How to make a beacon in minecraft?

The materials you'll need to craft a beacon in 'Minecraft'

As with most items in "Minecraft," crafting a beacon requires gathering materials from various locations in the game. Fortunately, two of these items can likely be found nearby, while the last one will require a bit more effort to obtain.

Glass

To begin, the easiest material you'll need is glass. Just like in real life, you can create glass from sand. Sand can be found on any ocean beach or in desert biomes.

Mine at least five blocks of sand and bring them to a furnace. Place the sand in the furnace along with any type of fuel to smelt it into glass.

Obsidian

Next, you'll need to mine or acquire at least three blocks of obsidian. Unlike other rare ores like diamonds, you cannot trade with villagers to obtain it.

The best way to find obsidian is to mine it directly from the ground. However, keep in mind that you'll need a diamond or netherite pickaxe, as using any other tool will simply break the obsidian without yielding any blocks.

Alternatively, you can create obsidian by pouring water from a bucket onto lava. If you don't have easy access to lava, dig down to layer 11 in the Overworld or layer 31 in the Nether to find it.

From there, dig horizontally until you locate lava, then pour a bucket of water into it. If you find both lava and water close to each other, you can also create a path for the two liquids to meet. Just be cautious: falling into lava can result in a quick death in Minecraft.

Nether Star

Acquiring a Nether Star requires you to defeat the Wither boss.

The Wither is a terrifying boss mob that soars around shooting skulls at you and your friends.

Even worse? You can’t find this boss in the wild. You have to build and activate it instead.

To summon the Wither, you need to enter the Nether and gather some Soul Sand along with three Wither Skeleton Skulls.

Soul Sand can be found abundantly throughout the Nether, but locating Wither Skeletons is more challenging. To encounter these skeletons, you must find a Nether Fortress.

Not only this, but Wither Skeleton Skulls are a scarce drop, meaning you’ll have to fight a ton of these mobs for the item to appear.

Once you acquire three Wither Skeleton Skulls, head back to the Overworld and prepare to build the Wither. Arrange the items as follows:

Soul Sand in the shape of a T.

Three Wither Skeleton Skulls on top of the Sand.

Note that the second you place that third skull, the Wither will activate with an explosion.

It’s best to do this in an open area away from anything important.

After defeating the Wither, it will drop one Nether Star. You can now use this Nether Star along with the other materials to craft the Beacon Block.

Once the block is complete, you will need to build a pyramid to fully utilize its effects.

Build a Base for Your Beacon

To activate the Beacon, you must build a base out of Diamonds, Emeralds, Gold, Iron, or Netherite (any combination of these blocks will work).

Your base can be 1-4 layers high, and the blocks must be placed in a specific way:

Layer 1: 9 blocks (3X3)

Layer 2: 25 blocks (5X5)

Layer 3: 49 blocks (7X7)

Layer 4: 81 blocks (9X9)

The potential benefits of the beacon increase with each layer added to its base. Construct your pyramid-shaped base with the largest layer at the bottom and the smallest at the top. To build a four-layer base for your beacon, you will need a total of 244 blocks.

How to Activate a Beacon in Minecraft

Once you've constructed a base for the beacon, you’re ready to activate it.

Place the beacon on the center block of the top layer of your pyramid. The beacon will emit a beam of light that serves as a useful guide while you explore.

You can change the color of the light by placing a stained glass block on top of it. Additionally, stacking multiple glass blocks will allow you to create various hues.

Interact with the Beacon. You'll see a menu where you can choose a status boost (if your base has 4 layers, you can choose a secondary bonus). The available options grow with each layer of your base:

Layer 1 : Speed, Haste

Layer 2: Resistance, Jump Boost

Layer 3: Strength

Layer 4: Regeneration or double another bonus

Put one of the following blocks in the empty box at the bottom of the menu: Netherite Ingot, Emerald, Diamond, Gold Ingot, or Iron Ingot. Finally, select the checkmark to activate your Beacon.

If you have a full pyramid, activate an additional Beacon on each side of the first Beacon. That way, you can have up to six status bonuses active at once.