Template:BlockTileEntity
| “ |
|
„ |
| — The Pretty Scary Update promo poster |
| “ |
|
„ | |
| — Ash Davis[1] |
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.
| Block | Beacon | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 3 | |
| Breaking time (secs) | ||
| Default | 4.5 | |
Crafting
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|
| Glass + Nether Star + Obsidian |
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.[Java and Legacy Console editions only]
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
The beacon base can be made of the different mineral blocks combined.
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
The four possible pyramid arrangements when using the beacon block. From left to right the pyramid structure decreases in complexity.
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.
| Level | Mineral Blocks | Materials | Layers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 1 stack + 17 | 3×3, Beacon |
| 2 | 34 | 4 stacks + 50 | 5×5, 3×3, Beacon |
| 3 | 1 stack + 19 | 11 stacks + 43 | 7×7, 5×5, 3×3, Beacon |
| 4 | 2 stacks + 36 | 23 stacks + 4 | 9×9, 7×7, 5×5, 3×3, Beacon |
This six-Beacon pyramid provides all six effects from a single structure using the fewest possible mineral blocks.
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.
| Level | Mineral Blocks | Minerals | Layers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | 2 stacks + 52 | 4x5, 2x3 Beacons |
| 2 | 62 | 8 stacks + 46 | 6x7, 4x5, 2x3 Beacons |
| 3 | 2 stacks + 6 | 18 stacks + 54 | 8x9, 6x7, 4x5, 2x3 Beacons |
| 4 | 3 stacks + 52 | 34 stacks + 20 | 10x11, 8x9, 6x7, 4x5, 2x3 Beacons |
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
The GUI shown when pressing use on the block.
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 use 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:
- Speed I: Increased movement speed.
- Haste I: Increased mining and attack speed.
- Resistance I: decreased nearly all incoming damage (2-level pyramid required).
- Jump Boost I: Increased jumping distance and height (2-level pyramid required).
- Strength I: Increased melee damage (3-level pyramid required).
Secondary powers are available with a 4-level pyramid:
- Regeneration 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.[Computer Edition only]
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 range blocks (see the table below) from the beacon block horizontally and downward and range + 256 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.
| Pyramid size | Effect range | Effect duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 level | 20 | 11 |
| 2 levels | 30 | 13 |
| 3 levels | 40 | 15 |
| 4 levels | 50 | 17 |
Data values
A beacon has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block. The beacon's block entity ID is beacon.
- Block entity data
- Tags common to all block entities
- CustomName: Optional. The name of this beacon in JSON text component, which appears when attempting to open it, while it is locked.
- Lock: Optional. When not blank, prevents the container from being opened unless the opener is holding an item whose name matches this string.
- Levels: The number of levels available from the pyramid. Immediately changes to the correct value if modified using commands. Note that this is also always 0 if the beam is blocked.
- Primary: The primary effect selected, see Potion effects for IDs. Set to -1 when no effect is selected. Cannot be set to an effect which beacons do not normally use, otherwise immediately changes back to -1. Although Regeneration cannot normally be chosen as the primary effect, setting this value to 10 works and even allows Regeneration II to be chosen as the secondary via the normal beacon GUI.
- Secondary: The secondary effect selected, see Potion effects for IDs. Set to -1 when no effect is selected. Cannot be set to an effect which beacons do not normally use, otherwise immediately changes back to -1. 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.
Video
Beacon/video
Achievements
Template:Load achievements: Unknown achievement. Achievement title not found on page Achievement
Advancements
| Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Resource location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Bring Home the Beacon | Construct and place a Beacon | Withering Heights | Be within a 20×20×14 cuboid centered on a beacon block when it realizes it has become powered. | nether/create_beacon
|
![]() | Beaconator | Bring a Beacon to full power | Bring Home the Beacon | Be within a 20×20×14 cuboid centered on a beacon block when it realizes it is being powered by a size 4 pyramid. | nether/create_full_beacon
|
![]() | How Did We Get Here? | Have every effect applied at the same time | A Furious Cocktail | Have all of these 27 status effects applied to the player at the same time:
This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed. | nether/all_effects
|
History
| release | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.4.2 | 12w32a | File:Beacon Revision 1.png Added the "Work in Progress" block. | |||
| 12w34a | Removed the beacon from the creative inventory. | ||||
| 12w36a | The "Work in Progress" block is now called "Beacon", can be found in the creative inventory, and is craftable. | ||||
| File:Beacon Revision 2.png The texture was changed. | |||||
| 12w38a | File:Beacon Revision 3.png The texture was changed again. The beacon beam changed from a semi-transparent smooth beam (which conflicted with water transparency), to a pattern with 0% transparency. | ||||
| 12w40a | |||||
| 1.5 | 13w05a | Effect range increased from 16/24/32/40 blocks to 20/30/40/50 blocks. | |||
| Beacon effects extend up to the world height limit (Y=256). | |||||
| 1.6.1 | 13w23a | With the regeneration effect being nerfed slightly, the same effect produced from the beacon did too. | |||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | The player can achieve the Beaconator achievement by placing a beacon on a level-4 pyramid of specific mineral blocks. | |||
| 1.8 | 14w29a | Now displays the cracking animation. | |||
| August 5, 2014 | Dinnerbone tweets a screenshot containing a colored beacon beam. The color appears to change when the beam passes through stained glass. | ||||
| 14w32a | Beacon light changes as it goes through stained glass. | ||||
| August 7, 2014 | Dinnerbone tweets that the beacon beam can now pass through blocks that only block light slightly. | ||||
| 14w32b | Beacon beams show if going through a block that doesn't completely block light rather than partially block light. This allows beacon beams to go through water and lava. | ||||
| Beacons in the Nether and the End only check for blocks and render the beam up to the world height (Y=127). | |||||
| 1.8.2 | pre5 | Bedrock no longer obstructs beacon activation or beams. | |||
| Beacons in the Nether and the End check and use the full build height (Y=255) rather than the world height (Y=127). | |||||
| 1.9 | 15w31a | Beacons generate naturally in end ships. | |||
| 15w32c | Beacons no longer generate in end ships, being replaced by pumpkins. | ||||
| 15w47a | A new tag, PaymentItem, stored the sacrifice item within the beacon's block entity data (until 15w49a).
| ||||
| Beacons would no longer drop their contents when broken or when the interface is exited (until 15w49a). | |||||
| Beacons were made able to interact with hoppers (until 15w49a). | |||||
| 15w47b | Effect duration now increases with pyramid level (formerly was a constant 9 seconds). | ||||
| 15w49a | Removed the PaymentItem tag (introduced in 15w47a).
| ||||
| Beacons once again drop their contents when broken or when the interface is exited (as they had before 15w47a). | |||||
| Beacons can no longer interact with hoppers (as they had since 15w47a). | |||||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | Changed block entity ID from Beacon to beacon. | |||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 138. | |||
| 18w19a | Beacons now produce sounds. | ||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.16.0 | build 4 | Added beacons. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2 | build 1 | Beacon beams now change colors when shining through stained glass or stained glass panes. | |||
| 1.5 | beta 1.5.0.4 | Beacons now produce sounds. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU19 | CU7 | 1.12 | Patch 1 | Added beacons. | |
| TU25 | CU14 | 1.17 | Beacon beams now change colors when shining through stained glass or stained glass panes. | ||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Nerfed vertical range of beacon to match horizontal range. | |
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 1.3.12 | Added beacons. | ||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Beacon" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
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.[2]
Gallery
Pre-1.4
First image released by Jeb.
Official release
- Beam Goes Through End Portal .png
Beacon beam going through an end portal frame block.



