Depth Strider

Depth Strider is a rare armor enchantment in Minecraft 1.21. Depth Strider counters the drag of water, letting you walk and swim horizontally through it at close to your normal land speed.

Its opening level already delivers a noticeable boost — Reduces water slowdown by 1/3 — and it climbs from there to a maximum of level 3 (III) on your boots.

Depth Strider tops out at level 3, shown as III on the boots, and the gap between the levels is where the enchantment's character really lives.

Its three levels each remove a third of the water slowdown, so Depth Strider III erases it entirely and you move through water as fast as across ground. It affects horizontal movement only — it does not speed up swimming straight up or down — and it conflicts with Frost Walker.

Depth Strider fits exactly one item — the boots — and nothing else will accept it, so it is a dedicated boots enchantment through and through.

Depth Strider cannot share a boots with Frost Walker. Because of that single conflict you have to pick either Depth Strider or Frost Walker for any given boots — never both.

Depth Strider can be rolled directly at an enchanting table, where reaching its top level of III on a boots generally wants a fully bookshelf-powered table at roughly level 6. Players who would rather not gamble for Depth Strider can hunt the book down through loot chest and villager trading and apply it at an anvil.

Its selection weight of 2 makes Depth Strider a rare roll: it surfaces only now and then on a boots, so you may need to re-roll several times or simply trade a villager for the book.