Pillager

Pillager
Health points	24HP × 12
Behavior	Hostile; Passive (only if without a crossbow)‌[JE only]
Mob type	Illager, Monster
Attack; strength	Ranged; Easy: 2HP - 3HP ; Normal: 3HP - 5HP; Hard: 5HP - 7HP; Melee ‌[BE only]; Easy: 2HP; Normal: 3HP; Hard: 5HP;
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 Outpost; Raids
Natural; equipment	Crossbow (right hand: 89%; left hand: 11%‌[JE only]; may be enchanted);

A pillager is an illager armed with a crossbow found in wandering patrols, in pillager outposts, or as a participant in raids. It attacks by firing arrows at the player.

Spawning

In Java Edition, a pillager spawned by a player using a spawn egg or commands can be a captain, which has an ominous banner in their head slot, which displays as attached to the back of their head.

Patrols

In Java Edition, the number of pillagers spawning in each patrol varies from one to five and depends on the regional 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 worlds 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 less than 9, regardless of sky light.

In Bedrock Edition, each patrol spawns two to five pillagers with one spawning as 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.

Pillager outposts

Pillagers continually spawn in a 72×54×72 block volume centered on the top floor in a pillager outpost. Some pillagers spawn as outpost captains. They may spawn on any valid opaque block if the block light level is less than or equal to 8, but will also spawn on grass/sand blocks of any light level, and, there are ominios flags on the pillager outpost. ^{[verify for Java Edition]}

In Java Edition, 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. A maximum of eight pillagers spawn naturally in an outpost.

Raids

In a raid, pillagers are more common in the earlier waves and decrease in number as the waves progress. Despite this, they still constitute the majority of raiders in total.

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 in the seventh wave.

In Java Edition, pillagers spawn during bonus waves and have the largest chance of being the raid captain in the first wave, but in the second wave and onward, vindicators have a greater chance than pillagers of being the raid captain.

Drops

On death

Item		Roll Chance	Quantity (Roll Chance)
Item		Roll Chance	Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Arrow	100%^{[d 1]}	0–2	0–3	0–4	0–5
	Ominous Bottle	100%^{[d 2]}	1	1	1	1

↑ Bedrock Edition only
↑ Only when the pillager is a raid captain and is not participating in a raid. Its level is randomized from 1 to 5.

Guaranteed drops

When a pillager spawns as a raid captain, it always drops their ominous banner on death, while equipped. Armor equipped by dispensers always drop on death. In Java Edition, the armor's durability won't be affected by damage. In Bedrock Edition, the armor's durability is still vulnerable to attacks, as if a player is wearing it.

Naturally-spawned equipment

Pillagers have a 8.5% chance to drop a crossbow when killed by the player or a tamed wolf. The crossbow may be loaded or unloaded depending on the crossbow's state when the pillager dies. The drop chance increases by 1% per level of Looting. The crossbow is of a random durability and has a chance of being enchanted. The chance ranges from 0% to 10% depending on the regional difficulty. The enchantment level is from 5 to 19.

Experience

5XP experience points and an additional 1–3XP points per naturally-spawned equipment drop when killed by the player or a tamed wolf, if the pillager does not drop their naturally-spawned equipment.

Raid loot table

In Bedrock Edition, pillagers that were spawned by raids have a 65% chance on Easy and Normal or 80% chance on Hard difficulties 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%)
- The iron equipment drops have a 50% chance to be enchanted at level 5 to 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% item durability.
- These drops are affected by the Looting enchantment.
- Enchanted books have level 30 enchantments, which can also be treasure enchantments.

Special loot chances of dropping
Easy and normal modes	Hard mode
An emerald: 8.32%	10.24%
2 – 3 emeralds: 8.32%	10.24%
4 – 5 emeralds: 3.33%	4.102%
An enchanted book: 3.33%	4.102%
An iron equipment: 4.16%	5.12%

Behavior

Pillagers move slowly when wandering or loading crossbows in Java Edition . In Bedrock Edition, pillagers move from one place to another as fast as when they're provoked.

In Java Edition, pillagers point their crossbows at any player or mob they are looking at, whether their crossbows are loaded or unloaded. In Bedrock Edition, pillagers only point their crossbows to other mobs when it is loaded.

Pillagers flee from creakings when within a range of 8 blocks.

Hostility

Pillagers are hostile toward players, iron golems, wandering traders and adult villagers. Pillagers also aid other pillagers attacked by other mobs. Illagers do not retaliate at each other. A pillager that accidentally harms another neutral/hostile mob (except goats) causes the mob to retaliate against the pillager.

A pillager attacks by shooting arrows from its crossbow every three seconds from up to eight blocks away and sees enemies for up to 64 blocks in Java Edition or 16 blocks in Bedrock Edition.

In Java Edition, if a pillager gets attacked by a mob (excluding illagers and goats) or player, it alerts other pillagers to target the attacker, regardless of distance, unless the pillager was killed in one hit.

Pillagers do not attack players in Creative mode. A pillager also does not attack if summoned with commands in Bedrock Edition using the minecraft:calm attribute.

When a player is in Creative mode or applied with the Invisibility effect, getting near a pillager still causes it to take notice and stare at the player. If a pillager notices an enemy while staring at the player, the pillager stops staring and attacks the enemy. If a player with the invisibility effect attacks a pillager, the pillager still retaliates.

Patrols

The patrol captain wears an ominous banner on its head. The other illagers follow the captain around. The pillagers that are part of a patrol do not attack immediately. The patrol members' heads turn to follow the player or mob who attracted their attention. Players or villager-like mobs attacking or approaching within ten blocks of the patrol members provokes them into loading their crossbows and attacking.^[1]

Raids

If raiding pillagers kill all the villagers in a village or all beds are destroyed, they celebrate their victory by jumping and laughing. Unarmed pillagers also cheer. In Bedrock Edition, pillagers wave their arms while holding their crossbows in their main hand when cheering.

During a raid, pillagers equip ominous banners dropped on the ground within 3 blocks, but non-raider pillagers don't.

Crossbow usage

Java Edition

11% of pillagers use crossbows on their off-hand.

Pillagers load their crossbows when their target is within a 8 block radius and shoot when the target is within its pursuing radius, which is 64 blocks.

The command /summon pillager ~ ~ ~ {} summons a passive pillager, without a crossbow, that does not attack.

A pillager's crossbow eventually breaks after 465 uses without the Unbreaking enchant, unlike weapons wielded by other mobs.^[2] Unarmed pillagers are passive toward all entities, but they still frighten villagers and iron golems are still hostile toward them. This behavior is included to pillagers that have any other item that isn't a crossbow.

A pillager spawned with arrows or firework rockets in its off-hand slot uses them, depleting the stack over time and switching to regular arrows once running out of ammunition.^[3] When firing firework rockets, pillagers aim above the target as when using arrows, despite rockets being unaffected by gravity.^[4]

Bedrock Edition

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

Pillagers use an outdated behavior.^[5]^[6] They also have different arm textures.^[7] Newly-spawned pillagers hold their crossbow in a lowered position similar to piglins until they start attacking a target, in which they raise their weapon. Pillagers load their crossbows when their target is at its pursuing radius, which is 16 blocks, and only shoot when the target is within a 8 block radius. After loading their crossbows, they begin to chase down the target endlessly, being slower than in Java Edition. Pillagers are not hostile to players before their crossbows are loaded, so sometimes they don't look at players or run around while loading their crossbows.

A dispenser can equip a pillager with armor. However, it isn't rendered on the pillager's model. If a player summons a pillager without a crossbow by spawn event or replaceitem command, it still shoots arrows to attack targets, like other arrow-shooting ranged mobs. This is due to the fact that in the pillager.json and ranged piglin.json files, the component_groups have both minecraft:behavior.ranged_attack and minecraft:behavior.charge_held_item, so if a pillager does not have a crossbow, the charge_held_item behavior cannot trigger and it continuously shoots arrows due to the ranged_attack behavior. This results in the arrows being shot more quickly without a crossbow than with one.

Unlike in Java Edition, the crossbows of pillagers in Bedrock Edition don't break.^[8]

Pillagers do melee attacks while underwater, unlike pillagers in Java Edition that maintain using crossbows underwater, where the shot arrows travel slower underwater and sink after a short distance.

Bad Omen

Whenever a pillager captain dies, an ominous bottle of a random level from 1 to 5 is always dropped regardless of the cause of death. Drinking the bottle gives the player Bad Omen. The effect lasts for 100 minutes (five in-game days) and can be removed by drinking milk. When a player afflicted with Bad Omen enters a village, the effect converts to Raid Omen. When Raid Omen runs out after 30 seconds, a raid commences in that village, bringing about waves of illagers that seek and try to kill all villagers.

Bad Omen can also be used to start Ominous Trials.

Each patrol spawns one pillager captain, meanwhile pillager outposts can continually spawn pillager captains.

Raid captains do not drop ominous bottles while participating in a raid.

Sounds

Java Edition:
Pillagers use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Pillager murmurs	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	`entity.pillager.ambient`	`subtitles.entity.pillager.ambient`	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	Pillager cheers	Hostile Creatures	When a pillager has won a raid	`entity.pillager.celebrate`	`subtitles.entity.pillager.celebrate`	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	Pillager dies	Hostile Creatures	When a pillager dies	`entity.pillager.death`	`subtitles.entity.pillager.death`	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	Pillager hurts	Hostile Creatures	When a pillager is damaged	`entity.pillager.hurt`	`subtitles.entity.pillager.hurt`	1.0	0.8-1.2	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	`mob.pillager.idle`	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	Randomly while in a raid	`mob.pillager.idle`	3.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a pillager has won a raid	`mob.pillager.celebrate`	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a pillager dies	`mob.pillager.death`	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a pillager is damaged	`mob.pillager.hurt`	1.0	0.8-1.2

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	[hide]Translation key
Pillager	`pillager`	`illager` `illager_friends` `raiders`	`entity.minecraft.pillager`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	[hide]Translation key
Pillager	`pillager`	`114`	`entity.pillager.name`

Entity data

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

Java Edition:

[NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
- Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template[show]
- Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template[show]
- Tags common to all mobs spawnable in raids see Template:Nbt inherit/raidable/template[show]
- [NBT List / JSON Array] 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]}
  - [NBT Compound / JSON Object] An item in the inventory, excluding the Slot tag.
    - Tags common to all items see Template:Nbt inherit/itemnoslot/template[show]

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

[hide]
Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
		It Spreads	Kill a mob next to a catalyst	—	10	Bronze
		I've got a bad feeling about this	Kill a Pillager Captain.	—	20	Bronze
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy 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.	15	Bronze
		Overkill	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit.	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	30	Bronze
		Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	—	20	Silver
		Sound the Alarm!	Ring the bell in a village after a villager has been hurt.	—	20	Bronze
		We're being attacked!	Trigger a Pillager Raid.	Walk in a village with the Raid Omen effect applied in 30 seconds.	20	Bronze

Advancements

Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand also counts for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
Hero of the Village	Successfully defend a village from a raid	Kill at least one raid mob during a raid and wait until it ends in victory. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill one of these 73 mobs near a sculk catalyst:[show] Armadillo Axolotl Bee Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Cat Cave Spider Chicken Cod Cow Creeper Donkey Dolphin Drowned Elder Guardian Enderman Endermite Evoker Fox Frog Ghast Goat Glow Squid Giant Guardian Hoglin Horse Husk Illusioner Llama Magma Cube Mooshroom Ocelot Panda Parrot Phantom Pig Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Polar Bear Pufferfish Rabbit Ravager Salmon Sheep Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Skeleton Horse Slime Sniffer Stray Spider Squid Strider Trader Llama Tropical Fish Turtle Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Wolf Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Mobs that drop no experience as well as the ender dragon are ignored for this advancement.
Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Kill one of these 37 mobs:[hide] Blaze Bogged Breeze Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) 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 may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Kill each of these 37 mobs:[hide] Blaze Bogged Breeze Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) 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 may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
Not Today, Thank You	Deflect a projectile with a Shield	Block any projectile with a shield.
Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	–
Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.
Voluntary Exile	Kill a raid captain. Maybe consider staying away from villages for the time being...	Kill an entity in the `#raiders` entity tag wearing an ominous banner: Evoker Illusioner Pillager Vindicator This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
Who's the Pillager Now?	Give a Pillager a taste of their own medicine	Kill a pillager with a crossbow shot.

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)

[hide]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, spectral arrows and fireworks in their offhand when shooting their crossbow.^[9]
	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.
1.18	21w37a	Pillagers no longer attack baby villagers.
1.18	Pre-release 1	Pillagers can now spawn on snow blocks.
1.19	22w17a	Changed its model, slightly shortened its coat to match its actual texture.
1.21.4	24w45a	Prefer to pick crossbows from the ground as opposed to other items.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.9.0 Experiment Experimental Gameplay	beta 1.9.0.0	Added pillagers, currently behind Experimental Gameplay.
	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.
1.17.40	beta 1.17.40.20	Armor is no longer visible on pillagers.
1.21.0		Pillager captains now drop Ominous Bottles instead of giving Bad Omen directly.
[hide]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. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

Alongside crossbows, pillagers were taken from Minecraft Dungeons, even though they were added to the base game first.^[10]
Pillagers were added in Village & Pillage as a means to give villagers a "true" adversary in order to balance the new village mechanics.^[11]
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.
In Bedrock Edition, a running pillager uses the player's running animation rather than that of other illagers.
Summoning an unarmed pillager in Java Edition that is invulnerable (/summon pillager ~ ~ ~ {Invulnerable:1b}) does not cause villagers to run away from the pillager.
A pillager has a ¹⁄_16,000 chance of dropping a crossbow enchanted with two Piercing I enchantments, a ¹⁄_409,000 chance of dropping one with Piercing I and Multishot and a ¹⁄_3,500,000 chance of dropping one with Piercing I, Multishot, Unbreaking III and Quick Charge I. These probabilities were calculated with pillagers spawned from patrols or outposts, because pillagers spawned from higher levels of raids have an increased chance of dropping enchanted crossbows. Also with maximum regional difficulty, as this affects the chance of a dropped crossbow being enchanted.

Gallery

Renders

Poses

A pillager without a crossbow.
A pillager riding a ravager.
A sitting pillager.
A pillager aiming a crossbow.

Animations

A pillager loading up a crossbow.
A pillager celebrating.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Screenshots

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 villager attracts the attention of a pillager patrol.
A large group of pillagers together, with some riding on ravagers.
A pillager firing its crossbow at a panicking villager in Java Edition.