Stairs are blocks that allow mobs and players to change elevation without jumping.
Obtaining
Stairs can be crafted, or can be found in villages, strongholds, nether fortresses, and end cities.
Breaking
Wood stairs drop themselves as items when broken with any tool, or with no tool, but an axe is fastest. Non-wood stairs drop themselves as items only if broken with a pickaxe.
| Block | Brick Cobblestone Nether Brick |
Stone Brick Purpur |
Quartz Sandstone Red Sandstone |
Wood | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 2 | 1.5 | 0.8 | ? | |
| Tool | |||||
| Breaking time[A] | |||||
| Default | 10 | 7.5 | 4 | ? | |
| Wooden | 1.5 | 1.15 | 0.6 | ? | |
| Stone | 0.75 | 0.6 | 0.3 | ? | |
| Iron | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | ? | |
| Diamond | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.15 | ? | |
| Netherite | 0.35 | 0.25 | 0.15 | ? | |
| Golden | 0.25 | 0.2 | 0.1 | ? | |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Crafting
Wood stairs must be crafted entirely from one type and color of wood, and they retain the style of that wood's type and color.
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood Stairs | Matching Wood Planks | ||
| Cobblestone Stairs | Cobblestone | ||
| Brick Stairs | Bricks | ||
| Stone Brick Stairs | Any Stone Bricks | ||
| Nether Brick Stairs | Nether Brick | ||
| Sandstone Stairs | Any Sandstone | ||
| Quartz Stairs | Any Quartz Block | ||
| Red Sandstone Stairs | Any Red Sandstone | ||
| Purpur Stairs | Any Purpur Block | Can use purpur block and pillar interchangeably. Pocket Edition only. | |
| Purpur Stairs | Purpur Block | Can use purpur block only, not the pillar. Computer and Console Edition only. |
Natural generation
Oak Wood Stairs can be found in:
- Plains Villages
Spruce Wood Stairs can be found in:
- Taiga Villages
- Igloos
Birch Wood Stairs can be found in:
Jungle Wood Stairs can’t be found
Acacia Wood Stairs can be found in:
- Savanna Villages
Dark Oak Wood Stairs can be found in:
Sand Stone Stairs can be found in:
- Desert Villages
Red Sandstone Stairs can’t be found
Cobbelstone Stairs can be found in:
- Plains Villages
- Savana Villages
- Taiga Villages
Brick Stairs can’t be found
Stone Brick Stairs can be found in:
Nether Brick Stairs can be found in:
Quartz Stairs can’t be found
Purpur Stairs can be found in:
- End Ships
Usage
Walking
Walking up stairs is faster than jumping up the same distance. It also only costs 0.01 exhaustion from the player's hunger bar per horizontal meter walked on a stairway, versus 0.2 exhaustion per jump.
Placing
Stairs Reconfiguration — Left: Original facing when separate. Right: Changed shape when adjacent (top: inner corner; bottom: outer corner).
To place stairs, use a stairs item while pointing at a surface facing the space the stairs should occupy. Stairs will place with the half-block side closest to the player.
Stairs can be placed either right side up or upside-down:
- Pointing at a block top or the bottom half of a block side will place the stairs right side up.
- Pointing at a block bottom or the top half of a block side will place the stairs upside-down.
Stairs will change their shape to join with adjacent stairs (of any material):
- When a stairs' half-block side is adjacent to the side of another stairs, the stairs' full-block side will wrap into an "L" shape to join the other stairs (it creates an "inner corner").
- When a stairs' full-block side is adjacent to the side of another stairs, the stairs' full-block side will shorten to join only the other stairs' full-block side (it creates an "outer corner").
Right side up stairs won't join with upside-down stairs and vice versa.
Fuel
Wooden stairs can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per block.
Data values
Stairs are defined by their ID and block data. Stairs also have a block state which is expected to replace the functionality of block data in a future version.
ID
A stairs' ID specifies its material:
Stairs/ID
Block data
A stairs' block data specifies its facing and whether it is upside-down:
All but cut copper stairs:
| Bits | Description |
|---|---|
| 0x1 0x2 |
A two-bit field containing a value from 0 to 3 specifying the direction of the stairs' full-block side:
|
| 0x4 | Set if stairs are upside-down |
| 0x8 | (unused) |
Block state
| Name | Default value | Allowed values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| facing | north | eastnorthsouthwest | The direction the stairs' full-block side faces. When placed in-game by a player, this matches the direction the player faces. |
| half | bottom | bottomtop | Top if the stairs are upside-down. |
| shape | straight | inner_leftinner_rightouter_leftouter_rightstraight | "straight" is the default stairs shape. "inner" is an "inside corner" stair shape, with two full-block and two stair-shaped side faces. "outer" is an "outside corner" stair shape, with two stair-shaped and two half-block side faces. "left" and "right" specify in which direction is the higher part of the step. |
| waterlogged | false | falsetrue | Whether or not there's water in the same place as these stairs. |
| Name | Metadata Bits | Default value | Allowed values | Values for Metadata Bits |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| upside_down_bit | 0x4 | false | falsetrue | 01 | True if the stairs are upside-down. |
| weirdo_direction | 0x10x2 | 0 | 0123 | 0123 | The direction the stairs' full-block side faces.
|
Video
- Note: This video is outdated, as red sandstone stairs were added in 1.8 and purpur stairs were added to 1.9.
Stairs/video
History
| alpha | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0.0 | Added wood and stone stairs. Wooden stairs do not burn up. | ||||
| 1.2.0 | Before this version, stairs would determine their orientation based on the surrounding blocks (changing if they were changed). They would attempt to face a block adjacent to the stairs, so as to create a climbable surface towards that block. However, this was often more annoying than helpful, and was therefore changed to be placed facing the player. | ||||
| 1.2.2 | Stairs now had the odd property of being transparent to light; when placed one or more spaces above the ground with air beneath, sunlight or other light sources would shine through and light the blocks beneath/behind the stairs exactly as if nothing opaque were present between them. Other atmospheric effects such as snowfall did not penetrate stair blocks, making them an unusually effective material for creating roofing which kept weather out, but still let daylight in. Snow could not accumulate on top of stair blocks, grass was able to grow on the block directly underneath a stair block, and grass wouldn't disappear if a stair block was placed on top of it. Any stair block placed in Alpha 1.2.0_02 to Beta 1.5 would keep this property in later versions until it or an adjacent block is changed or removed, causing a lighting update. | ||||
| beta | |||||
| 1.6 | Wooden stairs and fences are now flammable. | ||||
| Fixed light transparency from Alpha 1.2.2. Reversed the inventory icon for stairs to show a more recognizable figure. | |||||
| 1.8 | Added brick and stone brick stairs. Stone brick stairs could drop one of either mossy stone brick or cracked stone brick when broken due to the data value carrying over. Mining a stair block would yield the stair's source material, rather than a stair block, thus wasting material. | ||||
| 1.8.1 | Stone brick stairs now always drop regular Stone Brick. | ||||
| release | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9-pre1 | Added Nether brick stairs. | |||
| Beta 1.9-pre6 | Mining a stair block now drops the stair block instead of the stair's source material. | ||||
| 1.2.1 | 12w08a | Added upside-down stairs. Before they were added, edited data values of 4 through 15 would create invisible stairs that could be walked through; these higher values are now used for upside-down stairs. | |||
| 1.3.1 | 12w21a | Added sandstone stairs. | |||
| 12w22a | Cobblestone stairs now generate in jungle temples. | ||||
| 12w25a | Redstone, repeaters, torches, levers, pressure plates and rails can now be placed on stairs positioned upside down. | ||||
| Added wooden stairs for the remaining three wood types (birch, spruce and jungle). | |||||
| 12w26a | Added crafting recipes for birch, spruce and jungle wood stairs. | ||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w34a | Stairs now automatically change shape into corner stairs depending on location. | |||
| 12w39a | Stairs interact properly with lighting now. | ||||
| Smooth lighting on stairs is slightly bugged. | |||||
| 1.5 | 13w02a | Added quartz stairs. | |||
| 13w05a | Fixed stairs lighting when Smooth Lighting is on. | ||||
| 13w05b | Stairs no longer stop sprinting. | ||||
| 1.7.2 | 1.7-pre | Added acacia and dark oak stairs. | |||
| 1.8 | 14w21b | Upside down sandstone and quartz stairs each had their top and bottom textures switched.[1] | |||
| 14w31a | Renamed "Stone Stairs" to "Cobblestone Stairs". | ||||
| 14w32a | Added red sandstone stairs. | ||||
| 1.9 | June 22, 2015 | Jeb reveals purpur stairs on Instagram, with the words "MINECON 2015 HYPE!" | |||
| 15w31a | Added purpur stairs. | ||||
| Stairs are now rotated 90° in the inventory. | |||||
| 15w43a | Spruce wood stairs act as corners of a table generated within igloo basements. | ||||
| 1.11 | 16w39a | Oak, birch and dark oak wood stairs and cobblestone stairs now generate in woodland mansions. | |||
| 1.12 | 17w15a | Torches can now be placed on the full-block sides of stairs. | |||
| Iron bars, glass panes and fences adjacent to the full-block side of a stair will now visually connect. | |||||
| Carpet and snow layers can now be placed on top of upside-down stairs. | |||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Added wooden (original oak) and cobblestone stairs. | ||||
| 0.3.0 | Added brick stairs. | ||||
| 0.6.0 | Added Nether brick, sandstone, stone brick and quartz stairs. | ||||
| Corner stairs and upside-down stairs added. | |||||
| 0.8.0 | build 2 | Birch, spruce and jungle wood stairs added. | |||
| 0.9.0 | build 1 | Added acacia and dark oak wood stairs. | |||
| Stone brick stairs now naturally generate in strongholds. | |||||
| Cobblestone and oak wood stairs now naturally generate in villages. | |||||
| ? | Changed tooltip from [woodtype] Stairs to [woodtype] Wood Stairs. | ||||
| 0.11.0 | build 1 | Acacia and dark oak wooden stairs are now flammable. | |||
| Quartz stairs can be crafted in Survival mode. | |||||
| 0.14.0 | build 1 | Added red sandstone stairs. | |||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.0 | build 1 | Added purpur stairs. | |||
| Spruce wood stairs act as corners of a table generated within igloo basements. | |||||
| 1.1 | build 1 | Oak, birch and dark oak wood stairs and cobblestone stairs now generate in woodland mansions. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | Patch 1 | Added wood (original oak) and cobblestone stairs. |
| TU5 | Added stone brick stairs and brick stairs. | ||||
| TU7 | Added Nether brick stairs. | ||||
| TU9 | Added spruce and birch wood stairs and sandstone stairs. | ||||
| TU12 | Added jungle wood stairs. | ||||
| Stairs now automatically change shape into corner stairs depending on location. | |||||
| Stairs can be placed upside down. Items can be placed directly on upside down stairs. | |||||
| TU13 | Jungle wood stairs are now flammable. | ||||
| TU14 | 1.04 | Added quartz stairs. | |||
| Changed placement of upside down stairs and slabs. | |||||
| TU27 | CU15 | 1.18 | Added acacia and dark oak stairs. | ||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Added Red Sandstone Stairs. | |
| Renamed "Stone Stairs" into "Cobblestone Stairs". | |||||
| TU46 | CU36 | 1.38 | Patch 15 | Added purpur stairs. | |
| TU54 | CU44 | 1.52 | Patch 24 | Patch 4 | Torches can now be placed on the full-block sides of stairs. |
| Iron bars, glass panes and fences adjacent to the full-block side of a stair will now visually connect. | |||||
| Carpet and snow layers can now be placed on top of upside-down stairs. | |||||
- SunshineThrough.JPG
The old light transparency
Issues
Issues relating to "Stairs" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Gallery
References


