If you're trying to get a roblox studio humanoid walk speed script up and running, you've probably noticed that the default speed of 16 feels a bit sluggish for certain game types. Whether you want your players to sprint like they're in a track meet or crawl through a dark hallway in a horror game, tweaking that WalkSpeed property is the way to go. It's one of those fundamental bits of coding that every Roblox dev needs to master early on, but it can actually be a little finicky if you don't know where to put the script or how the character loads in.
Where does the WalkSpeed actually live?
Before we dive into the code, you've got to understand what you're actually changing. Every player character in Roblox has an object inside it called a Humanoid. This isn't the physical body parts like the head or arms, but rather the "brain" of the character that handles health, jumping, and—you guessed it—movement speed.
The default WalkSpeed is 16 studs per second. If you want to change it, you're basically just telling that Humanoid property to be a different number. It sounds simple, but the real trick is making sure the script finds the Humanoid at the right time. If the script runs before the character even exists in the game world, it'll just throw an error and nothing will happen.
Writing a simple script for permanent speed
The easiest way to change a player's speed the moment they join is to use a script inside StarterCharacterScripts. Anything you put in this folder gets automatically copied into the player's character every single time they spawn or respawn. This is great because it saves you from having to write complex logic to detect when a player dies and comes back.
Here is a basic way to do it:
```lua local character = script.Parent local humanoid = character:WaitForChild("Humanoid")
humanoid.WalkSpeed = 32 -- This doubles the normal speed ```
Notice how I used WaitForChild("Humanoid")? That's a super important habit to get into. Roblox games can be laggy, and sometimes the script starts running a millisecond before the Humanoid is actually loaded. If you just tried to say character.Humanoid, the script might crash because it can't find it yet. WaitForChild basically tells the script, "Hey, hang on a second until the Humanoid shows up."
Using a LocalScript vs. a Server Script
This is where a lot of people get tripped up. Should you change the speed on the server (a regular Script) or on the client (a LocalScript)?
If you use a LocalScript, the change happens right on the player's computer. This makes the movement feel very snappy and responsive. Roblox actually gives the player's computer "Network Ownership" over their own character, which means the server usually trusts what the client says about its movement. However, if you're worried about hackers or exploiters changing their own speed to a million, you might want to handle important speed changes on the server.
For most casual games or single-player experiences, putting a LocalScript in StarterPlayerScripts or StarterCharacterScripts works totally fine. But if you're making a competitive game where speed is a huge advantage, keep an eye on how you're managing those values.
Making a speed power-up (The Touch Event)
Let's say you don't want the player to be fast all the time. Maybe you want a glowing part on the ground that gives them a "speed boost" when they step on it. This is a classic Roblox trope. You'll want to place a regular Script inside a Part and use a Touched event.
It would look something like this:
```lua local speedPart = script.Parent
local function onTouch(otherPart) local character = otherPart.Parent local humanoid = character:FindFirstChild("Humanoid")
if humanoid then humanoid.WalkSpeed = 50 task.wait(5) -- Wait 5 seconds humanoid.WalkSpeed = 16 -- Set it back to normal end end
speedPart.Touched:Connect(onTouch) ```
There's a little bit of logic here to make sure whatever touched the part is actually a player. Since everything in Roblox is made of parts, a random falling brick could touch your speed pad. By checking if humanoid then, we make sure we only try to change the speed of something that actually has a Humanoid brain.
Why does the speed reset when I die?
This is probably the most common question I see. You might have a script that sets the speed to 40, but then the player falls off a cliff, respawns, and they're back to being a slow-poke.
This happens because when a player dies, their old character is destroyed and a brand-new one is created. If your script was sitting inside the old character, it's gone. If your script was a one-time thing that ran when the player first joined the server, it won't trigger again for the new character.
To fix this, you either keep your script in StarterCharacterScripts (as mentioned before) or you use the PlayerAdded and CharacterAdded events in a server script located in ServerScriptService. It looks a bit more complicated, but it's much more "professional":
lua game.Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player) player.CharacterAdded:Connect(function(character) local humanoid = character:WaitForChild("Humanoid") humanoid.WalkSpeed = 40 end) end)
This script stays running on the server the whole time. Every time a new person joins, it sets up a "listener" for them. Every time that person gets a new character (spawn or respawn), it finds the new Humanoid and bumps the speed up.
Dealing with animations at high speeds
One thing people often forget is that the default walking animation is designed for a speed of 16. If you use your roblox studio humanoid walk speed script to set the speed to 100, your character's legs are going to look like they're vibrating or moving in slow motion while the body flies across the map. It looks pretty goofy.
If you're going for a super-speed game, you might want to look into adjusting the AnimationPriority or the AdjustSpeed function on the track. For a quick fix, you can actually go into the Game Settings in Roblox Studio, under "Avatar," and change the scaling or the animation style. But honestly, most players are used to the goofy "legs-sliding" look, so unless you're making a AAA-quality experience, don't lose too much sleep over it.
Common bugs to watch out for
If your script isn't working, check the Output window first. If you don't have it open, go to the "View" tab and click "Output." It'll tell you exactly what's wrong.
- Infinite Yield Possible: This usually means you used
WaitForChildon something that doesn't exist or is misspelled. Check your spelling—Roblox is case-sensitive! "humanoid" is not the same as "Humanoid." - Script isn't running: Make sure your script isn't "Disabled" in the properties window. Also, make sure it's a LocalScript if you're trying to use
game.Players.LocalPlayer. Regular Scripts can't use that! - Speed is stuttering: If the player is moving fast but keeps snapping back to an old position, it's probably a network lag issue. This usually happens if the server and the client are fighting over where the player should be.
Wrapping it up
Getting your roblox studio humanoid walk speed script working is a huge step in making your game feel unique. It's a simple property change, but as you've seen, where you put that change matters a lot. For most of you, sticking a script in StarterCharacterScripts is going to be the easiest path. It's clean, it works every time someone respawns, and it's easy to manage.
Experiment with different numbers! A speed of 16 is default, 32 is a fast run, and anything over 100 starts to get hard for players to control. Just remember to keep an eye on those Humanoids, and you'll be making "Speed Run 5" in no time. Happy dev-ing!