Crimson Desert Guide

How to walk on water in Crimson Desert: Water Stride and the Vaporwalker boots

Kliff can run across rivers and lakes with the Water Stride skill from the 2.0 update. Here's how to unlock it, the controls, and the Vaporwalker boots.

Mechanics · Updated

Steps

  1. Get far enough into the main story. Water Stride is one of the eight Kliff skills added in the 2.0 (Enhanced) update. The patch notes say these new skills only show up after you reach a certain point in the main story.
  2. Raise Double Jump to level 2. Water Stride stays locked until Kliff has Double Jump at level 2. Since 2.0, Bilwise gives you Double Jump during the quest Unexpected Gift, so check that quest before you spend anything on it.
  3. Learn Water Stride in the skill tree. Spend one Abyss Artifact to learn Water Stride in Kliff's skill tree.
  4. Hold Sprint on the water. Head onto a river or lake and hold Sprint: Left Shift on PC, X on PlayStation, A on Xbox. Kliff runs on the surface instead of swimming.
  5. Watch your stamina. The skill costs 10 stamina for every second you're on the water. When stamina runs out, Kliff drops in and has to swim, so cross wide water in short hops between shores.

The short answer: walking on water is a real skill now. The 2.0 Enhanced update (August 2026) added Water Stride for Kliff, which lets him sprint across rivers and lakes. Before that, the only option was the Vaporwalker boots, which give you a short slide over shallow water. Both still work, and since patch 2.03 they work together.

Water Stride: what to know

  • Kliff only. Water Stride is in Kliff’s skill tree. Players on Steam asked why Damiane and Oongka don’t get it, and so far they don’t. If you play as one of them, the Vaporwalker boots below are the way across.
  • You can jump mid-stride. Patch 2.03.00 lets you jump while running on water. Before that, jumping just dropped Kliff into the water. One player on Steam liked the change, but noticed that holding the button now makes Kliff jump instead of scooping up fish while he runs. Nobody in the thread knew a way around that yet.
  • It can snag on rocks. A Steam bug list for patch 2.03.02 reports that Kliff often catches on small rocks just under the surface and starts a full climb animation instead of stepping over them. Steer around shallow rocky patches if you can.
  • Some guides say Spirit. The skill’s own description lists stamina (10 per second). If your game shows a different cost after a later patch, trust the in-game skill menu.
  • Rebound your Sprint key? Water Stride uses Sprint, so use your own key instead of Left Shift. Our F3 quick-eat fix shows where the keybind list is on PC.

Vaporwalker boots: the slide

The Vaporwalker boots carry a skill called Skipping Stones. They don’t let you run on water, but they let you skim across shallow water fast.

  1. Where they are: in a chest in Ancient’s Heart Cave, hidden behind a waterfall at the Ancient Rift, southeast of Pailune on the map.
  2. Getting in: the cave entrance is partway up the waterfall, not at the bottom. Stand on the ledge at that level, use the Stab skill to push through the falling water, then break the rock wall inside with Force Palm.
  3. Using them: equip the boots, sprint toward shallow water, and press Slide (C on PC, L3 on PlayStation, LS on Xbox) just as you hit the water. The Steam player who found them said it gives a good speed boost on long stretches of shallow coastline.
  4. Limits: the slide has three charges that refill over time. Guides disagree on the exact cooldown. You can carry over some deeper water if you start the slide with full momentum in the shallows, but timing it late usually means you just sink.

Since patch 2.03.00, wearing the Vaporwalker boots also lets Kliff slide during Water Stride.

Video walkthrough

Video: How To Walk or Run on Water in Crimson Desert Enhanced (New Update Guide) by SolveBase on YouTube.

Sources

This guide summarizes answers from these community threads. Credit goes to the players who worked it out.