In Minecraft you have the friendly Villagers on one side, who always support you with their trading. But as peaceful as their villages may seem, they are always under threat. Because on the other side are the Illagers, their adversaries and a whole faction of enemies in Minecraft that you also have to deal with. They stand out with their pale blue-gray skin and come in different roles. Some attack directly in melee, others use crossbows or even magic! But how and when do you actually encounter these Illagers? And which types are there? You’ll learn all of this here in this article so you can be perfectly prepared.
Pillagers in Minecraft: Raiders with Crossbows
You’ll probably run into regular Pillagers most often. They wear a kind of leather armor and always carry a crossbow, which they like to use against you in ranged combat. They spawn as part of patrols that appear in the distance every now and then when you stay in one place for a long time. Their groups always consist of several individuals, one of whom is the Captain, who wears a large banner on his head.
You can also find Pillagers and their followers in their outposts, tall towers made of dark oak wood, which in the Bedrock Edition you will often find near villages. In fact, new Pillagers keep spawning here, even after you have defeated some of them. If you have started a raid in a village, Pillagers are also part of several attack waves. Rent a Minecraft server to survive raids together with your friends, because on your own it can get pretty tough!
So basically Pillagers mean nothing good! But why should you still defeat them? They have no direct drops, but they can drop their crossbow with an 8.5% chance when they die. By the way, it can also be enchanted, which depends on your local difficulty. As a Captain they also drop the banner and an Ominous Bottle, which you can use to trigger the “Bad Omen” effect and thus a raid.
Pillagers are hostile towards you and attack you with their crossbow from a safe distance. They aren’t really strong, but you should still be careful! Their damage varies depending on the difficulty. They also attack Villagers, the Wandering Trader and Iron Golems.
Evokers in Minecraft: The Mages of the Illagers
While Pillagers are still fairly easy to defeat, Evokers are anything but. These Illagers wear long black robes with a golden trim. When they aren’t attacking, they keep their hands hidden in their sleeves. That looks harmless at first glance. But Evokers are probably the strongest members of the Illagers, because they attack with magic!
Outside of raids, though, you only encounter Evokers in Woodland Mansions, so you can avoid them fairly well. But if you want to explore the building, you have to prepare for a tough fight. They can move fast and even catch up with you while sprinting. So don’t underestimate them.
You have to prepare for two attack patterns. On the one hand, Evokers can summon snapping fangs from the ground, both around themselves and in a line in front of them. This can deal two to four and a half hearts of damage. But probably much worse are the Vexes that Evokers can summon. Small spirits carrying swords. A Vex can kill you faster than you’d like. And they chase you over a pretty long distance. They can also float through walls.
Killing Evokers is worth it, though, because on the one hand they can drop emeralds with a 50% chance, and on the other hand the Totem of Undying. This makes them the only source of this important item. If you hold it in your hand, you can escape death once. A raid farm is much safer, though, and we already have an article about it (Building a Minecraft Raid Farm: Farm Infinite Totems & Emeralds) . Evokers are only part of raids on “Normal” and “Hard”.
Vindicators in Minecraft: Maniacs with an Axe
But Vindicators are also Illagers that you shouldn’t take lightly. You also only find them in Woodland Mansions, but also as part of raids. The higher the difficulty, the more Vindicators spawn.
You can recognize these enemies by their gray jacket and blue pants. Normally they also keep their arms crossed, but underneath they hide a deadly axe! When they spot you, they get ready to attack and raise the axe above their head. They are extremely nimble and can easily catch up with you. Depending on the difficulty, their axe deals between 3.75 and a whopping 9.75 hearts of damage. So you should really avoid fighting them directly in melee.
Vindicators drop emeralds, and you can increase the chance with Looting. But since you can get emeralds more easily in other ways, it isn’t really worth it. They can also drop their axe.
Ravagers in Minecraft: Huge Beasts with Riders
The last official member of the Illager group are the Ravagers, large mounts with horns and powerful armor. However, they only spawn as part of raids, and how many and in what form depends on the difficulty and the length of the raid.
Ravagers can attack on their own. Their attacks consist of a kind of tackle that can deal up to 9 hearts of damage, and a roar with up to 4.5 hearts of damage. But the harder the raid, the higher the chance that they also have a rider on their back. Pillagers, Evokers and Vindicators can all ride them.
As drops they only leave their saddle, but they give you 20 experience points, much more than most other mobs in the game. They are hard to kill, though, and have a total of 50 hearts. We definitely recommend ranged combat!
Conclusion: Illagers Are a Closed, Evil Faction in Minecraft
You should primarily avoid Illagers, but they can also drop useful items if you want to try out some of Minecraft’s unique features and events. They are directly tied to raids, in which you have to drive several waves of enemies out of a village. In the end, if you are victorious, you get great discounts from the Villagers you protected. But you also meet Illagers in their outposts, in Woodland Mansions or simply on patrol. Keep your eyes open and avoid confrontation when necessary.
