Is Curing Zombie Villagers Worth It? A Minecraft Master’s Guide
Absolutely! Curing zombie villagers is one of the most rewarding activities in Minecraft, offering access to significantly discounted trades and a strategic advantage in resource acquisition. It provides a consistent and relatively inexpensive source of valuable items like enchanted books, diamonds, and essential building materials. While it requires some initial investment in resources and time, the long-term benefits of having a village full of cured, discounted traders far outweigh the costs. This practice also presents an ethical approach for players to interact with the game’s digital inhabitants.
The Undeniable Advantages of Curing
The core benefit lies in the permanent trading discounts offered by cured villagers. Each cure lowers the price of their trades, and these discounts stack. In vanilla Minecraft, this means you can potentially reduce trade prices to the minimum of one emerald per item. This advantage is massive, turning typically expensive trades into incredibly affordable ones.
Consider a librarian villager selling mending books. Normally, a mending book might cost 20-64 emeralds. After multiple cures, you could get that same book for a single emerald! The implications for resource management and acquiring end-game gear are tremendous. Curing villagers is also a strategic move for establishing a robust and efficient trading network within your base, enabling faster progression and a richer gameplay experience. If you’re curious about how the skills learned in games like Minecraft can apply to real-world learning, visit the GamesLearningSociety.org website.
Factors to Consider
While the benefits are clear, some factors influence the overall value of curing villagers.
- Difficulty Setting: On Hard difficulty, villagers have a 100% chance of becoming zombie villagers when killed by a zombie. On Normal, the chance is 50%, and on Easy, it’s 0%. This means curing villagers is more relevant and potentially more frequent on harder difficulties.
- SMP Server Rules: Many SMP (Survival Multiplayer) servers limit the number of times you can cure a villager to prevent excessive discounts. Check your server’s rules before investing heavily in curing. Some servers may also use plugins that modify villager trading mechanics.
- Resource Availability: The process requires a splash potion of weakness and a golden apple. Golden apples, in particular, can be relatively resource-intensive to craft initially, requiring gold. However, once you have a steady supply of gold, this becomes less of an issue.
- Village Location and Safety: Keeping your villagers safe during and after the curing process is critical. Build secure enclosures to protect them from further zombie attacks and other hostile mobs.
The Curing Process: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Locate a Zombie Villager: Zombie villagers spawn in the same biomes as regular zombies but are rarer. They are easily identifiable by their green skin and villager clothing.
- Isolate the Zombie Villager: Trap the zombie villager in a safe enclosure. This can be as simple as a one-block hole or a more elaborate fenced-in area. Make sure it can’t escape or be attacked by other mobs.
- Apply Weakness: Throw a splash potion of weakness at the zombie villager. The potion’s effect will be visually indicated by swirling grey particles.
- Feed the Golden Apple: Interact with the zombie villager while holding a golden apple. This will initiate the curing process. The zombie villager will begin shaking and emitting red particles.
- Wait for the Cure: The curing process takes approximately 5 minutes in the Java Edition. Bedrock Edition may have slightly different timing. During this time, the zombie villager is vulnerable.
- Protection During Curing: Ensure the zombie villager remains safe during the curing process. Zombies or other hostile mobs might still try to attack it, even after the weakness and golden apple have been applied.
- The Transformation: Once the curing process is complete, the zombie villager will transform back into a normal villager.
- Assign a Profession: If the villager was previously a zombie or didn’t have a profession, place a workstation near it to assign it one. Common workstations include a lectern (librarian), a grindstone (weaponsmith), or a brewing stand (cleric).
- Profit! Trade with your newly cured villager and enjoy the discounted prices. Repeat the process to further reduce trade costs.
Ethical Considerations
Some players see the act of deliberately zombifying and then curing villagers as potentially unethical. However, from a gameplay perspective, it’s a valid and efficient strategy for acquiring valuable resources. Players can determine their own ethical stance within the game’s world.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Curing Zombie Villagers
Here are some commonly asked questions about curing zombie villagers, ensuring you have all the information needed to master this skill.
1. How many times should you cure a zombie villager?
In vanilla Minecraft, you can cure a villager up to five times to reach the minimum price of one emerald per trade. However, the actual number of cures needed to reach the minimum varies depending on the initial trade costs. As mentioned, many SMP servers limit cures to one or two.
2. What happens if you cure a zombie villager twice?
Each cure provides a further discount on the villager’s trades. These discounts are cumulative. Curing a villager twice will result in a more significant price reduction than curing it only once.
3. Are zombie villagers stronger than normal zombies?
No, zombie villagers have the same health and attack damage as normal zombies.
4. Do zombie villagers drop their items when cured?
Yes, if the zombie villager was holding any picked-up items, those items will drop upon being cured.
5. Do cured zombie villagers have better trades than regular villagers?
Not necessarily “better” trades, but discounted trades. The actual items offered are determined by the villager’s profession and level, not by the fact that it was cured.
6. Do cured zombie villagers keep their trades?
Yes, in the Java Edition, cured villagers retain their original trades and their current experience level.
7. What is the point of zombifying villagers intentionally?
The primary reason is to manipulate trading prices through repeated curing. It’s also a way to obtain villagers with specific professions when you have a zombie villager with the desired job nearby.
8. Why isn’t the zombie killing the villager during the zombifying process?
This can sometimes happen due to pathfinding issues or glitches. Make sure the zombie has a clear, unobstructed path to the villager. The zombie must be able to reach the villager to infect them.
9. Can zombies turn villagers into zombie villagers?
Yes. On Hard difficulty, a zombie will always turn a villager into a zombie villager upon killing it. On Normal, the chance is 50%, and on Easy, it’s 0%.
10. Will a cured baby zombie villager grow up?
Yes, a cured baby zombie villager will eventually grow up like any other baby villager.
11. Can you bring a zombie villager back to life?
Technically, you’re not bringing it “back to life” but rather curing it of its zombified state. The process involves using a splash potion of weakness and a golden apple.
12. How do you get a zombie villager 100% of the time?
On Hard difficulty, villagers will always turn into zombie villagers when killed by a zombie.
13. Why do my villagers keep dying to zombies before they turn into zombie villagers?
Villagers can die from the damage they take during the infection process, especially if they are already low on health. Keep them safe and ensure they’re not taking damage from other sources.
14. What is the fastest way to cure a zombie villager?
The curing process itself takes a fixed amount of time. However, you can speed up the process by placing iron bars and beds near the zombie villager during the curing process.
15. What happens if you cure a zombie villager jockey?
Curing a baby zombie villager jockey will result in a normal villager chicken jockey. The villager can even grow up but will not dismount the chicken.