Updated 25 October 2026. Facts on this page come from minecraft.wiki, minecraft.net and the live Artemis PvP server; sources are listed at the bottom.
Snow Golems in Minecraft: How to Build One
Build a snow golem by stacking 2 snow blocks and putting a carved pumpkin or jack o'lantern on top. It throws snowballs at hostile mobs, leaves a trail of snow as it walks (on Bedrock, not in hot biomes), and drops up to 15 snowballs when killed. It has only 4 health and melts in rain, water and hot biomes such as deserts and the Nether.
How do you make one?
Two snow blocks in a column, then the pumpkin on top, placed by you, a dispenser or an enderman, but not a piston. Snow blocks come from 4 snowballs each, and snowballs from snow layers with a shovel. Pumpkins: pumpkins.
What are snow golems good for?
- Snow farms: trap one and shovel up the snow trail for endless snowballs.
- Distraction: snowballs do no damage, except 3 to blazes, but they make mobs turn and chase the golem.
- Base defense: they help pull mobs away from you and your villagers.
- Blaze farms: snowballs actually hurt blazes; see blazes.
Why does my snow golem die?
Rain and water hurt it, and so do biomes warmer than 1.0, such as deserts, badlands, savannas on Java and the whole Nether, at 1 damage per tick. Fire Resistance stops the heat damage. It is immune to fall damage and to powder snow; see powder snow.
What happens if you shear it?
Shears remove its pumpkin, showing its face, and drop the carved pumpkin. It keeps working normally without it; see shears.
Other golems
Iron golems fight properly and copper golems sort items; see iron golems and golems.
Frequently asked questions
Do snow golem snowballs do damage?
Only to blazes (3 damage); other mobs just get knocked and distracted.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against these pages; the wording is ours.