Minecraft is all about gathering items and the right tools to go from simple survival to thriving in its sandbox world. While players can take the hard route and simply try and discover all the rare and useful items in the wild, a more efficient method is to simply trade for the items they need by interacting with villagers.
RELATED: Minecraft: Tips For Living In The Nether
Villagers come with different jobs, which means that they have different trades. There are two types of trades for players to be aware of: Emerald trades, which allow players to get Emeralds easily without having to mine for them in mountain biomes, and "loot" trades, which let players use Emeralds and other items to buy various precious objects from the villagers. This can include Enchanted Books or maps to Woodland Mansions. With that clarified, let's take a look at the best Minecraft villager trades.
Updated on March 21st, 2023, by Ben Painter: Villager trades in Minecraft are a great way to gain emeralds, the currency of Minecraft. But not only that, they offer rare items, XP, and they are a nice friend to have around a base or village. Minecraft's latest update, 1.20, known as Trials and Tales, is bringing Camels, Ancient Pots, and Armor Tints to the game, among many other things. Minecraft has managed to keep itself current and relevant throughout the years with its constant updates, keeping things fresh and new. There are no changes to the way villagers are traded in the upcoming update, so the information throughout this list is correct. This update adds four new entries that showcase some of the best trades that anyone can get from the helper villagers in the blocky game that everyone loves.
Most trades can only be done a set amount of times before the villager runs out of stock. The villager will restock a maximum of twice a day by interacting with their job block, so make sure they can access their job block at all times. The more a player trades, the better the prices will also be, so players might notice that the trade prices listed here will change over time when villagers take a liking to the player.
18 Mason – 10 Clay For 1 Emerald (Novice)
This starter-level trade with a Mason (grindstone required) is one of the easiest trades for players to make to quickly get some Emeralds. All players need is a shovel and a body of water, such as a river or a shallow pond nearby, to gather some clay. Swamp biomes are ideal for this.
Clay typically spawns underwater and is most common in shallower pools of water rather than oceans. It can be hard to distinguish from water when looking at it from the surface, but it breaks quickly when shoveled, even with a stone shovel. Due to how easily it can be acquired, it's likely one of the go-to trade items for starting players, provided the village does have a Mason.
17 Fletcher & Leatherworker – 26 Flint For 1 Emerald (Apprentice)
Both the Fletcher and Leatherworker villagers have a decent level 2 trade, which requires 26 Flint in exchange for one Emerald. Now, this definitely isn't the easiest trade to go for, especially for players who have just started their survival world. However, players who have been in survival for a while might have quite an excess of Flint in their storage.
RELATED: Minecraft: How To Farm Blaze Rods
Otherwise, players can go shovel some gravel for quick and easy Flint. Each gravel block has a chance of dropping Flint, and if the shovel used comes with a Fortune enchantment, that chance is further increased.
16 Butcher – 10 Sweet Berries For 1 Emerald (Master)
It's unfortunate that this trade is at the highest level for the Butcher because it's incredibly good for players who spawn in a taiga biome where Sweet Berry bushes can be found in abundance in the wild. Sweet Berry bushes grow quite fast, so players can set up a farm quickly once they get their hands on some Sweet Berries.
For only 10 Sweet Berries, players can get 1 Emerald. It's definitely a more niche trade since it requires a biome-specific item, but given how often players have the chance of spawning in a taiga, it's not impossible. The only downside is the high level of this trade, as leveling up a butcher requires players to trade in a ton of raw food that they would otherwise use to feed themselves once cooked.
15 Fisherman – 4 Pufferfish For 1 Emerald (Master)
Another great Master-level trade sadly locked behind a ton of level grinding is 4 Pufferfish for 1 Emerald at the Fisherman villager. Pufferfish are fairly common to catch in just about any body of water that can yield fish, so by default, this is an excellent trade for players who regularly fish in Minecraft.
That said, good luck leveling the Fisherman up to this level. While it's definitely doable, players will need to sacrifice some food resources like edible fish to actually get there.
14 Cleric – 3 Gold For 1 Emerald (Apprentice)
Clerics appear in villages where a brewing stand is available. Most of their trades aren't all that interesting, and players will typically be using Clerics to trade for Emeralds, which are some of the most important trades in the game.
Clerics have an interesting trade for one Emerald, which only requires 3 Gold from the player. Considering that players can pretty easily farm Gold from the Nether and that aside from Piglin trades, Gold doesn't have a big utility in Minecraft, this is a decent trade to make when trying to farm Emeralds.
13 Mason – 12 Nether Quartz For 1 Emerald (Expert)
The Mason will appear in any village that has a stonecutter. Masons are fantastic villagers to trade with for those who are looking for special blocks, but most of their trades are actually better off ignored in favor of this single Emerald trade.
Masons will trade 12 Nether Quartz for 1 Emerald. If players are lucky and get a nice Nether Wastes biome spawn when entering the Nether, they can mine a bunch of Nether Quartz for XP and then trade the Quartz for Emeralds at a Mason.
12 Fisherman – 20 String For 1 Emerald (Novice)
Fishermen will require a village to have a barrel in order for them to appear. Their trades are a bit more niche, but one of them does stick out among the rest: 20 strings for 1 Emerald.
RELATED: Minecraft: Massive Mega-Bases Veteran Players Call Home
This is a more expensive trade than some of the other ones listed here, but players who have access to a spider farm will be at a great advantage. If players come across a mineshaft with some spider spawners, they should save those spawners for a spider farm, which they can use to get infinite string, as well as infinite XP.
11 Fletcher – 32 Sticks For 1 Emerald (Novice)
Fletchers will spawn in a village with a fletching table, which is one of the only job blocks in the game that still has no function for the player. Fletchers will sell some special arrows, which can be potentially interesting, but their Emerald trade isn't half bad either.
32 sticks are relatively easy for most players to gather, especially if they have access to a forested area in Minecraft. Those with less forest around them can start a tree farm early on in the game and gather as much wood for this stick trade.
10 Farmer – 20 Wheat For 1 Emerald (Novice)
The benefit of farmer villagers is that they are found in pretty much every village. Farmers will need to have a composter at their disposal to be able to do their job properly, and they also come with a few good trades.
Their 20 wheat for 1 Emerald trade is one to take note of since most players will likely set up massive crop farms anyway and have a lot of leftovers after feeding their farm animals. Almost any Minecraft player will be able to afford this trade eventually, and players can even use the crops found in villages to contribute to this trade.
9 Wandering Trader – 5 Emeralds For 1 Nautilus Shell
Outside of villages, players can occasionally meet the Wandering Trader, who will spawn on the player after a few days have passed. The Wandering Trader isn't exactly selling big treasures; his inventory is typically full of plants, and rare blocks mostly meant for decoration.
That said, players wanting to create an underwater base and looking to make a Conduit will find his 5 Emerald trade for 1 Nautilus shell extremely useful. Nautilus shells are very hard to farm, as a lot of luck is required to fish them out of the water, so being able to trade for them with the Wandering Trader is a big relief.
8 Cartographer – 14 Emeralds & Compass For Woodland Mansion Map (Journeyman)
Another exceedingly rare item that players should trade for is a Woodland Mansion map, found in the inventory of the Cartographer once he has been leveled up with a few traders. The first map he offers actually leads to an Ocean Monument, which can be a decent trade, too, though these underwater dungeons are far easier to find naturally than Woodland Mansions, so it's recommended to save Emeralds for the latter trade.
Players will need 14 Emeralds and a compass for this trade. Though the map will show the closest Woodland Mansion, players shouldn't expect it to be a short trip. These structures can sometimes be over 10,000 blocks away, making them almost impossible to reach quickly from the Overworld. By traveling through the Nether in the Mansion's rough direction, players will cut their travel time provided they can find a safe passage.
When it comes to the best Emerald trades in Minecraft, there are three villagers that players must visit: the Armorer (blast furnace required), the Weaponsmith (smithing table required), and the Toolsmith (grindstone required).
RELATED:
Their basic level 1 trade of 15 Coal for 1 Emerald is easily the best trade in the game when players are looking to fatten their pockets with more Emeralds to be able to afford other trades. The nice thing is that there are three different villagers with this identical trade, so players can simply craft the required job blocks and assign these jobs to villagers in a village that doesn't have all three of these jobs.
6 Armor/Weaponsmith/Toolsmith – 4 Iron For 1 Emerald (Apprentice)
Once the player has traded enough with the previously mentioned three villagers, another trade will unlock, which is also quite interesting but a bit more expensive. Players can trade 4 Iron ingots for 1 Emerald at an Armorer, Weaponsmith, or Toolsmith.
Some might argue this is a terrible trade because, in the endgame, the value and utility of iron actually increase once diamonds become an abundant source thanks to enchantments like Fortune III. However, iron is extremely easy to farm, whereas diamond remains unfarmable. Players can set up an iron golem farm to get all the iron they need for this handy Emerald trade.
5 Librarian – 5-64 Emeralds & Book For 1 Enchanted Book (Novice)
Although Emerald trades are extremely vital for Minecraft players, they aren't the best trade in the game. The most important villager to trade with is actually the Librarian, who will spawn so long as a lectern is available in a village. Librarians specialize in Enchanted Books, and at level 1, they can have any enchantment or any level available for trade.
RELATED: Every Tameable Mob In Minecraft, Ranked
The price of this trade can vary quite a bit, up to 64 Emeralds even. That said, players can re-roll this trade by breaking the lectern and placing it back down until they find a trade that pleases them. This is the only reliable way to get the rarest enchantment in the game, called Mending.
4 Shepherd - 18 Wool For 1 Emerald (Novice)
Another great and easy way to get some emeralds in the game is through a shepherd who will trade 18 pieces of wool for 1 emerald. Gamers can put a sheep farm to use here, maybe making it automatic, and quickly gain a lot of wool that the shepherd will lap up until the trade is maxed out for the day.
Wool is useful for many things in Minecraft, so it is useful to have a constant supply going, and if many shepherds are present, then it is an insane way to build up a great stack of the glimmering green currency.
3 Wandering Trader - 6 Emeralds For 1 Blue Ice
Wandering Traders pop up every so often around anyone's base or village, and they offer some useful items, many of which are from rare biomes, so it is hard to acquire them.
RELATED:
One of these is blue ice, which can be found in icebergs and other icy structures; it has great use as it is slippery and increases the speed of items in water streams. It's amazing for building fast walkways in places like the Nether to help to get to those portals in record time. What blue ice has going for it compared to packed or regular ice is that it does not melt when next to a light source. If gamers have the emeralds, then get as many as possible from the wandering trader.
Toolsmiths are useful for many reasons, but one of these is to get enchanted tools from them when players trade to the max level of villagers, which is master.
These tools have a random assortment of enchantments, but gamers will want to look out for mending on these tools, which is the rarest enchantment, and it means that the tools can never break as long as they get XP to mend them. Unbreaking, Silk Touch, and Efficiency are some other great enchantments and combined, they will create the ultimate tool. Make sure to upgrade them to Netherite also.
1 Leatherworker - 6 Emeralds For 1 Saddle (Master)
Saddles are a rare item in Minecraft as they cannot be crafted and must be found in generated structures throughout the world. However, there is a way to gain them through leatherworkers.
Gamers can trade leather, rabbit hide, and other items to level up the leatherworker to Master, which will unlock the saddle trade. For a cheap price of 6 emeralds, this is definitely worth it; saddles can be used on various mobs such as horses, pigs, donkeys, and striders. Well worth this price.
Minecraft is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, and many other platforms.
Some images included were taken from the game while using the Faithless resource pack.
MORE:
