Minecraft beacon setup guide for Bedrock and Java Edition

Beacon is a very powerful block in Minecraft that aids in granting players various positive status effects in a fixed location. Given how hard it is to obtain one of the crafting ingredients for beacons, they are regarded as a rare, endgame block. For them to function correctly, you must craft these blocks and place them on top of earth mineral blocks.

This is a detailed guide to setting up beacons in Minecraft Bedrock and Java Edition.

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Steps to set up beacons in Minecraft Bedrock and Java Edition

1) Gather resources

Beacon can be crafted using glass, obsidian blocks, and nether star (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Mojang Studios)

First, you must craft a beacon and gather a large amount of one type of earth mineral block.

One nether star, five glass blocks, and three obsidian blocks must be obtained to craft a beacon. Since only the Wither boss mob, one of the most powerful and lethal creatures, drops a nether star, it is the most difficult item to obtain. You will need some of the best gear to defeat the Wither.

After a beacon is made, it must be set on top of blocks of netherite, emerald, diamond, gold, or iron. The beacon's capabilities will not be impacted by the type of earth material. Hence, you can go for blocks of iron, since they are the easiest to farm. To get the most out of a beacon, you will need at least two and a half stacks of blocks of iron to create a full pyramid, on which the beacon will be placed.

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2) Creating pyramids for beacons

All four pyramid levels on top of which beacons can be placed (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Mojang Studios)

After gathering all the resources and crafting a beacon, it must be placed on top of a pyramid structure made up of blocks of any earth mineral. The largest pyramid can consist of 164 blocks, with a foundation of 9x9, followed by 7x7, 5x5, and 3x3 layers. The smallest pyramid can consist of nine blocks in a 3x3 arrangement.

Above is a photo of these pyramids. More favorable status effects will become available at each level of the pyramid.

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3) Setting up beacon status effects

GUI of a beacon, showing which status effect unlocks at what level (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Mojang Studios)

You can interact with the block to launch its GUI after constructing a pyramid and placing the beacon at the top. You can observe which level of the pyramid unlocks which status effect from its GUI. All of the status effects that a beacon can apply are listed below:

• Layer 1 - Speed 1 - Increases movement speed.
• Layer 1 - Haste 1 - Increases mining and attack speed.
• Layer 2 - Resistance 1 - Decreases all incoming damage.
• Layer 2 - Jump Boost 1 - Increased jumping distance and height.
• Layer 3 - Strength 1 - Increased melee damage.
• Layer 4 - Regeneration 1 - Regenerates health.
• Layer 4 - Any primary status effect (speed, haste, resistance, jump boost, or strength) to level 2.

If a beacon is placed on a four-layer pyramid, you will have a choice to select from these combinations:

• One level 1 primary effect with a regeneration 1 effect.
• One level 2 primary effect with another level 1 primary effect. (Java Edition only)

You must place a single earth mineral ingot into the beacon, such as an iron, diamond, emerald, gold, or netherite ingot, to activate or modify the beacon's status effect setting. The best Earth mineral is iron ingots because they are the most common. You will need to place an ingot in the beacon each time you want to modify the status effect configuration.

Once activated, the beacon can grant any player its status effects within a specific radius for a predetermined amount of time. The list of layers that increase the status effect's radius and duration is as follows:

• Layer 1 - 20 blocks - 11 seconds
• Layer 2 - 30 blocks - 13 seconds
• Layer 3 - 40 blocks - 15 seconds
• Layer 4 - 50 blocks - 17 seconds

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