Raid captain

For other uses, see Captain.

Raid captain

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Hitbox size	Height: 1.95 blocks Width: 0.6 blocks
Spawn	Patrols Pillager Outpost Raids‌[JE only]

A raid captain or illager captain is the occurrence of an illager that spawns wearing an ominous banner on its head. It is usually a pillager or vindicator, or rarely in Java Edition an evoker. They are the only renewable source of both ominous banners and ominous bottles, which they drop when killed.

Spawning

Raid captains spawn in mostly the same conditions and occurrences as a regular illager, with a few exceptions.

In Bedrock Edition, a pillager raid captain can be spawned using the /summon pillager ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ minecraft:spawn_as_illager_captain command, and a vindicator raid captain (which is unused in-game) can be spawned using the /summon vindicator ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ minecraft:spawn_as_illager_captain command.

In Java Edition, pillagers, vindicators and evokers spawned from spawn eggs, monster spawners or trial spawners also have a small chance to spawn as a raid captain.

Spawnable as raid captain in Java Edition

Type of illager	Patrol	Raid	Pillager Outpost	Woodland Mansion	Commands (With Data Tag)	Commands (Without Data Tag)
Pillager	Yes, multiple times	Yes, multiple times	Yes, multiple times	Never	Always	Rarely
Vindicator	Never	Yes, multiple times	Never	Never	Always	Rarely
Evoker	Never	Rarely	Never	Never	Always	Rarely
Illusioner[unused mob]‌[Java Edition only]	Never	Never	Never	Never	Always	Rarely

Spawnable as raid captain in Bedrock Edition

Type of illager	Patrol	Raid	Pillager Outpost	Woodland Mansion	Commands (With Data Tag)	Commands (Without Data Tag)
Pillager	Yes, multiple times	Never	Yes, multiple times	Never	Always	Rarely
Vindicator	Never	Never	Never	Never	Always	Rarely

Patrols

One pillager raid captain always spawns as part of a patrol, as the leader. These are referred to as “patrol captains” to avoid confusion.

Raids

In Java Edition, one raid captain spawns in each wave during a raid. They usually spawn within a group of pillagers, and sometimes spawns riding a ravager. When its ominous banner is dropped, other illagers rush and attempt to pick it up to become the new raid captain.

In Bedrock Edition, raid captains are unused and do not spawn naturally during raids, but the code for them is present.

Pillager outposts

Pillager raid captains regularly spawn in a pillager outpost. Every pillager spawned has a small chance to be a raid captain.

In Java Edition, only pillagers and passive mobs may spawn within a pillager outpost spawn area. Pillagers may spawn on any valid opaque block as long as the block light level is 8 or lower.

In Bedrock Edition, raid captains can only spawn first, meaning if there is any regular pillager left nearby, raid captain will never spawn.

Drops

General

Upon death, a raid captain can drop:

• 1 Ominous banner, unaffected by Looting and is always dropped.
• 1 Ominous Bottle, unaffected by Looting of a random level from 1-5. Raid captains that are within 96 blocks of a raid do not drop ominous bottles, also it must be registered as "killed by player" to drop ominous bottle.

Pillager

• 0–2 arrows, dropping more with the presence of Looting, up to 5‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}.
• Its crossbow (may be loaded or unloaded), which has an 8.5% chance to be dropped (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It has a random durability and may be enchanted.

Vindicator

• 0–1 emeralds, with the maximum increasing by 1 for every level of Looting.
• Its iron axe, which has an 8.5% chance to be dropped (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It has a random durability and may be enchanted.

Evoker

• 1 totem of undying, unaffected by Looting.
• 0–1 emeralds if killed by the player, with the maximum increased by 1 per level of Looting.

Illusioner

• Its bow, which has an 8.5% chance to be dropped (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It has a random durability and is unenchanted.

Raider

In Bedrock Edition, raid captains that spawn from raids can additionally drop:

• 0–1 emeralds

An additional drop is dependent on difficulty, with a 65% chance of dropping on easy and normal, and an 80% chance of dropping on hard.
They can drop one of the following items:

• 0–1 Emerald (¹⁰⁄₃₉ chance)
• 2–3 Emerald (⁵⁄₃₉ chance)
• 4–5 Emerald (²⁄₃₉ chance)
• 1 Enchanted Book (²⁄₃₉ chance)
• 1 Iron Pickaxe (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Axe (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Shovel (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Sword (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Helmet (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Chestplate (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Leggings (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)
• 1 Iron Boots (⁵⁄₇₈ chance)

Note:

• Raiders drop iron equipment in a damaged state, and the equipment has 50% chance of being enchanted with random enchantment.
• These drops are also affected by Looting enchantment.
• An emerald is both a regular raider drop and an additional raider drop.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Behavior

Raid captains usually act the same as if they were a normal illager, but other illagers follow behind them (except for outpost captain), and usually the captain takes the lead ahead of the other illagers. Once a raid captain is killed by a player, an ominous bottle is dropped that if drank, grants Bad Omen, which can transform into Raid Omen in a village to start a raid, or into Trial Omen when seen by a non-ominous trial spawner, to start an ominous trial.The captain also drops its ominous banner as well, and it can be picked up by another illager for it to become the captain.

When targeting an enemy, raid captains alert other illagers, witches, and ravagers within an eight block radius to attack the enemy.

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill one of these 41 monsters: Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Husk Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Nautilus Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this achievement.	15	Bronze
		I've got a bad feeling about this	Kill a Pillager Captain.	Drink an Ominous Bottle.	20	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Voluntary Exile	Kill a raid captain. Maybe consider staying away from villages for the time being...	Kill an entity in the #raiders entity tag wearing an ominous banner: Evoker Illusioner Pillager Vindicator This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Kill one of these 41​[until: Fourth Drop 2026]/42​[upcoming] monsters: Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Husk Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Frostbite​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026] Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Nautilus Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Kill each of these 41​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]/42​[upcoming] monsters: Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Husk Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Frostbite​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026] Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Nautilus Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Entity	Identifier
Evoker	evoker
Vindicator	vindicator
Pillager	pillager
Illusioner	illusioner
Entity Tag	#raiders

Bedrock Edition:

Entity	Identifier	Numeric ID
Evoker	evocation_illager	104
Vindicator	vindicator	57
Pillager	pillager	114

History

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Legacy Console Edition

Issues

Issues relating to "Raid captain" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• Ominous banners equip on raid captains’ helmet slot in Java Edition. In Bedrock Edition, ominous banners equip on illager captains’ chestplate slot.

Gallery

Renders

• 
  The ominous banner
• 
  A raid captain vindicator, before 18w45a
• 
  A vindicator patrol captain before beta 1.18.0.20 (Unused mob)

Screenshots

• 
  Illager banner with long pole in Bedrock edition. It equips on pillager captain chestplates slot.
• 
  A raid captain spawned via a monster spawner

In other media

• 
  A pillager raid captain within Minecraft Dungeons
• 
  A vindicator raid captain within Minecraft Dungeons
• 
  Lego pillager raid captain