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Shovels are tools used to hasten the process of breaking dirt, sand, gravel and other soil blocks, as well as to convert dirt blocks into dirt paths.

Obtaining[]

Crafting[]

Ingredients Crafting recipe Description
Any Planks or
Iron Ingot or
Gold Ingot or
Diamond +
Stick

Any stone-tier block +
Stick

Can use any variant of cobblestone
Damaged Matching Shovel


The durability of the two shovels is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.

Upgrading[]

Like other diamond tools, a diamond shovel can be upgraded to a netherite shovel, although increased durability and resistance to fire/lava in item form are the only benefits. The shovel's performance as a digging tool or a weapon is unchanged by the upgrade.

Netherite Upgrade +
Diamond Shovel +
Netherite Ingot

Upgrade Gear

Repairing[]

Grinding[]

Ingredients Grinding recipe Description
2x Damaged Wooden Shovel or
2x Damaged Stone Shovel or
2x Damaged Iron Shovel or
2x Damaged Golden Shovel or
2x Damaged Diamond Shovel or
2x Damaged Netherite Shovel
The durability of the two shovels is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.

Unit repair[]

Repair & NameDamaged Wooden Shovel


Repair & NameDamaged Stone Shovel


Repair & NameDamaged Iron Shovel


Repair & NameDamaged Golden Shovel


Repair & NameDamaged Diamond Shovel


Repair & NameDamaged Netherite Shovel


A shovel can be repaired in an anvil by adding units of the tiers' repair material, with each repair material restoring 25% the shovel's maximum durability, rounded down. It also keeps the shovel's enchantments.

Chest loot[]

On ancient_city/city_center/city_center_2, they generate a furnace with a wooden shovel inside of it.

Item Structure Container Quantity Chance
Java Edition
Iron Shovel Village Toolsmith's chest 1 41.2%
Enchanted Iron Shovel[A] End city Chest 1 13.3%
Enchanted Golden Shovel[B] Ruined portal Chest 1 20.5%
Diamond Shovel Bastion remnant Generic chest 1 6.7%
Enchanted Diamond Shovel[A] End city Chest 1 13.3%
Damaged Enchanted Diamond Shovel[B][C] Bastion remnant Hoglin stable chest 1 17%
Bedrock Edition
Iron Shovel Village Toolsmith's chest 1 41.2%
Enchanted Iron Shovel[A] End city Chest 1 13.3%
Enchanted Golden Shovel[B] Ruined portal Chest 1 20.5%
Diamond Shovel Bastion remnant Generic chest 1 6.7%
Enchanted Diamond Shovel[A] End city Chest 1 13.3%
Damaged Enchanted Diamond Shovel[B][C] Bastion remnant Hoglin stable chest 1 17%
  1. a b c d 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 (except Soul Speed, and Swift Sneak), and where the chance of multiple enchantments is not reduced.
  2. a b c d All enchantments are equally probable, including treasure enchantments (except Soul Speed, and Swift Sneak), and any level of the enchantment is equally probable.
  3. a b The item has between 15% and 80% of its total durability.

Mob loot[]

Equipment[]

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. The dropped shovel is usually 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 enchanting table at level 5–22.

Raids[]

Vindicators and pillagers that spawn from raids have a 4.1% chance(5.12% on hard) to drop a badly-damaged iron shovel that is sometimes enchanted with a random enchantment.‌[Bedrock Edition only]

Trading[]

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 tool smiths have a 40% chance to sell an enchanted iron shovel for 7-22 emeralds, and expert-level tool smiths have a 23 chance to sell an enchanted diamond shovel for 11-27 emeralds.‌[Java Edition only]

The enchantments are the same as the ones obtained from an enchanting table at levels 5–19.

Villager gifts[]

in Java Edition, toolsmith villagers occasionally throw stone shovels at players with the Hero of the Village effect.

Usage[]

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.

Durability[]

Each different tier of shovel has a different durability:

Material Durability
Wood 59
Stone 131
Iron 250
Diamond 1561
Golden 32
Netherite 2031

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 is dropped when the block is destroyed without a shovel.

Block Breaking time[A]
Default Wooden Stone Iron Diamond Netherite Golden
Clay 0.9 0.45 0.25 0.15 0.15 0.1 0.1
Coarse Dirt 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Concrete Powder 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Dirt 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Dirt Path 1 0.5 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.15 0.1
Farmland 0.9 0.45 0.25 0.15 0.15 0.1 0.1
Grass Block 0.9 0.45 0.25 0.15 0.15 0.1 0.1
Gravel 0.9 0.45 0.25 0.15 0.15 0.1 0.1
Mud 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Muddy Mangrove Roots 1.05 0.55 0.3 0.2 0.15 0.15 0.1
Mycelium 0.9 0.45 0.25 0.15 0.15 0.1 0.1
Podzol 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Red Sand 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Rooted Dirt 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Sand 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Snow 0.5 0.1 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
Snow Block 1 0.15 0.1 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
Soul Sand 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Soul Soil 0.75 0.4 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.1
Suspicious Gravel 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.05 0.05 0.05
Suspicious Sand 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.05 0.05 0.05
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Dirt paths[]

A shovel can be used to create a dirt path by using (not digging) the shovel on any one of the following blocks, losing one durability point:

Campfire[]

A shovel can be used to extinguish a campfire.

Weapon[]

Hitting a mob while holding a shovel is a stronger attack than 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:

Shovel type Attack damage Attack speed Damage per
second (DPS)
Wooden Shovel
Golden Shovel
2.5♥ × 1.25 1 2.5
Stone Shovel 3.5♥ × 1.75 3.5
Iron Shovel 4.5♥ × 2.25 4.5
Diamond Shovel 5.5♥ × 2.75 5.5
Netherite Shovel 6.5♥ × 3.25 1.6 10.4

Bedrock Edition[]

In Bedrock Edition, shovels always attack instantly and do the following damage:

Attack damage
2♥ 3♥♥ 4♥♥ 5♥♥♥ 6♥♥♥

Enchantments[]

A shovel can receive, or be found in an End City with the following enchantments:

Name Max Level Method
Fortune[note 1] III
Silk Touch[note 1] I
Efficiency V
Unbreaking III
Mending I
Curse of Vanishing I
  1. a b Silk Touch and Fortune are mutually exclusive

Fuel[]

Wooden shovels can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1 item per shovel.

Smelting ingredient[]

Name Ingredients Smelting recipe
Iron Nugget or
Gold Nugget
Iron Shovel or
Golden Shovel +
Any fuel


0.1

Piglins[]

Piglins are attracted to golden shovels and run toward any golden shovels on the ground, and inspect it for 6 to 8 seconds before putting it in their inventory.

Sounds[]

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Shovel flattensBlocksWhen a shovel creates a dirt pathitem.shovel.flattensubtitles.item.shovel.flatten1.01.016
Item breaksPlayersWhen a shovel's durability is exhaustedentity.item.breaksubtitles.entity.item.break0.80.8-1.216

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksWhen a shovel creates a dirt path [sound 1]use.grass1.00.8
PlayersWhen a shovel's durability is exhaustedrandom.break1.00.9

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierFormTranslation key
Wooden Shovelwooden_shovelItemitem.minecraft.wooden_shovel
Stone Shovelstone_shovelItemitem.minecraft.stone_shovel
Iron Shoveliron_shovelItemitem.minecraft.iron_shovel
Diamond Shoveldiamond_shovelItemitem.minecraft.diamond_shovel
Golden Shovelgolden_shovelItemitem.minecraft.golden_shovel
Netherite Shovelnetherite_shovelItemitem.minecraft.netherite_shovel

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID FormTranslation key
Wooden Shovelwooden_shovel309Itemitem.wooden_shovel.name
Stone Shovelstone_shovel313Itemitem.stone_shovel.name
Iron Shoveliron_shovel296Itemitem.iron_shovel.name
Diamond Shoveldiamond_shovel317Itemitem.diamond_shovel.name
Golden Shovelgolden_shovel323Itemitem.golden_shovel.name
Netherite Shovelnetherite_shovel605Itemitem.netherite_shovel.name

Achievements[]

Icon Achievement In-game description Actual requirements (if different) Gamerscore earned Trophy type (PS4)
PS4 Other
MOAR ToolsConstruct one type of each tool.Construct one pickaxe, one shovel, one axe, and one hoe with the same material.15GBronze
Oooh, shiny!Distract a Piglin using goldGive a piglin a gold item while it is aggressive toward the player.30GSilver

Advancements[]

Icon Advancement In-game description Parent Actual requirements (if different) Resource location
Advancement-plain-rawOh Shiny
Distract Piglins with gold NetherWhile aggravated, give a piglin one of these 25 gold-related items in the #piglin_loved item tag: Other gold-related items do not distract the piglin and do not trigger this advancement.nether/distract_piglin

Video[]

History[]

This article is missing information about there are so many missing blocks that need shovel to break. 
Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.


Java Edition Indev
0.3120091231-2Iron Shovel JE1 Added iron shovels which are located in the player's inventory.
Shovels cannot be crafted yet and are not functional in this version.
20100110Shovels are now functional and can now be used to gather materials like dirt, sand and gravel 400% faster than by hand.
20100124A complete tool set 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 most accessible blocks/items including tools.
20100128Wooden Shovel JE1 BE1 Stone Shovel JE1 BE1 Diamond Shovel JE1 BE1 Tools now have tiers. Shovels made from wood, stone, and diamond have been added.
Iron Shovel JE2 BE1 The texture of iron shovels has been changed.
A shovel held by the player is now rendered to appear more 3D.
They cannot be crafted yet, but have been added to the item chest in the Indev house.
20100129Wood, stone, iron, and diamond shovels can now be crafted.
20100130Golden Shovel JE1 Shovels can now be made out of gold.
20100201-1Tools, including shovels, now take damage when being used.
Better tools, including shovels, now last longer.
20100206Golden Shovel JE2 BE1 The texture of golden shovels has been changed.
Java Edition Alpha
1.0.5_01Shovels are now used to get snowballs out of snow layers.
Java Edition Beta
April 9, 2011Iron Shovel (pre-release) Alternate iron shovel texture was shown in Mojang test video.
Java Edition
1.2.4releaseSpruce planks, birch planks, and jungle planks can now be used to craft wooden shovels.
1.3.112w18aWooden shovels can now be used as fuel in a furnace.
12w21aBlacksmith villagers now sell diamond shovels for 7 emeralds, and iron shovels for 4–5 emeralds.
1.6.113w21aInstead of replacing the barehanded damage (1♥), shovels now add their damage onto the barehanded damage, which results in all shovels doing 1♥ more damage than before.
1.7.21.7.1Acacia planks and dark oak planks can now be used to craft wooden shovels.
1.814w02aTool smith villagers now sell enchanted iron shovels for 5–7 emeralds. The previous trades are now unavailable, making diamond shovels non-renewable.
1.915w31aA shovel can now be used on a grass block to create grass path blocks.
Enchanted iron or diamond shovels can now be found in end city chests.
15w34aShovels 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.
15w34cShovels now do more damage and take longer to recover.
15w35aThe damage of shovels has been reduced.
15w41aWooden shovels are now used to craft boats.
15w50aThe sound item.shovel.flatten has been added to shovels.
16w04aWooden shovels are no longer used to craft boats.
1.11.116w50aGolden and iron shovels now smelt down into one of their respective nuggets.
1.1317w47aPrior to The Flattening, these items' numeral IDs were 269, 273, 256, 277 and 284.
1.1418w43aWooden Shovel JE2 BE2 Stone Shovel JE2 BE2 Iron Shovel JE3 BE2 Golden Shovel JE3 BE2 Diamond Shovel JE2 BE2 The textures of all shovels have been changed.
18w50aIron shovels can now be found in chests in village toolsmith houses.
19w11aToolsmith villagers now sell stone shovels and enchanted diamond shovels, making diamond shovels renewable again.
19w13aToolsmith villagers now give stone shovels to players under the Hero of the Village effect.
1.1519w37aShovels can now be used to extinguish campfires.
1.1620w06aNetherite Shovel JE1 Added netherite shovels.
Netherite shovels are obtained by combining one diamond shovel and one netherite ingot in a crafting table.
Crimson planks and warped planks can now be used to craft wooden shovels.
20w09aDiamond Shovel JE3 BE3 The texture of diamond shovels has been changed.
Shovels can now break soul soil quickly.
20w10aNetherite Shovel JE2 BE1 The texture of netherite shovels has been changed.
Netherite shovels can no longer be crafted.
Netherite shovels are now obtained by combining one diamond shovel and one netherite ingot in a smithing table.
20w15aStone shovels can now be crafted using blackstone.
20w16aNetherite shovels now generate randomly enchanted in bastion remnants chests.
Golden shovels now generate randomly enchanted in ruined portal chests.
20w17aDiamonds shovels now generate in place of netherite shovels in bastion remnant chests.
1.16.220w30aIncreases the chance of finding randomly enchanted diamond shovels in bastion remnant chests.
Unenchanted, undamaged diamond shovels can also be found in bastion remnant chests.
1.1721w08aStone shovels can now be crafted using cobbled deepslate.
1.1922w11aMangrove planks can now be used to craft wooden shovels.
22w13aWooden shovels may now be found in ancient city furnaces.
1.20
(Experimental)
23w04aUpgrading diamond shovels to netherite shovels now requires the netherite upgrade smithing template.
1.2023w14aShovel now breaks suspicious sand and suspicious gravel quickly.
Upcoming Java Edition
Combat Tests1.14.3 - Combat TestThe attack speed for all shovels has been increased to 2.
The damage for all shovels has been decreased by 1♥.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.2.0Stone Shovel JE1 BE1 Added stone shovels.
v0.3.0Wooden Shovel JE1 BE1 Added wooden shovels.
Survival players no longer start out with an infinite durability stone shovel in the inventory.
v0.3.2Iron Shovel JE2 BE1 Golden Shovel JE2 BE1 Diamond Shovel JE1 BE1 Added iron, gold, and diamond shovels.
v0.4.0Removed stone shovels from the creative inventory.
v0.11.0build 1Wooden 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 11Wooden, stone, golden, and diamond shovels are now available in the creative inventory.
build 12All shovels have been removed from creative.
build 13Shovel have been re-added to creative mode.
v0.12.1build 1Shovels can now be enchanted.
Zombies now have a small chance to spawn holding an iron shovel.
v0.15.0build 1Added husks, which have a small chance to spawn holding an iron shovel.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Enchanted iron and diamond shovels can now be found inside end city chests.
1.0.4alpha 1.0.4.0Enchanted iron shovels are now sold by toolsmith villagers for 4-5 emeralds.
1.1.0alpha 1.1.0.0Iron and golden shovels are now smeltable.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3Wooden Shovel JE2 BE2 Stone Shovel JE2 BE2 Iron Shovel JE3 BE2 Golden Shovel JE3 BE2 Diamond Shovel JE2 BE2 The textures of all shovels have been changed.
1.11.0beta 1.11.0.1Iron shovels can now be found in village toolsmith houses.
beta 1.11.0.4Vindicators 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.
1.16.0beta 1.16.0.51Netherite Shovel JE2 BE1 Added netherite shovels.
Netherite shovels are obtained by combining one diamond shovel and one netherite ingot in a crafting table.
Diamond Shovel JE3 BE3 The texture of diamond shovels has been changed.
beta 1.16.0.57Netherite shovels can no longer be crafted.
Netherite shovels are now obtained by combining one diamond shovel and one netherite ingot in a smithing table.
Stone shovels can now be crafted using blackstone.
Netherite shovels now generate randomly enchanted in bastion remnants chests.
Golden shovels now generate randomly enchanted in ruined portal chests.
beta 1.16.0.63Diamonds shovels now generate in place of netherite shovels in bastion remnant chests.
1.20.10beta 1.20.10.20The wooden shovel in the crafting recipe has been removed for all boat types except the bamboo raft.
beta 1.20.10.21The bamboo raft recipe no longer needs a wooden shovel.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1CU1 1.0 Patch 11.0.1Wooden Shovel JE1 BE1 Stone Shovel JE1 BE1 Iron Shovel JE2 BE1 Golden Shovel JE2 BE1 Diamond Shovel JE1 BE1 Added shovels (all five types).
TU53CU43 1.49 Patch 231.0.3Iron and golden shovels are now smeltable.
1.90 Wooden Shovel JE2 BE2 Stone Shovel JE2 BE2 Iron Shovel JE3 BE2 Golden Shovel JE3 BE2 Diamond Shovel JE2 BE2 The textures of all shovels have been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0Wooden Shovel JE1 BE1 Stone Shovel JE1 BE1 Iron Shovel JE2 BE1 Golden Shovel JE2 BE1 Diamond Shovel JE1 BE1 Added shovels.

Issues[]

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

Gallery[]

Enchanted shovels[]

References[]


External Links[]

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