What does a bad omen do in Minecraft?

Bad omens adversely affect villages and their inhabitants (Image via Minecraft)
Bad omens adversely affect villages and their inhabitants (Image via Minecraft)

Bad omens in Minecraft will cause raids upon a village.

A bad omen hurts villagers more than it hurts the Minecraft player. It leads to the loss of valuable items in the village and raids by pillagers.

Bad omens, depending on their level of potency, will result in raids that come in waves. The least amount of waves that can occur are two and only increase with the level of potency. The highest number of waves that can happen are eight.


What causes a bad omen?

Killing or having a tamed wolf kill the outpost captain causes a bad omen at a level one potency.

In the Java Edition, a bad omen can also be earned if players and their tamed wolf kills a patrol captain. This can induce a potency level between one and five.


What are the consequences?

Minecraft villagers will have to suffer the raids and loss of their hard-earned items when the player enters their established property. Since they all have specialized jobs with many valuables on the line, this can be devastating to their livelihoods.

This exercise may or may not matter to the players, depending on how they view the game and the mobs in Minecraft, but there is no shame in helping them, considering that they're some kinder entities.

Players can help villages in need (Image via Minecraft)
Players can help villages in need (Image via Minecraft)

How is a bad omen in Minecraft absolved?

Bad omens last for an hour and forty minutes at a time, which can be a lengthy concern for a player if they care. There are three ways that a bad omen can be resolved:

  • Drink enough milk
  • Fight off the pillagers
  • Die

The simplest way to get rid of the bad omen effect with the least amount of consequence is to drink milk. That's it. Like all other effects, milk will solve the issue.

Players can also fight off the raid waves and earn the "Hero of the Village" title. The villagers will provide discounted and free items to the player as a sign of gratitude.

Gamers could also either die on purpose in Minecraft or get killed trying to stop the raid. Either way, if they perish, the effect will get resolved.


Why help?

It's the right thing to do for both Minecraft players and the villagers. Many gamers don't find villagers helpful, and a few even develop mild, uncanny valley-type feelings towards them.

In the end, they are kind, somewhat helpful mobs that are good to the player, which should be reason enough to come to their aid.

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