How to Tame a Pillager in Minecraft

This Minecraft tutorial explains how to tame a pillager with screenshots and step-by-step instructions.

In Minecraft, you can tame a pillager by breaking its crossbow. Let's explore how to do this.

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Required Materials to Tame a Pillager

In Minecraft, these are the materials you can use to tame a pillager:

5 Shields

Pillager

Steps to Tame a Pillager

1. Find a Pillager

First, you need to find a pillager. You can usually find a pillager near the Pillager Outpost, but be sure to lure the pillager away (before starting to tame it) so that it is alone. You don't want any other pillagers wandering over.

If you are having trouble finding a pillager, you can always summon a pillager using a cheat or you can use a spawn egg.

2. Use a Shield to Break its Crossbow

To tame the pillager, you need to break its crossbow. Since a crossbow has a durability of 326, you need the pillager to use its crossbow 326 times to break it!

So add 5 shields to your hotbar (we added 6, just in case) and possibly some food. Then stand near the pillager and use a shield to block the arrows as the pillager shoots at you.

It will take up to 5 shields and nearly 15 minutes to break the pillager's crossbow. And once the crossbow breaks, the pillager will no longer attack. Instead, it will just wander away. Also, the pillager will NOT pick up any weapons off the ground, so it is safe to hang around with.

3. Use a Name Tag to prevent your Pillager from Despawning

If you want to keep the pillager as a friend, you can use a name tag to prevent the pillager from despawning.

We will give our pillager the name of Friendly Fred by using the following name tag:

4. Move your Pillager around in a Boat

Now the tricky part is to move the pillager around in the game with you. Since a Lead won't work on a pillager, you can use a Boat to move the pillager to different locations in your world.

Just place a Boat on the ground, wait for the pillager to hop in, and then get into the boat yourself and row to your destination!

Congratulations, you have just tamed a pillager in Minecraft!

Tips when Taming a Pillager

1. DO NOT stand too close to the pillager when blocking with your shield or the arrow will bounce off your shield and hit the pillager (hurting and eventually killing the pillager before you've tamed him).

2. DO NOT get in the boat with the pillager until it is tamed or it will attack you.

3. The name tag does NOT tame the pillager, it only prevents the pillager from naturally despawning from the game.

Side Effects of Taming a Pillager

If you decide to keep your pillager by your side in the game, there are a few side effects that you should be aware of:

1. Your tamed pillager will still scare away villagers. Even though your tame pillager will not attack any of the villagers, the villagers are still programmed to run away from pillagers in the game.

2. You will NOT be able to sleep in a bed when your tamed pillager is nearby because the game still considers the pillager to be a monster. If you try to sleep in a bed with your tame pillager nearby, the following message will appear in the game:

   "You may not rest now; there are monsters nearby"

3. You should use a name tag on your tamed pillager to prevent him from despawning. After spending nearly 15 minutes taming the pillager, you don't want him to disappear in the game.