Dig Ruby Shovel Guide
What's inside
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Contents
What the Ruby Shovel Is and How to Get It
You get the Ruby Shovel in Dig by first unlocking the Ruby tier of shovels, then crafting it at a Dig Site with a Ruby Core, a Reinforced Handle, and a full durability bar of Ruby Shovel tokens earned from Ruby Ore. Once equipped, it digs through the hardest soil, clay, and rock layers in about half the time of a Steel Shovel and reaches buried relics that earlier shovels physically cannot uncover.
Prerequisites Before You Can Craft It
The Ruby Shovel isn’t a shop purchase or a random drop — it sits behind a progression gate. You cannot craft it until three conditions are met, and players who skip a step usually waste materials trying.
- Dig Level 40. The Ruby tier unlocks at level 40 per the game’s official progression notes. Levels below that cap you at Steel, no matter how much Ruby Ore you’ve hoarded.
- Ruby Ore discovered. You must have physically mined at least one Ruby Ore node to register the material in your crafting list. Buying ore from another player doesn’t count toward discovery.
- Ruby Shovel token bar filled. This is the most-missed requirement. The token bar fills as you bank Ruby Ore — roughly 1 token per 2 ore — and must be at 100% before the crafting option appears in the Dig Site menu.
If the Ruby Shovel simply isn’t showing up as craftable, 9 times out of 10 the token bar is short. Check that before assuming a bug.
The Materials and Where to Find Them
Three items go into the recipe. Each has a distinct source, and two of them are easy to farm efficiently once you know where to look.
| Material | Quantity | Primary source | Rough farm time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby Core | 1 | Ruby Ore node, deep layer | 20–40 min at Dig Level 40+ |
| Reinforced Handle | 1 | Crafted from 3 Hardwood + 1 Iron Band | 10–15 min |
| Ruby Ore | 20 | Ruby Ore nodes (any depth) | 30–50 min |
| Coin cost | 1,500 | Any Dig Site vendor | Immediate |
Ruby Core
The Ruby Core only drops from Ruby Ore nodes below the 15-meter mark, which means you need a Steel Shovel or better to reach those layers in the first place. This is the single biggest time sink in the recipe. Bring at least two shovels so you aren’t forced back up mid-run when one breaks.
Reinforced Handle
Craft this at any Dig Site workbench. It needs 3 Hardwood (choppable near most Dig Sites) and 1 Iron Band (buyable from the tool vendor for around 200 coins). Don’t buy the handle pre-made — vendors charge roughly 3–4x the material cost, and the craft takes seconds.
Ruby Ore
Twenty ore is a modest ask, but it’s the count that feeds the token bar mentioned above, so the farming does double duty. Ruby Ore spawns more densely in rock-heavy biomes than in loam, so farm where the terrain is stony.
Step-by-Step: Crafting the Ruby Shovel
Follow this order exactly; doing the steps out of sequence is the other common reason players get stuck.
- Reach Dig Level 40. Run Steel Shovel runs on mid-depth soil until the level bar fills. Reason: the recipe is locked below this level, so farming Ruby Ore early is wasted storage.
- Mine your first Ruby Ore node. This registers the material. Reason: undiscovered materials don’t appear in crafting menus.
- Farm 20 Ruby Ore total. Reason: this simultaneously fills the token bar and covers the recipe’s ore requirement.
- Craft the Reinforced Handle at a workbench. Reason: pre-made handles cost several times more than the raw materials.
- Extract a Ruby Core from a deep Ruby Ore node. Reason: shallower nodes drop ore but not cores, and you cannot substitute ore for a core.
- Open the Dig Site crafting panel and select Ruby Shovel. Reason: cooking it elsewhere isn’t an option — the panel is tier-locked to Ruby recipes only when your level qualifies.
- Confirm the 1,500-coin fee. Reason: the craft fails silently if you’re short on coins, and the materials are consumed.
A Concrete Example
A player at Dig Level 41 with a Steel Shovel farms a stony biome for 45 minutes, banking 22 Ruby Ore and one Ruby Core. They’ve already crafted the handle in 8 minutes. The token bar reads 100%, the coin balance is 2,100, and the craft completes on the first try. Total time from starting the session to holding the Ruby Shovel: about 1 hour. A player who attempted the same craft at level 38 would have spent the same hour and gotten nothing, because the recipe wouldn’t have appeared.
What Upgrading Actually Gets You
The Ruby Shovel isn’t just a color change. The spec differences matter for how you dig, not just how fast.
| Shovel tier | Dig speed | Max dig depth | Durability | Hard-layer penetration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden | 1.0x | 5 m | 40 uses | None |
| Iron | 1.4x | 9 m | 90 uses | Soft clay only |
| Steel | 2.0x | 14 m | 150 uses | Clay and packed soil |
| Ruby | 3.5x | 22 m | 260 uses | Clay, soil, and rock |
Three numbers stand out. First, dig speed roughly doubles again over Steel — 3.5x versus 2.0x — which is the largest single jump in the tier ladder. Second, max depth rises to 22 meters, past the 15-meter line where Ruby Ore and other high-tier nodes spawn. Third, and most useful, rock penetration: the Ruby Shovel is the first tier that cuts through the rock layers blocking the deepest loot. None of this shows up on a store listing — it shows up the first time you try to dig a rock layer with Steel and simply can’t.
The Wear Reality
The Ruby Shovel’s 260 uses sounds generous until you’re farming deep layers, where rock tiles consume durability faster than soil. Expect roughly 180–200 effective uses in rock-heavy terrain versus the full 260 in soft ground. Repair at a workbench with Ruby Ore; a full repair costs about 5 ore, so budget ore for maintenance, not just the initial craft. The Reinforced Handle does not wear — only the head consumes durability, and the handle carries over to a re-crafted head, which saves you materials on the second shovel.
Best Digging Uses
The Ruby Shovel’s value is concentrated in a few activities. Using it to dig shallow soil is a waste of durability.
- Deep relic hunting. Relics below 15 meters require rock penetration, and Ruby is the cheapest tier that provides it.
- Ruby Ore farming. The higher dig speed compounds — 3.5x speed on deep nodes means less time per ore, and Ruby digs the very nodes that supply its own repair material.
- Rock-layer clearing. If your route crosses rock bands, Ruby clears them; Steel doesn’t and forces a detour.
- Skip it for surface soil. Iron or Steel handles shallow digs faster per durability unit. Don’t burn Ruby wear on topsoil.
When to Craft It vs. Wait
- Craft now if you’re Dig Level 40+, have 20 Ruby Ore banked, and your routes hit rock or deep nodes. Payback is immediate.
- Wait if you’re below level 40 — ore spent before the unlock just sits in storage and can’t advance your progress.
- Wait if you don’t have 1,500 coins buffer. A failed craft consumes materials, so never attempt it with a thin coin balance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What level do you need for the Ruby Shovel in Dig?
Dig Level 40, per the game’s official progression notes. Below that level the recipe won’t appear in the crafting panel even if you have every material. If you’re mid-level and farming ore anyway, that’s fine — just know it won’t unlock the craft until the level hits 40.
Can you buy the Ruby Shovel instead of crafting it?
No. The Ruby Shovel is craft-only and account-bound, so it never appears in vendor stock or player trades. You can buy its inputs — Ruby Ore, Iron Bands, and coins — but the final craft must happen at a Dig Site panel with your own materials.
How many Ruby Ore do you need in total?
Twenty for the recipe, plus roughly 5 more per repair. Budget 30 ore for the initial craft and first repair cycle so you’re not interrupted mid-farm. Ore used for the recipe and ore used to fill the token bar are the same stock, so 20 covers both the recipe and the unlock requirement.
Does the Ruby Shovel break permanently?
No. It wears down to zero uses but is repairable at a workbench with Ruby Ore. Only the head consumes durability; the Reinforced Handle carries over, so a re-crafted head doesn’t require a new handle. Plan repairs rather than replacements.
Is the Ruby Shovel worth it over Steel?
For deep digging, yes — 3.5x speed versus 2.0x, plus rock penetration that Steel simply lacks. For shallow surface digging, no; Steel is more efficient per durability unit and costs far less to maintain. Match the shovel to the terrain you’re actually working.
Where do you find a Ruby Core?
Ruby Cores drop only from Ruby Ore nodes below 15 meters, so you need Steel or better to reach them. Shallower Ruby Ore nodes yield plain ore but never a core. Bring a backup shovel on core-hunting runs so a mid-run break doesn’t force you back to the surface empty-handed.
