How to set up a beacon in Minecraft

A helpful visual marker, as well as a source of buffs, Minecraft's beacons aren't the easiest to craft but its upsides certainly are worth the trouble.

Emitting a large beam of light, providing players with positive status effects, and capable of being powered up depending on how it's built, beacons can be a huge help for Minecraft players.

They are made of three primary materials, two of which (obsidian and glass) are simple to acquire, but the third, Nether Stars, are a different story. Nether Stars are dropped by the wither boss, who for most Minecraft players, isn't an easy opponent to take on.

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Minecraft: Setting up a beacon for maximum effect

By placing beacons at the peak of a pyramid structure, they grow in effectiveness (Image via Mojang).

Once players have crafted a beacon in Minecraft, activating it requires the construction of a pyramid-like structure. By increasing the size of the structure, the beacon placed atop it can provide a larger number of positive status effects and also extend the range of those effects.

There are four maximum pyramid heights, each with its own degree of capability, but Minecraft players can build their pyramid structures as large or as small as they'd like.

Benefits will stop being increased after reaching the fourth stage's maximum height, but a large pyramid with a beacon marking its peak can still look visually satisfying. Multiple beacons can also be used on one pyramid in order to receive multiple buffs.

The smallest a beacon pyramid can be is a 3x3 platform with the beacon at its center, with the maximum size required to bring the beacon to full power is a total of 164 blocks that exist in 9x9, 7x7, 5x5, and 3x3 layers before placing the beacon.

Pyramid structures are simple enough to create in Minecraft, but beacons will require certain block types in order to activate. The following blocks will activate a beacon when they are made into a pyramid:

• Iron blocks
• Gold blocks
• Emerald blocks
• Diamond blocks
• Netherite blocks

In addition to requiring certain blocks to be made into a pyramid to activate, beacons also require an open sky in order to project their signal light. The view of the sky must be nearly completely unobstructed, though transparent blocks won't obstruct a beacon's signal beam. Bedrock and the ceiling of the Nether are also permitted.

Multiple beacons can be placed on the same pyramid to allow for multiple concurrent status effects (Image via Mojang).

Once the beacon is activated, Minecraft players can change the color of the beam by placing stained glass over the top of the beacon. The colors can be further mixed by stacking additional stained glass blocks or panes over the preceding piece of glass. For example, players can stack a red stained glass block on top of a blue one on top of the beacon to create a purple colored beam.

To activate different status effects, feed the following materials into the beacon:

• Iron ingots
• Gold ingots
• Emeralds
• Diamonds
• Netherite ingots

Through the beacon's GUI, Minecraft players can then select the primary and/or secondary status effects they'd like to activate.