Current as of Minecraft Bedrock v26.1 and Java Edition 26.1 — Updated April 2026
TL;DR
- Villagers have 5 trading tiers: Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master
- Each tier is shown by a badge colour: stone, iron, gold, emerald, and diamond
- You level a villager up by completing trades until the green XP bar fills — each level unlocks up to 2 new trades
- There are 13 professions, each with a different job site block and trade pool
- Villagers restock twice per in-game day as long as they can reach their job site block
- The librarian is widely considered the most valuable trader — they sell enchanted books at every tier
- Curing a zombie villager gives permanent massive discounts — the most powerful trading trick in the game
What Are Villager Trading Tiers?
Every villager with a profession starts at the lowest tier — Novice — and can be levelled up to Master through trading. Each new tier unlocks additional trades, making higher-level villagers progressively more valuable. The trading tier system means you need to invest time and emeralds into a villager to unlock their best deals.
Understanding the tier system is essential for building an efficient trading hall, knowing what to expect at each level, and planning which professions to prioritise first in your survival world.
The 5 Tiers: Badges, XP, and What They Mean
Villagers display their current tier through the badge they wear on their chest. You can also see the green XP bar in the trading menu — fill it completely to trigger a level-up.
| Tier | Badge Colour | XP Required | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 — Novice | Stone | Starting level | First 2 trades unlocked |
| 2 — Apprentice | Iron | 10 XP | 2 more trades unlocked |
| 3 — Journeyman | Gold | 70 XP | 2 more trades unlocked |
| 4 — Expert | Emerald | 150 XP | 2 more trades unlocked |
| 5 — Master | Diamond | 250 XP | Final 2 trades unlocked |
Every completed trade rewards both the villager and the player with XP. Once the villager’s bar fills, it levels up — gaining up to two new trades while keeping all existing ones. In Java Edition, villagers gain a maximum of 10 trade slots across all five levels. In Bedrock Edition the number of slots per level is fixed and varies by profession.
At Master level, the villager can no longer level up but still gains XP from trades and still restocks.
How Villagers Level Up in Practice
The fastest way to level a villager from Novice to Master is to repeatedly trade every available trade until the villager runs out of stock, wait for them to restock, then repeat. Villagers restock up to twice per in-game day when they can reach their job site block.
Make sure every villager in your trading hall has clear pathfinding access to their workstation. A villager that can’t reach their job site block cannot restock — and an unrestocked villager is useless.
A key rule: completing a trade with a villager locks their profession permanently. Before that first trade, you can break and replace their job site block to reroll their trade pool. This is how players reset librarians repeatedly to find Mending or other specific enchanted books.
Trade Demand and Pricing
Trade prices in Minecraft are not static. Several factors shift costs up or down:
Demand — every time a trade locks out (you use it until stock runs out) and requires a restock, the price increases slightly on the next cycle. Trades you never exhaust gradually become cheaper over time.
Reputation — in Java Edition, each villager tracks your personal reputation with them individually. Hitting or killing villagers damages reputation and raises prices. Trading regularly builds reputation and lowers them.
Hero of the Village — winning a village raid grants this status effect, which temporarily discounts all trades across every villager in the village.
Zombie curing — the single biggest discount trigger. Curing a zombie villager permanently slashes that specific villager’s prices, often reducing expensive books from 30+ emeralds to just 1. This is covered in depth in our villager breeding guide, which explains the curing process step by step.
All 13 Professions by Tier
Here is every villager profession, its job site block, and what it offers at each level. In Java Edition, two trades per level are randomly selected from a pool. In Bedrock Edition, the selection is more fixed per level.
Librarian (Lectern)
The most valuable trader in the game. Librarians offer enchanted books at every tier from Novice through Expert, meaning you don’t need to level them up just to access books — the first trade at Novice is already a book. Each librarian’s book is randomly selected when they claim the lectern, so breaking and replacing the lectern rerolls it until you get what you want.
Priority books to chase: Mending, Fortune III, Silk Touch, Efficiency V, Protection IV, Unbreaking III, Feather Falling IV, Sharpness V.
Mending is a treasure enchantment — it cannot be obtained from an enchanting table, only from librarians and loot chests. A Mending librarian is one of the most important long-term investments in any survival world.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Enchanted book, bookshelf, ink sac |
| Apprentice | Enchanted book, glass, lantern |
| Journeyman | Enchanted book, clock, compass |
| Expert | Enchanted book, name tag |
| Master | Enchanted book |
Librarians also buy paper from players, making them a good emerald source when paired with a sugar cane farm. Our guide on how to make paper in Minecraft covers the fastest ways to build that supply.
Armorer (Blast Furnace)
The armorer is the direct path to enchanted diamond armour. Their early trades buy coal and iron — useful for converting mining output into emeralds — and their higher tiers sell increasingly powerful armour.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell coal for emeralds, buy iron helmet |
| Apprentice | Sell iron ingots, buy iron chestplate/leggings |
| Journeyman | Sell lava bucket/diamonds, buy chainmail armour, diamond helmet |
| Expert | Buy enchanted diamond chestplate/leggings |
| Master | Buy enchanted diamond boots, bell |
The armorer’s enchanted diamond armour at Expert and Master tier has random enchantments. You won’t get Mending this way — armorer enchantments exclude treasure enchantments — but you can still get Protection, Unbreaking, and other useful rolls. Pair armorer gear with Mending books from a librarian for a self-repairing armour set.
The blast furnace is the armorer’s job site block — our blast furnace guide shows you how to craft one.
Toolsmith (Smithing Table)
Toolsmiths provide enchanted diamond tools — pickaxes, axes, shovels, and hoes — at Journeyman tier and above. Their early trades buy coal, iron, and flint in exchange for emeralds.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell coal for emeralds |
| Apprentice | Sell iron ingots, buy stone tools |
| Journeyman | Sell flint/diamonds, buy enchanted diamond pickaxe/shovel/axe |
| Expert | Buy more enchanted diamond tools |
| Master | Buy enchanted diamond hoe, bell |
A diamond pickaxe from a Journeyman toolsmith costs around 13 emeralds at base price — well worth it once your emerald income is flowing. Add a Fortune III book from a librarian and you have the most efficient mining setup in the game.
Weaponsmith (Grindstone)
Weaponsmiths sell diamond swords and axes at the Expert tier. Their early trades are similar to armorers — buying coal and iron for emeralds — making them a decent passive income source while you level them.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell coal for emeralds |
| Apprentice | Sell iron ingots, buy iron sword/axe |
| Journeyman | Sell flint/diamonds, buy enchanted iron sword |
| Expert | Buy enchanted diamond sword/axe |
| Master | Buy another enchanted diamond axe, bell |
The grindstone doubles as the weaponsmith’s job site — and as a handy repair/disenchantment tool for managing your gear. Our grindstone guide explains when to use it alongside the weaponsmith.
Farmer (Composter)
Farmers are the easiest passive emerald source in the game. At Novice, they buy crops directly from you — wheat, potatoes, carrots, and beetroot — and their higher tiers sell some genuinely valuable food items.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell wheat/potatoes/carrots/beetroots for emeralds |
| Apprentice | Sell pumpkins, buy bread/pumpkin pie |
| Journeyman | Sell melons, buy cookies/cake |
| Expert | Buy golden carrots, suspicious stew |
| Master | Buy glistering melon slices |
Golden carrots at Expert tier are one of the best foods in the game — high saturation, stackable, and useful for brewing Night Vision and Invisibility potions. An automated farm feeding a farmer villager is one of the simplest ways to generate continuous emerald income with almost no active effort.
Fletcher (Fletching Table)
Fletchers are the best early-game emerald source for most players. At Novice, they buy 32 sticks for 1 emerald — and sticks are made from wood, which is infinite. Four logs make 32 sticks, meaning one trip to a tree can turn directly into emeralds.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell sticks for emeralds, buy arrows |
| Apprentice | Sell flint/gravel for emeralds, buy flint |
| Journeyman | Sell strings/feathers for emeralds, buy bow |
| Expert | Sell tripwire hooks/feathers, buy enchanted bow, tipped arrows |
| Master | Sell emeralds for enchanted crossbow, tipped arrows |
Fletchers also buy feathers at Expert tier — useful if you’re running a chicken farm. Higher-tier fletchers sell tipped arrows in various effects, which are otherwise difficult to mass-produce.
Cleric (Brewing Stand)
Clerics are the go-to source for several important late-game items. Their Novice trade buys rotten flesh for emeralds — rotten flesh is useless for almost everything else, making this a great way to convert zombie farm loot into currency.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell rotten flesh for emeralds |
| Apprentice | Sell gold ingots, buy ender pearls |
| Journeyman | Sell rabbit’s feet, buy redstone dust/lapis |
| Expert | Sell scutes, buy glowstone dust |
| Master | Buy bottle o’ enchanting |
Ender pearls at Apprentice are the standout trade. Ender pearls are otherwise only dropped by Endermen, making a cleric extremely valuable for building your End portal key stock without needing to farm Endermen. Bottles o’ Enchanting at Master tier are useful for XP whenever you need it quickly.
Cartographer (Cartography Table)
Cartographers are useful in two specific ways: they buy paper for emeralds (another paper farm payoff), and they sell explorer maps that lead directly to hard-to-find structures.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell paper for emeralds, buy empty map |
| Apprentice | Sell glass panes, buy ocean explorer map |
| Journeyman | Sell compass, buy woodland mansion map |
| Expert | Buy item frame, various banner patterns |
| Master | Buy globe banner pattern (Java only) |
The ocean explorer map leads to an Ocean Monument, and the woodland mansion map leads to a Woodland Mansion — both rare structures that are otherwise found only through exploration. Buying these maps skips a potentially hours-long search.
Fisherman (Barrel)
Fishermen are a mid-tier profession. They buy raw fish for emeralds at Novice, which is useful if you’re running a fishing setup. Their higher tiers sell enchanted fishing rods and various boat types.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell string/raw cod for emeralds |
| Apprentice | Sell coal, buy cooked cod/salmon |
| Journeyman | Sell raw salmon, buy campfire |
| Expert | Sell tropical fish, buy enchanted fishing rod |
| Master | Buy boat (type varies by biome) |
Enchanted fishing rods at Expert are the standout trade — Luck of the Sea and Lure significantly improve the loot and speed of fishing, making fishing itself a stronger source of food, XP, and items.
Shepherd (Loom)
Shepherds buy wool for emeralds at Novice — 18 wool per emerald. With an automated sheep farm, this becomes a steady low-effort emerald source. Higher tiers sell coloured wool, carpets, and beds.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell white/brown/black/grey wool for emeralds |
| Apprentice | Sell dyes for emeralds, buy coloured wool |
| Journeyman | Sell dyes, buy terracotta/beds |
| Expert | Sell dyes, buy coloured banners |
| Master | Buy coloured carpets |
Shepherds are most useful to builders who want to stock up on decorative blocks in bulk. Their Journeyman and Expert trades sell coloured beds and banners in quantities useful for large-scale building projects.
Butcher (Smoker)
Butchers buy raw meat for emeralds and sell cooked food back. They are reliable early emerald sources if you’re running any animal farm.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell raw pork/chicken/rabbit for emeralds |
| Apprentice | Sell coal, buy cooked pork/chicken |
| Journeyman | Sell dried kelp blocks, buy cooked mutton/rabbit |
| Expert | Sell sweet berries/kelp, buy rabbit stew |
| Master | Buy cooked beef |
Butchers are decent early-game but fall off in usefulness compared to farmers and fletchers. Their real value is converting surplus raw meat from mob farms directly into emeralds.
Mason (Stonecutter)
Masons buy clay balls and various stone materials for emeralds and sell decorative stone blocks at higher tiers. Extremely useful for builders who want large quantities of polished blocks, terracotta, and glazed terracotta.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell clay balls for emeralds, buy bricks |
| Apprentice | Sell stone for emeralds, buy chiselled stone bricks |
| Journeyman | Sell granite/diorite/andesite, buy stone/dripstone/blackstone |
| Expert | Sell polished andesite/diorite, buy terracotta/coloured glazed terracotta |
| Master | Sell quartz blocks for emeralds, buy quartz pillars |
Masons are a builder’s best friend. At Expert and Master tiers, they sell glazed terracotta in multiple colours — blocks that are time-consuming to craft in large quantities but beautiful as accent walls and flooring.
Leatherworker (Cauldron)
The leatherworker is the least valuable profession for most players. They trade leather-based armour and saddles — leather armour is the weakest in the game, and saddles can be found in many loot chests.
| Tier | Notable Trades |
|---|---|
| Novice | Sell leather for emeralds, buy leather pants/tunic |
| Apprentice | Sell flint for emeralds, buy leather cap/boots |
| Journeyman | Sell rabbit hide, buy coloured leather armour |
| Expert | Sell leather for emeralds, buy saddle |
| Master | Buy coloured leather armour |
The saddle at Expert tier is their most useful offering — saddles cannot be crafted and are required to ride horses, pigs, and striders. Our guide on how to make a saddle in Minecraft covers all the ways to obtain one, including the leatherworker trade.
Profession Ranking: Best to Least Valuable
Here’s a practical ranking based on what each profession contributes to your long-term survival progression:
Tier S — Essential:
- Librarian — only renewable source of Mending and many treasure enchantments
- Fletcher — fastest early emerald income from renewable materials
- Farmer — best passive emerald loop with automated farming
Tier A — Very Useful:
- Cleric — ender pearls, glowstone, bottles o’ enchanting; unique items elsewhere difficult to farm
- Armorer — enchanted diamond armour without the enchanting table RNG
- Toolsmith — enchanted diamond tools at a fair emerald price
- Weaponsmith — enchanted diamond swords and axes
Tier B — Situationally Valuable:
- Cartographer — essential if you need to find an Ocean Monument or Woodland Mansion quickly
- Fisherman — enchanted fishing rods and steady cooked food supply
- Shepherd — great for builders; excellent if running an automated sheep farm
- Mason — fantastic for large creative or survival builds
Tier C — Limited Value:
- Butcher — decent raw meat sink but replaceable by farming food directly
- Leatherworker — saddle at Expert is the only trade most players will care about
The Trade Reset Trick (For Librarians)
This is the most important technique for building a serious trading hall. Since a librarian’s enchanted book trade is randomly assigned when they take the lectern as their job site, you can reset it by breaking and replacing the lectern — but only before you’ve made any trade with them.
Here’s the process:
- Set an unemployed villager next to a lectern
- Check what book they’re offering at Novice
- If it’s not what you want, break the lectern and place it again
- The villager momentarily goes unemployed, then re-claims the lectern with a new trade
- Repeat until the book you want appears
- Make one trade to lock the profession permanently
This is how players get exactly the books they need — a dedicated Mending librarian, a dedicated Fortune III librarian, and so on. A well-stocked trading hall might have 8–10 librarians, each locked to a specific enchantment.
How Restocking Works
Villagers restock trades up to twice per in-game day during work hours when they can access their job site block. The cycle goes: daytime → villagers work at their station → trades restock → evening → villagers sleep → repeat.
If a villager cannot path to their job site, they will never restock. This is the most common cause of frustration in trading halls. Every villager cell must have a clear walking route from the villager to their workstation. In Bedrock Edition, villagers also need access to a bed to restock — Java Edition only requires the job site.
When stock runs out, the trade icon shows an “X” and the slot is greyed out. This is temporary — it clears on the next restock. Each time a trade exhausts and restocks, the price nudges slightly upward. Trades that never sell out slowly become cheaper over time.
Building a Trading Hall
A good trading hall makes restocking reliable and all your villagers accessible in one place. The basic setup:
- One cell per villager, each with their own job site block
- Clear pathfinding from the villager to the block and back to their bed
- Full lighting to prevent zombie spawns
- Iron doors or blocks to keep villagers contained while allowing you to trade through a hole in the glass
- Name tags on valuable villagers to prevent despawning
A standard efficient layout uses 1×1 or 1×2 cells arranged in a row, each with a job site block in the back and a 1-block gap at the front where you trade through. Glass above gives you a clear view of each villager’s badge level.
The long-term goal is a row of profession-specific cells: one dedicated Mending librarian, one dedicated Fortune III librarian, a levelled armorer, weaponsmith, toolsmith, cleric, and a couple of farmers or fletchers for passive emerald income. This setup combined with a solid enchanting room covers virtually every gear upgrade you’ll ever need.
For building out your enchanting infrastructure to complement the trading hall, our enchanting table guide covers bookshelves, enchantment levels, and which enchantments to prioritise.
Wandering Traders: A Special Case
The Wandering Trader is a unique villager-like mob that spawns randomly near players every few in-game days, always accompanied by two leashed llamas. Unlike profession villagers, they:
- Do not level up through trading — all trades are available immediately
- Do not restock — trades are one-time-only
- Cannot be assigned a job or bred
- Only sell items — they never buy from you
Their trade pools include rare plants, saplings, dyes, coral blocks, sea pickles, and other items that are biome-locked or difficult to obtain in quantity. They’re worth checking whenever they appear, but they’re not a reliable income source the way profession villagers are.
Quick Reference: Best Trades Per Goal
| Goal | Best Profession | Key Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Mending enchantment | Librarian | Novice (random roll) |
| Fortune III | Librarian | Novice (random roll) |
| Silk Touch | Librarian | Novice (random roll) |
| Enchanted diamond armour | Armorer | Expert/Master |
| Enchanted diamond tools | Toolsmith | Journeyman+ |
| Enchanted diamond sword | Weaponsmith | Expert |
| Ender pearls | Cleric | Apprentice |
| Emeralds (fastest) | Fletcher | Novice (sticks) |
| Emeralds (passive) | Farmer | Novice (crops) |
| Find structures | Cartographer | Apprentice/Journeyman |
| Saddle | Leatherworker | Expert |
| Glowstone | Cleric | Expert |
| Golden carrots | Farmer | Expert |
| Tipped arrows | Fletcher | Expert/Master |
Final Thoughts
The villager trading tier system is one of Minecraft’s most rewarding long-term progression loops. A single levelled librarian with Mending can transform how you play entirely — gear that once needed constant replacing becomes permanent. A farmer-fletcher emerald pipeline funds everything else. A cured zombie villager locks the whole system in at a fraction of the normal cost.
Start with a fletcher for early emeralds, find or breed a librarian and reset their trade until you get Mending, then build outward from there. Every profession has a role — the key is knowing which tier to push them to and what you’re farming to unlock it.
If you don’t have a steady villager supply yet, our villager breeding guide walks through everything you need to set up a self-sustaining population from scratch. And if you’re worried about the Warden lurking near your deep dark explorations while you hunt for zombie villagers in abandoned villages, our guide on how to spawn and avoid the Warden has you covered.
