Spelunky is © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC, and is used under the [Spelunky User License v1.1b](https://spelunky.ai/LICENSE.txt). spelunky.ai is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Mossmouth. The game and its assets may not be sold. Music by George Buzinkai and Jonathan Perry; sound effects made in SFXR. From Spelunky Classic 1.1, © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC. # Spike Shoes From the spelunky.ai wiki: . Verified against the spelunky.ai port [v0.1.10](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/releases/tag/v0.1.10) on 27 October 2026. *For the shoes that raise jumps, see [Spring Shoes](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/spring-shoes).* Spike Shoes are an equipment item in Spelunky Classic that make the player's stomps do three times the damage; shops sell them from $4,000. ![A brown boot with a row of spikes under its sole](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/66c8732d531340f4/sprites/sSpikeShoes/frames/0%404x.png) | Spike Shoes | | | ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Kind | Equipment | | Effect | Triple stomp damage; no sliding on ice[^1] | | Price | $4,000[^2] | | Object | `oSpikeShoes` | | Sold in | Clothing Shop, Rare Shop, Dice House | | Found in | The Mines, The Jungle, The Ice Caves, The Temple, Olmec's Lair | | Dropped by | [Crate](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/crate), [Yeti King](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/yeti-king) | Wearing them, the player's stomps, landing on a monster from above, take three times the hit points they would, which kills most monsters in one stomp. They turn landing on a [Mantrap](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/mantrap) into a stomp, and hold him still on ice. They don't make Spikes safe. Clothing Shops, Rare Shops and the Dice House offer them, and [Crates](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/crate), blocks, Kali and the [Yeti King](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/yeti-king) give them away. They're worn from the moment they're picked up or paid for until the game ends. ## Effect Picking up a free pair, paying for one or carrying one out of a shop puts it on: the message "YOU GOT SPIKE SHOES!" shows, the pair disappears, and an icon of it joins the row under the hearts[^3][^4]. They stay on until a new game starts, which clears them[^5][^6]. ### Stomping **Clip: Spike Shoes stomp a caveman.** Out of a shop with stolen spike shoes still in his hands, the player drops them and picks them up again, which puts them on. Then he drops onto a caveman just as it gets up from being stunned, and the one stomp kills it. ([video](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/66c8732d531340f4/clips/spike-shoes/stomp/clip.mp4)) A stomp normally takes 1 hit point, plus 1 for every 16 steps the player has been falling; in Spike Shoes, three times that, 3 plus 3 for every 16 steps, and most monsters bleed[^7]. That's the rule most monsters share, and the [Caveman](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/caveman), [Giant Spider](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/giant-spider), [Hawkman](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/hawkman), [Mantrap](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/mantrap), [Tomb Lord](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/tomb-lord), [Alien Boss](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/alien-boss) and [Vampire](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/vampire), which have stomp code of their own, follow it too[^8][^9]. The [Yeti](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/yeti), the [Yeti King](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/yeti-king) and the Shopkeeper count the fall differently, 3 for each 16 steps of falling or part of 16[^10][^11][^12]: after exactly 16 steps, 3 rather than 6, and a stomp landed on the way up, before the player has fallen a step, takes nothing at all, in Spike Shoes or not[^13][^14]. A Caveman takes a stomp only when it isn't stunned already, and the stomp stuns it[^15]. The clip shows one that has just got up from being stunned, with 2 of its 3 hit points left, killed by one stomp in Spike Shoes: its health goes to -1[^16]. **Clip: Spike Shoes stomp a mantrap.** The player picks up spike shoes on a ledge, walks off it, and lands on a mantrap below. The one stomp kills it, and he bounces off unhurt. ([video](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/66c8732d531340f4/clips/spike-shoes/mantrap/clip.mp4)) A [Mantrap](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/mantrap) can't be stomped without them, unless it's busy eating something else: landing on it is touching it, and it eats the player. In Spike Shoes, landing on it is a stomp like any other[^17]. The clip shows the player walking off a ledge in them onto a Mantrap: the one stomp takes all its 3 hit points, and he bounces off unhurt[^18]. ### Ice On ice, the player normally slides, his speed across fading only slowly, unless he's crouching. In Spike Shoes, ice holds him as any ground does[^19]. ## Obtaining | Source | Chance | | | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | | Clothing Shop | Each of its wares is one of its six items or a Rope Pile | [^20] | | Rare Shop | Each of its wares is one of its eleven items or a Bomb Box | [^21] | | The Dice House's prize | 1 in 8, once the rolls before it, from a [Jetpack](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/jetpack)'s 1 in 40 to the [Spring Shoes](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/spring-shoes)' 1 in 8, fail | [^22] | | A [Crate](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/crate) | 1 in 60, once the rolls before it, from a Jetpack's 1 in 500 to the Spring Shoes' 1 in 60, fail | [^23] | | Buried in a block | 1 in 19 of the items buried in blocks | [^24] | | Kali's first gift | 1 in 8, or the next of the eight the player hasn't got | [^25] | | A dead [Yeti King](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/yeti-king) | 1 in 12 for each of the four things it leaves | [^26] | A shop stocks a pair only if the level hasn't got one already, even for a player who wears a pair[^27][^13], and it adds 10% of the base price for each level past the second[^28]. Shops are made from level 2 on[^29], and level 16, Olmec's Lair, has none: | Area | 1st level | 2nd level | 3rd level | 4th level | | ------------- | --------- | --------- | --------- | --------- | | The Mines | — | $4,000 | $4,400 | $4,800 | | The Jungle | $5,200 | $5,600 | $6,000 | $6,400 | | The Ice Caves | $6,800 | $7,200 | $7,600 | $8,000 | | The Temple | $8,400 | $8,800 | $9,200 | — | The Dice House puts its prize up from the same set of rare items, and a roll of seven gives it away and puts up another[^30][^31]. Every block of rock away from the level's edges that isn't gold and holds no gem has a 1 in 1200 chance of hiding an item, one of nineteen at random[^32][^24]. Kali's first gift, when the player's favour with her reaches 8 at one of her altars, is one of eight pieces of equipment the player hasn't got, the Spike Shoes among them[^33]. In custom levels, they're the level editor's tile `V`[^34]. Carrying a pair out of a shop without paying angers the Shopkeeper, as with any ware, and whether it goes on at once depends on whether the player or the pair leaves the shop first: running out of a shop whose door is on the left, the pair crosses first and stays in his hands, unworn, until he puts it down and picks it up again[^13][^35]. The stomp clip starts there. ## Interactions - Spikes kill the player who falls onto them in Spike Shoes as in any others: the code that kills him on them never checks for the shoes[^36]. - Stomping on a monster bounces the player up and resets his fall, as without the shoes, so a long drop onto a monster is a stronger stomp, not a fall that hurts[^37]. ## Tips - From a short drop, a stomp in them takes 3 hit points: one stomp kills a [Caveman](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/caveman) or a [Mantrap](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/mantrap), which take three without them. - Landing on a Mantrap without them gets the player eaten, unless it's already eating, so a Mantrap is only worth stomping in them. - A stomp stuns a Caveman, and a stunned Caveman can't be stomped again, so in ordinary shoes a stomped Caveman gets up before the next stomp counts; in Spike Shoes, the first stomp kills it. ## Trivia - On level 2, a shop calls them "SPIKE SHOES FOR $4000."[^38] Past level 2, the message is rebuilt with the new price from the item's name[^39], and as they have no shop name of their own it reads "A SPIKE SHOES FOR $4400." on level 3[^13], and "A SPIKE SHOES FOR $5200." on level 5[^40]. ## FAQ ### What do the Spike Shoes do in Spelunky Classic? A stomp in them does three times the damage, 3 hit points from a short drop, which kills most monsters at once. They also let the player stomp a [Mantrap](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/mantrap), which otherwise eats him unless it's already eating, and keep him from sliding on ice. ### Do Spike Shoes protect you from spikes in Spelunky Classic? No. Spikes kill the player who falls onto them, with Spike Shoes on or not. ### How much do Spike Shoes cost in Spelunky Classic? $4,000 on level 2, the first with shops, and 10% of that more on each level after it, up to $9,200 on level 15. ### Where do you find Spike Shoes in Spelunky Classic? In Clothing Shops and Rare Shops, and as the Dice House's prize. Free pairs come out of [Crates](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/crate) (a 1 in 60 roll, once the rolls before it fail), out of blocks that hide them, from Kali, and sometimes from a dead [Yeti King](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/yeti-king). ## See also - **Related:** Stomping, [Mantrap](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/mantrap) ## References [^1]: `objects/oEnemy/collision_oCharacter.gml:9-10` [^2]: `objects/oSpikeShoes/create.gml:7` [^3]: `scripts/scrStealItem.gml:182-192` [^4]: `scripts/scrDrawHUD.gml:145-149` [^5]: `scripts/scrClearGlobals.gml:93` [^6]: `objects/oTransition/create.gml:20-24` [^7]: `objects/oEnemy/collision_oCharacter.gml:6-13` [^8]: `objects/oCaveman/collision_oCharacter.gml:11-12` [^9]: `objects/oTombLord/collision_oCharacter.gml:9-13` [^10]: `objects/oYeti/collision_oCharacter.gml:11-12` [^11]: `objects/oYetiKing/collision_oCharacter.gml:9-10` [^12]: `objects/oShopkeeper/collision_oCharacter.gml:10-11` [^13]: Quirk 1 (docs/quirks.md) [^14]: Replay `fidelity/replays/enemy-yeti-stomp-rising.txt` [^15]: `objects/oCaveman/collision_oCharacter.gml:6-15` [^16]: Clip spike-shoes/stomp [^17]: `objects/oManTrap/collision_oCharacter.gml:5-9` [^18]: Clip spike-shoes/mantrap [^19]: `scripts/characterStepEvent.gml:774-778` [^20]: `scripts/scrShopItemsGen.gml:68-101` [^21]: `scripts/scrShopItemsGen.gml:102-155` [^22]: `scripts/scrGenerateItem.gml:47-57` [^23]: `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:617-629` [^24]: `scripts/scrGenerateItem.gml:63-89` [^25]: `scripts/scrGetFavorMsg.gml:85-98` [^26]: `objects/oYetiKing/step.gml:23-40` [^27]: `scripts/scrShopItemsGen.gml:95-98` [^28]: `scripts/scrShopItemsGen.gml:179-191` [^29]: `scripts/scrLevelGen.gml:240` [^30]: `scripts/scrRoomGen.gml:392-397` [^31]: `objects/oShopkeeper/step.gml:173-200` [^32]: `objects/oBrick/create.gml:7-16` [^33]: `scripts/scrGetFavorMsg.gml:67-108` [^34]: `scripts/scrCreateTileObj.gml:345-350` [^35]: Replay `fidelity/replays/item-seed-7-spike-stomp.txt` [^36]: `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:1693-1703` [^37]: `objects/oEnemy/collision_oCharacter.gml:8-11` [^38]: `objects/oSpikeShoes/create.gml:7-8` [^39]: `scripts/scrShopItemsGen.gml:187-188` [^40]: Replay `fidelity/replays/item-seed-7-spike-shoes.txt` ### Source code - `objects/oSpikeShoes/create.gml` - `objects/oEnemy/collision_oCharacter.gml` - `objects/oManTrap/collision_oCharacter.gml` - `scripts/characterStepEvent.gml` - `scripts/scrStealItem.gml` - `scripts/scrShopItemsGen.gml` - `scripts/scrGenerateItem.gml`