Beacon

Beacon

Type	Block Entity
Requirements	None
Physics	No
Transparency	JE, CE: Yes BE: No
Luminance	Yes, 15
Blast resistance	15
Hardness	3
Tool	Any tool
Renewable	No
Stackable	Yes (64)
Flammable	No
First appearances	See History
Drops	Itself
Sounds	Activate Ambient Power Deactivate
Block entity id	beacon
Data value	dec: 138 hex: 8A bin: 10001010
Name	beacon

“	Beacons! No, not "bacon", but a beam of light to pimp your castle with!	„
	— The Pretty Scary Update promo poster

	“	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.

Block	Beacon
Hardness	3
Breaking time
Hand	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.

A single Beacon Pyramid

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.

Multiple Beacons Pyramid (enables all buffs)

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

See also: Status effect

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. Only one of the two powers will show up in the menu, but both will still be active.^{[Java 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

See also: Block entity format

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 see Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity/template
  • 
     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.
  • 
     Primary: The primary power selected, see Potion effects for IDs. 0 means none.
  • 
     Secondary: The secondary power selected, see Potion effects for IDs. 0 means none.

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

Icon	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Availability				Xbox points earned	Trophy type (PS)
				Xbox	PS	Bedrock	Nintendo
	Beaconator	Create a full beacon	Be within a 20×20×14 cuboid centered on the pyramid when the beacon block realizes it is fully powered.	Yes	Yes	Alt	Yes	60G	Gold
	The Beaconator			Alt	Alt	Yes	Alt

Advancements

Main article: Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Internal ID
	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.	minecraft:nether/create_beacon
	How Did We Get Here?	Have every effect applied at the same time	A Furious Cocktail	Have all of these 23 effects applied to you at the same time.	minecraft:nether/all_effects
	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.	minecraft:nether/create_full_beacon

History

Official release
1.4.2			12w32a		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.
					The texture was changed.
			12w38a		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		The texture was changed again, and the beacon beam changed again.
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.
TU69		1.76	Patch 38		Beacons now produce sounds.
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.

Gallery

Pre-1.4

• 

  First image released by Jeb.

• 

  A beacon is still functional when the pyramid is made of different blocks.

• 

  A visualization of the effect range for each level. At level 4, the area affected is 101×101 blocks.

• 

  One of the many uses for the beacon.

• 

  The old texture from snapshot 12w36a of the beacon.

• 

  The old texture from snapshot 12w38a displaying the powered and the non-powered beacon.

Official release

• 

  The still used texture since snapshot 12w40a of the beacon.

• 

  The top of a beacon's beam.

• 

  A view from inside the beacon.

• 

  Two beams from a beacon, one passing through glass and the other through a beacon block.

• 

  Beacon beam going through an end portal frame block.

• 

  The first image of a colored beacon, tweeted by Nathan Adams.

• 

  The beacon's light changing as it passes through magenta stained glass.

• 

  The full visible light spectrum created by colored beacons.

• 

  A grayscale spectrum.

References

Blocks

View at: Template:Blocks/content [edit]

Environment

View at: Template:Environment/content [edit]