- Ladders can be crafted by placing 7 sticks in an 'H' pattern on the crafting table in Minecraft.
- A ladder in Minecraft must be attached to the side of a solid block for correct placement.
- Clever building techniques like using trapdoors and paintings can also help to create floating and hidden ladder designs.
Ladders are some of the most used items when you go mining deep inside a Minecraft cave. Whether you’re climbing a watchtower or digging down to find a Stronghold or a Trial Chamber, ladders are a must in these cases. So, if you’re wondering how to make a ladder in Minecraft, this guide covers all you need to know.
Materials Required to Make a Ladder in Minecraft
Learning how to make a ladder in Minecraft is quite easy since it requires a single crafting ingredient. Here’s what you need:
| Item | Amount | Where to get |
|---|---|---|
| Sticks | 7x | Make these using 2x wooden planks |
| Crafting Table | 1x | Make it using 4x wooden planks |
Getting sticks in Minecraft is the most basic task that you learn after getting inside the game. Go near the very first tree you see and punch it with your hands.
Collect the logs, turn them into wooden planks, and then place two planks vertically in your inventory crafting grid to get the sticks. Similarly, you can make a crafting table by placing four such wooden planks in the grid.


How to Make a Ladder in Minecraft: Step-by-Step Crafting Recipe
If you’re looking for how to make a ladder in Minecraft and have gathered the required number of sticks, follow the steps below:
- Interact with a Crafting Table to access the 3×3 grid, since you can’t make ladders on the smaller 2×2 inventory grid.
- Fill up the first and third columns with 3 sticks each.
- Place the last stick at the center cell of the grid to complete the ladder crafting recipe.
So, placing the 7 sticks in an ‘H‘ pattern on the crafting table grid gives you 3x ladders. You can now drag and drop the ladders in your inventory to use them later in the game.

Apart from crafting them, you can find ladders naturally generating in the Minecraft Strongholds, Mineshafts, villages, igloos, End Cities, Woodland Mansions, Ancient Cities, Trail Ruins, and in the Trial Chambers as well. You can find these structures easily when generating a world using some of the best Minecraft seeds in our list.
How to Place and Use Ladders in Minecraft
Learning how to make a ladder in Minecraft PC and consoles is only half the story if you don’t know how to place it in the game. A ladder can only be placed on the side of a solid block. Follow the steps below to place and use ladders in Minecraft:
- Simply aim your cursor at the side face of the block and click the right mouse button to place the ladder.
- Once placed, simply walk into the ladder to begin climbing. Make sure that you point directly above your head while climbing; otherwise, you may fall accidentally.
In Minecraft Bedrock Edition, you can press and hold the jump key to climb the ladder faster. One of the biggest advantages of using the ladders is that they completely prevent fall damage as long as you grab onto one before hitting the ground. Although you can always make a potion of Slow Falling to reduce fall damage, a simple ladder is all you need if you’re skilled enough.
Ladders cannot be placed on the top surface of any blocks, and they break when the attached block is broken. So, players who often ask the common question: how to make a floating ladder in Minecraft or how to make a hanging ladder in Minecraft, understand that there’s no way to do so in the survival world.
Instead, you have to change to creative mode and use the Minecraft command ‘/give @s minecraft:barrier‘ to add an invisible block where you can attach the ladder.
That is all you need to know about how to make a ladder in Minecraft. So, what other Minecraft house ideas do you have in mind using a ladder? Tell us in the comments below.
All you need is 7 sticks and a crafting table to make a ladder in Minecraft. Place the 7 sticks in an ‘H‘ pattern on the crafting table to make 3 pieces of ladder.
Since you require 7 sticks to make a ladder, you will need 4 wooden planks or a single wooden log to make 3 pieces of ladder.
The most common alternatives to ladders in Minecraft that can be used for going up and down are scaffolding, vines, bubble elevators, and the standard stairs.
