A beacon is one of Minecraft's clearest "you have made it" milestones. It projects a beam of light into the sky and, more importantly, blankets the area around it in a permanent status effect: haste that makes mining trivial, speed that makes building a joy, or regeneration that keeps you alive. It is the reward for beating a boss and pouring a small fortune of minerals into a pyramid.
This guide covers the whole thing: how to get a beacon, how to build the pyramid, how the tiers change range and power, and how to squeeze the most out of it. It targets Minecraft 26.2 Java Edition, where beacon mechanics are stable.
Rate164 blocks for a full tier-4 pyramid
XP level20 to 50 block effect range across the four tiers
Build timeOne nether star required, no other way to get one
DifficultyIntermediate
Getting a beacon: the nether star
You cannot mine or trade for a beacon. You craft it, and the centerpiece ingredient is a nether star, which drops only from killing the Wither.
A beacon is crafted from:
- 1 nether star (from defeating the Wither), placed in the center of the crafting grid
- 4 glass, filling the top row and the two side-middle slots
- 3 obsidian, filling the bottom row
Summoning and fighting the Wither is the real gate here. The Wither is built from soul sand and wither skeleton skulls, and the skulls are a rare drop from wither skeletons in nether fortresses. Farming those skulls is the slow part; if you want to speed it up, a dedicated mob-farming setup helps, and the same drop-rate and spawn logic that governs other hostile farms applies. The general mob farm guide covers those spawning fundamentals, and how to kill the wither covers the fight itself, including the armored phase where arrows stop working.
The Wither is genuinely dangerous and destroys terrain. Fight it in a sealed, isolated spot, deepslate or bedrock walls are ideal, and never summon it near your base or storage. A single careless summon can level a build.
The fight itself rewards preparation over gear alone. The Wither spends its early phase invulnerable while it flies upward through blocks, so summoning it under a low bedrock or deepslate ceiling traps it and lets you start damaging it immediately instead of chasing it into the sky. Ranged damage (bow, crossbow, or a trident) keeps you out of the wither skull explosion radius, and Regeneration or Instant Health potions cover the gap if you do get caught. Once you have the star, the fight is a one-time cost per beacon; the star itself is not consumed by anything else, so if your goal is exactly one beacon, one Wither kill is the whole requirement.
Building the pyramid
A beacon must sit on top of a pyramid of mineral blocks, and the size of that pyramid decides how strong the beacon is. There are four tiers, each adding a wider layer beneath the last.
| Tier |
Layers |
Blocks needed (this layer) |
Blocks needed (running total) |
Effect range |
| 1 |
1 (3x3) |
9 |
9 |
20 blocks |
| 2 |
2 (5x5) |
25 |
34 |
30 blocks |
| 3 |
3 (7x7) |
49 |
83 |
40 blocks |
| 4 |
4 (9x9) |
81 |
164 |
50 blocks |
The pyramid is built from the top down: a 3x3 layer directly under the beacon, then 5x5, then 7x7, then 9x9. A full tier-4 beacon needs 164 blocks total, which is why it feels like an endgame project. If you are converting that to a shopping list in ingots (iron ingots for iron blocks, and so on), remember each mineral block costs 9 of its ingot, so 164 iron blocks is 1,476 iron ingots for a full pyramid built from a single material; mixing materials just splits that total across whichever you have spare.
The pyramid can be made from any mix of these mineral blocks, and mixing them costs nothing in power:
- Iron blocks
- Gold blocks
- Diamond blocks
- Emerald blocks
- Netherite blocks
Every block powers the beacon equally, so build with whatever is cheapest. Iron is almost always the answer because it is renewable from an iron farm. Gold from a gold farm is the next most practical. Save diamonds and netherite for gear, not decoration under a beacon. If you are still working on that gear, the netherite mining guide covers where ancient debris actually generates.
Powering it: primary and secondary effects
Right-click the beacon to open its menu, drop in a single payment item, and choose the effect. The payment is one iron ingot, gold ingot, diamond, emerald, or netherite ingot, just one, regardless of tier.
The effect you can pick depends on your pyramid tier:
- Tier 1: Speed or Haste (primary effects).
- Tier 2: adds Resistance or Jump Boost.
- Tier 3: adds Strength.
- Tier 4: unlocks the secondary slot. You can either upgrade your chosen primary effect to level II, or add Regeneration as a second effect.
So a full tier-4 beacon can give you, for example, Haste II plus Regeneration across a 50-block radius, all the time, as long as you are near it.
The most-loved beacon setup is Haste II under a mining base. With it, stone breaks instantly and even obsidian mines fast. Once you have mined under a Haste beacon, digging without one feels broken.
Range, height, and line of sight
A few practical rules decide how useful the beacon actually is in your base.
- Range is horizontal radius from the beacon, up to 50 blocks at tier 4. It also extends a long way vertically, so a beacon on the surface can buff a base below it.
- The beam must see the sky. Specifically, the beacon deactivates if the column above it intersects any fully opaque block, with bedrock as the sole exception. That means stone, dirt, wood, wool, and any other solid, light-blocking block kills the beam instantly. What does not block it: glass and stained glass (fully transparent), and both water and lava (neither is opaque to a beacon, so an underwater or lava-covered beacon still beams, though you will want the area breathable to actually stand in the effect radius).
- You must be inside the radius and the beacon must be active for the effect to apply. Step out of range and the buff fades after a few seconds.
| Tier |
Pyramid |
Range |
Unlocks |
| 1 |
9 blocks (3x3) |
20 blocks |
Speed or Haste |
| 2 |
34 blocks (3x3+5x5) |
30 blocks |
+ Resistance or Jump Boost |
| 3 |
83 blocks (+7x7) |
40 blocks |
+ Strength |
| 4 |
164 blocks (+9x9) |
50 blocks |
Secondary slot: effect II or Regeneration |
Stained glass placed in the beam dyes it. Stack multiple colors of stained glass above the beacon and the beam blends them, which is the standard way to make a signature colored beacon beam over a base.
Getting the most out of a beacon
- Put it where you spend time. A Haste beacon belongs over your mining branch or your main base, not on a decorative tower you never stand under.
- Combine it with the right activity. Haste pairs with mining, Speed with building and exploring, Regeneration with a combat or XP farm area, and Resistance with anywhere dangerous.
- Build the pyramid from renewable blocks so you never feel the cost. An iron farm running in the background pays for a full pyramid over time without touching your diamonds.
- Layer effects at tier 4. Haste II plus Regeneration is the classic "quality of life" combo for a home base.
A beacon is the payoff at the end of several other systems: a mob farm for wither skulls, a boss fight for the star, and an iron or gold farm for the pyramid. If you are still building those pieces, the farm guides hub collects every one you will need, and pairing a beacon with a solid enchanting setup is what turns a good base into an endgame one.
Once you have mined under a Haste beacon, digging without one feels broken.
Should you build tier 1 first, or save for tier 4?
Since higher tiers only add to the pyramid rather than replacing it, there is no wrong order: a tier-1 beacon (9 blocks, Speed or Haste, 20-block range) is a real, useful buff you can have running the same day you kill the Wither, and every block you add later carries forward. The practical path most players take:
Pros
- Build tier 1 immediately: 9 blocks is nothing compared to the Wither fight itself, and Speed or Haste at 20 blocks already covers most of a mining base or build site
- Expand a tier at a time as your iron or gold farm produces surplus, since the blocks are never wasted, only added to
- Save the jump to tier 4 for when you specifically want the secondary slot; tiers 2 and 3 are fully functional stopping points
Cons
- Jumping straight to a full 164-block tier-4 pyramid before you have a renewable block source usually means mining out a large chunk of your diamond or iron reserves at once
- A tier-1 or tier-2 beacon placed without planning for expansion can end up boxed in by builds, making the later 7x7 or 9x9 layers awkward to add
Plan the full 9x9 footprint from the start even if you only build the inner layers first; it saves having to demolish nearby builds later to make room for the outer ring.
Frequently asked questions
How many blocks do you need for a full beacon?
A full tier-4 beacon needs 164 mineral blocks: a 3x3, 5x5, 7x7, and 9x9 layer stacked into a pyramid, plus the beacon on top. Lower tiers need 9, 34, or 83 blocks.
What blocks can you use for a beacon pyramid?
Iron, gold, diamond, emerald, or netherite blocks, in any mix. They all power the beacon equally, so build with the cheapest, which is almost always iron from an iron farm.
How far does a beacon reach?
The effect radius grows with the pyramid tier, from 20 blocks at tier 1 to 50 blocks at tier 4, and it extends a long way vertically too. You must be within range and the beacon must be active for the buff to apply.
How do you get a nether star for a beacon?
Kill the Wither. The nether star is its only drop, and you summon the Wither from soul sand and three wither skeleton skulls farmed in Nether fortresses. Craft the beacon from 1 nether star, 4 glass, and 3 obsidian.
Why is my beacon not working?
The beam must see the sky, so the column above it cannot contain any fully opaque block (glass, stained glass, water, and lava are all fine; anything else solid is not). Also confirm the pyramid underneath is complete and made of valid mineral blocks, and that you have paid the beacon an ingot to activate an effect.
How much does a full tier-4 beacon pyramid cost?
164 mineral blocks total. Built from a single material, that is 1,476 ingots (164 blocks times 9 ingots per block), though mixing iron, gold, diamond, emerald, and netherite freely to spread that cost is completely fine, since every block powers the beacon equally regardless of type.
What is the exact beacon crafting recipe?
1 nether star in the center, 4 glass filling the top row and the two side-middle slots, and 3 obsidian filling the bottom row of the crafting grid.
