Villager trading: trades and professions
Villagers are the most important source of enchanted tools, rare materials and emeralds in survival. Each of the 13 professions has its own trades across 5 trade levels. Below you'll find a full table of professions, the best offers and strategies for lowering prices.
How trading works
Right-click a villager that has a profession to open the trading screen. Every villager's trades are split into 5 levels, from Novice to Master.
Leveling up a villager
- Novice: starting trades
- Apprentice: after a few trades
- Journeyman: the middle level
- Expert: advanced offers
- Master: the best trades
A villager levels up once you've traded with it enough and it has access to its job site. Green particles mean it has leveled up. Each level unlocks 1-2 new trades.
Restocking trades
A villager restocks its trades twice a day, in the morning and in the afternoon (game time). It needs access to its job site (a bed isn't needed for trading, but it affects the villager's willingness to breed).
13 professions and their job sites
Each profession belongs to a specific job site block. An unemployed villager (brown robe) takes a profession when you place the right block next to it.
| Profession | Job site | Specialty |
|---|---|---|
| Farmer | Composter | Food, crops |
| Librarian | Lectern | Enchanted books, glass |
| Cleric | Brewing stand | Ender pearls, redstone, lapis |
| Armorer | Blast furnace | Armor (diamond at Master level) |
| Weaponsmith | Grindstone | Swords, axes |
| Toolsmith | Smithing table | Pickaxes, shovels, axes |
| Fisherman | Barrel | Fish, fishing rods, buys boats |
| Shepherd | Loom | Wool, dyes, banners |
| Fletcher | Fletching table | Arrows, bows, crossbows |
| Leatherworker | Cauldron | Leather armor, saddles |
| Mason / Stone Mason | Stonecutter | Bricks, quartz, decorative blocks |
| Cartographer | Cartography table | Explorer maps, item frames |
| Butcher | Smoker | Meat |
You can "retrain" a villager: break its job site, wait until it loses its profession (brown robe), then place a new job site. This only works on villagers you haven't traded with yet.
Key trades for each profession
Librarian: the most important villager
At Novice level a librarian gets 2 of the 3 offers in its pool: an enchanted book, a bookshelf and a paper-buying trade, so not every librarian has an enchanted book for sale. By breaking and replacing the lectern you can reroll the offer until you get the enchantment you want: Mending, Unbreaking III, Protection IV, Sharpness V or Efficiency V. If you play with mods, Trade Cycling refreshes the offers without breaking the lectern. The librarian is the only villager that can get you Mending without fishing for it.
Since version 26.1, a Master librarian no longer sells a name tag for 20 emeralds. In Java Edition it offers a red and a yellow candle for 3 emeralds each instead, and in Bedrock Edition the name tag disappeared from its trades in version 26.10. You now craft a name tag from paper and a nugget, or buy one from the wandering trader. You'll find the librarian's full trade table in our guide to villager professions.
Cleric: ender pearls on demand
At Expert level the cleric sells ender pearls for 5 emeralds. In the early game that's a huge help when you're looking for a stronghold. It also offers redstone, lapis lazuli and bottles o' enchanting.
Toolsmith: diamond tools
At Expert level the toolsmith's pool has an enchanted diamond axe and an enchanted diamond shovel, and at Master level an enchanted diamond pickaxe. After you cure a zombie villager, the pickaxe can cost as little as 1 emerald.
Armorer: a full set of diamond armor
At Expert level the armorer sells enchanted diamond boots and leggings, and at Master level an enchanted diamond helmet and chestplate. Both pools have only 2 offers each, so a single Master armorer sells you the full set without any diamond mining.
Fletcher: easy emeralds
At Novice level the fletcher buys sticks for emeralds (32 sticks = 1 emerald). Sticks are one of the easiest resources to farm, which makes the fletcher a great source of emeralds.
Farmer: crops for emeralds
The farmer buys wheat, potatoes, carrots and beetroots for emeralds. If you have an automatic farm, a farmer turns your crops into emeralds with no effort at all. At higher levels it sells golden carrots and suspicious stew.
Supply and demand: why prices go up
Minecraft simulates a simple economy. Buying the same thing over and over raises its price, while selling resources to the villager lowers it.
- High demand: you buy a lot of the same offer → the price goes up at the next restock
- Low demand: you stop buying → the price goes back to normal
- Reputation discount: curing a zombie villager and the Hero of the Village effect lower prices
- Penalty for attacking: hitting a villager raises prices with that villager and with villagers nearby
Prices partly reset with every restock. If a price has shot up, stop trading for 1-2 days (game time).
Zombie villagers: curing and discounts
This is the most powerful trading mechanic in the game. A cured zombie villager gives you big, permanent discounts: many offers, especially tools, armor and enchanted books, drop to 1 emerald, though not all of them do.
How to cure a zombie villager
- Find a zombie villager (a 5% chance to spawn instead of a regular zombie) or let a zombie infect a villager
- Throw a splash potion of Weakness at it
- Right-click it with a golden apple (a regular one, not an enchanted golden apple)
- Wait 3-5 minutes: the zombie villager shakes and finally turns back into a villager
How big the discounts are
The discount depends on the edition of the game:
- Java Edition: one cure gives a big, permanent discount. Since version 1.20.2, curing the same villager again no longer lowers prices (the fix for bug MC-181190)
- Bedrock Edition: the discount is permanent too, and villagers within 16 blocks of the cured one also give you a small discount. Since version 1.20.30, curing the same villager again doesn't lower prices either
After a single cure, diamond tools and armor can cost as little as 1 emerald. That changed the game's meta: a "zombie villager trading hall" is a standard late-game base.
Hero of the Village
After you win a raid (every wave of pillagers defeated), you get the Hero of the Village effect for 40 minutes. During that time:
- All prices in the village drop (the discount depends on the effect level)
- Villagers throw you gifts (food and materials that match their profession)
- The effect level matches your Bad Omen level: Bad Omen I = Hero I, Bad Omen V = Hero V
Combining Hero of the Village with the discount from curing zombie villagers gives you extremely low prices. On Java it's overkill: prices can drop to the minimum after curing anyway.
Wandering Trader
The wandering trader appears at random every 20 minutes (game time) within 48 blocks of a player. It sells rare decorative blocks that can be hard to get any other way.
What it sells
- Plants from different biomes (flowers, saplings, cactus, bamboo)
- Decorative blocks (blue ice, packed ice, podzol)
- Dyes
- Nautilus shells (rare)
- Slimeballs
- Since 26.1: a name tag for 1 emerald and a golden dandelion for 2 emeralds
- Since 26.2: 2 sulfur spikes for 1 emerald
- Since 26.3: 3 shelf mushrooms for 1 emerald, a poplar sapling for 5 emeralds and 8 poplar logs for 1 emerald
Its offers are rolled from a pool, so a single wandering trader only has some of them. We list the new 26.x offers based on Java Edition 26.3.
The wandering trader's prices are fixed and don't follow supply and demand. It can't level up. It disappears after 40-60 minutes, whether you trade with it or not.
When is it worth it?
The wandering trader is worth it when you need plants from biomes you don't want to travel to. A nautilus shell for 5 emeralds is also a decent deal if you're building a conduit.
Emerald farming
Emeralds are the currency of trading. Here are a few proven ways to farm them:
Farmer + automatic farm
Build an automatic crop farm and sell the harvest to farmers. Pumpkins give the best resource-to-emerald ratio (6 pumpkins = 1 emerald at the lower levels).
Fletcher + tree farm
32 sticks = 1 emerald. One log gives 4 planks, and 2 planks give 4 sticks, so one log makes 8 sticks and 4 logs are enough for 1 emerald. Sticks are practically free.
Mason + stone
The mason buys stone for emeralds. If you have a cobblestone generator and a furnace, that's an endless source.
Librarian + paper
The librarian buys paper for emeralds. Paper is made from sugar cane, so if you have an automatic sugar cane farm, it's one of the easiest sources.
Trading hall: base design
Advanced players build a "trading hall": a corridor of cells for villagers, where every villager has its own job site and is easy to reach.
What makes a good trading hall
- Separate cells: 1x1 or 2x1 stalls with a trapdoor as a "window"
- One job site per villager: stops villagers from "stealing" each other's professions
- Beds: optional, but villagers with beds spawn iron golems (useful for an iron farm)
- Signs: label each cell with the profession and the best offer
- Zombie protection: lighting, plus trapdoors that keep mobs out
- A transport system: minecart rails or a water stream for moving villagers
A typical trading hall on Java: 8-12 villagers with the key professions (4 librarians for different enchantments, 2 armorers, a toolsmith, a cleric and a farmer).
Java vs Bedrock differences
| Mechanic | Java | Bedrock |
|---|---|---|
| Zombie curing discounts | Permanent, don't stack (since 1.20.2) | Permanent, don't stack (since 1.20.30), plus a small discount from villagers within 16 blocks |
| Rerolling trades | Break and replace the job site | Works the same way |
| Prices after an attack | Go up for that villager and nearby ones | Go up only for the villager you attacked |
| Wandering Trader | Spawns every 20 minutes of game time | Similar, but with different spawn conditions |
| Available trades | Random from the profession's pool | Some professions have different offers |
