There's plenty of busy work in Minecraft, but fortunately, most of it can be palmed off to villagers in the form of jobs, something we will explore in our guide.

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All work and no play makes Minecraft Steve a dull boy, after all – or something to that effect.

With the villagers put to work, you will be free to explore the world of your Minecraft seed and can buy high-end gear in your base rather than having to mine the depths for crafting supplies yourself.

It will also afford you some freedom to see what the upcoming Minecraft 1.21 has to offer.

If you just want a quick overview of all the Minecraft villager jobs, then have a wee perusal of the video up top, but a more detailed description of each can be found below!

How many villager jobs are there in Minecraft?

There are currently 15 villager jobs for Minecraft characters.

Well, sort of. There are many villagers there with jobs, but one of the jobs listed is 'Unemployed' and the other is 'Nitwit'. Unemployed means they can be hired for a job, whereas Nitwits can't do anything and are essentially pointless, bless 'em.

As for the other 13, they are Armorer, Butcher, Cartographer, Cleric, Farmer, Fisherman, Fletcher, Leatherworker, Librarian, Mason, Shepherd, Toolsmith and Weaponsmith.

Minecraft villager jobs and professions

A minecraft villager with an iron golem behind them
A Minecraft villager.

Now, let's take a closer look at all those jobs the Minecraft characters do and what they can help you out with. For the job blocks, they have their own section a little further down the page.

Armourer

Visit an Armourer if you want to buy chainmail or, perhaps unsurprisingly, armour. The clue is in the name with a lot of these.

Butcher

Would you be surprised to learn you can buy meat? Well, you can but that's not all as the Butcher will also be able to trade emeralds with you – a fancy butcher then!

Cartographer

Want to get your hand on a map or two? Head on down to the Cartographer who will sort you out. You can also get banner patterns here.

Cleric

Pay a visit to the Cleric if you want to pick up magical items that include a Bottle o’ Enchanting!

Farmer

Brewing ingredients and advanced food will be available from the Farmer – so head to one if they are things you want to get your hands on.

Fisherman

Visit the Fisherman and you will be able to buy, well, fish. But that's not all! You can also get an enchanted fishing rod which is exactly the type of rod we would want!

Fletcher

All your bow and arrow needs can be met with the Fletcher as you can get bows, arrows (including tipped ones) along with some flint too.

Leatherworker

Take a trip to the Leatherworker for all things leather. So that's Armor, Horse Armor and saddles – make your Minecraft horse the best it can be!

Librarian

Enchanted books and names tags can be purchased from the librarian and, as far as we know, there are no late fees.

Mason

Want cut versions of blocks and bricks? The Mason is waiting to trade you just those very things.

Shepherd

Coloured wool, carpets and paintings are what the Shepherd has so if you need those, you now know where to go!

Toolsmith

Yep, this is who you will want to check in with if you need to get your hands on some tools – and there may be some enchanted ones in the inventory too.

Weaponsmith

Last but certainly not least is the Weasponsmith. You can buy swords and axes here made from Diamond or Iron and, again, there could be an enchanted one waiting for you too!

Minecraft Villager Job Blocks

Want a villager to have a certain type of profession? Well, you will need to hunt down the right job block. Happily, we have listed each job block below alongside which job they will work with.

Here is the list:

  • Armourer: Blast Furnace
  • Butcher: Smoker
  • Cartographer: Cartography Table
  • Cleric: Brewing Stand
  • Farmer: Composter
  • Fisherman: Barrel
  • Fletcher: Fletching Table
  • Leatherworker: Cauldron
  • Librarian: Lectern
  • Masons: Stonecutter
  • Shepherd: Loom
  • Toolsmith: Smithing Table
  • Weaponsmith: Grindstone

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Minecraft villager appearance

Whichever Biome you are in will determine what appearance a villager has but they all appear as something, at least slightly, related to their profession, so you can tell pretty quickly what each one does before you even interact with them.

Trading stock

To make sure that you are not trading too much, there is a cap placed on the stock that will change the value. You can do up to four trades each day and then the stock will run out, but trade an item regularly and you will see the price increase – a typical supply and demand type of situation.

Equally, items that don't get traded that much will see a price decrease!

How to unlock a trade

There are five trade levels that you can work through and the higher you go, the better items you will see available.

  • Novice
  • Apprentice
  • Journeyman
  • Expert
  • Master

You will be able to tell the level of the Minecraft character you want to trade with by the colour of the badge that they wear with honour. Novices wear a stone-coloured, one, Apprentices sport an iron-coloured badge, then it's gold for Journeyman, emerald for Expert and Diamond for Master.

Wandering trader

A wandering trader in Minecraft next to a llama
A wandering trader in Minecraft.

The Wandering Trader is a bit of an anomaly in the game as these Minecraft characters work completely differently from all the others.

When the trader does appear, he only sticks around for about an hour before disappearing again, so you will want to be quick to see what special items they have available for trading. These items are not worth more as a rule, but they are rare which means they are absolutely worth getting hold of.

The problem with this trader is that working out where they will appear is a bit of a nonstarter. It appears at random with no indication of where or when it will show up, but you will know when you have found the right trader as there will be leashed trading llamas walking alongside it.

How to increase your popularity in Minecraft

The more popular you are, the better deals you get with trades so it pays to be nice to Minecraft characters. Or you could do horrible things and lose points and thus increase trade costs – the choice there is yours.

The point system words on a -30 to 30 scale and the aim of the game is to be as far from -30 as possible. To do that, you will want to do the following things:

  • Fending off a raid from pillagers will give you a massive point boost of 10.
  • You can get between two and four points for helping a villager level up through trading.
  • And when you trade with a villager you also nab yourself one point.

So make sure you focus on these things when you play to stay beloved by all. Alternatively, here is what you can do to decrease popularity.

  • Kill a villager which will lose you two points – casual assault loses one.
  • Attacking a villager child (?!) will lose you between three-five points and deservedly so!
  • You will have five points deducted if you kill a village's Iron Golem – so avoid that if you need some popularity!

But that should be all you need to know to make the most out of the villagers and the items that can be traded from them. Now we're off to play the game ourselves to do just that!

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