How to get a shovel in Sons of the Forest

The shovel is one of the most important pieces of equipment to obtain during the early game of Sons of the Forest. It allows you to dig into the ground and find items that are buried underneath the ground. This can lead to you finding items such as the shotgun, more GPS Locators, and other useful equipment. 

However, you don’t start off with a shovel in Sons of the Forest, so you’ll have to go out and scavenge for one on the island. Luckily, the shovel’s location is fairly easy to get to and isn’t a difficult journey unless you happen to spawn on the opposite of the map.

Below, you can see the exact location of the shovel in Sons of the Forest and all of its uses. 

Shovel location in Sons of the Forest

The shovel is located in Cave C, on the western side of the map. Before you set off on your journey, though, you will need two pieces of equipment to successfully navigate the cave and retrieve the shovel inside.

The first item is the Rebreather, which allows you to breathe underwater, and the second is the Rope Gun, which will enable you to cross gaps with a zipline. Both of these pieces of equipment are required to get the shovel unless you want to easily add it to your inventory using console commands. 

The Rebreather is located inside Cave A in Sons of the Forest. This is on the northern side of the map near the leftmost inlet. You can easily navigate Cave A to obtain the Rebreather, but you don’t want to enter any water inside the cave, as they have sharks swimming around. Instead, keep to the walls and the paths to reach the end of the cave and pick up the Rebreather. 

Second, you need the Rope Gun, which is found inside Cave B on the map. Cave B is located on the western side of the island in between all of the various rivers and lakes. It’s also situated just southwest of the cave where you can find the shovel, so you might want to pick up the Rope Gun last and then simply head toward the shovel cave. Before leaving the Rope Gun cave, make sure to pick up the Artifact Piece that’s lying inside. 

Once you have both the Rebreather and the Rope Gun, you’re ready to get the shovel. Cave C is located directly alongside the rivers that run west from the central snowy mountain, as seen in the map screenshot below: 

At the entrance of the cave, you need to break down some barriers to go inside. Once you’re in, go down the slope that leads down into some water with skeletons in it. After going down, look up to find a rope that’s going across the room with cloth hanging off it. Loot the cloth and then use your Rope Gun to go across the rope and reach the other side of the room. 

Here, take a right and go down into the water on the left side using your Rebreather. Dive straight until you see a small underwater tunnel that leads to the other side of the cave. Once you surface on the other side, get out of the water and be careful not to get attacked by the mutants that inhabit the cave. Go straight on the path after getting out of the water until you reach a ramp that leads down. 

Slide down the ramp and head to the right towards the well-lit room. Keep moving forward through the path, following the light and either running from or attacking the mutants. This part of the cave really only requires you to keep going forward, so head straight and pick up any resources you can find along the way.

Eventually, you’ll reach some water, which you can swim through. Some mutants are on the other side of the water, so watch out for them. Past the mutants is another lit room with light beams going across a wall, which has the body of a worker slumped up against a rock in it. The worker is holding the shovel, and you can loot it right off his body. Once you have the shovel, make your way back the way you came and head outside of the cave. 

During your escape, though, you’ll have to use explosives to kill a giant mutant trapped in a cave. You can use a grenade or a bomb to kill the mutant and escape the cave through the newfound path that was made. 

Using the shovel in Sons of the Forest

You can equip the shovel from your inventory and press the left mouse button to dig up the ground. However, the shovel can only work if something is found under the ground, so you can’t go digging wherever you like. 

The most common dig sites in Sons of the Forest are graves, bunkers, and hatches. You might have to dig for a while before eventually reaching what you’re searching for, especially with bunkers and hatches. You also have to make sure to completely dig up a bunker or hatch before you can grab the loot from them. Graves tend to be much quicker to dig up, but they can still contain some worthwhile items and loot. 

And that’s everything you need to know about finding a shovel and using it in Sons of the Forest.