Armed Pillagers
by ryankshah
Armed Pillagers replaces the crossbows that Pillagers carry with firearms from Vanilla Animated Guns, changing how raids and outposts play out.
What it does
Pillagers spawn carrying guns instead of crossbows, which makes their encounters more chaotic and less predictable. The guns are supplied by Vanilla Animated Guns, a required dependency, and the mod works alongside most other mods because it does not heavily overhaul Pillager AI. Without firearms, Pillagers still exist as in vanilla.
Pillager accuracy is intentionally poor, close to a classic storm trooper. A shot has a fair chance to miss entirely, so fights stay unpredictable without becoming instant death. The default firing cooldown is about three seconds between shots, and the cooldown, hit chance and the gun Pillagers spawn with can all be changed. Most aspects of the mod are adjusted through its configuration file, which lets a modpack tune the level of chaos.
The mod is installed on both client and server, and Vanilla Animated Guns must be present alongside it. Armed Pillagers is published for Forge and NeoForge, with files covering 1.20.1 – 1.20.6 across six release versions. The latest Forge file is 1.0.1 for 1.20.6, and the latest NeoForge file is 1.0.0 for 1.20.6. The code is under the MIT License and is not open source.
Key features
Firearm-armed Pillagers
Pillagers spawn with a gun from Vanilla Animated Guns in place of the default crossbow.
Configurable accuracy
Hit chance is intentionally low and can be tuned, so shots can miss entirely.
Adjustable firing cooldown
Pillagers wait about three seconds between shots by default, and the delay can be made slower or faster.
Configurable gun spawn
The gun Pillagers spawn with and how often they fire can be changed in the configuration file.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Required 1
Use cases
Modpack tuning
Pack makers can set the level of chaos in Pillager encounters through the configuration file.
Raids and outposts
Encounters with Pillagers in the world feel more dangerous and less scripted.
How it compares
Illagerised is a Forge mod for 1.20.1 – 1.20.6 that is required on the server side, with the client optional, and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 4.0, so it is not open source. TaCZ Golem Compat is open source under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 only, supports Forge and NeoForge for 1.20.1, and is installed on both client and server.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armed Pillagers | Forge and NeoForge | 1.20.1 – 1.20.6 | Client and server | 2026-05-17 |
| Illagerised | Forge | 1.20.1 – 1.20.6 | Server required, client optional | 2026-08-08 |
| TaCZ Golem Compat | Forge and NeoForge | 1.20.1 | Client and server | 2025-10-09 |
Questions
Does Armed Pillagers need Vanilla Animated Guns?
Does the server need Armed Pillagers installed?
Can the accuracy and firing rate be changed?
In the catalog
Armed Pillagers is one of 11,058 Mobs mods on ModsFinder, and one of 6,527 Mobs mods for Forge. 11,154 mods support Minecraft 1.20.6.
More from ryankshah
Similar mods
What the author says
Ever thought Minecraft’s Pillagers felt a bit… under-equipped? Armed Pillagers changes that by giving them firearms from the Vanilla Animated Guns mod. Instead of the usual crossbows, Pillagers can now spawn carrying proper guns, making encounters feel a bit more chaotic — and a lot more interesting.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/armed-pillagers
- Owner
- ryankshah
- Published
- 2026-03-09
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-05-17
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15