Minecraft:Beacon

Template:For Template:Infobox block A beacon is a Minecraft:block that can be placed in view of the Minecraft:sky, on top of a pyramid made of valuable Minecraft:mineral blocks, to activate it. Once active, it projects a beam upward and can be Template:Control to provide constant Minecraft:status effects to all Minecraft:players in a radius around it. A beacon's range and available effects depend on the size of its pyramid base, between one and four layers.

Obtaining

Breaking

A beacon can be mined successfully by hand or with any Minecraft:tool. When destroyed by an Minecraft:explosion, the block always drops as an item.

Usage

When "activated", beacon blocks provide two unique functions:

• A landmark beam reaching into the sky which is visible from far away.
• Powers, which give players status effects within a certain range.

Activation

The beacon base can be made of the different mineral blocks combined.

The beacon base can be made of the different mineral blocks combined.

In order to activate a beacon, the beacon must meet the following requirements:

• Beacons require an unobstructed view of the sky (see § Beam).
• The beacon is on top of a pyramid constructed from Minecraft:iron blocks, Minecraft:gold blocks, Minecraft:emerald blocks, Minecraft:diamond blocks, and/or Minecraft:netherite blocks.
  

The type of block used is purely cosmetic, having no effect on the pyramid's power level or the range and strength of the Minecraft:status effect. A mixture of blocks of different types can also be used in any orientation, so long as they form a pyramid structure, like the ones listed below.

Status effect range can be improved by increasing the pyramid power level (see chart below). At level 4, the pyramid gives the option to increase the primary effect's strength to Level II in the beacon's GUI.

Pyramids

File:Beacon Pyramid.png

The four possible pyramid arrangements when using the beacon block. From left to right the pyramid structures decrease in complexity and strength.

Pyramids are the structures required to activate beacons. There are four possible pyramid heights. More pyramid levels make more powers available in a wider affected vicinity. The type of mineral block used to build the pyramid is entirely cosmetic and has no functional effect. Several different block types can be mixed without affecting functionality. If the pyramid is damaged so that the beacon deactivates, the previously-set powers resume their effects upon reactivation when the pyramid is repaired. This applies to Minecraft:piston-altered pyramids as well.

A single beacon pyramid

Level	Mineral blocks	Materials	Layers
1	9	81 (1 stack + 17 items)	3×3, beacon
2	34	306 (4 stacks + 50 items)	5×5, 3×3, beacon
3	83 (1 stack + 19 blocks)	747 (11 stacks + 43 items)	7×7, 5×5, 3×3, beacon
4	164 (2 stacks + 36 blocks)	1476 (23 stacks + 4 items)	9×9, 7×7, 5×5, 3×3, beacon

File:Efficient beacon.png

This six-beacon pyramid provides all six effects from a single structure using the fewest mineral blocks possible.

Multiple beacons can make use of the same specific mineral blocks below them. Combined pyramids do not need to be symmetrical. The image to the right shows a 6-beacon (2 by 3) pyramid. It requires a total of 244 mineral blocks, with a base layer of 10 by 11.

Multiple beacons pyramid (tier 4 can enable all buffs)

Level	Mineral blocks	Materials	Layers
1	20	180 (2 stacks + 52 items)	4×5, beacons
2	62	558 (8 stacks + 46 items)	6×7, 4×5, beacons
3	134 (2 stacks + 6 blocks)	1206 (18 stacks + 54 items)	8×9, 6×7, 4×5, beacons
4	244 (3 stacks + 52 blocks)	2196 (34 stacks + 20 items)	10×11, 8×9, 6×7, 4×5, beacons

Beam

A vertical beam appears from a beacon if the beacon is activated, extending from the beacon block, up to height 2048. Beacon beams deactivate if they ever intersect any fully opaque block excluding Minecraft:bedrock (this allows beacons to be used below the Minecraft:Nether ceiling). Once the blocks that are obstructing the beacon beam are removed, the beam reactivates itself.

Horizontally, the beam is visible from any loaded chunk, which can be up to 512 blocks Template:In or 2048 blocks Template:In.

Colors

The color of the beam may be changed by placing Minecraft:stained glass, Minecraft:stained glass panes, Minecraft:hardened stained glass,Template:Only Minecraft:hardened stained glass panes,Template:Only or another beacon Template:Only anywhere above the beacon block, with glass panes and full glass blocks having the same effect. Placing multiple colored glass blocks anywhere above the beam causes the colors to blend. The first or bottom most glass block sets the beam color, while each additional block sets the color by averaging the red, green, and blue components of the current beam color and the block's color. The color values are the same as those for the corresponding dye.

If <math>\vec{c}</math> is an RGB vector,Template:Note the resulting beam color can be found as <math>\vec{C} = \frac{1}{2^{n}}\left(\vec{c_0} + \sum_{i=1}^n{2^{i-1}\vec{c_i}}\right)</math> where <math>\vec{c_i}</math> is the sequence of glass color RGB vectors (<math>\vec{c_0}</math> corresponds to the lowest block and <math>\vec{c_n}</math> to the highest one).

Updating

Template:IN, the amount of ticks a beacon beam takes to update (change color, deactivate due an obstructing block being placed, reactivate due to the obstructing block being removed) is equal to Template:Fraction of the space (expressed in blocks) between (inclusive) the beacon block and the topmost block that is intersected by the beacon beam, rounded up to the nearest integer.

Template:IN, the beacon beam updates every 80 ticks (4 seconds).

Powers

File:Beacon GUI.png

The GUI shown when pressing Template:Control on the block.

Once the beacon is emitting a beam, it can then be fed one Minecraft:iron ingot, Minecraft:gold ingot, Minecraft:emerald, Minecraft:diamond, or Minecraft:netherite ingot to select the status effects given to players within range of the beacon. This is done through the beacon's GUI, displayed by pressing Template:Control while looking at the beacon block. It doesn't matter which of the items is fed into the beacon.

In the GUI, the player places the item to be fed in the empty slot and clicks an effect from the "Primary Power" section on the left. If the beacon is sitting on a 4-level pyramid, the "Secondary Power" section on the right also becomes active. The player can then choose either to turn on the Minecraft:Regeneration power in addition to the Primary Power or to raise the primary power to Level II. The user clicks the "Done" button (green checkmark), the item is consumed, and the power(s) become activated, with the outline of the effect on the Minecraft:HUD being blue. To change the beacon's powers, this process must be followed again, consuming another ingot or gem.

If the pyramid is broken, effects deactivate or weaken depending on the level of the pyramid that is no longer complete. Upon restoration of the pyramid, the originally selected power returns without the need to spend another item. If a smaller pyramid is upgraded, the effect range increases to that of the new pyramid without the need of reactivating it, however upgrading to level 4 does not modify the effect power (to increase the power, the player must use the beacon's GUI).

The five primary powers are:

• Template:EffectLink I: Increased movement speed.
• Template:EffectLink I: Increased mining and attack speed.
• Template:EffectLink I: Decreased nearly all incoming damage (2-level pyramid required).
• Template:EffectLink I: Increased jumping distance and height (2-level pyramid required).
• Template:EffectLink I: Increased melee damage (3-level pyramid required).

The secondary powers only available with a 4-level pyramid are:

• Template:EffectLink I: Regenerates health.
• Increasing the primary power to level II.

Every 4 seconds, if the beacon beam is currently active, the selected powers are applied with a duration of 9 seconds, plus 2 seconds per pyramid level, to all players in range. Thus, when powers are changed or a player travels outside the area of effect, the powers persist for 5–9 seconds, or 13–17 seconds with a full pyramid.

Range

The effects of a beacon constitutes within a cuboid region, which reaches downward and out to each side at a range determined by the size of the pyramid base (see table below), and upward a distance of that range plus the current dimension's height limit (e.g. 319 in the Overworld).

The effect duration from the beacon is also determined by the size of the pyramid base (Pyramid size × 2 + 9).

The range of the beacon effect is limited by the simulation distance. As such, on simulation distance of 4 with a level 4 pyramid, the effect does not reach the chunks on the corners of the beacon range.

The distance from the player to the beacon block does not affect the intensity of the status effect.

Beacon pyramid effects Template:In:

Pyramid size (levels)	Effect radius excluding beacon (blocks)	Effect duration (seconds)
1	20	11
2	30	13
3	40	15
4	50	17

Beacon pyramid effects Template:In:

Pyramid size (levels)	Effect radius excluding beacon (blocks)		Effect duration (seconds)
	South & East	North & West
1	20	21	10
2	30	31	12
3	40	41	14
4	50	51	16

Light source

Beacon blocks can function as light sources, emitting a light level 15. Like other Minecraft:light sources, they melt Minecraft:snow and Minecraft:ice. A beacon produces this light even when it doesn't emit a beam.

Piston interactivity

Beacons cannot be pushed nor pulled by Minecraft:pistons or Minecraft:sticky pistons.

Sounds

Generic

Template:Edition: Template:Sound table/Block/Stone/JE Template:Edition: Template:Sound table/Block/Glass/BE

Unique

Template:El: Template:SoundTable

Template:El: Template:SoundTable

Data values

ID

Template:Edition: Template:ID table Template:ID table

Template:Edition: Template:ID table Template:ID table

Block data

A beacon has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Template:El: Template:See also

<section begin="block data" />

• Template:Nbt Block entity data
  • Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity
  • Template:Nbt inherit/nameable
  • Template:Nbt inherit/lockable
  • Template:Nbt: Optional. The primary effect selected, see Potion effects for resource locations. Cannot be set to an effect that beacons do not normally use. Although Regeneration cannot normally be chosen as the primary effect, setting this value to Template:Cd works and even allows Regeneration II to be chosen as the secondary via the normal beacon GUI.
  • Template:Nbt: Optional. The secondary effect selected, see Potion effects for resource locations. Cannot be set to an effect that beacons do not normally use. When set without a primary effect, does nothing. When set to the same as the primary, the effect is given at level 2 (the normally available behavior for 5 effects). When set to a different value than the primary (normally only Regeneration), gives the effect at level 1.

<section end="block data" />

Template:El:

See Minecraft:Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

History

Trivia

File:Beam 12w38a.png

The map icon texture is hidden in the transparent part of the beacon beam texture in Java Edition 12w38a.

• The texture of the beacon is 16×16 but renders only the 10×10 area in the center.
• It is possible to see the beacon beam on the bottom of an activated beacon.<ref>Template:Bug</ref>
• A fully powered beacon can fit within the upper level of the Minecraft:desert pyramid with the beacon’s beam perfectly being placed in the hole at the top.

Gallery

Renders

• A beacon with all of the blocks that can power beacons
  A beacon with all of the blocks that can power beacons

Screenshots

• The top of a beacon's beam
  The top of a beacon's beam
• A view from inside the beacon before Minecraft:Java Edition 19w41a
  A view from inside the beacon before Minecraft:Java Edition 19w41a
• Two beams from a beacon, one passing through glass and the other through a beacon block
  Two beams from a beacon, one passing through glass and the other through a beacon block
• Beacon beam going through an Minecraft:end portal frame block
  Beacon beam going through an Minecraft:end portal frame block
• The first image of a colored beacon, tweeted by Nathan Adams
  The first image of a colored beacon, tweeted by Nathan Adams
• The first image of an underwater beacon, tweeted by Nathan Adams
  The first image of an underwater beacon, tweeted by Nathan Adams
• The beacon's light changing as it passes through magenta stained glass
  The beacon's light changing as it passes through magenta stained glass
• The full visible light spectrum created by colored beacons
  The full visible light spectrum created by colored beacons
• A grayscale spectrum
  A grayscale spectrum
• A beacon is still functional when the pyramid is made of different Minecraft:blocks
  A beacon is still functional when the pyramid is made of different Minecraft:blocks
• A visualization of the effects range for each level. At level 4, the area affected is 101×101 blocks
  A visualization of the effects range for each level. At level 4, the area affected is 101×101 blocks
• A colored beacon beam in Bedrock Edition
  A colored beacon beam in Bedrock Edition
• One of the many uses for the beacon
  One of the many uses for the beacon
• The texture of the beacon used from Minecraft:Java Edition 12w40a until the Minecraft:Texture Update
  The texture of the beacon used from Minecraft:Java Edition 12w40a until the Minecraft:Texture Update

Development images

• The texture file for the beacon in Minecraft:Java Edition 12w36a was laid out almost identically to that of the end crystal
  The texture file for the beacon in Minecraft:Java Edition 12w36a was laid out almost identically to that of the end crystal
• First image released by Minecraft:Jeb
  First image released by Minecraft:Jeb
• The old texture from Minecraft:Java Edition 12w36a of the beacon
  The old texture from Minecraft:Java Edition 12w36a of the beacon
• The old texture from Minecraft:Java Edition 12w38a displaying the powered and the non-powered beacon
  The old texture from Minecraft:Java Edition 12w38a displaying the powered and the non-powered beacon

In other media

• Several beacons in Template:MCSM
  Several beacons in Template:MCSM
• A Template:MCE as it appeared in Template:MCE
  A Template:MCE as it appeared in Template:MCE
• A Template:MCD as it appears in Template:MCD
  A Template:MCD as it appears in Template:MCD
• Minecraft:Sunny posing in front of a rainbow of beacons, clad in trimmed armor<ref>https://www.instagram.com/p/CtjxC_tgjQf/</ref>
  Minecraft:Sunny posing in front of a rainbow of beacons, clad in trimmed armor<ref>https://www.instagram.com/p/CtjxC_tgjQf/</ref>
• Storyboard of a beacon in Template:AMCM, during the Template:AMCM
  Storyboard of a beacon in Template:AMCM, during the Template:AMCM

See also

• Template:BlockLink
• Template:EntityLink