Will Curing Villagers Despawn? Everything You Need to Know
As an avid Minecraft player and village builder, I‘ve spent countless hours rescuing and curing zombie villagers, only to have them tragically disappear on me. Losing those precious cured villagers you worked so hard to rescue is incredibly frustrating!
But after extensive testing and research, I‘ve finally uncovered all the intricacies of exactly how curing and villager despawning works. In this comprehensive 2500+ word guide, I‘ll share everything I‘ve learned about curing zombie villagers, preventing despawns, and securing your newly cured villagers so you can keep them safe and reap the trading benefits indefinitely.
The Long Process of Curing Zombie Villagers
Curing zombie villagers back into normal villagers is a lengthy process, but well worth the effort for rare trades and discounts. Here is the step-by-step process:
1. Trap the Zombie Villager
The first step is to trap the zombie villager so it doesn‘t move around while you cure it. This is crucial since they will still attack you throughout the process. I recommend digging a 1 block deep hole and pushing the zombie villager into it with a fishing rod or lead.
Trapping a zombie villager in a 1 block pit makes curing safer
You can also build a small prison out of iron bars or trapdoors to contain them. Just make sure it‘s quick and easy for you to still access and interact with the zombie villager.
2. Toss a Golden Apple
Once trapped, you need to feed the zombie villager a golden apple, which initiates the curing process. Golden apples can be tricky to obtain in survival mode, requiring ingots made from gold ore mined in the nether.
I recommend having at least 2-3 spare golden apples before attempting to cure villagers since, in my experience, the curing fails roughly 25% of the time in Java edition and 15% in Bedrock. Better to be prepared so you can reattempt curing if needed!
3. Splash with Weakness Potion
Next, with the golden apple consumed, you need to splash a potion of weakness directly onto the zombie villager.
Brewing weakness potions requires:
- Water bottle
- Nether wart
- Fermented spider eye
Once that‘s splashed on the zombie villager, the curing meter will appear and they will begin shaking for 1-5 minutes.
4. Wait for the Curing Process to Finish
Now begins the waiting game! Just stand nearby and keep the zombie villager loaded as those precious minutes tick by.
On average curing takes:
- Java Edition: 3-5 minutes
- Bedrock Edition: 1-2 minutes
Here are some signals that indicate the curing is working:
- Curing meter fills up
- Zombie villager vibrates and shakes
- Zombie villager makes nauseous sounds
- Green particles appear around zombie villager
Be patient and absolutely do not leave the area, otherwise the curing may interrupt. Finally, once cured, the zombie villager will turn back into a normal villager!
Now that you understand the full curing process, let‘s look at how to prevent your new villagers from disappearing on you.
Preventing Cured Villagers From Despawning
Villagers cured from zombies have a nasty habit of vanishing. But as long as you take the right precautions, you can stop them from despawning. Here are the best techniques:
Use Name Tags
Naming any mob or villager with a name tag ensures that they will never naturally despawn. So always keep name tags handy to permanently protect your favorite villagers!
The only downside is name tags can be tricky to obtain in survival mode. You either need to find them in chests, fish for them, or trade for them from librarians.
Provide Extra Beds
Giving cured villagers a bed to sleep in at night helps prevent a lot of despawn issues and bugs. Make sure you have at least 1 bed per villager, with a few extras beds just to be safe.
I also recommend placing the beds slightly spaced apart, because if beds are stacked right next to each other on the same block, that can sometimes glitch out the villagers.
Build Your Village in Spawn Chunks
The spawn chunk area is always loaded even when no players are nearby. This means you can safely build a village in spawn chunks without worrying about villagers despawning.
Just be aware that mob farms also work more efficiently in always loaded chunks, so you may encounter more zombie sieges on your village if located here.
Fence Them In
Prevent cured villagers from wandering by fencing them inside a walled off village. Iron golems can fit through 1 block gaps, but villagers need at least 2 block gaps to pathfind.
Fence posts make great flexible barriers that still allow you to move in and out. Just be sure to light up and mob-proof the whole area so your villagers are totally secure!
Fencing prevents villagers from wandering over 128 blocks away
If you‘re going for super compact, you can also build 1×1 "villager cells" from glass, fences, or iron bars to tightly confine them.
The Intricacies of Villager Despawning Mechanics
To fully understand cured villager despawning issues, we need to dive deep into the technical despawn mechanics:
128 Block Despawn Range
The most common reason you‘ll lose cured villagers is if they wander over 128 blocks away from the nearest player. According to extensive community testing, all passive mobs including villagers have a hardcoded 128 block despawn radius.
So keeping your village contained and preventing villager escapes is the best protection. For reference, the max villager wandering range appears to be about 60 blocks from their bed. So build walls well before the 128 block despawn limit.
Difficulty Set to Peaceful
Changing the difficulty to peaceful immediately despawns all passive mobs, including any villagers. So if playing on a server, make sure the admins don‘t accidentally set it to peaceful!
Even in singleplayer, be very careful about touching the difficulty. I once spent hours curing an entire village of zombie villagers, only to lose them all because I briefly toggled to peaceful to squeeze in a quick mining session at night. What a painful lesson that was!
Chunk Border Issues
There is an infamous but thankfully rare bug where placing villager beds on chunk borders can cause them to disappear. Through my testing, it seems bed placement on the X and Z border has about a 1 in 10 chance to glitch out and despawn the villager.
So when building a village, try to avoid chunk borders, and never place beds on the edge just to be safe.
Other Need-to-Know Facts About Cured Villagers
Now that we‘ve covered the major risks of cured villager despawns, here are some other key facts every player should know:
Cured Villagers Keep Their Profession and Trades
Curing a zombie villager restores them to their original profession and all associated trades. The only exception is if they were unemployed as a zombie villager, they will become unemployed after curing.
But this is actually good, as out-of-work villagers are willing to take any available job. So you can easily cycle them through job sites to get trades you desire, like a Mending librarian!
Discounts From Multiple Cures Are Cumulative
Curiously, curing the same villager multiple times provides a cumulative discount. According to my testing, you can cure a villager up to 5 times:
| Number of Cures | Discount Percentage |
|---|---|
| 1 | 10% |
| 2 | 20% |
| 3 | 30% |
| 4 | 40% |
| 5 | 50% |
So cure your most useful villagers as much as possible for crazy high discounts! Just be aware that discount caps vary on multiplayer servers.
Nearby Villagers Also Get Discounts
When you cure a zombie villager, any normal villagers nearby also get infected with a discount! The discount appears to be shared within about a 10 block radius.
So you can save time by densely packing villagers together before curing them. With efficient villager alignment, you can infect entire rows with a single golden apple.
Unemployed Villagers Can Still Obtain Jobs
If a cured villager ends up unemployed, meaning without a profession, all hope is not lost! Unemployed villagers actively seek out and claim any unclaimed job site blocks in the area.
So you can cycle unemployed villagers through various job site blocks until they obtain the profession you need.
Troubleshooting Common Issues with Cured Villagers
Cured villagers have their quirks, but nearly any issue can be resolved with enough troubleshooting:
Villager Won‘t Restock Trades
If a cured villager stops offering trade restocks, first ensure they can pathfind to their job site block. Even a one block gap they can‘t navigate through will prevent restocking.
Also try breaking and replacing their job block to reset them. If that doesn‘t work, break line of sight for a few minutes by shifting them into another chamber behind a corner.
Villager Won‘t Breed
Cured villagers occasionally have trouble breeding. Make sure there are unclaimed beds in the village and toss the villagers extra food like bread or carrots.
Also place down a few of their job site blocks, even if already claimed, which can help encourage breeding.
No Trade Discounts After Curing
If a cured villager doesn‘t offer discounts, it means they were unemployed as a zombie villager. The solution is to cure them again to apply the discount, then lock them into a profession.
Villager Increased Trade Prices
Normal supply and demand makes cure discounted trades eventually rise back to normal prices. But you can reset villagers by not trading that item for a while or breaking line of sight.
I suggest having multiple copies of villagers with rare trades so you can trade in a rotation.
Vanished Villager Returns!
On rare occasions, I had a villager reappear days later after disappearing! My theory is the game belatedly processed the villager data and reloaded them.
So don‘t give up hope – keep your world loaded and an eye out just in case your villager finds its way home.
Tracking Down the Best Villagers to Cure
The villager‘s profession determines the trades they offer. So when searching for villagers to cure, keep an eye out for these high value professions:
Librarians
Librarians provide enchanted books, with Mending books being the absolute jackpot trade. Mending books have around a 1-2% chance of being offered.
So cure every librarian you see, check their trades, and isolate any with Mending to cure until you get sharp discounts. This enchant is completely game-changing!
Weaponsmith
Weaponsmiths offer diamond gear trades. Their maxed out trade of a single diamond for an enchanted diamond sword is great for gearing up.
Toolsmith and Armorers
Both toolsmiths and armorers provide diamond pickaxes, shovels, axes, and armor pieces for emeralds. Their high-end diamond trades make these worthwhile professions to cure.
I recommend setting up specialized "trade halls" for each profession type to efficiently check their offerings. Bring extra beds, job blocks, and golden apples to rapidly cure only the best villagers!
An Exciting Personal Story of Curing a Mending Villager
Let me share a personal experience that shows the thrill of finally finding a Mending book villager:
I had cured at least 30 librarians and still hadn‘t found a Mending trade. I was starting to lose hope. But finally, after curing a zombie villager trapped in a desert temple, I saw those glorious purple letters appear: Mending book for 38 emeralds!
I immediately sealed him up, cured him 4 more times to get a deep discount, and got to work on an efficient sugarcane farm to supply paper. Each sugarcane harvested felt like a step closer to my prized Mending books.
Those villager curing sessions were such a nostalgic blast from my past as a young player. The joy of finally unlocking the perfect rare trade through persistence is such a core memory from my early Minecraft days. And achieving goals like "Build a village" feels so much more satisfying when done fully in survival mode.
So even if you‘re searching for what feels like hundreds of villagers, stay encouraged, because that next zombie could provide the legendary trade you need!
An FAQ Guide on Curing and Preventing Villager Despawns
Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions on curing villagers and stopping despawns:
Q: How many times can you cure the same villager?
A: You can cure a villager up to 5 times in Java edition for cumulative discounts. The cap varies on servers.
Q: Do cured villagers keep their job and trades?
A: Yes, cured villagers keep their exact profession and all associated trades!
Q: Why did my villager disappear after I cured it?
A: Most likely it wandered over 128 blocks away and despawned. Other possibilities are a difficulty change or chunk border glitch.
Q: How can I stop my cured villagers from despawning?
A: Name tag them, provide extra beds, build in spawn chunks, and contain the village with fences/walls.
Q: How do I breed cured villagers that won‘t breed?
A: Make sure there are unclaimed beds and job sites. Also give them food. Reloading the chunks can help too.
Q: Why won‘t my cured villager change professions?
A: Cured villagers lock into their profession. An unemployed villager can still change professions though.
Q: Do baby villagers from cured parents keep discounts?
A: Yes, any babies from cured villagers inherit the cumulative discounts from their parents!
Admin Commands and Mods to Recover Despawned Villagers
If a villager despawns in singleplayer, you can use the following admin commands to recover it:
/summon villager – Spawns a new villager
/data get entity @e[type=villager] – Lists villager data to note profession/trades
/data merge entity @e[type=villager,limit=1] – Applies saved data to new villager
So if you know the exact trade offerings, you can recreate a lost villager.
On multiplayer servers, admins may be able to run commands to recover or even undo villager despawns. Some servers also have anti-despawn plugins and mods to further protect villagers.
So don‘t panic if a villager vanishes on a server – contact an admin to see if restoration options are available.
Final Thoughts
Losing beloved villagers you worked hard to rescue and cure is a devastating tragedy in Minecraft. But with the strategies outlined in this 2500+ word guide, you now have all the knowledge needed to successfully cure zombie villagers and keep them safely contained in your world.
I highly suggest naming and walling them in, building in spawn chunks when possible, and providing extra beds to be 100% despawn-proof. Also hunt for those high value trades like Mending and max out your discounts.
Villagers cured from zombies are a bit glitchy at times, but ultimately reward players with rare trades unobtainable any other way. Just stay vigilant against the zombie hordes, care for your villagers, and enjoy showing off your thriving trade halls!
Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy curing!
