How Many Blocks for a 4 Beacon Pyramid? A Guide to Beacon Building
Hey fellow Minecraft enthusiasts! As a passionate gamer who has built my fair share of beacon pyramids, I‘m often asked: "how many blocks do I need for a 4 beacon pyramid?" So let me walk you through the block numbers step-by-step.
The Short Answer
To support 4 beacons specifically, you only need a 4×4 square base made of 16 iron/gold/diamond/emerald/netherite blocks. This provides enough power for 4 beacons, one placed at each corner.
However, if you want to build a fully powered pyramid that unlocks the beacon‘s maximum effects and range, you‘ll need 164 blocks total, arranged in layers as follows:
- 9×9 bottom layer: 81 blocks
- 7×7 second layer: 49 blocks
- 5×5 third layer: 25 blocks
- 3×3 fourth layer: 9 blocks
So in short:
- 16 block 4×4 square: for 4 beacons
- 164 blocks in pyramid: for max power
Now let me get into the details, including some pro-tips for gathering all the necessary blocks!
Beacon Pyramid Layers Explained
Beacons provide effects like Speed, Jump Boost, Strength etc. in an area around them. To activate these effects, they must be placed on top of a pyramid made of iron, gold, diamond, emerald or netherite blocks.
The more blocks in your pyramid, the more powerful the effects and wider the beacon‘s range will be.
Here is how a full beacon pyramid is structured from bottom to top:
- Bottom Layer (9×9): 81 mineral blocks
- Second Layer (7×7): 49 mineral blocks
- Third Layer (5×5): 25 mineral blocks
- Fourth Layer (3×3): 9 mineral blocks
Once all 164 blocks are placed in this tiered pattern, putting your beacon on top will activate it with the maximum power, range and duration of effects.
You can see this pyramid structure visualized below:
| Layer Number | Size | # of Blocks | Total Blocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fourth | 3×3 | 9 | 9 |
| Third | 5×5 | 25 | 34 |
| Second | 7×7 | 49 | 83 |
| Bottom | 9×9 | 81 | 164 |
Beacon Stats and Details
Now that you know the basic pyramid pattern, here are some more details about beacons and how many blocks you need to power certain functions:
- At minimum, you need a 3×3 base (9 blocks) to activate a beacon‘s basic effects
- A 4×4 square (16 blocks) can power up to 4 beacons placed at the corners
- The full 164 block pyramid unlocks the maximum beacon effects (like Speed II and Strength II)
- This max power pyramid boosts the beacon range from 20 blocks to 50 blocks
So in summary, more blocks in your pyramid = better effects + wider range from your beacon.
How Many Ingots for 164 Blocks?
You may be wondering how many ingots it takes to craft 164 mineral blocks. Here‘s a breakdown:
- Iron: 1,476 ingots
- Gold: 1,476 ingots
- Diamond: 1,476 diamonds
- Emerald: 1,476 emeralds
- Netherite: 1,476 netherite ingots
As you can see, it takes a huge amount of resources! Over 1400+ of each material (except Netherite which is much harder to come by in those quantities).
So making a full powered beacon actually takes a ton of mining, looting, and hours of work.
Beacon Building Tips from an Expert
After building dozens of beacons on multiplayer servers over the years, I‘ve picked up some pro tips on efficient gathering and planning:
- Branch mine at Y-12 for maximum diamond rates
- Craft a Fortune III pickaxe to boost mineral yields
- Defeat mob raid farms and smelt gear for iron
- Build infrastructure like villager trading halls to passively accumulate resources
- Chunk base to pre-allocate space for giant pyramids
Trust me, with some effort and the right tech, gathering 1000+ minerals is very doable! And so rewarding when your mega beacon comes online.
So I hope this gives you a detailed overview of how many blocks you need for 4 beacons or a fully powered pyramid. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Happy mining,
SteveTheGamer132
