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A snow golem (also known as snowman) is a utility mob that helps defend against hostile mobs.

Creation

Snow golem build configuration.
Jack o'lanterns can also be used.

To create a snow golem, the player must stack two snow blocks and then place or dispense/grow a Carved Pumpkin on the top. The building pattern can also work when arranged sideways or upside-down, as long as the carved pumpkin is placed last in order. Jack o'lantern can also be used in place of the carved pumpkin.

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.[1]

A carved pumpkin stem can create a snow golem if the pumpkin grows in the right place near snow blocks, and naturally-generating carved pumpkin patches in areas with snow blocks, such as Ice Spikes biomes, can create snow golems as the world generates.

Drops

Snow golems drop up to 15 snowballs upon death.

Behavior

Snow golems do not follow players. Snow golems have good path-finding skills; like most mobs, snow golems will not jump off cliffs, go into cacti and fire or fall into lava or water. They are immune to fall damage. Snow golems can be put on leads and tied to fences.

Snow golems "melt" (take fire damage) in biomes with a temperature greater than 1.0, or dry/warm biomes (including the Nether). They also will melt when in contact with rain or water. Since snow golems take fire damage in hot biomes, a splash potion of fire resistance will allow it to survive.

Snow golems wear their carved pumpkin as a helmet, just like the player does: their actual head is hidden beneath it. Shearing a snow golem will remove the pumpkin, revealing its face. It will not drop the pumpkin. The pumpkin is not part of its ArmorItems; a snow golem does not display its HandItems or its ArmorItems. The player cannot give a snow golem a new pumpkin.

Uses

SnowGolemBehavior

A group of snow golems throwing snowballs at a spider.

Snow golems move towards hostile mobs and throw snowballs at them up to 10 blocks away, provoking them.[2] Thrown snowballs will not do any damage except to blazes, but the snowballs will still knock back any mob that they hit. With the exception of wolves, polar bears and llamas, snow golems will also attack any neutral mobs regardless of whether they attacked the player or not.

Snow

As they move, they leave a trail of snow on the ground if the blocks can support it.[3] They will only produce snow in biomes with a temperature less than 0.8, which includes cold, snowy, and some medium biomes (including the End).

Data values

See also: Chunk format

Snow golems have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the mob. Their entity ID is snowman.

  • Entity data
    • Tags common to all entities
    • Tags common to all mobs
    •  Pumpkin : 1 or 0 (true/false) - whether or not the Snow Golem has a pumpkin on its head.

Video

Snow Golem/video

History

September 21, 2011Snow golems were first showcased by Notch on Twitter as a new mob[4] that is "craftable, is friendly, and throws snowballs at enemies. Also melts in hot biomes."[5] and that it would "spread snow by walking around."[6]
They were stated on Reddit to appear in Beta 1.9.[7]
Notch originally planned to call this mob Snowmen. However, very soon after revealing the name, Reddit user Cuttleman stated he would call them Snow Golems, a name Notch approved of and made official.[8]
December 22, 2012In The Story of Mojang, Notch briefly mentioned adding “snowmen that throw snowballs."
release
1.0.0Beta 1.9 PrereleaseSnow golems were added.
During the Beta release candidates, snow golems would attack players holding wheat.
1.2.112w06aSnow golems have a new path-finding AI and will form a wall to attack mobs.
12w07aSnow golems now take damage in deserts, jungles, the Nether, and when in contact with rain and water.
1.814w04aSnow golems can be created by dispensing the pumpkin from a dispenser atop two snow blocks.
14w05bSnow golems' pumpkin heads are no longer visible when they have the Invisibility effect.
14w25aSnow golems can now be built sideways and upside-down instead of just upright.
14w26cJack o'lanterns can no longer be used to build snow golems.
14w33aSnow golems now attack creepers, provoking them.
1.8.1pre1Jack o'lanterns can be used to build snow golems again.
1.915w31cSnow golems can no longer damage Ender dragons.
15w46aSnow golems will no longer create a trail of snow layers, if the gamerule mobGriefing is set to false.
15w49aSnow golems' pumpkin can now be removed with shears.
15w50aAdded sounds entity.snowman.ambient, entity.snowman.hurt, and entity.snowman.death.
1.1116w32aSnow golems now use a byte data tag Pumpkin to determine whether they have a pumpkin head, allowing sheared snow golems to save and reload in their sheared state.
Changed entity ID SnowMan to snowman.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.12.1build 1Added snow golems.
build 2Snow golems now spawn wearing a pumpkin.
build 3Snow golems' pumpkin can now be removed with shears.
build 9Snow golems now leave a trail of snow in plains.
upcoming
1.13pre5Snow golem id changed to snow_golem.
Pocket Edition
1.1build 1The entity ID is changed from snowgolem to snow_golem.
Legacy Console Edition
TU7CU1 1.0 Patch 1Added snow golems.
TU11Increased the limit for snow golems in a world.
TU12Snow golems have a new path-finding AI and will form a wall to attack mobs.
Snow golems now take damage in deserts, jungles, the Nether, and when in contact with rain and water.
TU43CU33 1.36 Patch 13Added sounds for snow golems.

Issues

Issues relating to "Snow Golem" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

  • Iron golems will get agitated and attack if a snow golem accidentally hits them or a villager while aiming at another mob.
  • Snow golems cannot be made by pistons because the code for generating snow golems are found in the pumpkin`s OnBlockPlace ("placed by a player") event.
    • Also, pumpkins and jack o'lanterns drops as an item when pushed by a piston.

Gallery

References


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