Top 10 Animal Crossing: New Horizons Items You Should Always Keep in Your Inventory

As one of the best-selling titles in video game history, there are plenty of people every day who are being introduced to “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” for the first time. There are also plenty of veterans who are looking for tips on how to become more efficient on their islands. For those in either category, there are some items that you should always keep in your inventory, with these 10 being the most important.

Shovel 

A shovel is a huge necessity in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You can dig up trees and other plants to add to your inventory or move to a different location. You’ll need it to dig up buried bells, fossils, and other cool items hidden underneath. 

Wetsuit 

This one is important because without a wetsuit you can’t take a dip in the ocean to search for all the interesting creatures and items that reside there. Nobody wants to go all the way back to their closet to change, either. Keeping it in your inventory makes the process of changing for diving down into the depths a lot easier.  

Axe

Always keep your axe handy. Not only that, but keep a couple of different types of axes handy. The flimsy axe and stone axe are both easy to craft and allow you to chop branches off of trees without completely chopping the entire tree down. The regular axe, the next step up from the stone axe, is powerful and perfect for chopping down trees. 

Iron 

Iron is likely the most essential crafting item you’ll have access to in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Iron is extremely useful in crafting tools, and furniture, and donating to Timmy and Tommy to help them build their brick-and-mortar shop that will hold more items for you to purchase. Always keep some on you to craft new tools once they break, because you may not always be near your home storage when it happens. 

Net

Keep your net handy, because you want to avoid being met with a swarm of wasps coming toward you when you shake the wrong tree. You can defeat the swarm by quickly capturing them with your net. They sell for a pretty penny and take away the headache of being viciously stung and in need of medicine to heal. Nets are also great to have on hand for when you spot a special bug to catch and don’t want to run all the way back to your home storage to find your net in order to catch it. 

Bells

Bells are important to have on your person for the times you need to run to buy emergency medicine after a nasty wasp sting. Or if you want to plant a load of bells in a special glowing hole in the ground to grow a tree full of bell sacks. Or maybe you want something cool from the shops, but don’t want to run back and forth to and from the bank. 

Medicine 

As we’ve mentioned previously, being stung by wasps in the game, and probably in real life, is not fun at all. Your character ends up looking like they got sucker punched in the eye and if you get stung twice, you have to stop what you’re doing and start back at your home. Medicine is vital to have in your inventory, even if just a few doses. Those pesky wasps could torment even the most vigilant players.  So, relief is good to have on hand. 

Ladder

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of building ladders on every single ledge and cliff on your island, or perhaps you’re visiting an island that you cannot make any additions to, then a travel ladder is a must-have. You don’t want to get stuck somewhere and have to get rescued. Although, there’s no shame if it comes to that. Avoid annoyances like that by keeping your ladder with you at all times.  

Fishing Rod

Fishing is such a fun and relaxing part of this beloved game. There are so many creatures to catch, sell, donate to Blathers, and even keep as pets. You’ll never know when the perfect catch is going to be waiting beneath the water’s surface. Keep your fishing rod on you, so you never miss an opportunity to fish for all the cool marine life available to you. 

Slingshot

One of the most fun and exciting items to receive when playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the balloons floating around holding cute gift boxes. You never know what they’ll hold inside. The mystery and random appearance of the gifts make trying to obtain them even more fun. Always have your slingshot handy, because there’s really no other way to shoot down the balloons and receive your gift.