Minecraft Villagers - Minecraft Guide - IGN (2024)

Villagers are a passive mob found in many biomes in Minecraft. They don’t drop anything upon death but they are great for trading supplies. Most of the time you’ll be able to trade emeralds for goods regarding their jobs. In this Minecraft Villager guide, we will teach you everything you need to know, such as how to find Villagers, how to breed them, quick tips and facts that you may not have known, how to assign them to jobs and what the jobs do, as well as how to capture a villager.

Looking for something specific about Villagers? Click the links below to jump to…

• All Villager Jobs and How to Assign Them Jobs in Minecraft
• What are Villagers and What Do they do in Minecraft
• Quick Tips and Facts about Villagers
• How to Find Villagers
• How to Capture Villagers
• How to Breed a Villager
• How to Trade With a Villager

All Villager Jobs and How to Assign Them Jobs in Minecraft

Villagers have a variety of jobs in Minecraft and they all offer something uniquely different from the last. The first thing they’ll do as soon as the sun goes up is go right next to their job block. While some may be more useful than others, depending on what you’re looking for, it’s worth knowing which jobs do what.

If you’re not happy with a villager’s job, you can always change it. Changing their job is simple, all you need to do is destroy their job block and replace it with a new one. You’ll know you’ve successfully changed the villager’s job when you see their clothes change as well as green stars appear around them.

Listed below are all the jobs a villager can have and the blocks needed to assign the job.

Armorer

These Villagers will sell armor of varying qualities once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Blast Furnace

Butcher

These Villagers will sell meat once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Smoker

Cartographer

These Villagers will sell maps (including one for the Woodland Mansion) and Banners once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Cartography Table

Cleric

These Villagers will sell magical items and Bottle O' Enchantings once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Brewing Stand

Farmer

These Villagers will sell a variety of food and brewing ingredients once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Composter

Fisherman

These Villagers will sell a variety of Fish and even Fishing Rods once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Barrel

Fletcher

These Villagers will sell Bows, Arrows, Flint, and Tipped Arrows once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Fletching Table

Leatherworker

These Villagers will sell Leather armor (in different colors) as well as Horse Armor and Saddles once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Cauldron

Librarian

These Villagers will sell Enchanted Books and Name Tags once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Lectern

Mason

These Villagers will sell a variety of Bricks once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Stonecutter

Nitwit

These Villagers don’t sell anything, and can’t be given a job.

• Block Needed For The Job: None

Shepherd

These Villagers will sell a variety of Wool and Paintings once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Loom

Toolsmith

These Villagers will sell Tools of varying qualities (including occasional Enchanted ones!) once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Smithing Table

Unemployed

They don’t sell anything but can be employed by placing certain blocks in front of them.

• Block Needed For The Job: Any

Weaponsmith

These Villagers will sell Iron and Diamond Swords and Axes (including Enchanted ones!) once assigned this Job.

• Block Needed For The Job: Grindstone

What are Villagers and What Do they do in Minecraft

Villagers are a great way to get supplies that may otherwise be a little difficult to get. The more you trade with the villagers the higher their levels will be and the better items they’ll sell. All villagers accept emeralds to trade, but they’ll also accept other items pertaining to their job.

It’s best to keep them alive and protect them as much as you can because they’ll come in handy. For instance, if you’re looking for the Woodland Mansion, you can buy a map leading to it from the cartographer. At night Hostile Mobs such as zombies, spiders, and drowned will try to kill them.

Quick Tips and Facts about Villagers

• At night villagers will go to their beds and go to sleep.
• When a villager claims a job site or a bed green stars will appear.
• Villagers can travel up to thirty-two blocks from its village.
• Villagers can open all wooden doors.
• Villagers can’t open fence gates, iron doors, or trap doors.
• Villagers can climb ladders.
• All the Zombie type mobs will attack a villager.
• Skeletons won’t attack a villager.
• When a villager is getting attacked they’ll run away.
• It’s common for a villager to collect beetroot, beetroot seeds, bread, bone meal carrots, potatoes, wheat, and wheat seeds.
• Villagers can wear carved pumpkins, elytra, and mob heads
• Baby Villagers like to run around and play with one another.
• A baby villager will stop and stare at an Iron Golem if it’s holding a poppy.
• If a villager is hit by lighting it’ll turn into a witch.
• A villager will begin to panic by sweating and shaking during a raid or zombie attack.
• During a raid, villagers will run into their homes.
• Villagers often stare at the player for no reason.
• If a villager has no bed it’ll stay up all night in search of a nearby bed.
• Villagers can sleep in the Neither or the End without their beds exploding.

How to Find Villagers

Villagers spawn all throughout the Overworld in Villages. Villages spawn randomly all throughout the world in every biome. The villagers will also dress in weather-appropriate clothes to the biome too. You’ll never find a desert villager in heavy clothes, and a snow villager in light clothing either.

To learn more about the different types of Biomes that are available to find across Minecraft, be sure to check out our Biomes guide for more details.

How to Capture Villagers

If you don’t want to build your base around a village or don’t want to travel to the closest village to trade, you can always capture them. This process takes a little bit of time and effort but it’s well worth it in the end because they’ll always be near and safe. Listed below are all the items you’re going to need to capture a villager.

• Boat
• Bucket of Water
• Lead

It’s worth mentioning you can do this process with a lead too. Now that you have all the items here’s what you’ll need to do. Place a boat near the villager and they’ll jump on the boat. Once the villager is on the boat place a lead on the boat and begin to take the boat back to your base. Whenever you hit a cliff just place a bucket of water there so the boat can go over it. Once you have the villager back home and right where you want them, destroy the boat so the villager can walk freely. Congratulations you’ve successfully captured a villager and won’t have to worry about them dying.

How to Breed a Villager

Breeding villages isn’t like breeding animals because you can’t just feed them like you would any other mob. There need to be at least two empty blocks above their heads and an unclaimed bed near them. You’ll also need to drop some food near them for the villagers to pick up so they’ll be willing to breed. Listed below is the food and how much you need to drop for them to enter willingness.

Beetroots: 12
Bread: 3
Carrots: 12
Potatoes: 12

If you find yourself struggling to get the villagers in the same room to breed, here’s a quick tip. If you’re still in a village, destroy all the beds but leave two in a house. Once two villagers enter the home, trap them in by placing a block at the door entrance. Next, you should place a bed in the house, and feed them the amount of food needed to breed. Then they’ll be willing to breed and a baby villager will spawn.

How to Trade With a Villager

Trading with a villager is straightforward. All you need to do is approach a villager with a job and either right-click them or press the left trigger to start the trade. All items will vary based on the villager’s trade and all villagers will accept emeralds for most items. Villagers can sell out of an item but restock twice a day. Prices on items will always change too if you earn the Hero of the Village effect you’ll receive a discount on all items from every villager.

Looking for more? Check out our Minecraft Mods 1.19 page to see how to add some new variety to your gameplay experience, or our Minecraft Live 2022 page to see when the newest official content will be unveiled!