Levitation boots
[        levitation boots | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Slot | boots |
| AC | 1 |
| Special | |
| Base price | 30 zm |
| Weight | 15 |
| Material | leather |
A pair of levitation boots is a set of magical boots that appear in NetHack. They are made of leather, and have a randomized appearance when unidentified.
Contents
Generation
Levitation boots have a 9⁄10 chance of being generated as cursed.[1]
The statue of Perseus on Medusa's Island has a chance of containing a +0 pair of levitation boots; the second 'titan' map has a 3⁄4 chance, while all other variants have a 1⁄4 chance.[2][3][4][5]
Description
When worn, levitation boots grant 1 base AC and extrinsic levitation, auto-identifying the boots and causing you to float as long as they are worn. Removing the boots will cause you to float to the ground, and a source of "levitation-at-will" allows you to float to the floor on command; floating over a sink will cause you to crash to the ground and pull them off your feet.
Strategy
If you are not in need of speed boots or else have other sources of very fast speed, such as repeated castings of haste self or potions of speed, then non-cursed levitation boots are great for crossing large bodies of water like those found on the Healer quest and Medusa's Island. A ring of levitation is often considered more convenient to free up the boots slot and maneuver more easily down stairs - one advantage levitation boots have over the ring is that they cannoy be destroyed by shock damage, e.g. from electric eel bites, although a water nymph or foocubus can charm them off.
The frequency of cursed levitation boots makes wearing boots of unknown beatitude that are either unidentified or known to be levitation boots a bad idea: cursed levitation boots will prevent you from reaching the floor to grab items or travel down stairs, and any fragile items you drop while levitating may break. Knowing the locations of sinks in the dungeon is useful for removing cursed levitation boots, but be sure that the damage does not kill you. Cursed levitation boots are also considered a major trouble, so successful prayer is a viable solution for removal as well.
Identification
Outside of auto-identification from wearing them, which carries the risks described above, levitation boots weigh the same as elven boots and water walking boots at 15 units, making them somewhat difficult to identify by weight - this is especially true if you already have intrinsic stealth, since you cannot eliminate elven boots by wear-testing.
History
Levitation boots first appear in NetHack 3.0.0.
Variants
FIQHack
In FIQHack, the statue of Perseus is guaranteed to contain a pair of levitation boots.
