Spider Jockey

Spider Jockeys are a combination of two different mobs: Spiders and Skeletons which were introduced in the Seecret Friday Update 8. When a spider is spawned it has a 1% chance of having a skeleton spawn with it, riding on its back. (However a skeleton does not have a 1% chance of riding a spider. For example, a spider dungeon may spawn a Jockey but a skeleton dungeon cannot). They are treated as separate entities within the game, much like a player riding a pig. Because of this, they have separate health bars, and if one dies the other does not. This "spider jockey" has the ranged arrow attack of a skeleton and the mobility of a spider, making a deadly combination. If you exit a game when a spider jockey has spawned, when you return the skeleton will not be riding the spider.

When the sun comes up the skeleton bursts into flames while the spider survives. If the spider is killed, the Skeleton will continue to attack and move around.

It is possible for this mob to actually kill itself. Sometimes, the arrows might land on the spider, and other times, the spider might pounce and run the skeleton into his own arrow, making this quite a glitchy mob.

As of Beta 1.2 Spiders are able to climb many blocks in the game. Spider jockeys are also capable of climbing. If the Spider climbs to the ceiling, the Skeleton will start suffocating. A spider's pouncing ability is decreased when it is being ridden.

If the skeleton shoots a hostile mob, the mob will attack the skeleton but not the spider the skeleton is riding on. When the skeleton dies, the mob won't fight the spider it was riding.

Wolves will not initially attack the spider jockey as a whole, they will aim for the spider or the skeleton, depending on which one was hit by you or hit you. Similarly, once the wolf attacks the spider jockey only the mob it attacked will try to attack the wolf. In this way the spider jockey could potentially be hostile toward two different mobs at once. Once hit, a wolf will switch its hostility to the mob that last attacked it. This can cause the spider jockey battles involving wolves to be slow and messy, or worse, wolves are more likely to attack the skeleton because its ranged attack makes it more likely to hit you first or a wolf by accident. Wolves then have a harder time at attacking the skeleton because its perched atop spider. This means wolves will sometimes uselessly crowd around the spider and attempt to attack the skeleton while the spider continues to attack you.

Spider jockeys can also attack two different players on an smp server, normally this is caused by one player attacking one part of the spider jockey and not the other. However because spiders have a better sense of sight than skeletons it is possible for spider jockeys to attack players on their own accord. Usually this happens when a player chased by a spider Jockey enters a structure that the spider can not enter, because the spider can see through the walls it will continue to have the player as its target. Because the skeleton can't see through the walls it will look for a new target. If another person walks by the skeleton will then target them. There are several other ways for this to occur, most involving the same principle of the spiders extended sight.

With the addition of rain in 1.5 spider jockeys can now be "passive aggressive." In a normal rainstorm the light level is low enough for the skeleton to not combust, but high enough for the spider to not be aggressive. In this state, the spider jockey is still dangerous, but will not chase you (unless the spider happens to wander into a dark place) because the movement is controlled by the spider, which will continue to mill about like a normal passive spider, even if you damage its skeleton rider. Attacking a spider jockey is unwise at this point because accidentally hitting the spider will cause it to chase you, making it just as dangerous as usual: it is much safer to attack other skeletons or spiders for their respective loot. You can view the passive aggressive spider jockey with little danger by maintaining a distance of eight blocks or more.

Threat level and tips
This monster combination is very dangerous. Combining the spider's speed, attack, and ability to see through and climb up walls with the skeleton's ability to fire arrows can be a very dangerous mix, and is quite difficult to avoid. However, if you do somehow encounter one, it would be wise to kill the skeleton first, as killing the spider first will still leave you with a skeleton, which can still shoot you. It is not wise to engage a spider jockey with a sword. Bows can get the spider jockey from a far range, and if you aim right, you can kill the skeleton and the spider without taking any damage at all.

If you ever find a spider jockey in a cave, you should position yourself to make the spider climb a wall after you. If the spider hits a ceiling, it will suffocate the skeleton on top of it.

Drops
Alpha: Beta:
 * 0-2 units of string (from Spider)
 * 0-2 arrows (from Skeleton)
 * 0-2 units of string (from Spider)
 * 0-2 arrows (from Skeleton)
 * 0-2 bones (from Skeleton)