Minecraft Best Villager Trades

Summary

• Efficiently trade with villagers for items using Emeralds instead of mining or exploring.
• Villagers have different trades based on job types, offering items like Enchanted Books or rare maps.
• Restock villagers by interacting with job blocks to improve prices and availability of trades.

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.

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 February 27th, 2025, by Ben Painter: Minecraft is always popular among fans, old and young. Gamers can create whatever they want in the game and play it exactly how they feel. This is why it is still one of the most-played games 14 years after its release. A great way to build a Minecraft world is to trade with villagers. They have some great items for sale for the cost of Emeralds, the game’s currency. Likewise, the best way to get Emeralds is to trade with villagers using some items that players may have lots of. This update adds five more of the best villager trades in Minecraft.

Most trades can only be made a set number 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.

35

24 Feathers For 1 Emerald

Fletcher

• Level Required: Expert
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Kill Chickens
• Workstation: Fletching Table

The best way to get Emeralds in Minecraft is to trade with villagers. There are a few different kinds of villagers in the game that can produce lots of Emeralds for items that may be in surplus for some players. One of these trades is 24 Feathers for 1 Emerald from the Fletcher.

It may seem like a lot of Feathers for just one Emerald, but Chickens are really common in Minecraft and don’t have a lot of use in-game. If gamers have an automatic chicken cooker in their world, they have a lot of Feathers in stock, so it may be wise to trade these all for Emeralds. It will take a while as this is an Expert trade.

34

5 Emeralds For 1 Ender Pearl

Cleric

• Level Required: Expert
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Trade from other Villagers
• Workstation: Brewing Stand

Ender Pearls are a great item to have plenty of in the game. They can be used to craft Eye of Ender, which is vital for accessing the End Portal. They also can be thrown, which teleports the player to where the pearl lands — useful for escaping tricky foes or traversing harsh landscapes.

They can only be found from Endermen, who are a difficult mob to fight and aren’t the most common in the overworld. This trade with the Cleric Villager could come in handy as they offer 5 Emeralds for 1 Ender Pearl, which may seem a bit expensive but will help if gamers are struggling to locate the item.

33

13-35 Emeralds For Diamond Enchanted Armor

Armorer

• Level Required:
  • Expert: Enchanted Diamond Leggings, Enchanted Diamond Boots
  • Master: Enchanted Diamond Helmet, Enchanted Diamond Chestplate
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Trade from other Villagers
• Workstation: Blast Furnace

Getting awesome armor in Minecraft is pivotal as it will give players the edge in tough fights, but using an Enchantment Table to get the right enchantment is a bit of a gamble. This is where the Armorer Villager comes in handy, as he offers a trade at the Expert and Master levels for some Enchanted Armor.

The price varies, ranging from 13 to 35 Emeralds, which may be a little pricey, but worth it if gamers can find the perfect piece of Diamond wear. The enchantment is random, but it can never be a Treasure Enchantment, which includes the best one in the game: Mending.

32

10 Dried Kelp Block For 1 Emerald

Butcher

• Level Required: Expert
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Harvest Kelp, cook in furnace, craft into Dried Kelp Block
• Workstation: Smoker

Kelp is available in abundance in the waters of Minecraft; one plant can generate plenty of individual Kelp items. Kelp can then be cooked in a furnace to produce Dried Kelp and then crafted into a Dried Kelp Block. This item can be used to build or as a very cheap and reliable fuel source.

With an automatic Kelp farm, gamers can get tonnes of this item, so it will be beneficial for the player to trade these items with a Butcher to get a steady stream of Emeralds.

The Expert level needs to be unlocked, so it will take some trading before this is an option for the gamer.

31

15 Beetroot For 1 Emerald

Farmer

• Level Required: Novice
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Farm Beetroot
• Workstation: Composter

A very easy trade to do as it requires the most basic level, Novice. Beetroots are a common farming item in the game; they may be hard to locate at first, with only one set of seeds, but gamers can then go on to produce a lot of the crop.

Beetroots are a great way to get red dye in the game, but other than that, there aren’t tons of uses, so trading those with a Farmer villager will be a great way to get a lot of Emeralds and XP. It is also fantastic to build up the trading requirements to unlock the more advanced trades that the Farmer Villager offers.

30

7 Raw Porkchop For 1 Emerald

Butcher

• Level Required: Novice
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Kill Pigs
• Workstation: Smoker

Having lots of pigs in Minecraft is easy. Breeding two pigs with carrots, potatoes or beetroots will produce a baby and this can be done until there are too many pigs to know what to do with. Killing a pig will drop up to three raw porkchops and this item can then be traded to the Butcher, who will offer a price of 1 emerald for 7 porckhops.

As this is a novice trade, it will be available from the start and the other versions of this begging trade (14 raw chicken for 1 Emerald and 6 raw rabbit for 1 emerald) aren’t as good of a trade as this one as there are more chicken required and rabbits aren’t as common as pigs in the game.

29

12 Emeralds and 1 Compass For Trial Explorer Map

Cartographer

• Level Required: Journeyman
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Trade From Other Villagers (Emeralds), Craft From 4 Iron & 1 Redstone (Compass)
• Workstation: Cartography Table

A brand-new kind of structure for Minecraft, launched in 1.21, is the Trial Chambers. A combat challenge arena where players battle their way through various mobs and are rewarded handsomely with emeralds, enchanted items, smithing templates, and so on.

But these new structures, buried deep underground, are hard to find, so a simple way to locate one is to trade the map with a villager. For the very reasonable cost of 12 emeralds and 1 compass, players can gain the location of a trial chamber. Emeralds can be achieved easily by trading with villagers and a compass is crafted with iron and redstone, items which players should have plenty of. Gamers need to level up their cartographer to Jounrneyman to unlock this trade, which is the third tier out of five.

28

5 Emeralds For 1 Cherry Sapling

Wandering Trader

• Level Required: N/A
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Trade From Villagers

The cherry sapling and its tree were introduced in Minecraft 1.20 as a new tree, but finding one inside a world can cause some issues. The cherry tree is found exclusively in the Cherry Grove biome, which is a rare find in mountainous regions of the game.

This is where the Wandering Trader comes in, as gamers can pay just 5 Emeralds to get their own cherry trees. This trade only needs to be done once, as the grown tree will produce its own saplings to grow further trees. For some players, this trade will be unnecessary if they are lucky enough to spawn near the biome, but nine times out of ten, this trade will be a winner.

27

5 Emeralds 1 Mangrove Propagule

Wandering Trader

• Level Required: N/A
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Trade From Villagers

In a similar vein to the cherry tree, the mangrove propagule and its mangrove tree can be a difficult find, only available in the illusive Swamp biome. Players can spend hours traversing through a Minecraft world and not encounter one of these biomes.

For the price of 5 Emeralds, gamers can get their hands on this seed, known as a mangrove propagule, to grow their own mangrove trees. This tree is unique, as it doesn’t produce much wood, but it does generate mangrove roots, which are a very useful decoration block for Minecraft builds.

26

8 Emeralds For Globe Banner Pattern

Cartographer

• Level Required: Master
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Trade From Villagers
• Workstation: Cartography Table

Adding detail to a world is very important. It adds to the overall look of the world and allows for a much more immersive experience. Adding banners, from various designs, is a good way to add some detail. There are eight banner patterns in the game, and most can be crafted, but the Globe Banner Pattern has to be traded for from a Cartographer villager.

Sadly, this one is locked behind the Master trade, the highest level, so players will need to put in some trading work in order to unlock this banner pattern, but it’s worth it. In a loom, it will add a globe to the banner, which will add some detail to museum or study builds.

25

4 Books For 1 Emerald

Librarian

• Level Required: Apprentice
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Cows (Leather), Sugarcane (Paper)
• Workstation: Lectern

The librarian villager is perhaps the most useful villager to have in the game as they offer a wide variety of useful trades to help make the game easier. Once the player has an enchanting table and full enchanted armor there isn’t much use for books otherwise.

So, what gamers can do is trade them to the librarian to get some emeralds, books are easy to obtain, and bookcases spawn in certain structures. But they can also easily be crafted by killing some cows (easily bred for leather) and creating paper from sugarcane (easily farmed).

24

32 Rotten Flesh For 1 Emerald

Cleric

• Level Required: Novice
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Easiest Way To Obtain: Killing Zombie
• Workstation: Brewing Stand

Rotten flesh is a pretty useless item in Minecraft, at a pinch it is a food source, but it causes the hunger effect. However, it can be fed to wolves without any additional effects. But, this is not really useful, so, the main thing that can be done with the item is to trade it to the Cleric to receive an Emerald.

It will cost 32 rotten flesh for 1 emerald, but considering how easy the item is to obtain, this should be a walk in the park. Gamers can spend one night killing zombies to receive a lot of rotten flesh or make a mob farm that can automatically kill zombies and collect the item. If done right, players will be rich in rotten flesh.

23

10 Clay For 1 Emerald

Mason

• Level Required: Novice
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Find In Rivers
• Workstation: Stonecutter

This starter-level trade with a Mason 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.

22

6 Leather For 1 Emerald

Leatherworker

• Level Required: Novice
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Kill Cows
• Workstation: Cauldron

Leather is a fairly useful item. It can be used to craft: armor, item frames, horse armor, and books. Once gamers get past a certain stage in the game, leather becomes obsolete. Considering how easy it is to farm, breed cows, and slaughter them, excess leather should be traded to receive some Emeralds and also XP.

Using the looting enchantment on the sword will reward the player with more leather from one cow, making this trade easier to obtain the item required.

21

26 Flint For 1 Emerald

Fletcher & Leatherworker

• Level Required: Apprentice
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Mining Gravel
• Workstation:
  • Fletcher: Fletching Table
  • Leatherworker: Cauldron

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.

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.

20

10 Sweet Berries For 1 Emerald

Butcher

• Level Required: Master
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Harvest From A Sweet Berry Bush
• Workstation: Smoker

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.

19

4 Pufferfish For 1 Emerald

Fisherman

• Level Required: Master
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Fishing
• Workstation: Barrel

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.

18

3 Gold For 1 Emerald

Cleric

• Level Required: Apprentice
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Mining In The Nether
• Workstation: Brewing Stand

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.

17

12 Nether Quartz For 1 Emerald

Mason

• Level Required: Expert
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Mining In The Nether
• Workstation: Stonecutter

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.

16

20 String For 1 Emerald

Fisherman

• Level Required: Novice
• Easiest Way To Obtain: Killing Spiders
• Workstation: Barrel

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.

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.