Speed boots

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[Combat boots.png Jungle boots.png Hiking boots.png Mud boots.png Buckled boots.png Riding boots.png Snow boots.png
speed boots
Appearance random
Slot boots
AC 1
Special
Base price 50 zm
Weight 20
Material leather

Speed boots (also dubbed boots of speed) are a type of magical boots that appear in NetHack.

Generation

Player monsters on the Astral Plane have a 78 of generating with boots, and a 12131 chance of those boots being speed boots - roughly a cumulative probability of ~8.01%.[1]

Description

When worn, speed boots grant extrinsic very fast speed and auto-identify themselves.

Speed boots give a player an extra six movement points per turn, plus a 1/3 chance of an additional six movement points. This boosts the normal movement rate from 12 to 18 (150% normal speed, or 3 moves every 2 turns), with a 1/3 chance per turn of movement rate being 24 (200% normal speed, or 2 full moves per turn). On average, the player will thus get 20 movement points per turn (167% normal speed, or 5 moves every 3 turns). Speed boots have no effect on your steed's movemetn speed while riding.

Monsters can also wear speed boots, with the same effect as a wand of speed monster, potion of speed or the haste self monster spell.

Strategy

Speed boots are the only source of extrinsic speed that doesn't time out, making them popular choice for an ascension kit. Very fast speed is a huge basic advantage for any character, moreso than even intrinsic fast speed - with more actions per turn, you can deal more damage with weapons and spells, more easily flee from combat or employ hit and run tactics) and slip through gaps in hostile monsters before being surrounded. Blessed fixed +2 or +3 speed boots are a common early wish, though gray or silver dragon scale mail is arguably a preferable option, depending on your circumstances.

Speed boots are of little use to humanoid pets that can wear them - most such pets can pick up and use the wand or potion, and some spellcasting pets can make themselves fast easily. Extrinsic speed is typically not necessary for dedicated riders, who prefer other types of boots - wearing jumping boots allow your steed to jump and can cover more distance than speed boots, while water walking boots can save your life if you're dismounted over water. Bear in mind that no steed is immortal, and you should be prepared to continue on foot if necessary in case you lose them to an accident or unfortunate circumstance.

Speed boots are a valuable item in turncount speedrunning, due to their ability to give the player multiple actions without advancing the turn counter. An air elemental polyself is even faster than this, though you cannot wear boots in this form.

History

Speed boots are introduced in NetHack 3.0.0.

Messages

You feel yourself speed up.
You put on a pair of speed boots while at normal speed.
You feel yourself speed up a bit more.
You put them on while already at fast speed.
Your quickness feels <more/less> natural.
You either gained or lost intrinsic speed while wearing the boots.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Whisperfeet is an artifact pair of speed boots that acts as a luckstone and confers stealth when worn, and acts as the guaranteed first sacrifice gift for Tourists.

The black market shopkeeper, One-Eyed Sam, is always generated wearing an enchanted pair of speed boots; a guaranteed pair of speed boots also appears in The Spider Caves.

Due to the new create pool spell that monsters will cast at you, non-flying players may prefer water walking boots to speed boots as their primary boots of choice in the late game.

NetHack brass

In NetHack brass, speed boots provide a boost to speed that can stack with other sources of speed, rather than setting your speed to very fast.

GruntHack

In GruntHack, armor can have the speed property, including non-speed boots, providing more sources of extrinsic speed.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, the black market and One-Eyed Sam re-appear, and Sam is generated with an enchanted pair of speed boots as in SLASH'EM.

dNetHack

dNetHack also adds Whisperfeet, which is now chaotic and not tied to any specific role but still retains the speed boots as its base item.

Asmodeus will always generate with speed boots, and xorn monks may also generate with them.

The November NetHack Tournament

In The November NetHack Tournament, the deathmatch opponent has a 12 chance of generating with a blessed fireproof +4 or +5 pair of speed boots.

EvilHack

EvilHack adds the helm of speed, which also provides extrinsic speed - the helm is an alternative for centaurs and tortles, who cannot wear speed boots or any kind of footwear.

SlashTHEM

In addition to SLASH'EM additions above, Duri generates with a pair of speed boots among other enchanted armor.

References

  1. src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 295: mk_mplayer_armor selects boots from all available types listed in objects.c