Ranking all Minecraft beacon effects

Minecraft's beacon blocks, in addition to providing a large beam of light projected into the sky, can bestow various status effects on players within range. Depending on the size of the pyramid base beneath the beacon, up to six different status effects can be applied. While these status effects can also be obtained through various means, having them emitted from a beacon block can be a huge help to players.

With that in mind, it doesn't hurt to rank the most helpful beacon effects in the game so far.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

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Ranking all of the beacon status effects in Minecraft

6) Jump Boost

Jump Boost is helpful in Minecraft, but not so much from a beacon (Image via Mojang)

As the name suggests, Jump Boost is a status effect that increases a player's jump height in Minecraft. The beacon is capable of providing a maximum effect level of rank 2 when the pyramid below it is four tiers high, meaning the maximum jump height can be increased to 2.5 blocks, or at least 1.8125 blocks at rank 1.

While this can be helpful for builders, the fact that the player has to remain within the range of the beacon block can limit its usefulness. Players are likely better off using Potions of Leaping so they can roam the game world and enjoy the Jump Boost effect outside of the beacon's range.

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5) Speed

Speed Boost makes moving around much easier in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

Speed Boost increases a player's movement speed while walking or sprinting by 20% per effect level, meaning a four-tier beacon pyramid can provide a maximum increase of 40%. Speed Boost also zooms out the player's field of view (FOV) proportionate to the level of the effect, allowing players to see more of the surrounding environment as they run about.

Unfortunately, Speed Boost has its helpfulness limited by the beacon's effect range. Players can easily run out of range of the beacon pyramid and lose their effect, which isn't particularly conducive to an effect that increases movement speed, especially for transportation purposes.

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4) Strength

Strength gives Minecraft players more damage output with their melee attacks (Image via Mojang)

Strength works a bit differently between Minecraft Java and Bedrock, but the simple explanation is that it increases a player's melee damage as the level increases. In Java Edition, melee damage will be increased by three damage (1.5 hearts) per level, while Bedrock Edition uses an equation to calculate the melee damage increase based on the effect rank and the base damage of the weapon.

The Bedrock Edition equation boils down to Base Damage x 1.3^Effect Level + 1.3^Effect Level - 1 divided by 0.3. For example, a Bedrock Edition iron sword will deal seven damage (3.5 hearts), and Strength will allow the sword to deal roughly 10.1 damage (5.05 hearts) and will raise to 14.13 damage (7.065 hearts) at enchantment rank 2.

Whatever the case, beacons can bestow a sizable damage boost with the Strength effect, giving players some extra firepower for locations that they need to defend as best as they can. A quick beacon being built can also be helpful when clearing out areas filled with hostile mobs.

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3) Resistance

Resistance keeps Minecraft players safe by reducing incoming damage (Image via Mojang)

If Minecraft players are worried about taking damage from hostile mobs, hazards, or other sources of damage, then activating their beacon with the Resistance status effect isn't a bad idea. Resistance will reduce incoming damage by 20% per level, meaning a beacon can drop a player's incoming damage by 40%. However, it's important to note that some sources of damage circumvent Resistance.

Specifically, Resistance can't reduce damage incurred from starvation, the void, or the /kill command. Even so, the Resistance effect is fantastic for defending an area since it will heavily reduce the damage that players can take from nearly every damage source.

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2) Regeneration

Regeneration helps keep Minecraft players alive by restoring health over time (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft fans are likely familiar with the Regeneration effect due to potions, but if not, the effect is a fantastic one that comes standard as a Secondary Power on any beacon placed atop a 4-level pyramid. The effect restores a player's health over time, filling a player's health bar more quickly as the level increases.

At rank 1, Regeneration will restore 0.2 hearts per second, while it will restore 0.4 hearts per second at rank 2. It might not seem like much, but it's a great way to keep a player alive while they're in reach of their beacon no matter what they've taken damage from. After all, free healing is free healing.

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1) Haste

Haste can increase a Minecraft player's mining and attack speed (Image via Mojang)

Haste is arguably the best possible effect that beacons can bestow in Minecraft. In Java Edition, Haste increases a player's mining speed by 20% per level and their attack speed by 10% per level. In Bedrock Edition, the increase is handled by the formula (1 + 0.2n) x 1.2^n where "n" represents the effect level of Haste. Whatever the case, increased attack, and mining speed are rarely (if ever) bad.

Thanks to the Haste effect, anywhere a player can put down a beacon or a beacon pyramid, they can rapidly clear land and defeat foes. This makes Haste a perfect effect for taking down opponents and for building and landscaping.