If you are an avid Minecraft player, you may already know how prestigious a beacon is. It is the holy grail of bravery and status in the blocky world of Minecraft.
Once you have this unique item in hand, you can enjoy several amazing status effects such as speed, strength, regeneration, and jump boost.
However, getting your hands on a Beacon is not as easy as it seems. Building a beacon in Minecraft requires you to have some of the hardest-to-acquire items, such as obsidian, glass, and a Nether star.
The latter can only be acquired by summoning and defeating the scariest mob in all of Minecraft – the Wither.
If you, too, are interested in conquering this prestigious item in your Minecraft-generated world, this guide certainly fits the bill for you. Here, we’ll be discussing everything, from crafting the beacon in Minecraft to applying status effects, to help you achieve this feat.
Things To Know Before Crafting A Beacon in Minecraft
While the recipe to make a beacon is pretty straightforward, requiring only a nether star, three pieces of obsidian, and five pieces of glass, you’ll have to gather certain additional resources to make a base for the beacon to activate.
Depending on your preferences, you can either choose from iron, gold, diamond, emerald, or even Netherite for the base.
That being said, you’ll be requiring 81 pieces of iron ingots or other materials, as stated above, at the very least, to make and activate a beacon.
If everything’s done correctly, you’ll be able to activate the beacon immediately after construction. It emits a strong light when it is activated.
Making The Beacon in Minecraft
We’ll start off with making the beacon unit itself and understanding how to acquire the items required for this build. Follow the steps given below accordingly:
Step 1: Understand The Layout
To make a beacon, the least you need to do is make a three-by-three and one-block high square base made of iron, gold, diamond, nephrite, or emerald, with a beacon unit positioned on top of it.
To increase the power and range of your beacon, you can make the square base larger and make it up to five by five, or even nine by nine blocks higher.
However, the process can become quite tedious as you progress because you must have 81 iron ingots in hand to produce the base itself.
Step 2: Acquire The Required Materials
Before you can proceed with the crafting recipe for a beacon, you need to have certain items available at your disposal. Here’s a list of all the items you’d require to make a beacon in Minecraft:
- Iron Ore (x81) – Firstly, you need to mine a plethora of iron to get started. Using a stone or iron pickaxe, mine your way down until you find grey stones with orange spots on them – that’s iron. You may also choose to gather other materials in place of iron, such as gold or diamonds, but they are quite hard to find and don’t make any difference in the potency of your beacon.
- Obsidian (x3) – You can easily produce obsidian by pouring water on lava from above. Alternatively, you can also find obsidian generating naturally in deep caves, but keep in mind that it can only be mined with a diamond pickaxe, so make sure you have one.
- Sand Block (x5) – You need at least five blocks of sand to produce glass, which will be used in the crafting recipe of the beacon.
- Nether Star – This item can only be obtained by killing the Wither and picking up its drop. It is extremely difficult to spawn and kill a Wither, especially for novice players. As a handy tip, make sure that you don’t spawn the Wither near your house, as it shoots skulls that can cause great damage to nearby structures.
- Fuel Source – You’ll also need a source of fuel to smelt the glass and iron bars required for the recipe. For this, both wooden planks and coal would work perfectly fine.
Step 3: Smelt Some Iron
To smelt iron, you have to access the furnace and place all the 81 iron ingots you mined in the top vacant square.
Then, place a source of fuel in the bottom square and wait for the iron ore to smelt. Once done, move them to your inventory and head to the next step.
Step 4: Smelt Some Sand
Similar to iron, smelting sand requires you to access the furnace and place the sand blocks on the top square along with a source of fuel in the middle. Once they’re done smelting, you’ll be left with five blocks of glass in the output box.
Step 5: Access The Crafting Table
Now that you have acquired all the necessary materials as well as the by-products required for the recipe, it’s time to access the crafting table and get to production.
Place the crafting table somewhere and right-click or tap on it to access the crafting grid.
Step 6: Produce Iron Blocks
To create iron blocks, you just have to place nine iron bars in each square of the crafting grid and then move the nine iron blocks produced in the output grid in your inventory.
Step 7: Craft The Beacon Unit
Access the crafting grid on your crafting table again, and then place a block of obsidian in each box of the bottom grid of the crafting table’s interface.
Then, place the Nether star in the center of the grid, followed by placing a piece of glass in each of the vacant squares.
If you follow the recipe correctly, the resulting beacon should appear in the output box in the crafting table. If it does, then simply relocate it to your inventory and head to the next section.
Building A Tower For The Beacon
If you have been following along, you should have a beacon available in your inventory by now. If that’s so, follow the steps given below to prepare a tower for the same:
Step 1: Locate A Suitable Place
To start off, you have to place your beacon on a flat surface somewhere close to your base. As a beacon only provides status effects to a certain distance, you should be mindful of the location where you place your beacon.
Furthermore, a beacon tower can also be helpful in locating key places on your map, so make sure you place it somewhere you find suitable.
Step 2: Place The Iron Blocks
After finding a suitable place for your beacon, proceed to place three iron blocks in three rows in such a way that it creates a three-by-three structure with a total of nine blocks.
Step 3: Place The Beacon
Now, add the beacon unit to your hot bar and then select it to hold it in your hands. Then, select the middle iron block of your tower to add the beacon at the top. Once placed, the beacon will emit light, suggesting that it has been activated successfully.
Step 4: Add More Layers
To enhance the power of your beacon, you can add more layers to it by adding more blocks directly below the three-by-three base.
For a seven-by-seven base, you’ll need 49 blocks, and for a nine-by-nine one, you’ll need a total of 81 blocks. Keep in mind that it can’t go higher than nine by nine blocks, as it’s the maximum limit for the beacon base.
Modifying The Status Effects
Now when you have successfully made the beacon and its base, you’re all set to enjoy the various status effects it provides.
Depending on your preferences, you can configure your beacon to provide you with the desired status effect.
Here’s how you can modify the status effect of your beacon:
Step 1: Gather An Effect Mineral
As you may already know, beacons provide powerful effects to your character within its range. The type of status effect it provides depends on the effect mineral you’re using.
Typically, you can choose from a wide range of minerals, including iron ingots, gold ingots, emerald, diamond, or netherite ingots.
Step 2: Access The Beacon
Once you have determined which effect mineral you want to use with your beacon, you now have to access the beacon by right-clicking or tapping on it.
Step 3: Choose A Desired Effect
On the beacon’s interface, you’ll be prompted to select the status effect that you wish to receive from the beacon. Initially, you’ll have two options available as follows:
- Speed – This status effect is marked with a claw icon on the left side of the beacon’s interface. Selecting this allows you to sprint faster within the beacon’s range.
- Haste – This effect is indicated by a pickaxe icon on the left-hand side of the beacon’s interface. Using this status effect allows you to mine at a quicker rate within the beacon’s range.
If your beacon has more levels added to it, you can choose even more effects. Some of these status effects include resistance, jump boost, night vision, and more. You can also use negative effects like slowness, nausea, and blindness.
Step 4: Add The Effect Mineral
At the bottom of the beacon’s interface, you’ll see an empty box where you can add your desired effect mineral. Simply drag the mineral to the empty box, and you’re good to go.
Step 5: Apply The Changes
Once you have chosen the desired status effect and added the preferred mineral, you just have to save the changes by clicking or tapping on the green icon at the bottom of the beacon’s interface.
Final Words
So there you have it – if you’re reading this far, you’ve finally understood how you can craft a beacon of your own and make the most out of it. We hope this guide proved to be helpful for you.
