Minecraft Villager Trades Guide (2026)
Applies to current Java & Bedrock. Trading is the most reliable path to Mending, diamond gear, and a stable emerald economy - and with a trading hall it scales to an endless supply of enchanted books.
How trading works: the five tiers
Give a villager a job-site block (a lectern for a Librarian, a blast furnace for an Armorer, and so on) and it takes that profession overnight. Each villager has five trade tiers unlocked by trade experience:
| Tier | XP needed (total) | What you get |
| Novice | 0 | Starting trades (badge: stone) |
| Apprentice | 10 | + new trades (iron badge) |
| Journeyman | 70 | + new trades (gold badge) |
| Expert | 150 | + new trades (emerald badge) |
| Master | 250 | Best trades unlocked (diamond badge) |
Every trade you make grants the villager a little XP (plus a bonus when it levels up). On Java each level unlocks up to two new offers; on Bedrock it can be one to three. Existing trades are kept as the villager levels, so a Master villager carries its whole trade list.
The profession-lock and reroll rule
This is the single most important mechanic to understand before you build anything:
- The first trade locks the profession permanently - after you complete one trade, you can no longer change that villager's job or reroll its offers by breaking the block.
- You can only reroll before that first trade. Break and replace the job-site block on a Novice villager with no trade XP to cycle its offers until you see the one you want.
Restocking: keep the trades flowing
A trade greys out once you buy it enough times in a session. Villagers refill it by restocking:
- Java Edition: a villager restocks twice per day, and it must reach its job-site block to do so. Keep the block within pathfinding range.
- Bedrock Edition: the villager must be linked to a bed nearby to restock (it does not have to sleep). No bed, no restock.
If your trades stop refilling, the cause is almost always a villager that cannot reach its workstation (Java) or has no claimed bed (Bedrock).
Why prices change: demand, reputation and discounts
Emerald prices are not fixed - they move with how you behave:
- Demand (supply): hammer the same trade over and over and its price climbs. Demand is tracked per item, so spreading purchases across several villagers keeps every price low.
- Zombie-curing (the big one): curing a zombie villager grants a permanent, major price discount from that villager. A single cure can drop an expensive book like Mending from ~20-30 emeralds into the single digits, and curing the same villager repeatedly pushes key trades toward the 1-emerald floor. This is the endgame move for a cheap enchant economy (details below).
- Hero of the Village: win a raid and the effect cuts every villager's prices by 30% at level 1, with a further 6.25% per extra level - stackable on top of curing discounts while it lasts.
- Reputation/gossip: trading builds small temporary goodwill; hitting villagers raises prices. On Java, negative reputation adds a price penalty.
The Librarian (the most valuable villager)
Librarians (lectern) sell random enchanted books - including Mending, which cannot be obtained from an enchanting table. Books cost roughly 5-64 emeralds + a book depending on the enchantment and level, and treasure enchantments cost double. To get the book you want:
- Cure or create a fresh Novice librarian and give it a lectern.
- Check the book it offers. If it is not the one you want, break the lectern and place it again to reroll.
- Repeat until you see Mending (or Efficiency, Fortune, Unbreaking, Protection), then trade once to lock it in.
- Cure that librarian from a zombie to crash the price - a cured Mending librarian is the cheapest infinite Mending source in the game.
Best trades by profession
Job block in brackets. Buy = villager buys from you for emeralds; Sell = you spend emeralds.
| Profession (block) | Standout trades | Best pick |
| Librarian (Lectern) | Buy 24 paper → 1 em; sells enchanted books, bookshelves, lanterns, glass, name tags, clock, compass | Mending / Efficiency / Fortune books - the most valuable villager in the game |
| Fletcher (Fletching Table) | Buy 32 sticks → 1 em; sell 16 arrows ← 1 em; enchanted bow 7-21 em (Expert) | Fastest early emeralds: feed it sticks from a single oak farm |
| Farmer (Composter) | Buy 20 wheat / carrots / potatoes / pumpkins → 1 em; sells bread, golden carrots, glistering melon | Pairs with an auto-farm for passive emerald income |
| Cleric (Brewing Stand) | Buy 32 rotten flesh → 1 em; 3 gold → 1 em; sells redstone, lapis, glowstone, Ender Pearls, bottle o' enchanting | Rotten flesh → emeralds turns mob-farm junk into money; Ender Pearls for the End |
| Armorer (Blast Furnace) | Buy 15 coal → 1 em; sells iron and enchanted diamond armor (~13-35 em at Expert/Master) | Cheap enchanted diamond armor without finding diamonds |
| Weaponsmith (Grindstone) | Buy 4 iron → 1 em (Apprentice); sells enchanted diamond sword/axe at Expert/Master | An enchanted diamond sword for emeralds |
| Toolsmith (Smithing Table) | Buy 15 coal → 1 em; enchanted iron axe 6-20 em; enchanted diamond tools at higher tiers | Enchanted diamond pickaxe / shovel / axe |
| Cartographer (Cartography Table) | Buy 24 paper → 1 em; empty map ← 7 em; explorer maps (8 em + compass) | Woodland / ocean explorer maps to find mansions and monuments |
| Fisherman (Barrel) | Buy 15 raw cod → 1 em; enchanted fishing rod 8-22 em; campfire-cooked cod | Enchanted fishing rod (Luck of the Sea / Lure) |
| Shepherd (Loom) | Buy 18 wool → 1 em; sells all colored wool, carpets, beds, paintings, banners | 3 em → colored bed; bulk dyed wool for builds |
| Leatherworker (Cauldron) | Buy 6 leather → 1 em; colored leather armor; saddle (~6 em, Expert) | The cheapest reliable saddle source |
| Butcher (Smoker) | Buy 14 raw chicken / porkchop → 1 em; 10 dried kelp blocks → 1 em (Expert); sells cooked meat | Turns an animal farm into emeralds |
| Mason (Stonecutter) | Buy 10 clay → 1 em; 20 stone → 1 em; sells polished stone, quartz, terracotta, glazed terracotta | Bulk building blocks and every glazed terracotta color |
Exact amounts vary slightly between Java and Bedrock and shift with demand, but the patterns above hold across current versions.
What the Villager Trade Rebalance changed
Mojang has been reworking trading through the Villager Trade Rebalance, and not all of it is live by default:
- Already default (Java 1.21.5 / Bedrock 1.21.70): the cartographer and wandering trader reworks shipped. Wandering trader prices dropped, it gained more trades, and it now buys items from you.
- Still experimental (opt-in toggle): the librarian change that makes enchanted books biome-specific with fixed levels instead of fully random. Unless you enable the experiment, librarians still offer random books - so the classic reroll-the-lectern for Mending method described above still works on default worlds.
If you turn the experiment on, you trade convenience for exploration: specific enchants come from villages in specific biomes, and top books require a Master librarian with full XP.
Building a fast emerald economy
- Start with a Fletcher + Farmer for early income - sticks and crops are nearly free, and a Librarian buys 24 paper for an emerald (sugar-cane farms automate easily with pistons and observers).
- Funnel those emeralds into a Librarian for Mending and key books, then an Armorer / Weaponsmith / Toolsmith for full enchanted diamond gear.
- Build a trading hall: a row of cubicles, each with one villager and its job block, so every enchant and resource is a single trade away. Add a curing station beside it to crash prices.
- Keep purchases spread across villagers to avoid demand-driven price hikes, and make sure every villager can reach its workstation (Java) or bed (Bedrock) so trades restock.
Zombie-curing for permanent discounts
Hit a villager with a Splash Potion of Weakness, feed it a Golden Apple, and wait for it to cure. The cured villager gives permanent discounts, and curing the same villager more than once stacks the goodwill until its key trades sit near the 1-emerald floor. Curing librarians is the endgame move for a cheap enchant economy. (See the brewing guide for the Splash Potion of Weakness.)
Java vs Bedrock: the differences that matter
- Restocking: Java uses the job block (twice/day); Bedrock requires a nearby bed.
- Trades per level: Java unlocks up to two new offers per tier; Bedrock can unlock one to three.
- Discounts: Java applies both positive and negative reputation to prices; Bedrock leans on the major curing discount.
- Offers: some trades (especially cartographer maps) differ in availability and biome dependence between editions.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a Mending book from a villager?
Make a Novice librarian, give it a lectern, and break/replace the lectern to reroll its book until Mending appears (works on default worlds). Trade once to lock it, then cure the librarian from a zombie to drop the price.
Why won't my villager restock its trades?
On Java the villager cannot reach its job-site block; on Bedrock it has no claimed bed nearby. Fix the pathfinding or place a bed and the trade refills at the next restock.
Why did my villager's prices go up?
You over-traded one item (demand) or attacked villagers (reputation). Spread trades across multiple villagers and cure a zombie villager to push prices back down.
Run your trading hall 24/7 with friends - host your Minecraft server with Supercraft (Java & Bedrock, NVMe, daily backups). See also: best Y-levels for ores and the seed finder. To actually breed villagers (beds + willingness food), see the Minecraft breeding guide + calculator. Full mechanics are documented on the official Minecraft Wiki trading page.