Raid captain

A raid captain is the occurrence of an illager spawning with an ominous banner on top of its head, usually a pillager or vindicator, or rarely in Java Edition an evoker. It is the only renewable source of ominous banners and ominous bottles.

Raid captain

• 

  Pillager

• 

  Pillager (BE)

• 

  Vindicator

• 

  Evoker

• 

  Illusioner ‌

Hitbox size	Height: 1.95 blocks Width: 0.6 blocks
Spawn	Patrols Pillager outposts Raids

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Spawning

Raid captains spawn in the same conditions and occurrences of any illager, with no special occasions having one spawn, and one spawning being completely randomized. In Bedrock Edition, a pillager raid captain can be spawned using the /summon pillager ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ minecraft:spawn_as_illager_captain command, and a vindicator raid captain can be spawned using /summon vindicator ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ minecraft:spawn_as_illager_captain command.

Additionally, in Java Edition, Pillager and Vindicator spawn eggs, as well as monster spawners containing a pillager or vindicator spawn egg, have a small chance of producing a raid captain.

Spawnable as raid captain in Java Edition

Type of illager	Illager patrol	Raid	Pillager outpost	Woodland mansion	Commands (With Data Tag)	Commands (Without Data Tag)
Pillager	Yes, multiple times	Yes, multiple times	Yes, multiple times	Never	Always	Rarely
Vindicator	Never	Yes, multiple times	Never	Never	Always	Rarely
Evoker	Never	Rarely	Never	Never	Always	Rarely
Illusioner‌	Never	Never	Never	Never	Always	Rarely

Spawnable as raid captain in Bedrock Edition

Type of illager	Illager Patrol	Pillager Outpost	Commands (With Data Tag)	Commands (Without Data Tag)
Pillager	Yes, multiple times	Yes, multiple times	Always	Rarely
Vindicator	Never	Never	Always	Rarely

Patrols

One pillager raid captain always spawns as part of a patrol.

Raids

As part of raids in Java Edition, a raid captain spawns as a part of a group of pillagers, and sometimes spawns riding a ravager. When its banner drops, other illagers rush to grab it. In Bedrock Edition, raid captains are unused and do not spawn naturally during raids, but the code for them is present.

Pillager outposts

Usually, 1–3 pillager raid captains also spawn in a pillager outpost.

In Java Edition, only pillagers and passive mobs may spawn within a pillager outpost spawn area. Pillagers may spawn on any valid opaque block as long as the block light level is 8 or lower.

Drops

General

Upon death, a raid captain can drop:

• 1 Ominous banner, unaffected by Looting and is always dropped.
• 1 Ominous Bottle, unaffected by Looting of a random level from 1-5. Raid captains that spawn as part of a raid do not drop ominous bottles.

Pillager

• 0–2 arrows, dropping more with the presence of Looting, up to 5‌.
• Its crossbow (may be loaded or unloaded), which has an 8.5% chance to be dropped (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It has a random durability and may be enchanted.

Vindicator

• 0–1 emeralds, with the maximum increasing by 1 for every level of Looting.
• Its iron axe, which has an 8.5% chance to be dropped (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It has a random durability and may be enchanted.

Evoker

• 1 totem of undying, unaffected by Looting.
• 0–1 emeralds if killed by the player, with the maximum increased by 1 per level of Looting.

Illusioner

• Its bow, which has an 8.5% chance to be dropped (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It has a random durability and is unenchanted.

Raider

In Bedrock Edition, raid captains that spawn from raids can additionally drop:

• 0–1 emeralds

An additional drop is dependent on difficulty, with a 65% chance of dropping on easy and normal, and an 80% chance of dropping on hard.
They can drop one of the following items:

• 0–1 Emerald (¹⁰⁄₃₉ chance)
• 2–3 Emerald (⁵⁄₃₉ chance)
• 4–5 Emerald (²⁄₃₉ chance)
• 1 Enchanted Book (²⁄₃₉ chance)
• 1 Iron Pickaxe (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Axe (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Shovel (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Sword (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Helmet (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Chestplate (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Leggings (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Boots (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)

Note:

• Raiders drop iron equipment in a damaged state, and the equipment has 50% chance of being enchanted with random enchantment.
• These drops are also affected by Looting enchantment.
• An emerald is both a regular raider drop and an additional raider drop.‌

Behavior

Raid captains usually act the same as if they were a normal illager, but other illagers follow behind them (except for outpost captain), and usually the captain takes the lead ahead of the other illagers. Once a raid captain is killed by a player, an ominous bottle is dropped that if drank, grant Bad Omen, which can be used to start ominous events like raids or ominous trials. The captain also drops its ominous banner as well; another illager nearby can pick it up to become the next captain.

Achievements

[hide]
Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		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

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Kill one of these 37 mobs:[hide] 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] Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	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: 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.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Entity	Identifier
Evoker	evoker
Vindicator	vindicator
Pillager	pillager
Illusioner	illusioner
Entity Tag	#raiders

Bedrock Edition:

Entity	Identifier	Numeric ID
Evoker	evocation_illager	104
Vindicator	vindicator	57
Pillager	pillager	114

History

[hide]Java Edition
1.14			18w45a				Added raid captains, which spawned as part of illager patrols.
			18w47a				Added raids, which also include raid captains.
			18w49a				Raid captains can now be killed multiple times to stack Bad Omen.
			18w50a				Raid captains can now spawn at pillager outposts.
							Raid captains in outposts grant 1 level of Bad Omen, while raid captains in patrols can grant 1-3.
			19w13a				Raid captains grant only 1 level of Bad Omen now.
1.20.5 Experiment Update 1.21			24w13a				Raid captains now drop an ominous bottle when killed instead of giving the Bad Omen effect.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.11.0 Experiment Experimental Gameplay			beta 1.11.0.1				Added pillager and vindicator captains.
							Currently do not inflict Bad Omen on the player after being killed.
			beta 1.11.0.3				Illagers now properly follow captains during illager patrols.
							Pillager captains now properly give Bad Omen when killed.
1.11.0			release				Raid captains are now available outside of Experimental Gameplay.
1.12.0			beta 1.12.0.2				Pillager captains now properly drop their illager banners when killed.
							Bad Omen is now only received when killing the captain, not when damaging it with a ranged weapon.
							Illagers can now properly be turned into captains via tags.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.51				When a raid captain is killed, nearby pillagers now rush toward the illager banner to pick it up and become the next raid captain.
1.18.0			beta 1.18.0.20				Vindicators and vindicator raid captains no longer spawn in patrols.
1.21.0 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.21.0.20				Raid captains now drop an ominous bottle when killed instead of giving the Bad Omen effect.
[hide]PlayStation 4 Edition
1.91							Added pillager and vindicator captains.

Issues

Issues relating to "Raid captain" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• Ominous banners equip on raid captains’ helmet slot in Java Edition. In Bedrock Edition, ominous banners equip on illager captains’ chestplate slot.

Gallery

Renders

• 

  The Ominous Banner

• 

  A raid captain vindicator, before 18w45a.

• 

  A vindicator patrol captain before beta 1.18.0.20. (Unused mob)

Screenshots

• 

  Illager banner with long pole in Bedrock edition. It equips on pillager captain chestplates slot.

• 

  A raid captain spawned via a monster spawner.

In other media

• 

  A pillager raid captain within Minecraft Dungeons.

• 

  A vindicator raid captain within Minecraft Dungeons.