Shovel Knight Dig isn’t your average platformer. Armed with your shovel, you’ll travel to the bottom of the randomly generated dungeon, completing four biomes to rescue your lost treasures. In true roguelike fashion, if you die, you’ll have to restart at the beginning. Completing your first full run is the first hurdle of Shovel Knight Dig — and it can be insurmountably difficult for Shovel Knight fans. There are no checkpoints here, but there are ways to make the game much, much easier.
After completing multiple runs, I’m going to share some of my simplest strategies for victory. After some practice, you’ll be crushing Shovel Knight Dig without too much effort — certain tricks will help you blaze through the biomes and defeat Drill Knight for your first ever completion. After one completion, you’ll be eager to do it again and again.
More Shovel Knight Dig guides:
How To Make The Game Easier | How To Get A Wyvern Companion | How To Save The Armorer
How To Complete Your First Run
Shovel Knight Dig isn’t easy for new players. If you want to conquer a run, you’ll need these basic tips — with a few changes to your playstyle, you can start crushing Drill Knight ever single time.
- Get Health / Magic Upgrades whenever you can.
- Visit side-rooms whenever possible. Side-rooms can contain shops where you can purchase upgrades or just treasure chests. Collect as many keys as you can and avoid damage! Hold onto metal keys the most.
- Wooden Keys will burn up if you touch fire and Glass Keys will shatter if you take a hit. Remember this when you’re carrying keys.
- Get Relics & Accessories — especially a good relic.
- Collect all three Gold Cogs during levels and select the “?” reward as often as possible. The more accessories you can get, the easier your run will be.
- Sometimes you’ll encounter a shop with accessories. Don’t save your money! Buy accessories — Spike Immunity is one of the best.
- Get a Relic and save your charges for boss fights.
- Relics are items you can only use a handful of times, but they’re absolutely required for easily clearing bosses. You can’t rely on your shovel!
- Buying magic upgrades and collecting accessories that give you more charges is imperative. With the right relics, you can crush literally every boss without much effort — the Wind Wand is a great relic for dealing high damage.
- Don’t waste Relic charges on anything except the bosses!
- Get the Lucky Magic Vial.
- This incredible accessory causes Magic Jars to drop after using a relic — replenishing your relic uses. It drops about 50% of the time, giving you way more relic uses per battle.
- It is incredibly useful and makes most boss fights a breeze.
- Don’t spend money at the trainer.
- Sometimes you’ll encounter a trainer that will give you new shovel attacks and other powers. Generally, these aren’t that useful for new players.
- Relics are harder to obtain but much easier to use for bosses. I only rarely purchase upgrades — and only if I have a huge amount of extra gems to spend.
- Spend all your gems. Don’t hang onto cash!
- Spend everything you have on your run! The only reason to bank gems is to purchase upgrades from the Horse Shop — buy the upgrade so you can carry x2 Items / x3 Items ASAP. This is a permanent upgrade and absolutely required.
- You’ll also want to purchase Relic Keys and unlock more relics. The more relics you have access to, the better.
- Otherwise, be prepared to spend all your gold in the run. Buy food to replenish health, buy Health Upgrades whenever available.
- Get more by finding secrets, defeating enemies and looting chests.
- You can get more of everything by fully exploring each level. If you see a pile of ore, always dig it up. It may contain a relic, key, egg or upgrade. Eggs are almost always less important than keys, but if you have room you’ll want to take eggs with you. Prioritize keys!
- Bags will appear in levels. Always collect them! Floating bags contain accessories.
- Randomly, chests or bags with wings will float by. Go for them whenever you can!
- Even enemies will drop keys, eggs, relics and more. Defeat enemies and every so often they’ll drop one of these items. Don’t bother fighting every enemy, but if they’re an easy kill like slimes, always go after them.
- Unlock the Armorer and purchase the Red Armor.
- One of the most important tips for beginners, the red armor you can purchase from the Armorer gives you twice as many hits — your health is the same, but all enemies deal half as much damage. That makes you far, far tougher.
- The Red Armor is a true lifesaver. You’ll earn fewer gems during your run, but you’ll also be able to keep relics / accessories if you die.
- To save the Armorer, enter a side-room in the Smeltworks and defeat the enemies that spawn. After saving him, he’ll permanently appear on the surface. Buy his armor ASAP!
- And finally, take the easier path.
- As you drop down, you’ll get two choices. Always go for green / brown signs instead of red signs. The paths are marked with bonuses and dangers. You can choose to select the easier path every time. Avoid signs with enemies or particular death traps.
- In my experience, the Smeltworks and the Magic Landfill are more difficult than the Secret Fountain or the Hive. I recommend going to the second set of biomes if the option is available to you.
