There’s nothing quite like laying down a really good flex in a video game and Beacons are Minecraft’s shining embodiment of flexing as not only is it a symbol of prominence in all game modes but it also strengthens your experience within a certain range. It stands out as one of the few player-made structures of its kind that you can see from quite a ways off and anyone who knows about them immediately knows what it stands for. Not only does all of this apply, but it also gets better, the bigger you make it and the more effort you put into it so it is definitely worth making. Thankfully, we have this clean-cut guide here to help show you how to build a beacon.
Preparing the Building Area
Building a beacon is kind of a three-part process that requires some prior knowledge before you get started. First off, one of the most vital ingredients in making a beacon is the Nether Star, which only drops from a Wither, one of the most difficult enemies to defeat in the game. How many you’ll need really depends on how much you plan on utilizing your beacon as each platform you build can host multiple beacon units and each one requires a single Nether Star. It would appear that for the beacon to operate, the beacon units need one layer of bricks around each layer, with up to four layers below the beacon units. You can have one, four, or six beacon units in a single beacon and each one is capable of sending out individual buffs out to a certain range.
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You can also do as low as a one-level base for your beacon that only contains one beacon unit all the way up to four layers with six beacons so there’s a lot of room for customization and utility that’s tailored specifically to your situation and needs. All you need to ensure before you go to build the beacon is that you have at least one block’s space around your structure and that the space above where you’re putting your beacon units is unobstructed by anything.
How to Build a Beacon
One of the things you’ll need to have at the ready is a lot of mineral blocks to put together your pyramid that serves as a base. You can use iron, gold, emerald, diamond, or netherite in any combination for the pyramid base as the effect it has on the beacon is purely aesthetic and so long as it meets the criteria above, you really don’t have to worry so much about which you use. What I’ve laid out here are two examples of how much you’ll need in terms of mineral blocks to put the platforms together for the lowest number of beacon units and the highest.
| Level | Mineral blocks | Materials | Layers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 81 | 3×3, beacon |
| 2 | 34 | 306 | 5×5, 3×3, beacon |
| 3 | 83 | 747 | 7×7, 5×5, 3×3, beacon |
| 4 | 164 | 1476 | 9×9, 7×7, 5×5, 3×3, beacon |
| Level | Mineral blocks | Materials | Layers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | 180 | 4×5, beacons |
| 2 | 62 | 558 | 6×7, 4×5, beacons |
| 3 | 134 | 1206 | 8×9, 6×7, 4×5, beacons |
| 4 | 244 | 2196 | 10×11, 8×9, 6×7, 4×5, beacons |
Once you have the platform set, what you’ll need to do is craft the beacon unit and you do so with 5 Glass Blocks, 3 Obsidian Blocks, and a Nether Star. This will give you a beacon unit that you can place at the top of your platform. Again, most layouts either use one, four, or six, but you can use any amount in between. Once you place the beacon unit, you’ll know it’s working when it extends a beam up to the sky. When you see that, you can move on to the next step.
For every beacon unit you have on your beacon, you need to feed it a single iron, gold, emerald, diamond, or netherite ingot to choose a buff to apply to the beacon unit and the number of buffs you can apply to each unit and the range it has depends entirely on how many layers it has. It doesn’t really matter what material you use for each buff application.
The Five Primary Powers
- Speed I: Increased movement speed
- Haste I: Increased mining and attack speed
- Resistance I: Decreased nearly all incoming damage (2-level pyramid required)
- Jump Boost I: Increased jumping distance and height (2-level pyramid required)
- Strength I: Increased melee damage (3-level pyramid required)
The Secondary Powers (Available with a Level 4 Pyramid)
- Regeneration I: Regenerates health
- Increasing the Primary Power to level II
It is also possible to combine two different primary Level I powers:
- select a primary power in the left panel
- select the Level II option in the right panel
- select the second desired power back in the left panel
Buff Range
| Pyramid size | Effect range | Effect duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 level | 20 | 11 |
| 2 levels | 30 | 13 |
| 3 levels | 40 | 15 |
| 4 levels | 50 | 17 |
All that’s left to do is enjoy the benefits of your efforts and show your beacon off!
