Creeper

Creepers are common green, deadly hostile mobs that silently approach players and explode shortly after coming within 3 blocks of their targets. Due to their distinctive appearance and high potential for killing unwary players as well as damaging the environment and players' constructions, creepers have become one of the icons of Minecraft, notorious both among players and non-players. Using a bow is the easiest way to kill the creeper without exploding.

Creepers are a major source of gunpowder as well as the only way to obtain most music discs. When struck by lightning, a creeper becomes charged, which substantially amplifies its explosion power and enables mob heads to be obtained.

Spawning
Creepers naturally spawn in the Overworld on solid blocks with a light level of 7 or less.

Drops
When killed, creepers drop:
 * , if killed by the player
 * 0–2 (Up to 5 with the Looting enchantment)
 * 1 random (excluding Pigstep), if killed by a  or
 * 1, if killed by a charged creeper

Behavior


Creepers chase any player within a 16 block (±5%) radius and ±4 blocks vertically. The detection range of creepers is reduced to 8 blocks when the player is wearing a creeper mob head.

When within three blocks of a player, a creeper stops moving, hisses, flashes and expands, then explodes after 1.5 seconds. A creeper's detonation can be halted if the player leaves the blast radius of 7 blocks (including by knocking back the creeper) or goes out of the creeper's sight, or if the creeper is killed before the explosion.

A creeper can jump down to a player if it can survive the fall. Creepers begin their 1.5 seconds explosion animation before falling, so an explosion occurs sooner after landing with higher falls.

Creepers can climb up ladders and vines like any other mob, but do not do so intentionally.

Creepers can be forced to explode by a flint and steel on one.

Creepers flee from ocelots and cats within a 6 block radius. A creeper that has begun its detonation does not flee unless the player leaves its blast radius.

Normal creeper explosions have a power of 3.

$$, if a creeper is inflicted with a status effect, its explosion creates an area effect cloud of the effect.

Unlike other mobs, creepers are not targeted by tamed wolves, iron golems, or zoglins. However, they are still attacked by withers, snow golems, and vindicators named "Johnny". For snow golems, this was reported as a bug and is listed as either "unresolved" or "works as intended". When hit by a stray projectile, a creeper retaliates if not already chasing a player.

Charged Creeper


A charged creeper is a more powerful variant of a creeper with a significantly increased explosion power.

A charged creeper is created only when lightning strikes within 4 blocks of a normal creeper. This includes lightning summoned by a trident with the Channeling enchantment during a thunderstorm. Charged creepers are distinguished from normal creepers by the blue aura surrounding them.

Their countdown timers are the same as normal creepers, both in terms of range and time. With a power of 6, an explosion caused by a charged creeper is twice as powerful as the explosion caused by a regular creeper (see image). Charged creepers's explosions are 50% more powerful than an explosion of TNT. How close the creeper was to the lightning strike does not affect the size or power of the explosion.

Charged creepers have the same entity ID as normal creepers. The only difference is that the value of the boolean tag is set to  (true).

$$, charged creeper explosions that kill zombies, skeletons, wither skeletons, or other creepers cause only one of those mobs to drop the corresponding mob head. If multiple valid mobs are killed in the explosion, the one which drops a head is chosen at random. $$, charged creeper explosion that kill zombies, skeletons, wither skeletons, or other creepers cause all to drop corresponding head.

Charged creepers do not drop their own head when they explode, though they can cause other charged creepers to drop a normal creeper head. Players and ender dragons do not drop their heads, nor do mobs without corresponding mob heads.

ID




Entity data
Creepers have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Trivia



 * The creeper model is actually Notch's result when first trying to create a model for the pig.


 * Notch stated on Twitter that "I imagine [creepers] as being made out of leaves or similar. I'm not sure why they explode."
 * When asked to describe the physical texture of a creeper, Notch said they would feel "crunchy, like dry leaves".
 * Creepers are their bright green color because Notch tried to make them well camouflaged for the original classic Minecraft textures, which were bright shades of green.
 * In multiplayer, if a creeper is attacked by another player, and the other player runs out of sight, it does not attack any other players.
 * When asked how creepers trigger their explosive nature, Dinnerbone said "They're so nervous that they shake a lot, and then this sets them off the same way as how rubbing two sticks makes fire".
 * Creepers are faster when fleeing cats than when chasing players.
 * If a charged creeper is given invisibility, the "aura" effect is still visible.
 * A charged creeper explosion can inflict the greatest amount of damage any mob in the game can do at one time.
 * Bees and creepers are the only mobs that die after attacking the player.
 * The creeper hiss sound uses the same sound file as when a block of TNT is primed, it is just the file played at a lower pitch.

Publicity
Creepers have a formidable reputation in the community because of their potential to hurt or kill even veteran players and destroy structures. Their distinct appearance and destructive abilities have made them a widely-recognizable Minecraft icon. Creepers are referenced in several of the items available at the Minecraft merchandise depot, and have become an internet meme complete with fan art, web comic references, and demotivational posters. A central part of the meme is the creeper's unofficial catchphrase derived from the mob's tendency to sneak up on the player and hiss before detonating:

"That'sssss a very nice you've got there... It'd be a ssssshame if anything were to happen to it..."

Moe Szyslak took the appearance of a creeper and exploded in the Simpsons’ home with in the 17th episode of season 25.

Merchandise
Creepers have been portrayed in many Minecraft products including but not limited to:


 * The letter "A" in the release version Minecraft Logo (The Original Alpha and Beta logo was just "MINECRAFT" written with Cobblestone blocks)
 * Stuffed toys.
 * Action figures.
 * Bracelets.
 * T-shirts
 * The creeper anatomy T-shirt reveals the insides of a creeper, and also reveals its scientific name: Creepus Explodus.
 * LEGO Minecraft
 * Papercraft
 * Minecraft Facebook profile image
 * In the goodie-bags given out at Minecon 2011, creepers were given as a fold-able and tapable decoration for ones room or collection, along with diamond and grass.

Appearances
TV series
 * Several creepers have appeared on TV during episodes of the TV show Mad (Criminal Minecraft and ThunderLolcats ) In ThunderLolcats they use the catchphrase, saying "That'ssss.. a nice wall you've got there."

Console/PC games
 * In Borderlands 2, creepers appear in a mineshaft in the most north-west part of Caustic Caverns, including dirt, coal ore, stone, gold ore, and a "Badass creeper" that is twice the strength and size of a regular Creeper.
 * In Airmech, creepers appear as a unit "skin" for the suicide bomber unit the boomer. Creepers can be either green, blue, or red, depending on the color of the team that makes them.
 * In Octodad: Dadliest Catch, a creeper head is seen on a shelf in the grocery store along with 2 Pickaxes and some grass blocks. It is part of a collection known as "Mintcraft".
 * In Awesomenauts, one of the playable characters (Clunk) has a "skin" referencing the creeper, complete with hissing and explode sound effects.
 * A creeper can be seen and interacted with in a level from the game McPixel.
 * Seen as a Halloween costume in Terraria.
 * In Evoland 2, a game designed as a tribute to many classic games, "Dreaded Creepers" can be found as a mob in The Mine, present era. If you get killed by a Dreaded Creeper, you unlock the sssSSSSSss BOOM! achievement.

Flash games
 * In Stealing the Diamond, when Henry Stickmin sneaks up to the museum's outer wall with a pickaxe, a creeper comes up behind him and explodes, destroying part of the wall instead.
 * At the far end of the map in Stick RPG2, a smiling creeper can be seen in a hole at ground level.
 * One of the things the player can hit in Katawa Crash is a creeper.
 * In the game Transformice, there is a creeper head that the player may purchase as a hat for their mouse.

Other games
 * In a game called Quube Twodee made by Universal Chicken in Adelaide, Australia, one of the levels has a creeper face.
 * PixelJunk Shooter 2 for the PS3 shows a small creeper in the title screen hidden among other enemies native to Shooter 2.
 * In a Notch-designed custom level for VVVVVV, "Pyramid Escape", a creeper's face can be seen carved into the background to the far left of the pyramid.
 * In Torchlight II, the creeper appears in an uncommonly generated side area of Act III's Sundred Battlefield called "Notch's Mine". As expected, the creeper's found inside run toward the player and explode, leaving behind several dirt blocks. A chest at the end of the area can contain one of five Rare swords with their own unique attributes.
 * In a game called Strollin, there is a purchasable creeper item, which makes bombs throw the player farther.
 * In Geometry Dash, beating level 16 (Hexagon Force) on normal mode rewards the player a creeper face cube. This can also be colored to make it look like a normal one.
 * A small game Notch made in 48 hours, called Minicraft, also includes creepers. What is interesting about them in the game is that it has harder types the deeper the player goes underground.

Other
 * On Monday, June 18, 2012, a creeper was sent above the clouds into space.