Villager trading in Minecraft: professions, workstations, best trades

Villagers sell Mending books, enchanted diamond gear and Bottles o' Enchanting for emeralds. This guide covers the default trades of Java Edition 26.3; Bedrock Edition uses the same workstations but picks offers slot by slot from slightly different pools.

A villager's profession comes from the job site block it claims. There are 13 professions:

Nitwits (green coat) and baby villagers never take a job. A leatherworker works at any cauldron, empty or filled.

An unemployed adult villager (plain biome outfit, no apron or hat of a trade) looks for the nearest free job site block within 48 blocks, walks to it and claims it. Green particles appear and its outfit changes. Two conditions: the villager must be awake, and it must be able to walk to the block.

To control who gets the job, place the block right next to the villager you want and keep other unemployed villagers away, for example by putting your candidate in a 1×2 cell with the workstation in front of it.

A villager's offers lock the moment you complete your first trade with it. Before that, you can reroll them as often as you like:

1. Open the trade window and read the offers.
2. If you don't like them, break the Lectern. The villager loses its profession.
3. Place the Lectern again. The villager claims it and rolls new offers.
4. When the book you want shows up, buy something right away to lock the villager.

A novice librarian shows 2 of 3 possible offers: paper for emeralds, an Enchanted Book, or a Bookshelf. The book carries one of 40 tradeable enchantments, picked with equal odds, at a random level, so expect Mending about once every 60 rerolls. A book costs one Book plus 2 + 3 × level to 6 + 13 × level emeralds, doubled for treasure enchantments and capped at 64: Mending costs 10–38 Emeralds.

Soul Speed, Swift Sneak and Wind Burst are never sold. If the villager does not take the lectern back, check that it is daytime and that no other unemployed villager is closer.

Every trade gives the villager experience. When the bar is full, it reaches the next level, keeps its old offers and unlocks up to 2 new ones drawn at random from that level's pool.

Novice trades give 1–2 XP, Master trades up to 30, so higher offers level a villager much faster. Each offer has a stock (16 or 12 uses, only 3 for enchanted gear) that refills when the villager works at its workstation, up to twice a day.

• Librarian: enchanted books at Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman and Expert. Build a row of librarians, each locked on one book: Mending, Unbreaking III, Efficiency V, Protection IV, Sharpness V.
• Armorer: enchanted Diamond Leggings (19–33 emeralds) and Diamond Boots (13–27) at Expert, Diamond Helmet (13–27) and Diamond Chestplate (21–35) at Master. Enchantments are random, like an enchanting table at level 5–19.
• Toolsmith and weaponsmith: enchanted Diamond Axe (17–31) at Expert from both; Diamond Shovel (10–24) at Expert and Diamond Pickaxe (18–32) at Master from the toolsmith; Diamond Sword (13–27) at Master from the weaponsmith.
• Cleric: a Bottle o' Enchanting for 3 emeralds at Master, an Ender Pearl for 5 at Expert.
• Farmer: the easiest emeralds. A novice farmer pays 1 emerald for 22 Carrots, 26 Potatoes, 20 wheat or 15 Beetroots; later for 6 Pumpkins or 4 Melons. At Master it sells 3 Golden Carrots for 3 emeralds.

Other cheap emerald sources: 32 Sticks (fletcher), 24 Paper (librarian), 32 Rotten Flesh (cleric) or 10 Coal (fisherman) for 1 emerald. The optional Villager Trade Rebalance experiment ties librarian books to the villager's biome; everything above is the default game.

Prices follow your reputation with each villager and the demand for each offer. Two things make them drop hard. Hero of the Village, earned by winning a raid, lowers every price by 30% at level I up to 55% at level V for 40 minutes. Curing a zombie villager gives a permanent discount with that villager, enough to bring many enchanted books down to 1 emerald.