Water is a type of Liquids found in pools of varying size on both the surface of the world and underground. If the player is underwater, the Breath Meter will start to decrease. If the breath meter is depleted, the player will rapidly lose health. If water touches lava, the lava will become Obsidian, and vice-versa.
The player can stay underwater for approximately 25 seconds before they start taking drowning damage. This time is indicated by a special "Breath" meter that appears below the Health bar. Movement is also slowed down to about 50% of normal speed while in water. When the water level is at about the same area the mouth would be on the player's head, the player is considered underwater, and the Breath meter will begin to drain. When a Breathing Reed is being held, the player will be able to breathe as long as the tip of the reed touches air.
Moving and Removing Water
In small to medium sized pools of water, mining away solid blocks will cause water to fill into those spots. This can lower the level of the pool, as the water sinks lower to fill in the newly emptied space. When underground, the pools will attempt to flow into any available empty space below as the land is dug out.
A bucket can be used to move water, by filling the bucket and dumping water out. This is a good way to move around small amounts of water, for either cosmetic purposes, or removing smaller pools. This is a fairly inefficient means of removing large amounts of water, if the player intends to completely empty an area of water.
Another way to get rid of water is just to keep digging down. It is much more dangerous, but if the water flows into a wide enough space, it will effectively be removed. The key is to dig into air pockets that are visible from the pool. By traveling this way, the player can move into areas that may normally be separated by vast tunnels, much in the same way as digging your own tunnels. This technique is more effective underground, though players can use it (by digging very deep shafts) to remove bodies of water on the surface.
Water can be removed by placing blocks to fill the desired area. Exit the world, then re-enter, and mine the blocks. The water will be gone behind those blocks. This is useful for making underwater air pockets at the bottom of the ocean.
There is also a potential glitch that allows for great amounts of water to be cleared quickly; stack a large column of sand in the water as deep as possible, and then use a pickaxe to destroy it from the bottom. For each block of sand that falls, one block of water will also be destroyed. This is because the water quickly rushes to fill the area where the sand is falling, but is then immediately replaced and removed.
- See main article: Duplication
It is possible to create an unlimited source of water, with Wires and Pumps, but an easy way for new players is to make a wide 1-block deep pool (10-20 blocks wide should do), fill ONE bucket of water, place it in the pool, then make a 2 block by 2 block underhang beneath and area with water that is NOT ON THE EDGE, like a cube hanging to the bottom, but 2 blocks tall/deep and 2 blocks wide. remove the upper right block of your little cube, and then break the block above it. Voila! Endless water, perfect for the people who want to make a water village with waterfalls.
- N.B.: If you simply wish to make a waterfall, it is more advisable to use a Hammer to create a half-block, which will naturally create a waterfall, instead of any water duplication method. (See below)
As of 1.2, naturally occurring waterfalls will appear whenever water flows into a half-block space. Waterfalls are entirely cosmetic, and will not remove any torches from the floors they flow on. The torches will stay there, as the waterfall passes them. Standing under a waterfall will not impede movement, nor will it cause the player to drown. Similarly, passing through or standing under a lavafall will not inflict damage or the "On Fire" debuff.
Although they can apparently go on forever as long as they are still touching blocks every so often, waterfalls will "fade out" if they fall into empty space of more than about 30 blocks and gradually disappear, never actually reaching the ground. In addition, despite the appearance of water falling, none is ever actually displaced after the initial appearance of the waterfall.
Waterfalls, honeyfalls, and lavafalls can be created by the use of a Hammer, which cycles through different states for blocks. Using the Hammer once on any solid block will change its state, in the following sequence: Block, Half block, Slope, Alt. Slope. Using the Hammer to create a half block at the very edge of a pool of water will create a waterfall, so long as there is somewhere for the waterfall to go.
Water Fountains are items that can be used to change the color of all water in surrounding areas to the color of the water in the corresponding Biome. All fountains can be purchased from the Witch Doctor at no cost. The various fountains can be placed on any two block-wide surface and can be activated by either right clicking on them or by using Wire. When multiple fountains are activated at the same time, the game appears to give precedence to the bottom, rightmost fountain.
Types of Fountains
- Pure Water Fountain: Colors water to default Forest blue water.
- Desert Water Fountain: Colors water yellow, as in the Desert.
- Jungle Water Fountain: Colors water green, as in the Jungle.
- Icy Water Fountain: Colors water light blue, as in the Snow Biome.
- Corrupt Water Fountain: Colors water purple, as in The Corruption.
- Crimson Water Fountain: Colors water pinkish-red, as in The Crimson.
- Hallowed Water Fountain: Colors water pink, as in The Hallow.
- Blood Water Fountain: Colors water red, as during a Blood Moon.
- Some odd behavior can occur when jumping out of water with a Shiny Red Balloon, or a combination of Cloud in a Bottle and Flippers. The increased jump height from the Balloon is not considered upon exiting water (in fact, the Balloon reduces jump height underwater by a few blocks), and frequently you will not be able to double-jump if you have both Cloud in a Balloon and Flippers equipped. This is likely due to a mishandling of the spacebar input for double-jump as well as swimming with the Flippers; the Flippers disables the Cloud in a Bottle (and/or other double-jump items), but the game still thinks the double-jump has been used after the second consecutive press of the space bar. This is more obvious as of update 1.2, with the new items giving multi-jump capabilities.
- The Grappling Hook items (Ivy Whip, Dual Hook, Gem Hooks, Web Slinger) will not attach to some blocks placed in water; most notably Sand, although Gray Brick, Glass, Pearlstone and Ebonstone also exhibit this glitch on occasion.
- This appears to be a result of attempting to grapple onto a block or Platform that is in the same space as water. To verify this, simply place some Wood Platforms in water and attempt to grapple them.
- Falling onto water whilst wearing the Water Walking Boots seems to cancel out any and all fall damage, despite not actually falling into the water itself. This may or may not actually be an intended situation.
- Water evaporates in The Underworld if the block it is in is updated. Sometimes a flood happening off-screen can cause pools of water to form, but it will quickly disappear as soon as the water is displaced in any way..
- Water that reaches up 2 feet negates Fall Damage if you land in it, and is often used in Hellevators. Landing on water will however result in Fall Damage if you've drunk a Water Walking Potion (although the Water Walking Boots seem to nullify fall damage).
- You lose less health when drowning when you use an item that extends breath like Breathing Reed.
- Water does not make Hellstone nor Meteorite blocks safe to walk on.
- Entering water will cancel the On Fire! debuff, but if it is inflicted while the player is already submerged in water (for example through contact with nearby Lava or a Meteor Head) it will not be canceled unless the player leaves and re-enters water.
- NPC's do not drown when submerged in water.
- Waterfalls now make a flowing water sound.
- Added waterfalls, which occur when the water spills over a half-block edge.
- Added water fountains, which can be bought from the Witch Doctor and change the color of water in the surrounding area.
- Water color changes throughout biomes.
- Removed "liquid filling" method of removing water. Placing solid blocks into water no longer removes the water from the space; mining out the blocks again simply releases the water.