Hello! I am Powerofbeds, a Cubecraft player who plays far too much Snowman Survival whenever it is available. Snowman Survival is a fun game, but that comes with the problem of being too fun and resulting in me getting too much practice, which is why I made all these threads on tips for playing better.
Tips for using powerups in Snowman Survival
How to use the powerups in slime survival well
Slime Survival tips for evading slime-hitting powerups
Slime Survival basics and map-specific tips
Slime Survival: How to read minds
Slime Survival: Rarely Used Tricks
Slime Survival: Rare uses for powerups
Snowman Survival: Common Mistakes
Snowman Survival: Survivor Strategy
Snowman Survival: Snowman Strategy
Snowman Survival: Adapting to the Update
The first thread I ever made on Snowman Survival was uploaded almost six whole years ago. It is poorly written, focused on Slime Survival on Java, and the quality of the tips is a bit poor, so I decided I would rewrite it now that I have better English skills and six times the Snowman Survival experience I did back then. The original thread is here:
15 ways to get better at slime survival
In this thread, I will go through the same tips again, providing better ideas and clarifications than before. If you have read the original thread, you get to see how you can use the same tips better, and if not, you get to see some new knowledge that will greatly assist you in your games. If you're wondering why this is only fourteen, it's because one of the tips in my original thread covered a concept that no longer exists.
1. Run in zigzags.
This can often be useful for evading the snowmen as they are trying to shoot you, but it comes with a couple problems if it is not done correctly. Running in zigzags aims to attempt to dodge snowballs as you are running from the snowmen, but it slows you down in the process. Smart snowmen know that they can often just not shoot until they are confident they have a clear shot. It is usually best to simply choose a path that has a lot of side-to-side movement, such as a parkour to a higher location, so that the snowman has to slow down in the same way. Never zigzag if there is not a snowman nearby.
2. Take advantage of the powerups.
In my original thread, I didn't say much about how this should be done. There are nine different powerups in Snowman Survival on Bedrock (I don't play much Java anymore but I think it's the same), and each powerup works very differently from the rest. Make sure you don't grab powerups if you already have one unless the powerup you're grabbing is better than what you already have. A lot of people will sometimes grab seven or more powerups that are all bunched together like they can hold all of them at the same time (they can't). I find that generally, the order of powerups from best to worst is Shield, Decoy, Leap, Instant Wall, Snowman Stabber, Gravity Explosive, and Fireballs (I don't really count speed and jump boost because they're very different and difficult to compare, and they don't matter when it comes to choosing a powerup to hold). What powerup is best depends heavily on your current situation at the time. For more details on how to use each powerups, check out some of my other threads listed at the top of this one.
3. Avoid showing your powerup.
This is the tip I say in every single one of my threads because it is very simple and very important. Get into the habit of selecting your second hotbar slot before the first snowman is chosen, and only switch back to the first hotbar slot when you want to use a powerup, switching back after using it. Snowmen will not see what you have and can therefore not react accordingly. The same goes for if you are a snowman. If you do not hold your snowball, survivors think you do not have it and are therefore less of an immediate hazard to themselves. If they know you do this, they still do not know whether you have your snowball, so cannot see that you are an immediate threat to them.
4. As a snowman, think before shooting, every time.
Wow, this one was written badly in my original thread. But anyway, this one is a simple concept, though not always easy. When you fire your snowball, you have to either retrieve it or wait until it stops moving and then another five seconds before you get it back. Therefore, if you do not hit a survivor, you will find yourself at a disadvantage until you get your snowball back because you are just as useless to the other snowmen as if your cat was walking across your keyboard. If you have one. The more you play as a snowman, the more you will familiarize yourself with the speed of the snowball and of survivors as they move around, wait until a survivor uses the Leap powerup they're foolishly holding as they fail to follow the previous tip, and so on. You get the point. My original thread mentioned that if a survivor is standing still, you should shoot to the side to try to make them dodge into it, but this does not work. With the time it takes them to react to the snowball and the time it takes to accelerate as they try to start moving, they will not be able to dodge your snowball unless they move preemptively.
5. Look at the time left if you are going to get cornered.
Getting cornered is okay if you won't get caught before the time runs out. If there's a whole minute left, you'll want to take a risk and not walk into a corner if it means a chance of surviving, but if there's enough time for you to walk into a corner, guaranteeing your own demise but not before the timer runs out, do so. But don't only look at the time left if you are thinking of walking into a corner. It's always better to remain aware of how much longer you get to torture the snowmen with your epic evasive skills.
6. Find a good spot to stay.
In my "Survivor Strategy" thread, I called this the "passive strategy". It is when you find a high location that is difficult or impossible for snowmen to shoot up to, and if the snowmen come up, you have an escape route. It's important to find somewhere that you can escape from, though, because the main snowman has a tracker and it is a lot easier for them to find you than you might think, so if you have no means of escape, you lose. Here are my favorite spots on each map:
Presents: Next to the green present in one of the corners. You can access it directly from spawn via a leaf bridge. Bring a Leap and you can leap to the other green present as a fast and effective escape route.
Factory: On top of the acid containers. If you are attacked, it's best if you escape by going in the opposite direction the snowmen come from, only going directly into the basement if you have to (because there are seven ways down and only three ways back up).
Holiday Workshop: On top of the fire truck ladder. The best option for escape is usually to jump onto the other fire truck. If you block off the snowman with an Instant Wall before they reach the top, they will usually assume you jumped off. Toggle your camera perspective to see around the wall, and if they're gone, maintain your position, and if they're still there, proceed with your escape.
Snowglobe: On top of any of the houses, especially the one accessed via a tree from the nearby cake or the one with a second ladder leading higher up, as you have more time to react to snowmen when they approach. The giant snowman also works, as you have an entire ten seconds to watch the snowmen come up the ladder before they finally arrive. Yeah, this map is very unbalanced in the favor of the survivors.
Candy Cane: One of the lower rooves of the house. Do not enter the house nor use this too often, as there are too many ways up to you.
Toys: The best spot that works is on the presents in front of the giant train. This is not always available because the only ladder that leads up there is out in the open where snowmen can attack you from pretty much anywhere. (Can you believe this is the best spot even though it's kind of dirt? This map is very unbalanced in the favor of the snowmen.)
Frost: There are no high-up locations you can use. You can Leap up halfway onto one of the ice blocks, but this is quite ineffective and is no more than a waste of a powerup.
7. Predict what the survivors are about to do.
This is part of thinking before throwing the snowball, but it's important to think about what survivors are going to do. For example, if they are showing their powerup, or you see them grab one, anticipate it. Run away if your opponent is about to use a Snowman Stabber (but not too far, you still want to be within range of a snowball hit). Stay within two blocks of them if they have an Instant Wall so they can't put it between you and themselves. Fire a snowball at nearby powerups at the correct timing to hit them if they continue to try to grab it (that one works disgustingly often). You get the gist of it.
8. Be unpredictable.
Don't get too extreme with this one. If your method of being unpredictable involves doing dumb choices because the snowmen expect better of you, you're just letting yourself down. This refers specifically to your movement when a snowman is trying to hit you. Try to predict which way they think you will go and go a different way. Or, if you are in a more enclosed area or in too close proximity to get the chance to run, just run around the snowman in a way that is difficult for them to predict where you will be when they throw their snowball. Eventually, they throw it and you get the chance to escape. Or you become a snowman as well, but you tried.
9. Take advantage of the bouncing snowballs.
This applies more to Slime Survival, where the projectiles are a lot bouncier than snowballs, but you can use this on Snowman Survival as well. Snowballs do not just stick to whatever wall they first hit, and as a snowman, you can use what bounce snowballs have to shoot around corners, and as a survivor, you can take advantage of the fact that the snowballs will be more difficult for snowmen to grab, allowing you to get yourself more space as you run away.
10. Memorize the map.
While this might be difficult, especially with seven different maps to be memorized, this is more important than you might think. If you are unfamiliar with the map, you may find yourself inadvertently running into a corner while trying to escape a snowman. This happens frighteningly often as I am watching the other survivors escape the snowmen. As they run away, I expect them to go one way, they run into a corner, and I think to myself, "Oh dear, you have only five seconds to live." Five seconds later, they are snowmen. Memorize where the corners are, how you can get where using what (parkours are better than ladders), and all the map-specific tactics. Ideally, you should be able to know exactly where you want to go and how, without having to even think about it.
11. Dodge everything.
I challenged myself to rewrite all the tips from my first ever tips thread (except the one about Slime Freeze Tag Mode, which no longer exists), but this one is just an obvious part of the game that is more skill. But I can tell you that it is a good idea to practice dodging snowballs... I guess? I don't know why I included this one.
12. Know where snowmen go.
It can be difficult to do this, but throughout the game, it is wise to look at where the snowmen are going and think of each place they check as somewhere they are less likely to go in the future. By understanding the way snowmen move around the map, you can avoid them more easily and spend most of the game simply not having to dodge, weave, and use powerups.
13. Use Leap to get to the good spots.
In my original thread, I included this as more of a way of quickly getting to a tactical location, but it is only a good idea to use a Leap to do so if you are actively getting chased and you have to get up faster. What's even better is if you can bring the Leap up to a high location so that you can leap over the snowmen as they attack you.
14. Look around everywhere.
It is always important to know exactly where everything around you is — powerups, snowmen, other survivors (or survivors and other snowmen, depending on whether you are one), and nearby snowballs. I previously said this is best done by merely looking backwards, looking up, looking down, and looking everywhere, but a much simpler way to do this is to spend most of the game in the third-person perspective, allowing a better view to the sides and above you. It can sometimes be a bit awkward to use second-person to look behind you while still moving quickly, so it is usually better to just look behind you. However you do this is up to you. You should always be aware of what's around you.
And now the part that was completely excluded from my previous thread: the conclusion. Most of the reason you ever win in Snowman Survival is with your skill that is obtained from practice, and the best way to use my tips is to use them in as many games as possible so you can practice with them. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy winning some games!
Tips for using powerups in Snowman Survival
How to use the powerups in slime survival well
Slime Survival tips for evading slime-hitting powerups
Slime Survival basics and map-specific tips
Slime Survival: How to read minds
Slime Survival: Rarely Used Tricks
Slime Survival: Rare uses for powerups
Snowman Survival: Common Mistakes
Snowman Survival: Survivor Strategy
Snowman Survival: Snowman Strategy
Snowman Survival: Adapting to the Update
The first thread I ever made on Snowman Survival was uploaded almost six whole years ago. It is poorly written, focused on Slime Survival on Java, and the quality of the tips is a bit poor, so I decided I would rewrite it now that I have better English skills and six times the Snowman Survival experience I did back then. The original thread is here:
15 ways to get better at slime survival
In this thread, I will go through the same tips again, providing better ideas and clarifications than before. If you have read the original thread, you get to see how you can use the same tips better, and if not, you get to see some new knowledge that will greatly assist you in your games. If you're wondering why this is only fourteen, it's because one of the tips in my original thread covered a concept that no longer exists.
1. Run in zigzags.
This can often be useful for evading the snowmen as they are trying to shoot you, but it comes with a couple problems if it is not done correctly. Running in zigzags aims to attempt to dodge snowballs as you are running from the snowmen, but it slows you down in the process. Smart snowmen know that they can often just not shoot until they are confident they have a clear shot. It is usually best to simply choose a path that has a lot of side-to-side movement, such as a parkour to a higher location, so that the snowman has to slow down in the same way. Never zigzag if there is not a snowman nearby.
2. Take advantage of the powerups.
In my original thread, I didn't say much about how this should be done. There are nine different powerups in Snowman Survival on Bedrock (I don't play much Java anymore but I think it's the same), and each powerup works very differently from the rest. Make sure you don't grab powerups if you already have one unless the powerup you're grabbing is better than what you already have. A lot of people will sometimes grab seven or more powerups that are all bunched together like they can hold all of them at the same time (they can't). I find that generally, the order of powerups from best to worst is Shield, Decoy, Leap, Instant Wall, Snowman Stabber, Gravity Explosive, and Fireballs (I don't really count speed and jump boost because they're very different and difficult to compare, and they don't matter when it comes to choosing a powerup to hold). What powerup is best depends heavily on your current situation at the time. For more details on how to use each powerups, check out some of my other threads listed at the top of this one.
3. Avoid showing your powerup.
This is the tip I say in every single one of my threads because it is very simple and very important. Get into the habit of selecting your second hotbar slot before the first snowman is chosen, and only switch back to the first hotbar slot when you want to use a powerup, switching back after using it. Snowmen will not see what you have and can therefore not react accordingly. The same goes for if you are a snowman. If you do not hold your snowball, survivors think you do not have it and are therefore less of an immediate hazard to themselves. If they know you do this, they still do not know whether you have your snowball, so cannot see that you are an immediate threat to them.
4. As a snowman, think before shooting, every time.
Wow, this one was written badly in my original thread. But anyway, this one is a simple concept, though not always easy. When you fire your snowball, you have to either retrieve it or wait until it stops moving and then another five seconds before you get it back. Therefore, if you do not hit a survivor, you will find yourself at a disadvantage until you get your snowball back because you are just as useless to the other snowmen as if your cat was walking across your keyboard. If you have one. The more you play as a snowman, the more you will familiarize yourself with the speed of the snowball and of survivors as they move around, wait until a survivor uses the Leap powerup they're foolishly holding as they fail to follow the previous tip, and so on. You get the point. My original thread mentioned that if a survivor is standing still, you should shoot to the side to try to make them dodge into it, but this does not work. With the time it takes them to react to the snowball and the time it takes to accelerate as they try to start moving, they will not be able to dodge your snowball unless they move preemptively.
5. Look at the time left if you are going to get cornered.
Getting cornered is okay if you won't get caught before the time runs out. If there's a whole minute left, you'll want to take a risk and not walk into a corner if it means a chance of surviving, but if there's enough time for you to walk into a corner, guaranteeing your own demise but not before the timer runs out, do so. But don't only look at the time left if you are thinking of walking into a corner. It's always better to remain aware of how much longer you get to torture the snowmen with your epic evasive skills.
6. Find a good spot to stay.
In my "Survivor Strategy" thread, I called this the "passive strategy". It is when you find a high location that is difficult or impossible for snowmen to shoot up to, and if the snowmen come up, you have an escape route. It's important to find somewhere that you can escape from, though, because the main snowman has a tracker and it is a lot easier for them to find you than you might think, so if you have no means of escape, you lose. Here are my favorite spots on each map:
Presents: Next to the green present in one of the corners. You can access it directly from spawn via a leaf bridge. Bring a Leap and you can leap to the other green present as a fast and effective escape route.
Factory: On top of the acid containers. If you are attacked, it's best if you escape by going in the opposite direction the snowmen come from, only going directly into the basement if you have to (because there are seven ways down and only three ways back up).
Holiday Workshop: On top of the fire truck ladder. The best option for escape is usually to jump onto the other fire truck. If you block off the snowman with an Instant Wall before they reach the top, they will usually assume you jumped off. Toggle your camera perspective to see around the wall, and if they're gone, maintain your position, and if they're still there, proceed with your escape.
Snowglobe: On top of any of the houses, especially the one accessed via a tree from the nearby cake or the one with a second ladder leading higher up, as you have more time to react to snowmen when they approach. The giant snowman also works, as you have an entire ten seconds to watch the snowmen come up the ladder before they finally arrive. Yeah, this map is very unbalanced in the favor of the survivors.
Candy Cane: One of the lower rooves of the house. Do not enter the house nor use this too often, as there are too many ways up to you.
Toys: The best spot that works is on the presents in front of the giant train. This is not always available because the only ladder that leads up there is out in the open where snowmen can attack you from pretty much anywhere. (Can you believe this is the best spot even though it's kind of dirt? This map is very unbalanced in the favor of the snowmen.)
Frost: There are no high-up locations you can use. You can Leap up halfway onto one of the ice blocks, but this is quite ineffective and is no more than a waste of a powerup.
7. Predict what the survivors are about to do.
This is part of thinking before throwing the snowball, but it's important to think about what survivors are going to do. For example, if they are showing their powerup, or you see them grab one, anticipate it. Run away if your opponent is about to use a Snowman Stabber (but not too far, you still want to be within range of a snowball hit). Stay within two blocks of them if they have an Instant Wall so they can't put it between you and themselves. Fire a snowball at nearby powerups at the correct timing to hit them if they continue to try to grab it (that one works disgustingly often). You get the gist of it.
8. Be unpredictable.
Don't get too extreme with this one. If your method of being unpredictable involves doing dumb choices because the snowmen expect better of you, you're just letting yourself down. This refers specifically to your movement when a snowman is trying to hit you. Try to predict which way they think you will go and go a different way. Or, if you are in a more enclosed area or in too close proximity to get the chance to run, just run around the snowman in a way that is difficult for them to predict where you will be when they throw their snowball. Eventually, they throw it and you get the chance to escape. Or you become a snowman as well, but you tried.
9. Take advantage of the bouncing snowballs.
This applies more to Slime Survival, where the projectiles are a lot bouncier than snowballs, but you can use this on Snowman Survival as well. Snowballs do not just stick to whatever wall they first hit, and as a snowman, you can use what bounce snowballs have to shoot around corners, and as a survivor, you can take advantage of the fact that the snowballs will be more difficult for snowmen to grab, allowing you to get yourself more space as you run away.
10. Memorize the map.
While this might be difficult, especially with seven different maps to be memorized, this is more important than you might think. If you are unfamiliar with the map, you may find yourself inadvertently running into a corner while trying to escape a snowman. This happens frighteningly often as I am watching the other survivors escape the snowmen. As they run away, I expect them to go one way, they run into a corner, and I think to myself, "Oh dear, you have only five seconds to live." Five seconds later, they are snowmen. Memorize where the corners are, how you can get where using what (parkours are better than ladders), and all the map-specific tactics. Ideally, you should be able to know exactly where you want to go and how, without having to even think about it.
11. Dodge everything.
I challenged myself to rewrite all the tips from my first ever tips thread (except the one about Slime Freeze Tag Mode, which no longer exists), but this one is just an obvious part of the game that is more skill. But I can tell you that it is a good idea to practice dodging snowballs... I guess? I don't know why I included this one.
12. Know where snowmen go.
It can be difficult to do this, but throughout the game, it is wise to look at where the snowmen are going and think of each place they check as somewhere they are less likely to go in the future. By understanding the way snowmen move around the map, you can avoid them more easily and spend most of the game simply not having to dodge, weave, and use powerups.
13. Use Leap to get to the good spots.
In my original thread, I included this as more of a way of quickly getting to a tactical location, but it is only a good idea to use a Leap to do so if you are actively getting chased and you have to get up faster. What's even better is if you can bring the Leap up to a high location so that you can leap over the snowmen as they attack you.
14. Look around everywhere.
It is always important to know exactly where everything around you is — powerups, snowmen, other survivors (or survivors and other snowmen, depending on whether you are one), and nearby snowballs. I previously said this is best done by merely looking backwards, looking up, looking down, and looking everywhere, but a much simpler way to do this is to spend most of the game in the third-person perspective, allowing a better view to the sides and above you. It can sometimes be a bit awkward to use second-person to look behind you while still moving quickly, so it is usually better to just look behind you. However you do this is up to you. You should always be aware of what's around you.
And now the part that was completely excluded from my previous thread: the conclusion. Most of the reason you ever win in Snowman Survival is with your skill that is obtained from practice, and the best way to use my tips is to use them in as many games as possible so you can practice with them. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy winning some games!
