Move Minecraft Villagers Fast With Happy Ghasts

Moving villagers used to mean rails, boats, water streams, and a generous amount of patience. In Minecraft 1.21+, there is a much faster option if you are willing to put a happy ghast to work. Here is how to move villagers with a happy ghast, a boat, and a couple of leads.

Step 1: Get a Dried Ghast

The whole method depends on having a happy ghast, so the first job is finding a dried ghast. Head into the Nether and search a Soul Sand Valley biome. Check around the large bone structures for a dried ghast block, which is small enough to take with you once found.

Break the dried ghast by hand, bring it back to the Overworld, and keep it safe. That little block is about to become the strangest moving van in Minecraft.

Step 2: Grow the Happy Ghast

Place the dried ghast block in water after returning to the Overworld. After a couple of in-game days, it will turn into a ghastling. Give it a few more days and it will grow into a happy ghast.

While waiting, craft leads. They are needed later for attaching the boat, and they are also useful for stopping the happy ghast from drifting away while it grows. A lead recipe uses five string on a crafting table: two string in the top-left and top-middle slots, two in the left-middle and center slots, and one in the bottom-right slot. This makes two leads, which is exactly what this guide calls for.

Step 3: Make a Harness and Boat

Once the happy ghast is grown, craft a harness so it can be ridden. On a crafting table, place three leather across the top row, put glass blocks on the left and right sides of the middle row, and place one wool block in the center. Equip the harness on the happy ghast when it is ready.

You will also need a boat for the villagers. Craft one with three matching wooden planks across the bottom row, then one plank on the left and right sides of the middle row.

Step 4: Find a Village

Bring these before leaving:

• Two leads
• One boat
• One happy ghast wearing a harness

Villages can generate in plains, savanna, taiga, meadows, snowy plains, and desert biomes. Flying on the happy ghast makes the search easier, and it keeps your transport method nearby once you find villagers.

Step 5: Load Villagers Into the Boat

After finding a village, dismount and keep the happy ghast close with a lead. Place the boat directly under a villager so they enter it. Boats can hold up to two villagers, so push a second villager in if you want to move a pair at once.

This is still Minecraft villager wrangling, so expect a little awkward shuffling. The boat does most of the work once they are seated.

Step 6: Attach the Boat and Fly Home

In Minecraft 1.21+, boats can be attached to happy ghasts with leads, even when villagers are inside. Right-click the boat with a lead, then shift-right-click the happy ghast. If it worked, four tethers will connect the boat to the ghast.

Mount the happy ghast and fly back to base. The boat will hang below with the villagers inside, turning a traditionally slow transport job into a short flight home.