Deep water

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A pool of deep water. Only giant creatures can wade through this, and only those well-adapted to water can swim through it; for the rest, the only way through is to fly over.

Deep water is a type of terrain found in the main Dungeon, as well as in many branches. Players can only cross it when flying or when amphibious (by being a Merfolk, Octopode, Barachi, Grey Draconian, or while in Ice Form). Monsters can cross deep water if they can fly, are amphibious or aquatic, or are giant-sized.

Falling in

Deep water will instantly kill monsters who fall into it, assuming they can't cross it. Players cannot enter deep water willingly; if their flight runs out, they will instead enter a temporary flight mode that causes draining every turn (~3% max HP) in invalid terrain. Fortunately, you will receive a warning if your flight source is expiring.

Knockback effects, such as Primal Wave or Iskenderun's Mystic Blast, will not push creatures into deep water; the tile is treated as a wall instead. However, monsters can fall in if they are confused, or if flung in by Polar Vortex. Players cannot ever fall in unless a source of flight expires.

Naturally amphibious species can recover items from deep water. Otherwise, items dropped in deep water are destroyed forever, including artefacts. Even Ice Form cannot retrieve fallen items (since ice floats).

Strategy

• You can use confusion to your advantage (e.g. Confusing Touch, Mephitic Cloud) by targeting monsters near deep water. They may attempt to cross it and fall in, killing them instantly. Keep in mind that this will also render their equipment inaccessible unless you are an amphibious species.

History

• Prior to 0.24, followers of Fedhas Madash could use its Sunlight ability to turn deep water into shallow water.
• Prior to 0.19, falling in deep water resulted in instant death rather than draining.
• Prior to 0.17, you risked drowning if you moved next to deep water while confused. Also, enemies with high intelligence would refuse to move while confused and adjacent to deep water.
• Prior to 0.15, it was sometimes possible to scramble out of deep water if your flight expired over it.