Pillager Outpost Finder

What to know about Pillager Outposts

• BiomesPillager Outposts can spawn in almost any non-ocean, non-mushroom surface biome. The most common ones are plains, desert, savanna, taiga, snowy plains, grove, cherry grove and the various peak biomes.
• Distance from villagesOutposts never generate right next to villages — Minecraft keeps them well apart. The finder saves you hours of wandering between biomes looking for one.
• Captain dropKilling the captain guarantees the ominous banner. That banner in your off-hand while entering an outpost blocks raids from starting near this outpost.
• Loot chestA single loot chest sits at the top of the tower. It rolls from a modest table including enchanted books, iron ingots, wheat, carrots, crossbows and stacks of arrows — useful early-game pulls but rarely jaw-dropping.
• Allay cageAbout 30% of outposts have a caged allay nearby. Break the wooden-plank cage to free it and it'll help collect items for you.

What you're trading off

Clearing an Outpost Safely

1. Approach from cover, not across open ground. Pillagers carry crossbows that hit for several hearts at long range, and there are usually four or five of them shooting at once. Use trees, hillsides or a raised shield to block bolts on the way in — and remember that crossbows can't curve around obstacles, so breaking line of sight (ducking behind a hill, sprinting around the tower) makes them stop shooting until they can see you again.
2. Take out the balcony archers before you go inside. An Outpost has pillagers patrolling the ground and another pair posted on the open balcony at the top. Pick those balcony shooters off first with your own bow or even snowballs (which knock pillagers around without dealing damage but interrupt their attacks). Once the rooftop is empty, the close-quarters fight inside is much more manageable.
3. Climb the tower floor-by-floor. The Outpost is hollow inside with wooden floors connected by ladders. The Pillager Captain — distinguishable by the dark banner sticking out of his back — usually patrols the top floor near the loot chest. Treat each floor as its own fight: clear the pillagers on that level, heal up, then go up the ladder. Rushing up gets you sandwiched between archers above and below.
4. Free any caged Allays on your way back down. About half of all Pillager Outposts spawn one or two Allays trapped in dark oak cages near the base of the tower. Break the cage with any tool and the Allay will float free and start following you. Allays pick up matching items off the ground and drop them next to a Note Block — they're the best item-collecting mob in the game and are worth more than the rest of the loot combined.
5. Loot the chest, then decide what to do with the Ominous Bottle. Killing the Captain drops an Ominous Bottle (1.21+). Drink it to apply Bad Omen for 100 minutes of in-game time, then walk into a nearby Village to trigger a Raid. Raids run three waves on Easy, five on Normal and seven on Hard, with Evokers in the later waves guaranteed to drop a Totem of Undying — a one-use revive item that's otherwise extremely rare. Not in the mood? Don't drink the bottle, or drink a bucket of Milk after drinking it to cancel the Bad Omen.

Triggering a Raid on Purpose

Village raids are one of the best sources of totems in the game, and the only reliable one outside of woodland mansions. If you want to farm totems, clear an outpost Captain, drink the Ominous Bottle, then walk into a village with Bad Omen still ticking. The raid starts automatically — three waves on Easy, five on Normal, seven on Hard — including Evokers, which are the illager variant that drops a Totem of Undying every time you kill one. Defend the villagers, kill the wave captains, and you'll walk out with several totems and a Hero of the Village discount that's unmatched in the game.