Beacon (2024)

A beacon is a block that projects a beam skyward, and can provide beneficial status effects to players in a radius around it when placed on top of a solid pyramid base constructed from iron, gold, diamond, emerald or netherite blocks.

Obtaining[]

Breaking[]

A beacon can be mined successfully by hand or with any tool. When destroyed by an explosion, the block always drops as an item.

Crafting[]

Usage[]

In Bedrock Edition, beacons can also be waterlogged and conduct redstone power at the same time. When "activated", beacon blocks provide two unique functions:

• A landmark beam reaching into the sky, which can be visible from far away.
• Powers, which give players status effects within a certain range.

Activation[]

In order to activate a beacon, the beacon must meet the following requirements:

• Beacons require an unobstructed view of the sky.
  Transparent blocks (glass, water, etc.) and bedrock (the nether ceiling) are allowed.
• The beacon is on top of a pyramid constructed from iron blocks, gold blocks, emerald blocks, diamond blocks, and/or netherite blocks.

Pyramids[]

Pyramids are the structures required to activate beacons. There are four possible pyramid heights. More pyramid levels make more powers available in a wider affected vicinity. The type of mineral block used to build the pyramid is entirely cosmetic and has no functional effect. Several different block types can be mixed without affecting functionality. If the pyramid is damaged so that the beacon deactivates, the previously-set powers resume their effects upon reactivation when the pyramid is repaired. This applies to piston-altered pyramids as well.

Multiple beacons can make use of the same specific mineral blocks below them. Combined pyramids do not need to be symmetrical. The image to the right shows a 6-beacon (2 by 3) pyramid. It requires a total of 244 mineral blocks, with a base layer of 10 by 11.

Beam[]

A vertical beam appears from a beacon if the beacon is activated, extending from the beacon block up to beyond the top of the world.

• In Java Edition, the beam is visible up to 256 blocks away.
• In Bedrock Edition, the beam is visible up to 64 blocks away, regardless of how high the render distance is set.^[1]

Colors[]

The color of the beam may be changed by placing blocks of stained glass (or stained glass panes) anywhere above the beacon block. The beam changes colors according to the colors of glass placed above it: the first block sets the beam color, while each additional block sets the color by averaging the red, green, and blue components of the current beam color and the block's color. The color values are the same as those for the corresponding dye. This also works using hardened stained glass and hardened stained glass panes.‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]} Stained glass panes have the same effect on the beam as stained glass blocks.

The resulting beam color can be found as where is the sequence of glass colors ( corresponds to the lowest block and to the highest one).

As the blending algorithm is considerably simpler than that of leather-dyeing, a much larger part of the sRGB space is available.^{[more information needed]} A player may experiment with stacking glass, although programs that calculate combinations are also available.^[2]

Beacon beams cannot go through most blocks, but can go through bedrock (to allow beacons to be used in the Nether) and end portal frames.

Using just 15 colors of stained glass, It is possible to make all colors, for example; red + white stained glass above a beacon will be pink; in addition to this, the more white that is added, the lighter the color will be.

Powers[]

Once the beacon is emitting a beam, it can then be fed one iron ingot, gold ingot, emerald, diamond, or netherite ingot to select the status effects given to players within range of the beacon. This is done through the beacon's GUI, displayed by pressing use while looking at the beacon block. It doesn't matter which of the items is fed into the beacon.

In the GUI, the player places the item to be fed in the empty slot and clicks an effect from the "Primary Power" section on the left. If the beacon is sitting on a 4-level pyramid, the "Secondary Power" section on the right also becomes active. The player can then choose either to turn on the Regeneration power in addition to the Primary Power or to raise the primary power to Level II. The user clicks the "Done" button (green checkmark), the item is consumed, and the power(s) become activated. To change the beacon's powers, this process must be followed again, consuming another ingot or gem.

If the pyramid is broken, effects deactivate or weaken depending on the level of the pyramid that is no longer complete. Upon restoration of the pyramid, the originally selected power returns without the need to spend another item.

The five Primary Powers are:

• 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 4-level pyramid are:

Regeneration I: Regenerates health.

• Increasing the Primary Power to level II.

It is also possible to combine two different primary Level I powers‌^{[Java Edition only]}:

• 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

Only one of the two powers appear to be selected, although both effects are active. Choosing a second primary power option replaces regeneration.

Every four seconds, the selected powers are applied with a duration of 9 seconds, plus 2 seconds per pyramid level, to all players in range. Thus, when powers are changed or a player travels outside the area-of-effect, the powers persist for 5–9 seconds, or 13-17 seconds with a full pyramid.

Range[]

The beacon affects an area in the shape of a square column, which reaches downward and out to each side at a range determined by the size of the pyramid base (see table below), and upward a distance of that range + 384 blocks.

The range of the beacon effect is limited by the simulation distance. As such, on simulation distance of 4 with a level 4 pyramid, the effect will not reach the chunks on the corners of the beacon range.

The distance from the player to the beacon block does not affect the intensity of the status effect.

Light source[]

Beacon blocks can function as light sources, emitting a light level 15. Like other light sources, they melt snow and ice.

Piston interactivity[]

Beacons cannot be pushed or pulled by pistons or sticky pistons.

Sounds[]

Generic[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Unique[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Block data[]

A beacon has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Achievements[]

Advancements[]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Bring Home the Beacon	Construct and place a Beacon	Withering Heights	Be within a 20×20×14 cuboid centered on a beacon block when it realizes it has become powered.	nether/create_beacon
	A Furious co*cktail	Have every potion effect applied at the same time	Local Brewery	Have all of these 17 status effects applied to the player at the same time: Fire Resistance Infestation Invisibility Jump Boost Night Vision Oozing Poison Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Water Breathing Weakness Weaving Wind Charged The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement.	nether/all_potions
	Beaconator	Bring a Beacon to full power	Bring Home the Beacon	Be within a 20×20×14 cuboid centered on a beacon block when it realizes it is being powered by a size 4 pyramid.	nether/create_full_beacon
	How Did We Get Here?	Have every effect applied at the same time	A Furious co*cktail	Have all of these 31 status effects applied to the player at the same time: Absorption Bad Omen Blindness Conduit Power Darkness Dolphin's Grace Fire Resistance Glowing Haste Hero of the Village Hunger Infestation Invisibility Jump Boost Levitation Mining Fatigue Nausea Night Vision Oozing Poison Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Water Breathing Weakness Weaving Wither Wind Charged The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.	nether/all_effects

Video[]

History[]

Java Edition
1.4.2		12w32a			Added the "Work in Progress" block.
					The "Work in Progress" block can produce beams.
		12w34a			The "Work in Progress" block has been removed from the Creative inventory.
		12w36a			The "Work in Progress" block has been renamed to "Beacon".
					Beacons can now be found in the creative inventory.
					Beacons are now craftable.
					The texture of beacons has been changed.
					The beacon beam, however, remains unchanged.
		12w38a			The texture of beacons has been changed, again.
					The beacon beam has been changed from a semi-transparent smooth beam (which conflicted with water transparency), to a pattern with 0% transparency.
		12w40a			The texture of beacons has been changed, again.
					The beacon beam has been changed again.
		12w40b			The beacon beam no longer glitches at tiny and short render distance.
1.5		13w05a			The effect range of beacons has been increased from 16/24/32/40 blocks to 20/30/40/50 blocks.
					Beacon effects now extend up to the world height limit (Y=256).
1.6.1		13w23a			With the Regeneration effect being nerfed slightly, the same status effect produced from beacons has been nerfed slightly too.
		13w24a			The beacon "crystal" texture, used from 12w36a to 12w37a, has been removed as per the resource pack reform.
1.7.2		13w36a			The player can now achieve the Beaconator achievement by placing a beacon on a level-4 pyramid of specific mineral blocks.
1.8		14w29a			Beacons now display the cracking animation when being broken.
		August 5, 2014			Dinnerbone tweets a screenshot containing a colored beacon beam. The color appears to change when the beam passes through stained glass.
		14w32a			The light of beacons now changes as it goes through stained glass.
		August 7, 2014			Dinnerbone tweets that the beacon beam can now pass through blocks that block light slightly.
		14w32b			Beacon beams now show if they are going through a block that doesn't completely block light rather than partially block light. This allows beacon beams to go through water and lava.
					Beacons in the Nether and the End now check for blocks and render the beam only up to the world height (Y=127).
1.8.2		pre5			Bedrock no longer obstructs beacon activation or beams.
					Beacons in the Nether and the End now check and use the full build height (Y=255) rather than the world height (Y=127).
1.9		15w31a			Beacons now generate naturally in end ships.
		15w32c			Beacons no longer generate in end ships and have been replaced by pumpkins.
		15w47a			A new tag, PaymentItem, now stores the sacrifice item within the beacon's block entity data.
					Beacons no longer drop their contents when broken or when the interface is exited.
					Beacons are now able to interact with hoppers.
		15w47b			The beacon effect duration now increases with pyramid level (it was formerly a constant 9 seconds).
		15w49a			The PaymentItem tag has been removed (introduced in 15w47a).
					Beacons once again drop their contents when broken or when the interface is exited (as they had before 15w47a).
					Beacons can no longer interact with hoppers (as they had since 15w47a).
		16w02a			Beacons now immediately activate when placed on valid pyramids.
1.11		16w32a			The block entity ID has been changed from Beacon to beacon.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 138.
		18w19a			Beacons now produce sounds.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of beacons has been changed.
					Due to the change of the texture of beacons, the look of the beacon pyramid has been changed.
		18w44a			The texture of beacons has been changed, once again.
1.16		20w07a			Beacons can now be activated with netherite blocks.
					Beacons can now be "fed" using netherite ingots.
					The texture of the UI of beacons has been changed.
					Beacons are now renewable, as soul sand, one of the blocks used to construct withers, is now renewable through bartering.
1.17		21w07a			Beacon beams are now visible up to 1343 blocks away from the source instead of 256 blocks.
1.20.2		23w32a			The Primary and Secondary NBT formats for beacon have changed to primary_effect and secondary_effect.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.16.0		build 4			Added beacons.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Beacon beams now change colors when shining through stained glass or stained glass panes.
1.5.0		beta 1.5.0.4			Beacons now produce sounds.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of beacons has been changed.
1.16.0		beta 1.15.0.51			The beam color can now be mixed with several different stained glass colors.
		beta 1.16.0.57			Beacons can now be activated with netherite blocks.
					Beacons can now be "fed" using netherite ingots.
					The texture of the UI of beacons has been changed.
Legacy Console Edition
TU19	CU7	1.12	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added beacons.
TU25	CU14	1.17			Beacon beams now change colors when shining through stained glass or stained glass panes.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		The vertical range of beacon has been nerfed to match horizontal range.
TU69		1.76	Patch 38		Beacons now produce sounds.
		1.90			The texture of beacons has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.3.12					Added beacons.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Beacon" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• The texture of the beacon is 16×16 but renders only the 10×10 area in the center.
• It is possible to see the beacon beam on the bottom of an activated beacon. This was initially reported as a bug, but the resolution was "won't fix", despite a fix being provided.^[3]
• Despite it containing obsidian in its recipe, it does not need a diamond pickaxe to be mined.
• A fully powered beacon can fit within the upper level of the Desert Temple with the beacon’s beam perfectly being placed in the hole at the top.

Gallery[]

• 

  The top of a beacon's beam.

• 

  A view from inside the beacon until Java Edition 19w41a.

• 

  Two beams from a beacon, one passing through glass and the other through a beacon block.

• 

  Beacon beam going through an end portal frame block.

• 

  See Also

  How Far Can a Bluetooth Beacon Measure Distance? – BeaconZone Blog

  The first image of a colored beacon, tweeted by Nathan Adams.

• 

  The first image of an underwater beacon, tweeted by Nathan Adams.

• 

  The beacon's light changing as it passes through magenta stained glass.

• 

  The full visible light spectrum created by colored beacons.

• 

  A grayscale spectrum.

• 

  A beacon is still functional when the pyramid is made of different blocks.

• 

  A visualization of the effects range for each level. At level 4, the area affected is 101×101 blocks.

• 

  A beacon with all of the blocks that can power beacons.

• 

  A colored beacon beam in Bedrock Edition.

• 

  Sunny posing in front of a rainbow of beacons, clad in trimmed armor.^[4]

• 

  The texture file for the beacon in Java Edition 12w36a was laid out almost identically to that of the end crystal.

• 

  The then-texture file for end crystals for comparison; note the identical layout.

• 

  First image released by Jeb.

• 

  One of the many uses for the beacon.

• 

  The old texture from Java Edition 12w36a of the beacon.

• 

  The old texture from Java Edition 12w38a displaying the powered and the non-powered beacon.

• 

  The texture of the beacon used from Java Edition 12w40a until the Texture Update.

References[]

See also[]

• Conduit
• Wither

External Links[]