A beacon is crafted from 5 glass, 3 obsidian and a Nether Star, the star the Wither drops. Placed on a pyramid of iron, gold, emerald, diamond or netherite blocks, it shines a beam into the sky and gives everyone nearby a power: Speed, Haste, Resistance, Jump Boost or Strength. A full pyramid takes 164 blocks.
Everything below is Minecraft 26.3, Java Edition: the recipe and the accepted blocks and items come from the game's own files, the rest from the Minecraft Wiki.
The recipe
At a crafting table: 3 glass in the top row, glass, the Nether Star and glass in the middle row, and 3 obsidian in the bottom row. Our Minecraft crafting recipes show the grid. The Nether Star is the hard part: only the Wither drops it.
How many blocks for a full beacon
| Pyramid | Layers | Blocks in all | Range | Powers it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 3×3 | 9 | 20 blocks | Speed, Haste |
| Level 2 | 3×3 and 5×5 | 34 | 30 blocks | Resistance, Jump Boost |
| Level 3 | up to 7×7 | 83 | 40 blocks | Strength |
| Level 4 | up to 9×9 | 164 | 50 blocks | Regeneration, or a power raised to level II |
The beacon sits on top, in the middle of the smallest layer. The blocks can be any mix of Blocks of Iron, Gold, Emerald, Diamond and Netherite: the kind changes nothing but the look. Iron is the cheapest, and a full pyramid of it takes 1,476 iron ingots.
