Best item in the game - The Shovel

[David]

There's a lot of weapons in the game, many of them are great in combat, but there's only one weapon that has no durability - the mighty shovel.

While it may not be the best at dealing with enemies, it dispatches with something far more evil than enemies - Crates and barrels. Seriously, if you use your main proper weapon to break these, you incur a gold cost for each crate, and since most of them are empty, you'll be losing money for essentially nothing. But even if there's something in them, you will lose a portion of the money that item is worth. Now, sure, you could use your fists to open crates, but some crates are surprisingly tanky, they will need 4-5-6 hits from your fists to break, but a shovel can actually open pretty much any crate in 1 or 2 hits (provided you don't fumble). And you never have to repair it!

Shovels are just the best! You can just keep it as your off-weapon forever, and just hit crates in dungeons and you can even open graves if needed. You never have to worry about durability again, no more extortionist prices for weapon maintenance, just a good old shovel sidearm.

[laveley]

I just use a low tier weapon from thugs that i dont plan to bring back anyways to open the crates.

[@xaker89]

I just burn everything with my fire magic ;)
p.s but for real, i think its not worth it to use the whole slot only to break things, you can put there extra weapons for sell.

[David]

Originally posted by laveley:

I just use a low tier weapon from thugs that i dont plan to bring back anyways to open the crates.

I did that before the shovel became a thing too, but they deal crap damage, sometimes worse than your fists and they go down in value even more if used, if you have no space for them I rather just toss em.

Originally posted by @xaker89:

I just burn everything with my fire magic ;)
p.s but for real, i think its not worth it to use the whole slot only to break things, you can put there extra weapons for sell.

Fire magic makes you thirstier so that can sometimes be an issue. Also lowers your energy so you have to wait more before moving on. Shovel is just better. I used to use fire as well on my mages prior to the shovel's mighty existence. Shovel is easily worth the 6 slots imho. The durability and time you save with it is just worth it alone but the convenience is the cherry on top. No more awkward waste of time in dungeons opening boxes with 2-3 hits or fire magic.

[NixBoxDone]

Shovelknights were just ahead of the curve on this one.

[@xaker89]

Never heard of that fire magic makes you thirstier and i don't see any problems with waiting if you have low energy, i use waiting every time i have even a minor injury(less then a full hp) or i doesn't have a full energy. If you think that shovel is worth it, just keep use it, but in my opinion it's totally waste of potential profit.

[NixBoxDone]

I think the point here is that there's a trade-off for it and it's not like every character has fire magic, much like not every character has a free inventory slot for the shovel (mostly talking ranger with dagger off-hand here, one of my favs).

[Kaerius]

Wanna know a "secret"? Punches (unarmed) work just as well for bashing crates, urns, etc.

[David]

Originally posted by @xaker89:

Never heard of that fire magic makes you thirstier and i don't see any problems with waiting if you have low energy, i use waiting every time i have even a minor injury(less then a full hp) or i doesn't have a full energy. If you think that shovel is worth it, just keep use it, but in my opinion it's totally waste of potential profit.

Well, you wait only if you are damaged. Unnecessarily wasting time does hit your profit too, just in a different way.

Originally posted by Kaerius:

Wanna know a "secret"? Punches (unarmed) work just as well for bashing crates, urns, etc.

I mention it in the post, it really doesn't. Punching takes ages for opening a single crate, shovel does it in 1 hit. Saves a TON of time.

Originally posted by NixBoxDone:

I think the point here is that there's a trade-off for it and it's not like every character has fire magic, much like not every character has a free inventory slot for the shovel (mostly talking ranger with dagger off-hand here, one of my favs).

Oh yeah ranger probs can't use it, which is a downside for rangers, but like, ranger is pretty OP so they deserve it.

[@xaker89]

Originally posted by NixBoxDone:

I think the point here is that there's a trade-off for it and it's not like every character has fire magic, much like not every character has a free inventory slot for the shovel (mostly talking ranger with dagger off-hand here, one of my favs).

I understand that not every character uses magic, but you can find any cr*p weapon in the dungeon and use it to break things or even use your hands, there is nothing wrong with it. You just loose 6 slots to save a little time.

[NixBoxDone]

Indeed. It's a nice little thing to have if you want. Accept your new shovel overlords.

[David]

Originally posted by @xaker89:

Originally posted by NixBoxDone:

I think the point here is that there's a trade-off for it and it's not like every character has fire magic, much like not every character has a free inventory slot for the shovel (mostly talking ranger with dagger off-hand here, one of my favs).

I understand that not every character uses magic, but you can find any cr*p weapon in the dungeon and use it to break things or even use your hands, there is nothing wrong with it. You just loose 6 slots to save a little time.

Hands take too long, but also shovel lets you dig up graves which is cool.

Also fun fact - If you dont want to risk losing a lockpick, you can always destroy doors with shovels. Using a shovel to break a locked chest appears to break items inside so that's not advised, but regular doors separating rooms carries no risks at all.

[Ayame Musashi]

Great tip David! Thanks for sharing. I play Ranger so yea, I need that alternate weapons slot for skinning/close range weapon. I am new to the game, so playing ranged for safety while I learn. But if I decide to try a tank later, I will definitely go with the shovel as secondary! Keep on shoveling!

[David]

Originally posted by Ayame Musashi:

Great tip David! Thanks for sharing. :poohappy: I play Ranger so yea, I need that alternate weapons slot for skinning/close range weapon. I am new to the game, so playing ranged for safety while I learn. But if I decide to try a tank later, I will definitely go with the shovel as secondary! Keep on shoveling!

Yeah I wrote this before skinning system was added, so you had a free alternate set for ranged fighters. It's become a bit less useful now that you need skinning items. Still useful to open doors without lockpicks and dig up graves for items. Graves can give surprisingly good items sometimes, it's very random tho, usually it's trash.

[🔥Shadowspawn🔥]

Originally posted by David:

There's a lot of weapons in the game, many of them are great in combat, but there's only one weapon that has no durability - the mighty shovel.

Actually, in my opinion, you're better off with the Chain. It does have durability, which is a bit unfortunate, but considering you get a 5% chance to Daze, Stun, Knockback and/or Stagger, I think it qualifies as an awesome alternate weapon. Also, unlike all other tools that can be equipped as weapons, the Chain can be Enchanted.

Only issues of using it that I can think of are the +33% Fumble Chance, the fact that its two-handed, and the fact that you have to find it as a random drop in a container (its not available for purchase from anybody as far as I know).

Hopefully, someday, I'll be able to find one at an early level and play some kind of monk like character.