Tutorials/Defeating a woodland mansion

Woodland mansions are special structures found in dark forests. They are highly anticipated to explore because they are inhabited by the illagers and are one of the only reliable ways to find the totem of undying (the only other way is to kill evokers spawned from raids), an extremely useful item that can save you from death. This makes woodland mansions a great place to go before fighting bosses.

Exploration checklist
Exploring a mansion requires a lot of preparation, but not everyone has the same skills. So depending on how skilled you are, different preparations may be needed. The following is a suggested collection of equipment you might need:


 * An iron sword at minimum. Enchantments such as Sharpness and Fire Aspect will give you an easier time fighting the illagers, while Knockback helps keep a safe distance from vindicators.
 * A bow for ranged combat against evokers. Enchantments such as Power and Flame enable quicker kills, while Punch knocks the illagers back a safe distance.
 * Crossbows are an alternative to bows, although bows are sufficient.
 * One arrow with Infinity, or a stack of 64 at minimum
 * A full set of high-durability iron armor at minimum. Protection allows you to take less damage from evocation fangs, even though evocation fangs bypass armor, and guarantee higher survivabiliy against a vindicator’s ambushes.
 * A iron axe for breaking through walls and revealing secret rooms.
 * Highly nutritious food, such as bread, baked potatoes or cooked meat
 * A shield for protection against vexes, as well as vindicators as they cannot disable shields.
 * A stack of 64 cobblestone, dirt or any other expendable block for quick towering, hiding, etc.
 * A bed to set your respawn point outside the mansion in case you die
 * Several stacks of torches to light up the mansion and prevent common hostile mobs from spawning
 * A woodland explorer map to track down the mansion

Optional equipment

 * A pair of elytra (with Firework Rockets) to get to the mansion as fast as possible
 * A trident enchanted with Riptide makes travel even faster during storms
 * An anvil to repair your tools
 * A few golden apples for quick healing cover
 * Can be substituted for enchanted apples
 * Healing or regeneration potions for faster health recovery
 * A few strength potions for the upper hand in combat
 * A shulker box or ender chest for easier transportation of items
 * A few ender pearls for quick escape, if necessary
 * A few stacks of harming arrows or poisoned arrows for easier elimination of enemies
 * A few invisibility potions for unnoticed infiltration
 * A flint and steel if you want to burn down the mansion

Sword / Axe
Your sword or axe is your primary melee weapon for eliminating vindicators or cornering evokers. Although the durability of axes decreases more rapidly when used as a weapon, critical hits deal extremely heavy, if not fatal, blows to your target, and they can also be used to punch through walls for uncovering secret rooms.

Bow / Crossbow
Your bow, a secondary weapon, should be used for taking out enemies from a distance if there are many gathered together. When in melee combat, it is always safer to fall back to ranged combat if you’re swarmed by illagers. If you take a crossbow with you, however, make sure that an arrow has already been loaded for a faster first shot.

Armor
Armor is a must-have when exploring a mansion, because vindicators have one of the strongest direct attacks of any hostile mob, and vexes also have substantial melee damage. Iron armor should be worn at minimum, and Protection helps to reduce damage from evocation fangs that would otherwise completely bypass armor and shields.

Food
Nutritious food, such as steak and cooked porkchops, are absolutely necessary for healing after a fight.

Expendable blocks
Cobblestone is the go-to expendable block for building a protective cover to heal, towering or bridging your way across. Although dirt is much easier to gather, keep in mind that it’s not as tough and can be destroyed by a creeper explosion. However, if evocation fangs are coming your way, use dirt instead of cobblestone to build a barrier such that you can quickly mine and escape if the fangs pass through.

Torches
A few stacks of torches provide better visibility in dark corners, and prevent common mobs from spawning.

Water bucket
Used to break your fall. Necessary for all missions, no matter the difficulty.

Shield
A shield (or two for backup) is recommended for a mansion venture because it can be used to block melee attacks. Just be more careful when using a shield against vindicators, as their axe attacks can disable it.

Explorer map
The main way to locate a woodland mansion without cheats. Woodland explorer maps can be obtained from cartographer villagers.

Elytra
As mansions are typically thousands of blocks away, a pair of elytra combined with firework rockets will suffice for a speedier and more efficient journey to the mansion. Just make sure you’ve packed enough phantom membranes for repair, or enchanted the elytra with Unbreaking (and posibly Mending) for it to last longer.

Healing items
Powerful illager attacks can bring you to a vulnerable state at times, so golden apples, healing potions and regeneration potions will come in handy for a swift healing cover. Enchanted apples can heal you more than regular ones, but since they are extremely rare, use them sparingly if you get your hands on some.

If you do obtain a Totem of Undying by killing an evoker, do place it in your left hand slot as soon as possible, as shields aren’t as useful in woodland mansions due to the illagers’ shield-piercing or shield-disabling attacks.

Helpful potions
Potions enhance your performance, which can be highly beneficial although not necessary. Strength potions can give you the edge in combat, while invisibility potions can allow you to sneak into loot rooms given that you’re unarmored.

Ender chest / shulker box
These make transportation of loot much easier, as mansions are very far from the spawn point. You can even pack backup gear in the ender chest, which you can place at the mansion’s entrance along with a bed, such that if you die, you’ll be able to respawn at your ender chest and quickly ready yourself for a counterattack.

Ender pearls
Ender pearls can be used for quick travel across mansion floors, or escaping from a crowd of illagers. On the journey, if your elytra breaks while you are flying, throw an ender pearl to the ground to break your fall.

Obtaining the map


Players begin their mansion journey with a woodland explorer map, which can be obtained by trading with a journeyman cartographer for around 14 emeralds and a compass. $$, the cartographer always sells the map, but $$, they have a $1/3$ chance to sell it. Besides a map’s regular features, the explorer map has a house-shaped icon that indicates where the mansion is.

Taking off
Once you’ve noted down the coordinates of your base, make sure you have all your equipment, including the map, before leaving. Place the map in your left hand, wear your armor (and elytra if you’re using it) and organise your inventory such that your hotbar contains the following:


 * Sword
 * Bow / crossbow
 * Pickaxe
 * Axe
 * Water bucket
 * Ender pearls
 * Food
 * Two full stacks of rockets (if using elytra)

Finding new places
Since the journey to the mansion is extremely long, chances are you’ll discover new places along the way, some of which contain extra loot. Do explore them before continuing on your journey. Weaponsmith villages and temples are among the more useful structures you’ll find.

Temporary camp
Before you enter the mansion, you should set up a small base at its cobblestone entrance, where it is pre-lit by torches. Build a fence around the entrance to prevent hostile mobs from trespassing. Make a smoker to prepare extra food, place a bed to reset your spawn point and position your ender chest beside your bed. Don’t forget to bring along your shulker box if you have one, as you can store more items with it!

Navigating the mansion
Stay alert as you explore. There’s nothing more awful than getting surprised by a creeper explosion and dying on the spot, losing all your experience points in the process. Vindicator ambushes are another threat as they deal hefty amounts of damage.

For added security, you could head to the second floor immediately to kill an evoker and get its Totem of Undying, before exploring normally afterwards floor-by-floor.

If you spot groups of illagers in the distance, use a ranged weapon to take them out one-by-one. Against lone ones, however, don’t hesitate to dispatch them with your sword or axe.

Don't bother looking in storage room chests; they contain nothing, and looking through them leaves you vulnerable to ambushes.

Always look out for solid walls where windows should be, or strange missing spaces in-between rooms; these could indicate a secret room behind. Two of them contain obsidian with a diamond block in the center, so be sure to take with you a diamond pickaxe to extract the diamonds within.

If you plan to make the mansion your base, be sure to light up every room to prevent hostile mob spawning. Be careful not to accidentally set anything on fire or let creepers sneak up on you.

Vindicator
Vindicators have HP, which means they’re not the beefiest mobs out there. However, their punishing axe blows deal a maximum of damage on Hard difficulty, and are especially dangerous if their axes are enchanted.
 * As shields are redundant, quickly attack them until they die.
 * Against a group, either strike before retreating, or build a 3-block tall pillar to hit your assailants from above.
 * They drop 0-2 emeralds upon death and have a chance of dropping their iron axe as well.

Evoker
Evokers have HP like vindicators, but have a more unconventional fighting style. When within a 16-block radius, they summon a row of evocation fangs that bypass armor and shields, and when cornered, they summon a ring of said fangs instead. Evokers may also summon three vexes to join the fight, and flee at the player’s sprinting speed when cornered.
 * Shooting them with a ranged weapon is the safest way to defeat an evoker.
 * Melee combat is also possible; corner the evoker into a small space while dodging any fangs that come your way, before striking repeatedly until it dies.
 * Upon death, evokers drop their Totem of Undying as well as 0-1 emeralds.

Vex
Summoned by evokers, vexes can fly through walls and floors to attack their target by surprise. Despite their low health pool, they deal up to damage on Hard difficulty, meaning that they’re not to be trifled with.
 * Time your hits well against vexes, and retreat if necessary to avoid getting struck.
 * Against a swarm of vexes, just flee from the scene and ignore them; they drop nothing when killed anyway and will despawn within 2 minutes.

Melee Warfare
The easiest and fastest way to conquer a mansion, given that you have good fighting tactics.

Required Items:
 * Iron sword / axe
 * Bow / crossbow
 * Full set of iron armor
 * Plenty of food
 * Fairly good fighting skills


 * Procedure:

Using a sword or bow, attack the illagers head on. Take down the mansion room by room, and punch holes in the walls to look for secret rooms.

Water Defense
Required Items:
 * Sword
 * Bucket of Water
 * Bow and Arrows

Carry your water bucket in your hand. When you see a Vindicator, apply the water bucket to the floor right underneath you to make a water pool. Stand in the water and hit the Vindicators with your sword. Shoot any Evokers with your bow.
 * Tip: Dig up the carpet as you walk so you can see where you have been.

Foolproof Attack
If those illagers are scaring you, then try this method! Based on the idea that all illagers can be hit with arrows, this strategy relies on raiding the mansion from above, clearing one room at a time.

Required Items:
 * Sword ( iron at minimum)
 * Bow ( preferably enchanted)
 * Arrows ( bring a lot, or use infinity)
 * Gravel or Sand ( a few stacks should do)
 * Food
 * Axe and Pickaxe
 * Bed ( any color)


 * Procedure:

Climb to the top of the mansion. From there, build a small base with a bed and a few chests. Next, mine out the ceiling of a room. Using your bow, shoot the mobs from above. Drop gravel over the doorways to prevent more mobs from entering, collect the drops, then proceed to the next room. Repeat until you have raided the entire top floor. There can be up to 3 floors. Because the entire ceiling is broken off, you can easily find all of the secret rooms. In rooms with lots of illagers, drop gravel or sand around the vindicators and shoot the evoker. Then, kill the vindicators after collecting the drops from the evokers. This way, you don't lose drops while killing other mobs.

Infiltration
As long as you have some spare blocks and potions of invisibility, you can make raiding the mansion easier.

Required Items
 * Potion of Invisibility
 * Spare blocks, like cobblestone
 * All other regular supplies (maybe a melee weapon and golden apples in emergencies)
 * Ender pearls (optional)


 * Procedure:

Get in the mansion with invisibility, once you see an illager, cover it with blocks to trap it. Do not get too close, as they will notice you, even with invisibility. Make sure to bring enough invisibility potions and drink another one when the effect is about to expire, in emergencies where you lost invisibility, either escape with ender pearls, or if you have the equipment, put on a brave face, armor and sword and kill the monsters melee!

Raid Squad
If you have friends that have survived alongside you, you may bring them with you, so you can fight the illagers as a team. You can use different equipment, to be more like a squad, or just use strong equipment, regardless of team member's choices.

Required Items


 * At least another player (the more, the better)


 * Equipment for melee warriors, which includes:
 * A sword (enchanted, netherite, diamond or iron)
 * Armor (full armor, enchantments, netherite, diamond or iron)
 * A shield (enchanted)


 * Equipment for ranged fighters, which includes:
 * A bow or crossbow (enchanted)
 * Arrows (several stacks, or use Infinity on bow)
 * Armor (can be iron or chain, as long as they are away from melee combat)
 * Tipped arrows (few stacks)
 * A sword (for emergencies)


 * Equipment for potion wielders, which includes:
 * Ranged potions (negative effects for enemies, positive for allies, use healing on undead mobs)
 * Armor (iron, avoid melee combat)
 * Sword (same as above)


 * Equipment for mining looters, which includes:
 * A sword (iron or better, take enchanted as better)
 * Armor (same as above)
 * 2 Pickaxes (diamond, enchanted, one with Fortune, the other with Silk Touch, both with Efficiency and Unbreaking)
 * 1 Axe (diamond, enchanted)
 * Healing items, like potions and golden apples (all the team)
 * Nourishing food (all the team)
 * Chests (normal and ender, all the team)


 * Procedure:

As a team, enter the mansion together and stay alert. Once in combat, try to fulfill your roles. The melee fighter should act as a tank, stopping enemies from attacking their less protected teammates, while the sniper should attack from away, maybe with the miner watching their back, and the potion mage should try to help their allies, by healing them and attacking their enemies with potions, choosing the effects on their potions wisely. If done correctly, you can defeat your enemies without much damage to your team. Once having cleared the mansion, the miner should open the secret rooms with their tools, while all the team collects the loot. When you are finished, go back to your base with your new, valuable loot.

Wolf Army

 * Equipment:
 * 10 or more tamed wolves
 * 1 or more iron golem(s). They are much stronger than wolves, but they also require a lot of iron to craft.
 * A diamond or iron sword, enchanted if possible
 * A bow and arrows
 * Full diamond or iron armor, enchanted if possible
 * Lots of food, including meat to heal the wolves
 * As many torches as possible
 * Basic equipment such as pickaxe, chest, etc.
 * Rotten flesh to heal the wolves.


 * Procedure:

Enter the mansion with your wolves. If you want to use the mansion as a home base, light up the rooms. When you see an enemy, attack it. Your wolves will then attack and finish the job. If you see an evoker, avoid the fangs and shoot at it with your bow. The wolves will also protect you from any hostile mobs that attack you. Heal your wolves by feeding them meat when they take damage. WARNING: the wolves may die, so don't use ones you're attached to.

"Johnny" strategy
Keep naming Vindicators "Johnny" until you have enough of them, so they attack all remaining mobs. Remember to dig for hidden rooms. It is also mandatory to make the mansion your home. Just make sure they don't attack you.
 * Equipment
 * 5 or more name tags
 * 1 netherite, diamond or iron sword
 * 2 axes
 * 2 pickaxes
 * Invisibility potions (to avoid vindicator attacks)
 * Many torches.
 * Procedure

TNT Raid
Mine holes in strategic places and place TNT in them. Make sure most of them are relatively close to the wall. You can use flint and steel, but Redstone is recommended for a good blast. If done correctly, it will kill most hostile mobs, but leave the items and rooms intact. This is also a good way to uncover secret rooms.
 * Equipment
 * A few stacks of TNT
 * 1 iron, diamond or netherite axe enchanted with Unbreaking
 * Flint and steel
 * Optional
 * Redstone of your choice
 * Procedure

Burning
The way to uncover all secret rooms and defeat most of the mobs


 * Equipment
 * Flint and Steel


 * Procedure:

Stay on the outside of the mansion and run around using flint and steel to burn the building.

Loot
Many mansion rooms contain chests with “dungeon loot” in them.
 * "Checkerboard room" - the loot chest is located above the entrance.
 * "X room" - there’s a loot chest at the corner.
 * "Gray banner room" - the loot chest is found behind the cobblestone construction.
 * "Wood arch hallway" - the loot chest is located the end of the room.
 * "Winding stairway room" - the loot chest is located at the end of the winding passageway.
 * “Bedroom with loft” - the loot chest is found at the loft.
 * “Lone chest room” - the loot chest sits in plain sight at the center.
 * "Attic room" - there are two loot chests positioned at each end of the upper attic of this room.
 * "Arena room" - the loot chest resides on the loft.
 * "Fake End portal room" - the trapped chest, which contains 2 Ender pearls, sits on the woolen “End portal”, and is flanked by two TNT on each side.
 * “Allium room” - the chest at the entrance is full of alliums.
 * "Sapling farm" - the chest at the entrance holds 28 dark oak saplings.
 * "Tree-chopping room" - the loot chest at the foot of the tree contains an iron axe enchanted with Efficiency I.
 * “Storage rooms”, “mushroom farm” - the chests are empty.

Aside from loot chests, there are several valuable blocks that the player can scavenge from the mansion's rooms: the secret “obsidian room" and "lava room" both contain a diamond block in the center of the structures, and the "illager statue room" contains a hidden lapis lazuli block in the illager’s head, to name a few.

For further information, please see the page woodland mansion/loot.

Post-Exploration
After the mansion is looted, there are a number of things you can do with it. You can turn it into a home, burn it down, systematically dismantle it to get extra resources, or just leave it as it is.

Turn it into a home
Turn the mansion into your base. Light it up and clear out all hostile mobs. You can use the original rooms, or tear down the inner walls and build them how you want. Make sure to change the beds in the bedrooms so you can sleep them. Add a kitchen, bathroom, anything you want. You can even redesign the whole mansion. See Grian's channel on youtube for tips.

Make a villager breeder or any type of farm inside
You can build some type of farm(s) inside. You can make a spider farm with the spider spawner, bring in villagers for villager trading halls, or make the building a giant crop farm.

Build a community building
Use the woodland mansion for a community building. Redo the inner walls and move it to the location you want using mods. Some ideas are making a hotel, town hall, or factory.

튜토리얼/삼림 대저택 정복 教程/征服林地府邸