Sons of the Forest Shovel Guide: Required Items and Cave Route

The shovel is one of those tools you cannot skip in Sons of the Forest. Without it, the main story grinds to a halt, and getting to late game pickups like keycards becomes impossible. Below is a clean breakdown of the gear you need, the cave route to follow, and what the shovel actually does once you finally have it.

What You Need Before Looking for the Shovel

The shovel does not sit on a shelf waiting for you. It hides at the end of a long underwater route, and three items are mandatory to reach it.

• Rope Gun: tucked inside a cave near the helicopter crash site.
• Rebreather: stashed in a coastal cave on the northern edge of the map.
• Air Tank: found in a cave west of the snowy mountains in the middle of the map.

Each of these caves comes with hostile residents inside. Bring a working weapon, a few healing items, and a flashlight before heading in. Going in light is a fast way to respawn without your gear.

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Step by Step: Reaching the Shovel

With the Rope Gun, Rebreather, and Air Tank in your inventory, you are ready for the run. The starting point is the same cave where you grabbed the air tank.

1. Set up a tent near the three-stream intersection by the cave entrance. It serves as a respawn anchor if things go sideways underground.
2. Equip the rope gun and zipline down into the cave entrance.
3. After landing, switch to the rebreather and dive into the pool of water on the left.
4. Swim through the submerged tunnel and surface on the far side.
5. Push forward until you reach an incline with running water. Slide down into the lower pool.
6. Once you land, turn right and climb up onto a ledge that opens into the next chamber.
7. Step through the gap and follow the tunnel system.
8. Keep going until you enter a wider room with two corpses on the floor.
9. Stick to the right and continue ahead into another large cavern.
10. Search this cavern for a body carrying a flashlight attachment.
11. Backtrack to the rear of the cavern and follow the path to another body of water.
12. Dive in and swim across to the other side.
13. Surface, walk forward, and you will spot a corpse holding the shovel.

Using the Shovel

The shovel only works in fixed dig spots scattered across the map, mostly graves and patches near bunkers. Equip the tool, aim it at the ground, and a prompt will appear. Hold left click to trigger the digging animation. Done right, it unearths quest items and rare gear that would otherwise stay buried.

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