Minecraft: How to Acquire a Beacon

Updated:

15 Mar 2022

Minecraft: How to Acquire a Beacon

Check out this handy video guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Rxr9YUGEU

Video by: MasterCrafters 101

In a previous tutorial, we showed you how to activate a beacon in Minecraft - which is useful information… unless you don’t know how to get a beacon in the first place! Beacons are really nice tools, versatile in use, which can give certain buffs to players within range. Here’s how to get your hands on one!

In order to get all the necessary resources for this craft, you’re going to need to summon and defeat the Wither. That’s a tutorial all its own, but suffice it to say, this will be a tough fight! Armor up and brace yourself.
Once you’ve taken down the Wither, it will drop an item called a Nether Star. This is the most important crafting ingredient for a beacon. You can summon and kill the Wither multiple times, in case you want more beacons!
- In addition to your Nether Star, you’ll also need 5 Glass Blocks and 3 Obsidian Blocks. Once you’ve collected all these supplies, open your Crafting Table and place the Nether Star in the square in the center of the grid. Place the Obsidian along the bottom row. In the remaining 5 squares, place all your glass. The grid should be entirely full, and this will craft a beacon.
Now, to get your beacon to function completely, you can’t just place it anywhere. You’re going to have to build a pyramid for it.
- Choose a spot that will give your beacon an unobstructed view of the sky. No caves, no forests with leaves to block the beam.
- Open up plenty of space to build your pyramid; decide how big it will be! There are 4 levels of pyramids, and each one is bigger than the last. The bigger the pyramid, the better your beacon perks can be.
- The pyramid has to be built out of iron, gold, diamond, or emerald blocks. You can mix and match if you don’t have enough of a specific material, and the material itself doesn’t affect the beacon’s performance.
  - The smallest pyramid has a square made of 9 blocks as the bottom level, and the beacon is placed in the center of this square to form the top of the pyramid. The first beacon is always placed in the center square on the top of the pyramid. You can also place multiple beacons on one pyramid.
Once the pyramid is built and the beacon is placed, you’re all set to activate it! If you need help with that, you can check out this tutorial!

Defeating the Wither is going to take a lot of effort, so I’ll let you get to it. We’ll see you around! Happy gaming!