With the Village & Pillage update for 1.14, Minecraft expanded the usefulness of the villages while also adding another threat for the passive villagers: the illagers. These grey-skinned angry mobs can be found either randomly spawning as a patrol group near a player or standing ground near one of their tall outposts.

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These illagers aren't meant to just be a nuisance to players, however. They can and will attack villagers if they are nearby them. Players could also end up triggering a raid, which is a wave-based showdown that has groups of illagers convene on a village to attack everything in sight. Despite being in the game for over a year, not many players know how raids work.

10 Bad Omen

Illager Captain outside Pillager Outpost in Minecraft

Raids can only be started if the player has a Bad Omen. These effects are earned after a player kills the illager captain, who can be identified as the mob with an ominous banner on its head. Upon killing the mob, the Bad Omen effect will be immediately applied and can be used to trigger a raid once nearby a village. In Java Edition, the Bad Omen can be stacked depending on how many captains a player has killed. Having a Bad Omen effect higher than level 1 can increase the chance of raiders having enchanted weapons.

9 Triggering The Raid

Villager on bed in Minecraft

There are two ways that players can trigger a raid. The more straight forward approach to starting the onslaught is to find a village. Once a player enters the 3x3x3 subchunk region around the center of the village, the Bad Omen effect will be cashed in for the raid. The alternate option takes a bit more manual labor, but it's for players who want to trigger a raid outside of a village. If players are able to get a villager out of the village and give them a bed, a raid can be triggered if players are within 8 chunks of it with the Bad Omen effect.

8 How It Starts

Raid beginning to generate in Minecraft

Once a raid begins, certain parameters are determined by the game concerning how the raid will function. Firstly, the center of the raid will be set based on the player's location upon triggering the raid. The average of all village points-of-interest within a 64 block radius of the player will establish the center.

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A boss meter will then appear at the top of the screen that will show either enemy health (Java) or the number of enemies (Bedrock). If in a village, a villager will run up to the bell and ring it to warn its fellow villagers while the boss bar is loading.

7 The Raid Enemies

A field of illagers in Minecraft

The raid enemies faced will depend on the difficulty. All difficulties will have players facing pillagers, vindicators, and ravagers. Pillagers are armed with crossbows while Vindicators charge players with iron axes. A ravager is a large bovine that has a ton of health and strength. Mobs in later parts of the raids include witches, a long-standing hostile mob in the game known for its potion-wielding. Evokers can also spawn, which can attack with fangs from the ground or spawn small, flying Vexes. The enemy count goes up with each difficulty level.

6 Each Wave

Villagers raiding a village in Minecraft

Just as the composition of the waves changes per difficulty, so does the number of waves per raid. There are three waves on Easy, five on Normal, and seven on Hard. While exact composition varies per Minecraft version, Wave 1 tends to start with Pillagers and then add on to the armies with each subsequent wave. By wave seven, not only does every mob listed above have a chance of showing up, but some illagers may be riding on ravagers as they charge at the player. In Java, the Bad Omen level is also a factor in determining how powerful the illagers will be.

5 Potential Loot

Loot that could be obtained during a raid in Minecraft

The loot gained in the battle, if successful, is dependent on which version of Minecraft is being played. Java Edition players will get the usual set of drops they would get from these enemies, which include arrow and crossbow drops from Pillagers, a potential iron axe drop from a Vindicator, and the Totem of Undying from the Evoker. However, Bedrock Edition has these mobs drop this loot plus more. In this version, raiders could drop a ton of emeralds, an enchanted book, iron tools, and iron armor. Percentages vary per item.

4 The Villagers

Villagers hiding during a raid in Minecraft

While a player is dealing with this raid, the villagers are too scared to do any fighting on their own. Instead, they all huddle in their houses hoping the player can fend off the danger. As noted earlier, villagers will begin to scatter into homes during the raid boss bar charging up.

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They will also emit sweat particles as they wait for the raid to end or for themselves to be killed. If the player is successful, the villagers will come out of their house and celebrate while also setting off firework rockets.

3 Possible Endings

Raid victory in Minecraft

While there are plenty of ways the raid could reach its end, it often concludes in one of two ways. The player will fail to succeed in a raid when all villagers in the area are dead and all claimed beds are destroyed. The bar will display a defeat message and all of the hostile mobs participating will produce celebration noises. However, if the player is successful in taking down the waves of mobs, villagers will come out and celebrate while also giving the player a "Hero of the Village" effect. The raid boss bar will display a victory message.

2 Hero Of The Village

A trade discount thanks to the Hero of the Village effect in Minecraft

Like Bad Omen, the Hero of the Village effect is a status effect that can only be assigned upon killing a mob. In this case, killing the last remaining mob in a raid gives the player this effect. With it, players will have a bunch of gifts thrown at them by villagers who are happy about being saved. In addition, villagers with the ability to trade with the player will provide discounts. In Java Edition, the discounts will vary depending on how stacked the Hero of the Village effect is. This is determined by how high the Bad Omen level was going into the raid.

1 Achievements

Raid-related Advancements in Minecraft Java Edition

Players love getting some sort of marker indicating that they completed an element of a game. In each version of Minecraft, there is a list of achievements (Bedrock Edition) and advancements (Java Edition) that players can earn when it comes to raids. Achievements include "Feeling Ill" (killing an evoker), "Kill the Beast" (killing a ravager), "We're Being Attacked" (trigger a raid), and "Sound the Alarm" (ring the bell with a hostile mob nearby a village). Advancements include "Voluntary Exile" (kill an illager captain) and "Hero of the Village" (successfully beat a raid).

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