Minecraft wiki entry for Combat, associated text: Snowballs may seem a useless weapon at first, as they deal no damage against mobs other than blazes. They have their use however because of their two important traits. First, they push a mob backwards just as any hit does even despite the lack of damage. Then, unlike arrows snowballs can be fired as quickly as the player can right-click. This allows them to be used to keep even large amounts of approaching mobs at bay with relative ease or to quickly interrupt a mob's attack when necessary. This speed combined with the fact that snow is abundant in certain biomes, renewable and easily gathered makes it a cheaply obtained and useful long or short-range option, even after a bow has been located.