How to Get a Shovel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
If you’ve just spent your first few days in the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you’d begin to wonder when you’ll ever get a shovel. The reason isn’t far-fetched; just about anything you need for survival and creativity in the game needs a shovel to be made possible.
And the shocker is, you don’t get handed a shovel while setting out. You’ll have to create a makeshift yourself, after which you’ll be able to upgrade to a stronger shovel in the future. But don’t fret if you don’t know how to go about all this. The guide below will help you get a shovel easily.
What Are Shovels Used For?
In the preceding installation of Animal Crossing, shovels were very important for shaping the world around you, and the same can be said for New Horizons, as you’ll need a shovel for just about everything that entails creativity.
A shovel is one of the five core tools in New Horizons, and you can use it to do everything from uprooting trees to digging fossils, planting food, and breaking rocks for potential valuables.
Breaking rocks is particularly arduous as the large ones make you bounce back a few steps when you hit them. This is where a shovel comes in handy, as you can use it to dig two holes around the rock to prevent your character from bouncing back.
How to Get a Shovel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
As suggested earlier, you can only get your first shovel in New Horizons by crafting it. And there is only one to go about this, which starts by donating five fish and bugs to Tom Nook. And what you get in return is a spot to set up for the museum.
Once you’ve completed the above, you’ll receive a recipe from Blathers for making a shovel. This recipe will allow you to create a flimsy shovel, and you can upgrade it later as you progress in the game.
You’ll need five hardwoods to make a flimsy shovel.
How to Upgrade Your Shovel in Animal Crossing
Before you go bouncing off the walls thinking you’ve gotten a shovel in the meantime, it’s worth noting that there’s only so much the flimsy shovel can do as it’s fragile and will break after 40 times of usage.
Given that, you need to upgrade from a Flimsy Shovel to a Shovel. To get the recipe for crafting a shovel, go to the Nook Stop Kiosk at Resident Services and shop for a Pretty-Good Tools pack for 3,000 Nook Miles. Afterward, you’ll be given all the DIY recipes for upgrading to a shovel.
Iron nuggets and a flimsy shovel are two of the materials needed to craft a shovel, and they can last 100 times of usage.
How to Buy a Shovel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Thankfully, you can buy a shovel in New Horizons, thereby saving you all the stress of crafting one yourself. You can get one in the Nook’s Cranny shop, but they’ll only sell a flimsy shovel to you until you upgrade the shop enough to sell more durable items.
Final Notes
Lastly, there’s also the possibility of getting a golden shovel in New Horizons, which is a way more durable item and quite difficult to claim. To get the golden shovel, you’ll need to render help to Gulliver the seagull up to 30 times. Good luck finding the NPC who only appears on your island’s shoreline at random times.
If you found this article handy, you may also want to know how to get iron nuggets in Animal Crossing. Enjoy!
