How to make a beacon in Minecraft

A Minecraft beacon is crafted from five glass, three obsidian and a nether star, which you get by defeating the wither. Place it on a pyramid of iron, gold, emerald, diamond or netherite blocks, and everyone nearby gets a power of your choice, such as Haste or Speed.

Below you’ll find how to build the pyramid, which powers to choose and how to get that nether star. Everything is checked against Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.52.

What does a beacon do?

A working beacon does two things. It shoots a beam of light into the sky that you can see from far away, which is perfect for finding your base again. And it gives players within range a status effect for as long as they stay nearby. On top of that, the block gives off light level 15, even without a beam.

To work, a beacon needs a clear view of the sky (glass is fine, opaque blocks aren’t) and a pyramid underneath.

How do you make a beacon?

1. Defeat the wither. It always drops a nether star, see further down.
2. Craft the beacon. On a crafting table, put three glass along the top row, glass, nether star, glass in the middle row and three obsidian along the bottom.
3. Build the pyramid. Start with a 3 by 3 layer and place the beacon on the middle block. For more range, add layers of 5 by 5, 7 by 7 and 9 by 9 underneath.
4. Choose a power. Open the beacon, put in one iron ingot, gold ingot, emerald, diamond or netherite ingot, pick a power and confirm with the green tick.

It doesn’t matter which blocks you use. Iron works exactly as well as diamond, and you can mix them however you like. The payment item doesn’t matter either: an iron ingot does the same job as a netherite ingot. With an iron farm, a full iron pyramid is well within reach.

A full pyramid takes 164 blocks, or 1,476 ingots and gems. The range reaches out sideways and down, and upwards all the way to the top of the world.

Which beacon powers should you choose?

• Level 1: Speed or Haste. Haste makes you mine and attack faster.
• Level 2: adds Resistance and Jump Boost.
• Level 3: adds Strength.
• Level 4: a secondary power. Pick Regeneration, or make your primary power stronger: level II.

For a base where lots of digging happens, Haste II is a popular choice: faster mining for everyone nearby. Building high up? Jump Boost helps, and for an arena Strength or Resistance does the trick. Every time you change a power, it costs another ingot or gem.

Fancy a coloured beam? Put stained glass above the beacon, and stack several colours to blend them. If you’d rather brew, many of the same effects come as potions too, see our potion brewing guide.

How do you get a nether star?

The only source of nether stars is the wither, a boss you summon yourself. You need three wither skeleton skulls and four blocks of soul sand or soul soil.

1. Collect three skulls. Wither skeletons in Nether fortresses drop one 2.5% of the time. With Looting III that rises to 5.5% in Java and 8.5% in Bedrock.
2. Pick a safe spot. Far from your base, ideally underground, because the wither breaks blocks when it’s hit.
3. Build a T of soul sand. Four blocks, with air on both sides of the bottom block.
4. Place the three skulls on top. The last skull summons the wither. Run straight away: after eleven seconds there’s a huge explosion.
5. Defeat it. In Java it has 300 health points. In Bedrock it depends on the difficulty: 300, 450 or 600. A weapon with Smite deals extra damage because the wither is undead, and a milk bucket clears the Wither effect.

The nether star can’t be destroyed by explosions. In Java it despawns after ten minutes if you leave it lying around, in Bedrock never.

Java vs Bedrock: what’s different?

• In Bedrock the range is one block larger on the north and west sides, and effects wear off slightly sooner after you leave.
• You can see the beam up to 512 blocks away in Java and 2,048 in Bedrock, as long as that part of the world is loaded.
• The wither has more health in Bedrock on Normal and Hard.
• Looting raises the wither skeleton skull drop chance more in Bedrock than in Java.

Beacons on a shared server

On a server, a beacon works for everyone in range, not just for you. So put it in the middle of the shared base or mining town, and agree who picks the power. Several beacons can share one pyramid, so feel free to put a few side by side, each with its own power. Bear in mind that the range only works in the part of the world the server is updating, which means within simulation distance.

Agree on where you summon the wither, too. In Java everyone on the server hears it arrive, wherever they are. Want to avoid craters? Temporarily set the mob_griefing game rule (Bedrock: mobgriefing) to false: its explosions won’t break blocks, but creeper explosions won’t either. Remember to switch it back afterwards. A beacon also makes a great goal for an SMP with friends, and for the diamond blocks in your pyramid, see the best diamond level.