The Hay Bale is a craftable building material which also can be found in Barns. They are very weak and have no structural integrity as such they should not be used in building at all and only as a way to break a player's potentially dangerous fall. Prior to the A17 series of builds (starting at A13.6), complete fall protection was provided by Hay Bales. In A17 and beyond, a height limit for full effectiveness was introduced, with decreasing effectiveness at heights beyond that point; some tests suggest that a 22 block fall is the last safe distance.
You can pick-up your Hay Bale after you place it, so they are mobile.
Can clog up holes in your defense for short periods.
Hay Bales are useful for flattening land. Landscape sloping is based on surrounding blocks; however, when a solid block is placed on top of sloped land, the slope is removed. Because hay bales can be picked up, they are a good, cheap way to remove slopes.
Trivia[ | ]
Hay bales being used to break fall damage could be a reference to the assassins creed series where the assassins perform leaps into hay bales to land safely.