Spider

The spider is an arachnid-like mob that is neutral in sufficient light levels and hostile towards the player at night and in dark, shadowy areas. They are able to see the player through solid blocks. A spider measures 2 x 2 x 1 blocks, with brownish-gray skin and red eyes that glow eerily in the dark. Because of their dimensions, spiders cannot enter 1-block wide spaces that zombies, skeletons, and creepers can, but it can crawl into 1-block high gaps (as long as they are 2 or more blocks wide). Spiders' distinctive hissing noises can alert a player to their presence - creepers make a similar, much shorter noise when damaged. Spiders are easier to hit with arrows due to their size, but can quickly catch up to the player with their leaping (they can cover 2 - 3 blocks in a bound) and wall-climbing abilities. Spiders will often jump around when attacking, making them a moving target and harder to hit. When hunting, spiders move at a pace slightly slower than the player's walking speed. Unlike zombies and skeletons, spiders will not catch fire in daylight.

There is a 1% chance that a spider will spawn with a skeleton on its back, forming the dreaded Spider Jockey. The skeleton's ability to fire arrows combined with the speed, leaping, and wall-climbing of the spider makes this a very dangerous opponent.

On Hard difficulty, spiders have a chance of spawning with a single status effect. This effect can be Swiftness, Strength, Regeneration, or Invisibility, and has an essentially infinite duration.

A variant of the spider known as Cave Spiders spawn in Abandoned Mine Shafts and are able to poison their targets.

Uses
Spiders are a good source of string, which is a critical ingredient of bows and fishing rods and can also be used to make (white) wool. Each spider drops 0 - 2 pieces of string on death. If the player kills the spider (ie not by another mob or a mob farm), spider eyes will drop.

Dungeons that contain a spider monster spawner can be fitted with cactus blocks so the player can harvest spider string. Because spiders are two blocks wide, they cannot pass through a one-block gap between two cactus blocks (or a cactus and a wall) and will press themselves to death against a cactus trying to chase the player. Dungeon doorways can also be modified to trap spiders inside, allowing the player to kill them and obtain spider eyes and experience orbs, as well as the string.

Behavior
Spiders are hostile as long as the light level immediately around them is 9 or less. If they are found in an area with a higher light level, they won't attack unless a player attacks first. Hostile spiders will continue to chase the player even if they are exposed to daytime or other well-lit locations. Conversely, a spider won't become hostile around a player when roaming in daylight, but if it wanders into a moderately shaded area (i.e. under a tree or rocky overhang) it will turn hostile and remain that way. If a spider sustains damage from a source other than the player, such as falling, its hostility will be reset, so that if it is in a well-lit area, it will not be hostile towards the player.

Spiders can draw line of sight through solid objects, so they will pursue the player even when completely cut off from them, so long as they are within the standard aggressive mob's 16 block search radius. The spider will then approach as close as possible and ambush the player even if it subsequently becomes light. Spiders on the surface can also track a player in a cave or tunnel if there is a clear path above the player they can follow and vice versa.

Spiders can climb up over walls and other obstacles as if all blocks had ladders on them. However, spiders are careless climbers and will often fall off other blocks and take fall damage while in pursuit of the player. Spiders do not turn sideways when climbing up walls and cannot climb along the tops of ceilings. They will also sometimes fall off blocks in pursuit of the player to the point where they kill themselves. When a spider climbs a wall and hits a ceiling or roof, it will fall and take damage. If there are blocks around the top of a wall, a spider will not be able to climb to the top, making this a good defense against the mob. However, if there are no blocks around the top of a building, the spider may climb on top of the roof of the building and ambush the player as they exit the building.

While not poisonous themselves, Spiders are unaffected by Splash Potions of Poison.

Combat
Since they can pounce and move almost as fast as the player when hunting at night or aggravated, spiders should never be underestimated. As the only naturally occurring source of string apart from dungeon chests and cobwebs in abandoned mine shafts, preparation and effort can pay off when hunting them. Wearing armor and carrying a stone or iron sword or bow is recommended. A bow is the preferred weapon, as arrows can damage a spider at a safe distance and spiders present a large and visible target due to their size and glowing eyes. When attacking a group of spiders, pick off the ones that aren't too close to others in order to avoid aggravating several at once. In a sword fight, it is best not to charge at a spider directly, but to retreat while attacking when it pounces to avoid getting hit.

Alternatively, the player can dig a narrow trench with a depth of 2 blocks in order to be able to attack spiders safely from underneath, trapping them above the gap. This strategy has mixed results, as some players have reported spiders waiting for them to exit the trench before pouncing, a behavior possibly caused by the AI that makes the spider lose track of the player after a number of unsuccessful attacks and therefore become neutral until the player is visible. Players should also keep in mind that trenches can leave them vulnerable to other mobs (skeletons, zombies, and especially creepers) in the vicinity.

When attacking or being attacked by spiders, prepared or unprepared, your first priority should be to have the high ground, or if that is not possible, to at least ensure the spider does not have the high ground. When on higher ground the player can continuously attack the spider, preventing it from jumping and avoiding the attack while also ensuring the spider does not have a clear jump on the player. If the spider has the high ground on a player, it is advisable that the player retreat to flat ground before engaging with the spider, due to the fact that if the spider has the high ground, it will be able to jump on the player's head with the extra height. This causes an almost unavoidable attack and thus causing unnecessary damage. A player can also attack the spider as it drops down on the player similar to fighting a slime. This can also be useful as it can easily do fall damage to the spider once it lands. The player can also use the spider's width to get out of difficult situations. If the ill-equipped player is being pursued by one or more spiders, it is best to hide behind a one block wide gap, so the spiders will be incapable of hitting the player. Be careful! The player must stand at least two blocks in the gap, as the spiders can attack at close range.

Spiders, along with cave spiders and silverfish, are damaged more by swords with the Bane of Arthropods enchantment.

Farming
Farming spiders for experience orbs is more difficult than other monsters because of the spider's ability to climb and the tendency for spiders to constantly target the player up to 16 blocks away, making controlling their movement more complicated than a skeleton or zombie. It is still possible to control them by building certain safeguards to force the spiders into containment, and has the advantage that, unlike most other mobs, it is easy to build entrances and spaces where the player can go but the spider cannot.

Defensive Measures
Like other hostile mobs, spiders are vulnerable to fire, fall, lava, and are injured by contact with Cactus blocks. They can be set on fire with a flint and steel in the day time, taking damage but remaining neutral towards the player. Surface spider populations can be controlled if the player sleeps regularly in a bed at dusk, since the night gives more chances to spawn than the day time. When traveling at night, the player is advised to watch for active spiders' glowing red eyes in the darkness.

Construction Safeguards
Spiders can climb any vertical solid surface. One way to deal with this is to make sure the room is accessible through only a 1x1 hole (or a 1x2 high doorway with or without a door, although other hostile mobs will be able to fit through this gap) that spiders cannot crawl into. Alternatively, a lip or overhang on a wall will stop them from breaching it. The player can alternate an overhang every other block to conserve materials, as spiders are 2 blocks wide and cannot climb walls sideways, however, due to new skeleton AI, it is not unusual to find a couple skeletons hiding from the sun under any eave you create along walls.

For more tips on spider-proofing, please consult this guide.

History
The spider was the second mob added to Minecraft in Survival Test. Spiders were originally brown in early development. They did not jump as far (compared to their range in the Beta update) and killing them gave the player 105 points. In Indev, Spiders began to drop 0 - 2 pieces of string upon death.

In the Beta 1.2 update, Spiders were given the ability to climb vertical walls made of any block and could "see" the player through solid blocks to track them down (Creepers used to have this ability before it was transferred to the Spiders). In Beta 1.4, Spiders stopped trampling crops, or making step sounds (or the step sounds were much quieter).

In Beta 1.5, a cobweb block was added to the game files. Cobwebs did not naturally occur at the time, but they were fully functional if hacked into the game. In Beta 1.8, cobwebs began to generate naturally in Abandoned Mine Shafts.

In 12w39a, Spiders were given a new walking sound.

In 13w24a, Spiders were given the ability to randomly spawn with potion effects.

Spiders were added to the full version of the Pocket Edition in version 0.3.3 Alpha. Their behavior and skin are both the same in Xbox and PC edition, but they are shorter, stockier, and brighter in pocket edition.

Trivia

 * You can still see a Spider's eyes when a Spider is hit with a Potion of Invisibility.
 * Sometimes after attacking a spider in sunlight, the spider will cease attacking the player; this is presumably the high light levels turning the spider neutral.
 * Spiders slow down when climbing vertical surfaces, making it easier for a player to outrun them around steep mountains and cliffs.
 * A spider can jump sideways or backwards.
 * They appear to be based on real life jumping spiders due to their eye pattern and the fact that they pounce to attack. However, most jumping spiders hunt in the day.
 * Spiders can travel through a space that is 1½ blocks wide. This can happen when glass panes are part of a wall composed mostly of solid blocks. If a glass pane on the end of a long window is broken, spiders can crawl through the gap that is created.
 * If you set a spider on fire, it burns with a huge flame.
 * Due to Spiders (And Endermen) having a separate texture for their eyes file, they can be seen as a bright-red "shadow" from within lava. (Endermen have the same effect).  Similarly, Spiders hidden by fog will appear pure white.
 * Spider's footstep noises get some special handling: They have a lower chance than other mobs to make a noise when they walk on a block, but they are wider, and so touch more blocks at once.  The result comes out about even with other mobs.
 * The looting enchantment does not affect number of Spider Eyes dropped, only the probability of a drop.
 * While the spider will always pounce to attack (unless swimming), it doesn't actually need to -- their attack is by touch like most unarmed mobs.
 * Curiously, in Pocket Edition, neutral spiders sometimes are found without their abdomen.
 * In Pocket Edition, spiders do not have eyes that glow.
 * At close range, Spiders occasionally pounce their attackers instead of being knocked back.
 * If the water a Spider is swimming in is only 1 block deep, they may pounce nearby enemies upon touching the submerged floor.