Spider

Health points	16 × 8
Behavior	Neutral (light > 11) Hostile (light < 11)
Attack strength	Easy: 2 Normal: 2 Hard: 3
Size	Height: 0.9 Blocks Width: 1.4 Blocks
Spawn	Light level of 7 or less, 3×3×1 space on solid blocks (spawns only on top of the central block). Top half of space may be occupied by transparent blocks (glass, etc.).
Internal ID	JE: 52 BE: 35
Namespaced ID	spider

This article is about regular spiders. For venomous dark-blue spiders found in mineshafts, see Cave Spider. For the Spider being ridden by a skeleton, see Spider Jockey.

Spiders are common neutral mobs that have the unique ability to climb walls.

Spawning[edit]

1-4 spiders spawn in a 3×3×1.5 space on opaque blocks in the Overworld at a light level of 7 or less. The top blocks can be transparent, but not solid.

A spider spawns in leaves provided that there are 3×3×2 spaces around as forested biomes have a greater amount of spiders; they do not spawn in groups.‌^{[BE only]}

Spider spawning on a single block.

Spawners[edit]

Spiders spawn from spawners in dungeons (25% chance), as well as secret rooms surrounded by cobwebs in woodland mansions.

Status effects[edit]

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.

On hard difficulty, spiders occasionally spawn with status effects. For each pack spawn, there is a (10×clamped regional difficulty)% chance of the game applying a status effect. This does not apply to cave spiders. If it decides to do so, then it selects the effect. The spider can spawn with following effects:

Speed (40% chance)
Strength (20% chance)
Regeneration (20% chance)
Invisibility (20% chance)

The effect is then applied to all entities within the pack with an endless length. If the Invisibility status effect is applied to a spider, its eyes remain visible.

A spider with the Speed effect.
A spider with the Strength effect.
A spider with the Regeneration effect.
A spider with the Invisibility effect.

Drops[edit]

Upon death, a spider drops:

0–2 String. The maximum is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for 0-5 string with Looting III.
5 when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
A ¹⁄₃ chance of dropping a spider eye when killed by a player or tamed wolf. The maximum amount of spider eyes is increased by 1 per level of Looting. The chance of a spider not dropping any spider eyes can be found using the formula 2 / (Looting Level + 3). For example, Looting III gives a ¹⁄₃ chance of not dropping any spider eyes. All other amounts have an equal chance of occurring.

Behavior[edit]

Spiders are hostile to players and iron golems as long as the light level immediately around them is 11 or less; otherwise, they do not attack unless attacked. Hostile spiders see up to 16 blocks, continuing to chase even when exposed to well-lit locations. If a spider sustains damage from a source other than a direct attack, such as falling, its hostility resets to a neutral state.

Spiders can climb up over solid blocks but not overhangs or on ceilings. If a spider cannot find an ideal path to the player, when they go behind or on top of a wall, it approaches as close as it can to the player's position from the outside or below as it can see through blocks, at that time proceed by climbing the wall vertically until it gets to the top, even if it loses its aggression toward them. When a spider loses its aggression, it continues moving forward blindly for 2 seconds; this behavior causes the spider to climb up any walls in its path.

Spiders cannot climb magma blocks.‌^{[BE only]}^[1] Note that Cave Spiders, on the other hand, can climb them on all editions.

If a spider tries to go through the world border, it starts climbing the world border instead.‌^{[JE only]}

If shot with arrows when outside of the detection range, spiders turn and run in the direction from which the arrow was fired. If the player moves away, the spider continues following the same path unless the player enters the detection range, in which case the spider changes direction and attacks.

Even though spiders do not inflict the Poison status effect, they are immune to it. They are also immune to the slowing applied to most mobs when walking through cobwebs.

An aggressive spider pounces at close range. When it is swimming in 1-block-deep water it pounces upon touching the submerged floor. They can attack when their Y-axis position is changed.

Spiders flip onto their backs when they die, unlike all other mobs, which land on their sides.

They were the first arthropod to be added to the game. The Bane of Arthropods enchantment inflict Slowness IV and more damage to spiders.

Variants[edit]

Spider jockeys[edit]

Main article: Spider Jockey

There is a 1% chance for a spider to spawn with a skeleton riding it, forming a spider jockey. In the Nether, a spider spawned there with a spawn egg, commands or spawners, has a 0.8% chance to spawn a wither skeleton on its back and form a wither jockey instead. In some of snowy biomes, a spider has a 0.8% chance to spawn a stray on its back and form a stray jockey instead. A spider jockey can also be spawned by the command /summon spider ~ ~ ~ {Passengers: [{id:skeleton}]}.

A spider jockey.

Spider jockey spawning with skeletons head in the glass.

Sounds[edit]

Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Spider hisses	?	?	`entity.spider.ambient`	`subtitles.entity.spider.ambient`	?	?	16
Spider dies	?	?	`entity.spider.death`	`subtitles.entity.spider.death`	?	?	16
Spider hurts	?	?	`entity.spider.hurt`	`subtitles.entity.spider.hurt`	?	?	16
Footsteps	?	?	`entity.spider.step`	`subtitles.generic.block.footsteps`	?	?	16

Data values[edit]

Achievements[edit]

Main article: Achievement

Icon	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
	Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: enderman, zombie pigman, spider, cave spider.	15G	Bronze

Advancements[edit]

Main article: Advancement

Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
Adventure	Adventure, exploration, and combat	—	Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity.	`adventure/root`
Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Adventure	Kill one of these 33 mobs. ‌In Java Edition 1.16.2‌^[upcoming], piglin brutes can also be killed for this advancement. Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_a_mob`
Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Monster Hunter	Kill each of these 33 mobs. ‌In Java Edition 1.16.2‌^[upcoming], piglin brutes are also required for this advancement. Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_all_mobs`

Video[edit]

Note: This video says that cave spiders can poison the player, but not in easy difficulty.

Trivia[edit]

Spiders are still hostile in low light level areas, as there is not enough light to make it neutral.

History[edit]

Java Edition Classic
October 23, 2009					Spiders were proposed in a blog post, where they would produce "web tiles".
0.26 SURVIVAL TEST/Development					Tested spiders.
0.26 SURVIVAL TEST					Added spiders.
					The texture of spiders was changed from brown on October 23, 2009, at 23:45 UTC, roughly 28 minutes before the release of this version, because of a suggestion from a user on the TIGSource forums.^[2]
					Spiders are the fifth mob added in Survival Test.
					Spiders currently do not jump very far.
					Killing spiders gives the player 105 points.
					The eyes of spiders currently do not glow.
Java Edition Indev
20100214-1					The eyes on spiders now glow in the dark.
20100219					Spiders now drop 0–2 string upon death.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.17					Added spider jockeys, which are skeletons spawned riding spiders.
Java Edition Beta
1.2					Spiders have been given the ability to climb vertical walls made of any block and could "see" the player through solid blocks to track them down. Creepers previously had the ability to see through walls before it was transferred to the spiders.
1.4					Spiders no longer trample crops.^[3]
1.4					Spiders now make quieter step sounds.^[4]
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2			Spiders now drop 0-1 spider eye when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2			The health points of spiders have now been reduced from 20 × 10 to 16 × 8.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4			Spiders are now immune to the poison status effect.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4			Spiders are now considered arthropods.
1.3.1		?			Spiders now become aggressive toward the last mob or player that hit them.
1.4.2		12w39a			Spiders have been given a new walking sound.
1.6.1		13w24a			Spiders now have a chance of spawning with the Speed, Strength, Regeneration, or Invisibility status effects on Hard difficulty.
1.7.2		1.7-pre			Spiders are no longer provoked when attacked by the player in creative mode.
1.8		14w06a			Spiders can no longer see the player through blocks.
		14w06a			Spiders have been updated to the new AI system, including AI specially made for spiders, allowing them to better take control of their climbing ability.
		14w11a			Spiders now run away from creepers that are about to explode.
1.8.1		pre1			Spiders no longer run away from creepers that are about to explode.
1.9		15w36a			Spiders can now draw lines of sight through blocks again.
1.11		16w32a			The entity ID has been changed from `Spider` to `spider`.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of spiders has been changed.
1.14		18w43a			As a result of the spider texture change, the spiders that spawn with the Speed, Strength, or Regeneration status effects on Hard difficulty now have a different look.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.3.3					Added spiders.
0.7.2					On Android mobile devices, the abdomen on spiders is currently missing.^[5]
0.7.3					The eyes on spiders now glow in the dark.
0.8.0		build 2			Spiders now have abdomens on Android mobile devices.
0.8.0		build 3			Spiders are now way slower.
0.9.0		build 1			Leaves now have a chance of spawning spiders, creating a higher amount of spiders in tree-rich biomes at night.
		build 1			The spider's AI has been updated.
		build 4			The animation for spiders is now twice as fast.
0.9.2					Spiders no longer draw a line of sight through solid blocks.
0.11.0		build 1			Added spider jockeys, which are skeletons spawned riding spiders.
0.12.1		build 1			Spiders now drop spider eyes.
0.12.1		build 1			Spiders that spawn in the Nether now have a chance to spawn as wither jockey.
0.14.0		build 1			Baby zombie jockeys now check for nearby spiders to mount prior to attacking the player, villagers, and golems.
0.15.0		build 1			Baby husks can now mount spiders.
0.15.0		build 1			Spiders that spawn in snowy biomes in view of sky can now spawn as stray jockeys.
Bedrock Edition
?					Spiders can now draw lines of sight through blocks again.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of spiders has been changed.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added spiders.
TU14	CU1	1.04	Patch 1		Spiders now become aggressive toward the last mob or player that hit them.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Spiders can no longer see the player through blocks.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Spiders have been updated to the new AI system, including AI specially made for spiders, allowing them to better take control of their climbing ability.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90					The texture of spiders has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added spiders.

Issues[edit]

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

Gallery[edit]

A spider.
Spiders are one of the most visible mobs at night due to their glowing red eyes.
Spiders climbing.
A view of a spider from below.
Spider shot by a skeleton.
A spider that spawned with the Swiftness potion effect
A spider that naturally spawned with an Invisibility potion effect.
A spider and its spawner in a dungeon.
A spider in a 1.5×1.5 space.
A spider's vision when spectating it.
Spiders can even climb soul sand.
The original spider, known almost certainly to have only existed in 0.26 SURVIVAL TEST development, since Notch made it black with red eyes before releasing that version.
A recreation of the original brown spider texture