Hero of the Village: How to Win a Raid in Minecraft

Hero of the Village is earned by successfully defending a village against a raid. Raids are triggered by entering a village with the Bad Omen status effect. You must survive all waves of hostile raiders, including Pillagers, Vindicators, Evokers, Witches, Ravagers and Vexes. This guide covers triggering the raid, preparing the village, fighting each wave and the rewards you earn.

Triggering a raid

To start a raid, you need Bad Omen. Get it by killing a Raid Captain (a Pillager with a banner on its head) at a Pillager Outpost or from a patrol. Then walk into a village. The raid starts when you enter the village boundary, which is defined by the presence of villagers with claimed beds and workstations.

Raid wave breakdown

Raids consist of multiple waves. In Java Edition on Normal difficulty, there are 5 waves. On Hard, there are 7 waves. Each wave spawns progressively harder mobs:

Normal difficulty (5 waves)

• Wave 1: Pillagers only. Easy warmup.
• Wave 2: Pillagers + Vindicators. Vindicators deal heavy melee damage.
• Wave 3: Pillagers + Vindicators + Ravager. Ravagers are tanky beasts that charge and deal massive damage.
• Wave 4: Pillagers + Vindicators + Witches. Witches throw Poison, Slowness and Harming splash potions.
• Wave 5: Pillagers + Vindicators + Evoker + Ravager. Evokers summon Vexes, small flying mobs that pass through walls.

Hard difficulty (7 waves)

Waves 6 and 7 add additional Evokers, Ravagers and Vindicators. Wave 7 features a Ravager ridden by an Evoker, which is the hardest enemy combination in the raid.

Preparing the village

A well-prepared village makes the raid dramatically easier:

Protect the villagers

• Build a walled perimeter around the village. Raiders target villagers directly, and if all villagers die, you fail the raid.
• Lock villagers in their houses. Place blocks in doorways or use iron doors that villagers cannot open.
• Assign Iron Golems by ensuring the village has enough beds and villagers to spawn them. Golems fight raiders autonomously.

Create kill zones

• Build a walled entrance with a 2-block high gap at the bottom. Pillagers and Vindicators can walk through, but you can attack them safely from behind a wall while they cannot hit you.
• Place cobblestone walls or fences to slow raiders as they approach. Raiders path around obstacles, funnelling them into predictable routes.
• Lava trenches outside the village perimeter damage raiders before they reach you. Raiders walk into lava if it is between them and a villager.

Combat strategy per mob type

Pillagers

Ranged attackers with crossbows. Use a shield to block their bolts, then close to melee range. They die in 2-3 sword hits. Priority: low. They deal moderate damage but are fragile.

Vindicators

Melee attackers that charge at you with an iron axe. They deal massive damage (up to 13 damage on Hard). Do not let them get close without armor. Sprint-hit and retreat, using the knockback to keep distance. Priority: high, because their damage output is dangerous.

Ravagers

Large beast mobs with 100 HP. They charge, dealing knockback and damage. They can also break certain crops and leaves. Circle-strafe around them and attack their sides. They are too slow to keep up with sprint-strafing. Priority: medium. Tanky but slow.

Witches

Throw Poison, Slowness and Harming splash potions. They also drink healing and resistance potions themselves. Kill them quickly before they can self-heal. A Power V bow one-shots them. Priority: high, because their debuffs make other mobs more dangerous.

Evokers

Summon Vexes (small flying mobs) and cast Fang attacks (jaws that appear in lines on the ground). Kill Evokers immediately because Vexes are extremely annoying, they fly through walls and have surprisingly high damage. Priority: highest. Eliminating the Evoker prevents more Vexes from spawning.

Vexes

Small flying mobs that phase through blocks. They eventually take damage over time and despawn, but they can kill villagers through walls. Swat them out of the air with a sword when they charge at you. They have low HP but are hard to hit.

Essential gear

• Full Diamond or Netherite armor with Protection IV
• Sword with Sharpness V for melee
• Shield for blocking Pillager crossbow bolts
• Bow with Power V and Infinity for picking off Witches and Evokers at range
• Golden Apples for emergency healing between waves
• Totems of Undying if you have them (dropped by Evokers, useful for later waves)
• Milk buckets to clear Witch-applied Poison and Slowness

After the raid: your rewards

When the last raider of the final wave is killed, you earn the Hero of the Village advancement and status effect. Hero of the Village lasts for 40 minutes in Java Edition and provides:

• Trading discounts: Villagers offer significantly reduced prices. An item that normally costs 20 emeralds might cost 1-5 emeralds. This is the best trading discount in the game.
• Gift throwing: Villagers periodically throw gifts at you, including crops, tools and other items related to their profession.

The discount stacks with curing zombie villagers, so a cured villager during Hero of the Village offers the cheapest trades possible.

Common mistakes

• Not protecting villagers. If all villagers die, the raid fails. Lock them up before starting.
• Ignoring Evokers. Vexes multiply fast if the Evoker lives. Target Evokers first, always.
• Fighting without armor. Vindicator axes deal devastating damage. Full Protection IV armor is strongly recommended.
• Triggering a raid at your trading hall. If your villager trading setup is in a village, a raid can kill your carefully arranged villagers. Use milk to remove Bad Omen before going home.
• Losing track of the last raider. Sometimes the final raider gets stuck underground or in a building. Use a bell to highlight raiders (ringing a village bell highlights nearby raiders with a glowing outline).

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