How to Make a Beacon in Minecraft
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Minecraft
How to Make a Beacon in Minecraft
Pyramid Size and Effects
Tips
The beacon is a late-game item that significantly speeds up everything you do. Haste II makes mining nearly instant on stone and deepslate. If you don’t have strong tools yet, it’s worth taking time to level up your gear before building a beacon. Speed II lets you move across your base faster than sprinting normally. For a permanent base setup, a full 4-layer pyramid with Haste II and Speed II is the gold standard — it transforms the day-to-day experience of playing Minecraft completely.
⚡ Quick Answer
Step by Step
Craft a beacon with 5 Glass + 3 Obsidian + 1 Nether Star (dropped by the Wither boss). Then place it on top of a pyramid made of iron, gold, diamond or emerald blocks — minimum 3×3 base. Feed it an iron ingot, gold ingot, diamond or emerald to activate a status effect.
1
Get a Nether Star — kill the Wither. The Wither is a boss summoned by placing 4 Soul Sand or Soul Soil in a T shape and placing 3 Wither Skeleton Skulls on top. Wither Skeleton Skulls drop rarely from Wither Skeletons in Nether Fortresses — if you’re struggling to prepare, learn how to gain XP quickly to enchant better gear. This is the hardest part.
2
Craft the Beacon. Once you have the Nether Star, open a crafting table and place: Glass in the top row, Glass + Nether Star + Glass in the middle row, Obsidian + Obsidian + Obsidian in the bottom row. That’s 5 Glass, 3 Obsidian and 1 Nether Star total.
3
Build the pyramid base. Use iron blocks, gold blocks, diamond blocks, emerald blocks or netherite blocks (or any mix). If you need resources fast, check how to farm diamonds efficiently before building.
4
Place the beacon on top of the pyramid. The beacon must sit directly on top of the highest layer with a clear line of sight to the sky — no blocks above it. You’ll see a beam of light shoot upward when it’s placed correctly.
5
Activate a status effect. Right-click the beacon. A menu opens with available effects based on pyramid size. Feed it one iron ingot, gold ingot, diamond or emerald to confirm your chosen effect. The effect is then applied continuously while you stay within range.
1
1 layer (9 blocks) — unlocks Speed or Haste. Range: 20 blocks.
2
2 layers (34 blocks) — adds Resistance or Jump Boost. Range: 30 blocks.
3
3 layers (83 blocks) — adds Strength. Range: 40 blocks.
4
4 layers (164 blocks) — adds Regeneration and allows level II effects. Range: 50 blocks.
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Fight the Wither underground — it destroys terrain when it spawns and the explosion is huge. A tunnel keeps the damage contained.
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Iron blocks are the cheapest pyramid material — 9 iron ingots per block. An iron farm makes getting 164 blocks realistic.
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Haste II + a diamond pickaxe is the fastest mining combination in the game — worth building a beacon just for this.
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You can recolor the beacon beam by placing stained glass above the beacon — purely cosmetic but looks great.