Swim

The inherent ability of all player characters and some mobs to travel in and under water. Swimming is slower than running, but probably faster than walking.

When your character is in the water, press the "x" key to dive beneath the water. If the water is too shallow you will not be able to dive, so simply swim out into the water to a deeper level in order to use this feature. You can hold the left mouse button to look around. You can hold the right mouse button and then move your mouse up and down to change your swim direction. Moving your character forward or backwards will then make them swim in the direction you have chosen.

When under water at any more than very shallow depth, a character begins to run out of breath and may drown. Press the space bar, which enables your character to jump when on land, in order to resurface. You may have to press the space bar several times in order to make it back to the surface (depending on how deeply you have descended), get your head above the water, and allow your character to regain his or her breath. If you swim too far from shore, you will begin to become fatigued and will die if you do not reach shallower water before the meter runs out. Fatigue can kill your ghost, but this is an acknowledged bug by Blizzard.

Ways to increase swim speed:

• Druids get an [Aquatic Form] spell that allows them to swim faster than normal while in that form.
• Shamans (at level 28 [Water Walking]) and priests (at level 34 [Levitate]) get spells that allow them to walk across the water surface - however, taking damage breaks the spell.
• The hunter travel aspects may increase swim speed very slightly.
• The  [Azure Silk Belt] will give a +15% swim speed buff while worn. The belt is cloth, level 30 and can be manufactured by tailors (175 skill, taught by trainer). Note that the  [Azure Silk Belt] effect does not stack with a Druid's [Aquatic Form] or the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza trinket.
• There are Potions of Swim Speed available to increase swimming speed for a very brief amount of time (100% speed increase for 20 seconds).
•  [Hydrocane], a staff from Viscous Fallout, a monster in Gnomeregan, allows underwater breathing while equipped.
• One of the rewards for the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza weekly contest is a trinket that allows you to turn into a fish (likely comparable to the druid aquatic form but much less silly looking).

Additional Notes:

• Riding a mount through water deep enough to cause it to begin treading will dismount you after roughly one second. Remember to try jumping over streams in stead of just plowing through.
• You can escape combat from some mobs if they can't swim. For example, a wolf.
• You can escape combat from some swimming mobs because they can't leave the water. For example, a threshadon.
  • In the event of an encounter where you do use the transition between land and sea to break a fight, the mob in question will be healed to full and will generally not de-aggrify.
• Some amphibious mobs can pursue from land into the water and swim after you or from water to land and run after you. For example, a murloc.
  • Also very notable among amphibious mobs are pirates (such as on ships off the coast of STV or in Deadmines) and the Booty Bay guards.