Potion of speed

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! Pink potion.png
Name speed
Appearance random
Base price 200 zm
Weight 20
Monster use May be used by monsters as misc items.

A potion of speed is a potion that appears in NetHack.

Generation

Effects

Quaffing a potion of speed temporarily grants very fast speed and heals wounded legs. The duration of higher speed depends on the potion's beatitude:

  • Blessed: 160–169 turns
  • Uncursed: 100–109 turns
  • Cursed: 40–49 turns

Quaffing the potion while already very fast adds the number of turns to the current duration if applicable. Inhaling vapors from a shattered potion gives you 1-5 turns of very fast speed and prompts you to type-name the potion.

Strategy

Early in the game, a potion of speed allows you to outrun enemies you either aren't ready for or need separation from, e.g. Team Ant, or pummel enemies that have you trapped. Even cursed potions are worth drinking in this regard.

If you find or decide to wish for speed boots later on, these potions become viable candidates for alchemy - they can upgrade potions of healing to potions of extra healing, allowing you to save your potions of gain level and gain energy for other purposes. This also works for dipping a stack of them in a potion of healing.

Potions of speed should not be diluted, as they can still serve uses in the endgame - if you decide to swap your speed boots for jumping boots on the Astral Plane, a potion of speed will allow you to remain very fast. This is particularly useful if you are also using a wand of teleportation, because it increases your chances of being able to jump through the path you have cleared before monsters can reoccupy it.

Messages

You are suddenly moving much faster.
You gained very fast speed from quaffing the potion.
Your legs get new energy.
You extended the duration of very fast speed by quaffing the potion.
Your knees seem more flexible now.
You inhaled the vapors from an shattered or boiled potion of speed.

Variants

xNetHack

In xNetHack, the potion of speed gives intrinsic speed and a short duration of very fast speed, making it less likely to be used for alchemy; it also effectively replaces the wand of speed monster, which grants temporary very fast speed, as an intrinsic speed source.

See also

References