Tutorials/Pillar jumping

Pillar jumping (also known as Pillaring or Towering) is a method of reaching a higher altitude that can't otherwise easily be reached in a map. The pillars (spoken of derogatorily as "noob towers") created serve only the player creating them and are useless to others.

Pillars created in this way are useful in editing adjacent tall structures. However, they also cause the map to look unnatural, since many may leave the pillars without destroying them. They can also be used to get back up after going mining, and as a natural landmark to lead you back to your house. They become more useful for this if a water or lava source is placed on the top.

Method


Pillar jumping is achieved by repeating the following steps:
 * 1) Aim at feet.
 * 2) With a material such as sand, gravel, or dirt selected, hold right mouse button.
 * 3) Hold space (to continuously jump).

Removal
It is prudent to remove pillars used for pillar jumping when they are no longer needed, especially on multiplayer servers. They are of no use to any other player, nor the player that created them once they leave it. Many players find that a large number of pillars can make the terrain look bad, and, depending on the amount, they can even inhibit moving around the server.

If the pillar is more than a few blocks high, stepping off of it will result in damage. Using a shovel to dig your way down is an efficient way to both clean up after yourself and prevent injury. This is one of the few times when digging directly beneath your own feet is a good plan. If you don't do that, you should use one of the following methods:

Removal can be accomplished with minimal effort if the pillars are made with a gravity-affected block such as gravel. The method involves placing a torch (or other similar blocks such as fences that have the same effect) on the ground, then directly above it placing a non-gravity-affected block such as dirt, and then building the column with the gravel on top of that block. When pillar is no longer useful, the dirt can be removed which will cause the gravel to fall onto the torch. This will cause all the gravel to rapidly disintegrate. You can also build it without the torch and dirt and then destroy the bottom block by hand and quickly place a torch underneath the tower and the blocks that fall will disintegrate.

Even without using the torch, sign, etc., it is beneficial to use a gravity affected block to make pillars, since when the player is done with them they can stand at the bottom of the pillar and delete it block by block, instead of having to start from the top and work their way down as they would have to do if they used a non-gravity-affected block.

Players can also build a pillar out of a flammable material such as wood or wool, then ignite it when it is no longer wanted, however this presents a number of problems. First is the possibility for unintentional spread of fire. Another is the fact that a block lit on fire is not guaranteed to burn away completely, which can lead to burning wooden blocks suspended high in the air (although this problem has been mostly resolved since the release of Beta 1.3). Since Beta 1.6, using fire to burn very high pillars is not recommended, as it can stop midway due to the nerfed fire.