Villager Professions and Workstations Guide

There are 13 villager professions in Minecraft, each tied to a specific workstation block. The profession determines what trades the villager offers. Understanding which workstation creates which profession is fundamental to building an efficient trading hall. This guide covers every profession, its workstation, notable trades, and which professions are most valuable for survival gameplay.

Complete profession and workstation list

Profession	Workstation	Notable trades
Armorer	Blast Furnace	Buys iron/coal; sells chainmail, iron, and diamond armor
Butcher	Smoker	Buys raw meats; sells cooked meats and rabbit stew
Cartographer	Cartography Table	Buys paper/glass panes; sells maps, banners, explorer maps
Cleric	Brewing Stand	Buys rotten flesh/gold; sells ender pearls, redstone, glowstone, bottle o' enchanting
Farmer	Composter	Buys crops (wheat, potatoes, carrots, beetroot); sells bread, pumpkin pie, cakes, golden carrots, glistering melon
Fisherman	Barrel	Buys string/coal/raw fish; sells cooked fish, campfires, enchanted fishing rods
Fletcher	Fletching Table	Buys sticks/feathers/string; sells arrows, bows, crossbows, tipped arrows
Leatherworker	Cauldron	Buys leather/flint; sells leather armor (dyed), saddles, leather horse armor
Librarian	Lectern	Buys paper/books/ink sacs; sells enchanted books, bookshelves, lanterns, name tags, glass
Mason/Stone Mason	Stonecutter	Buys clay/stone; sells bricks, polished stone variants, terracotta, quartz, glazed terracotta
Shepherd	Loom	Buys wool/dyes; sells colored wool, carpets, beds, banners, paintings
Toolsmith	Smithing Table	Buys coal/iron/diamonds; sells enchanted iron and diamond tools (axes, pickaxes, shovels, hoes)
Weaponsmith	Grindstone	Buys coal/iron/diamonds; sells enchanted iron and diamond swords and axes

Non-trading villager types

Two types of villagers do not trade:

• Nitwit: Wears a green coat. Cannot take a profession. Spawns naturally in villages. Has no use for trading.
• Unemployed: Wears a plain brown coat. Can be assigned a profession by placing a workstation nearby. Useful for setting up trading halls.

Best professions ranked for survival

Not all professions are equally useful. Here is a practical ranking based on what they offer for survival players:

Tier 1: Must-have

• Librarian - The most versatile profession. Can sell any enchanted book in the game, including Mending, which is only available from librarians, fishing, or end city loot. A single librarian with Mending for 1 emerald (after curing) is worth more than almost any other villager. See the Mending guide.
• Farmer - Buys common crops for emeralds, making it the easiest source of emerald income. A single automatic wheat or carrot farm can fund all your other trades. Golden carrots (the best food in the game) are also sold by farmers at Master level.
• Armorer/Toolsmith/Weaponsmith - These three professions sell enchanted diamond gear. Combined, they cover your full diamond equipment set without mining a single diamond.

Tier 2: Very useful

• Cleric - Buys rotten flesh (one of the most common junk items) for emeralds. Sells ender pearls, which saves End trips. Also sells redstone and lapis lazuli.
• Fletcher - Buys sticks for emeralds. Sticks are trivial to farm (from trees or bamboo), making the fletcher another excellent emerald source. Also sells tipped arrows at higher tiers.
• Cartographer - Sells woodland mansion maps and ocean monument maps, which are the only reliable way to locate these structures.

Tier 3: Situational

• Fisherman - Niche use. Useful if you have a fish farm, since it buys raw cod and salmon.
• Butcher - Buys raw meats. Useful if you have large animal farms.
• Mason - Sells decorative stone blocks. Useful for builders who need large quantities of terracotta or quartz blocks.
• Shepherd - Sells colored wool and beds. Situational for builders.
• Leatherworker - Least useful for most players. Leather armor is rarely needed, though saddles can be valuable early game.

Workstation placement rules

For a villager to claim a workstation, several conditions must be met:

• The workstation must be unclaimed (no other villager is linked to it).
• The villager must be able to pathfind to the workstation (within about 48 blocks on Java).
• It must be during the villager's work schedule (daytime).
• The villager must be unemployed or not yet linked to a station.

If you break a workstation, the linked villager (if not traded with) becomes unemployed and can claim a new station. If you have traded with it, the villager stays in its profession but cannot restock until it has access to a matching workstation type.

Biome-specific appearances

Villager outfits change based on the biome where the village generated. This is purely cosmetic and does not affect trades. The biome variants are: Plains, Desert, Savanna, Taiga, Snowy, Jungle, and Swamp. Villagers bred in a specific biome inherit that biome's outfit style.

Wandering Trader

The Wandering Trader is not a profession but a special villager type that spawns randomly near the player. It offers unique trades not available from regular villagers, including rare saplings, specific flowers, slime balls, and nautilus shells. You cannot assign it a workstation or change its trades. It despawns after about 40 minutes.

Frequently asked questions

Can a villager change professions?

Only if you have never traded with it. Break its workstation and place a different one. Once you complete any trade, the profession is locked permanently. See the locking guide.

Which workstation is hardest to obtain?

All workstations are craftable with basic materials. The Brewing Stand (cleric) requires blaze rods from the Nether, making it the last one most players can craft. Every other workstation is craftable with overworld materials.

Do different biome villagers have different trades?

No. The biome only affects the villager's appearance. Trades are determined by profession and randomization, not biome.

Can I have two villagers with the same profession?

Yes. You can have as many villagers of any profession as you want. Each needs its own individual workstation. Having multiple librarians is extremely common, as players often want multiple enchanted book trades.

What is the best profession for earning emeralds?

Farmer and Fletcher. Farmers buy crops that are easy to mass-produce (wheat, carrots, potatoes). Fletchers buy sticks, which you can farm infinitely from bamboo or trees. Both provide a steady emerald income with minimal effort.

For trade price references, see trades.astroworldmc.com.

Want to try villager trading on a server with a full player economy? Astroworld MC runs economy survival with an auction house, custom enchants, and crossplay. IP: play.astroworldmc.com