Snow Golem

Snow Golems are the game's first utility mob, which Notch defines as any player-created mob. They are friendly to their creator, other players and peaceful mobs. Snow Golems are created using one pumpkin and two snow blocks, and will throw snowballs at hostile and neutral mobs (they will not attack hostile wolves however). As they move, they leave a trail of snow on the ground if the blocks can support it. If it walks over a mushroom, it will be destroyed and dropped as an item. Snow Golems do not take fall damage. Once killed, it will drop a maximum of 15 snowballs. Like endermen and blazes, Snow Golems take damage upon contact with water.

Creation
To create a Snow Golem, the player must vertically stack two snow blocks on the ground and then place a pumpkin on top of them. A jack 'o' lantern can also be used instead of a pumpkin, but this has no effect on the Snow Golem's appearance or statistics.

Players should be aware that snow golems cannot be made on the crafting table, and are only created when the pumpkin is placed last. Pistons cannot create Snow Golems, as they cannot push pumpkin blocks. Endermen are capable of creating Snow Golems by placing the necessary blocks, although this is an extremely rare event because they do not do so deliberately. If created in this way, it will not defend the creator enderman. The creation of Snow Golems can be automated in vanilla survival as of snapshot 14w04 now that pumpkins can be placed by a dispenser. They can also be created by spawning in a falling sand entity with a tile ID of 86 and dropping it onto two snow blocks (/summon FallingSand x y z {TileID:86,Time:10})

Behavior


Snow Golems move towards hostile mobs and throw snowballs at them up to 10 blocks away, provoking them, however the thrown snowballs do not do any damage, except to blazes and the Ender Dragon(even though Snow Golems almost never get a chance to attack the dragon, due to its huge hitbox). Snow Golems do not attack aggressive wolves, although in the event of a misfire, all wolves in the vicinity will attack the Snow Golem. As of 1.8, they will attack creepers as well, who in turn will attempt to attack the Snow Golem. Snow Golems attract most enemies and do not follow the player, making them useful for luring enemies into traps. They also have good path-finding skills, and will not jump off cliffs or into lava. Snow Golems "melt" (take damage) in deserts, mesas, jungles, savannas, the Nether, and when in contact with rain or water. They are also useful for dispatching endermen, as the snowball will cause them to teleport away.

Snow Golems could be pushed up ladders; they are able to climb as high as one block naturally as well. (This is similar to iron golems.) They can also be put on leads and tied to a fence.

Defense
A Snow Golem's primary purpose is to defend the player from mobs. Four Snow Golems throw snowballs quickly enough to continuously push a zombie back. Due to their small health (2 hearts or 4 units of damage, which is 20% of the players health), players are advised to use many at once. They will attack zombie pigmen regardless of whether or not they attacked the player, but will not trigger any others in the area, either towards the golem or the player.

Since both pumpkins and snow can be found in cold taiga, ice plains and extreme hills biomes, it may be a nice idea to build a few when first starting out if one is desperate.

Here are a few examples of efficient ways to defend yourself and your valuables:

A horde of Snow Golems kept between two lines of fence provides a wall that constantly pushes back mobs at a distance, and in an emergency, they can be released to push back approaching enemies. Another way is to place them into guard towers, shielding them from damage. To create such a guard tower, make a small 3x3, 1-4 block high tower. Add another block 4 blocks up from the center to protect it from rain. Surround the top with fencing and create a Snow Golem in the center. Don't use pressure plates in your shelter if Snow Golems will be around them. They are able to walk on them and it can lead to them running off.

Attack
Snow Golems deal no damage to most mobs, but Blazes are an important exception. Given enough splash potions of Fire Resistance, they can also be used to farm Blaze rods from Blazes, given the player deals the final blow.

Farming


Because Snow Golems leave a constant trail of snow cover as they move (except in Plains, Swamps, Deserts, Beaches, Jungles, Oceans, Mushroom Islands, and the Nether), it is possible to farm that snow. However, because of their habit of attacking hostile mobs, it would be wise to ensure the Snow Golem is in an enclosed, safe place in the beginning. The simplest method is to create a 1x1 hole that is 2 blocks deep, and to put both the player and the Snow Golem in. Then the player would look straight down and dig the snow layer beneath the golem. This creates an unlimited number of snowballs very quickly, because the snow layer regenerates as quickly as it is mined. A shovel must be used to collect the snow as snowballs—with other tools or none, it is simply destroyed. (Note that the shovel will wear out quickly—a diamond shovel will be completely used up in 2 minutes 30 seconds.) Since snowballs only stack to 16, they can quickly fill the inventory, but of course they can be condensed into snow blocks (which do stack to 64, and store 4 snowballs each). If one wants to farm snow in a Desert, Beach, Jungle or Mushroom Island, the golem can sometimes be put on a platform above a river, as rivers count as a separate "River" biome.



Appearance


Snow Golems look similar to real-life snowmen. They have two snow blocks for a body, each having three seemingly coal buttons in the middle, and a snow block as a head with coal dots in the shape of a slightly wonky smiley face, however this head block is covered by a pumpkin helmet. The face can be seen when standing on the same block as the Snow Golem or after changing the pumpkin helmet's texture to clear. They also have sticks for arms. There are no apparent legs, and they seem to just glide around on the bottom snow block. NOTE: You must use a third-party world editing program, such as MCEdit, to get a snow golem without the pumpkin. When built, a Snow Golem is 3 blocks tall. Once it turns into the mob, however, it becomes 2 blocks tall.

Trivia

 * Although Snow Golems will attack most hostile mobs, they will only agitate skeletons, wither skeletons, spiders, cave spiders, witches, blazes, silverfish, endermites and creepers. Endermen simply teleport away.
 * Certain mobs act strange when attacked by Snow Golems, namely zombies, spiders, cave spiders, silverfish, endermites, and wither skletons. That is, they will only retaliate if hit while chasing a player, and the player did not hit the mob first. After that, the mob has a random chance to stand completely still, or hit the golem once before standing still. They will resume chasing the player if the snow golem is killed. This same behavior occurs when a zombie is chasing a villager, or when a mob is chasing an iron golem.
 * Iron golems can be agitated if the Snow Golem accidentally hits one or a villager while aiming at another mob. The same spplies for wolves.
 * Snow Golems wear their pumpkin as a helmet just like the player does. Their actual snowman-type head is hidden beneath it. If the player occupies the same space as a Snow Golem, its pumpkin helmet will be seen through, revealing their snowman-style face.
 * Using a texture editor with the pumpkin texture invisible, the true Snow Golem's face can be seen.
 * The throwing sound is actually the Bow firing Sound, even though Snowballs have their own throwing Sound.
 * Snow Golems cannot be made by pistons because the code for generating Snow Golems are found in the pumpkin`s "OnBlockPlace" (When placed by a player) event, and also pumpkins will be dropped as an entity when pushed by a piston.
 * In the same way Snow Golems can only be crafted by placing a pumpkin on top of two snow blocks; placing the pumpkin then snow underneath will produce nothing.
 * This also means Endermen can create Snow Golems if they are roaming around with a pumpkin and happen to place them on two snow blocks crafted by some player.
 * When constructing a Snow Golem, it will be 3 blocks high, but when it activates it becomes only 2 blocks high.
 * Snow Golems, witches, and squid are the only mobs that do not make any sound (except when Snow Golems are attacking).
 * Since the damage Snow Golems take in hot biomes is considered fire damage, a splash potion of fire resistance thrown immediately after the creation of one will make it survive. With redstone, this means around six minutes. In the Nether it will prevent damage from fire, lava and blaze fireballs, but not Blaze contact.
 * Snow Golems do not leave behind snow when they move on half-slabs.
 * Snow Golems were given path finding AI when they were introduced, making them the first mob to have path finding.
 * If a wall of Snow Golems is attacking a mob, the snowballs may hit other golems thus pushing the wall forward.
 * Snow Golems can ride in minecarts, allowing for moving turrets, but cannot disembark from them without player help.