Stairs are an essential type of platform in the Terraria building experience. When it comes to stairs and platforms, in addition to creating a firm interactive path anywhere, even in the air, they can be useful for blocking some enemies and fighting bosses.
It’s time to start your journey to becoming a master builder!
This guide covers Terraria versions for PC, consoles, and mobile devices.
How to make stairs in Terraria
Making stairs in Terraria is relatively simple once you have all the materials. Here’s how to get started:
Step 1: Materials Needed for the Ladder
You can skip this step if you have the material. Any hammer will work to make slopes with the platforms. The rest of the type and quantity of materials will vary according to what you imagine building.
If you don’t have a hammer, you can use a workbench and wood to make one. An anvil and bars will allow you to craft more types of hammers, such as iron, gold, and platinum. So, if you want to build stairs faster, a higher level hammer could be useful thanks to the extended reach and faster swing it offers. In the end, it all depends on the player’s pace. Still, the “smart cursor” is still a good alternative.
Step 2 – Building stairs in Terraria
Most platforms cannot be created using the artboard. Instead, you can build them using your inventory. To make a simple ladder, see the following instructions:
- Gather these materials: platforms, walls, and a hammer.
- Place the platforms in the air diagonally, right where you want to build the ladder.
- Hit each platform once with your hammer. Doing this will turn them into inclined stairs.
The “Smart Cursor” is recommended for ladder placement as it is not necessary to hammer each platform when using it. To correct poor placement and other errors, you can also use the fourth hammer blow. Doing this will return the platform to its default position.
You can use the pickaxe for misplacements. It is possible to combine stairs with different directions in a creative way to move easily. You can go as high as you want.
Wielding a pickaxe to fix mistakes helps speed up the process. Also, point and click on the platforms whose forms you would like to modify to correct them.
construction stairs
An additional tip for builders is that they can also make stairs to go up and down. Stairs also consist of platforms and beams with walls. To make a staircase, start by placing platforms as high as necessary. Surround them, for example, with wooden beams. As if that were not enough, give the stairs an appropriate finish with walls. A pickaxe must be wielded to remove accidentally placed blocks.
How to make stairs for NPC
If you’ve been trying to get NPCs to move around your building and socialize easily, a carefully wired building will help. Making stairs for NPCs is no different than making “basic” stairs. As such, regular wooden stairs are sufficient.
Note that when you put multiple stairs together in specific arrangements, NPCs may find it more difficult to go down. Unless intentional, do not place platforms on top of stairs as NPCs cannot cross them, leaving them trapped on the floor.
Also, NPCs will not use spiral staircases or ladders. Follow the steps in the previous section for more details on building stairs.
How to make spiral stairs
While spiral staircases lack the same functionality as regular stairs, they make up for it in aesthetics. In short, you can’t climb these stairs. Instead, you will have to jump on the platforms.
Follow these instructions to make spiral stairs:
- Obtain wooden beams from a sawmill. With one piece of wood you can form two wooden beams.
- Place the beams where you want to build the spiral staircase.
- When starting from the bottom, start by placing the platforms a few kilometers from the beam.
- Next, place the platforms on the wooden beam structure, cutting them where necessary. It is recommended to follow a pattern.
- Do not break the wood joist structure by placing the platforms on their side or “behind” it.
- Finish building the staircase in a spiral pattern.
- It is time to fill the gaps using the type of wall that you see fit. A matching type is preferable.
Wooden beams are not essential for functionality, but only aesthetics. You can’t place anything in front of the beams unless you break some of the blocks. Therefore, wooden beams and spiral staircases offer decoration rather than functionality. Since Terraria players care about aesthetics when building, a material like wooden beams is subjectively essential for spiral staircases to please the eye.
How to make stone stairs
Remember, when you use a hammer on a block, you can make half blocks and slopes after hitting it. Both slopes and half blocks are convincing when constructed with an appropriate block type.
You can create many platforms using your inventory as long as you have the materials. The same applies to stone platforms.
Before building, you will need a hammer and gray bricks to create platforms and stone walls. Also, remember to bring a pickaxe to the construction site to make quick fixes. Once you’ve gathered the necessary materials, it’s time to start building. To make a stone staircase, follow these instructions:
- Once crafted, place the stone platforms diagonally right where you want to make a staircase.
- You can connect the platforms by hitting each one once with the hammer.
All platforms are essentially the same. So, the “whys” behind building stone platforms can be due to two reasons: an aesthetic one or a practical one.
The practical reason is that Stone platforms are immune to contact with lava (like Obsidian ones). Weapon projectiles and liquids can pass through platforms. Although it may seem counterintuitive, all platforms will melt if you throw them directly into the lava, including Stone and Obsidian. As an exception, stone and obsidian platforms will survive lava only if you place them on blocks. They will melt after being thrown into the lava.
How to make stairs in Terraria Mobile
The Terraria Mobile version is quite similar to the PC and Console version. Therefore, the information above also applies here. You can create most platforms using your inventory, with exceptions.
Before building, craft walls, platforms, a hammer, and bring a pickaxe to make corrections. All these materials can be of any type. Once assembled, follow these instructions to build stairs:
- After creating your platforms, place them diagonally right where you want to build the ladder.
- Use the hammer to hit each platform once. Doing this will build inclined stairs.
A fourth hammer blow returns the platform to its default position, which is useful for making corrections. You can combine stairs with different directions for better mobility. Note that you can build as tall as you want.
Use a workbench and wood to make a hammer if you don’t have one. You can build more hammers using an anvil and bars, such as platinum, gold, and iron hammers. Higher level hammers can speed up the building process a bit.
Equip a pickaxe to rectify mistakes. Also, point and click on the platforms whose forms you would like to modify to correct them.
Why can’t I make stairs in Terraria?
Unlike the console, the PC version of Terraria will only show you what you can create with the resources you currently have. Due to this limitation, you will need to speak to the “Guide” for crafting tips and recipes, including stairs. The Guide is the first NPC. He will appear near you when you create your Terraria world.
If you lose your Guide or any other NPC, building a house for them will cause them to respawn.
Wood is the only ingredient you will need to build a functional log house. After collecting wood, use a workbench to create a chair, a table, and the walls of your house. You can choose any material, although you should avoid making houses with sand and earth. Please note that some NPCs need specific types of homes to live in.
For its exterior part, a small wooden house and a wooden door are enough. Inside, you need to fill the entire house with wooden walls, some torches, a wooden table, and a wooden chair. Once the house is built, open your inventory while you are inside it. Select the Housing icon on the right and click on it to spawn the missing NPC. This house will be assigned to this NPC. You can change which NPC lives in a house by clicking the Housing icon.
While consulting the Guide can help you make stairs and other things, there are other minor things to consider for proper construction. These are:
- Create the necessary platforms.
- Make sure you craft a hammer and equip it.
- Place the platforms close enough to make stairs.
- Connect each platform with the hammer. Practice makes perfect.
Building is having fun
It’s time to start closing gaps, preventing certain enemies from passing through, and having stable access to the roof. You can even create a battlefield for enemy hordes and bosses. These and many more adventures await you in your Terraria world. Be sure to share them.
What uses will you give to your platforms? What materials are your ideal spiral staircases built with? Let us know in the comments section below.
