Overview
A ladder is the oldest vertical transport in Minecraft and still the most reliable. It attaches to the side of any solid block and you climb it by walking into it, holding sneak to hold position partway up — which is the detail that makes ladders better than scaffolding for a permanent shaft, since you can stop and look around without falling. Mobs can climb ladders too, so an unprotected ladder shaft into a cave is a route into your base rather than out of it. Ladders slow your fall to a survivable speed if you brush against them, which is why an emergency ladder on a mining shaft wall is worth the 7 sticks. Three ladders come from 7 sticks, which is roughly two logs, so they are effectively free from the first tree you cut. They can be waterlogged, making them a way to climb an underwater shaft. The classic use beyond climbing is decorative: ladders on a wall read as bars, cable trays or trellises, and a ladder placed on the ceiling of a 1-block gap is a common way to fake a detail.
Permanent vertical access in mine shafts and towers, an emergency brake on a long fall, underwater climbing when waterlogged, and decorative bars or trellis detailing on walls.
In Minecraft 1.21.4, Ladder is a functional block. Ladder is made at a crafting table. A hardness of 0.4 means it is one of the quicker blocks to clear.
No specific tool is required to collect it. Broken correctly, it drops itself. Because it is transparent it does not block light.
A blast resistance of 0.4 means a single creeper will clear it away. It stacks to 64. You make it with Stick.
No recipe takes it as an ingredient.
How to get it
Craft 3 ladders from 7 sticks, which is about 2 logs' worth of wood. Ladders also generate in mineshafts, strongholds, villages and woodland mansions, usually already in a shaft you can use.
Tips
- Hold sneak on a ladder to stop and stay in place, which scaffolding does not allow.
- Mobs climb ladders too, so cover the top of a shaft or you have built them a staircase into your base.
- Brushing a ladder during a fall slows you to a survivable speed — line one wall of a deep shaft.
- Ladders can be waterlogged, which makes them the simplest way to climb an underwater shaft.
How long it takes to break
Ladder sits at hardness 0.4: 0.6 seconds per block with your fists, 0.1 with the correct netherite tool.
No particular tool tier is required: any tool, or none at all, still yields the drop, so the table below is about speed rather than about whether you get anything.
Each Efficiency level adds level² + 1 to the tool's speed, so a level V tool clears this about 2 times faster than an unenchanted one.
| Tool | No enchantment | Efficiency III | Efficiency V |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand | 0.6 s | 0.6 s | 0.6 s |
| Wooden | 0.3 s | instant | instant |
| Stone | 0.15 s | instant | instant |
| Iron | 0.1 s | instant | instant |
| Diamond | 0.1 s | instant | instant |
| Netherite | 0.1 s | instant | instant |
| Golden | instant | instant | instant |
Properties
With 0.4 blast resistance Ladder goes down to any nearby explosion. It is transparent to light and produces no light. One inventory slot holds 64, the normal full stack. An axe is fastest here; any other class mines it at bare-hand speed, because the bonus only applies to the class the block is tagged for. As furnace fuel it burns for 15 seconds — one and a half smelting operations.
- Transparent
- Yes
- Required tool
- Any
- Fuel value
- 15 s
Crafting recipe
Crafting Table
Ladder ×3
Drops
Mined with any, Ladder drops itself.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How do you get Ladder in Minecraft?
Ladder is crafted from Stick.
What tool do you need to break Ladder?
No specific tool is required — Ladder can be broken by hand.
Is Ladder blast resistant?
Ladder has a blast resistance of 0.4, so an explosion nearby will destroy it.
How many Ladder fit in one stack?
Ladder stacks to 64, so a single double chest holds 3,456 of them.
How long does Ladder take to break?
0.1 seconds with a netherite-tier tool of the right class, or 0.6 seconds bare-handed.
