Top 5 most useful Minecraft villager trades for beginners

Villagers are great for trading materials in Minecraft. There are several different professions that villagers can have, and each one will offer different trades to the player. These trades usually involve emeralds as villagers use this as their currency. Sometimes the villager will ask for a certain amount of materials and offer an emerald in return or vice versa.

Trading with villagers can be especially helpful for beginner players, as it allows them to obtain rare and valuable items faster.

So what are the most useful trades for beginners in Minecraft? This article will explain which trades are most useful, which villagers offer them, and how to complete them.

5 Best Useful Minecraft trades for beginners

#1 Raw meat for an emerald

New players will often run into cows, pigs, and sheep as they journey throughout the Minecraft world. Most players will kill these animals for food to survive, but often players will have some of the raw meat leftovers. This meat is great for trading.

Butcher villagers, characterized by their white aprons and pink headbands, will offer players an emerald for different kinds of raw meat. Novice level butcher villagers will offer the following:

• one emerald for 14 raw chickens,
• one emerald for 7 raw pork chops,
• one emerald for 4 rabbit meats.

More advanced butcher villagers will offer the player an emerald for 7 raw lamb chops, and an emerald for 10 raw beef.

These are really great trades for players to make and collect emeralds. Raw meat is easy to obtain in Minecraft, especially for new players.

#2 Coal for an emerald

Trading coal in Minecraft (Image via Reddit)

Two different villagers offer players emeralds for certain amounts of coal. Fishermen villagers, characterized by their golden bucket hats and their fishing belts, will offer players one emerald for 10 coal at a novice level. Butcher villagers will offer one emerald for 15 coal, which is a slightly worse trade.

But, this is pretty good for new players since coal is readily available in Minecraft. It is one of the most abundant ores in the game. Coal can also be dug up with low-level pickaxes like wooden and stone pickaxes.

#3 Crops for an emerald

Trading crops in Minecraft (Image via 10roar)

Almost every Minecraft village has one crop farm, usually containing a common crop like wheat or carrots. New players have easy access to this farm, and they can even use the resources they collect on the farm to trade with farmer villagers.

Novice farmer villagers will offer a few different crop trades for one emerald. These include:

• 20 wheat for an emerald,
• 15 beetroots for an emerald,
• 22 carrots for an emerald, or
• 26 potatoes for an emerald.

These trades are great for new players since these crops are often readily available within villages. Players can also plant seeds into the same farms after they harvest crops to obtain even more crop resources.

#4 Rotten flesh for an emerald

One of the easiest trades for new players to make is 32 rotten flesh for one emerald. New players often don't have shelter or beds during the nights, which makes them more likely to fight zombies. Zombies drop rotten flesh when killed, oftentimes dropping 2-3 rotten flesh pieces at a time.

If the player spends even a few nights out in the wilderness, they're sure to have more than 32 pieces of rotten flesh. Especially since players will often find rotten flesh around on the ground from zombies who have burned alive under the morning sun.

To complete this trade players will need to find a cleric villager. Cleric villagers are characterized by their purple aprons, and they don't wear a hat. Novice-level cleric villagers will always offer the trade of 32 rotten flesh for one emerald.

#5 7 emeralds for a map

Cartographer trades in Minecraft (Image via 10roar)

On the surface this trade doesn't seem like a good one to make, but if the player has also completed a few of the previous trades to collect emeralds, then this trade will be very useful.

Oftentimes, beginner Minecraft players will fall victim to mobs during the night. When this happens they will lose all their inventory items including their map. Maps are relatively difficult for newer players to make, so trading a villager for a map is a much easier solution than losing their original map.

To complete this trade the player will need a cartographer villager. Cartographer villagers are characterized by a piece of glass over one eye. As a beginner cartographer, they will offer the trade of 7 emeralds for a new map. As long as the player has completed a few of the trades above, they should have enough emeralds to complete the trade.