Illager

Not to be confused with Villager or Pillager.

For the mob type in Minecraft Dungeons, see MCD:Illager.

This article is about the antagonistic variant of the villager. For the hostile mob that transforms from villagers, see Witch. For zombie variant, see Zombie Villager.

An illager is a type of hostile mob that regularly spawns in woodland mansions, patrols, raids, and pillager outposts.

Illager types

• Evoker — summons vexes and evoker fangs. Spawns in woodland mansions and raids.
• Illusioner‌ — attacks with a bow, may inflict Blindness and summon duplicates while becoming invisible. They can spawn only using command /summon.
• Pillager — the most common Illager. Attacks with a crossbow. Passive when unarmed‌. Spawns in patrols, pillager outposts, and raids.
• Vindicator — attacks with an iron axe; breaks wooden doors in normal or hard modes during raids. Spawns in woodland mansions or raids.
  • Sometimes they may spawn in patrols, in Hard difficulty.‌
• Ravager only an illager in Bedrock Edition — attacks by ramming with its horns. Roars after its attack is blocked by a shield, knocking back nearby mobs. Spawns in raids, sometimes ridden by another illager.

Specific criteria

There are three specific criteria for a mob to be considered an Illager:

• "Johnny" vindicators do not attack the other mob.
• The mob cannot be damaged by evoker fangs or ravager's roar.
• The mob does not fight back when hit by a missed arrow shot by a pillager or illusioner‌.

Non-illager monsters that spawn in raids

• Ravager — not an illager in Java Edition because "Johnny" vindicators attack them without being attacked by the ravager in return.
• Vex — "Johnny" vindicators attack them. They spawn when summoned by an evoker.
• Witch — Witches aren't illagers and hostile to villagers. A Villager transforms into a Witch if they're struck by lightning. However, they can join patrols or spawn in raids above normal difficulty and splash Potions of Regeneration or Healing on illagers.‌. However, "Johnny" vindicators attack them, and they take damage from evokers' fangs and ravagers' roars. Witches are also neutral to iron and snow golems.‌

Ravager Jockeys

A ravager jockey is an illager that spawn riding ravager. The riders are illager especially pillagers, vindicators, and evokers.

Java Edition

A ravager ridden by pillager spawn at raids in Wave 5. Ravagers ridden by vindicators and evokers spawn at Wave 7.

Bedrock Edition

A ravager ridden by pillager spawn at raids in Wave 5 and 7, ravagers ridden by evokers spawn at Wave 7. The ravagers ridden by vindicators do not spawn on raids.

Occurrences

Illagers spawn naturally in patrols and raids. They always spawn naturally in groups while in patrols and raids, or inside their structures.

Only the pillager, vindicator, and evoker spawn naturally.

Vindicators and evokers that spawn naturally in Woodland Mansions do not despawn and respawn. They are also passive on peaceful difficulty.‌

Ravagers spawn exclusively in raids.

Raid captain

Main article: Raid captain

Illagers sometimes have their own leader. Any illager has a small chance to be a raid captain with an ominous banner (even when summoned by commands, or when using a spawn egg‌).

Event

Main articles: Patrol and Raid

Illagers have their own in-game events, led by raid captains:

• Patrols — a naturally spawned group of pillagers roaming the landscape. The group can include a vindicator on hard difficulty in Bedrock Edition.
• Raid — a wave after wave of illagers and witches spawn and attack a village with ominous horn blares. It is triggered when a player with the Bad Omen status effect enters a village. Raiders and villagers usually have different behavior in a raid. Raiders celebrate after defeating a village.

Effect

Main articles: Bad Omen and Hero of the village

Killing a raid captain in patrols, in a mansion‌, or in an outpost inflicts the player with the Bad Omen effect, which triggers a raid when that player enters a village with the effect still active.

Java Edition

Vindicators can open doors like villagers during raids. They can sometimes break a wooden door in normal or hard difficulty, if they cannot open the door successfully.

Illagers, ravagers, and witches do not retaliate when hit by a missed arrow shot by a pillager or illusioner.

A vindicator can disable the player's shield with its iron axe attack, even when riding a mob. If a player fails to land a melee attack on a vindicator that rides a ravager during a raid in Hard difficulty, the vindicator rider can deal great damage to a player without protection from a shield.

Illagers pick up ominous banners dropped by raid captains during raids.

All illagers, ravagers, and witches gain 3 seconds of Glowing themselves when the bell rings.

Illagers and ravagers come to the aid of another illager of the same type to defeat mobs who attack it. For example, pillagers attack a skeleton that injures another pillager, but pillagers do not aid a vindicator hit by a skeleton.

Bedrock Edition

All illagers and vexes ignore baby villagers.

A dispenser can equip an illager with armor. However, only helmets and chestplates are visible on pillagers and vindicators, while evokers never have any armor visible.

Pillagers and ravagers do not purposefully attack other illagers. However, non-pillagers and non-ravagers do attack pillagers who hit them with missed arrows.

A "ravager with vindicator rider" is unused in Bedrock Edition. It can be summoned by a spawn event command without raid configuration.

After Texture Update, illagers still use the java 1.14 snapshot texture, including some of the marketplace textures (for example, vindicator's eyes and pillager's arms).

Trivia

• Illager structures are always themed around dark oak wood.
• The ominous banner ‌ / illager banner ‌ is uncraftable. The player can obtain it only by killing a raid captain, either from pillager outposts or through the use of commands.
• All illagers' eyes are green‌ with the exception of vindicators,‌ which have blue eyes. In the Texture Update, vindicators and illusioners were changed have to green eyes, but in the Java snapshot 18w47b the color of the vindicator's eyes was turned to blue again. This might be a reference to The Shining Easter Egg for the "Johnny" vindicator.

Gallery

• 

  A ravager that is being ridden by pillager rider during a raid.

• 

  A pillager raid captain.

• 

  A pillager celebrating after defeating a village. Pillagers raise their arms when celebrating in Bedrock Edition.

• 

  A poster by Mojang Studios of the Village and Pillage update.

• 

  An illager patrol looking at a villager secretly at night.

• Vindicator Mobestiary.jpeg

  A vindicator from Minecraft Mobestiary.

• 

  An illusioner, an unused mob in Java Edition.

• Illagers attacking a villager.jpeg

  Three Pillagers and Two Vindicators attacking a Nitwit Villager