via: https://x.com/helldivers2/status/2034653262536683898?s=20

I recently picked the game back up after taking some time off. What's with the shovels?

How it feels

Diggy diggy trench!

I loved that song even learned to shuffle. Man 14 yrs ago eh 😔

New warbond, has the shovel as a secondary. Also, they might have buffed how well it digs? Haven't tested it.

Also worth mentioning, they added shovels to poi at some point, kinda like the break action shotgun. That was a while ago though

happy gas mask noises!

I noticed the shovels at PoIs, but haven't figured out what to do with them. You can dig? For hidden treasure? Or like digging trenches? Because holding off an advancing Automaton fleet from foxholes sounds sick as hell.

I've seen one player dig through the planet on a defense mission - idk if it's the same shovel you can find around POIs, but if it is, it was indeed buffed

There's one poi where there are samples buried in the ground...but you can just lay down and reach them

Oh THAT'S why I couldn't clear some of those PoIs. How do you tell where to dig?

Nah nah, the shovels show up at several pois, you dont actually need it though. It's just kinda flavor, like the break action shotgun showing up everywhere.

The one with samples in the ground, I think I've only ever seen one per map at most, but you'll see a little clearing with a shovel somewhere nearby. If you walk into the clearing you can see the samples in the ground. But like I said, you can just lay down on the ground to reach them, you don't actually have to dig :)