After years of anticipation, Minecraft villagers are finally receiving the update they deserve. From biome-based trades to entirely new items, everything is about to change. So, whether you want to breed villagers or plan to create a trading hall, this is an opportunity you won't want to miss. Let's dive into the new trading system and explore everything you need to know about the villager trade rebalance in Minecraft.

Villager Trade Rebalance in Minecraft

Note: Our guide is based on the features from Minecraft Snapshot 24W03B. All the mechanics in our guide are subject to change in the final release. Furthermore, you have to turn on "experimental features" in your world to test the new trades.

What is Villager Trading in Minecraft

As many of you might already know, you can trade with villagers in Minecraft to get a variety of items. These trades often use emeralds in Minecraft as a currency, but at times, you can also barter with other items.

Changes in Trading System with Minecraft 1.21

The trading system in Minecraft has remained largely unchanged since the release of the Village & Pillage update in 2019. But, after four years of consistency, this trading system is going under a variety of changes.

These adjustments aim to fine-tune the villager economy to better cater to both newcomers and seasoned players. You can expect to see higher prices for overpowered items and even new trades for certain villagers.

Diamond Gear is Getting Expensive

The armorer villagers are getting the biggest nerf with the villager trade rebalance in Minecraft. Earlier, players had the ability to farm these mobs to get a bunch of diamond gear without mining a single diamond. But, with the new trading system, the armorers only sell diamond gear when players trade both emeralds and diamonds.

This prevents players on popular Minecraft survival servers from stockpiling diamond items. Moreover, these diamond trades now only appear for villagers from certain biomes. But, more on that later.

Meanwhile, here are some other changes to armor trades with villager trade rebalance in Minecraft:

• Most master-level armorers now offer a bunch of emeralds for iron blocks.
• The Savanna armorers sell diamond gear at a cheaper price but with cursed enchantments.
• You can exchange one piece of diamond armor for another with Taiga armorers.

Wandering Traders Can Buy Items

Villagers aren't the only ones whose trades are changing with this villager trade rebalance in Minecraft. You can also get a bunch of new trades from the wandering traders. These include:

• Logs (any type including bamboo wood)
• Enchanted iron pickaxe
• Potion of Invisibility

The addition of these items turns Wandering Traders into the perfect mob for trading on the go. But, if you don't find anything worth buying, you can also sell your items. For the first time ever, these traders also have the ability to purchase items. You can sell them:

• Water bottle for 1 emerald
• Water bucket for 2 emeralds
• 4 baked potatoes for 1 emerald
• Milk bucket for 2 emeralds
• Fermented spider eye for 3 emeralds
• Hay bale for 1 emerald

Biomes-Based Trades in Minecraft

One of the biggest changes coming to Minecraft with the next update is the biome-based trades. Yes, you read it right. The villagers from different biomes are now not just visually distinct, but also provide trades based on their biomes.

As you might expect, this change encourages players to explore their entire world. But, if you want to make a trading hall in Minecraft, then be ready for hours of traveling. Though, players on the best Minecraft all biome seeds can easily set up a rail system to speed up the process.

Librarians

When it comes to librarians, the biome doesn't affect all of their trades. Instead, it only changes the type of enchantments you get by trading for enchanted books. Keeping that in mind, here's what you can expect from the librarian villagers in each biome:

• Desert: Fire Protection, Thorns, Infinity, and Efficiency III
• Jungle: Feather Falling, Projectile Protection, Power, and Unbreaking II
• Plains: Punch, Smite, Bane of Arthropods, and Protection III
• Savanna: Knockback, Binding Curse, Sweeping Edge (Java only), and Sharpness III
• Snow: Aqua Affinity, Looting, Frost Walker, and Silk Touch
• Swamp: Depth Strider, Respiration, Vanishing, and Mending
• Taiga: Blast Protection, Fire Aspect, Flame and Fortune II

The enchantments highlighted in bold text on our list are exclusive to the master librarians with full XP. To access these enchanted books you first need to level up your villagers by doing other trades.

Armorers

While the basic trades of armorers stay constant, the trades at the expert and master levels vary depending on the biome of the villager. You can expect not only different materials of gear but also different enchantments. Let's go over each biome to figure out all the trades armorers offer.

Desert:

• Iron gear (boots, helmet, leggings, chest plate) with Thorns
• Diamond chest plate and leggings with Thorns
• Emeralds for an iron block

Jungle:

• Iron gear (boots, helmet, leggings, chest plate) with Unbreaking I
• Chainmail helmet with Projectile Protection I
• Chainmail boots with Feather Falling I
• Emeralds for an iron block

Plains:

• Iron gear (boots, helmet, leggings, chest plate) with Protection I
• Diamond chest plate and leggings with Protection I
• Emeralds for an iron block

Savanna:

• Iron gear (boots, helmet, leggings, chest plate) with Curse of Binding
• Diamond chest plate and leggings with Curse of Binding
• Emeralds for an iron block

Snow:

• Iron boots with Frost Walker I
• Iron helmet with Aqua Affinity
• Diamond boots with Frost Walker I
• Diamond helmet with Aqua Affinity
• Emeralds for an iron block

Swamp:

• Chainmail (boots, helmet, leggings, chest plate) with Mending
• Chainmail helmet with Respiration I
• Emeralds for an iron block
• Chainmail boots with Depth Strider I

Taiga:

• Exchange diamond helmet (+ emeralds) for boots
• Exchange diamond chest plate (+ emeralds) for helmet
• Diamond chest plate and leggings with Blast Protection I
• Emeralds for a diamond block
• Exchange diamond boots (+ emeralds) for leggings
• Exchange diamond leggings (+ emeralds) for chest plate

Cartographers

With villagers offering biome-based trades, it's vital to find a route to every village. Luckily, cartographers have us covered. They sell different unique maps in each biome, leading to key structures and even villages.

Desert

• Savanna Village Map
• Plains Village Map
• Jungle Explorer Map

Jungle

• Savanna Village Map
• Desert Village Map
• Swamp Explorer Map

Plains

• Savanna Village Map
• Taiga Village Map

Savanna

• Desert Village Map
• Plains Village Map
• Jungle Explorer Map

Snow

• Plains Village Map
• Taiga Village Map
• Swamp Explorer Map

Swamp

• Snowy Village Map
• Taiga Village Map
• Jungle Explorer Map

Taiga

• Plains Village Map
• Snowy Village Map
• Swamp Explorer Map

In case you're confused, the "village maps" are a completely new item in the game. They provide directions to nearby villages, similar to a buried treasure map. You can use our dedicated guide to learn how to get and use village maps in Minecraft.

Are We Getting Jungle and Swamp Villages

While there are no official jungle or swamp villages in Minecraft, their villagers can still spawn in the game. All you have to do is breed villagers in these rare biomes and let the secret villagers appear. But, this mechanic doesn't compensate for the absence of two major structures.

Luckily, the reference to these overlooked villages in the villager trade rebalance of Minecraft is an encouraging sign. It suggests that the developers haven't entirely forgotten about these villagers. So, even though there is no confirmation of the same, we might finally get the missing villages in Minecraft 1.21 update.

All the Changes and New Trades in Minecraft 1.21

With major upgrades and some nerfs, the new villager trades offer a mixed bag of opportunities. However, since they are still under testing, it's uncertain how the story will end. The upcoming Minecraft Live 2023 might shed some light one the same. But, one thing that won't change, though, is the reliable Piglin trades. Simply find gold using Minecraft 1.20 ore distribution and reap the rewards. Having said that, are you happy with the changes in villager trades? Share your opinion on our Discord server and see what players across popular Minecraft servers are thinking.