How to unlock golden tools in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Gathering all the Animal Crossing: New Horizons golden tools recipes is going to require some hard graft.Tools that break regularly are fairly annoying, but it's good to know that eventually, we'll get access to Animal Crossing: New Horizons golden tools. But we do mean eventually. To unlock each of the golden tools, you need to do a certain thing in game. You can't just buy the recipe, or wait for Tom Nook to give you one.

Interesting, it seems like golden tools are still capable of breaking, but are the highest grade available so will break least frequently. That means you're going to want all of them.

Below is everything we currently know about Animal Crossing: New Horizons golden tools, but because the game has only been out a week or so, we're all still trying to figure out how to unlock them all. Bear with us for now, and let us know if you've figured anything out below.

Golden Axe

To get the golden axe, it seems that you need to break 100 axes. You will be able to easily get to 100 if you keep using flimsy axes for your tree chopping needs.

Thanks to Arekkz on YouTube for figuring this one out.

Golden Fishing Rod

In New Leaf, you could unlock the golden fishing rod by catching every fish available in the game. It seems like this is the same result for catching every single Animal Crossing: New Horizons fish, and doing so will earn you the golden fishing rod again. It's going to take a while to get the answer though, as fish appear seasonally and appear at specific months and times of day.

Everything you need

Our constantly updated Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide

Golden Net

Like with the golden fishing rod, previous games gifted you a golden net for catching every bug available in-game. The same is true for catching every single one of the Animal Crossing: New Horizon bugs it seems, so strap in for the long haul for this one.

Golden Shovel

To get the golden shovel, you'll need to help Gulliver 30 times - there's an Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nook Miles Rewards tied to a similar amount too. It's going to take you at least 30 weeks of play to achieve this though, so it's going to be a while before we're all waving golden shovels around - not accounting for those cheeky time travellers though.

Golden Slingshot

You can obtain the golden slingshot by popping 300 floating balloons with a normal slingshot.

Once you've popped 300, watch the skies for a present tied to a golden balloon. It's in this gift that you'll receive the golden slingshot recipe.

Golden Watering Can

You can unlock the golden watering can by achieving a five-star island rating. After you've achieved this, Isabelle herself will ping the golden watering can recipe to your phone.

Here are our top tips for how to improve your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island rating.

How to get gold nuggets

For all of these golden tools though, you'll need to grab yourself a golden nugget. You can get these the same way as you find Animal Crossing: New Horizons iron nuggets, by smacking rocks with your axe or shovel. They're quite rare, but you can usually find one a day, or every other day, depending on how many Nook Miles Tickets you're utilising each day.

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Sam Loveridge is the Brand Director and former Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar. She joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.