Drowning
Drowning occurs when a player's breath meter fully depletes while submerged in water or honey. While drowning, the player will take continuous damage until they are able to successfully counter it with an accessory, a potion, or a pocket of air. Otherwise, the player will eventually die. The rate at which drowning occurs cannot be slowed down nor sped up unless the player has certain accessories equipped.
NPCs can also drown if stuck or forced underwater, making this a very effective way of killing NPCs. Notably, house validity is not affected by liquids, meaning they can be "automatically" drowned by flooding their house. The only NPC that is immune to drowning is the Skeleton Merchant(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions), although the Nurse can heal herself fast enough to avoid drowning.
Drowning may happen at any place with large enough bodies of water or honey to fully submerge the player, with Oceans and Bee Hives being prime natural candidates for such an event. Equipping a Fish Bowl can be used to manually drown the player. Lava and shimmer(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) cannot drown the player; the former dealing damage on contact instead.
Drowning time
The rate at which health is lost changes depending on which breathing equipment or potions are used. Times shown below are in real-world time (not game time).
| Item | Health loss rate | Time till death | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(from 100 HP) |
(from 500 HP) | ||||||||||||||
| None | 17.14 HP/sec 2 HP every 7 ticks[1] |
5.83 seconds | 29.17 seconds | ||||||||||||
 Breathing Reed
|
8.57 HP/sec 2 HP every 14 ticks |
11.67 seconds | 58.33 seconds | ||||||||||||
|
(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions): 2.86 HP/sec 2 HP every 42 ticks (Old-gen console and 3DS versions): 4.29 HP/sec 2 HP every 28 ticks |
(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions): 35 seconds (Old-gen console and 3DS versions): 23.33 seconds |
(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions): 2 minutes 55 seconds (Old-gen console and 3DS versions): 1 minute 56.67 seconds | ||||||||||||
| Breathing Reedpaired with any diving equipment
|
(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions): 1.43 HP/sec 2 HP every 84 ticks (Old-gen console and 3DS versions): 2.14 HP/sec 2 HP every 56 ticks |
(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions): 1 minute 10 seconds (Old-gen console and 3DS versions): 46.67 seconds |
(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions): 5 minutes 50 seconds (Old-gen console and 3DS versions): 3 minutes 53.33 seconds | ||||||||||||
|
Player cannot lose health to drowning | ||||||||||||||
 Gills Potion
|
Player cannot lose health to drowning | ||||||||||||||
- Note that the Breathing Reed needs to be held in order to take effect.
Achievements
ChallengerTips
- The Flipper Potion, as well as the Flipper and its upgrades allow the player to swim. This greatly aids in underwater travel and usually greatly reduces the likelihood of drowning. A hook can be used alternatively, if there are other types of solid terrain nearby.
- The Water Walking Potion or the Water Walking Boots and its upgrades allow walking on the surface of liquids, preventing accidental drowning. However, it is still possible to sink.
- Due to the reduced movement speed in honey, a player could get stuck and easily drown in honey if they do not have proper equipment.
Trivia
- Dying from drowning will display one of the following unique death messages:
- "<Player name> forgot to breathe."
- "<Player name> is sleeping with the fish."
- "<Player name> drowned."
- "<Player name> is shark food."
- "<Player name> tried to drink a lake."
- "<Player name> discovered Atlantis."
- "<Player name> forgot to bring a towel."
History
- Desktop 1.2:
- Lava no longer causes drowning.
- Honey introduced, and can drown the player.
- Desktop-Release: Introduced, caused by water and lava.