Kicking boots
[ kicking boots | |
---|---|
Appearance | random |
Slot | boots |
AC | 1 |
Special |
|
Base price | 8 zm |
Weight | 50 |
Material | iron |
Kicking boots are a pair of magical boots that appear in NetHack. They are made of iron, and have a randomized appearance; the default one associated with it is "a pair of buckled boots".[1]
Description
When worn, kicking boots give a +5 bonus to kick attacks against non-thick-skinned monsters (for +2.5 average bonus damage) - kicking such a monster while wearing these boots may also knock them backwards.[2] Kicking boots also increase the distance that kicked objects travel, and will guarantee success when kicking down doors.[3]
Strategy
As armor, they can be a useful supplement for early-game adventurers, especially those lacking weapons (e.g., weaponless conduct, had them stolen by a nymph, etc.), but outside of those scenarios they are usually superseded down the line by other boots such as speed boots. While they can be used to reliably reveal secret passages and hidden doors, this can also be provided by a stethoscope, searching aid or high Luck.
Identification
Kicking boots may be identified in several ways: they are the only boots with a randomized appearance that weigh 50 aum, and can be detected by an increase in the failure rate of spells or rubbing them on a touchstone. As they are usually the same price as elven boots, price identification can also reveal kicking boots for characters that do not have intrinsic stealth.
You can also test for them by kicking rocks or other junk objects - of note is that you may be able to move an otherwise-immobile loadstone while wearing kicking boots. If all else fails, repeatedly kicking open secret passages and (hidden) doors on the first try can signify worn kicking boots, although this is less reliable if you are a Monk or Samurai.
History
Kicking boots first appear in SLASH 6, a variant based on NetHack 3.1.3. They make their vanilla NetHack debut in NetHack 3.3.0.
In NetHack 3.6.0, the weight of kicking boots was changed from 15 aum to 50.
Variants
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Croesus has a 50% chance of the gold boots he generates with being kicking boots.