Professions and job site blocks
A villager's profession comes from the job site block it claims. Place the block near an unemployed villager (plain biome clothes with no work outfit or badge) and it will take that job.
| Profession | Job site block | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Armorer | Blast Furnace | Iron and diamond armor, shields |
| Butcher | Smoker | Selling meat and berries for emeralds |
| Cartographer | Cartography Table | Explorer maps, banner patterns |
| Cleric | Brewing Stand | Ender pearls, redstone, Bottles o' Enchanting |
| Farmer | Composter | Easy emeralds from crops, golden carrots |
| Fisherman | Barrel | Selling fish and string |
| Fletcher | Fletching Table | Easy emeralds from sticks, bows, tipped arrows |
| Leatherworker | Cauldron | Leather armor, saddles |
| Librarian | Lectern | Enchanted books, including Mending |
| Mason | Stonecutter | Decorative stone, quartz, terracotta |
| Shepherd | Loom | Wool, carpets, beds, banners |
| Toolsmith | Smithing Table | Diamond tools |
| Weaponsmith | Grindstone | Diamond swords and axes |
Two kinds of villagers never trade: unemployed villagers, who simply need a job site, and nitwits in green robes, who can never take a job. Baby villagers cannot trade until they grow up, which takes 20 minutes.
Villager levels
Every trade gives the villager experience. When it levels up it unlocks new trades and gets 10 seconds of Regeneration. The badge on its belt shows its level.
| Level | Badge | Total villager XP |
|---|---|---|
| Novice | Stone | 0 |
| Apprentice | Iron | 10 |
| Journeyman | Gold | 70 |
| Expert | Emerald | 150 |
| Master | Diamond | 250 |
In Java Edition each level unlocks up to two new trades. In Bedrock Edition it can unlock up to three.
How to reroll trades
A villager's first trades are random, but you can reroll them for free as long as nobody has traded with it yet:
- Place the job site block, for example a lectern for a librarian.
- Check the trades. If they are not what you want, break the job site block.
- The villager loses its profession. Place the block again and it picks a new set of trades.
- Repeat until you see the trade you want, then trade with it once to lock it in.
How to get discounts
Cure a zombie villager
This gives the biggest discount in the game. Throw a Splash Potion of Weakness at a zombie villager (see the potion chart), then feed it a golden apple. After about five minutes it turns back into a villager and keeps its old profession. A cured villager offers discounts on most of its trades, and many players cure their best librarians on purpose.
Keep the zombie villager out of sunlight while it cures, for example in a covered pen, so it does not burn.
Hero of the Village
Winning a raid gives you the Hero of the Village effect. While it lasts, prices drop by 30% at level I, plus 6.25% for each level above that, up to 55% at level V. In Java Edition villagers also throw gifts at you.
Reputation and demand
- Trading with villagers slowly improves your reputation and lowers prices.
- Hurting or killing villagers lowers your reputation. In Java Edition this makes prices go up; in Bedrock it only removes discounts.
- Buying the same item over and over raises demand, so its price goes up until demand settles again.
Best trades
Easiest emeralds
| Villager | Level | You give | You get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fletcher | Novice | 32 sticks | 1 emerald |
| Farmer | Novice | 20 wheat, 26 potatoes, 22 carrots or 15 beetroots | 1 emerald |
| Cleric | Novice | 32 rotten flesh | 1 emerald |
| Fletcher | Journeyman | 14 string | 1 emerald |
Not every villager offers every trade. The novice fletcher's stick trade appears 67% of the time in Java and always in Bedrock; the farmer's crop trades each have a 40% chance in Java and 25% in Bedrock. Reroll if the trade you want is missing.
A sugar cane or wheat farm plus a few farmers gives you a steady emerald income. Use the stack calculator to work out how many stacks of crops make a shulker box of emeralds.
Most valuable purchases
- Librarian: enchanted books. A book trade costs a book plus 5 to 64 emeralds, depending on the enchantment level. Treasure enchantments such as Mending cost double. Any enchantment can appear except Soul Speed, Swift Sneak and Wind Burst.
- Cleric: Bottles o' Enchanting at master level for 3 emeralds each, and ender pearls at expert level for 5 emeralds.
- Farmer: golden carrots at master level, 3 for 3 emeralds. One of the best foods in the game.
- Armorer, Toolsmith and Weaponsmith: enchanted diamond gear at expert and master level, which saves a lot of mining.
Restocking
Each trade can only be used a few times before it locks with a red X. Villagers restock up to twice a day, but only when they work at their job site block. Build your trading hall so every villager can reach its own job site. In Bedrock Edition the villager must also be linked to a bed to restock.
The trade rebalance experiment
Since Java Edition 1.20.2 there is an optional Villager Trade Rebalance experiment. With it turned on, librarians sell different enchanted books depending on the biome of their village, and some master librarians get a guaranteed special book (for example, Mending in swamp villages). It is still experimental and off by default in both Java and Bedrock, so everything above describes normal trading.