Desert heat

For the music track, see Desert Heat (music track).

Desert heat is a game mechanic occurring in the Kharidian Desert south of the Shantay Pass. Every 30-90 seconds (depending on armour worn) a player spends in the desert, they will drink 1 dose of water from a waterskin in their inventory. Without any water to drink, the player takes around 10 damage. Wearing armour will decrease the interval from 90 seconds (when wearing no armour items) down to a minimum 24 seconds with full armour. Equipment without a negative heat resistance include magic robes, vambraces (gloves however do have negative resistance), non-metal boots (fancy and fighting boots are considered metal) and capes.

The heat of the desert will also evaporate water from bowls of water, buckets of water, jugs of water, and vials of water on the same timer.

Players are not affected by desert heat while they are within the boundaries of towns or while a dialogue box is open.

Desert heat can kill players. Players should always enter the desert prepared, particularly those with low Hitpoints or hardcore ironmen. That said, it is possible to reset the interval timer by logging out of the game before it ticks down, allowing one to avoid desert heat entirely if care is taken to log out in time.

Protective clothes and gear

Items

• Waterskins - Waterskins allow a player to survive the desert's heat effect, and can hold up to 4 doses of water. Each time a player drinks, one dose of water is used up. They can be filled to their maximum of 4 doses at a water source or with the Humidify Lunar spell or by using a knife or slash weapon on a Kharidian cactus.
• Choc-ice - Players who go to Nardah can buy choc-ice from Rokuh. They heal 7 Hitpoints in addition to counting as a drink of water.

Clothing

Certain clothes protect against the desert heat by extending the time needed between drinks of water. These include:

• Desert amulet 4 - Provides 100% protection against desert heat when worn. Rewarded from completing the Elite Desert Diary.
• Circlet of water - Each charge of the circlet counts as a dose of water when the circlet is worn.
• Desert clothing - This set can be purchased from Shantay at Shantay Pass, or from Ali Morrisane in Al Kharid.
• Desert outfit - These outfit sets can be purchased from Ali Morrisane in Al Kharid during, or after, the Rogue Trader miniquest. The outfit differs slightly between body types.
• Menaphite clothing - These sets can be purchased from Ali Morrisane in Al Kharid during, or after, the Rogue Trader miniquest. They come in two colour schemes, purple and red, which have identical bonuses.
• Prospector kit - This set can be purchased from Prospector Percy in the Motherlode Mine using golden nuggets obtained randomly from cleaning pay-dirt.
• Robes of elidinis - Obtained during the Spirits of the Elid quest and provides the same level of protection as standard desert clothing.

Note that players do not have to wear an entire set for the additional delay effect to happen. Each piece individually contributes to the delay. The graceful outfit does not protect against desert heat in any way.

Additional time (in seconds) provided per item

Item set	Helm	Top	Legs	Boots
Circlet of water	+12	N/A	N/A	N/A
Desert clothing	+12	+12	+12	+6
Desert outfit	+12	+12 (both types)	+12 (both types)	N/A
Slave robes	N/A	+6	+6	+3
Menaphite clothing	+12	+12	+12	N/A
Prospector kit	+4	+12	+12	+6
Robes of elidinis	N/A	+12	+12	N/A

The maximum time between drinks is 132 seconds.

Heat inducing gear

Overly insulating clothing such as metallic armour or thick gloves will trap the heat of the hot Kharidian sun, and as a result hasten the onset of dehydration. Each piece of armour deducts a fixed length of time from the desert heat interval timer, thereby increasing the frequency of its activation. The amount of seconds deducted by a piece of armour is dependent on the slot it is worn in, as detailed in the table below. The shortest onset of desert heat can be attained by equipping a piece of armour in all six of the relevant slots, which will incur a penalty of 66 seconds deducted from the 90 seconds base timer – leading to a sip of water being required every 24 seconds.

Slot	Timer
	- 6
	- 24
	- 18
File:Boots slot.png	- 6
	- 6
	- 6

Changes

Date	Changes
[[{{#explode:22 March 2023| |0}} {{#explode:22 March 2023| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:22 March 2023| |2}}]] (update)	Several items' heat protection properties were increased in line with other items.
[[{{#explode:5 March 2015| |0}} {{#explode:5 March 2015| |1}}]] [[{{#explode:5 March 2015| |2}}]] (update | poll)	Desert heat can now be nullified by wearing the Desert amulet 4.