How To Get A Villager To Follow You

Say you've already created your starter base in Minecraft, but you want to learn more. Villages in Minecraft are inhabited, and you can grow the population by breeding villagers. This enhances trading in the game while making the vast world of Minecraft a little less lonely. If you're confused about how to breed villagers in the game, we're here to help.

In this guide, we will explain how to breed villagers in different versions of Minecraft, and how to protect them from zombies. Additionally, we will answer some of the most common questions related to village inhabitants and breeding in the game.

How to Breed Villagers in Minecraft Version 1.14 and Earlier?

To breed villagers in Minecraft 1.14 or earlier, follow the steps below:

Find or build a village. A couple of buildings close to each other are already considered a village.
Each of the buildings needs to have an entrance door. The breeding-building for your villagers will need at least three beds.
Make sure that the villagers are willing to breed. You need to feed every breeding villager three loaves of bread, 12 carrots, or 12 potatoes to inspire them.
Once all the requirements are met, leave two villagers alone in one of the buildings.
Check the building in about 20 minutes – a baby villager should appear.

Tip: Be aware of new villages – they may be inhabited by zombies, pillagers, vindicators, evokers, or illusioners.

How to Breed Villagers in Minecraft Version 1.16?

With the new version of the game, the villager breeding process has changed slightly. Follow the instructions below to grow your village population in Minecraft 1.16:

Find or build a village. A couple of buildings close to each other are already considered a village.
There should be three times more doors than adult villagers in your village.
Ensure that the building where your villagers are going to breed has at least three beds with two or more empty blocks above them.
Trade at least once with your villagers.
For the villagers to breed, ensure that there are three loaves of bread, 12 carrots, 12 potatoes, or 12 beetroots in the inventory per one villager. Feed it to your villagers.
Leave two villagers alone in a building.
Check the building in about 20 minutes – a baby villager should appear.

Tip: Be aware of new villages – they may be inhabited by zombies, pillagers, vindicators, evokers, or illusioners.

How to Breed Villagers in Minecraft Bedrock?

Breeding villagers in Minecraft Bedrock isn't much different from doing it in Minecraft 1.16. To do that, follow the steps below:

Find or build a village. A couple of buildings close to each other are already considered a village.
There should be three times more doors than adult villagers in your village.
Ensure that the building where your villagers are going to breed has at least three beds with two or more empty blocks above them.
Trade at least once with your villagers.
For the villagers to be willing to breed, ensure that there are three loaves of bread, 12 carrots, 12 potatoes, or 12 beetroots in the inventory per one villager. Feed them to your villagers.
Leave two villagers alone in a building. In Minecraft Bedrock, there male and female villagers, but it doesn't matter for breeding.
Check the building in about 20 minutes – a baby villager should appear.

Tip: if your village is full, you have to either build more houses or send newborn villagers away to another village to breed more. Don't worry; newborn villagers grow up in about 20 minutes and quickly forget about their home.

How to Breed Villagers in Survival Mode?

Breeding villagers in Minecraft survival mode is the same as breeding them in the creative mode.

How to Make a Village Zombie-Proof in Minecraft?

If you're playing in survival mode, your villagers can be killed by zombies, and you will have to breed more to replace them. If you don't want to spend time breeding, ensure that your village is safe. Follow the steps below:

Ensure that there's always plenty of light in the village. Craft torches from sticks and coal and place them around and inside your buildings.
Create a wooden fence or a cobblestone wall around your village. Ideally, it should cover the whole perimeter and have a gate that you can close at night.
If your village has less than 16 inhabitants, create iron golems to protect the village. In large villages, they spawn automatically.
Optionally, instead of iron golems, tame wolves to protect the village. Feed 12 bones to a wolf to tame it.
Craft steel doors instead of wooden ones – zombies can't break them.
Optionally, use wooden doors but raise them one block from the ground.

Frequently Asked Questions

Read this section to find out more about village inhabitants and breeding in Minecraft.

What Else Can Be Bred Other Than Villagers?

Villagers aren't the only species that can be bred in Minecraft. You can also breed pets, tamed animals, such as horses, donkeys, cows, and even bees! Every animal species has different breeding requirements. So, to breed horses, you need to feed them a golden apple or a golden carrot. Cows, goats, and sheep are willing to breed after eating wheat. Pigs will eat carrots, potatoes, and beetroot – same as villagers, though you only need one instead of 12.

Wolves will breed after eating most types of meat. Chickens want to be fed seeds, and cats – raw fish. You can also make baby animals grow faster by feeding them certain types of food. For example, sheep grow faster when eating grass, horses – when consuming sugar.

What Good Does It Do to Breed Villagers in Minecraft?

There are a couple of reasons to breed villagers in Minecraft. Firstly, you can trade with them. As every villager has a different profession, you'd want to have enough villagers to ensure a supply of all necessary goods.

Secondly, your villagers can die for various reasons, and you have to replace them. Thirdly, growing your village is simply fun, and when the village is large enough, iron golems spawn automatically to protect the inhabitants.

What Professions Can Villagers Have in Minecraft?

Most of the villagers have professions and supply certain goods. They have a different appearance that helps to identify them. Armorers will trade various iron, chainmail, and diamond armor for emeralds. You can get emeralds and meat from butchers. Cartographers trade maps and banners for emeralds and compasses.

To get gemstones, visit a cleric villager. Fletchers will help you to get crafting and hunting tools. Other villager professions include farmers, fishermen, leatherworkers, librarians, shepherds, and more. Some villagers are unemployed – they look like a plain villager model without any additional details.

You can find them a job by building a new job site. Another non-trading villager type is Nitwit. They wear green coats and shake heads if you attempt to trade.

What's Reputation in Minecraft?

You have a different reputation in every village in Minecraft. It ranges from -30 to +30, starting at 0. Your reputation can be increased by trading with villagers and upgrading their professional skills. If you attack or kill a villager or their baby, your reputation will drop.

Therefore, if your village is full, don't kill anyone – instead, send them away. When it drops below -15, villagers become hostile to you and iron golems attack you, so trading becomes nearly impossible. Furthermore, if you kill an iron golem, your reputation drops by another 10 points, so getting rid of them won't solve the problem. Villagers also gossip, affecting your reputation. Breeding villagers doesn't increase your reputation, but when a baby villager grows up, you can make them an apprentice to get additional reputation points.

Expand Your Village

Hopefully, with the help of our guide, you will easily grow the population of your village in Minecraft regardless of the game version. Make sure to protect your village inhabitants and create enough working sites for them to be willing to trade. And don't forget about your reputation in the village – if it's too low, you will be banished by the iron golems and will lose the ability to interact with villagers.

Do you prefer creating your own village or trading in existing villages in Minecraft? Share your opinions in the comments section below.