Creeper

The creeper is an infamous, green-camouflaged, near-silent kamikaze mob that will chase players and sizzle for 1.5 seconds before exploding. Unlike Zombies, Skeletons, and Endermen, creepers will not catch fire in direct sunlight and can wander around unharmed day and night. Underground or on the surface, creepers will spawn at night and in dimly lit locations with a light level of 7 or less.

Notch has described creepers as "being crunchy, like dry leaves".

Publicity
Creepers have a formidable reputation among players because of their potential to damage and destroy player-made structures, which has made them a widely-recognizable Minecraft icon. They are referenced in several of the items available at the Minecraft merchandise depot, and have become an internet meme complete with fanart, webcomic references, and demotivational posters. The meme has spawned the unofficial creeper's catchphrase (referring to its tendency to sneak up on players and hiss before it detonates).

"That'sssss a very nice ___________ (everything, house, wolf, etc.) you've got there... It'd be a shame if something were to happen to it..."

Uses
Creepers are the most easily obtainable source of gunpowder when killed (the more challenging alternatives being defeating ghasts and conquering dungeons), and are therefore critical to the production of TNT. Each creeper can drop 0 - 2 units of gunpowder upon death.

Music Discs
Creepers are the only mob that drops music discs, and can only do so if killed by a skeleton. How the creeper is damaged beforehand doesn't matter as long as the final blow is made by a skeleton's arrow. The easiest way to arrange this is to strike it two times with an iron sword then lead it towards a skeleton to be shot at. Note that if a creeper is hit by a skeleton and not killed, it will run towards it and explode, which won't yield a music disc. A music disc must be put into a jukebox to be used.

Charged creepers can also drop music discs.

Behavior
When within one block of a player, a creeper will hiss loudly and detonate after 1.5 seconds. Killing a creeper before the countdown starts or finishes will not cause the creeper to detonate. Creepers make audible footsteps while walking on dirt or grass, but are otherwise silent unless they fall or are damaged. Creepers can also create noise in Water which can help a player locate one. If they see a player walking past them, they will turn to face them and start walking towards them in pursuit.

A creeper's detonation can be avoided if the player moves out of the blast radius (about 3 - 4 blocks). The hissing will stop as the creeper gradually reset its timer at the same rate that it counted down - if it has been counting down for 1 second, it will take 1 second to "cool down".

A creeper can still go off even if the player stands behind a one-block thick wall although the creeper must be able to see the player to actually detonate. This can often happen when homes are surrounded by fences or short walls that creepers can oversee when jumping. Creepers cannot "see" a player through glass, so if the creeper is behind a glass barrier one block thick, the player is safe. This should not be confused with the creeper's pursuit mode - like other aggressive mobs, once a creeper acquires a target, it can track it through solid blocks even if the player subsequently enters a completely enclosed building. Because creepers also do not burn in sunlight, it may be waiting for the player just around the door if he/she later emerges thinking it is safe.

If the player manages to block a creeper behind a soul sand one-way entrance, they can approach up to two blocks without triggering the countdown, but if they suddenly go into a sneaking position, the creeper will hiss and initialize the countdown. This demonstrates that creepers countdown farther away if the player is at a lower elevation, and will only countdown if much closer to a player are at a higher elevation - probably because players can outrun explosions at a higher altitude and are more shielded from the blast there.

Explosive Properties
A creeper's explosion is 25% less powerful than that of TNT, with an explosive power of 3. Charged creeper explosions are 50% more powerful than TNT and twice that of a normal creeper's.

As with TNT and Ghast fireballs, all dropped items in the explosion radius will be destroyed. A certain percentage of blocks destroyed by the creeper will survive the blast and can be picked up. In terms of environmental damage, the harder the material caught in an explosion, the less damaging the explosion will be to anything behind the material.

Charged Creepers
A charged creeper is a type of creeper created when lightning strikes within 3 - 4 blocks of a normal creeper (a rare occurrence). Charged creepers do not otherwise spawn naturally and can be distinguished from normal creepers by the blue aura surrounding them. It is rare for Lightning to strike a Creeper, but in the event that it does and you have no ranged weapons, make sure to get to high ground as soon as possible. This is crucial for your survival, especially when playing on Normal and Hard.

Charged creepers do take damage from the initial lightning strike, so it takes fewer attacks to kill them than an ordinary creeper. Their countdown timers act precisely the same, both range-wise and time-wise just like the ordinary version. However, the explosion caused by a charged creeper is much more powerful than an explosion caused by a regular creeper (as shown on the image above), and as such players will usually consider it their number one priority to kill, or distance themselves from, the charged creeper. Remember to keep in mind the greatly increased blast radius of the Charged Creeper, as it is much larger than a normal Creeper's explosion and can cause major structural damage to your creations.

Combat
The safest way to engage a creeper is from a distance. Using a bow, it takes 5 arrows to kill a creeper, but a reasonable alternative is to use 3 arrows to weaken it in preparation for a finishing iron sword strike, or 4 arrows if using a stone sword. As of 1.8, two fully charged arrows will kill a creeper.

It is best to fight a creeper at long range so they cannot explode near you. Additionally, creepers floating in water can be easily defeated using melee attacks while the player is underwater. Players can also take advantage of the creeper's countdown system by hitting it, retreating a few squares away, and repeating this until it dies. Alternatively, the player can find sufficiently high ground to strike a creeper from above with a melee weapon without the detonation sequence being activated. However, the player should keep in mind that creepers move forwards and to the right (your left) when in pursuit.

As of 1.8, a creeper can be hit and knocked out of reach with the sprint hit ability. This allows a player to slowly work down a creepers health while remaining out of the explosion radius.

A diamond sword can quickly dispatch a creeper with two successive hits, one right after the other. This is not a recommended tactic around multiple creepers, though it can be a lifesaver when exploring underground should a creeper suddenly fall down behind the player in dim, tight areas.

If a creeper is below the player, the player can suffocate a creeper (and many other mobs) by placing a block of sand or gravel above the creeper as long as the block they are placing is on a wall or a block in front of the player and above the target mob. It will usually take one to two blocks to cover the creeper and when it is covered, the creeper will slowly suffocate to death. This is a slow way of eliminating a creeper but it will keep the player out of harm's way and preserve the durability of their weapon.

If one can't fight a creeper because they have no weapon or the creeper is in a location that you can't fight it, there are other ways to get rid of it. You could run away if you are in the outdoors, but this might lead you into other mobs. If you are inside, you could try to go to the bottom of your mine and come back to see if it despawned. If this you are in a makeshift house that doesn't have a mine, you can make a small staircase mine down to bedrock then come back up to see if the creeper has despawned. If not, you can go back down your staircase and make a thin tunnel then come back up. If the worst comes to the worst, you can set the difficulty to peaceful which will remove all hostile mobs.

Defensive Measures
Due to creepers' natural stealth and potential hazards to the player and his/her structures, the player must remain vigilant at all times, especially in caverns and heavily wooded areas. Players are advised to keep a sword in their inventory to switch to at a moment's notice. To keep creeper populations down on the surface, a player in SSP can sleep in a sheltered, well-lit bed at dusk since creepers spawn regularly if given the chance to do so at night. Players on an SMP server with other players must coordinate to sleep, as all players must be in a properly lit bed after dusk to cycle the map to dawn.

Creepers' straightforward path finding tendencies can be used against them. Placing flowing water, when above the creeper, can push them away and/or prevent their movement toward the player. Placing lava between the player and the creeper is an easy way to eliminate them, but there is a very high chance that any loot they drop will be consumed as well. The player can dig three-block-deep pits, lead the creeper towards them, and then hit it from above. While two blocks may seem sufficient to trap a creeper, there is a chance the creeper will be "boosted" up out of the pit when struck. This strategy has a couple of major drawbacks - for one, it can be difficult to use on multiple creepers, and it is possible for the player to fall into their own pit while running backwards. If hoist with their own petard, the player is advised to block off the hole and wait until past dawn or tunnel away.

Defensive Construction Safeguards
Creepers and other mobs could be attacked through the windows of both iron and wooden doors as long as the doors were placed from the outside of the shelter before 1.6, however this is no longer possible. Glass walls around entrances can preempt the creepers' habit of hiding in ambush around corners (but this is offset by the disadvantage that glass is not very durable in an explosion). Ladders should be placed carefully, as creepers are capable of climbing ladders, despite lacking arms.

To minimize creeper damage to shelters and structures, the surrounding, interior, and roof areas should be well-lit. Buildings should be constructed out of sturdier materials like cobblestone, stone, or brick (with obsidian having the best blast resistance). Players should bear in mind that while an explosion will only destroy cobblestone construction to a depth of one block, it will destroy several blocks of dirt, sand, netherrack, and gravel and may therefore expose a vulnerability to a building's unreinforced basement should it explode against a wall made of such material. Alternatively, the buildings can be built raised over the ground outside the reach of a creeper's blast radius or on a platform on the surface of a deep ocean or lake, where the surrounding water will absorb most of the explosive force from swimming creepers. Water and lava will completely mitigate explosive damage to any blocks, but not to entities (Players, any floating items).

Although obsidian is somewhat labour intensive to obtain, it can be used for building, in such ways that it will provide an adequate anti-creeper defensive benefit, without large amounts of it being necessary. The most basic example is a 3x1x3 (length x width x height, so a total of 7 blocks required) frame around a main front entrance. With such a frame, the wooden doors may be blown off, but damage to the surrounding area should be relatively minimal. Having a 4x3x3 obsidian bed/panic room can be useful as a place to run to, if confronted by multiple creepers as well.

As another point, stone slabs provide excellent defense against creeper explosions as well, and are considerably easier to obtain than obsidian. While a creeper will typically blow out the stone slab itself, the slab will prevent the explosion from damaging the underlying blocks, even if said underlying blocks are dirt or weaker material.

=Anti-Creeper Fortifications= (Generally these fortifications will also thwart other mobs (hostile and passive) outright, or with minor modifications)

General Defensive Fortification
Fencing provides a great way to protect holdings, provided that the player finds fencing aesthetically compatible with a given property.

Surrounding a holding with a simple cobblestone curtain wall with some mechanism for opening/closing the entry point is also quite sufficient for protecting a property from wandering creepers. Care must be taken when exiting such a fortification, as creepers that are nearby or have targeted the player and are silently tracking them through the wall will set upon the player immediately. Damage to a wall such as this, however, is generally easier and more economical to repair than an intricate building or other construction inside its perimeter.

Wooden doors, with a pressure plate on the inside, are a superb way to control access to a perimeter. The wooden door allows players to easily open and enter, and the pressure plate guarantees that the door is closed upon exiting. And iron door can be used in the same manner, but must incorporate a button on the outside. This can make it difficult for new players or players with less than optimum systems/data connections to navigate easily. Pressure plates must not be placed outside, as creepers will trigger them and enter the structure.

Trapdoors will prevent creepers from climbing upwards, and are highly recommended in any situation where they have a chance to make an appearance.

Soulsand can be used to make a one-way door. By placing soulsand one block outside of an opening, the sinking effect prevents entry into a 1x2 doorway/opening. Players can circumvent this with a diagonal jump over the soulsand and into the doorway itself.

Drawbridges, utilizing sticky pistons, can be employed to deny access to creepers. When used in conjunction with a wall or moat (see below), a drawbridge activated by a switch (not a pressure plate) will temporarily create passage for players as needed.

Defensive/Offensive Fields
Cactus Field -

Cactus can be grown in a checkerboard or diagonal formation to provide an effective deterrent for most mobs, including creepers. A creeper walking into cactus will take damage and eventually die. When using this strategy, it is best for the player to move in such as way as to keep cactus between themselves and the mob in question as they can weave through before taking lethal damage if their trajectory to the player is aligned properly.

Deadfall Field

Basically, this is an inverse of the cactus checkerboard mentioned above. Creating a checkerboard pattern of holes 1 block by 3+ blocks deep will prevent single-block mobs from approaching player buildings. It will capture the mob and hold them in each hole. Undead mobs will burn when the sun is overhead, and creepers will despawn at noon. It is best to create deadfall fields at least 10 meters wide, and long enough to screen the entire property. Potential issues include capturing livestock and other players. Piston-based drawbridges or button activated doors can allow safe passage for players. An effective compromise is to to create "S" shaped paths through the fields. As mobs walk directly toward their active target, they will still fall into a hole while players can navigate the path safely.


 * Deadfall Field Variants (Consider potential lethality to players before employing) -


 * Drowner/Burner -


 * By placing water or lava in deadfall field pits, a player can protect their buildings while also disposing of the creeper entirely. Lava can be placed at the surface   (1 block deep) or at the bottom of the 3+ deep pit.  While highly dangerous to any player or mob, this will quickly eliminate any creeper threat.  Any items dropped will of course be consumed by the lava.


 * Cactus Deadfall Combination -


 * By widening the bottom of each deadfall hole and placing a sand block directly under the pit itself, cactus can be planted to damage anything falling into the hole. To accomplish this, the cactus must have clearance.  The builder must ensure that there is only one block of space between the lowest pit opening and the cactus itself.  This configuration requires more time, but can allow the player to access the lower area to collect loot (and cactus as they will break off when they attempt to grow upward).


 * True Deadfall


 * Though time consuming, a player can dig each pit deep enough to ensure creeper death on impact.

Moats

As an alternative to a deadfall field, a player can simply dig a moat encompassing their property, spanning it with bridges equipped with secured entries (Doors, pistons, etc). Moats can be dry, or filled with water/lava or lined with burning netherrack.

A 3 block deep dry moat will trap creepers, and a ladder with trap door can provide hapless players with a method to escape while preventing creepers from also doing so. Note: one caveat to simple dry moats, is the potential for a player to fall into a moat already containing creepers, resulting in explosion damage to the surrounding area.

Filling the moat with water can be more aesthetically pleasing, but the builder must ensure that the waterline is deeper than the lip of the moat to ensure creepers cannot escape once trapped. Water, as previously noted, has the side effect of mitigating block (but not entity) damage as well.

Filling a moat with lava has the same benefits and drawbacks as lava filled deadfalls, mentioned above.


 * Moat Variants


 * Piston Crusher


 * With moats one or two meters wide, sticky pistons can be used to automatically or selectively crush mobs that fall into a trap. Depending upon the size of a given moat, this can be extremely resource and time intensive.  One option is to combine this with water to channel creepers into the crusher itself.  Another drawback is that in the event that a player somehow sets off a creeper inside or near the moat, the damage can be difficult to repair.


 * Arrow Dispenser


 * A dry moat lined with pressure plates wired to arrow filled dispensers is an expensive but effective and interesting method of dealing with creepers. One must ensure that the dispensers are periodically refilled. This method can also be configured for manual activation, an option that is less dangerous to players and easier to recover spent arrows and loot.

History
Creepers were first introduced in Survival Test version 0.24 on August 24, 2009. They were based on a failed pig model Notch had created.

In Survival Test, the creeper's default look was a darker shade of green and flashed to a lighter green upon being hit. Before creepers spotted the player their heads would droop down. Creepers behaved much like zombies except their attacks dealt only two hearts worth of damage rather than the zombies' three (or the more recent range of 8+). After taking damage, it would flash as an indicator of impending detonation. When killed, this creeper caused a 4x4x4 spherical explosion that left a sizable crater, destroyed plenty of blocks (with the exception of stone) and hurt any players nearby. The creeper was worth 250 points when killed, but this was later decreased to 200 points. As of Beta 1.4, the 'A' in the Minecraft logo included a Creeper's face.

Trivia

 * Like all explosions, if a creeper detonates whilst surrounded/in water, its explosion has no effect on blocks, but will still cause damage to entities.
 * Creepers are the only mob that a tame wolf won't attack.
 * It is possible to detonate a creeper without taking damage.
 * Strangely, even with their explosive properties and the fact that they drop gunpowder when killed, Creepers will not detonate when exposed to lava or fire.
 * The Minecraft profile picture on Facebook is that of a creeper's face.
 * Creepers were given a new taking damage sound after the Halloween Update.
 * Creepers swell up and grow in size before exploding.
 * As a creeper approaches a player, it tends to circle to their right (player's left). This behavior – which is also seen in skeletons – makes them slightly more challenging to kill than many other mobs, particularly if the player is using a sword or other melee distance tool rather than a bow.
 * A creeper's fuse countdown lasts a little longer if it encounters a cobweb, buying a little time for a player to flee if they are low on health.
 * In SMP, if a creeper is attacked by another player, and the other player runs out of sight, it will not attack any other players.
 * Creepers have a separate "armor"- when they are normal creepers, being their un-armored state, the charged field of electricity when hit by lightning being their armor.
 * Despite having no arms, creepers can climb up ladders.
 * Rarely, most likely a bug, Creepers may not dissapear after exploding, and thus, giving them a chance to dentonate once more.