Understand Stone Shovel
Useful when…
- Dig dirt and other shovel-mineable blocks; the listed tool speed is 4.0 for that block tag.
- Use it on a suitable block to create a dirt path, or use it to extinguish a campfire.
- Use it as a backup melee weapon, accounting for its slow recovery and durability cost.
What does it do as a tool?
The Stone Shovel is correct for drops on blocks tagged as shovel-mineable and has a listed speed of 4.0 for those blocks. It is not correct for drops on blocks in the incorrect-for-stone-tool tag. Breaking a block normally consumes one durability; blocks that break instantly consume none. Using it to create a dirt path costs one durability, and it can extinguish a campfire. It has 131 durability and can be repaired with blackstone, cobbled deepslate, or cobblestone. An anvil repair with one of those materials restores 25% of maximum durability, rounded down, and preserves enchantments.
How does it handle in combat?
In Java, the shovel adds 2.5 attack damage in its main hand, has an attack-speed modifier of −3.0, and takes one second to recover between attacks. The reference lists its damage as 3.5 hearts (7 health points). Each weapon attack consumes two durability. That makes it workable as a backup when necessary, but repeated attacks spend the same limited durability needed for digging. Unlike a dedicated spear, its data has no extended-reach or charge attack properties.
How should you maintain and enchant it?
Repair it with cobblestone, cobbled deepslate, or blackstone, or combine damaged shovels; combining two shovels adds their remaining durability plus 5% extra. Efficiency improves mining speed, while Unbreaking can reduce durability consumption and Mending repairs it when you obtain experience. Fortune and Silk Touch cannot be applied together: choose based on whether you want increased drops or the mined block itself. Curse of Vanishing makes it disappear on death, so it is a poor choice if keeping the shovel after death matters. The shovel can be crafted from a stick and a stone-tier block, including cobblestone variants.
Limitations and tradeoffs
- Its shovel function supports digging and path-making, but 131 durability must also cover those uses and any attacks.
- The one-second Java attack recovery makes it slow in combat.
- Fortune and Silk Touch are mutually exclusive, so the shovel cannot carry both at once.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Using it on blocks for which it is not correct for drops and expecting stone-tool drops.
- Spending durability on attacks without accounting for the two durability points each attack costs.
- Trying to combine Fortune and Silk Touch on the same shovel.