What are villages and how do I trade with villagers in Minecraft?
Although trading hasn't yet been implemented in the Windows 10 Edition of Minecraft, it is coming at some point and you should be prepared. Here are the top things you need to know when you happen upon a village.
- Where do I find villages?
- What do villages contain?
- Why is this village abandoned?
- How do I breed villagers?
- Why do I need emeralds?
- What do villagers have for trade?
- What is an iron golem?
- How do I improve my popularity?
Where do I find villages?
Villages can be found in plains, desert, taiga, forest, or savanna biomes.
The best practice for finding a village in an existing world is to explore, explore, and explore some more. They generate randomly, so one could be sitting just over the next hill. If you'd like to cover more ground, consider saddling a horse and using it for transportation. If you want to find a village immediately, consider starting a new game using a seed with a village next to the spawn.
What do villages contain?
Villages will usually contain a few houses, a few villagers, a well, a few torch-stands, and some crops.
If you're lucky, the village you find will also contain a blacksmith's forge and a library. Within the blacksmith's building is a chest that contains some random loot. You can also take the furnaces and, if you have a bucket, you can take the lava.
The library contains a few bookcases that you can break with an axe to collect the books; these are useful when it comes to enchanting. You'll also find a crafting table here.
You can take and replant the crops that the villagers have growing. You will usually find beetroots, carrots, potatoes, and wheat growing in villages.
Why is this village abandoned?
Sometimes you will find a village that is completely abandoned — this is usually due to zombies and other enemy mobs raiding at night and killing all the villagers. In certain cases, a zombie siege can happen, where a lot of zombies spawn within the village no matter how much light is being produced by torches.
The only two ways to repopulate a village is to transport with a minecart a villager from a different village or heal a zombie villager with a potion of weakness and a golden apple. If you manage to get at least two villagers in a village, you can breed them to re-populate.
How do I breed villagers?
In order for villagers to breed, you need to have at least two villagers and at least 0.35 times the number of houses as compared to villagers. For example, if you have seven villagers in your village, you need to have at least three houses for a new villager to spawn.
A structure will count as a house even if it's nothing more than a door with wood planks beneath it. You will, of course, want to create something much more substantial in order to protect your villagers.
Once two villagers mate, they must be traded with before they will be willing to mate again.
Why do I need emeralds?
Emeralds are the currency used to trade with villagers. You can either trade your items for their emeralds or trade their items for your emeralds. Emeralds are extremely rare.
An emerald ore block, when mined with a stone or better pickaxe, will turn into one emerald. Emerald ore can only be found in extreme hill (mountain) biomes anywhere between layer 4 and layer 32 of the Overworld.
What do villagers have for trade?
You can trade with villagers by right-clicking them. A trade window will appear with a few available trades — not all items listed below will be available at all times.
You always want to make sure you're not getting ripped off in a trade. If a villager wants, say, 12 emeralds for a pair of leather boots, you're better off finding some cows and making your own. Here's what different types of villagers will have for trade:
Farmer
Buys:
- 15-19 carrots for 1 emerald
- 16-24 coal for 1 emerald
- 9-12 cooked fish for 1 emerald
- 8-9 gold ingots for 1 emerald
- 7-12 melon slices for 1 emerald
- 15-19 potatoes for 1 emerald
- 14-17 raw chickens for 1 emerald
- 15-20 string for 1 emerald
- 18-22 wheat for 1 emerald
- 16-22 white wool for 1 emerald
Sells:
- 5-7 apples for 1 emerald
- 8-12 arrows for 1 emerald
- 1 bow for 2-3 emeralds
- 2-4 bread for 1 emerald
- 1 cake for 1 emerald
- 1 colored wool for 1-2 emeralds
- 7-8 cooked chickens for 1 emerald
- 6 cooked fish for 6 fish and 1 emerald
- 8-10 cookies for 1 emerald
- 1 enchanted fishing rod for 7-8 emeralds
- 6-10 flint for 10 gravel and 1 emerald
- 5-8 melon slices for 1 emerald
- 2-3 pumpkin pies for 1 emerald
- 1 shears for 3-4 emeralds
Librarian
Buys:
- 8-10 books for 1 emerald
- 1 compass for 1 emerald
- 24-36 paper for 1 emerald
Sells:
- 1 bookshelf for 3-4 emeralds
- 1 clock for 10-12 emeralds
- 1 compass for 10-12 emeralds
- 1 enchanted book for 5-64 emeralds
- 1 empty map for 7-11 emeralds
- 3-5 glass for 1 emerald
- 1 name tag for 20-22 emeralds
Cleric
Buys:
- 36-40 rotten flesh for 1 emerald
- 8-10 gold ingots for 1 emerald
Sells:
- 1 bottle o' enchanting for 3-11 emeralds
- 1 ender pearl for 4-7 emeralds
- 1-3 glowstone for 1 emerald
- 1-2 lapis lazuli for 1 emerald
- 1-4 redstone dust for 1 emerald
Blacksmith
Buys:
- 16-24 coal for 1 emerald
- 3-4 diamonds for 1 emerald
- 7-9 iron ingots for 1 emerald
Sells:
- 1 chainmail boots for 5-7 emeralds
- 1 chainmail chestplate for 11-15 emeralds
- 1 chainmail helmet for 5-7 emeralds
- 1 chainmail leggings for 9-11 emeralds
- 1 enchanted diamond axe for 9-12 emeralds
- 1 enchanted diamond chestplate for 16-19 emeralds
- 1 enchanted diamond pickaxe for 12-15 emeralds
- 1 enchanted diamond sword for 12-15 emeralds
- 1 enchanted iron pickaxe for 9-11 emeralds
- 1 enchanted iron shovel for 5-7 emeralds
- 1 enchanted iron sword for 9-10 emeralds
- 1 iron axe for 6-8 emeralds
- 1 iron chestplate for 16-19 emeralds
- 1 iron helmet for 4-6 emeralds
Butcher
Buys:
- 16-24 coal for 1 emerald
- 9-12 leather for 1 emerald
- 14-18 raw chickens for 1 emerald
- 14-18 raw pork chops for 1 emerald
Sells:
- 6-8 cooked chickens for 1 emerald
- 5-7 cooked pork chops for 1 emerald
- 1 enchanted leather tunic for 7-12 emeralds
- 1 leather pants for 2-4 emeralds
- 1 saddle for 8-10 emeralds
What is an iron golem?
Iron golems appear in villages with at least 16 villagers. They are there to defend the villagers from zombies and other enemy mobs, and they will attack you if your popularity is low enough.
You can also create iron golems yourself with four blocks of iron and a pumpkin. Place the iron blocks first — it will turn into an iron golem as soon as the pumpkin is placed.
How do I improve my popularity?
Your popularity amongst villagers depends on your actions and is different for each village. For example, if you attack the villagers of one village but discover a new village later on, your popularity will be neutral at the new village.
Your popularity starts at 0 and can range from -30 to +10.
- Attacking a villager subtracts 1 popularity.
- Killing a villager subtracts 2 popularity.
- Attacking a child subtracts 3 popularity.
- Killing an iron golem subtracts 5 popularity.
- Trading with a villager adds 1 popularity.
If you have at least -15 popularity in a village, its iron golem, if it has one, will attack you on sight.
Your villages
How do you treat villages? Do you protect them by building walls and iron golems, or do you steal from them and leave them to their own devices? Let us know in the comments section below!