/particle: what delta and speed really mean, and the count=0 trick
The four numbers after the position are not a direction. Here is what delta and speed do, why count=0 behaves completely differently, and how to aim a particle.
/particle flame ~ ~1 ~ 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.01 20
└─ delta ─┘ spd countThose four numbers are the most misread part of the command.
delta is spread, not direction
dx dy dz describe a Gaussian spread around the position — how far particles scatter on each axis. 0.5 0.5 0.5 gives a fuzzy ball; 2 0 0 gives a line along X.
They are not a velocity vector. Positive and negative make no difference; -2 0 0 and 2 0 0 produce the same line.
Unless count is 0
Set count to 0 and the meaning of every preceding number changes:
| count | delta means | speed means |
|---|---|---|
| ≥ 1 | random spread | random velocity magnitude |
| 0 | a direction vector | the velocity along it |
/particle flame ~ ~1 ~ 0 1 0 0.5 0 → one particle shot straight up at 0.5This is the only way to aim a particle. Every "how do I make a beam" answer eventually arrives here. The cost is one particle per command, so a beam is a loop or a chain.
speed is not always speed
For most particles speed is a velocity multiplier. For a few it is repurposed entirely:
dust— the size is a parameter, and speed does nothingnote— speed picks the colour,0to24mapping around the hue wheelentity_effect— colour is taken from the alpha-RGB argument
So a note particle with speed 1 is not fast, it is a different colour.
Particles with their own arguments
/particle dust{color:[1.0,0.0,0.0],scale:1} ~ ~ ~ 0 0 0 0 1
/particle block{block_state:"minecraft:stone"} ~ ~ ~ 0.3 0.3 0.3 0 10
/particle dust_color_transition{from_color:[1,0,0],to_color:[0,0,1],scale:1} ~ ~ ~ 0 0 0 0 1The argument block goes immediately after the particle name, before the coordinates. Putting it at the end is the usual syntax error.
force and the viewer
The command ends with an optional mode and player:
/particle flame ~ ~ ~ 0 0 0 0 1 force @anormal respects each client's particle setting and a 32-block visibility limit. force shows the particle regardless and out to 512 blocks. For anything a player must see — a boss telegraph, a quest marker — force is required, and it is why your particles work for you and not for someone with reduced particles.
Performance
Particles are client-side rendering, so the cost lands on players, not the server. A count of 200 per tick per player will drop frame rate on modest hardware even though server TPS is untouched. Spread emissions across ticks rather than issuing one huge count.
Browse every particle type and 1,900+ sound ids with ready-made commands in the Particle & Sound Gallery.