Breathing Reed

You have to hold it. The reed only works while it is the item in your hand, so the entire time it is helping you are not holding a pickaxe or a weapon. It slows how fast your breath drains and halves the damage you take once the meter empties, and the tip does not need to break the surface for any of that, so it works at the bottom of an ocean trench just as well as in the shallows.

The numbers only get interesting when you pair it with a Diving Helmet or one of the gear upgrades. Together they turn a dive from an anxious sprint into something you can explore with, and drowning damage drops to almost nothing. The gear sits in an accessory slot while this occupies your hands, so they complement each other, but once Arctic Diving Gear is on you the reed rarely comes back out of the chest.

• It is technically a broadsword and can be swung, but attacking switches the breathing effect off until the swing finishes.
• Size modifiers change how it fights and nothing about how it breathes.
• Holding it cancels the drowning a Fish Bowl inflicts when you wear one on your head.