Shovel

Shovel
Rarity tier	Common
Mining efficiency	2; 4; 5; 6; 8; 9; 12;
Attack damage	Java Edition: 2.5HP × 1.25; 3.5HP × 1.75; 4.5HP × 2.25; 5.5HP × 2.75; 6.5HP × 3.25; Bedrock Edition: 2HP; 3HP; 4HP; 5HP; 6HP;
Attack speed‌[JE only]	1 (1 second)
Attack reach	3 (3 blocks)
Durability	Java Edition: 32; 59; 131; 190; 250; 1561; 2031; Bedrock Edition: 33; 60; 132; 191; 251; 1562; 2032;
Enchantability	5; 10; 13; 14; 15; 22;
Renewable	Yes; No
Stackable	No

A shovel is a tiered tool that can quickly break sand, gravel, and dirt-related blocks. Shovels also have a unique interaction with dirt-related blocks, and can turn them into dirt paths.

Variants

There are seven shovel variants:

Obtaining

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Any Planks or Gold Ingot or Any stone-tier block or Copper Ingot or Iron Ingot or Diamond + Stick

Smithing

Ingredients	Smithing recipe
Netherite Upgrade + Diamond Shovel + Netherite Ingot

Generated loot

In ancient_city/city_center/city_center_2, there exists a furnace with a wooden shovel inside.

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Enchanted Golden Shovel^[A]	Ruined Portal	Chest	1	20.5% { "item": "Enchanted Golden Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.20469270240551518, "structure": "Ruined Portal", "container": "Chest" }
Iron Shovel	Village	Toolsmith's chest	1	41.2% { "item": "Iron Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.4118208436710489, "structure": "Village", "container": "Toolsmith's chest" }
Enchanted Iron Shovel^[B]	End City	Chest	1	13.1% { "item": "Enchanted Iron Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.13130776213833073, "structure": "End City", "container": "Chest" }
Diamond Shovel	Bastion Remnant	Generic chest	1	6.7% { "item": "Diamond Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.0674157303370787, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Generic chest" }
Enchanted Diamond Shovel^[B]	End City	Chest	1	13.1% { "item": "Enchanted Diamond Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.13130776213833073, "structure": "End City", "container": "Chest" }
Damaged Enchanted Diamond Shovel^[A]^[C]	Bastion Remnant	Hoglin stable chest	1	15% { "item": "Damaged Enchanted Diamond Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.15000000000000002, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Hoglin stable chest" }
Java Edition 1.21.11
Enchanted Iron Shovel^[B]	End City	Chest	1	12.7% { "item": "Enchanted Iron Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.12714065479531, "structure": "End City", "container": "Chest" }
Enchanted Diamond Shovel^[B]	End City	Chest	1	12.7% { "item": "Enchanted Diamond Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.12714065479531, "structure": "End City", "container": "Chest" }
Bedrock Edition
Enchanted Golden Shovel^[A]	Ruined Portal	Chest	1	20.5% { "item": "Enchanted Golden Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.20469270240551518, "structure": "Ruined Portal", "container": "Chest" }
Iron Shovel	Village	Toolsmith's chest	1	41.2% { "item": "Iron Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.4118208436710489, "structure": "Village", "container": "Toolsmith's chest" }
Enchanted Iron Shovel^[B]	End City	Chest	1	13.1% { "item": "Enchanted Iron Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.13130776213833073, "structure": "End City", "container": "Chest" }
Diamond Shovel	Bastion Remnant	Generic chest	1	6.7% { "item": "Diamond Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.0674157303370787, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Generic chest" }
Enchanted Diamond Shovel^[B]	End City	Chest	1	13.1% { "item": "Enchanted Diamond Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.13130776213833073, "structure": "End City", "container": "Chest" }
Damaged Enchanted Diamond Shovel^[A]^[C]	Bastion Remnant	Hoglin stable chest	1	17% { "item": "Damaged Enchanted Diamond Shovel", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.17045454545454541, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Hoglin stable chest" }

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d All enchantments are equally probable, including treasure enchantments (except Soul Speed, Swift Sneak, and Wind Burst), and any level of the enchantment is equally probable.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f 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, Swift Sneak, and Wind Burst), and where the chance of multiple enchantments is not reduced.
↑ ^a ^b The item has between 15% and 80% of its total durability.

Usage

Statistics

Java Edition

In Java Edition, shovels have an attack speed of 1 (1 second), and have the following statistics:

Unenchanted
Type	Mining efficiency	Attack damage	Attack speed	DPS	Attack reach	Durability	Lifetime damage inflicted^{[note 1]}	Enchantability
	2	2.5HP × 1.25	1 (1 second)	2.5	3 (3 blocks)	59	73.75HP × 36.875	15
(critical)	2	3.75HP × 1.875		3.75		59	110.875HP × 55.4375	15
	12	2.5HP × 1.25		2.5		32	40HP × 20	22
(critical)	12	3.75HP × 1.875		3.75		32	60HP × 30	22
	4	3.5HP × 1.75		3.5		131	229.25HP × 114.625	5
(critical)	4	5.25HP × 2.625		5.25		131	343.875HP × 171.9375	5
	5	3.5HP × 1.75		3.5		190	332.5HP × 166.25	13
(critical)	5	5.25HP × 2.625		5.25		190	498.75HP × 249.375	13
	6	4.5HP × 2.25		4.5		250	562.5HP × 281.25	14
(critical)	6	6.75HP × 3.375		6.75		250	843.75HP × 421.875	14
	8	5.5HP × 2.75		5.5		1561	4292.75HP × 2146.375	10
(critical)	8	8.25HP × 4.125		8.25		1561	6439.125HP × 3219.5625	10
	9	6.5HP × 3.25		6.5		2031	6600.75HP × 3300.375	15
(critical)	9	9.75HP × 4.875		9.75		2031	9901.125HP × 4950.5625	15

Enchanted
Type	Base mining efficiency	Efficiency I	Efficiency II	Efficiency III	Efficiency IV	Efficiency V
	2	4	7	12	19	28
	4	6	9	14	21	30
	5	7	10	15	22	31
	6	8	11	16	23	32
	8	10	13	18	25	34
	9	11	14	19	26	35
	12	14	17	22	29	38

Bedrock Edition

This section needs to be rewritten.

^[discuss^]

It may contain inappropriate or inaccurate information. Please help us by rewriting it.
Reason: Rewrite to match the Java Edition equivalent's layout

In Bedrock Edition, shovels have no attack cooldown, and have the following statistics:

Material	Wooden	Gold	Stone	Copper	Iron	Diamond	Netherite
Attack Damage	2HP	2HP	3HP	3HP	4HP	5HP	6HP
Damage/Second (DPS)	4	4	6	6	8	10	12
Durability	60	33	132	191	251	1562	2032
Lifetime damage inflicted^{[note 2]}	60HP × 30	33HP × 16.5	198HP × 99	288HP × 144	502HP × 251	3905HP × 1952.5	6096HP × 3048

Digging

A shovel can be used to break soil-type materials faster. Breaking a block with a shovel consumes one use (one durability point). No durability is consumed for blocks that break instantly, like torches and flowers. Shovels have different amounts of uses based on the type:

Wooden: 59 in Java Edition, 60 in Bedrock Edition;
Golden: 32 in Java Edition, 33 in Bedrock Edition;
Stone: 131 in Java Edition, 132 in Bedrock Edition;
Copper: 191;
Iron: 250 in Java Edition, 251 in Bedrock Edition;
Diamond: 1,561 in Java Edition, 1,562 in Bedrock Edition;
Netherite: 2,031 in Java Edition, 2,032 in Bedrock Edition.

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. Values with a yellow backround mean that another resource is dropped with a shovel but not the block itself and green means that the block is dropped itself.

Block	Breaking time (sec)^[A]
Block	Default	Wooden	Stone	Copper	Iron	Diamond	Netherite	Golden
Clay	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1
Coarse Dirt	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Concrete Powder	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Dirt	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Dirt Path	1	0.5	0.25	0.2	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1
Farmland	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1
Grass Block	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1
Gravel	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1
Mud	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Muddy Mangrove Roots	1.05	0.55	0.3	0.25	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1
Mycelium	0.9	0.45	0.25	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1
Podzol	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Red Sand	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Rooted Dirt	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Sand	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Snow	0.5	0.1	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05
Snow Block	1	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05
Soul Sand	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Soul Soil	0.75	0.4	0.2	0.15	0.15	0.1	0.1	0.1
Suspicious Gravel	1.25	0.65	0.35	0.25	0.25	0.2	0.15	0.15
Suspicious Sand	1.25	0.65	0.35	0.25	0.25	0.2	0.15	0.15

↑ These durations ignore other influential factors (e.g., Mining Fatigue) and are 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:

Campfires

A shovel can be used to extinguish a campfire or soul campfire by using (not digging) the shovel on it, losing one durability point.

Repairing

Combining

Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Matching Damaged Shovels		The durability of the two shovels is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.

Ingredients	Grinding recipe	Description
Matching Damaged Shovels		The durability of the two shovels is added together, plus an extra 5% durability.

Anvil repair

Name	Ingredients	Anvil recipe
Wooden Shovel	Damaged Wooden Shovel + Any Planks	Wooden Shovel
Stone Shovel	Damaged Stone Shovel + Cobblestone or Blackstone or Cobbled Deepslate	Stone Shovel
Copper Shovel	Damaged Copper Shovel + Copper Ingot	Copper Shovel
Iron Shovel	Damaged Iron Shovel + Iron Ingot	Iron Shovel
Golden Shovel	Damaged Golden Shovel + Gold Ingot	Golden Shovel
Diamond Shovel	Damaged Diamond Shovel + Diamond	Diamond Shovel
Netherite Shovel	Damaged Netherite Shovel + Netherite Ingot	Netherite Shovel

An 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. Two shovels of the same tier can also be combined in an anvil. Both methods preserve the shovel's enchantments, unlike by crafting to repair.

Enchantments

A shovel can receive the following enchantments:


Name	Description	Max Level	Method	Weight
Efficiency	Increases the mining speed.	V	Enchanting Table Anvil	10
Fortune^{[note 3]}	Increases the amount of drops when mining.	III	Enchanting Table Anvil	2
Silk Touch^{[note 3]}	Causes blocks to drop themselves when mined.	I	Enchanting Table Anvil	1
Unbreaking	Grants a chance to negate durability consumption.	III	Enchanting Table Anvil	5
Mending	Repairs the shovel when obtaining experience.	I	Anvil	2
Curse of Vanishing	The shovel vanishes on death, not dropping as an item.	I	Anvil	1

↑ The formula to find the total lifetime damage is ceil(durability ÷ 2) × damage per hit. The durability is halved then ceiled because shovels take double durability when used as a weapon, and the last 1 durability can also deal damage. The formula also ignores enchantments, and assumes each attack is performed at maximum charge.
↑ The formula to find the total lifetime damage is ceil(durability ÷ 2) × damage per hit. The durability is halved then ceiled because hoes take double durability when used as a weapon, and the last 1 durability can also deal damage. The formula also ignores enchantments and critical hits, and assumes each attack is performed at maximum charge.
↑ ^a ^b Silk Touch and Fortune are mutually exclusive.

Sounds

Java Edition:

v t e Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Shovel flattens	Blocks	When a shovel creates a dirt path	`item.shovel.flatten`	`subtitles.item.shovel.flatten`	1.0	1.0	16
	Item breaks	Players	When a shovel's durability is exhausted	`entity.item.break`	`subtitles.entity.item.break`	0.8	0.8-1.2	16

Bedrock Edition:

v t e Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	When a shovel creates a dirt path	`use.grass`	1.0	0.8
	Players	When a shovel's durability is exhausted	`random.break`	1.0	0.9

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Wooden Shovel	`wooden_shovel`	Item	`item.minecraft.wooden_shovel`
Stone Shovel	`stone_shovel`	Item	`item.minecraft.stone_shovel`
Iron Shovel	`iron_shovel`	Item	`item.minecraft.iron_shovel`
Diamond Shovel	`diamond_shovel`	Item	`item.minecraft.diamond_shovel`
Golden Shovel	`golden_shovel`	Item	`item.minecraft.golden_shovel`
Netherite Shovel	`netherite_shovel`	Item	`item.minecraft.netherite_shovel`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Wooden Shovel	`wooden_shovel`	`309`	Item	`item.wooden_shovel.name`
Stone Shovel	`stone_shovel`	`313`	Item	`item.stone_shovel.name`
Iron Shovel	`iron_shovel`	`296`	Item	`item.iron_shovel.name`
Diamond Shovel	`diamond_shovel`	`317`	Item	`item.diamond_shovel.name`
Golden Shovel	`golden_shovel`	`323`	Item	`item.golden_shovel.name`
Netherite Shovel	`netherite_shovel`	`605`	Item	`item.netherite_shovel.name`

Achievements


Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
		MOAR Tools	Construct one type of each tool.	Construct one pickaxe, one shovel, one axe, and one hoe with the same material.	15	Bronze

Videos

History

Java Edition Indev
0.31	20091231-2147	Added shovels.
	20091231-2147	Shovels cannot be crafted yet and are not functional in this version. They can be found in the player's inventory.
	20100110	Shovels are now functional and can now be used to gather materials like dirt, sand and gravel 400% faster than by hand.
	20100124-2119	A 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.
	20100128-2200	Tools now have tiers. Shovels made from wood, stone, and diamond have been added.
		The texture of the existing shovels, now known as 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.
	20100129-1447	Wood, stone, iron, and diamond shovels can now be crafted.
	20100129-1447	Due to a bug, stone shovel can be crafted only in next version
	20100130	Shovels can now be made out of gold.
	20100201-0025	Tools, including shovels, now take damage when being used.
	20100201-0025	Better tools, including shovels, now last longer.
20100206-2034		The texture of golden shovels has been changed.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.5_01		Shovels are now used to get snowballs out of snow layers.
Java Edition Beta
April 9, 2011		Alternate iron shovel texture was shown in Mojang test video.
Java Edition
1.2.4	release	Spruce planks, birch planks, and jungle planks can now be used to craft wooden shovels.
1.3.1	12w18a	Wooden shovels can now be used as fuel in a furnace.
1.3.1	12w21a	Blacksmith villagers now sell diamond shovels for 7 emeralds, and iron shovels for 4–5 emeralds.
1.6.1	13w21a	Instead of replacing the barehanded damage (1HP), shovels now add their damage onto the barehanded damage, which results in all shovels doing 1HP more damage than before.
1.7.2	1.7.1	Acacia planks and dark oak planks can now be used to craft wooden shovels.
1.8	14w02a	Tool smith villagers now sell enchanted iron shovels for 5–7 emeralds. The previous trades are now unavailable, making diamond shovels non-renewable.
1.9	15w31a	A shovel can now be used on a grass block to create grass path blocks.
	15w31a	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 now do more damage and take longer to recover.
	15w35a	The damage of shovels has been reduced.
	15w41a	Wooden shovels are now used to craft boats.
	15w50a	The sound `item.shovel.flatten` has been added to shovels.
	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.
1.14	18w43a	The textures of all shovels have been changed.
	18w50a	Iron shovels can now be found in chests in village toolsmith houses.
	19w11a	Toolsmith villagers now sell stone shovels and enchanted diamond shovels, making diamond shovels renewable again.
	19w13a	Toolsmith villagers now give stone shovels to players under the Hero of the Village effect.
1.15	19w37a	Shovels can now be used to extinguish campfires.
1.16	20w06a	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.
	20w09a	The texture of diamond shovels has been changed.
	20w09a	Shovels can now break soul soil quickly.
	20w10a	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.
	20w15a	Stone shovels can now be crafted using blackstone.
	20w16a	Netherite shovels now generate randomly enchanted in bastion remnants chests.
	20w16a	Golden shovels now generate randomly enchanted in ruined portal chests.
	20w17a	Diamonds shovels now generate in place of netherite shovels in bastion remnant chests.
1.16.2	20w30a	Increases the chance of finding randomly enchanted diamond shovels in bastion remnant chests.
1.16.2	20w30a	Unenchanted, undamaged diamond shovels can also be found in bastion remnant chests.
1.17	21w08a	Stone shovels can now be crafted using cobbled deepslate.
1.19	22w11a	Mangrove planks can now be used to craft wooden shovels.
1.19	22w13a	Wooden shovels may now be found in ancient city furnaces.
1.19.4 Experiment Update 1.20	23w04a	Upgrading diamond shovels to netherite shovels now requires the netherite upgrade smithing template.
1.20	23w14a	Shovel now breaks suspicious sand and suspicious gravel quickly.
1.21.9	25w31a	Added copper shovels.

February 20, 2024: A Mojang video about bugs shows early textures of netherite items, including the shovel: [1]

Issues

Issues relating to "Shovel" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Gallery

Renders

Enchanted wooden shovel
Enchanted stone shovel
Enchanted copper shovel
Enchanted iron shovel
Enchanted golden shovel
Enchanted diamond shovel
Enchanted netherite shovel

Super Duper Graphics Pack

Stone shovel

Screenshots

An "adventure shovel" that can break blocks in adventure mode.

In other media

Official shovel T-shirt made by JINX.
Shovels in A Minecraft Movie.

External links

Taking Inventory: Shovel – Minecraft.net on November 16, 2018

Navigation

[enchant-randomly-1] All enchantments are equally probable, including treasure enchantments (except Soul Speed, Swift Sneak, and Wind Burst), and any level of the enchantment is equally probable.

[enchant-with-levels-20-39-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f 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, Swift Sneak, and Wind Burst), and where the chance of multiple enchantments is not reduced.

[damaged-0.15-0.8-3] The item has between 15% and 80% of its total durability.

[breakingtimenote-6] These durations ignore other influential factors (e.g., Mining Fatigue) and are measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

[4] The formula to find the total lifetime damage is ceil(durability ÷ 2) × damage per hit. The durability is halved then ceiled because shovels take double durability when used as a weapon, and the last 1 durability can also deal damage. The formula also ignores enchantments, and assumes each attack is performed at maximum charge.

[5] The formula to find the total lifetime damage is ceil(durability ÷ 2) × damage per hit. The durability is halved then ceiled because hoes take double durability when used as a weapon, and the last 1 durability can also deal damage. The formula also ignores enchantments and critical hits, and assumes each attack is performed at maximum charge.

[exc-7] Silk Touch and Fortune are mutually exclusive.

[A]

[B]

[C]

[note 1]

[note 2]

[A]

[note 3]

v t e Tools
Pickaxe	Wooden Stone Copper Iron Golden Diamond Netherite
Shovel	Wooden Stone Copper Iron Golden Diamond Netherite
Axe	Wooden Stone Copper Iron Golden Diamond Netherite
Hoe	Wooden Stone Copper Iron Golden Diamond Netherite
Miscellaneous	Brush Fishing Rod Carrot on a Stick Warped Fungus on a Stick Flint and Steel Shears