Water walking

Water walking is a property in NetHack that allows you to walk over deep water swithout drowning.

Currently, the only source of water walking in the game is a worn pair of water walking boots.

Description

Water walking lets you walk over moats, pools and swamps as if they were normal land it can also work for walking on lava, you will sustain damage unless you have fire resistance and risk destroying whatever item confers the property if it is flammable - this will plunge you into the lava, with possibly fatal results. Water walking does not work on the Plane of Water, as you are situated in air bubbles within the water rather than above.

Displacing a pet while standing on water this way will cause them to drown unless they can swim or fly, and standing on water has no effect on drowning attacks.

Strategy

Players walking over water can #dip as much as they want without fear of releasing monsters as with fountains; however, giant eels and kraken are just as much a danger as before, and nymphs and foocubi can cause you to disrobe and take off your boots, sending you plunging to a possible doom. Take care to avoid sea monster-infested waters when dipping, unless you plan to cross quickly or else dispatch potential drowning hazards.

Variants

Variants often introduce additional sources of water walking.