Minecraft players will encounter one of the most annoying things while building, mining underground, or running away from mobs and that is falling from a great height. Many will die to fall damage at least once while playing the game, and it is frustrating every time.
Thankfully, there are many methods you can use to either reduce or negate fall damage. Over the years, the game added new ways to reduce fall damage, but in the past players had to come up with creative ways to break their falls. Luckily, current players have the best of both worlds.
Updated October 6, 2021, By Helen Ashcroft: As Minecraft continues to be updated there are now even more ways to break your fall and prevent fall damage in Minecraft using different blocks and items. Dying is never fun but especially if you have a lot of items on you then trying to scramble back to them before they despawn is stress no one wants. With this in mind, we've updated this list to give you more information about all the ways to reduce or prevent fall damage in Minecraft.
12 Hay Bales
- Hay bales reduce fall damage by 80 percent
Hay bales are a great way to reduce fall damage, although they won't stop it entirely. If you place enough hay bales and land on top of them from a great height, you'll still take damage but it's much more difficult to die from it due to the huge 80 percent damage reduction.
You can potentially fall from almost 100 blocks and still survive so the humble hay bale can make a great temporary floor if you're building at height.
11 Scaffolding
- Scaffolding cancels fall damage from any height but only if crouching
An item most players tend to forget about when they want to break their fall is scaffolding. Although, using scaffolding for this purpose can be challenging to master as it only cancels fall damage if you land on it while crouching.
If you want to avoid fall damage with scaffolding, then you'll need to time the placement of a scaffolding block so it's on the ground before you are. Then, after aligning yourself to land on the scaffolding, you need to crouch so the scaffolding can catch you. If you don't crouch you'll just hit the floor, so timing is absolutely essential for this one.
10 Cobwebs
- Cobwebs will prevent you from taking fall damage but will also slow your speed to 15 percent
Cobwebs are another tricky item to use when reducing fall damage. They mitigate fall damage in the same way as water but you cannot simply walk off afterwards. Once you are in a cobweb, you might find it frustrating to get out of it.
This technique comes in handy if you are exploring a mine and become overwhelmed by mobs. If you see a cobweb underneath you then you can jump onto it to escape mobs. Although, you should be aware that mobs do have a chance of following and spiders and cave spiders are unaffected by the speed reduction. Arrows are also unaffected and can be shot through cobwebs.
9 Slime Blocks
- Slime blocks will prevent fall damage entirely and can also cause you to bounce
If you want to feel like you're jumping on a trampoline, you might want to use a Slime Block to cushion your fall. Simply collect nine Slimeballs to make one Slime Block. You can now place a Slime Block, then jump on top of it from a great height. Assuming you hit the centre, you'll bounce on it without taking any fall damage.
Initially, the bounce will be 60 percent of the height fallen but this reduces down to about 20 percent as the height fallen increases. If you jump as you land your fall damage will be entirely negated but the blocks bounce effect will also be ignored. Jump make sure you don't hurt yourself when you bounce off.
8 A Potion Of Slow Falling
- A Potion of Slow Falling makes you fall slower and be immune to fall damage for the duration of the potion.
There are a few steps to brewing potions so if you're unsure how to get started then you'll need to read our brewing guide. To craft the slow falling potion you will need:
- A Brewing Stand
- Blaze Powder
- A Water Bottle
- Nether Wart
- Phantom Membrane
First, add the blaze powder to the top left and wait for it to melt and power the brewing stand. Next, you'll need to place the water bottle in the bottom left slot, just under the yellow line your blaze powder created. Now add the nether wart to the top slot, just to the left of the down arrow. Once this has dissolved you will need to add the phantom membrane to the same place. This will produce a regular Potion of Slow Falling that reduces falling speed and prevents fall damage for 90 seconds.
7 A Boat
- Sitting in a boat can prevent all fall damage
Sitting in a boat is a valuable and creative technique to prevent fall damage. All you need is five wooden planks which you can assemble into a U shape to craft a boat. Once you have a boat in your inventory, then you can place it down, click it to get inside, and then drive it off an elevated height. When you land, you will not take any damage.
Boats can be occupied by up to two players and are controlled using your regular movement keys. However, they can be destroyed by explosions, fire, lava, and cactus so you do need to watch where you land.
6 Ladders
- Ladders can prevent fall damage but only when used with care
Much like the scaffolding method, using ladders will require some patience. If you are near a ladder while free falling, you can avoid damage or death by navigating toward the ladder to get on it. This will not cause any fall damage.
This is because once you get into a ladder's area of effect range your speed is reduced to that of a player climbing a ladder. Assuming you can land on the ladder, you will then move up or down it as usual. However, if you hit the top of the ladder then you will still die.
5 Feather Falling Boots
- Feather Falling reduces fall damage by up to 48 percent
Feather Falling is an enchantment that you can put on your boots to reduce fall damage. Unlike the Potion of Slow Falling, the Feather Falling enchantment will not affect falling speed. Feather Falling reduces damage by 12 percent at its lowest level, gradually increasing until Feather Falling IV which reduces it by 48 percent.
You can combine the enchantment with Protection to gain up to a maximum of 80 percent fall damage reduction. This will require a combination of Feather Falling IV, Protection IV and Protection II across your armor.
4 An Ender Pearl
- Ender Pearls can help prevent fall damage but will also cause 2.5 hearts of damage
You can throw an Ender Pearl and be teleported to wherever it lands. It's a handy item to use while falling from a fatal drop, but it won't fully prevent damage. You will take 2.5 hearts of damage after using the Ender Pearl so if your health is low you can still die.
You can acquire Ender Pearls by killing Enderman which have a 50 percent chance of dropping the item after they are slain. The best way to kill an Enderman is by standing under a platform built two blocks from the ground so you can hit them but they can't hit you.
3 Water Bucket
- Landing in water prevents all fall damage
Many Minecraft players will recognize this technique as the classic method to reduce fall damage. All you need to do is craft a bucket by placing three iron ingots in a V shape and then fill it up with water. Keep that bucket handy because it might be helpful in a fatal situation.
Falling into water negates all fall damage, even if it's just a single block of water. This means that if you are falling from a height you should empty the bucket onto the block you'll land on so the water can break your fall. You can also land in a stream of water to achieve the same thing.
2 A Bed
- Beds reduce fall damage by 50 percent
That's right, the humble bed can also help you survive a fall. When you land on a bed you'll bounce with 66 percent of your impact velocity. You'll also take 50 percent reduced fall damage. Beds are a must-have item, crafted by simply placing three wool above three planks. The wool colours must match but the planks don't need to.
Since you will spawn at the last bed you slept in, you can also click on a bed to sleep in it as you fall, assuming you are fast enough. Use this option if you don't think you'll survive even the 50 percent reduced damage, since fall damage will be stopped until you wake up. This means you can sleep to set spawn then immediately respawn by that same bed.
1 Powdered Snow
- Powdered snow prevents falls damage if you fall through it, but not if you land on it
Powdered snow is a strange item since it both does and doesn't prevent fall damage. You can fall through it slowly without taking damage, in a similar manner to cobwebs. However, if you drop from a great height onto it you will still die.
We've included it here because it's very easy to get confused by its mechanics and hope it will break your fall. In short, never trust powdered snow.