How to Get a Ladder in Animal Crossing

How to Get a Ladder in Animal Crossing

A ladder is an important tool that allows you to access cliffs and higher levels in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. As you progress in the game, you will want to utilize your entire island which often requires climbing up cliffs or traversing rivers. Getting a ladder opens up these possibilities.

When Can You Get a Ladder?

From my experience, the ladder becomes available as one of the first major upgrade items in Animal Crossing. You are able to get a ladder after you have accomplished some basic tasks in the early stages of the game. Here’s a quick overview of when the ladder unlocks:

  1. Upgrade Resident Services tent to a building – This is the primary requirement for getting the ladder. Once Nook’s Cranny is built, Isabelle will visit your island and instruct you to upgrade the Resident Services tent into a building.
  2. Help more island residents move in – You need to place housing plots and help recruit villagers until you have a total of three island residents including yourself.
  3. Complete customization workshop – After meeting the above requirements, Tom Nook will host a DIY customization workshop which you must complete.

After checking off everything on that list, Tom Nook will gift you the vaulting pole and ladder DIY recipes. This makes ladders available for crafting on your island.

How to Craft a Ladder

To actually make a ladder after getting the ladder DIY recipe, you will need these materials:

  • 4 wood
  • 4 hardwood
  • 4 softwood

On my island, I found it pretty simple to gather these resources by hitting trees with an axe. The different wood types drop randomly from all trees at similar rates.

Once you have the materials, open your DIY recipes and select the ladder. Then choose to craft it using your materials. Ta-da, you now have a ladder in Animal Crossing!

Where to Place and Use Your Ladder

From my gameplay experience, the ladder can be placed almost anywhere outdoors on your island. I like having easy access to cliffs, so placing it close to areas I frequent works well.

To use the ladder, walk up to it until you get the “Climb” prompt. Your villager will then safely scale up or down the cliff face! It’s a very useful item for accessing all areas of your island. I have faced situations where certain valuable bugs and resources spawn on cliffs, so the ladder allows me to reach them.

You can pick up and move ladder locations at any time as needed. I reposition my ladders fairly often to improve navigation on my island. Don’t worry about choosing a “forever” ladder spot!

Upgrading to Better Ladders

Your starting ladder has a simple wooden design. However, there are a couple visual upgrades available:

  • Colorful ladder – Customizable with vibrant paint colors to match your island aesthetics.
  • Sturdy ladder – A stronger metal ladder with black rails and wood steps.

These variants do not actually function differently from the basic ladder. The upgrades are purely visual for added customization.

To unlock colorful ladder customization, you need to have purchased a Nook Miles furniture and fencing permit. This permit can be bought with Nook Miles from the Nook Stop terminal.

As for the sturdy metal ladder, completing Project K construction project will send the DIY recipe to your NookPhone.

So if you want to spice up your ladder’s look, work toward getting those upgraded models! The permits and project take some time to unlock in the game progression, but they’re great long-term goals.

Conclusion

I hope this detailed overview gives you all the information needed on obtaining ladders in your Animal Crossing island paradise! They are extremely beneficial for navigating tricky terrain and accessing every nook and cranny of your environment.

The process boils down to:

  1. Upgrade Resident Services to unlock the vaulting pole + ladder DIY recipes from Tom Nook
  2. Craft a basic wooden ladder with normal wood resources
  3. Place your new ladder strategically to access key areas
  4. Eventually upgrade to a colorful or sturdy ladder model

With the ladder in your toolbox, you’ll be able to create the island of your dreams in Animal Crossing! Let me know if you have any other questions – I’m always happy to help share tips from my years of AC gameplay experience.

How to Get a Ladder in Animal Crossing New Horizons
Method Materials Needed Time to Unlock
Complete the “Pretty Good Tools” quest from Tom Nook 30 wood, 30 softwood, 30 hardwood, 30 iron nuggets 1-2 days
Wait for Blathers to set up the museum Donate enough specimens for museum construction 3-4 days
Help Gulliver remember where he was going Find his 5 communicator parts on the beach 1 day after helping him
Purchase from Nook Stop terminal 5,000 Nook Miles After museum opens

FAQ

How to get a ladder in Animal Crossing

  1. Talk to Tom Nook. After you have upgraded Resident Services into a building, Tom Nook will give you the ladder DIY recipe during one of his announcements.
  2. However, you need to gather the materials before you can make the ladder. You’ll need 4 tree branches, 4 clay, and 4 hardwood to craft it.
  3. On the other hand, you can also sometimes get the ladder DIY recipe in a bottle on the beach or from a villager who is crafting.
  4. Despite not having the recipe yet, you may be able to buy a pre-made ladder from Timmy or Tommy in Resident Services for bells.
  5. Gather materials like wood and clay by hitting rocks and trees with your axe. Use the workbench in Resident Services to make the ladder once you have the recipe and materials.
  6. You’ll need to place the ladder and climb up to higher levels of your island. This allows you to access more areas and cross rivers early on.
  7. However, eventually you can unlock better tools like pole vaults and bridges to navigate your island more easily.
  8. At the same time, maintaining and replacing your ladder over time is important as you expand and develop your island in Animal Crossing.