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GuidesJun 5, 2026 4 min read

How to Cure a Zombie Villager (for Cheap Trades)

Curing a zombie villager gives permanent, massive trade discounts. Here's the safe way to do it.


Curing a Zombie Villager turns it back into a normal villager — and it rewards you with huge, permanent discounts on that villager's trades. It's the single best way to get cheap enchanted books and gear.

Find a zombie villager

They spawn naturally (a small chance any zombie is a villager one), or a zombie that kills a villager on Normal/Hard difficulty zombifies it instead. You can farm them from village raids.

What you need

  1. 1.A Splash Potion of Weakness — brew an Awkward Potion with a Fermented Spider Eye, then add Gunpowder to make it a splash potion.
  2. 2.A Golden Apple (the regular one: 8 gold ingots around an apple).

The cure

  1. 1.Trap the zombie villager somewhere safe (a 1-block hole or behind iron bars) so it can't attack you or burn in sunlight.
  2. 2.Throw the Splash Potion of Weakness so it's affected.
  3. 3.Right-click it with the Golden Apple.
  4. 4.Red swirls appear — wait 2–5 minutes and it converts back to a villager.
TipDo this near your base with a bed and workstation ready so the cured villager settles down and you can trade immediately.

Why it's worth it

A cured villager offers trades for as little as 1 emerald, and the discount is permanent. Cure a librarian and you'll get Mending books for almost nothing. See our full villager trading guide for the rest.

#Villagers#Curing#Trading