One of the late-game items that can be crafted in Minecraft is beacons. They are placeable blocks made with glass, obsidian blocks, and the very rare Nether stars.
These beacons shoot a beam towards the sky as a signal as well as provide players with buffing status effects such as Speed, Jump Boost, Haste, Regeneration, Resistance, and Strength.
These status effects only apply to a player when the character is in range of the beacon. The range of the beacon depends on various things, but mostly on how you plan on placing beacons in your world.
In this short guide, we will go through the maximum range that a beacon in Minecraft can reach. Let’s get into the guide!
Table of ContentsShow
What Is The Minecraft Beacon Range?
Remember that one essential thing to understand about the beacon is that it provides the boosts or buffing effects within an area of effect.
As stated on the Minecraft Wiki for the beacon, the special block “affects an area in the shape of a square column, which reaches downward and out to each side at a range determined by the size of the pyramid base, and upward a distance of that range + 384 blocks.”
With this, the range of the status effects provided by the beacon depends on the size of the pyramid base that the beacon will be placed upon.
The following table summarizes the levels or sizes of the pyramid base with its corresponding status effect range and duration:
In the image shown above, these are the 4 possible levels of the pyramid that the beacon should be placed on to provide buffing status effects. The larger the pyramid, the farther the beacon status effects can reach.
In the first level or layer of blocks, the 3 ⨯ 3 block pattern, the beacon will give a minimum range of 20 blocks from the beacon to each direction. By adding further levels or layers, the beacon can reach a range of 10 blocks more from each level or layer added.
Ultimately, the maximum range of the beacon is 50 blocks to every direction excluding height.
The block patterns of the 4 levels should be 9 ⨯ 9, 7 ⨯ 7, 5 ⨯ 5, and 3 ⨯ 3 from the bottom layer to the top layer.
Remember that the pyramid should be completely filled with no holes in the middle for the beacon’s range to improve. The beacon will not work if you only placed the blocks on the side of the pyramid.
Aside from that, correct materials for the pyramid base should be used for the beacon to give out status effects.
Listed below are the available blocks you can use as the pyramid base of the beacon:
- Emerald Blocks
- Diamond Blocks
- Gold Blocks
- Iron Blocks
- Netherite Blocks
Once you have placed the appropriate type and number of blocks for the entire pyramid, the beacon can then be placed on the top center portion and it can then start giving out buffing status effects after feeding with the ingot of choice.
However, you will notice that once you exit this range, the status effects will only last for 17 seconds until it ends for your character. Going back in range of the beacon quickly replenishes the timer for the status effects.
It should also be noted that the distance from the player to the beacon block does not affect the intensity of the status effect. Therefore, the same status effects will be felt even if you are at the farthest block that the beacon can reach.
Conclusion
That’s it! Since you have reached the late game in Minecraft, especially after defeating the Wither and getting a Nether Star, the beacon is a very useful asset that can assist you to demolish anything with the Haste status effect.
Aside from that, you probably already have mined and processed ancient debris in the Nether. Be sure to check out the best Minecraft enchantments for your Netherite gear.
We hope that by following this guide you can strategically plan on finding the perfect location to put your first or additional beacons in your Minecraft world. Good luck and have fun!
