Shovel

Shovel
It's heavy, but it has a good reach!
Location
My Cottage Ruins The Grave Cottage near the Junkyard Junkyard Final Dreamscene Radio Tower Bunker
Item Type	Melee Weapon
Item Types
Value	150
Max. Stack
Crafting	1x 1x 1x
Repair Cost	2x 2x
Healing	{{{heal}}}
Notes	{{{use}}}
Notes	Suffers durability loss on usage.
Duration	{{{lasts}}}
Release	[[Update:{{{release}}}|{{{release}}}]]

The Shovel is a melee weapon that does much more damage than a Board With Nails and has a significantly longer reach (much longer with its primary attack) but is slower and does less damage than an Axe.

It can be crafted from parts, which can be found as loot in the various chests and containers strewn throughout the game, and bought from merchants.

It can be used at specific spot to dig for loots and story items, more notably in Junkyard, Bunker Entrance and graves that can be found all over the Swamp. The durability cost for digging is fixed, consuming the same amount of durability regardless of upgrades.

It is the weapon the Protagonist uses to break down the barricade on the door and escape his holding room in the Doctor's house. It's already damaged when obtained, with just enough durability to break the barricade, and it's lost after the Prologue chapter is completed.

Upgrades

Upgrade	Description	Cost	Effect
Light Materials	Less stamina drain.	1x 2x	-30% Stamina Cost
Sharpened	More damage.	4x 8x	+30% Damage
Better Materials	More durability.	1x 8x	-30% Durability Loss
Sturdy Blade	Much higher durability.	1x 8x	-70% Durability Loss

Strategy

Due to the long reach of a Shovel, in a well-timed attack, it is very possible and ideal to hit a charging enemy and stop it before it deliver its attack . This can avoid the need to run towards an enemy missing its attack, and save precious time to charge up the Shovel. Especially helpful against Red Chompers.

The slow swing of a Shovel allows quick re-adjustment of attack direction during a swing. This trick allows easier hits on enemies dashing past left of the Protagonist.

With Sharpened, a Shovel can easily execute a dormant Red Chomper in three hits before it can attack. Note that one extra hit is needed to finish off the upper body.

Having both Better Materials and Sturdy Blade gives the Shovel a higher durability than the sum of its parts, making the Shovel approximately 5 times more durable than one without upgrades.

Calculating based on a Shovel's reputation value to measure durability, a Shovel with the Better Materials upgrade loses 18% durability hitting non-living targets, and 6% on hitting living targets.

Trivia

• Prior to Alpha 8.0, the Axe and Shovel had identical crafting and upgrade requirements other than the edge, so the player had a choice of primary weapon once they reached that point. Currently, the Axe now requires a workbench level that can't be reached until Chapter 2, while the Shovel has been made into a much slower weapon.
• The shovel's description used to be "A heavy weapon with a good reach".
• In older versions, during The Grave dream sequence, if the Protagonist manages to kill the Black Chomper they will wake up and find a Shovel (presumably the one found in the dream) in their inventory.

Gallery

Damage from a charged hit to a full health Elk, normal and sharp

Stamina consumption on regular and alternate attacks.