Pillager

Health points	26 × 13
Behavior	Hostile Passive (if no crossbow equipped)‌^{[JE only]}
Attack strength	Ranged Easy: 3 - 4 Normal: 4 Hard: 4 - 5 Melee ‌^{[BE only]} Easy: 2 Normal: 3 Hard: 5
Hitbox size	*In Java Edition:* Height: 1.95 Blocks Width: 0.6 Blocks In Bedrock Edition: Height: 1.9 Blocks Width: 0.6 Blocks
Spawn	Patrols Pillager outposts Raids

Pillagers are illagers armed with crossbows that patrol the Overworld, guard their outposts, and participate in raids, sometimes spawning on ravagers in later waves of a raid. They are the weakest and most common of the illagers.

Spawning[]

Patrols[]

In Java Edition, the number of pillagers spawning in each patrol depends on the local difficulty, with one spawning as a patrol captain. Patrols occur after 5¹⁄₂ in-game days, any time and independently of structures, which means they still spawn in a world without generated structures. A patrol spawns 24 to 48 blocks away from a random player, on the highest solid block. The individual pillagers of a patrol can spawn only at block light level 7 or lower, regardless of sky light.

In Bedrock Edition, each patrol spawns 2 to 5 pillagers on Easy and Normal difficulty, whereas on Hard difficulty, 80% of illagers spawned are pillagers and 20% are vindicators. One of these illagers is a patrol captain. After 5¹⁄₂ in-game days, patrols appear 24 to 48 blocks away from the player, at a light level of 7 and below on Easy or any light level on Normal and Hard difficulty.

Outposts[]

Pillagers continually spawn in a 72×54×72 block volume centered on the top floor. They may spawn on any valid opaque block as long as the sky light level is 11 or lower, and the block light level is 8 or lower, but can also spawn on grass or sand blocks regardless of block light level. There can be unlimited pillagers that spawn in outposts naturally, limited only by the natural spawning rules.

In Bedrock Edition, pillagers continually spawn at or below a particular location in the outpost, choosing the highest opaque block with a non-solid block on top and spawning on the northwest corner. There can only be a maximum of 8 pillagers spawned naturally in an outpost.

Raids[]

In a raid, pillagers are more common in the earlier waves, and decrease in number as the waves progress, except during the bonus wave. Despite this, they still constitute the majority of raiders in total. The pillager is also the most common raiding mob in a raid. One pillager spawns riding a ravager in the fifth wave. In Bedrock Edition, one of the ravagers is ridden by a pillager instead of a vindicator on the seventh wave.

The pillager has the biggest chance of being the raid captain in the first wave, but in second waves and on vindicators have a greater chance than pillagers of being the raid captain.

Java Edition[]

In Java Edition, a pillager spawned by the player using a spawn egg or command can be a illager captain, meaning they have the Ominous banner sticking out of their back.

A villager attracts the patrolling pillagers and causes the patrol to look at the villager.

A large group of pillagers together, with some riding on ravagers.

Behavior[]

A pillager turned passive, holding a illager banner in his right hand.

Pillagers are hostile toward players, iron golems, wandering traders and villagers (this includes baby villagers in Java Edition‌^{[until JE 1.18]}). In Bedrock Edition, pillagers are also hostile toward snow golems, but not toward baby villagers. They attack by shooting arrows from their crossbows every 3 seconds up to 8 blocks away, and pursue their targets for up to 64 blocks. Taking into account their fast walking pace, they are extremely difficult to shake off.

If the pillagers are part of a patrol then they do not attack immediately. The patrol members' heads turn to follow the player's or of the villager-like mob who attracted their attention. If the player or villager-like mob attacks or approaches within 10 blocks of the patrol members, then this provokes them into loading their crossbows and attacking. This is intended behavior.^[1]

Pillagers, unlike evokers or vindicators, attack on sight, not regarding distance, although attacking a pillager, vindicator, or evoker far away causes the hit illager and the same type of illagers around the attacked illager to attack the player, regardless of distance.

Ravagers also attack the player on sight, and any vindicators or evokers on the ravager attack once the player gets into its provocation range.

Pillagers never retaliate against other pillagers or illagers. They always seek an assailant regardless of distance, unlike most other mobs.

In Bedrock Edition, a pillager that accidently shoots a vindicator, evoker, or witch makes it retaliate and attack the pillager, as this never happens in Java Edition. In Java Edition, the pillager does not retaliate on the vindicator, evoker, or witch that attacks it, even when attacked.

If raiding pillagers kill all the villagers in a village, they celebrate their victory by jumping and laughing. In Bedrock Edition, pillagers wave their arms while holding their crossbow in their main hand when cheering. Even unarmed pillagers also cheer.

In Java Edition, a pillager's crossbow eventually breaks with repeated use, unlike weapons wielded by other mobs.^[2] Unarmed pillagers In Java Edition are passive toward the player, iron golems, and villagers, but they still frighten villagers, and iron golems are still hostile toward them. This also includes pillagers that don't have a crossbow, which means any pillagers with a sword or any weapon other than a crossbow are still passive.

Unarmed pillagers in Bedrock Edition still try to use melee attacks to attack the player and other targeted mobs.

In Bedrock Edition, pillagers use melee attacks while underwater. In Java Edition, pillagers still try to shoot arrows underwater, although the arrows are slower underwater and sink after a short distance.

Pillagers move slowly around when idle in Java Edition. In Bedrock Edition, pillagers move from one place to another as fast as when they're provoked, although they stop and look around, pointing their crossbows along.

A pillager stares at the player and points its crossbow toward the player when the player is in creative mode. — A pillager stares at the player and points its crossbow toward the player when the player is in creative mode or when the player has the invisibility effect.

When the player is in creative mode or applied with the invisibility effect, going near or looking at the pillager still causes the pillager stare and point its crossbow at the player. If a pillager notices a target while staring at the player, the pillager stops staring and attacks the target.

If a player with the invisibility effect attacks a pillager, the pillager will still retaliate.

Pillagers "reload" their crossbows upon spawning in Bedrock Edition only, or if their crossbow is unloaded. This allows them to have it ready to fire at their next target.

Pillagers cannot use a crossbow in their off-hand, as mobs cannot use weapons in the off-hand just like players.

Pillagers are not attracted to illager banners, and they do not raid chests or destroy crops in a village. They simply kill any villagers, wandering traders, or iron golems that come into their sight if they are wielding a crossbow.

Drops[]

8.5% chance for a crossbow (loaded or unloaded, depending on the crossbow's state when the pillager dies) when killed by a player or tamed wolf; drop chance increases by 1% per level of Looting. The crossbow is of a random durability and has up to a 10% chance of being enchanted at level 5-19, depending on regional difficulty. Duplicate or conflicting enchantments are possible but extremely rare.
5 and an additional 1–3 per naturally-spawned equipment when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
1 ominous banner‌^{[JE only]}/illager banner‌^{[BE only]}, if spawned as a captain.
0–2 arrows ‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}. Each level of Looting increases the maximum number of arrows dropped, up to 5.

In Bedrock Edition, pillagers spawned in raids drop:

0–1 Emerald

In Bedrock Edition, raiding pillagers also have a 65% chance on Easy and Normal, or 80% chance on Hard difficulty, to drop these:

0–1 Emerald (¹⁰⁄₃₉ or 25.6%)
2–3 Emerald (⁵⁄₃₉ or 12.8%)
4–5 Emerald (²⁄₃₉ or 5.1%)
1 Enchanted Book (²⁄₃₉ or 5.1%)
1 Iron Pickaxe (⁵⁄₇₈ or 6.4%)
1 Iron Axe (⁵⁄₇₈ or 6.4%)
1 Iron Shovel (⁵⁄₇₈ or 6.4%)
1 Iron Sword (⁵⁄₇₈ or 6.4%)
1 Iron Helmet (⁵⁄₇₈ or 6.4%)
1 Iron Chestplate (⁵⁄₇₈ or 6.4%)
1 Iron Leggings (⁵⁄₇₈ or 6.4%)
1 Iron Boots (⁵⁄₇₈ or 6.4%)

Pillagers do not drop extra raid loot in Java Edition. Instead, they drop their normal loot. They also do not drop emeralds upon death in Java Edition.

Notes:

Iron equipment drops have a 50% chance to be enchanted at level 5-19. Said equipment may also have enchantment combinations that cannot be normally obtained, such as Blast Protection and Fire Protection on the same pair of boots.
Iron equipment drops are always of 30 to 90% durability.
These drops are affected by the Looting enchantment.
Enchanted books have level 30 enchantments, which can also be treasure enchantments.

Bad Omen[]

If the player kills a pillager captain, which wears an ominous banner (or Illager banner ‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}) on its head, they receive the Bad Omen status effect. The effect lasts for 100 minutes (5 in-game days) and can be removed by drinking milk. When a player afflicted with Bad Omen enters a village, a raid commences in that village, bringing about waves of illagers that seek and try to eliminate all villagers in the village.

Each patrol spawn one captain, while outposts can continually spawn pillager captains, both of which beset the player with one level of Bad Omen upon death. Note that raid captains do not inflict Bad Omen when defeated in a raid. In Java Edition, killing multiple captains in succession raises the Bad Omen level to a maximum of V, increasing the chance of pillagers and vindicators in the resulting raid wielding enchanted weapons. As long as the Bad Omen level is higher than I, the resulting raid includes an additional wave with a raider composition identical to that of the last wave.

Sounds[]

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Pillager murmurs	?	?	`entity.pillager.ambient`	`subtitles.entity.pillager.ambient`	1.0	?	10^[verify]
Pillager cheers	?	?	`entity.pillager.celebrate`	`subtitles.entity.pillager.celebrate`	1.0	?	16
Pillager dies	?	?	`entity.pillager.death`	`subtitles.entity.pillager.death`	1.0	?	16
Pillager hurts	?	?	`entity.pillager.hurt`	`subtitles.entity.pillager.hurt`	1.0	?	16

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Resource location	Entity tags (JE)	Translation key
Pillager	`pillager`	`raiders`	`entity.minecraft.pillager`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Resource location	Numeric ID	Translation key
Pillager	`pillager`	`114`	`entity.pillager.name`

Entity data[]

Pillagers have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

Entity data
- Tags common to all entities
- Tags common to all mobs
- Tags common to all mobs spawnable in raids
- Inventory: Each compound tag in this list is an item in the pillager's inventory, up to a maximum of 5 slots. Items in two or more slots that can be stacked together are automatically be condensed into one slot. Pillagers don't change their inventory automatically or drop items from it upon death. The inventory is currently unused.^{[more information needed]}
  - An item in the inventory, excluding the Slot tag.
    - Tags common to all items

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements[]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other platforms	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
		Monster Hunter	Attack and kill a monster.	Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: an enderman, a piglin, a zombified piglin, a spider, or a cave spider.	15G	Bronze

Advancements[]

Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
Adventure	Adventure, exploration, and combat	—	Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity.	`adventure/root`
Voluntary Exile	Kill a raid captain. Maybe consider staying away from villages for the time being...	Adventure	Kill an entity in the `#raiders` entity tag wearing an ominous banner. Note: This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless if one or more of its child advancements have been completed.	`adventure/voluntary_exile`
Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Adventure	Kill one of these 34 mobs: Blaze Cave Spider Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_a_mob`
Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Monster Hunter	Kill each of these 34 mobs: Blaze Cave Spider Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_all_mobs`
Who's the Pillager Now?	Give a Pillager a taste of their own medicine	Ol' Betsy	Kill a pillager with a crossbow.	`adventure/whos_the_pillager_now`

History[]

This section would benefit from the addition of more images.

Please remove this notice once you've added suitable images to the article.
The specific instructions are:

Pillagers before Bedrock Edition Beta 1.9.0.2.
Renders of unarmed pillagers before and after 20w29a (MC-158735)

Java Edition
March 27, 2017		Jeb replies to a Reddit post suggesting to add pillagers, saying that they were already planned to be added in the future.
September 29, 2018		Pillagers are announced at MINECON Earth 2018.
1.14	18w43a	Added pillagers.
	18w45a	Pillagers can now spawn naturally during illager patrols.
	18w46a	The pillager's AI has been improved.
	18w46a	Pillagers no longer drop emeralds.
	18w47a	Pillagers now spawn as part of raids.
	18w47a	Pillagers now spawn around pillager outposts.
	18w47b	Pillagers now spawn less often around pillager outposts.
	18w47b	Pillagers no longer cross their arms when not equipped with a crossbow, which has changed the poses from to .
	19w09a	Pillagers can now use tipped arrows and fireworks in their offhand when shooting their crossbow.
	19w13a	Pillagers can now open doors during raids.
	19w13a	If raiding pillagers killed all the villagers in the village or the beds were destroyed, pillagers celebrate their victory by laughing and jumping.
	19w14a	Pillagers no longer open doors during raids.
1.14.4	pre4	The pillager's arm texture has been changed.
1.15	19w39a	Pillagers no longer have arms when they're not armed with a crossbow.
1.15	19w45a	Both of the arms of pillagers now display correctly even if the pillager does not have an armed crossbow.
1.16.2	20w29a	The attack animation of unarmed pillagers has been changed.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.18	21w37a	Pillagers no longer attack baby villagers.
Bedrock Edition
1.9.0	beta 1.9.0.0	Added pillagers.
	beta 1.9.0.0	Pillagers do not have sounds or animations.
	beta 1.9.0.2	Pillagers now have the crossbow animations and reloading sounds.
	beta 1.9.0.3	The crossbow held in the pillager's hand is now larger.
1.10.0	beta 1.10.0.3	Pillagers now have their own sounds.
		Pillagers are no longer available only through Experimental Gameplay.
		Pillagers now spawn around pillager outposts.
1.11.0	beta 1.11.0.1	Pillagers now spawn as part of illager patrols and during raids.
		Pillagers can now spawn as a raid captain.
		Pillagers no longer attack baby villagers.
		Pillagers can now ride ravagers.
	beta 1.11.0.4	Pillagers in raids may now drop special items when killed.
1.13.0	beta 1.13.0.9	If raiding pillagers killed all the villagers in the village or the beds were destroyed, pillagers celebrate their victory by laughing and raising their arms in the air.
1.13.0	release	Looting now increases the crossbow drop chance for pillagers by 1% per level, rather than 12%, to bring parity with Java Edition.
1.16.0	beta 1.16.0.51	Pillagers no longer load their crossbows after spawning, and now load their crossbows only when they find their target.
		The unloaded crossbow pose of pillagers has been changed to , the same pose as a piglin with a crossbow.
		Pillagers now pick up illager banners within 3 distances from it.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90		Added pillagers.
1.90		Pillagers are available only in creative mode.
1.91		Pillagers now spawn in raids, illager patrols and around pillager outposts.
		Pillagers can now spawn as a raid captain.
		Pillagers can now ride ravagers.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Pillager" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

Alongside crossbows, pillagers were taken from Minecraft Dungeons, even though they were added in the base game first.^[3]
The Pillager was added to Village and Pillage as a means to give the villagers a "true" adversary in order to balance the new village mechanics.^[4]
In Java Edition, an unarmed pillager walks at random similarly to passive mobs, but always faces any player in its field of view or any mob that attacks it.
Pillagers point their crossbows at the player or any mob they are looking at whether their crossbow is loaded or unloaded.
In Bedrock Edition, due to a bug, unarmed pillagers can still shoot arrows rapidly, about 1 every 0.75 second.
The command: /summon pillager ~ ~ ~ {} summons a passive pillager that does not attack anything.‌^{[Java Edition only]}
- Unarmed pillagers or pillagers without a crossbow still prevent a player from sleeping, even if they don't attack, because pillagers are considered monsters in their files.
They are the only illagers that do not fold their arms, even when unarmed.
An original design of the pillager appeared like a pirate wearing an orange vest. However, Mojang Studios' mob designers changed the mob's design to look more like brigandine armor because they thought this design looked better.
In Bedrock Edition, Pillagers run animation runs differently than other illagers because of the mob that was modeled as a player.
Summoning an unarmed pillager in Java Edition that is invulnerable (/summon pillager ~ ~ ~ {Invulnerable:1} do not cause villagers to run away from the pillager.
Typing /summon pillager ~ ~ ~ minecraft:calm in Bedrock Edition does not cause the summoned pillager to attack the player.
A pillager has a 1/16,000 chance of dropping a crossbow enchanted with two piercing I enchants, a 1/409,000 chance of dropping one with piercing I and multishot, and 1/3.5mill chance of dropping one with piercing I, multishot, unbreaking III, and quick charge I. (These probabilities were calculated with pillagers spawned from patrols or pilager outposts, because pillagers spawned from higher levels of raids have an increased chance of dropping enchanted crossbows. Also with maximum local difficulty, as this affects the chance of a dropped crossbow being enchanted).

Gallery[]

A pillager armed with a crossbow, shown at MINECON Earth 2018.
A group of pillagers, shown at MINECON Earth 2018.
A group of pillagers.
A pillager patrol leader with a villager (before 18w46a).
A pillager outpost inside of a desert temple with pillagers inside and outside of the temple.
A pillager attacking a villager.
A pillager without a crossbow.
A pillager riding a ravager.
A pillager loading up a crossbow.
A sitting pillager.