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The discount is game behaviour, not a number in a file. The prices it reduces are the ones this site lists, and those are checked daily against the game's own data. How that check works.

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ZOMBIE VILLAGER DISCOUNTS

Curing a zombie villager is a permanent price cut on everything that villager sells. It is the strongest trading mechanic in the game, worth 125 reputation, and on the expensive trades that is the difference between 21 emeralds and 1.

How Discounts Work

Curing does not set a discount percentage. It files two pieces of gossip about you with that villager: 20 points of major_positive and 25 of minor_positive. Each type has its own cap and its own worth, so once they are capped the cure is worth 125 reputation to you with that villager, and every price he quotes you drops by that reputation multiplied by the trade's own price multiplier, rounded down. On an expensive trade that is enough to hit the floor of one emerald; on a cheap one you will not notice it.

It is permanent because major_positive is the one gossip type the game never decays: 0 per day, against 1 for minor_positive and 2 for ordinary trading. That single zero is the whole reason the discount is still there a hundred days later.

Java Edition

The discount belongs to you and that villager, and neighbours pick up part of it through gossip, capped at 20 points passed on. Curing the same villager a second time adds nothing: major_positive stops at 20 and one cure already puts it there. Curing more villagers is what widens the discount, not curing one twice.

Bedrock Edition

Bedrock writes the same multiplier into its own trade tables, and on 171 of the trades checked here the two editions ask for exactly the same one. The exceptions are the 6 maps the cartographer sells: Java prices them at 0.2 where Bedrock uses 0.05, so a cure is worth 4 times less on a map there.

What cannot be checked from here is the rest: Bedrock spreads the discount across the village rather than one villager and stacks repeat cures, but that behaviour lives in its code and Bedrock ships no code to read. Treat those two sentences as the shape of it, not as a figure taken from the game.

Every number above was read out of Minecraft Java 26.2 itself: GossipType for the weights, caps and decay, Villager.onReputationEventFrom for what a cure adds, and Villager.updateSpecialPrices for how reputation becomes a price. How that check works.

How to Cure a Zombie Villager

1

Find or Create a Zombie Villager

Zombie villagers spawn naturally (5% of zombies) or you can let a zombie kill a regular villager. In Hard difficulty, zombification is guaranteed. In Normal, there's a 50% chance. In Easy, villagers always die instead.

2

Trap the Zombie Villager

Build a small enclosure and lure or push the zombie villager inside. Make sure it can't despawn (name tag helps) and is protected from sunlight. Boats work well for trapping and transporting them.

3

Apply Weakness

Throw a Splash Potion of Weakness at the zombie villager. You can also use a Witch (they occasionally throw weakness potions) or a tipped arrow of Weakness. The zombie villager needs the Weakness effect.

4

Feed a Golden Apple

While the zombie villager has the Weakness effect, right-click it with a Golden Apple (regular, not enchanted). You'll hear a loud hissing sound and the zombie villager will start shaking with red particles.

5

Wait for the Cure

The curing process takes 3-5 minutes. During this time, keep the zombie villager safe from damage and sunlight. Iron bars and beds nearby can speed up the process slightly.

6

Enjoy the Discount

Once cured, the villager charges less on every trade he offers. Assign them a workstation if they do not have one. The discount is permanent, but curing the same villager again adds nothing: the gossip it files is already at its cap. Cure more villagers instead.

What One Cure Is Actually Worth

Not every trade drops to one emerald. The discount is the same 125 reputation everywhere, but each trade carries its own multiplier, and the saving is capped by the price itself. These are the biggest drops on the site, straight out of the trades:

Prices before and after one cure, from the trade files
TradeVillagerNormallyAfter one cure
BellArmorer, apprentice36 emeralds11 emeralds
Enchanted Diamond ChestplateArmorer, master21 to 35 emeralds1 to 10 emeralds
Enchanted Diamond LeggingsArmorer, expert19 to 33 emeralds1 to 8 emeralds
Enchanted Diamond PickaxeToolsmith, master18 to 32 emeralds1 to 7 emeralds
Enchanted Diamond AxeToolsmith, expert17 to 31 emeralds1 to 6 emeralds
Woodland Explorer MapCartographer, master14 emeralds1 emerald
Chainmail BootsArmorer, apprentice1 emerald1 emeraldalready at the floor

Worked out per trade: 125 reputation times that trade's own multiplier, floored, never below one. Where the price is a band the enchantment is part of the cost, so the discount comes off the whole thing and an expensive roll stays expensive. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.

Which trades carry which multiplier

What one cure is worth per price multiplier
MultiplierTrades on this siteOne cure takes offBiggest saving it buys
0.2 per point502525 on the armorer bell, 36 down to 11
0.05 per point12666 on the armorer coal, 15 down to 9

One cure is 125 reputation (20 major_positive and 25 minor_positive, each capped and weighted), and the price drops by that times the trade's own multiplier, floored. The multipliers are in the trade files, the reputation is in the code. Counted from the game's own draw sizes. How that check works.

Materials Needed

  • 1xSplash Potion of Weakness - Brew a Potion of Weakness (water bottle + fermented spider eye) then add gunpowder to make it splash
  • 1xGolden Apple - 8 gold ingots + 1 apple at a crafting table. Regular golden apple, NOT the enchanted variant
  • optName Tag - To prevent the zombie villager from despawning while you prepare materials
  • optIron Bars / Bed - Placing these near the curing zombie villager speeds up the conversion process