Vindicator

A vindicator is an illager equipped with an iron axe. Vindicators appear in woodland mansions and participate in raids. It sprints towards its targets to attack them with its axe.

Spawning
On Normal difficulty and Hard difficulty, vindicators sometimes spawn with a randomly enchanted iron axe: the chance is 0–25%, and is higher when the regional difficulty is higher.

Woodland mansions
Vindicators spawn during the generation of woodland mansions, in groups of 1–3 inside particular rooms, sometimes accompanied by an evoker. Rarely, vindicators can spawn in the corridors and hallways.

They do not respawn after initially spawning. Vindicators generated in mansions do not naturally despawn unless the world is switched to peaceful difficulty.

Vindicators are sometimes neutral if naturally spawned in a woodland mansion, which means that the vindicator does not attack the player on sight, but only after the player attacks it.

Patrols
In Java Edition, any vindicators can join a patrol if sufficiently near a patrol captain, but do not go seeking out for patrols to join.

Raids
Vindicators can spawn during raids. They appear more frequently during later waves and at higher difficulties.

Vindicators can spawn riding ravagers, creating a vindicator ravager jockey.

Java Edition
$$, if a player spawns a vindicator with a spawn egg or using a command, the vindicator has a chance of becoming an illager captain, with a Ominous banner attached above its back.

Drops
A vindicator drops loot only when killed by a player or tamed wolf:
 * and an additional per naturally-spawned equipment.
 * 0–1 when killed by the player. The maximum increases by 1 for every level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-4 with Looting III.
 * 8.5% chance of dropping their normal or enchanted, which increases by 1% per level of Looting with random durability.
 * 1 Illager Banner.png Ominous banner($$), or illager banner $$ if they spawn as a raid captain.

$$, if a vindicator spawns as part of a raid, it drops:
 * 0-1

Additionally, $$, vindicators have a 65% chance of dropping the following on Easy and Normal difficulties, and an 80% chance of dropping them on Hard difficulty: Notes:
 * 0-1 ($$ chance)
 * 2-3 ($$ chance)
 * 4-5 ($10/39$ chance)
 * 1 ($5/39$ chance)
 * 1 ($2/39$ chance)
 * 1 ($2/39$ chance)
 * 1 ($5/78$ chance)
 * 1 ($5/78$ chance)
 * 1 ($5/78$ chance)
 * 1 ($5/78$ chance)
 * 1 ($5/78$ chance)
 * 1 ($5/78$ chance)
 * Iron equipment from raid drops always has a 50% chance of being enchanted with a random enchantment at level 5-19.
 * Iron equipment from raid drops is always damaged.
 * These drops are also affected by the Looting enchantment.
 * The enchanted book has a level 30 enchantment, may be treasure enchantment.
 * Emeralds are both a regular raid drop and an additional raid drop.
 * With Looting III enchantment, a vindicator has spawned from a raid can drop up to 16 emeralds upon death, but the chance is 3.328% on Easy or Normal, and 4.096% on Hard.
 * It is possible for a vindicator spawned from a raid to drop both its naturally-spawned iron axe and a second iron axe from its additional raid drops (in Easy and Normal difficulty 0.3536% chance, 0.3952% chance with Looting I, 0.4368% chance with Looting II, and 0.4784% chance with Looting III, while in Hard difficulty 0.4352% chance, 0.4864% chance with Looting I, 0.5376% chance with Looting II, and 0.5888% chance with Looting III).

Behavior
Vindicators are hostile toward players, iron golems, adult villagers, wandering traders, and snow golems. $5/78$, vindicators are passive to players on Peaceful difficulty but will still attack other mobs.

While idle, a vindicator crosses its arms similar to a villager, with its axe stowed. While giving chase, the vindicator brandishes its axe and sprints. If it has no weapons, a mainhand-unarmed vindicator raises both of its hands when attacking.

On Normal and Hard difficulties, vindicators that are part of a raid can break wooden doors. This is controlled by the  tag. Like any illager during a raid, vindicators celebrate by cheering if all the villagers are killed or all the beds are destroyed.

$5/78$, if a pillager arrow accidentally strikes a vindicator, the vindicator retaliates against the pillager, but the pillager does not retaliate. All illagers remain friendly to each other $$, even when struck accidentally.

Java Edition
Vindicators are likely to call help from other vindicators when attacked by mobs (except for illagers and goats, or if they were killed in one hit), inciting them all to attack the aggressor. They do not call help from other kinds of illagers.

Vindicator raiders can break doors and open doors like villagers.

Ringing a bell gives all vindicators within 32 blocks the effect for 3 seconds.

Bedrock Edition
Vindicators can only sprint, even when idle.

A dispenser can equip a vindicator with armor, but it is invisible and does not show on its model.

Damage
Armed vindicators hit for to  damage, depending on difficulty. They tie with piglin brutes for dealing the third most melee damage in the game, following the iron golem at damage and the warden at  damage.

The vindicator's axe attack disables the player's shield for 5 seconds, even when riding a ravager.

"Johnny"
A vindicator named Johnny (using a name tag, named spawn egg, etc., or has its  tag set to  ) is hostile to every mob except evokers, pillagers, other vindicators, and ghasts and players in Creative or Spectator mode. In Java Edition, they also do not attack baby villagers, illusioners or armor stands. This hostility extends to vexes and witches in both editions.

"Johnny" vindicators will also attempt to attack the ender dragon, but she would not take damage.

All hostile or neutral mobs try to attack the "Johnny" vindicator in return, except for ender dragons, endermites (as they die in one hit), guardians, elder guardians, phantoms, goats (apart from their usual ramming behavior), slimes, magma cubes, and ravagers.

The  tag overrides its name; the player can give the vindicator any other name and set the   tag to   and it remains hostile in the same way as described. Conversely, the player can name the vindicator "Johnny" and set the  tag to , causing the vindicator to act as a normal vindicator.

Naming a "Johnny" vindicator something else using a name tag will not set its  tag to , and it will continue to exhibit "Johnny" behavior.

Naming a vindicator spawn egg "Johnny" and it on a spawner has no effect; normal vindicators spawn rather than vindicators named "Johnny".

Sounds
Vindicators use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.



ID




Entity data
Vindicators also have entities' data associated with them that contains various properties.




 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.
 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Trivia

 * The "Johnny" Easter egg is a reference to the movie The Shining, where a troubled man possessed by evil spirits in an isolated, haunted, labyrinthine, mansion-like hotel attacks his family with an axe, and says the iconic line "Here's Johnny!" while breaking a door down.
 * According to the Mobestiary, while a vindicator is stronger than a zombie, it still has low intelligence, 'a little smarter than a skeleton' (note that vindicators cannot use bows in-game).