Beacon

"It’s quite the exhausting build in survival mode - but since when have pyramids been the cheap architectural option?"

- Ash Davis

A beacon is a unique block that projects a light beam skyward and can provide status effects to players in the vicinity.

Obtaining
A beacon can be mined successfully with any tool, or with bare hands.

Usage
Beacon blocks can function as light sources, emitting a light level 15. Like other light sources, they will melt snow and ice. They cannot be pushed by pistons.

When "activated", beacon blocks provide two unique functions:
 * An aesthetic landmark beam reaching into the sky, which can be visible from far away.
 * Powers, which give players status effects within a certain range.

Activation
In order to activate a beacon, the beacon must adhere to the following requirements:
 * Beacons require an unobstructed view of the sky, though bedrock and transparent blocks (including water, lava, slime, glass, enchanting table, and other beacon blocks) will not count as obstruction.
 * The beacon is on top of a pyramid constructed from iron blocks, gold blocks, emerald blocks, and/or diamond blocks.

Pyramids
Pyramids are the structures required to activate beacons. There are four possible pyramid heights. The more levels a pyramid has, the more powers will be available to choose from, and the wider its affected vicinity will be. 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 is deactivated, it will "remember" the powers it was set for, and will reactivate once the pyramid is repaired with no additional resource cost. This applies to piston-altered pyramids as well. 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.

Beam
A beam appears from a beacon if the beacon is activated, extending from the beacon block up to Y=255. The beam is visible from roughly the same distance as a single ordinary stack of blocks. If a render distance of 16 chunks is set, the beam of light is visible from up to 255 blocks away.

The color of the beam may be changed by placing blocks of stained glass (or stained glass panes) anywhere above the beacon block. The beam will change colors according to the colors of glass placed above it: the first block will set the beam color, while each additional block will set the color by averaging the red, green, and blue components of the current beam color and the block color. The color values are the same as those for the corresponding dye. Oddly enough, Beacon beams cannot go through most blocks, but can go through bedrock and end portal blocks.

Powers
Once the beacon is emitting a beam, it can then be fed 1 iron ingot, 1 gold ingot, 1 emerald, or 1 diamond, in order to provide powers (status effects) to players who remain within a certain range. This is done through the beacon's GUI, which is displayed by pressing while looking at the beacon block. The item used has no effect on the powers provided.

In the GUI, place the item to be fed in the empty slot shown, and choose a primary power by clicking one of the choices displayed. Beacons sitting atop 4-level pyramids will also display secondary power choices, one of which can be clicked to provide a second simultaneous boost. When the Done button (green check mark) is clicked, the item will be consumed and the power will be activated. To set a beacon to different powers, another gem/ingot must be consumed.

The five primary powers are:
 * I: Increased movement speed.
 * I: Increased mining and attack speed.
 * I: decreased nearly all incoming damage (2-level pyramid required).
 * I: Increased jumping distance and height (2-level pyramid required).
 * I: Increased melee damage (3-level pyramid required).

Secondary powers are available with a 4-level pyramid:
 * I: Regenerates health.
 * Increase the primary power to level II.

It is also possible to combine two different primary powers (both level I) by selecting a primary power then clicking the level II button and then clicking another primary power before clicking Done. Only one of the two powers will show up in the menu, but both will still be active.

Every four seconds, 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 will persist for 5–9 seconds, or 13-17 seconds with a full pyramid.

Range
The beacon forms a squared affected area around itself, the size of which depends on the pyramid size. The affected area extends  blocks (see the table below) from the beacon block horizontally and downward and   blocks above, except on console, where its vertical range is the same as its horizontal range.

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

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

Trivia

 * The texture of the beacon is 16×16, but only renders the 10×10 area in the center.
 * Beacon beams can't go through most blocks, but can go through few blocks such as bedrock and end portal blocks.
 * It is possible to see the beacon beam on the bottom of an activated beacon. This was initially reported as a bug, but the resolution was "won't fix", despite a fix being provided.