Having an axe in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an absolute necessity if you want to get resources or do some landscaping.
When you are first starting out, you pretty much have to rely on Tom Nook for everything because you don’t bring anything useful to your new island paradise.
He will give you a task to bring him a couple of bug specimens, and fulfilling this odd request will get you the DIY recipe for the Flimsy Axe.
The Flimsy Axe will let you hit trees up to 40 times before it breaks, so use it wisely to collect more wood to make more axes because you are definitely going to need them.
You could also use an axe to hit a rock, but the axe is a little bit slower than the shovel, which makes it more challenging to get all eight hits on the rock.
I highly recommend shaking a tree with a net in your hand before you hit it with your axe just in case you shake loose a wasp's nest. You don't want to be shuffling through your tools when a swarm of angry wasps is chasing you.
A wasp sting won't kill you, but your eye will be swollen, and the villagers will freak out a little bit.
Eating fruit will allow you to chop down trees with your flimsy axe, giving you everything you need at the start of the game.
However, with a measly 40 hits before the Flimsy Axe breaks, you could do much better.
Let's take a look at the best axes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and how to get them.
3. The Stone Axe
The Stone Axe gives you more time between harvesting wood and toiling at a workbench.
The Stone Axe is a nice upgrade that gives you 100 hits before it breaks, so you don’t have to spend all of your time and resources crafting axes all day.
Like the Flimsy Axe, hitting a tree with a Stone Axe three times will allow you to get three pieces of wood without chopping down the tree. You can then come back the next day for three more pieces of wood.
If you really need to chop a tree down, and all you have is a Stone Axe, simply eat some fruit before using the axe, and it will get the job done.
You don’t have to jump through a lot of hoops to get the DIY recipe for the Stone Axe, but you will have to upgrade your tent to a house and fork over some serious Nook Miles at the Nook Stop.
The recipe is included in the "Pretty Good Tools Recipes" pack, and it will set you back 3,000 Nook Miles.
The Stone Axe is a tool you will be using throughout the game when you want to get wood for projects without losing the tree.
What’s great about the Stone Axe:
- Get 100 hits before the axe breaks.
- Allows you to chop wood without destroying the tree.
- It can be combined with eating fruit if you want to chop down a tree completely.
How to get the Stone Axe:
- Upgrade your tent to a house for the “Pretty Good Tools Recipes” pack to become available at the Nook Stop.
- Purchase the “Pretty Good Tools Recipes” pack from the Nook Stop for 3,000 Nook Miles.
- Craft a Flimsy Axe, then add three pieces of wood to craft the Stone Axe.
2. Axe
The Axe lets you chop all the trees down to stumps.
The Axe allows you to chop trees 100 times before it breaks, but what sets it apart from the Stone Axe is that it completely chops the tree down after three hits, leaving just a stump.
This allows you to do some serious deforestation on your island without having to eat any fruit.
In addition to leaving just a stump, you will also receive three pieces of wood to be used for DIYs.
Stumps are useful, especially when hunting for bugs, because many beetles are more likely to appear on tree stumps. Keep this in mind the next time you participate in a Bug Off Event, and you need to find a lot of beetles in a short amount of time.
The Axe is especially useful in the beginning when you will need to clear out some trees to make room for buildings.
The DIY recipe for the Axe is found in the same tool pack as the Stone Axe recipe, which is purchased at the Nook Stop after upgrading your tent to a house.
What’s great about the Axe:
- Chop trees 100 times before the Axe breaks.
- Completely cut trees down to stumps with three hits without having to eat fruit.
- Allows you to clear out large areas of land on your island using minimal resources.
How to get the Axe:
- Upgrade your tent to a house, and purchase the “Pretty Good Tools Recipes” pack that becomes available at the Nook Stop for 3,000 Nook Miles.
- Craft a Flimsy Axe.
- Add three pieces of wood and one iron nugget to craft the Axe.
1. The Golden Axe
The Golden Axe is the Holy Grail of axes.
With a whopping 200 hits before breaking, the Golden Axe is the best and most durable axe in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Like the regular Axe, the Golden Axe will completely chop trees down to stumps, so keep this in mind if you have trees you don’t want to get rid of.
While you probably won’t have many trees to chop down by the time you obtain the Golden Axe recipe, it is handy for clearing out trees on Mystery islands.
It is also handy for having in your inventory when you need to chop down Bell trees, which is something I do every day to make room for the next Bell tree sapling.
Finding the golden spot on the island and burying Bells every day is a great way to have a steady income of Bells.
Keep in mind that burying 10,000 Bells will get you at least 30,000 total Bells when the tree is fully grown, but there is only a slim chance of getting more Bells when you bury more.
For instance, burying 20,000 Bells will get you at least 30,000 Bells per fully grown Bell tree with a very slim chance to earn 60,000 Bells.
Once the Bell trees have been shaken and the loot collected, the tree becomes a regular tree.
When you start running out of free land space on your island, you will need to cut down the old Bell trees to make room for new ones.
The Golden Axe recipe only becomes available after breaking 100 axes of any type, so if you want to get it as soon as possible, it is best to only craft Flimsy Axes since they only have 40 hits until they break.
If you run out of trees to hit on your island, simply travel to Mystery Islands for trees to hit until you meet your quota.
While a gold nugget seems like a steep price to craft the Golden Axe, its longevity means that it will stick around in your inventory for a while.
Plus, who can resist strutting around their island with a shiny gold axe?
What’s great about the Golden Axe:
- Chop trees up to 200 times before the Golden Axe breaks.
- Completely cut trees down to stumps without having to eat fruit.
- Clear out large areas of land while using fewer resources to craft.
- The slick gold color gives the axe a cool look.
How to get the Golden Axe:
- Break 100 axes (using the Flimsy Axe is the fastest method).
- You will automatically receive the recipe for the Golden Axe.
- Craft a regular axe and add a gold nugget to craft a Golden Axe.
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