41 articlesYou would think a shovel would be one of the first tools you get in a pirate game, but Windrose makes you work for it. The game never just hands you the recipe, and a lot of players end up running past dig spots wondering why nothing happens.
The shovel is locked behind copper smelting, which means you need to find a cave, mine some ore, and set up a furnace before the recipe even appears in your workbench. It sounds like a lot, but once you know the steps, you can have one ready in under an hour. Here is exactly how to do it.
How to Unlock & Craft a Shovel
The first thing you want to do on the starter island is look for a Copper Deposit. These will be marked as a question mark on your map, and once you get closer to them, the icon will turn into a pickaxe. Those are caves where you can mine Copper Ore inside, and you can mine it with a Stone Pickaxe.
Now that you have some Copper Ore, you need to turn it into Copper Ingots. To do this, you first need to build two structures at your base: a Charcoal Kiln and a Smelting Furnace. The Charcoal Kiln requires 20 Clay and 25 Wood and the Smelting Furnace costs 15 Clay and 30 Stones to build. You can find Clay along the shores of the island, Stones are everywhere, and Wood comes from chopping down trees.
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Windrose: Ancient Fire Sanctuary Puzzle Solution & All ChestsApr 20, 2026Once both are built, start by making Charcoal in the Charcoal Kiln. Putting one piece of Wood into the Kiln gives you one Charcoal and one Ash. You will not need the Ash for the shovel, but hold onto it for later crafting. Now take that Charcoal along with four Copper Ores and put them into the Smelting Furnace. That combination produces one Copper Ingot.
The Copper Ingot is one of the key discoveries in the Coastal Jungle biome, meaning the first time you smelt one, you will unlock every recipe related to copper. This includes the shovel. You can then craft the Shovel at the Workbench for 3 Copper Ingots and 10 Wood.
The shovel has three main functions: Dig, Raise, and Flatten. These let you manipulate the terrain however you want. You can also use it to dig up those buried treasure spots scattered around the islands. Some quests require a shovel too, so you definitely want to keep one handy at all times.
Wrapping Up
Get that shovel crafted and start digging up every treasure spot you find. The buried loot adds up fast, and you will be swimming in items that need a buyer. That is where the faction system comes in, because not just anyone will take those shiny relics off your hands. I have a separate guide that walks you through how to sell items, so give that a read once your inventory starts overflowing.
