Iron shoes

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[   iron shoes
Appearance	hard shoes
Slot	boots
AC	2
Special	(none)
Base price	16 zm
Weight	50
Material	iron

A pair of iron shoes is a set of boots that appear in NetHack. They are naturally made of iron, and appear as hard shoes when unidentified.

Generation

Barbarians, Knights, Monks, Samurai, and Valkyries that are not paupers start the game with knowledge of the pair of iron shoes' appearance.

Iron shoes make up ⁷⁄₁₀₀₀ (0.7%) of all armor that is randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Used armor dealerships and antique weapon outlets can also stock iron shoes.

Dwarves that are not undead have a ⁶⁄₇ chance of being generated with iron shoes. Uruk-hai have a ¹⁄₃ chance of generating with irons shoes, while orc-captains have a ¹⁄₂ chance of being generated with Uruk-hai armor, giving them an effective ¹⁄₆ chance of generating with the boots.

Player monsters created on the Astral Plane have an effective 491024 chance (~4.79%) of being generated with iron shoes.

Description

While worn, a pair of iron shoes grants 2 base AC, and as metallic boots they will raise a hero's failure rates for spellcasting. Worn iron shoes can grant protection against certain traps and leg-targeting attacks:

• Worn iron shoes protect a hero against the xan's leg-wounding sting attack ²⁄₅ of the time.
• A hero or monster wearing iron shoes will not take physical damage or suffer wounded legs from being caught in a beartrap, though they will still be held by the trap.
• A hero or monster wearing iron shoes will not be damaged by the spikes of spiked pits (including any poison and subsequent attribute loss) if they fall into the pit or else deliberately plunge into one.
• A hero or monster wearing iron shoes with a positive enchantment will be protected from anti-magic traps, which will drain one point of enchantment from the shoes instead of draining energy.
• A hero or monster wearing iron shoes that steps on a polymorph trap will polymorph only their shoes, turning them into kicking boots.
• A hero or monster wearing iron shoes that steps on a land mine will take reduced damage from the resulting explosion (min. 1), though a hero will still end up with wounded legs.

Strategy

Iron shoes are one of only two types of boots to grant 2 base AC alongside high boots, and are one of only two types of boots to be metallic alongside kicking boots. Iron boots are much easier to find compared to high boots, particularly in the Gnomish Mines, but have a higher weight in comparison to most other boots. Worn iron shoes interfere with spellcasting and are vulnerable to erosion by rusting and corrosion, which among other things can make encounters with black puddings and rust monsters annoying—however, their protection from several ground-based traps makes this drawback potentially worth the risk for heroes looking to brave dangerous traps when making deep dives to Mines' End or lower floors in the main dungeons.

In the early phases of the game, melee-focused heroes that have low interest in spells and spellcasting heroes that are looking to prioritize AC will likely grab one of the many pairs of iron shoes they encounter in the Mines, and may swap them for high boots, low boots or any magical boots that are not metallic as they deem necessary. The spellcasting penalty from worn iron shoes is low enough that a hero can usually retain comfortably low spell failure rates if they are the only metallic armor worn.

History

Iron shoes first appear in NetHack 3.0.0.

The ability of worn iron shoes to protect from several hazards is introduced in NetHack 5.0.0 via commit b6df17f3. Initially, iron shoes that are subjected to polymorph traps protect the hero as normal, but instead polymorph the boots themselves into any other kind of boots: this is reworked commit 89473216 so that iron boots will only polymorph into kicking boots this way.

Variants

Some variants rename the iron shoes worn by dwarves to dwarvish boots, which may also grant an AC bonus to dwarves that wear them (including dwarven heroes), and are otherwise the same as iron shoes—other variants may additionally repurpose the iron shoes given to Uruk-hai into orcish boots, which may also grant an AC bonus to orcs that wear them (including orcish heroes).

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the pair of iron shoes is simply known as a pair of shoes and retains its unidentified appearance. A pair of shoes grants 1 base AC and 1 DR while worn, has a base object material of iron, and always displays its material when identified, even with the default material. dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack also add armored boots, which can be considered an "improved" version of iron shoes.

Drow Healers start each game with a blessed +1 blue-colored pair of cloth shoes.

• Details
• Monster starting inventory
• Other item locations

Pairs of shoes are generated in several other circumstances—each tab fully lists where and when they can be found.

• Storm giants are generated with a pair of iron shoes.
• Master Kaen is generated with a cursed +4 pair of iron shoes that have the holy, consecrated, unholy, and desecrated object properties.
• Eclavdra, the quest leader for the Drow Racial quest and Hedrow shared quest, is generated with a blessed and erosion-proofed +0 pair of silver shoes.
• Sister T'eirastra, the Drow Healer quest leader, is generated with a blue-colored blessed pair of cloth shoes.
• Pen'a mendicants are generated with a blue-colored blessed pair of cloth shoes.
• Neferet the Green is generated with a blessed and erosion-proofed +5 pair of silver shoes.
• Nurses that are generated in the future (i.e. the Anachrononaut quest and Android quest) are generated with a +7 white-colored pair of cloth shoes.
• Lawful minions, neutral minions and chaotic minions that are generated in Gehennom or given "endgame" equipment have an effective ¹⁄₁₂ chance of being generated with a set of armor that includes a pair of cloth shoes.
• Duergar and dwarf smiths will always be generated with a pair of shoes, as well as any non-undead dwarves that are generated in the future (i.e. the Anachrononaut quest and Android quest) after level creation.
• Dwarves that are generated in the Arcadia segments of the Lawful Quest, generated on any floor of the Drow Healer quest after level creation, or anywhere else outside of the level creation process for levels in the future have a ⁶⁄₇ chance of being generated with a pair of shoes—any such dwarves that are slated for "good" equipment will always have a pair of shoes.
• Uruk-hai and Uruk-captains have a ¹⁄₃ chance of being generated with a pair of shoes, and will always be given a pair of shoes if they are slated for good equipment.
• Carcosan courtiers generated in the future have an effective ¹⁄₂ chance of generating with an armor set that has a roughly ¹⁄₂ chance of the footwear being a pair of shoes. Carcosan courtiers generated elsewhere have an effective ⁷⁄₁₀ chance of generating with an armor set that has a roughly ¹⁄₂ chance of the footwear being a pair of shoes.
• Xuenu monks are always generated with a pair of wooden shoes that have a ¹⁄₄ chance of being given 1-4 additional points of enchantment.
• Deminymphs can generate with shoes under certain circumstances:
  • Deminymphs that are created on the Drow Healer quest and given "healer" kits will always generate with a blue cloth pair of shoes.
  • A deminymph that is given a "'mistweaver' priestess" kit will always be generated with a red pair of leather shoes—these shoes have a ¹⁄₄₀ chance of being made into an artifact, and will have an enchantment ranging from +1 to +3.
  • A deminymph that is given a "'samurai' undead hunter" kit will always be generated with a blessed pair of wooden shoes—these shoes have a ¹⁄₄₀ chance of being made into an artifact, and will have an enchantment ranging from +2 to +4.
• Lilitu that are generated on the Convict quest have a roughly ¹⁄₂ chance of being given an armor set that includes a cursed +4 pair of iron shoes.
• Fallen angels that are either generated in Gehennom or slated for good equipment have a ¹⁄₆ chance of being given an armor set that includes a pair of cloth shoes, while male fallen angels under the same conditions also have a ¹⁄₆ chance of being given an armor set that includes a pair of leather shoes.
• Nitocris is always generated with a +9 pair of golden shoes.
• Warden Archons are always generated with an erosion-proofed pair of shoes.

A dwarf smith with access to a forge can provide smithing services to create a pair of shoes for a hero that pays a peaceful one of the named monsters or requests the item from a tame one.

Yuki-onna Madpeople will have a pair of wooden shoes generated among their belongings in the quest box on the goal level of the Madperson quest during level creation.

xNetHack

xNetHack renames iron shoes to "dwarvish boots" and retains the odds of Uruk-hai generating with them, with a comment in the relevant code suggesting that they stole their boots from dwarves.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, iron shoes are renamed to dwarvish boots and grant a +1 AC bonus to dwarves that wear them, while Uruk-hai and other orcs are instead given orcish boots, a similar set of boots with the same base object material of iron which grant a +1 AC bonus to orcs wearing them.

Croesus has a ¹⁄₂ chance of generating with a set of golden dwarvish boots.

A pair of dwarvish boots can be created at a forge by combining a dwarvish short sword and a pair of gauntlets.

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, the militant cleric of the rebel party that serves as quest nemeses for the default Noble quest will always generate with iron shoes.

Hack'EM

Hack'EM "splits" iron shoes into dwarvish boots and orcish boots, with the same base object materials and traits as in EvilHack.

Upgrading a pair of high boots successfully will produce a pair of dwarvish boots. As in EvilHack, a pair of dwarvish boots can be created at a forge by combining a dwarvish short sword and a pair of gauntlets.