Pillager raids in Minecraft: Everything players need to know

Pillager raids can be tons of fun for Minecraft players. Players get to fight tons of mobs, collect rare loot, and boost their XP.

A raid is when a group of illagers starts a war with a village. The goal of either side is to kill all the remaining enemies until one side wins. The player fights on the side of the villagers, and must defeat the illagers during their battles.

There are a plethora of raid mobs that spawn and attempt to kill the player and wipe out the village. It's up to players and iron golems to stop the raiders from taking over. The reward for doing so is great, as players can gain standing among villagers, lots of XP, and valuable loot.

This sounds like a lot of fun to many Minecraft players, and most are interested in finding out more about this phenomenon. That's where this article comes in, here's everything players need to know about Minecraft's Pillager raids.

Everything Minecraft players need to know about Pillager raids

How to start a Pillager raid

Pillager's raid illustration (Image via pwrdown)

Raids start when a player with a bad omen effect walks into a village center. On Minecraft Java Edition this village center area is very small, only 3x3x3. In Minecraft Bedrock Edition, the village center region is larger, with an area of 64x23x64.

7 Raid Waves

The amount of waves in a raid depends on the Minecraft difficulty level. On easy mode there are three waves, on normal mode there are five, and on hard mode there are seven. In Minecraft Java Edition the amount of waves also depends on the level of bad omen that the player had at the beginning of the wave.

Raid Loot

Totem of undying (Image via Reddit)

There's a lot of valuable loot players gain from raids, including massive amounts XP. Raid captains drop their ominous banners when slain. Pillagers and vindicators have a high chance of dropping emeralds, iron weapons, iron tools, iron armor, and an enchanted book when slain. The chance of valuable loot being dropped increases with each level of difficulty the Minecraft game is played in.

All illager mobs also drop their regular loot which includes crossbows, arrows, saddles, and of course XP points. Ravagers drop the most XP of all the raid mobs, these creatures drop a total of 20 XP points. Regular illager variants drop five XP points, with an extra one to three XP when a tamed wolf kills them.

Other special loot includes totems of undying. This item is one of the rarest and most useful items in all of Minecraft. When a player is carrying it in their inventory the totem will prevent them from dying once. The only illager that drops totems of undying is the evoker, which can be found during raids and in woodland mansions.

How to end a Pillager raid

Trapped ravager (Image via Reddit)

Ending a Pillager raid can take the player a while. There are only two outcomes to any raid. One outcome is when all the villagers are killed, and all of the village beds destroyed, rendering the village not a village anymore. When this happens a bar at the top of the screen will appear with the words "Raid - Defeat." The illagers will all celebrate and make their own distinct celebration noises.

The other outcome is when all the illagers have been slain at the end of the last wave, or the illagers are unable to move. When this happens, the raid ends with the words "Raid - Victory" displayed at the top of the screen. When a Raid Victory happens the villagers celebrate and set off fireworks. Any entity that killed an illager during the raid will also receive a "Hero of the village" effect.

Different types of raid mobs

Pillagers

Pillager illustration (Image via Minecraft)

Pillagers are the basic raid mob that appear with gray skin and similar features as the regular villagers. These raid mobs don't have any sort of specialization and only have the goal to attack villagers, iron golems, and the player with their crossbows.

Captains

Raid captain artwork (Image via Tumblr)

Raid captains are similar to regular pillagers. These raid mobs are the leaders of the raid and carry a banner exclaiming that the illagers are raiding. Raid captains always spawn as a part of patrols and also have a chance of spawning randomly.

Illusioner

Illusioners are illagers that cast spells and are armed with bows. They can't be spawned into Minecraft with an egg, since they don't have a spawn egg. They can only be spawned with summoning commands. These illagers do not spawn naturally during raids. Illusioners will attack villagers, players, and iron golems even if they're spawned in by the player.

Illusioners can cast magical spells. They cast blindness which blinds the player for up to 20 seconds. Illusioners can also turn invisible for 60 seconds, while they're invisible they can create four duplicates of themselves to trick players.

Witches

Witch in Minecraft (Image via mcmobs.fandom)

Witches are an uncommon hostile Minecraft mob. These mobs spawn as apart of wave 4 of a raid. These mobs throw potions of healing at illagers to keep the battle going.

Vindicator

Vindicator in Minecraft (Image via kindpng)

Vindicators are the illagers most similar to Pillagers. These illagers spawn in woodland mansions and participate in raids. They are hostile towards players and spawn carrying an iron ax. They use this ax to charge players, villagers, and iron golems. On hard mode, vindicators always make up 20% of a patrol, the rest is made up of Pillagers.

Evoker

Evoker in Minecraft (Image via sportskeeda)

Evokers are similar to illusioners, as they're another spell-casting illager mob. These mobs are found in woodland mansions and only spawn once upon natural generation. Evokers spawn up to 5 times during raids, one evoker will spawn during waves 5 and 6. Three evokers will spawn during wave 7, with one riding on top of a ravager.

Evokers are also capable of summoning vexes to help them fight and defeat players and villagers. Vexes are dangerous mobs, capable of passing through walls.

Ravager

Ravager with a pillager on top (Image via Minecraft)

Ravagers are a raid beast that start spawning in wave three of a raid. Ravagers are large hostile creatures that charge at players. Illagers have the ability to ride these creatures as they attack players, villagers, and iron golems.