I have 250+ hours in this game and i just realized you can just USE the SHOVEL if you fail the Survival check.

“Give me a perception check.”

“Fourteen total.”

“You don’t notice anything different .”

“I get out my shovel.”

DM quietly raises encounter difficulty in response to metagaming
- loudly smacks DM with the shovel
- DM should have rolled for the player secretly if they didn't want to call attention.
One of the reasons why, as a DM, I like the Passive Perception mechanic in 5e. It takes some of the thrill of a roll away from the players, but it gives me the tools to resolve these sorts of situations without tempting the players to metagame.

You can also summon scratch and he will find it for you. Apparently he even finds chests that don't have a visible survival check. But I can't confirm that because I never have him summoned.

That's the only reason I tried the shovel. I started using Scratch more and figured there had to be a way to reveal what he's pointing at if you fail.
It was nice until he would still sniff out ones I've already dug or worse get himself caught in an encounter and then blasted to bits
You can summon Scratch?!
- Yup, it's an ability called "Find Familiar: Scratch" You need to have had a few interactions with him in the camp before the ability appears. I think it can be found in the "Common" section of your spellbook once you have it.
  
  You also don't need to worry about him dying. You can always resummon him. But he is fairly useless in combat and other familiars are better.
- You can also summon the owlbear cub, Mayrina's husband Connor, Us the brain creature from the nautiloid, 4 ghouls from the Necronomicon of Thay, a fairy from the broken moonlantern, the quasit Shovel. I think that's all of them.
I've summoned Scratch in the underworld and he died due to a mushroom exploding :(
- You can just summon him again though? I've had scratch die, but he can still be resummoned.

This is how you get to the underdark as a dwarf.

Anytime I see Survival Check Failed, I have shovel hotkeyed to 3 and get it out to start digging.

Scratch is such a good dog. I do enjoy watching him run around camp.

But can you wield it like an axe yet? I'm not buying it at full price if I can't play an undertaker-turned-fighter.

That gives me an idea for a necromancer who has a “staff” that is really a shovel for unearthing his servitors.
I used a chair against a draugr's back if that counts; the draugr went prone so I moved to crush him.

What the hell?! I didn't know about this either! I guess it makes sense from a realism standpoint, but damn, that's good to know that its possible in game as well.

What's the TTP on that thing?

Today I learned Thanks, I'm deep in Act 3.

Can shovel(the quazit) dig or find chests? I'm curious "beefy".

No. Shovel is only interested in murderizing, and I love her for it.
I haven't been able to play much yet, but I've been able to dig up a chest. I also had the option to dig up a grave, but I didn't go for it.