturate: flooding the market with one plort lowers its price for the following days.
• The Plort Market screen shows today's prices. Check it before selling a big stack.
• Silos store plorts so you can sell when prices are good.
• Plort Collectors (a corral upgrade) automatically pick up plorts.

Slime Types

Slime | Diet | Notes

Pink | Anything | Starter slime, harmless

Tabby | Meat | Steals food; mostly harmless

Rock | Veggies | Spiky, can hurt you when rolling

Phosphor | Fruit | Glows, flies, dies in sunlight unless kept in a corral with a Solar Shield

Rad | Veggies | Radiation aura hurts you over time

Boom | Meat | Explodes periodically

Honey | Fruit | Sticky; valuable plorts

Hunter | Meat | Can turn invisible; aggressive when hungry

Crystal | Veggies | Spawns crystal spikes near them

Quantum | Fruit | Teleports and makes ghost copies

Dervish | Veggies | Creates whirlwinds

Tangle | Meat | Grabs things with vines

Mosaic | Veggies | Dazzling shimmer

Saber | Meat | Feral, dangerous, very valuable plorts

Puddle | Water only | Must be kept in a Pond

Fire | Ash only | Must be kept on an Incinerator-style setup (ash trough)

Gold | Gilded Ginger only | Rare; drops multiple gold plorts when it eats

Lucky | Meat | Drops Newbucks instead of plorts

Quicksilver | Special | Found in Mochi's Nimble Valley race; not ranchable

Some slimes have a favourite food (the Slimepedia lists it). Feeding a slime its favourite gives two plorts instead of one, which is a big income boost.

Largos and the Tarr

• Largo: when a slime eats a plort of another type, it becomes a larger hybrid. A largo eats both parent diets and produces both plort types at once. That's doubling your income per feeding.
• Tarr: if a largo eats a plort of a third type, it turns into a Tarr. Tarr multiply and eat everything.
• Safe largo rules:
• Keep only one largo combination per corral.
• Use Plort Collectors so loose plorts don't sit on the corral floor.
• Keep your corrals away from other slimes' plorts.
• Keep water handy.
• Popular early largos: Pink combos (Pink-Rock, Pink-Tabby, Pink-Phosphor) are easy to feed. Later, combinations with Honey, Hunter and Quantum are profitable. Mosaic and Saber largos are high-end money makers but need careful management.

Ranch Buildings (Plots)

Plot | What it does | Upgrades

Corral | Holds slimes | High Walls, Music Box, Solar Shield, Plort Collector, Air Net, Auto-Feeder

Garden | Grows fruit and veggies | Soil upgrades, sprinkler, scareslime, deluxe garden

Coop | Raises chickens (hens and chickadoos) | Walls, feeder, vitamizer, deluxe coop

Silo | Stores items | Extra storage slots

Pond | Holds Puddle Slimes | n/a

Incinerator | Burns items; makes ash for Fire Slimes | Ash trough

High Walls stop jumpy slimes (like Tabby and Boom) from escaping. Music Box keeps slimes calm. Air Net stops flying slimes such as Phosphor from escaping.

Ranch Expansions

Buy expansions from the Ranch House for more plots and new areas:

Expansion | What's there

The Lab | Slime Science: extractors, gadgets, refinery

The Overgrowth | Extra garden and corral space in a lush area

The Grotto | Cave with plots; good for Phosphor (no sun)

The Docks | Plots for water-based setups

Ogden's Retreat, Mochi's Manor, Viktor's Workshop | Unlocked through their owners' stories (see below)

Vacpack Upgrades

Buy these at the Ranch House:

• Heart Module upgrades for more health.
• Power Core upgrades for more energy.
• Tank Booster upgrades for larger item stacks.
• Extra Tank for another vacpack slot.
• Jetpack and Jetpack Drive for vertical movement and reaching many secrets.
• Air Drive for sprint and jetpack energy efficiency.
• Liquid Slot so water doesn't use an item slot.

The Jetpack is the single most important early upgrade for exploration.

Zones in Order

Zone | How to reach | Key slimes and resources

The Ranch | Start | Pink, starter food

Dry Reef | From the ranch | Pink, Rock, Phosphor, Tabby

Indigo Quarry | Through the Dry Reef | Rock, Rad and more

Moss Blanket | Through the Dry Reef | Honey, Hunter, Phosphor

Ancient Ruins | Gated; progress through keys and slime gates in earlier zones | Quantum

Glass Desert | Through the Ruins transition | Dervish, Tangle, Mosaic, Fire

The Wilds (Ogden) | Unlocked through Ogden's story | Saber, Kookadoba fruit

Nimble Valley (Mochi) | Unlocked through Mochi's story | Quicksilver race

The Slimeulations (Viktor) | Unlocked through Viktor's story | Glitch slime puzzles

The table lists the headline slimes only; most zones also host commoner types, and the in-game Slimepedia records where each slime lives once you've found it.

Tip: Gordo Slimes blocking paths drop keys and rewards when fed. Feed them the food their type likes.

Slime Science

The Lab unlocks:

• Extractors (drills, pumps, apiaries) that collect resources automatically.
• Refinery storage for crafting materials.
• Gadgets like teleporters, warp depots, lamps and decorative items.
• Drones that automate feeding, plort collection and garden tasks.
• Treasure Crackers (MK I to MK III) to open Treasure Pods scattered around the world.

Fill the refinery with extractor output and treasure-pod materials to unlock the most useful gadgets, especially teleporters home from far zones.

Characters and Their Stories

• Ogden Ortiz runs Ogden's Retreat and introduces Kookadoba fruit and the Wilds, a dangerous zone where Saber slimes roam.
• Mochi Miles leads you to Nimble Valley and the Quicksilver slime race.
• Viktor Humphries asks for help with the Slimeulations, a digital zone with Glitch slimes.
• Casey and Thora send you letters; completing ranch progress moves their story along.
• 7Zee Rewards: earning Newbucks (selling plorts) raises your 7Zee Club rank, which unlocks bonuses and cosmetics.

Game Modes

Mode | Notes

Adventure | The main mode, with story and full progression

Casual | A relaxed mode that removes most of the danger (such as Tarr) so you can focus on ranching

Rush | A time-limited mode where you try to earn as much as possible

Seasonal Events

• Wiggly Wonderland (mid to late December) brings the Twinkle Slime and chimes for the Chime Changer. Monomi Park's last announced calendar update covered the 2021 dates; the event calendar was updated in patch 1.4.4.
• Party Gordo appears on scheduled days and rewards ornaments and decorations.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Mixing slimes without understanding largos, which leads to a Tarr outbreak.
• Leaving loose plorts in corrals with largos.
• Selling everything at once, which crashes prices.
• Not buying the Jetpack early.
• Letting Phosphor slimes sit in sunlight without a Solar Shield.
• Ignoring gardens, which leaves you hand-feeding slimes every day.

Advanced Tips

• Favourite foods double output. Grow each corral's favourite food in a garden next to it.
• Auto-Feeders plus Plort Collectors make corrals fully passive.
• Drones automate the boring loop once you have enough slots.
• Diversify plorts so you always have something high-value to sell.
• Teleporters save huge travel time to far zones.
• Save Gold plorts for high-price days; they're very valuable.

FAQ

Is Slime Rancher still updated? No major updates since version 1.4.4 in December 2021. Monomi Park moved on to Slime Rancher 2, which entered Early Access in September 2022 and fully released on September 23, 2025.

How do I get rid of Tarr? Spray them with fresh water from your vacpack, which dissolves them. Contain outbreaks fast, because Tarr turn nearby slimes into more Tarr.

What's the best slime for money? It varies with daily prices, but late-game largos made from valuable slimes (Saber, Mosaic, Quantum, Honey, Hunter) and Gold plorts are big earners.

How do I get Slime Keys? Mostly by popping Gordo slimes. Keys unlock gated areas.

How do I reach the Ancient Ruins? Keep popping Gordos and opening Slime Key gates as you explore the Dry Reef, Indigo Quarry and Moss Blanket. The route to the Ruins opens as you progress through those zones. The in-game map shows locked gates you haven't opened yet.

Is there multiplayer? No, Slime Rancher is single-player only.

What platforms is it on? PC and Xbox One since the August 2017 full release, PS4 (August 2018), Nintendo Switch (August 2021), and Android/iOS since May 26, 2026 (per Wikipedia). The Steam version is unchanged since 1.4.4.

Sources

• Steam store page, Slime Rancher
• Steam news: patch 1.4.4 (December 2021), Wiggly Wonderland events, Slime Rancher 2 Early Access
• Wikipedia, Slime Rancher