Minecraft guide: How to trade with piglins in the Nether Update (2024)

The Nether Update is inching closer to release, and with it is coming a lot of new things to play with in Minecraft, including some new mobs. The more adorable amongst the new entries are hoglins, but a new humanoid mob referred to as piglins is also making its way to the Nether.

Piglins hold a lot more unique personality than most other mobs do, in that they are a new kind of neutral mob (a mob that is hostile, but only under certain circ*mstances,) with an obessession with gold and a full-blown bartering system that players can use to gain new items. We already went through how to find the piglins, but now it's time to explore further how you can trade with them. Here's how it works.

How do I trade with piglins in the Nether Update?

Once you've found your own happy group of piglins, it's time to take control of this emerging economy and corner the entire market! Well, you can't really do that, but you can get some pretty cool stuff out of piglins, including items that can't be found anywhere else. Before you can leap in and become a master of bartering, there are some things you should know about piglins. They're not like other mobs, and have very unique characteristics that set them apart from their closest relative—the villagers.

• Piglins are normally hostile towards players. Piglins can and will attack you if they see you as a threat. How do you avoid being attacked? When you're near piglins, always wear at least one piece of golden armor. Do not open or break any containers, including chests, when piglins are in view. And definitely do not mine gold blocks, if you just happen to find those lying around in the Nether.
• Piglins have a hidden inventory. Piglins can pick up numerous items and stash them away in a secret inventory. They'll pick up and examine pretty much anything, but they love gold nuggets and porkchops above all. If you kill a piglin, there's a chance they'll drop their inventory, sans gold nuggets and porkchops.
• Piglins can equip items and armor. Like some other mobs, piglins are capable of picking up and equipping items. However, piglins aren't concerned with the quality or strength of the item. Instead, they'll always pick up gold items and armor and immediately equip it.
• Piglins love pretty much anything gold. If you've noticed any trend so far, it should be that piglins absolutely love gold. They'll pick up and hoard practically anything with gold in it, including bells, clocks, and more. However, they only barter with one thing—gold ingots. Nuggets won't do, and neither will gold items. You can feed the piglin gold obsession all day, but don't expect anything in return unless they're solid bricks.

Now that we've finished the crash course on piglins, it's time to go over how to trade with piglins, and what you can get from trading with them!

Once you're prepared for every possibility, it's time to get your trade on. Or, more specifically, your bartering. Even more specifically, throwing gold ingots on the ground and waiting for the piglins to pick it up and give you something in return. Unlike with villagers, you don't get a special menu with which to interact with them while trading, or even an indication of what's on offer for your currency. Instead, you just have to drop your gold ingots on the ground, and wait to receive something in return.

There's a decent list of items and blocks you can earn from piglin bartering, and some are even exclusive to this process. Here's everything you can get:

• Gravel. Everybody's least favorite, unstable building block. Useful for getting flint for arrows and tools.
• Leather. What's left of that cow you had for lunch. Useful for crafting low-end armor.
• String. Your cat's toy. Useful for stringing bows and fishing rods.
• Fire charge. A fun version of flint and steel. Used to start fires.
• Iron nugget. A little version of iron ingots. You can turn a bunch into an iron ingot.
• Obsidian. The hardest block in the game. Used to craft nether portals.
• Potion of fire resistance. A tasty beverage. Used to not burst into flames.
• Splash potion of fire resistance. A tasty mess. Also used to not burst into flames, but with a splash.
• Ender pearl. Useful for teleportation, or crafting into Eyes of Ender to find the End.
• Nether quartz. Used to make quartz, which is nice for building.
• Magma cream. Cream of magma cube. Useful for potion brewing.
• Glowstone dust. A stone that glows, but in dust form. Can be combined to make glowstone, or used for potion brewing.
• Nether brick. Can be combined into nether bricks, plural.
• Soul sand. An annoying block that slows you down. Useful for growing nether wart, which is important for many potions.
• Netherite hoe. Possibly the least interesting thing you can do with netherite, but still possibily the most interesting netherite thing you own. Useful for farming.
• Soul speed enchanted book. An enchanted book with the new soul speed enchantment. This enchantment allows you to move faster on soul sand and soul soil. Can only be obtained by bartering with piglins.
• Iron boots enchanted with soul speed. Iron boots enchanted with the aforementioned soul speed enchantment.Can only be obtained by bartering with piglins.
• Crying obsidian. A new block that can be used to craft a respawn point for the nether. Can only be obtained by bartering with piglins.

A fiery businessman

Trading with piglins means walking a fine line between a profit and a fight, but if you have an abundance of gold the results could be worth it. Not everything piglins drop is worthwhile, but things like netherite hoes, books and boots enchanted with the new Soul Speed enchantment, potions, and the new crying obsidian block makes the venture worth a risk. Some of the items piglins can drop while bartering can only be obtained while bartering, so start saving up your gold ingots!

Have you found piglins to trade with? What have you gotten from trading with them? Let us know in the comments below!