The First Law of Noiting

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Noita is a magical roguelike, a chaotic physics sandbox, and more often than not—a funeral waiting to happen. Before perks, before wands, before your first desperate stab at rerolling the gods’ will, there’s one simple rule:

Hotkey your water flask to a button you can hit without thinking.

You start your very first Noita run with a water flask. It may not be there every run after, but it should be in your kit every time. Here's why.

Mina's cloak seems to have a spiritual affinity for combustion, and fire damage in Noita scales with your max HP. It doesn't matter how much hp Mina can rack up, no fire immunity means Mina will always burn up in a matter of seconds, that is if you don't have a way to extinguish the flames.

Being stained with water grants Mina temporary fire resistance. Just being wet lets you dash through fire without igniting, allowing more aggressive traversal and evasion. The stain dries off quickly while moving, so maintaining it is key.

Water is arguably the Most Versatile Material in Noita. Here’s what else it can do:

Removes unwanted stains: Water won't just extinguish Minas flames, it will clean Mina of other stains which may be unwanted like toxic sludge and poison.

Neutralizes toxic sludge: Purifies it into water.

Damages fire-based enemies: water isn’t just defense, fire-based enemies like the Stendari take massive damage from getting wet. Even if they are not fire-based, you can drown enemies with enough water, careful not to drown yourself.

Source of more concentrated mana: add any amount of concentrated mana to water and all the water will get transmuted to concentrated mana. careful with this, you still want to have your water.

Turns lava into rock: grants access through deadly terrain.

Why does the Hotkey Matter?

Water is not a backup. It’s a reaction tool. Mina won’t survive if you have to fumble through the inventory every time Mina catches on fire, step in poison, or get covered in slime in a boss fight (You know which one).

Bind it to something fast: Q, E, mouse button, anything within reach of your panic reflex. You’ll want it where your survival instincts can reach it.

Conclusion

This part of the series only exists for those new to Noita since all the other tips are wasted if Mina can't live past their first ignition of the run. that said, if you're new and haven't completed a run yet, I recommend you stop here and experience the world of Noita for yourself. Major spoilers follow. Happy Noiting.

But if you're staying for the long run: hotkey your water flask. It's your fire extinguisher, lava bridge, purification station, and your best early-game tool and onto the next tech.

Next article:  Gold and other Physics Objects: Printing Money in Early Game Noita

Or learn more about water in Noita: from The Wiki