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I have a very deep vertical mine shaft (I started in a mountain and hit bedrock), so it takes a long time to get up or down using my ladder. To speed up the trip down I thought "why don't I add a little pool for me to jump in?", but when testing it out the first time I died and had to rush back to my mine to collect my items before they disappeared.

How deep do I have to make the pool in order to prevent myself from taking damage when I hit the water?

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    I've also used this tip, very handy (if a little unnerving).
    – Stu Pegg
    Oct 8, 2010 at 18:27

5 Answers 5

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As of version 1.4.3, only a single block is enough to prevent all fall damage.

For previous versions it was 3 blocks.

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    I thought I read somewhere it was only 2?
    – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
    Oct 8, 2010 at 17:49
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    @BlueRaja possibly the minecraft wiki. It states that water has to be deeper than 2 blocks to prevent you from taking falling damage.
    – Jesse Dorsey
    Oct 8, 2010 at 19:56
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    2 worked for me, great tip though.
    – travis
    Oct 13, 2010 at 14:26
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    Now all you need is a boat to ride the waterfall all the way back up.
    – Theo Belaire
    Jan 27, 2011 at 4:33
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    I've jumped from max altitude to bedrock. My landing was one water block placed three squares above the bedrock and fenced in on the ground with signs--you hit, fall to the bedrock and can walk away uninjured. You need the first part of your jump to be confined or it's possible to miss.
    – Loren Pechtel
    Mar 13, 2013 at 19:46
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While yx_'s answer that the water must be 3 deep to prevent damage is mostly correct, it doesn't actually have to be 3 deep but only three blocks away from the surface below.

Water  
Water  
Water  
[Solid]

will prevent damage, but so will

Water  
Sign  
Air  
[Solid]

This also works with ladders instead of signs, and probably doors too, but ladders can still kill you if you hit the edge of them. Another thing to remember is that the water block effectively resets your distance fallen, so if you fall too far after leaving the water you will take damage.

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    This still requires the same amount of space as 3 blocks of water and requires extra materials to set up :P
    – Invader Skoodge
    Sep 6, 2011 at 11:18
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    @ Strix True, but when going all the way down to bedrock it can save space and materials in many cases. It's also nice to not have to jump out of a pit of water.
    – Fambida
    Sep 6, 2011 at 13:02
  • Interesting! Last time I tried this, a single block of water wasn't enough to completely stop damage, but I just used a flying mod to test a fall of ≈250 blocks and escaped without a scratch. (@StrixVaria — I prefer this variety of stop because it doesn't leave you standing in water afterward.)
    – Ben Blank
    Sep 6, 2011 at 18:52
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    Another version that avoids jumping out: Ring your water with signs. You can walk through them, the water stays put.
    – Loren Pechtel
    Sep 6, 2011 at 20:16
  • This is genius, good sir.
    – MonochromaticPalette
    Jan 4, 2012 at 7:11
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After the release of 1.5 I tested this by jumping into pools of water 3x3x1, 3x3x2 and 3x3x3 from a height of 64 blocks. I did this by flying up and then using the /gamemode command to set myself on survival. To my surprise, landing in the pool 1 block deep didn't kill me and I walked away without any injuries. This may be by design in 1.5 or it may be changed in later versions.

Before 1.5 it was 3 blocks to survive.

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    According to the wiki, this change was introduced in 1.4.3. All damage is absorbed by a single block of water (even shallow flowing water) when falling from any height.
    – George Cummins
    Aug 16, 2013 at 19:11
  • In 1.8, the behavior has changed again. Multiple water blocks will be required again to eliminate damage from certain heights.
    – George Cummins
    Oct 12, 2014 at 16:43
  • @GeorgeCummins Are you sure about that? I tried jumping from max build height to roughly sea level into less than one block of water (the water was flowing from elsewhere and wasn't deep) and I took no damage).
    – Kelmikra
    Jul 27, 2015 at 2:02
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You could put one only one layer of water and when you are falling, press and hold space so you will end up swimming. I never really tried it down to bedrock, but it prevented fall damage from like a 64 block tall cliff which I happen to be experimenting a couple of weeks ago that I almost forgot. =)

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  • You do realize that height makes a big difference... 25 blocks is only about a tenth of the total height, and mathing a 25 meter fall gives me a speed of 20ish m/s, whereas a fall from 250 blocks gives more than 3 times the speed (sqrt(10) actually) at around 70 m/s. Your extrapolation has failed.
    – Sconibulus
    Mar 13, 2013 at 20:20
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You will not take fall damage even if you land in minimal flowing water. I mean that you don't take fall damage after landing on water,no matter the depth.

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