Faster Forge Builds with the Better Builder's Wands Mod

What the Mod Does

Placing blocks one at a time gets old fast when you are trying to put up a 40 by 40 fortress in survival mode. Cheats and creative mode solve the problem, but they also strip out the satisfaction of actually building something. Better Builder's Wands, a Forge mod, takes a middle path. You craft a wand, point at a surface, and the mod fills in a row, a wall, or an entire face of blocks from your inventory in a single click. It is one of those tools you forget existed until you spend an evening laying a floor by hand.

This guide walks through installing the mod on a Forge server, the four wand tiers, and the building modes that decide where the blocks actually go.

Background

Better Builder's Wands was uploaded by Portablejim back in 2015 and has racked up more than 70 million downloads on CurseForge. It is locked to Forge versions 1.7.10 through 1.12.2, so confirm your server is on a compatible build before going further. The mod adds four items total, all wands. Once you have one in hand, the gameplay loop is mostly unchanged, you just stop spending hours on repetitive placements.

Installation

The mod has to live in two places, the server and your client. Skip either side and things will not line up.

Client side

• Open the Better Builder's Wands page on CurseForge and click Files.

• Find the version that matches your server. Scroll or hit View All at the top right to widen the list.
• Click the file name, then Download.

• Move the downloaded jar somewhere you can find it.
• Open your launcher directory and drop the file into the mods folder. The exact path depends on which launcher you use, but the Forge default works as a reference.
• Launch the game once to make sure it loads cleanly.

Server side

• Open your server panel and head into the file manager, or connect with an FTP client.
• Log in with your password and move into the mods folder.
• Click Upload and drag the jar into the upload zone.

• Wait for the transfer to hit 100%, then return to the main panel and Restart the server.
• Join the server once it is back online to confirm the mod loaded.

Features

There are four wands and seven building modes. The wand you craft sets the ceiling on how many blocks you can place at once and which modes are available, while the mode itself controls the direction the blocks go.

Modes

To switch modes, hold the wand and press M. A chat message confirms which mode is active and gives a short description. Picking the right mode matters more than you would think, since the direction it locks to changes what kinds of structures the wand can extend.

Horizontal extends placement left and right from the source block. The up and down sides are off limits. Good for floors, bridges, and any flat run of blocks.

Vertical is the same idea rotated 90 degrees. Blocks extend up and down from the source. Useful for walls and pillars.

North-South locks placement to the north and south axis of the world. You have to be facing one of those directions for the wand to extend. It is narrow on purpose, but if you are running a long structure on that axis it speeds things up considerably.

East-West is the same idea on the perpendicular axis. There is not much to say beyond that, it is the same mode wearing a different hat.

North-South (+ Vertical) keeps the north and south behavior but also lets you build upward. Handy when a structure on that axis also needs height.

East-West (+ Vertical) mirrors that for the east and west axis.

No Lock removes the directional constraint entirely. Place blocks in any direction from the source. This is the most flexible option and probably the one you will spend most of your time in, though the preview wireframe gets busy fast.

Wands

Wands are crafted with a recipe similar to a shovel, except the two sticks sit diagonally instead of in a vertical line. The third slot holds the main material. Once crafted, hold right-click to start placing. The blocks come straight out of your inventory, so keep stock on hand.

The stone wand is the entry tier. It places 5 blocks at a time, supports only horizontal mode, and lasts for 130 placements before breaking. Cheap to make and limited in scope.

The iron wand opens things up. You get 9 blocks per use across horizontal and vertical modes, and a lifespan of 250 placements.

The diamond wand is where things scale. It places 1562 blocks at once, has a matching lifespan of 1562, and adds the north-south and east-west modes to the toolkit.

The unbreakable wand is the endgame piece. It empties an entire inventory of blocks in a single use across every mode, and never wears out. With this one you are essentially running creative mode with extra steps, which some people will love and others will consider broken for survival.

Wrap Up

The mod earns its name. Large bases drop from hours to minutes once you get used to switching modes for different sections. It pairs cleanly with other building mods or works on its own as a quality-of-life addition to vanilla Forge play. None of the recipes or features need permissions, so server management stays simple.

One word of caution. Spam-clicking with No Lock can drain a stack of blocks before you notice and leave a chunk of your build looking like a glitch. Tap, do not hold, when you are working close to walls. Otherwise, enjoy not having to place every block by hand.

Related Reading

Minecraft Forge server hosting, the Better Builder's Wands mod page, and how to install Forge client mods.