A shovel is helpful, especially in survival games like Sons of the Forest. You can use your shovel to dig up specific spots on the map where some essential items might be hidden. Due to this reason, a shovel will give you access to a critical survival gun, the shotgun.
However, reaching a shovel’s exact location might need to be clarified, but we are here to simplify things for you. All you need is a rope gun, a rebreather, and patience. Let’s look at how we plan on acquiring the shovel.
Key Takeaways
- Shovel is an essential tool when it comes to digging. However, you can’t dig at every point in the game; there are specific areas where using a shovel is allowed.
- It can also be used to build up a trap for mutants or any other reasons, that depends on the situation.
- Finding a shovel requires having two things beforehand, a Rope Gun and a Rebreather.
- The Rope Gun can be found inside a cave towards the West of the map and on the center line. It is used to go above those areas where walking is not an option.
- The Rebreather will be hidden in the cave far up North. It is used to swim underwater for a more extended period.
- After equipping these two, go to the cave close to the center of the map, just under the mountains covered in snow.
- When you thoroughly and fully explore the cave, you will successfully find the shovel.
The path to be followed is quite lengthy. You need to explore three caves out of ten in the whole game. There is a separate cave for each item required for our objective. We will begin with the aim of reaching the location of the Rope gun.
Getting The Rope Gun
Part One
In the cave where the shovel is placed, there are many areas where there are other alternatives to walking. Therefore, you use the Rope Gun to travel above those regions. The closest cave to the center of the map is the one just to the left of the snow mountains; the rope gun is in the cave on the left of the cave in the center.
This cave entrance is near a crash site you will explore when you get close to the advised location. The access will be blocked by wooden tiles nailed to the stone wall. You can use the axe in your inventory to break the blockage and pass.
Once you are through, you will be surrounded by darkness, so take out your torch and move forward. Otherwise, you can light up a torch by using a lighter. The cave is filled with mutants and baby mutants that should be killed if they are on your path. Try not to go for kills that are away from your desired direction.
Inside the cave, your pathway is linear, so you will only explore a little. Keep your spear and axe ready, as deadly enemies can appear anytime. If you have trouble dealing with mutants, you can switch your difficulty level to Peaceful, and the enemies won’t spawn.
When you go deeper into the cave, you will find a narrow opening blocked by some monster called the Sluggy. To make a path forward, find time bombs on the dead bodies and throw them on the beast to open the narrow passage.
Part Two
Some indicators that you are on the right path include finding notes on lying dead bodies. Besides that, you might also find some bodies in groups hanging off the ceiling, which looks very scary. These hanging bodies will repeatedly come, so don’t confuse yourself that you are running in circles.
When close to your final destination, you will see hanging skeletons instead of bodies indicating a change. After that, you will come across a point where your path divides in two. Going on the left way will be the wiser option because the right entrance hides more powerful mutants behind.
When you chase the left entrance and reach the end of the cave, you will find your Rope Gun, which will be highly used later on. When you equip it by pressing E, your character will inspect the weapon and then casually hold it.
Now, all you need is an exit. A very tedious option is to go back to where you started. But that is not preferred. If you look past the point of the rope gun, you can see an unmarked exit. For that, you will use your weapon to reach the other area, fight some mutants, and get out.
Getting The Rebreather
Part One
Rebreather is a valuable item when it comes to staying alive underwater. Inside the shovel cave, some regions are only accessible through underwater passages. However, you can’t hold your breath for a long time without the rebreather. That’s why you need it.
Out of all the ten caves, you can find your rebreather in the cave far up North, as shown. Use yours GPS locator to find your way to its entrance. Like before, the cave entrance will be blocked by wooden planks nailed into the wall. Break them using your axe to enter the cave.
You will notice a lot of human bones on the ground as you enter and fight some mutants. These can be used to craft armor for yourself to stay more protected when fighting powerful enemies. Moreover, rope and duct tape will be your go-to items to prepare bone armor.
After you are through the open area where you were before, your path will divide in two, so you have to decide. The opening to the left will lead you to the rebreather, but if you take a right, you will equip another valuable item, the Stun Gun.
Part Two
You will first have to kill some mutants and baby mutants before you reach the Stun gun on one of the hanging bodies. After adding it to your inventory, head back and continue on the left opening.
You will find yourself going deeper into the cave. Another sign of going in the right direction is finding life jackets floating on the shallow water inside the cave. You will be looking at a narrow opening after the life jacket indicator location.
Crossing the narrow passage by crouching will lead you to another open region deep into the water. Just above the water, you will see the Rebreather on edge. To find a quick way out, dive in the water, and now, your Rebreather will keep you alive.
Cross the tunnel underwater, and the exit will be on its other side. We collected all the items we needed to get our shovel. Therefore, our next and last objective is to explore that cave and find the shovel.
Getting The Shovel
Part One
As already mentioned, Shovel is in the cave that is closer to the center of the map. It will be just on the West of the snowy mountains. You can find the cave entrance, where you will see three bodies inside shallow water tightened to a vertical wooden plank.
If you wish, you can collect Slingshot from one of the bodies, another valuable item. We suggest you save your game progress before going into the cave, as some powerful mutants lie there, and you might get killed.
Keep your torch on, as it’s very dark inside the cave. After walking a little, you will notice that your character can’t go any further, as a gap can kill you. To go beyond it, look at the ceiling to find a spot to use the Rope gun.
The path is very linear, so there is significantly less chance that you will get lost inside the cave. After crossing, you must dive underwater and keep descending until you find an opening to a tunnel. Keep going to reach the other side of the tunnel and come out of the water.
A group of mutants will find you, so kill them using equipment such as frag grenades, as one or two can take out the whole group. Continue moving forward, and you will see a couple of miners dead on the ground.
Part Two
A hidden passage will be beyond them; you must jump on the spikes to find it. The secret pathway is filled with water, so keep swimming until you escape. When underwater, you will again decide whether to go left or right.
Making a right will give you a flashlight attachment for your weapons, but to get that, you will have to fight a group of powerful mutants first, which is the hardest part of this journey.
After you acquire the flashlight attachment, go back underwater and take the alternative option. At the end of that passage, you will successfully find the shovel, but first, you need to clear out a wave of mutants that comes before it. The shovel will be on the body of a dead miner just sitting on the ground.
The cave was a huge one, and there was a lot to explore in it. Going back the way you just came will be very hectic and requires much time that could be better spent. Looking at a shortcut, you will find the Blob blocking an exit. You can blow it using grenades which clears a shortcut exit from this cave.
Summing It Up
This is all for a detailed guide on adding a shovel to your inventory. The journey might require much effort, but you only explore three caves and find the desired items. The shovel will be of much help later on in the game when you want to dig stuff out.
Playing Sons of the Forest with a friend is much better, and exploring new places like in this guide becomes much more fun. You can always visit VeryAliGaming to find more helpful guides. Make sure that you leave feedback for us.
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An enthusiastic writer who loves art and gaming, you can find Maaz casually spending his day either behind the keyboard or the canvas. Maaz holds a major in Electronics and has over 5 years of experience working as a freelance blog and content writer. He loves to talk about all things gaming and help other gamers through his guides. He’s an expert when it comes to Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3.
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