So, you’re tired of burning through iron and diamonds. We’ve all been there. You spend four hours mining, finally craft that shiny new chestplate, and then a stray Creeper ends your whole career in a split second. It’s brutal. But there is a way to basically get infinite gear without ever touching a pickaxe again, and it starts with figuring out how to make a blacksmith villager.
Most players get confused because "Blacksmith" isn't actually a single job anymore. Back in the day, yeah, it was simple. Now? Minecraft has split the role into three distinct professions: the Armorer, the Toolsmith, and the Weaponsmith. If you want a full set of enchanted gear, you actually need all three. It’s a bit of a grind to set up, but honestly, once you have a master-level Weaponsmith selling you Diamond Swords for a single emerald, you’ll never go back to the mines.
The Job Site Block Secret
The most important thing to understand is that villagers are basically unemployed slackers until you give them a reason to work. They need a "Job Site Block." To get the specific flavor of blacksmith you want, you have to place the right workstation. For an Armorer, you need a Blast Furnace. Want a Toolsmith? Grab a Smithing Table. If it’s a Weaponsmith you’re after, the Grindstone is your best friend.
Wait. Before you just start slapping blocks down on the dirt, you need an eligible villager. This means finding a "Nitwit" (the guys in the green robes) or a generic unemployed villager (brown robes). Nitwits are useless. They literally cannot take a job. Don't waste your time on them. You need a standard unemployed villager who hasn't been traded with yet. If you've already traded with a villager, their profession is locked in forever. You can't turn a Farmer into a Blacksmith once you've bought a loaf of bread from him. That’s a mistake I see people make constantly.
Breaking and Placing: The RNG Game
Here is where the "pro" strategy comes in. When you're learning how to make a blacksmith villager, you aren't just looking for the job—you're looking for the trades.
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When you place that Grindstone, the villager will get those little green sparkles and put on an apron. Open his trade menu. Don't like what he's selling? Break the Grindstone. He'll lose his job instantly. Place it back down. Boom—new trades. You can cycle this "break and place" method until he offers exactly what you want. Maybe you want a Weaponsmith that buys coal instead of iron because you have chests full of the stuff. Just keep breaking that block until the RNG gods smile upon you.
Just remember: the second you trade with them, those trades are permanent. They are locked.
Building the Infrastructure
Villagers are picky. They need to be able to "pathfind" to their workstation. If you put a Blast Furnace behind a fence or up a ladder, the villager might get confused, lose his job, or simply refuse to restock his items. Most high-level players build "trading halls." These are basically rows of 1x2 stalls where the villager stands directly in front of their workstation. It feels a little cruel, sure, but it's efficient.
You also need to make sure there are beds nearby. In the Bedrock Edition of Minecraft, a village isn't even considered a village unless there is at least one bed. On Java Edition, it’s a bit more flexible for trading, but having a "village center" usually keeps things running smoother. If your blacksmith isn't restocking his iron ingots twice a day, it’s almost always because he can’t reach his workstation or the game thinks he’s "lost" his home.
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Leveling Up Your Smith
You don’t get the good stuff right away. When you first start, your blacksmith is a "Novice." He’s going to sell you basic iron stuff or maybe some chainmail. You have to trade with him to give him experience. You’ll see a little bar at the top of the trade window. As it fills up, he hits Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and finally Master.
A Master-level Armorer is the holy grail. At that level, they have a very high chance of selling Enchanted Diamond Armor. We’re talking Protection IV, Unbreaking III—the works. If you have a fletcher villager nearby turning sticks into emeralds, you can essentially kit out an entire server of players in full diamond gear for the cost of a few stacks of wood. It’s game-breakingly powerful if you know how to exploit it.
Dealing with the Zombie Problem
Let’s talk about prices. Sometimes these blacksmiths are greedy. They’ll want 32 emeralds for a chestplate. That’s too much. To fix this, a lot of players use the "Zombie Cure" method. You let a zombie attack your villager until he turns into a Zombie Villager. Then, you splash him with a Potion of Weakness and feed him a Golden Apple.
When he turns back into a human, he’ll be so grateful that he’ll give you massive discounts. Do this a few times, and everything in his shop will cost exactly one emerald.
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A word of caution: If you are playing on "Easy" or "Normal" difficulty, there is a chance the zombie will just kill the villager instead of converting him. On Easy, it’s a 0% conversion rate. On Normal, it’s 50%. On Hard, it’s 100%. If you value your blacksmith, only try the zombie trick if your world difficulty is set to Hard. Otherwise, you’re just inviting a massacre.
Why Your Blacksmith Won't Work
Sometimes you do everything right and it still fails.
- Time of day: Villagers only work during certain hours (usually 2000 to 9000 in-game time). If it’s night, they won’t take a job.
- Existing Trades: If you found a blacksmith in a natural village and his trades suck, check if you've ever traded with him. Even one trade locks him in.
- The "Other" Blacksmith: Sometimes a villager will claim a workstation three houses away instead of the one right in front of him. It’s annoying. Clear out all other workstations in a 48-block radius to make sure your guy picks the right one.
Actionable Steps to Perfect Trading
- Craft the right block: Blast Furnace (Armorer), Smithing Table (Toolsmith), or Grindstone (Weaponsmith).
- Trap an unemployed villager: Use a boat or minecart to move him into a 1x2 space.
- Place the workstation: Wait for the green sparkles.
- Check trades: If they aren't what you want, break the block and replace it immediately.
- Lock the trade: Buy something small (like a single coal-for-emerald trade) to secure that profession.
- Farm Emeralds: Use a Librarian or Fletcher to get easy currency.
- Level to Master: Keep trading until the diamond gear appears in the final tier.
By following these steps, you transform a random NPC into the most valuable asset in your world. It turns the survival experience from a constant struggle for resources into a game of economic management. Once you have a reliable way to make a blacksmith villager, the end-game content like the Wither or the Ender Dragon becomes significantly less intimidating because your gear is always top-tier.