Villagers in Minecraft can offer players many different services, including access to beds, crafting tables, item trades, crops, and sometimes Iron Golems that fend off nearby monsters. Since all villages are different, they have a chance of offering players all of their possible resources, or minimal combinations. Given how helpful villagers and villages can be in Minecraft, players would be wise to take full advantage of their benefits.
As far as the different jobs for villagers in Minecraft go, players can have a large role in what each villager sells, although there is a bit of randomness and limitations in play. For the most part, Minecraft’s villagers only sell a specific set of items depending on their job and level of trading experience. Regardless, players can assign different jobs to villagers by supplying villagers with a nearby bed and the designated item for each job. Most villager jobs are assigned by placing crafting tables, although there are some village jobs assigned to containers and other special building blocks. For those planning to get the most out of their villagers, knowing the best and worst jobs will be a big help.
S-Tier
- Cleric
- Farmer
- Librarian
Cleric: Players will need a Brewing Station to assign this job to a villager, which can sometimes be found in villages, otherwise, players will need to go to a Nether Fortress for the materials to build this crafting table. Clerics can turn Nether Warts and Zombie Flesh into Emeralds, and will eventually offer players an unlimited supply of Bottle O’ Enchanting, Lapis Lazuli, and Ender Pearls. Bottle O’ Enchanting can be expensive to trade for, although they are still a legitimate way to farm enchantment levels in Minecraft.
Farmer: Farmer villagers are top-tier because they offer one of the best ways to passively accumulate Emeralds by trading crops with villagers. Depending on a Farmer’s inventory, players can either make themselves rich in Emeralds or stock up on some food sources in Minecraft that are otherwise expensive and rare to obtain.
Librarians: What makes Librarians so special is their potential to give players permanent access to some of the best Enchantments in Minecraft. Having a Librarian with a Mending or Unbreakable Enchantment Book can save players a lot of time, Enchantment levels, and resources, so it’s a worthy investment.
A-Tier
- Armorer
- Fletcher
- Toolsmith
- Weaponsmith
Armorer: Armorer villagers are a relatively cheap source of otherwise expensive endgame armor in Minecraft. Armorers will start off selling Iron armor and will eventually sell Diamond armor with random enchantments.
Fletcher: For players looking to use ranged weapons in Minecraft, the Fletcher villager is a must-have since they offer crossbows, enchanted bows, and an endless supply of arrows. Obtaining arrows from villager trades will simultaneously give players experience for their Enchantment level, so all around it’s a good deal. As for Crossbows, these can only be obtained from a Pillager Outpost or encountering Pillagers in the wild, and both can be extremely rare.
Toolsmith: Minecraft’s Toolsmith is best used for the late-game areas of Minecraft. The Toolsmith initially offers stone tools, although this is arguably a waste of Minecraft’s Emerald currency. Otherwise, investing in Toolsmiths will allow them to sell Enchanted Iron and Diamond tools with random enchantments.
Weaponsmith: The Weaponsmith is a lot like the Armorer and Toolsmith villagers, in that they offer certain tiers of tools, such as weapons in this case. Weaponsmiths offer enchanted swords and axes made of either Iron or Diamonds. What holds the Armorer, Toolsmith, and Weaponsmith back from being top-tier is how they can sometimes offer some of the worst Enchantments in Minecraft, even though they are all reliable sources of essential gear.
B-Tier
- Butcher
- Fisherman
Butcher & Fisherman: Especially compared to the Farmer, the Butcher and Fisherman aren’t exactly the most efficient villagers to trade with. What makes these villagers expensive to trade with is that players have to offer food that would generally be of better use as healing items. The one redeeming quality of Fisherman is that they can potentially offer some of the best fishing rod enchantments, but it’s not a guarantee.
C-Tier
- Cartographer
- Leatherworker
- Wandering Trader
Cartographer & Leatherworker: The Cartographer and the Leatherworker are arguably only good for particular items from each of their inventories, which makes them among the low-tier villager jobs. For the Cartographer, the most valuable items from their inventory are the Explorer Maps, which reveal the location of Minecraft’s Ocean Monuments and Woodland Mansions. These maps will only work once though, so after players acquire their Explorer Maps, the Cartographer doesn’t need any further investment. Leatherworkers are a reliable source of Saddles, otherwise, their other options are all things that players can craft on their own without having to spend Emeralds.
Wandering Trader: Like the other C-Tier Villager jobs, Minecraft’s Wandering Trader is generally only good for a few specific items that they have a chance to offer. The best items to buy from the Wandering Trader are the different plant seeds, assuming that players haven’t already obtained the particular seeds that this villager can offer. Also, unlike any of the other villagers, the Wandering Trader is a random spawn that players can’t intentionally encounter, so they are extremely unreliable.
D-Tier
- Mason
- No Job/Nitwit
- Shepherd
Masons & Shepherds: Masons and Shepherds are some of the most niche villager jobs in Minecraft, as their inventory is mostly for cosmetic building blocks. The Shepherd is known for trading different dyes and colored wools, although it's much more efficient to collect dyed wool from raising Sheep, which is essentially an infinite method that doesn’t cost Emeralds. As for the Masons, these villagers can be expensive to trade with, and in return, they only offer Emeralds or a limited variety of building blocks.
No Job / Nitwits: Lastly, the villagers with no jobs and the Nitwits are some of the least valuable villagers. While a villager without a job is only a temporary predicament, the Nitwit job is a permanent and unavoidable assignment that prevents the villager from ever acquiring a job. The only practical use either of these villager jobs offer is their ability to breed villagers in Minecraft, although every other villager job can do this, and then some.
Minecraft is available to play on PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and legacy platforms.
