block

Beacon in Minecraft | MinecraftBible

Beacon is a block in Minecraft 1.21.4, dropping Beacon.

What is Beacon?

Beacon is a Minecraft block classified under the default material group. It has a hardness of 3 and a blast resistance of 3. It stacks up to 64 per inventory slot. It is a transparent block, meaning it doesn't fully block light or vision. Beacon emits light level 15. Beacon filters 1 levels of light passing through it, even though it is technically transparent.

Namespaced identifier: minecraft:beacon. Command: /give @p minecraft:beacon 1.

How to mine Beacon

Beacon can be broken with any tool, or even by hand.

Break times (unenchanted, no Haste or Mining Fatigue):

With the correct tool: approximately 4.5 seconds
By hand (no tool): approximately 15 seconds

Using an Efficiency-enchanted tool, Haste beacons, or a Diamond/Netherite tier drastically reduces these times. Water and being airborne slow mining by 5×.

Beacon drops

When broken, Beacon drops:

Beacon

Silk Touch preserves the block itself; Fortune increases quantity of ore-style drops but has no effect on ordinary blocks.

Block tags & properties

Transparent
Light Source
Hand-Mineable
Craftable

Beacon technical properties

Waterloggable: Yes
Flammable: No
Burns from lava: No
Renewable: Yes
Emits light: Yes — luminance 15

Values sourced from Minecraft Wiki: Beacon (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Verified for Java Edition 1.21.4.

Technical properties

Namespaced ID: minecraft:beacon
Material family: default
Hardness: 3
Blast resistance: 3
Stack size: 64
Transparent: Yes
Blocks light: 1
Emits light: 15
Diggable: Yes
Craftable: Yes
/give command: /give @p minecraft:beacon 1

Overview

Beacon is a block in Minecraft 1.21.4. This page covers mining requirements, real drop data, and crafting relevance.

Prerequisites and materials

Expect to collect Beacon once it breaks.
This block emits light (level 15), so it's useful for lighting builds and preventing mob spawns nearby.

Step-by-step walkthrough

Beacon can be broken by hand or with any tool, though using a tool is usually faster.
With the correct tool this takes about 4.5s to break (unenchanted); by hand it's roughly 15s.
Beacon is transparent, so light passes through and adjacent blocks won't be shaded by it.

Pro tips

Use /give @p minecraft:beacon 1 in creative mode to prototype builds before committing resources.
No special tool is required, so hand-mining is a valid fallback in an emergency.

Difficulty and time commitment

Difficulty: Medium
Estimated time per run: 5-20 min

Frequently Asked Questions

What tool do I need to mine Beacon?

Beacon can be broken by hand or with any tool - no specific tool tier is required.

What does Beacon drop when mined?

Breaking Beacon drops Beacon.

How hard is Beacon to mine?

Beacon has a hardness value of 3. That works out to roughly 4.5s with the correct tool or 15s by hand (unenchanted, no Haste/Mining Fatigue).