Voluntary Exile: How to Kill a Raid Captain in Minecraft

Voluntary Exile is earned by killing a Raid Captain, which is any Pillager or Vindicator carrying an Ominous Banner (the grey banner with the Pillager face pattern). Killing a Raid Captain gives you the Bad Omen status effect, which triggers a raid if you enter a village. This guide covers finding Raid Captains, killing them safely and understanding the consequences.

What is a Raid Captain

A Raid Captain is not a unique mob type. It is any Pillager, Vindicator or Evoker that spawns holding an Ominous Banner on its head. You can identify them by the large banner sticking up from their head. They spawn in two locations:

• Pillager Outposts: An outpost always has at least one Raid Captain Pillager. It respawns periodically, so outposts are a renewable source.
• Patrols: Pillager patrols spawn naturally in the Overworld. One member of each patrol is the captain with a banner. Patrols appear after you have played in a world for a certain number of in-game days.

Finding a Pillager Outpost

Outposts generate in the same biomes as villages: Plains, Desert, Savanna, Taiga, Snowy Plains and Sunflower Plains. They are tall dark oak structures with a watchtower. Pillagers spawn around the outpost continuously, and one will always be the Raid Captain.

To find an outpost:

• Explore biomes where villages spawn. Outposts tend to generate within a few hundred blocks of villages.
• Use the /locate structure minecraft:pillager_outpost command if cheats are enabled.
• Look for the tall watchtower structure from a distance. It is visible from far away.

Identifying the Raid Captain

Among the group of Pillagers at an outpost, one will have a banner on its head. The banner is large and unmistakable, it looks like a grey face on a white background sticking up above the Pillager's head. Regular Pillagers only carry crossbows; the captain carries both a crossbow and the banner.

Killing the captain

Raid Captains fight exactly like regular Pillagers. They shoot crossbow bolts and have 24 HP (12 hearts). Here is how to take one down:

1. Approach with a shield raised. Pillager bolts are blocked by shields. Walk forward with your shield up.
2. Close to melee range. A diamond or netherite sword kills the captain in 2-3 hits. Pillagers cannot attack effectively at point-blank range because their crossbow has a reload time.
3. Alternatively, snipe from range. A Power V bow two-shots a Pillager. Stay behind cover and peek-shoot.

What happens after the kill

When you kill the Raid Captain, you receive the Bad Omen status effect (shown as a Pillager face icon). This effect lasts for 100 minutes (1 hour 40 minutes real time). While you have Bad Omen:

• Entering a village triggers a Raid. Raiders spawn in waves and attack the village and its villagers.
• You can remove Bad Omen by drinking milk before entering any village.
• Killing multiple Raid Captains stacks Bad Omen up to level 5, increasing the raid difficulty (more waves, harder mobs).

Safety tips

• Carry milk. If you do not want to trigger a raid, drink milk immediately after killing the captain. The bucket of milk clears Bad Omen.
• Do not go near villages with Bad Omen active. Raids can devastate an unprepared village. Only trigger a raid when you are ready to defend.
• Kill captains at outposts, not near your base. If your base is near a village, the Bad Omen could accidentally trigger a raid when you walk home.

Common mistakes

• Killing a regular Pillager instead of the captain. Only the one with the banner gives Bad Omen. Check for the banner.
• Accidentally triggering a raid. If you forget about Bad Omen and walk into a village, the raid starts immediately. Always carry milk as insurance.
• Ignoring the outpost's other Pillagers. While focusing on the captain, the other Pillagers keep shooting. Clear them first or use terrain as cover.

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