Creeper

The Creeper is a green, slow-moving, kamikaze mob that was first introduced in Survival Test version. Upon getting close enough to the player, it will let out a loud hissing sound and detonate after 1.5 seconds. Creepers, as of the November 30th update, do make idle noises, which sound much like their explosion sound, but softer, and shorter. They do not catch fire when when in direct sunlight, unlike Zombies and Skeletons.

The count-down can be halted if the player moves out of the creeper's blast radius. It will cancel its detonation, restarting the timer from the beginning. Players can take advantage of this by hitting the Creeper, retreating and hitting it again until it is defeated. The player can also get close enough to a Creeper from above to hit it with a melee weapon without the Creeper's detonation being activated. Killing the creeper before this countdown starts or finishes will not cause the creeper to detonate.

Creepers have about the same blast radius as a TNT. The harder the surrounding material, the less damaging the explosion will be. So secure homes need to be built with a stronger material to avoid creeper damage.

Creepers were given a new taking damage sound after the Halloween Update.

Behaviour
A Creeper's path-finding algorithm seems to be a little more complex than most other hostile mobs. They will avoid directly approaching the player whenever possible, and seem to prefer standing in an alcove or around a corner from the front door of a fort or staircase. They likely determine this position by pathing as close to the player as possible, and then choosing a hiding spot after they hit a dead end. The creeper will then rush in and ambush the player the next time they can find a path. Creepers are also capable of climbing ladders and swimming up waterfalls, although only when the pathfinding runs them right into one.

Multiple creepers targeting one area will choose different hiding spots as the closest ones fill up, so ambushes with 2 - 5 creepers hiding in different places will often occur.

(Note: Creepers will begin the countdown when they are 1 block away from you. If there is a wall between you and the creeper, the creeper will still detonate. This makes above-ground shelters more dangeous than underground ones, in terms of mobs. Creepers can see through walls.)

Records
If a creeper is killed by a skeleton's arrow, it will drop a record. How the creeper gets hurt before does not matter, as long as the final blow is made by a skeleton. However, if the creeper is hit but not killed, and near the skeleton, it will attack the skeleton by exploding, and therefore not drop a record.

The easiest way to achieve this is to hit a creeper with four arrows, and have a skeleton shoot it after.

History


In Survival Test, the creeper's default look has a darker shade of green and will flash to a lighter green upon getting hit. It behaves much like a zombie, except its attack deals only two hearts worth of damage instead of three. After taking some damage, it flashes, indicating that it is about to detonate. Upon being killed, it causes a 4x4x4 spherical explosion, leaving a small crater, destroying plenty of blocks and will hurt the players if they are in the way. This does not destroy stone, however, so it is not possible to blow up the map. Before they saw the player there heads would "droop" down.

The creeper was once worth 250 points when killed. It was later decreased to 200 points.

Drops
Survival Test:
 * No dropped items
 * 200 points

Alpha:
 * 0-3 units of Gunpowder
 * 1 Record (when killed by a skeleton)

Trivia

 * The creeper design is based on a failed attempt to make a pig model, hence the four legs.
 * Notch has described Creepers as "being crunchy, like dry leaves".