Shovel

“

If I have to crack some skulls, I will. Click to listen — The Soldier

”

The melee weapon of the Soldier class is a folding Shovel (also known as Entrenching Tool or Spade). Dealing significant damage, the Shovel is a good alternative to the Shotgun when an opponent is too close to safely use the Rocket Launcher. For its Critical hit animation, the Soldier swings it from the left in a backhand motion.

Damage

• Base: 65 (59 to 72 damage)
• Mini-Crit: 88
• Critical Hit: 195

Damages are approximate and determined by community testing.

Function times

• Attack Interval: 0.8

All times are in seconds. Times are approximate and determined by community testing.

Related Achievements

Trench Warfare Kill your nemesis with a Shovel.

Trivia

• The Critical hit animation is the same manner of attack he uses to take out the Spy in Meet the Soldier.
• The Shovel has a Normal weapon variant.
• In the World Wars, standard-issue knives and bayonets were sometimes substituted or even replaced by sharpened field shovels, which were used to great effect as improvised hand axes. Curiously, the Soldier's tool seems unmodified.
• The achievement "Trench Warfare" is a reference to their combat effectiveness in narrow quarters.
• The tool's real-life counterpart is the US M-1943 entrenching tool. Since the Soldier never reported to a quartermaster during his military career, its origin raises some questions.
• The Shovel the Soldier wields in the Mac Update comic is a Mann Co. product, prone to spontanous combustion and has been owned by the Soldier for twelve years. However, unlike the in-game examples, it's an early M-1910 "T-handle" shovel, introduced in the first World War and notorious for having handles so brittle that they were nearly useless for their intended purpose. The Soldier's exclamation "It barely digs holes!" is a reference to this.

Gallery

• Shovel 1st person cropped.png

  1st person view.

• 

  Full 1st person view.

See also

• Shovel strategy