How to Make a Beacon in Minecraft (Full Crafting & Pyramid Guide)

Beacon in Minecraft builds are one of the clearest signs of a fully established base: a column of light shooting into the sky and permanent buffs surrounding your home. Getting one running takes real endgame effort, from defeating the Wither to stacking hundreds of mineral blocks. This guide walks through the full crafting recipe, every pyramid tier, and how to pick the right status effects once your beacon is live.

TL;DR

• A beacon needs 5 glass, 3 obsidian, and 1 Nether Star, crafted on a crafting table.
• Nether Stars only drop from the Wither, with no alternative source.
• The beacon must sit on a pyramid of iron, gold, emerald, diamond, or netherite blocks to activate.
• Pyramids range from 1 to 4 layers, unlocking more effects and a wider radius at each tier.
• Activating an effect costs one ingot or gem, but the effect then reapplies for free every 4 seconds.
• A full 4-layer pyramid unlocks Regeneration and lets you upgrade your primary effect to level II.

What You Need to Craft a Beacon

The beacon block itself only needs three ingredients:

• 5 glass – smelt sand in a furnace to get it.
• 3 obsidian – pour water over a lava source block, then mine it with a diamond pickaxe or better.
• 1 Nether Star – the rare part, dropped only by the Wither boss.

Place them on a crafting table in this exact pattern: glass across the entire top row, then glass, Nether Star, glass across the middle row, and obsidian across the entire bottom row. Once arranged correctly, the beacon appears in the result box.

How to Get a Nether Star

The Nether Star has no alternative recipe or loot source. It only comes from defeating the Wither, a summonable boss made from 4 soul sand blocks arranged in a T-shape and 3 Wither Skeleton skulls placed on top. Wither Skeleton skulls are a rare drop from Wither Skeletons found in Nether fortresses, and a Looting III sword helps improve your odds, so check our guide on the best sword enchantments in Minecraft before you head out. If you haven’t found a fortress yet, our guide on how to find a Nether fortress in Minecraft covers that first. Once you have your skulls, follow our full walkthroughs on how to spawn the Wither and how to defeat the Wither in Minecraft to secure your Nether Star.

Building the Beacon Pyramid

A crafted beacon does nothing by itself. It has to sit on top of a pyramid made entirely of iron, gold, emerald, diamond, or netherite blocks. The block type is purely cosmetic and can be freely mixed, so most players build with iron since it’s the easiest to farm in bulk. A steady gold farm also helps if you’d rather use gold blocks instead.

The pyramid has four possible tiers, each adding a larger layer beneath the one above it:

• Tier 1: a single 3×3 layer, 9 blocks total, effect range of 20 blocks.
• Tier 2: add a 5×5 layer, 34 blocks total, effect range of 30 blocks.
• Tier 3: add a 7×7 layer, 83 blocks total, effect range of 40 blocks.
• Tier 4: add a 9×9 layer, 164 blocks total, effect range of 50 blocks.

Place your beacon block in the center of the top layer once the pyramid is complete. As long as it has an unobstructed view of the sky, a beam of light shoots upward immediately.

Activating Beacon Effects

Right-click the beacon to open its interface. Place one iron ingot, gold ingot, emerald, diamond, or netherite ingot into the slot, then choose an effect from the available options. Which effects unlock depends on your pyramid tier:

• Tier 1: Speed or Haste.
• Tier 2: adds Resistance or Jump Boost.
• Tier 3: adds Strength.
• Tier 4: unlocks a secondary power slot, letting you add Regeneration on top of your primary effect, or upgrade your primary effect to level II instead.

You only spend an ingot when setting or changing an effect. Once active, the beacon reapplies the effect to every player in range automatically every 4 seconds, so it stays on permanently as long as you remain inside the radius. Leaving the radius gives you a short grace period before the effect wears off.

Tips for Building a Beacon Efficiently

• Start with iron. It’s the cheapest material to mass-produce for a full 164-block pyramid.
• Gear up before the Wither fight. Bring strong armor, potions, and a ranged weapon, since the Wither becomes immune to arrows and charges at close range once its health drops low enough.
• Protect your wolf if it’s tagging along. The Wither fight gets chaotic fast, so consider wolf armor if you bring a tamed companion into the fight.
• Change the beam color. Place stained glass above the beacon to recolor the light beam without affecting its effects.
• Build multiple beacons next to each other if you want more than one effect active at once, since a single beacon can only run one primary and one secondary power at a time.

Is a Beacon Worth the Effort?

A beacon is one of the most resource-heavy builds in Minecraft, but the payoff is real. Permanent Haste and Speed turn mining and traveling into a breeze, while Strength and Resistance make your base a serious stronghold for PvP or mob defense. Combined with strong gear like upgraded netherite armor, a full 4-layer beacon effectively marks the point where your base moves from survival to full endgame power.

Minecraft is available across platforms if you want to plan your beacon build on the go. Grab it through the Google Play Store or the Xbox Store. For official patch notes and update details, check the official Minecraft website.

Frequently Asked Questions