TL;DR: Stand near Piglins. Right-click with gold ingots. Soul Speed books drop at ~2% rate. Fire resistance potions at ~2%. Bring 64 gold for a decent session. Wear gold armor or they'll attack.
Piglin bartering is the only way to get Soul Speed enchantment books in vanilla survival.
That alone is worth knowing.
The full loot table (what matters)
Most of what Piglins throw at you is junk. Here is what is actually good:
- Soul Speed enchanted books — 2.18% chance per barter. The only source of Soul Speed without soul sand farming in modded.
- Soul Speed iron boots — same rate, occasionally useful if you want to skip crafting.
- Fire resistance potions — 1% chance. Slower to get than brewing, but if you haven't set up a farm yet, bartering works.
- Iron nuggets — very common, not useful unless you want to convert them to ingots.
- Blackstone — common, useful for building.
- Obsidian — 4 blocks per barter, rare. Useful early-game.
- Quartz — common, useful for decoration.
- Leather — mostly useless.
- String — mostly useless.
- Ender pearls — 5 per barter at 2.18%. This is a hidden gem — best value item in the table.
- Spectral arrows (Java only) — useful if you're a bow player.
How to barter efficiently
- Wear at least one gold armor piece. Any piece.
- Stand near a group of Piglins (Bastions have plenty).
- Hold gold ingots in your hand. Right-click any Piglin.
- They pick up the ingot and throw something back after 6 seconds.
- Multiple Piglins can barter simultaneously. 4-5 at once is the sweet spot.
Don't pick up the thrown items until your gold runs out. Piglins throw items in bursts and will throw more if you're patient. Picking up prematurely interrupts nothing — do it when you want.
How much gold to bring
For Soul Speed farming: bring at least 64 ingots (1 stack) to expect a reasonable chance of getting 1 Soul Speed book. Most players need 80-150 ingots for one pair of Soul Speed boots.
For Ender pearls: 64 ingots should net you 10-20 pearls at average luck. Faster and easier than hunting Endermen for most players.
For fire resistance potions: bartering is slower than brewing. Set up a Nether wart farm instead if you need them consistently.
Where to barter
Anywhere Piglins spawn works — including your portal area if Piglins wandered over. Bastions are the best spots because they have 4-10+ Piglins in grouped areas.
Watch for Brutes (the bigger Piglins with no gold). Brutes don't barter and attack even when you're wearing gold. Avoid them or clear them first.
Common mistakes
- Not wearing gold armor. Piglins attack immediately without it. One piece is enough — gold boots count.
- Forgetting that Piglins turn into Zombified Piglins in the Overworld. Only barter in the Nether.
- Bartering obsidian only and calling it efficient. Obsidian is 4 blocks per barter but there are better uses of ingots.
- Quitting after 20 trades with no Soul Speed. The drop rate is real. You just need more gold.
A closing thought
Bartering is one of the first things that shows kids how loot tables work — probability and patience over skill. There is no way to "play better" to get Soul Speed faster. You either have gold or you don't.
That lesson generalizes.
Pair this with Soul Speed Boots and The Complete Nether Guide.
Listen to the audio version above. Send corrections to [email protected].
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