Minecraft Shovel

Minecraft Shovel

Shovel

Natural generation

Iron shovels can be found in 41.2% of village toolsmith chests in groups of 1.

Enchanted iron shovels^{[note 1]} can be found in 13.3% of End city chests in groups of 1.

Enchanted diamond shovels^{[note 1]} can be found in 13.3% of End city chests in groups of 1.

Notes

1. ↑ ^{Jump up to:a b} Enchantment probabilities are the same as a level-20 to level-39 enchantment would be on an enchantment table that had no cap at level 30, and that was able to apply treasure enchantments, and where the chance of multiple enchantments is not reduced.

Drops

Equipment

Main article: Drops § Equipped items

Zombies and Husks have a 0.67% (3.33% in Hard difficulty) chance of spawning with an iron shovel. They have an 8.5% (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III) chance of dropping that shovel if they are killed by the player. It will usually be badly damaged, and may be enchanted: 0%–25% on Normal difficulty and 3.125%–25% on Hard difficulty, varying with regional difficulty, and enchanted as if on an enchantment table at level 5–22.

Raids

Vindicators and pillagers that spawn from raids have a 4.1% chance(5.12% on hard) to drop an iron shovel which will be badly damaged and sometimes enchanted with a random enchantment.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Trading

Toolsmith villagers sell enchanted iron shovels for 5 to 7 emeralds as part of their tier 1 trades.‌^{[Legacy Console Edition only]}

Novice-level Toolsmith villagers have a 25% chance to sell stone shovels for one emerald, journeyman-level toolsmith villagers have a 25% chance to sell enchanted iron shovels for 2 emeralds, and expert-level toolsmith villagers have a 50% chance to sell enchanted diamond shovels for 5 emeralds as part of their trades.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Novice-level Toolsmith villagers have a 40% chance to sell stone shovels for one emerald, journeyman-level toolsmiths have a 40% chance to sell an enchanted iron shovel for 7-22 emeralds, and expert-level toolsmiths have a ²⁄₃ chance to sell an enchanted diamond shovel for 11-27 emeralds.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

The enchantments will be the same as the ones obtained from an enchantment table at levels 5–19.

Usage

Shovels have different amounts of uses based on the type:

• Golden: 33
• Wooden: 60
• Stone: 132
• Iron: 251
• Diamond: 1562

Digging

A shovel can be used to break some materials faster. When breaking a block, it uses 1 durability. For blocks that break instantly, it uses 0 durability.

Speed

The following table summarizes the speed at which different quality shovels perform on different block types. Values with a red background indicate that no resource will be dropped when the block is destroyed without a shovel.

Block	Breaking time[note 1]
	Hand	Wooden	Stone	Iron	Diamond	Golden
Clay	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.15	0.15	0.1
Farmland	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.15	0.15	0.1
Grass Block	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.15	0.15	0.1
Grass Path	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.15	0.15	0.1
Gravel	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.15	0.15	0.1
Mycelium	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.15	0.15	0.1
Podzol	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.1	0.1
Coarse Dirt	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.1	0.1
Dirt	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.1	0.1
Red Sand	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.1	0.1
Sand	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.1	0.1
Soul Sand	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.1	0.1
Snow Block	1	0.2	0.1	0.05	0.05	0.05
Snow	0.5	0.1	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05

1. Jump up↑ Times are for unenchanted tools in seconds. For more information, see Haste § Instant mining.

Grass paths

A shovel can be used to create a grass path by using (not digging) the shovel on a grass block. When creating a grass path, it uses 1 durability.

Campfire

A shovel can be used to extinguish campfire.‌^{[Bedrock and PlayStation 4 editions only]}

Weapon

If the player hits a mob while holding a shovel, it will be a stronger attack than if barehanded. Shovels take 2 damage when used as a weapon.

Java Edition

Shovels have an attack speed modifier of -3, meaning they take 1 second to recover. Shovels deal different damage based on the type:

Attack speed	Attack damage				Damage/Second (DPS)
1	2.5	3.5	4.5	5.5	2.5	3.5	4.5	5.5

Legacy Console and Bedrock editions

In the Legacy Console and Bedrock editions, shovels always attack instantly and do the following damage:

Attack damage
2	3	4	5

Enchantments

A shovel can receive the following enchantments:

Name	Max Level
Fortune[note 1]	III
Silk Touch[note 1]	I
Efficiency	V
Unbreaking	III
Mending[note 2]	I
Curse of Vanishing[note 2]‌[JE & LCE only]	I

1. ↑ ^{Jump up to:a b} Silk Touch and Fortune are mutually exclusive
2. ↑ ^{Jump up to:a b} Only available using enchanted books and an anvil, or by finding an enchanted shovel in an End city chest.

Crafting ingredient

In the Legacy Console and Bedrock editions, wooden shovels are used as "paddles" when crafting the boat.

Data values

Item	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID‌[BE only]
Wooden Shovel	wooden_shovel	269
Stone Shovel	stone_shovel	273
Iron Shovel	iron_shovel	256
Diamond Shovel	diamond_shovel	277
Golden Shovel	golden_shovel	284

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

Icon	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Availability				Xbox points earned	Trophy type (PS)
				Xbox	PS	Bedrock	Nintendo
	MOAR Tools	Construct one type of each tool (one pickaxe, one shovel, one axe and one hoe).		Yes	Yes	Yes	Wii U, Switch	15G	Bronze

History

Java Edition Indev
Indev 0.31		December 31st, 2009			Added iron shovels. Are non-functional in this version.
		January 11th, 2010 (1)			Shovels are now functional and can now be used to gather materials like dirt, sand and gravel 400% faster than by hand.
		January 24, 2010			A complete toolset is no longer given to the player on starting a new world. Instead there are multiple chests in the later called "Indev House" containing a stack of every available block / item including tools.
		January 28, 2010			A shovel held by the player appears more 3d like.
		January 29, 2010			Tools have tiers, in addition to iron, shovels can now be made from wood, stone and diamond.
					Added crafting recipe for iron shovels as well as the newly introduced variants.
		January 30, 2010			Shovels can now be made out of gold.
		February 1, 2010 (1)			Tools take damage when being used. Better tools last longer.
Indev		February 6, 2010			Golden shovel's texture has now been slightly changed.
Java Edition
1.3.1		12w18a			Wooden shovels can now be used as fuel in a furnace.
		12w21a			Blacksmith villagers now sell diamond shovels for 7 emeralds, and iron shovels for 4–5 emeralds.
1.8		14w02a			Tool smith villagers now sell enchanted iron shovels for 5–7 emeralds. The previous trades are unavailable, making diamond shovels non-renewable.
1.9		15w31a			A shovel can be used on a grass block to create grass path blocks.
					Enchanted iron or diamond shovels can now be found in end city chests.
		15w34a			Shovels now use the "attack strength" combat mechanic meter. The time it takes for the meter to fill up for a shovel is 0.8 seconds.
		15w34c			Shovels do more damage and take longer to recover.
		15w35a			Shovel damage reduced.
		15w41a			Wooden shovels are now used to craft boats.
		15w50a			Added sound: item.shovel.flatten.
		16w04a			Wooden shovels are no longer used to craft boats.
1.11.1		16w50a			Golden and iron shovels now smelt down into one of their respective nuggets.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, these items' numeral IDs were 269, 273, 256, 277 and 284.
1.14		18w43a			Changed the textures of all shovels.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.2.0					Added stone shovels.
0.3.0					Added wooden shovels.
0.3.2					Added iron, gold, and diamond shovels.
0.11.0		build 1			Wooden shovels are now used to craft boats.
					Iron shovels are now available in the creative inventory.
					A shovel can now be used on a grass block to create grass path blocks.
		build 11			Wooden, stone, golden, and diamond shovels are now available in the creative inventory.
		build 12			Removed all shovels from creative.
		build 13			Re-added shovels to creative mode.
0.12.1		build 1			Shovels can now be enchanted.
					Zombies now have a small chance to spawn holding an iron shovel.
0.15.0		build 1			Added husks which have a small chance to spawn holding an iron shovel.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.1			Enchanted iron and diamond shovels can now be found inside end city chests.
1.0.4		alpha 1.0.4.0			Enchanted iron shovels are now sold by toolsmith villagers for 4-5 emeralds.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			Iron and golden shovels are now smeltable.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Changed the textures of all shovels.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.1			Iron shovels can now be found in village toolsmith houses.
		beta 1.11.0.4			Vindicators and pillagers that spawn in raids can now drop iron shovels upon death.
					Trading has been changed, toolsmith villagers now have a 25% chance to sell enchanted iron shovels for 2 emeralds as part of their third tier trades.
					Stone shovels and enchanted diamond shovels can now be bought from toolsmith villagers.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1		Added shovels (all five types).
TU53	CU43	1.49	Patch 23	Patch s3	Iron and golden shovels are now smeltable.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90					Changed the textures of all shovels.

Issues

Issues relating to "Shovel" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.