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This page lists ideas for elevators.

What is an elevator?[edit]


Piston Elevator[edit]

There are many designs of piston elevators. They all essentially use pistons to move the players either up or down.

TNT Cannon[edit]

This extremely fast elevator uses gravity and water to compress primed TNT into a small area, creating a powerful explosion force. It is expensive in that TNT is not renewable, and is dangerous on Survival.

TNT Cannon Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0TSh8_c1no)

Multi-floor elevator[edit]

These elevators have the ability to ascend and descend and can stop and start at desired floors, they can be complicated and require more resources. These elevators often use characteristics of other designs and apply multi-floor circuitry to make them. They can be practical, but can take a very long while to make. I strongly suggest that you have patience when making this strenuous build.

Up and down[edit]







Spiral elevators feature a vertically stacked spiral of pistons. Since the pistons and wiring surround the player while they ascend, this type is not good for giving a clear view. However, they are more suitable for multiplayer, as they do not transport the player as quickly and so are less likely to trap the player due to lag.







Single column elevator[edit]


Slime Block Elevators[edit]



This design uses a mechanic that moves slime blocks up and down in a conveyor belt fashion moving a platform that the player stands on. You can view the 3D schematic for this elevator here.




These elevators bounce the player up a series of slime blocks.

Water elevators[edit]


Tube design[edit]

Due to the aquatic update, these elevators are much faster and safer because the player can now swim much faster in water that flows down. It is advised to create multiple of these in a stairway if you want multiple levels as it may be hard to leave the elevator through a midway exit.


  2. Start to build up to your 2nd Floor.
  3. If you haven't done so, build 3 blocks up from the 2nd Floor. Then, seal the top up.
  5. Smash out the ceiling and put water in all the corners or just lava.


A simple waterfall can be ridden up, or slow a fall to a safe speed. Make a waterfall by placing a source in a one block gap in a floor, or on a ledge in a box that will keep the flow in a single block space on the way down. If possible make a one block hole at the bottom of the waterfall to keep the water from spreading out over the floor. Water pouring out from the landing site will keep mobs back allowing for a safer landing in occupied territory.

As the player is rising, or falling, careful motion should be used to move until one is far enough out of the vertical stream that air is available, one can tell because the breath meter disappears. Then, there is no limit on how far up or down one can go in the water. It is also possible to stay centered in the stream, but move sideways far enough that the breath meter is reset once in a while. This of course needs careful movement control.

Mobs that fall into the stream will ride down safely, but they cannot rise up in one of these.

A temporary waterfall can be used to make a safe ride down from any height. If one places a water source close to, or at, the edge of a long fall the water stream only needs to be left flowing for a few seconds to be safe to ride all the way down. One can use the empty bucket to pick the source back up and then immediately walk off the edge in the stream to be carried over the edge and then ride it safely down. This will also make a safe landing site even in lava, but be aware that as soon as one lands on the obsidian that one has to move counter to the flow or risk being carried to the edge of the stream into the lava.

Java breathable water elevator[edit]

A basic water elevator that works well in survival mode can be made in any vertical shaft that is 2 blocks by one block.



Bottom Up Construction[edit]

Starting at the bottom the entrance to the shaft should be in a wall that is at least one block thick. The entrance should be a 2 block high opening with a door set in the last blocks space before the two deep space for the elevator. The door is to keep the bottom two water sources from leaking out the opening. Now, step into the shaft and place signs in a zigzag up one of the 2 block wide walls as high as you can reach. Then, fill in the gaps between signs with water sources, thus forming a zigzag of water blocks. Reload on water buckets and ride the elevator up as high as you can, place more signs as you bob up and down in the top water block, and then place more sources. Repeat till you reach the top.

Top Down Construction[edit]


Stand on the line between the two blocks that will be the top of your elevator shaft. Dig down one block under each foot (note 1). Place a sign on a block on the two-block wide wall in front of you, it does not matter which. Dig down another block depth for both blocks. Place a sign on the same wall as the first, but on the other block, and repeat all this once more so that you have a four block deep shaft with a zigzag of signs on one of the wide walls. Looking up place two water sources beside the first and second signs that you placed. You are now standing in a safe breathing space at the bottom of a working elevator that you can use to return to the top to reload water buckets, get more signs or whatever.


As one rides up or down the breath meter may flash in and out of view unless you are able to stay perfectly in the middle of the alternating water blocks, but no matter as you will never be more than a few ticks from your next "breath".


Note 1: the reason you stand between two blocks is that one cannot fall when at least one foot is on a block, meaning when any part of your bounding box is over a solid block. Digging two or three blocks deep on one side, then the other, will allow the intrepid miner to notice that a ceiling has been breached before falling into empty space.

Fast Water Bubble (Soul Sand) Elevator and drop-shaft[edit]

A rapid elevator for any height with no drowning issues, with a fast drop shaft. (1.13+)


  • 1 block of Soul Sand
  • Bucket(s) and water source


Dig down (or construct upward) a single-block column to the desired depth or height surrounded by the solid block of your choice. Dig a block out at the bottom of the column and place a soul sand block as the 'floor'. To make an entrance, replace the bottom two blocks of two adjacent sides with fence or glass panes creating a diagonal walk-in entrance. Fill up as many buckets as you can with water, and starting with the bottom space above the soul sand, place a source water block at each level (bubbles won't flow past a gap) until your column is full to the top. Once completed, simply step in the diagonal entrance into the (breathable) water column and you will shoot to the top.

Note: to complete purely in survival mode, don't place the soul sand until after you've filled the column with water blocks, since you can't swim down through a bubble column. Be careful not to drown!


Dig or construct another 1-block column close to your elevator. Make your entrance two blocks high, a place a sign at the two-block level (eye-level) below the column. Place a water source block two blocks up from that, creating a two-block flowing water column. You can now drop down from the top of the column, and the water will slow you to drop safely past the sign to floor level.

Combining the drop shaft with a bubble elevator can be done with them touching at the corners of the shafts for a 2x2 block square vertical up/down the shaft for deep mining. Looking at the 2x2 block from a diagonal, put the drop shaft at the 'front', glass or fence at the two side blocks two blocks high, then the bubble shaft at the 'back'. You can fall through the drop shaft, walk out, then walk through the drop shaft into the bubble column to go back up.

Breathable water elevator[edit]

An expensive water elevator that works well in survival mode.


This elevator is basically a regular tube elevator attached to conduits.


Build your conduit activation frame in a box of water right next to your tube elevator. Depending on the size and number of tubes, multiple frames may be needed. Add to your conduit or add more conduit frames until you can breath in your entire elevator.


It is dangerous to move between multiple normal elevators without letting your breath meter replenish out of the water. However, conduit elevators can't be built with the current versions of Minecraft.

Alternate java water elevator[edit]

A water-sign elevator can also be made in a one block shaft, which will be cheaper if making it as a freestanding column. The construction notes are written for survival mode.


  • Signs
  • Bucket(s) of water
  • Infinite water source
  • construction block of your choice


Top Down Construction[edit]

This method is more useful when building a freestanding elevator up from a floor. One can tower up from the floor, placing blocks on all four sides at each jump on the way up. Then start placing signs and water all the way back down.

Start by placing your safety net on the ground - make a one block hole and fill it with a water source. When you fall from high up in the shaft, and you likely will, a single block of water is enough to break your fall so you take no damage.

Once you are at the intended top of your elevator place signs two and four blocks below your feet. You won't be able to reach down 6 blocks so now you can start with the water sources. Put one on top of each sign, then ready your signs, more full buckets, and jump in. Use the swimming action to stay in the bottom most water block and place signs further down the shaft, then place another water bucket above this last sign (depending on the size, you may have to keep returning to the top to reload your buckets and repeat until you get down to the bottom).

The last sign can most easily be placed from the opening of the elevator at the bottom on the second block up from the floor. This will hold the "entry" water block above the opening in the first block of the shaft proper. It does not matter if you have two water blocks at the bottom of the shaft as players and mobs will rise through them fast enough that breathing will not be a problem.

Bottom Up Construction[edit]

At the bottom leave a two block high opening (from the floor) for the entrance. Start placing signs on the opposite wall of the shaft starting with the second block from the ground. Above it place a water source, then jump up into the water and swim up. Place signs and water sources alternating until you reach the top. You will be bobbing up and down due to the swimming action you need to use to keep on top of the uppermost water block, but some practice will make it easy to work this way.

If you need to have an opening taller than 2 blocks place ladders up the back wall of the shaft to the highest block of the opening. The bottom-most water block will then sit on top of the ladder.

Using glass blocks to encase your water elevator gives it a cool look, and is useful for monitoring a mob mover.

Boat Elevators[edit]


This boat launcher / elevator tutorial demonstrates the ability to connect two different bodies of water. This design works automatically; simply ride a boat into the contraption to be launched upwards to a max height of 11 blocks. Being simple and compact, this build is similar in concept to real world water locks used across the world (i.e. the Panama Canal).

The main component of this build is a slime block launcher triggered by a tripwire hook that launches the boat and its rider directly upward to another body of water. Different from other boat elevators, this design uses redstone to launch a boat from one water source into another at a higher elevation, giving the rider a quick and easy form of transportation.


Boat design[edit]

Minecart Elevators[edit]

Simple Minecart Elevator[edit]


To create the elevator, all you need is a 1×1 shaft, down (or up) to the place where you want to go. Once the shaft is finished, you will need to divide the number of blocks by either four if you are in singleplayer, or five if you are in multiplayer. This is to figure out how many minecarts and trapdoors you will need.


  1. Fill up the shaft all the way to the top by towering. Make sure that there is room for you to get out of the elevator after the ride is over!
  3. When you reach the bottom of your shaft, put a ladder underneath the last minecart, and you're done!
  4. OPTIONAL: Instead of putting a ladder underneath the last minecart, place water at the bottom.

To operate, just stand underneath the bottom minecart, look up, and hold the Right Mouse Button. If you did it right, you should go straight up to the top. To descend a minecart elevator, just walk over it; you should fall through the minecarts to the bottom, and the ladder or water will break your fall.


For other purposes, pigs with saddles also work like an elevator.

Boat In a Minecart Elevator[edit]

The following paragraph demonstrates the use of MC-113871 to make a contraption.
Bugs of this nature may be fixed at any time without warning: when this happens, the contraption will cease to work.
Use at your own risk.

This elevator works on a recently discovered bug that allows for a minecart to pick up, and be occupied by a boat. Players and certain mobs can also occupy the boat and thus be transported by the minecart.

The design allows for a boat (occupied or empty) to be carried along with a rail system. Due to the way tracks function, one can essentially move a boat in the same manner allowing for more flexibility in transportation. Because of the way entities work, a boat in a minecart has infinite momentum. An example would be when two different bodies of water are at different elevations. The design from the above video can transport the player and their boat between the two bodies of water without exiting the boat, creating a type of elevator.

Elytra Launchers[edit]

Elytra launchers do not resemble any real-life elevator, but can transport the player hundred of blocks in the air instantly. They are an end-game method of transportation, since you need an elytra to use one. To use one the player equips the elytra, and jumps into the elytra launcher. The player must press space on the way down. The player hits a large number of boats, which all push the player, causing him/her to travel very high up.

Command block elevators[edit]

Note: These elevators use command blocks which cannot be obtained legitimately in Survival mode. These elevators are intended for server ops and adventure map builds.




In recent snapshot 18w45a and Bedrock Edition beta, a new scaffolding block was added. This block can be used to make space efficient elevators you can move up and down on. Placing doors around a tower of scaffolding can make it look like a real-world elevator. Use the sneak key to go down and jump to go up.

Using mods[edit]
