Do you know what a beacon is? Do you know how to use one? If not, this post is for you!
Beacons are powerful items that give you certain potion effects when you are within their range.
Crafting a beacon:
In order to craft a beacon, you need a nether star, which you can only get by killing the wither, a boss mob that the player has to summon. You will also need 5 pieces of glass, and 3 pieces of obsidian. Once you have the materials needed in order to craft a beacon, place thae 3 obsidian on the bottom 3 slots in the crafting table. Then place the nether star in the middle. Now place the 5 glass blocks in the remaining slots. Now you have a beacon!
Activating the beacon:
There are 4 power levels of a beacon. The higher the level, the more blocks you will need. For the lowest level beacon, you will need 9 blocks gold, iron, netherite, diamond, or emerald. If you don’t have 9 of the same kind of block, you can mix and match different ones. Place the 9 blocks in a 3×3 square on the ground. Then place the beacon in the center. If you did it correctly, there should now be a rotating beam of light coming from the beacon. Make sure there is nothing directly on top of the beacon, other than stained glass (optional) or it won’t work. Now you must interact with the beacon. A screen will pop up with one side that says “primary power” and the other side will say “secondary power”. On the primary power side you will see symbols of the different effects you can have. The only powers enabled for a level 1 beacon are speed, which makes you go faster, and haste, which increases your mining and attack speed. On the bottom, there will be pictures of all the ingots. To activate the effects, place any of the ingots pictured in the slot next to it and click the check mark. Now, whenever you’re within the range, you’ll get special effects!
Higher power levels:
To unlock power level 2, make a 5×5 square at the base, and then make a 3×3 square and place the beacon on top. To make a power level 3 beacon, make a 7×7 square, a 5×5 square on top of it, and 3×3 square with a beacon on top. To make a level 4 beacon, repeat this same process, skipping every other number until you get to the 3×3 square. The higher level beacon, the more effects become available.
Changing the color:
Did you know you can change the color of a beacon? All you have to do is place any color of stained glass above the beacon, and the beam will change to that color! You can combine colors, too!
Beacon fun facts:
- Beacon beams can go through bedrock, lava, and water
- Although you need to mine obsidian with a diamond pickaxe, you can mine a beacon with any tool