Caves are where Sons of the Forest hides its progression gear — the rope gun, rebreather, shovel, pickaxe, flashlight and the armor sets are all underground. The map below pins every cave entrance; click a marker for its name and a location screenshot, or copy a teleport command to jump straight there.
Cave order matters because some tools gate others. A common route is Rope Gun → Rebreather → Shovel → Pickaxe: the rope gun opens up zipline traversal, the rebreather lets you swim the flooded passages that lead to the shovel, and the shovel + pickaxe together unlock the buried graves and sealed walls in the deeper caves. Use the item guides linked below for the exact route through each one.
There are roughly a dozen major caves plus several small grottos on the peninsula. The map above pins every cave entrance we've mapped — around 20 markers including the rope gun, rebreather, shovel, pickaxe, golden armor and artifact caves plus the lake grottos.
What is the best cave order in Sons of the Forest?▾
A reliable progression is Rope Gun cave first (for zipline traversal), then the Rebreather cave (to swim underwater), then the Shovel cave (its flooded section needs the rebreather), then the Pickaxe. That order means you never hit a passage you can't cross yet.
Which cave has the shovel?▾
The shovel is deep inside the Shovel Cave — a partly flooded cave that expects you to already have the rebreather (to swim) and ideally the rope gun. Open the Shovel Cave marker on the map for its entrance, then follow the shovel guide for the route inside.
Which cave has the rebreather and rope gun?▾
The rebreather is in the Rebreather Cave and the rope gun is in the Rope Gun Cave (it has two entrances). Both are early, high-priority caves because they unlock traversal for the rest of the map — filter to Caves above and click either marker for its exact location.
