ZeroGravitas
The Destroyer
[Updated 2016-05-21] Related Guides: Item Hoiks | Fastest Engines Measured | Hoiktonics (what is it?) | Rapid Fire Dart Traps
Wiktionary - "hoik" Noun 1. a wild hook shot played without style (cricket).Dictionarist - v. pull or move with a sudden jerking motion; lift up suddenly; yank.
Key points:
- Fastest possible "elevator".
- Travel (without moving) through entirely solid areas using only a hammer.
- Rapidly reposition any sprites that collide with tiles (players, Mobs, NPCs, dropped items).
- Automate AFK movement of player.
- Massive range of new possibilities for wire creations.
- Free and available from first spawn.
- Bizzaro-fun!
- Console and mobile should now have all slopes, so hoiks are available to all!
History (of hoik type elevators and credit where it's due):
+ Slopes introduced with version 1.2 PC patch on 30 Sept 2013. http://terraria.wiki.gg/1.2.0
+ Joe Terraria's: "auto-staircase/elevator 1.2.0.3" the great grandfather of the hoik (video found 2014-12-23). May also have invented platform/half-platform elevator!
+ Metalsonic3's "Insanely fast one-way Elevator" (forum post Nov 2, 2013). Entirely solid state. His video:
+ Design refined by Airborn on the same thread (Nov 7 2013).
+ Sloped block uplift glitch/feature in Dratex's post about his spiffy 2-step, alternating, actuated elevator (posted April 6, 2014). How I first discovered the useful phenomenon.
+ Sono's thread on glitching into the Jungle Temple ( Oct 28 2013) with doutheart and nattyice's screen shots of sideways jumps. Helped inspire me to look for a lateral 'elevator'.
+ EpicThingy's "Strange teleport bug" (from Jan 8, 2014). I couldn't replicate it as described, I think the 1.2.3 update (Feb 13), which added upside down slopes, *might* have changed things slightly.
+ Pink Robot Army posted a Youtube video of "Breaking into the lihzahrd temple..." (Dated Feb 23, 2014) using what I would now call a 'Top hoik'. (Did not see this until 23-september-2014.)
+ Joe Terraria's: "auto-staircase/elevator 1.2.0.3" the great grandfather of the hoik (video found 2014-12-23). May also have invented platform/half-platform elevator!
+ Metalsonic3's "Insanely fast one-way Elevator" (forum post Nov 2, 2013). Entirely solid state. His video:
+ Design refined by Airborn on the same thread (Nov 7 2013).
Airborn said:I have now made the easiest one way helevator ever:
+ Sloped block uplift glitch/feature in Dratex's post about his spiffy 2-step, alternating, actuated elevator (posted April 6, 2014). How I first discovered the useful phenomenon.
+ Sono's thread on glitching into the Jungle Temple ( Oct 28 2013) with doutheart and nattyice's screen shots of sideways jumps. Helped inspire me to look for a lateral 'elevator'.
+ EpicThingy's "Strange teleport bug" (from Jan 8, 2014). I couldn't replicate it as described, I think the 1.2.3 update (Feb 13), which added upside down slopes, *might* have changed things slightly.
+ Pink Robot Army posted a Youtube video of "Breaking into the lihzahrd temple..." (Dated Feb 23, 2014) using what I would now call a 'Top hoik'. (Did not see this until 23-september-2014.)
- Displacement occurs instantaneously when a (player) sprite is overlapping a solid sloping block (i.e. deliberately inserted on top of of a slope, see Diagram 4 for all examples).
- This may be considered a game glitch, but such issues are somewhat unavoidable, due to the fundamental difficulty of coding efficient collision detection. It also opens many creativity options (like liquid duplication did) and doesn't break the game's economy (like chest duplication did) or game progression (not really). Since the 1.3.0 update, the dev team have repeatedly stated that hoiks will remain in the game as a feature!
- A 'hoik' is (my name for) a sawtooth series of sloped tiles, I sometimes refer to as 'teeth', which rapidly bounce a sprite along, one 'tooth' per game 'tick'. There are 60 ticks per second, in line with the game's frame rate.
ThreeFour distinct types of hoik:- Up - elevators (figures 1-8, below).
- Top - AKA: Horizontal held-against-ceiling (figures A-D, below).
- Bottom - AKA: Horizontal held-against-floor (figures E-I, below).
- Down (Also, up hoiks built upside-down work with gravity inverted. Mostly.)
- No single step diagonal displacement, only right-angle zig-zags (i.e. orthogonal; right-angles). And yes, I've now named these in-line with quark flavours, so would love an excuse for 'strange' and 'charm' hoiks!
- Ways to hook onto an initial 'tooth' (i.e. ways to mount a hoik):
- Step up (figures 1 & D, below) onto a square block. (Also onto half height, waist height platform.)
- Actuate the sloped tile off, position (player) sprite in front, turn tile back on (figures 5, 6, A, B, G).
- 'Ghost Wall' trick - place a sloped platform or sloped inactive block (or inactive platform) against the upright edge of the first tooth. The game's collision detection then ignores the adjacent horizontal surface. As per the technique to ghost through any door or single brick wall. (Figures 2, 3, 4, 7, 6, C, E, F, H, I, below.)
- Teleport onto a hoik tooth (credit to DicemanX, in comments below).
- Chaining hoiks works fine too, as long as the last jump of the first hoik leaves you on a tooth of the next one; each jump is just another link in a chain!
- Special case: on a foot-height bottom hoik (with 1 tile gap between teeth, e.g. Diagram 3 - Figs H & I) hold down while running after run speed boosting equipment has kicked in. Use Hermes Boots or above or dash with Tabi/Master Ninja Gear. (Found by DicemanX, below.)
- Grapple up and in - similar to (6), player can sometimes squeeze up into a 1 tile wide gap, allowing you to insert into a head height top hoik.
- Build yourself in by standing on a foot height bottom tooth as you hammer it around into shape (and hold down). You can also drop sand/silt/ash on you head, then hammer those solid blocks behind you, provided they don't kill you first!
Diagram 1 - UP Hoik Examples
1 - Step-up mounted "insanely fast elevator". Jumps up 3 tiles per game tick.
2 - Sloped platform mounted hoik elevator.
3 - Join elevator anywhere along length. Hold {down} while falling to bypass sloped platforms(including avoiding fall damage).
4 - Inactive sloped tile mount.
5 - Actuated first tooth mount.
6 - Sectional elevator (up one section per click). Actuate all teeth for 2 way use in 2 block wide helevator, or just the 1 tooth at each mounting point, if used in a 3 wide shaft.
7 - Tooth spacing variations: a single gap can be left (e.g. to help adjust exact starting/ending points).1 tile gaps can only be used on alternate teeth, otherwise player's hed will jam against the third tooth.
8 - Tooth width variants: step up through entirely solid rows (up to 2 thick). E.g. to hold water/lava/npcs in place.
9 - Walk past entrance or hold up while walking left to mount.
(UP and DOWN diagrams without grid or wiring.)
2 - Sloped platform mounted hoik elevator.
3 - Join elevator anywhere along length. Hold {down} while falling to bypass sloped platforms(including avoiding fall damage).
4 - Inactive sloped tile mount.
5 - Actuated first tooth mount.
6 - Sectional elevator (up one section per click). Actuate all teeth for 2 way use in 2 block wide helevator, or just the 1 tooth at each mounting point, if used in a 3 wide shaft.
7 - Tooth spacing variations: a single gap can be left (e.g. to help adjust exact starting/ending points).1 tile gaps can only be used on alternate teeth, otherwise player's hed will jam against the third tooth.
8 - Tooth width variants: step up through entirely solid rows (up to 2 thick). E.g. to hold water/lava/npcs in place.
9 - Walk past entrance or hold up while walking left to mount.
(UP and DOWN diagrams without grid or wiring.)
Diagram 2 - DOWN and Bi-directional Hoik Examples
Down Hoik Variants (figures 10-14)
10 - Hold down while walking slowly through sloped platform. Continue holding down over the edge (otherwise player will step up on top of the mounting tooth).
11 - Mid-run mounting. (No known way to walk through a down hoik, like Diagram 1.9, without actuating a tooth.)
12 - Just walk in from left, uses inactive sloped block and ceiling. Like UP hoiks, every other DOWN tooth can have 1 vertical space, instead of 2, but the first gap must be 2 tiles.
13 - All tiles except the row directly below the each tooth can be filled in.
14 - Actuated mount. First tooth comes in as block/platform directly underneath is actuated out. Much be a 1 tile gap beneath, otherwise player will just step down.
Bi-directional Hoik Variants (figures 15-17)
15 - Clik up, click down. Actuated UP teeth (and mounting teeth) to allow two directional travel through a 2 tile wise shaft.
16 - 3 tile wide step in UP&DOWN hoik. (Stands on sloped platform at bottom on way down.)
17 - 4 tile wide, step in Bi-directional, where UP and DOWN are totally independent.
(UP and DOWN diagrams without grid or wiring.)
10 - Hold down while walking slowly through sloped platform. Continue holding down over the edge (otherwise player will step up on top of the mounting tooth).
11 - Mid-run mounting. (No known way to walk through a down hoik, like Diagram 1.9, without actuating a tooth.)
12 - Just walk in from left, uses inactive sloped block and ceiling. Like UP hoiks, every other DOWN tooth can have 1 vertical space, instead of 2, but the first gap must be 2 tiles.
13 - All tiles except the row directly below the each tooth can be filled in.
14 - Actuated mount. First tooth comes in as block/platform directly underneath is actuated out. Much be a 1 tile gap beneath, otherwise player will just step down.
Bi-directional Hoik Variants (figures 15-17)
15 - Clik up, click down. Actuated UP teeth (and mounting teeth) to allow two directional travel through a 2 tile wise shaft.
16 - 3 tile wide step in UP&DOWN hoik. (Stands on sloped platform at bottom on way down.)
17 - 4 tile wide, step in Bi-directional, where UP and DOWN are totally independent.
(UP and DOWN diagrams without grid or wiring.)
Diagram 3 - TOP and BOTTOM Hoik Examples
Top Hoik - Horizontal Against Ceiling (figs. A-D):
B - Head height variant (actuated mount). Jumps 2 tiles per tick.
C - Head height, sloped platform, 1 step elevator mount.
D - Waist height, step-up elevator mount. (Elevator section of any length can be use, provided the last step up put the player's head directly under (against) the 'ceiling'.
Bottom Hoik - Horizontal Against-Floor (E-I):
F - Inactive sloped block mount. Just walk towards it (block above prevents stepping up). Waist height teeth (jumps 1 tile per tick).
G - Actuated teeth mount variant. Waist height mount preferable to actuated foot height which will push up sprite (unless ceiling is placed) and requires more precise positioning.
H - Bi-directional, foot height turbo runway. Automatic mounting in either direction, just walk towards it.
I - Ultimate runway: hold down while approaching, otherwise will just walk straight over the top, in either direction.
(TOP and BOTTOM diagrams without grid or wiring.)
- All transport left > right.
- No floor is necessary (for A-D), as sprite is held against the ceiling. Once hoik is mounted, all tiles, except the sloped teeth shown, are irrelevant. This allows a horizontal slide through entirely solid ground. Actuated against-ceiling variants are more compact (so shown first).
B - Head height variant (actuated mount). Jumps 2 tiles per tick.
C - Head height, sloped platform, 1 step elevator mount.
D - Waist height, step-up elevator mount. (Elevator section of any length can be use, provided the last step up put the player's head directly under (against) the 'ceiling'.
Bottom Hoik - Horizontal Against-Floor (E-I):
- Again, all tile spaces other than teeth are irrelevant (after mounting area).
- Ceiling not required (except for specific mounting instances).
F - Inactive sloped block mount. Just walk towards it (block above prevents stepping up). Waist height teeth (jumps 1 tile per tick).
G - Actuated teeth mount variant. Waist height mount preferable to actuated foot height which will push up sprite (unless ceiling is placed) and requires more precise positioning.
H - Bi-directional, foot height turbo runway. Automatic mounting in either direction, just walk towards it.
I - Ultimate runway: hold down while approaching, otherwise will just walk straight over the top, in either direction.
(TOP and BOTTOM diagrams without grid or wiring.)
- All designs work equally well in the opposite horizontal direction when mirrored (i.e. left to right), provided block slopes are also mirrored, of course.
- Game's preferred displacement directions (when block overlap is detected) are indicated by the 2 sharpest points of the sloped block (or the outside edge of the sloped surface, if you like):
- Straight up for top side slopes (provided no blocks directly above head).
- Straight down for bottom side slopes (provided no blocks directly under feet).
- If either of the above are blocked (by blocks directly above or below, respectively) then sideways displacement occurs (in direction pointed) ignoring any solid blocks to side.
- Exception: step-up is always first choice for blocks at foot height. Blocks directly above head (or holding {down} direction) negate this.
Diagram 4 - Look-up table for (single) sloped tile overlap collisions
- Hoik-useable instances highlighted in color:
- Upward displacement (for elevators): B = up 3 (tiles), D = up 2.
- Top Hoik (Horizontal against-ceiling): G = right 2, I = right 1.
- Bottom Hoik (Horizontal against-floor): K = right 1, O = right 2.
- Unhelpful instances show incomplete displacements (A, C, E), jams (H, J), no effect (L, P), or a single tile rise which can not be strung onto further hoik steps (F, M, N).
- Diagram created by actuating a sloped block into existence behind player's sprite, having started by standing in the middle of the 2 glass block bass, in each case.
- Square blocks or half-tiles in any of the empty spaces behind the player, or to the sides, have no effects.
- So, hoik created by stringing together a series of these displacements, with each jump landing the player on top of another sloped tile. Game then detects the new collision on the next 'tick' (1/60th second later).
- Equally, this table shows the jump made by hammering a previously square tile into the depicted shape (whist behind the player).
- Vertical hoiks (up and down) must therefore have a gap after each successive 'tooth'. Regular (square) tiles or platforms can be placed (in rows) adjacent to the sides of each tooth without affecting an elevator's function. Hence you can hoik up through a solid floor. Non-gap rows can also be filled with solid blocks.
- Horizontal (top and bottom) hoiks can be filled entirely solid! (After entrance area.) Only the shaped teeth blocks are necessary, hence these can be 'built' very rapidly (while moving through solid terrain).
- With player's gravity inverted, a hoik built upside down will 'elevate' toward hell. (However, the step up insertion method does not seem to work inverted, so other things may be changed too.)
- Minecarts can also be hoiked:
- The larger sprite size appears to allow gaps of 3 tiles between elevator teeth (big enough to walk through), and gaps of 2 tiles between horizontal teeth (wide enough to fall between). The further spaced teeth make for a faster hoik transport too.
- Hoik distance is indefinitely long, provided the player does not try to move while in transit (which will exit cart mode).
- Mounts can also be hoiked - they are taller (4 tiles instead of 3), so can take bigger hoik steps, like minecarts. Some make the player 5 tiles tall (as shown in this T-MEC post by @Eotall).
Hoiks are really a separate type of thing, rather than an out and out replacement for conventional ways of moving about. But here's some comparisons anyway...
Compared to minecarts:
- Higher top speed which is achieved immediately.
- Less flexible path and not intrinsically 2 way (possible, but more fiddly).
- Difficult to manually dismount a top hoik mid-run (but one can step out of the more recently discovered bottom hoik at any point, if there's no ceiling).
Compared to rope:
- Far faster travel, and no acceleration lag.
- So fast it's hard to dismount at the right point without inserting gaps.
- Mid-run entry and break points need to be engineered in.
- A hoik's foreground blocks can get in the way.
Compared to teleporters:
- No annoying sound effect.
- Free and available at all points of game progression.
- Does not despawn the player, so will not auto-relocate NPCs (and mobs?), if that's an issue.
- Does not require long wire routes that may interfere with other devices.
- Not absolutely instantaneous.
- Kills momentum (as each displacement counts as a collision with a tile), so can't carry running/minecart speed out the other end.
- Far more fiddly to construct for any significant distance (especially for bi-directional travel).
- Less flexible.
Compared to platform + half-platform elevators:
As per PochyThePirate's video demo:
- Hoiks are faster to use and make (~3 times, perhaps).
- Have horizontal and downwards options.
- Less precise control and harder to cross.
- Higher top speed which is achieved immediately.
- Less flexible path and not intrinsically 2 way (possible, but more fiddly).
- Difficult to manually dismount a top hoik mid-run (but one can step out of the more recently discovered bottom hoik at any point, if there's no ceiling).
Compared to rope:
- Far faster travel, and no acceleration lag.
- So fast it's hard to dismount at the right point without inserting gaps.
- Mid-run entry and break points need to be engineered in.
- A hoik's foreground blocks can get in the way.
Compared to teleporters:
- No annoying sound effect.
- Free and available at all points of game progression.
- Does not despawn the player, so will not auto-relocate NPCs (and mobs?), if that's an issue.
- Does not require long wire routes that may interfere with other devices.
- Not absolutely instantaneous.
- Kills momentum (as each displacement counts as a collision with a tile), so can't carry running/minecart speed out the other end.
- Far more fiddly to construct for any significant distance (especially for bi-directional travel).
- Less flexible.
Compared to platform + half-platform elevators:
As per PochyThePirate's video demo:
- Have horizontal and downwards options.
- Less precise control and harder to cross.
+ HOIKED {maximum upwards displacement step} {max lateral} (note)
See item hoik video guide and linked forum guide page.
+ Misc:
Waterbolt projectile? (1 space vertical, maybe)
Minions - Spider Queen, Twins
- Zombies 3, 2 (some shorter than player sprite)
- Skeletons 3, 2
- Bats
- Harpies 3,2
- Sharks 2, 1 (sometimes 2)
- Birds, fireflies (slow, 1 tile horizontal only, and haphazard to initiate)
- Slimes (various)
- Wall Creeper
- Antlions 2, 2 (provided their lower half does not overlap any (active) blocks).
- Golem (see demonstration video, if late game spoilers are not an issue)
- Mantraps (during vertical extension...)
- Worms, Wraiths, etc.
- Eye of Cthulhu (and all other bosses except Golem).
+ Misc:
Waterbolt projectile? (1 space vertical, maybe)
Minions - Spider Queen, Twins
+ A True Hellevator - return from (or travel to) the bottom of the world 4.5 times faster than falling the same distance. The elevator part is arguably pointless in a central location (right below your base/spawn point) once you have recall potions or a magic mirror. It is more useful towards the edges of a world, though, when staying far from current spawn point.
Adopting this development could turn your world upside down, building your base deep underground, but still having immediate surface access.
Down Hoik Promo Shows 2-Way Hoik Hellevator at 35s.
+ Short, repeated, rapid movements:
+ Rail
Adopting this development could turn your world upside down, building your base deep underground, but still having immediate surface access.
+ Short, repeated, rapid movements:
- Dodging in boss fights (install on edges, bottom and/or top of arenas).
- Rapid, cheap transit around a large bases (pre hard-mode, or for those concerned about the the long term effects of being repeatedly disintegrated and re-assembled...).
- Entry OR exit through un-acctuted ceiling/floor (1 block thick).
- Bi-direction through walls.
- Caution needed with passively mounted hoiks, as player sized mobs (zombies/skeletons) can use them too.
- Grab mobs:
- Reduce number of kill boxs/traps, have all drops fall in range of player.
- Increase output by saving on travel time of mobs from edge of screen.
- Automatically move the player around:
- Collect dropped loot from different lava pits, etc.
- Move player off screen and back on again to clear/respawn new mobs (i.e. as Popuptwo was attempting in this video).
- Hoik in dropped loot:
- Can selectively hoik the bigger, higher value items (like jellyfish necklaces) while leaving smaller, less valuable ones (like glowsticks) behind (e.g. in a lava pit).
- Hoik mobs WAY off screen to auto-de-spawn them.
- Imprison monsters in a cell, preventing more from being spawned.
+ Rail
- Elevator (for very tight widths).
- Continue route on through otherwise impenetrable tiles, pristine scenery or watertight walls.
- Automated track selector/router (if you fancy an engineering challenge).
- Note: Hoiks instantly kill all momentum, so need booster track arrangement to auto-resume rail travel afterwards.
- Rapid transport while immersed (hoik speed unaffected).
- Underwater base: pass through water-tight walls without an airlock.
- Note: design of elevator needed a slight mounting tweak, most details untested.
- Down hoiks can lead to massive 'fall' damage very rapidly (as if one had dropped from entrance to exit height).
- Jam player in oscillating position (where even grapple doesn't help). Can still teleport out (could camp/trap spawn point too...).
- Note: being stuck inside solid silt/sand/slush, etc causes damage as if it's falling.
- Drop them into a hidden kill-boxpacked with traps (with tough/unbreakable walls).
- (Up) into the bottom of a deep lava pool, or even just an ocean (for drowning).
- Use concealed pressure plate pick-up or manual switch. Alternatively, just hide the destination off-screen and con them (may only work once though, if they're bright...).
- Extremely fast 'engines' by including pressure plates mid hoik run (on platforms, unless using against-floor type), or in specialised reciprocal sections.
- Force sequential activation of a series of plates using any mob (no semi-random wandering or influence from player location).
- Zombie diodes (i.e. one-way hoik through a wall/ceiling).
- Rapid priming of traditional statue based engines - hoik new spawns to the trigger plate area quickly, so it can be far away, allowing a greater number of mobs to be spawned per (engine) statue. (Up to 6 when first 3 over 10 tiles away. Up to 10 when first 6 over 37 tiles away. i.e. As now corrected on official wiki.)
- My Youtube Channel on Hoiks and Wiring in Terraria.
- "Hoik Demo World" Download (Version 0.2 - updated 2014-12-28, still very rough).
- Related forum guides: Item Hoiks | Fastest Engines Measured | Hoiktonics (what is it?).
- Guide copied over from old forum: see original thread for old comments.
Last edited: