When Do You Get the Ladder in Animal Crossing: New Horizons? A Complete Guide to Unlocking and Using the Ladder

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH), one of the most rewarding aspects of the game is designing and customizing your island. As your island evolves, you’ll find that access to different areas becomes more limited, especially as cliffs start to appear. To fully unlock your island’s potential, you need a ladder, a tool that will let you access these elevated spaces. The ladder is essential for resource gathering, building multi-tiered landscapes, and exploring hidden areas of your island.

But when exactly do you get the ladder in Animal Crossing? How do you unlock it, and how can you make the most of it once you have it? In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of obtaining the ladder, from unlocking it to using it effectively to enhance your island.

1. What Is the Ladder and Why Is It Important?

The ladder is a tool in Animal Crossing: New Horizons that allows you to access higher areas on your island—specifically cliffs. Cliffs are important features that provide more space for designing your island, gathering resources, and accessing special items. However, without the ladder, these cliffs remain off-limits, and you would miss out on many design opportunities.

Here are a few key reasons why the ladder is important in Animal Crossing:

• Access to Higher Areas: The ladder lets you climb cliffs, which are essential for expanding your island and accessing certain resources.
• Resource Collection: Some items, such as fruits, flowers, and special DIY materials, can only be found on cliffs.
• Island Design: The ladder is crucial for creating multi-tiered designs on your island, adding depth and aesthetic appeal.
• Exploration: The ladder gives you the ability to reach new parts of your island, unlocking new areas that were previously inaccessible.

Getting the ladder is an exciting milestone, as it opens up many new possibilities for your island’s growth and design.

2. The Ladder Recipe: How and When Do You Unlock It?

Before you can use the ladder, you first need to unlock its recipe. The ladder is not something that you automatically receive at the start of the game. Instead, you must meet certain milestones in the game’s progression to unlock the ladder recipe. Here’s everything you need to know about when and how to get the ladder in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Step 1: Early Game Progression

At the beginning of the game, your island is flat, and there are no cliffs or elevated areas to worry about. During this early phase, your main focus is on completing basic tasks for Tom Nook, gathering resources, and setting up your island’s infrastructure. You’ll build your tent, upgrade it to a house, and begin working on improving the island.

At this point, the ladder is not something you can use or even access, because your island has no cliffs. But as you progress through the game, your island will start to evolve, and cliffs will begin to appear. This is where the ladder becomes important.

Step 2: Unlocking Cliffs and Expanding Your Island

After a few days of gameplay, you will begin to unlock the ability to build cliffs. Tom Nook will introduce the idea of terraforming, which includes adding cliffs and water features to your island. However, you will not be able to access these cliffs until you unlock the ladder.

This step in the game’s progression is a crucial moment because it marks the transition from a flat, simple island to one with more verticality and design possibilities. But to fully access these cliffs, you need the ladder.

Step 3: Reaching Three Stars of Island Development

The key milestone in unlocking the ladder is reaching three stars of island development. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, your island is rated based on several factors, such as:

• The number of villagers living on your island.
• The overall design and aesthetic of your island (how well it is decorated, how many items and buildings are placed, etc.).
• The completion of key infrastructure projects, such as building Nook’s Cranny, the museum, and upgrading your house.

To get to three stars, you must focus on improving your island’s overall design and development. As you work with Tom Nook, he will guide you through different tasks and suggest improvements for your island. Once your island reaches three stars, Tom Nook will contact you to let you know that your island is ready for further development, and this is when the ladder recipe becomes available.

Step 4: Receiving the Ladder Recipe

Once you achieve three stars of island development, Tom Nook will send you a letter with the DIY recipe for the ladder. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for—once you receive the recipe, you can finally craft the ladder. Tom Nook will also explain that your island is now ready for cliff building, and the ladder is an essential tool for accessing those higher areas.

The recipe for the ladder includes the following materials:

• 4 Wood (regular wood obtained by chopping trees)
• 4 Softwood (softwood obtained by chopping specific trees)
• 4 Hardwood (hardwood obtained from stronger trees)
• 1 Iron Nugget (obtained by hitting rocks with a shovel or axe)

Once you have these materials, you can craft the ladder at any DIY workbench. The ladder is a fairly easy item to craft, and once you have it, you can use it to climb cliffs and explore new areas of your island.

3. Crafting the Ladder: Materials You Need

Now that you know how to unlock the ladder recipe, it’s time to gather the materials needed to craft it. Fortunately, the ladder requires relatively easy-to-obtain materials:

• Wood (4 pieces): Regular wood can be gathered by chopping any tree on your island. This is the most basic material you’ll need.
• Softwood (4 pieces): Softwood can be gathered by chopping specific trees, particularly the smaller ones, or by shaking them.
• Hardwood (4 pieces): Hardwood is obtained from stronger trees. Chop these trees with your axe to get this material.
• Iron Nugget (1): Iron nuggets can be found by hitting rocks on your island with a shovel or an axe. Keep in mind that rocks will drop various resources, so it may take several hits to get an iron nugget.

Once you have all of these materials, head to a DIY workbench (either in your home or outside) and craft the ladder. Once crafted, the ladder will be added to your inventory, and you can start using it to access higher levels on your island.

4. How to Use the Ladder

Using the ladder in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is simple and straightforward. Here’s how to do it:

1. Access Your Inventory: Once you have crafted the ladder, open your inventory by pressing the “Y” button.
2. Select the Ladder: Find the ladder in your inventory and select it.
3. Climb the Cliffs: Move your character close to a cliff edge, then select the ladder and place it near the base of the cliff. Your character will automatically climb up once the ladder is in position.
4. Explore the Cliffs: Now that you have the ladder, you can explore the higher levels of your island. Look for hidden resources, design opportunities, and areas you couldn’t access before.

The ladder allows you to access new parts of your island, giving you more freedom to design and explore. You can place multiple ladders around your island to make it easier to access elevated areas, especially if your island has multiple cliffs.

5. How to Make the Most of the Ladder

Once you have the ladder, there are many ways you can use it to enhance your island design and resource collection:

• Design Multi-Tiered Gardens: Use the ladder to create tiered gardens and landscapes, adding depth and beauty to your island.
• Place Secret Areas and Hidden Zones: The ladder makes it easy to design secret areas that only those who know where to look can access. Create hidden gardens or quiet retreats for your villagers to enjoy.
• Access Resources: Use the ladder to gather materials like fruits, flowers, and DIY crafting supplies that are found on the cliffs.
• Explore New Areas: The ladder unlocks previously unreachable parts of your island, giving you the ability to explore new places and discover more resources.

6. When Do You Get the Ladder in Animal Crossing? Key Takeaways

To summarize, here is a quick recap of when and how you get the ladder in Animal Crossing: New Horizons:

• Reach Three Stars of Island Development: Your island must be at least three stars in development before you unlock the ladder recipe.
• Receive the Ladder Recipe from Tom Nook: Once you reach three stars, Tom Nook will send you the DIY ladder recipe.
• Gather Materials and Craft the Ladder: Use materials like wood, softwood, hardwood, and iron nuggets to craft the ladder at a DIY workbench.
• Use the Ladder to Access Cliffs and New Areas: Once crafted, use the ladder to access elevated areas on your island and explore new resources.

The ladder is a key tool that will help you fully unlock your island’s potential. With the ladder in hand, you can begin designing multi-level areas, exploring higher ground, and collecting resources that were previously out of reach. It’s one of the most exciting moments in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, marking the shift from a simple, flat island to a fully realized, multi-dimensional paradise.

Conclusion

Getting the ladder in Animal Crossing: New Horizons opens up many new opportunities for exploration, island design, and resource collection. By reaching three stars of island development and

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