Beacons have been a helpful item for Minecraft players since the Pretty Scary Update in 2012. While its beam of light is a helpful way for adventurers to find their way back home, it can also give those who craft one a few boosts for their trouble. The beacon has many different uses, but what those are will remain undiscovered without the knowledge of how to make one.
A beacon is a rather sturdy item that once crafted, and will always drop as a single item if destroyed. The boosts players can get as they stay in the range of its light come out to be Speed, Jump Boost, Haste, and Regeneration, as well as others, making it a very helpful item for many Minecraft playthroughs.
To make a beacon, players need a full set of items, ranging from the everyday to being extremely rare, but the rewards speak for themselves. For players not experienced in Redstone, they won't have to worry about needing it. The list of items needed are:
- 5 glass blocks
- 3 Obsidian
- A Nether Star
The most intimidating on this list is definitely the Nether Star, which is dropped by killing a Wither. Luckily, for those willing to fight the creature, the Nether Star always drops as a reward for the player that defeated it. Obsidian can be made by pouring water on an active pool of lava, and there's a helpful guide for Minecraft glass for players to read.
How to Activate the Beacon
Unfortunately, crafting the beacon is only part of what's required to get the rewards of building it. For a beacon to activate, there needs to be certain requirements met. Firstly, the beacon needs to be able to shine high into the sky, so it can't be placed with any blocks above it. (There's some exceptions, like glass, water, and the ceiling of the Nether itself.)
The most tricky part of making a beacon activate is that it requires to be on a platform that's at least 6 x 6 of mineral blocks. The blocks that work are iron, gold, emerald, diamond, and netherite. All of these need to also be the solid blocks of the basic material that can be crafted with 9 ingots.
There are many complicated ways to use beacons, with different pyramid heights increasing the range and strength of boosts, and multiple beacons being used to achieve all six of the powers offered. For the players intimidated by wasting days and nights in Minecraft with complex options for beacons, though, just one is a great help and worth the effort.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.