Minecraft is a game with so many moving parts that you will want to explore many different structures that you can create in your world. For those looking to quickly reach different stories of their buildings, there are several ways to make an elevator move up and down quickly.

This guide focuses on a set of elevators that use water to push you up and down. No worries, you won’t drown inside as the method we use will create air bubbles for you as you get on and off. No one wants to continually go up and down stairs all day long, so be sure to read on to create a quick and super easy water lift for your Minecraft seed.

First, you will need at least one Iron Bucket that you can fill with water, your choice of building blocks, a Soul Sand block, a Magma block, and two signs of any type. Iron buckets can be made with three iron bars each. When crafting them, collect water source blocks from an ocean or river.  When it comes to building blocks, we prefer to use glass blocks to make it look a bit cooler, but as long as you have a lot of blocks to make a wall, it doesn’t matter what you use.

You want to surround a single block with only one open space going up. In the middle of your column, dig the ground level one block lower and place your Soul Sand.

Create a large two-block walkway on the sand of the soul and place two panels on the sides. These signs will prevent water from coming out of the elevator while still allowing you to pass through them. Go to the top of your elevator and place water in the open space to descend to the Soul Sand. Make sure every space in the elevator has a water supply block, otherwise it will not work. You will know you did it right if you see the water rising with bubbles.

Now come in, and the water will rush you up, and as stated at the start of the guide, you won’t drown from the bubbles flowing next to you.

Now that you can go up, it’s time to make another column to go down. Do the same steps you did before, but instead of soul sand at the bottom, put the magma block. If you have done it right, you will see bubbles flowing towards the magma block.

Be careful though, as you stand on the survival magma block you will take a bit of damage, so when you go down the elevator make sure you get out and regain your health and don’t get trapped on the block because you cannot swim against the current. If you prefer not to have a magma block at the bottom, you can put any other block, but that will remove the fast flow downwards and you won’t have the bubbles to give you air.