Gold Nuggets are rare drops in Animal Crossing. They’re not that easy to find, but they’re used in a lot of cool recipes.
Even though they’re difficult to obtain, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!
Here’s what you should do to find Gold Nuggets in Animal Crossing.
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Steps To Do To Find Gold Nuggets
Step 1: Ready Your Shovel or Axe
You get Gold Nuggets from hitting rocks, and hitting rocks can only be done if you use a tool. For this job, you need an Axe or a Shovel. No punching rocks here with our bare hands!
For beginners, both of these tools can be obtained early in the game, so you don’t have to worry about missing them.
The Island Representative, or player one, will get these as they naturally progress the game.
The secondary players can get these tools from Timmy or Nook’s Cranny.
Early in the game, after resting in your tent, Tom Nook will ask you to take his crafting class. He will teach you how to craft items with just the materials found on the island.
After this quick tutorial, he will give you the recipe for your beginner fishing rod and net. Use these to catch critters and give it to him.
After a couple of critters, Tom Nook will teach you the recipe for your beginner axe, the Flimsy Axe.
It does exactly what it says on the tin – it is flimsy and easily breaks after 40 uses. But beginners have to start somewhere, so this is good enough for now.
As for your shovel, you have to do a few more tasks before you can obtain it. Give a total of five critters to Tom Nook, and he’ll call his fossil and critter enthusiast friend, Blathers.
Set up his tent, which will take a day, and talk to him.
Blathers wants you to dig up fossils from unexplored areas on your island, and so he’ll give you the recipe for a Vaulting Pole and a recipe to make a Flimsy Shovel.
The Flimsy Shovel also breaks quite easily and will also poof after 40 uses.
As flimsy as they may be, these two beginner tools can be easily crafted, so even though they break quickly, it’s not too difficult to make them again and again.
A Flimsy Axe only requires five tree branches and one stone, while the Flimsy Shovel needs five Hardwood pieces.
Luckily, stones are just lying around on your island beside rocks. Hardwood pieces can be obtained from chopping trees with your Flimsy Axe.
Tree branches are common materials, and by just running around, you should see some of them on the ground. You can also shake trees a few times to make them drop branches.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Wasp alert! Wasps can randomly appear and drop from shaken or chopped trees. These furious and flying little insects can sting you!
The first sting from wasps will give your character allergic reactions on the face. Getting stung again without healing will make your character faint!
To heal yourself, buy Medicine from Nook’s Cranny.
You can also craft this cure with the wasp nest left behind and some clumps of weeds.
TIP: If you don’t know the DIY recipe for Medicine, talk to any of your villagers while still having an allergic reaction. They will be shocked to see you in that state and will teach you how to cure yourself!
You can also upgrade your Flimsy Axe and Flimsy Shovel. Get the Pretty Good Tools Recipes set from your Nook Stop for 3,000 Miles to craft the vastly superior Shovel, Stone Axe, or Axe.
Go craft any of these tools to help you mine rocks.
Step 2: Find Rocks
Your rocks are scattered around your island. Each island gets six rocks. Go find all six rocks and remember their locations.
TIP: If it’s a hassle to keep running and finding your rocks every day, you can make them spawn in one location. Block all spaces on your island except for the area where you want your rocks to be, and then break them and wait for a day per rock.
You can also go to Mystery Islands to find more rocks to hit.
Step 3: Hit Rocks With Your Tool
Got your tool ready? Found your rocks? Let’s hit it!
Take out your preferred tool – axe or shovel – by pressing ‘x’ to open your pockets and pressing ‘a’ on your tool. There should be an option to ‘hold’ it.
Then, you simply have to face a rock and press ‘a’ to hit. You should see a material drop.
Keep hitting the rock until no more materials drop. When that happens, the rock is all out of materials to give you for that day. Return to it tomorrow to harvest more materials.
TIP: Mining rocks? Always do the Rock Trick! Dig holes beside and behind you to stop yourself from being pushed back when you hit rocks. Follow this visual guide to know where to dig holes.
Unfortunately, getting a Gold Nugget is not the easiest thing in Animal Crossing.
It is an extremely rare drop, and you have to hit rocks over and over again, every day, to get a chance to get one.
You can also try going to Mystery Islands and hitting rocks there to test your Gold Nugget luck.
Now that you know the basics of mining rocks in New Horizons, it is only a matter of chance and luck to get one of the rarest drops in the game.
Hopefully, this guide on how to find Gold Nuggets has given you an idea of what to do to get these shiny precious metals!