Creeper

A creeper is a common hostile mob that silently approaches players and explodes. Due to their distinctive appearance and a high potential for killing unwary players as well as damaging the environment and players' constructions, creepers have become one of the icons of Minecraft, both among players and non-players.

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 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 0, except in mushroom fields and deep dark biomes. They spawn individually $$ and in groups of up to four $$.

In Bedrock Edition, there is a density limit of five creepers in the Overworld's surface.

Drops
When killed, creepers drop:
 * experience points, if killed by the player or a tamed wolf.
 * 0–2 s. The maximum amount is increased by one per level of Looting, for a maximum of 5 with Looting III.
 * 1 at random (excluding Pigstep, otherside, and 5), if killed by a skeleton or stray.
 * 1, if killed by a charged creeper.

Behavior


Creepers chase any player within a 16-block radius. They do not voluntarily attack any other mob.

When within 3 blocks of a player, a creeper stops moving, hisses, flashes and expands, and explodes after 1.5 seconds, destroying blocks in the area as well as significantly damaging the player. A creeper's detonation can be halted if the player leaves the blast radius, including by knocking it back, going out of the creeper's sight, or if the creeper is killed before the explosion. The distance with the player at which a creeper cancels its explosion is greater at higher difficulties. Normal creeper explosions have a power of 3.

A creeper explodes only if it has an uninterrupted line of sight with the player throughout the entire 1.5-second countdown. As a result, if the creeper does not have line-of-sight with the player, it does not start hissing even at close range, even if the player is attacking it, and a detonation is canceled if it has started. The hissing sound plays in its entirety regardless of whether the explosion happens or not.

Unlike most mobs, the creeper does not have an idle sound, nor does it have unique step sounds. Although it does make normal stepping and swimming sounds, it is hard for players to distinguish those from sounds they make themselves. This makes the approach of a creeper hard for an unwary player to notice until it starts hissing. That aside, if a stationary player underground hears stepping and swimming noises nearby without additional noises, it is certain to be a creeper.

A creeper jumps down to a player if it can survive the fall. Creepers begin the 1.5-second countdown before falling, so an explosion occurs sooner after landing with higher falls.

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

a flint and steel on a creeper forces an explosion, but fire charges don't work.

The detection range of creepers is reduced by 50% when the player is wearing a creeper head.

If a player has the Invisibility effect and isn't wearing any armor, the creeper does not approach the player, although attacking it or touching it (the player's hitbox must touch the creeper's) causes the creeper to explode.

Creepers flee from ocelots and cats within a 6-block radius, with faster movement than when pursuing a player. Cats and ocelots do not attack creepers. A creeper that has begun a detonation does not flee unless the player leaves its blast radius.

Creepers are not targeted by tamed wolves, iron golems or zoglins. However, they are still attacked by withers, snow golems, vindicators named "Johnny", and goats. When hit by a stray projectile (like a drowned's trident), a creeper retaliates if not already chasing a player, unless said projectile is a skeleton's arrow. When attacked by a goat, or poisoned by a pufferfish, a creeper does not retaliate.

If a creeper is attacked by any other mob, the creeper moves toward the mob that attacked it and explodes.

Although a creeper floats in water, if its head is trapped underwater or inside any solid block, it suffocates and dies after 20 seconds without exploding.

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

Charged creeper


A charged creeper has a significantly increased explosion power.

A charged creeper is created only when lightning strikes within four blocks of a normal creeper. The lightning can be created in any way, including naturally, with the command, by a trident with the Channeling enchantment, or attracted to a lightning rod. Charged creepers are distinguished from normal creepers by their blue aura surrounding them.

$$, a charged creeper can be summoned with the following command:

$$, a charged creeper can be summoned by: /summon creeper ~ ~ ~ minecraft:become_charged

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 creeper. Charged creepers' 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).

$$, a charged creeper explosion that kills zombies, skeletons, wither skeletons, piglins, or other creepers causes one of those mobs to drop its corresponding mob head. If multiple valid mobs are killed in the explosion, the one that drops a head is chosen at random. $$, a charged creeper explosion that kills zombies, skeletons, wither skeletons, or other creepers causes all the killed mobs to drop their corresponding heads.

A charged creeper does not drop its own head when it explodes, although any other charged creepers or creepers killed in the explosion drop a creeper head. Players and ender dragons do not drop their heads, nor do mobs without corresponding mob heads, such as livestock animals.

Farming

 * Tutorials/Creeper farming

Sounds
Creepers use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.



ID




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




 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.
 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Trivia





 * Besides Steve and the removed human mob, the creeper is the oldest mob in Minecraft.
 * 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 foliage 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".
 * 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.
 * The creeper hiss sound uses the same sound file as when a block of TNT is primed but 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, webcomic 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 within 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 Minecraft logo after Java Edition Beta 1.4 (The previous 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 one's room or collection, along with diamond and grass block.

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, the creeper appears in groups within 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 exploding sound effects.
 * A creeper can be seen and interacted with in a level from the game McPixel.
 * Seen as a Halloween costume in the 2D action-adventure, open-world sandbox / platformer game, 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 the player gets killed by a Dreaded Creeper, they unlock the sssSSSSSss BOOM! achievement.
 * The Creeper makes various appearances in the crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as it appears as a DLC costume for the Mii Brawler, It also appears as a "spirit", and they also appear in Steve's Final Smash, the House of Boom.

Flash games
 * In Stealing the Diamond (The Henry Stickmin Collection), when Henry Stickmin sneaks up to the museum's outer wall with a pickaxe, a creeper comes up behind him and explodes, destroying a 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 with a creeper face cube. This can also be colored to make it look like a normal one.

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