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Studio: Mojang
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The Wandering Trader

Has this happened to you before: You wander around the world when a strange merchant comes out of nowhere and offers you his wares. If you have reservations to trade with someone who came out of nothing, you shouldn’t. The NPC you’ve just met is a wandering trader, Minecraft’s elusive merchant, and they offer unique merchandise that is incomparable with any other in the game. The wandering trader trades some of the most rare and valuable items you can think of. They bring a different and unique trading experience to the game. In this article, we’ll explore everything you need to know about the wandering trader, from where to find them, what they trade and how to make the most of their visits.

Overview Minecraft Wandering Trader:

  • spawns randomly in the overworld
  • offers unique trades
  • looks and behaves similar to villagers
  • is drawn to bells

What Is a Minecraft Wandering Trader?

First added in the 1.14 ‘Village & Pillage’ update, the wandering trader is a unique passive NPC introduced to offer players items that are otherwise difficult to obtain. Unlike regular villagers, the wandering trader doesn’t have a home and spawns randomly near players. With two leashed llamas by their side, the wandering trader moves through the world offering trades for rare items in exchange for emeralds. While the wandering trader may seem like a simple merchant on the surface, its unpredictable nature and wide variety of trades make it a significant asset in the game.

Note

At the time of writing this article, Mojang offers the so-called ‘Village Trade Rebalance’ experiment, which overhauls the trading system, especially when it comes to librarians and wandering traders. If you want your wandering trader to have the best possible merchandise, you should install the 23w31a snapshot, which includes the experiment.

Spawning & Despawning: Where and When to Find the Wandering Trader

As usual when it comes to these specialized elements of the Minecraft world, there is a lot of math involved in the process behind spawning the merchant. We will simplify it somewhat, but the basic procedure looks like this:

  • the process starts when a world is generated or updated
  • the game starts a counter of 2400 ticks (or 20 minutes) and counts down
  • when the counter reaches 0, the game tries to spawn a wandering trader in a 48-block radius around a random player and resets the counter
    • if there is a bell within that range, the wandering trader will spawn there
  • the chance of spawning a wandering trader is 25% on the first attempt; every following attempt that chance is increased by 25% if the spawn fails ( the chance is capped at 75%)
    • on a successful attempt, the game then tries to spawn 2 llamas that are loyal to the wandering trader
      • even if the game is unable to spawn mobs, the wandering trader can still appear, even if their llamas cannot
  • after 4800 ticks (or 40 minutes), the wandering trader automatically despawns
    • this counter doesn’t decrease while you trade with the wandering trader or if they move to a different dimension or an unloaded chunk

As you can see, the wandering trader is not bound to any specific biome or location. At any time, there can be a wandering trader in a 48-block radius around you. If you want to reduce the possible locations for your merchant to spawn, you should try to find a village with a bell (which can’t be crafted). This way, you will always know where the wandering trader will spawn. 

Behavior: What Does the Wandering Trader Do?

On the surface, the wandering trader might seem like any other villager, mostly because the game used the villager model for the wandering trader. Minecraft still has some surprises for you in store, however, because the wandering trader behaves very differently from their counterpart. As the name suggests, they wander around, preferably in a 16-block radius around their initial spawn point. They don’t interact with mobs if they can help it, save the player or players, if in multiplayer. 

Just like regular villagers, wandering traders avoid contact with zombies and illagers. If a wandering trader fails to run from the undead horde and is bitten, they don’t become a zombie villager and simply remain dead. To avoid that scenario, wandering traders drink a potion of invisibility when night falls and replenish the effect should it run out. They also do so when they are hit with an attack from a mob, except a player. When dawn breaks and the wandering trader is still invisible, they drink milk to remove the effect.

Wandering Trader Trades

When a wandering trader spawns, they receive 6 random items to trade. Wandering traders have some differences when compared to regular merchants in a village:

  • wandering traders do not unlock items after a while, meaning the amount of items you can buy from them is finite
  • unless you use the 23w31a snapshot, wandering traders only accept emeralds as currency
    • if you do play said snapshot, they actually offer emeralds in exchange for food sometimes
  • they do not follow the novice-master system that regular villagers do
  • wandering traders never change their prices, meaning they are unaffected by the ‘Hero of the Village’ effect and the usual increased prices after being attacked
What the Wandering Trader can Offer

Besides these quirks, the actual repertoire of the wandering trader is interesting. Of the 6 possible items, 5 are taken from a list of normal trades. That list includes but is not limited to:

The 6th slot is allocated to a special trade item. This item can be 1 of the following:

  • gunpowder
  • podzol
  • bucket of fish (pufferfish or tropical fish)
  • ice block (packed ice or blue ice)

Across all possible items, prices reach from 1 to 5 emeralds, with blue ice being the only exception at 6 emeralds. The main appeal of the wandering trader lies in the nature of the items: often, a trader can offer materials that are exclusive to certain biomes. By trading with them, you can use these items without having to travel there. Additionally, items like slimeballs, red sand and nautilus shells can be very difficult to find in the wilderness.

A Word of Caution: Don’t Attack the Trader!

Though the wandering trader and their llamas seem harmless, attacking the merchant has consequences. Their llamas will immediately become hostile and spit at you until either they or you are defeated. It’s usually not worth the trouble, as the trader doesn’t drop any special loot upon death, except for milk buckets and/or potions of invisibility, provided they were killed before they could consume them. Killing a wandering trader is useless otherwise, as they don’t drop any loot or XP when killed. The llamas, however, can drop leads, provided they or their master dies or moves too far away.

Fun FactIf a wild llama encounters the wandering trader, the tamed llamas will cause the untamed ones to follow, creating a trading caravan.

Conclusion: Minecraft Wandering Trader

The wandering trader in Minecraft is a fascinating and often overlooked NPC that adds a layer of unpredictability to the game. Though not as reliable as villagers, their rare trades and biome specific items make them a valuable ally for players looking to collect unique resources. While their spawning can be unpredictable, keeping emeralds on hand and being prepared to trade can unlock essential items that would otherwise take time and effort to gather.

If you want to meet this mysterious merchant right away, try using a Minecraft server from G-Portal. With our multiplayer services, you can start your trading career today! So, keep an eye out for this nomadic merchant on your travels!

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