A snow golem is a snowman-like utility mob that helps defend against hostile and neutral mobs.
Creation
Jack o'lanterns can also be used.
To create a snow golem, the player must stack two snow blocks, and then place, or dispense, a pumpkin[Bedrock Edition only], a carved pumpkin, or a jack o'lantern. The building pattern can also work when arranged sideways or upside-down, as long as the pumpkin is the last one placed. In Java Edition, the player can also place the pattern in any order with an uncarved pumpkin, then use shears on the pumpkin to create a snow golem.
The snow golem spawns at the location of the pumpkin when created horizontally.
Snow golems search for the nearest monster and attack it until it dies.
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] There is also a remote possibility of a snow golem spawning naturally if a pumpkin happens to grow adjacent to two snow blocks.
Drops
Snow golems drop 0–15 snowballs upon death.
Behavior
Snow golems do not follow players. Snow golems have good path-finding skills; like most mobs, snow golems avoid cacti, fire, lava, and water. They avoid falling off cliffs, although 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 like badlands, deserts, savannas and biomes in the Nether. The Fire Resistance effect allows them to survive in these biomes.[Java Edition only][2]
They also melt (take damage) when in contact with rain or water.
A snow golem wears its carved pumpkin as a helmet, just like the player does: its actual head is hidden beneath. Shearing a snow golem removes the pumpkin, revealing its face and making it 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 after shearing it off.
Snow golems do not take freezing damage from powder snow.[upcoming: JE 1.17]
Uses
A group of snow golems throwing snowballs at a spider.
Snow golems move toward hostile mobs and throw snowballs at them up to 10 blocks away, provoking them.[3] Thrown snowballs do not deal damage except to blazes and wolves,[4] but the snowballs still knock back mobs that they hit. With the exception of wolves, polar bears, llamas, pandas, dolphins, and bees, snow golems also attack any neutral mobs regardless of whether they attacked the player.
Additionally, snow golems never intentionally attack the player.
Snow
As they move, they leave a trail of snow on the ground if the blocks can support it.[5] If a snow golem is on a hopper, a snow trail does not appear. They produce snow only in biomes having a temperature less than 0.81, which includes cold, snowy, and temperate biomes (including the End though not jungle).
Sounds
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | None[sound 1] | ? | Randomly plays, but empty | entity | None[sound 1] | ? | ? | ? |
| Snow Golem dies | ? | ? | entity | subtitles | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Snow Golem hurts | ? | ? | entity | subtitles | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Snowball flies | ? | ? | entity | subtitles | ? | ? | 16 |
Data values
ID
| Name | Identifier | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Snow Golem | snow_golem | entity.minecraft.snow_golem |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snow Golem | snow_golem | 21 | entity.snow_golem.name |
Entity data
Snow golems have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.
- 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
History
| September 21, 2011 | Snow golems were first showcased by Notch on Twitter as a new mob[6] that is "craftable, is friendly, and throws snowballs at enemies. Also melts in hot biomes."[7] and that it would "spread snow by walking around."[5] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| They were stated on Reddit to appear in Beta 1.9.[8] | |||||
| Notch originally planned to call this mob Snowmen. However, soon after revealing the name, Reddit user Cuttleman stated he would call them Snow Golems, a name Notch approved of and made official.[9] | |||||
| December 22, 2012 | In Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, Notch briefly mentioned adding "snowmen that throw snowballs." | ||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease | ||||
| Snow golems flee when attacked. | |||||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2 | Snow golems can be bred with wheat and attack other snow golems nearby. This is removed in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3. | ||||
| During the Beta release candidates, snow golems attack players holding wheat. However, they do not attack immediately. | |||||
| 1.2.1 | 12w06a | Snow golems have a new path-finding AI and can form a wall to attack mobs. | |||
| Snow golems now takes damage from rain and water. | |||||
| 12w07a | Snow golems now take damage in deserts, jungles, the Nether. | ||||
| 1.8 | 14w04a | Snow golems can now be created by dispensing the pumpkin from a dispenser atop two snow blocks. | |||
| 14w05b | Snow golems' pumpkin heads are no longer visible when they have the Invisibility effect. | ||||
| 14w25a | Snow golems can now be built sideways and upside-down instead of just upright. | ||||
| 14w26c | Jack o'lanterns can no longer be used to build snow golems. | ||||
| 14w33a | Snow golems now attack creepers, provoking them. | ||||
| 1.8.1 | pre1 | Jack o'lanterns can now be used to build snow golems again. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w31c | Snow golems can no longer cause damage to ender dragons. | |||
| 15w46a | Snow golems no longer create a trail of snow layers, if the gamerule mobGriefing is set to false. | ||||
| 15w49a | |||||
| 15w50a | Added sounds entity.snowman.ambient, entity.snowman.hurt, and entity.snowman.death. | ||||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | Snow 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.
| |||
The entity ID has been changed from SnowMan to snowman. | |||||
| 1.13 | pre5 | The entity ID has been changed from snowman to snow_golem. | |||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | ||||
| 1.16 | 20w07a | Snow golems now drop a pumpkin when sheared.[10] | |||
| 20w15a | Snow golems can now be sheared by dispensers. | ||||
| pre1 | Snow golems are now damaged by splash water bottles and lingering water bottles. | ||||
| Upcoming Java Edition | |||||
| 1.17 | 21w13a | Snow golems are now immune to freezing. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.12.1 | build 1 | ||||
| build 2 | |||||
| build 3 | |||||
| build 9 | Snow golems can now leave a trail of snow in plains biomes. | ||||
| v0.14.0 | build 1 | Snow golems can now be created by dispensing the pumpkin from a dispenser atop two snow blocks. | |||
| v0.16.0 | build 5 | Added sounds entity.snowman.ambient, entity.snowman.hurt, and entity.snowman.death. | |||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.0.5 | alpha 1.0.5.0 | Snow golems are no longer able to leave a trail of snow layers, if the gamerule mobGriefing is set to false. | |||
| 1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | The entity ID has been changed from snowgolem to snow_golem. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| ? | The health of snow golems has been reduced from 10 to 4. | ||||
| 1.2.0 | beta 1.2.0.2 | The snow golem's face can now be seen only after shearing it. | |||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | ||||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Snow golems now take damage from walking over campfires. | |||
| 1.16.100 | beta 1.16.100.51 | Snow golems now drop a pumpkin when sheared.[11] | |||
| Upcoming Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.16.230 | beta 1.16.230.54 | Snow golems are now immune to freezing. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU7 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | ||
| TU11 | The limit for snow golems in a world has been increased. | ||||
| TU12 | Snow golems have a new path-finding AI and can form a wall to attack mobs. | ||||
| Snow golems now take damage in deserts, jungles, the Nether, and when in contact with rain and water. | |||||
| TU43 | CU33 | 1.36 | Patch 13 | Added sounds for snow golems. | |
| PlayStation 4 Edition | |||||
| 1.90 | |||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | |||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Snow Golem" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
- 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. - Snow golems are very rarely spawned naturally in snow biomes; if two snow blocks spawn naturally with a patch of pumpkins, it can be possible to spawn a snow golem naturally. [Bedrock Edition only]
Gallery
Screenshots
First screenshot of a snow golem, released by Notch on September 21, 2011.
A large group of snow golems in a lake.
Three snow golems that were built by endermen.
A snow golem riding in a minecart.
A sheared snow golem.
In Other Media
Lego Minecraft Snow Golem.
References
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/korjk/endermen_can_make_snow_golems/
- ↑ MCPE-94448
- ↑ http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/54362/what-is-a-snow-golems-range
- ↑ MC-72151
- ↑ a b "Also, they spread snow by walking around. Nice." – @notch (Markus Persson) on X, September 21, 2011
- ↑ " Got frustrated with AWS, so I made a new mob! :D" – @notch (Markus Persson) on X, September 21, 2011
- ↑ "It will be craftable, is friendly, and throws snowballs at enemies. Also melts in hot biomes." – @notch (Markus Persson) on X, September 22, 2011
- ↑ http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/kmro7/mojang_potentially_releasing_something_tomorrow/c2li04x
- ↑ http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/kml6r/notchs_new_snowman_mob_is_craftable_and_throws/
- ↑ MC-94094
- ↑ MCPE-66967










