Minecraft Wiki:Projects/Wiki videos/Creeper

The creeper is one of the most common and iconic hostile mobs in the game. Since their introduction in the Classic development stage based on a failed pig model, creepers have become a widely-recognized internet icon and have appeared in various TV series, video games, and in the form of merchandise.

Like most Overworld hostile mobs, creepers can spawn on any solid block at light levels of 7 or lower. They will chase any player within a 16 block radius and will explode if they remain within three blocks of a player for 1.5 seconds. Creepers can also be forced to explode with a flint and steel, but the 1.5 second delay will still exist. The flint and steel must be used directly by a player, as having it used by a dispenser will not have any effect. The creeper's explosion can deal up to 24.5 full hearts of damage to a mob or player with no armor in normal difficulty, but varies depending on how close the mob is to the creeper.

If a creeper is afflicted by any status effect, for example if they were poisoned by a nearby witch, their explosion will also leave behind a temporary cloud which will poison or cause whatever else effect on any player or mob that ends up inside of it. Creepers on fire, however, will not set nearby mobs on fire after exploding.

If lightning strikes within 4 blocks of a creeper, it will turn into a charged creeper. These monsters behave the same as normal creepers, but deal twice the amount of damage to both terrain and mobs in their explosion. If a zombie, skeleton, wither skeleton, or creeper dies to a charged creeper's explosion, they will drop their head or skull. Only 1 head or skull will drop per explosion, even if there are several of those mobs who die from the explosion.

When killed, creepers drop from 0 to 2 gunpowder. They will also always a music disc if killed by a skeleton or stray, and always a creeper head if killed by a charged creeper if no other mobs drop a head or skull. They also drop 3 experience points if hit by a player or tamed wolf up to 5 seconds before their death.

Most mobs which are capable of attacking other mobs will generally try to avoid attacking creepers. Iron golems and zoglins, which attack nearly all hostile mobs, will ignore creepers. Tamed wolves will also refuse to attack a creeper, even if the player attacks it with their knowledge, like with other mobs.

The only way to have a creeper be attacked by another mob is incidentally by a ranged or magic attacker's projectiles, or by coming too close to a pufferfish. When attacked by one of these, provided they are not pursuing another player or mob, they will switch their target to the attacker and, if possible, explode.

Creepers avoid any ocelots or cats within 6 blocks, making a tamed cat a useful pet to have with you when exploring. Parrots also can come in handy as a warning as they make hissing sounds when in the proximity of a creeper. Fittingly for their name, the creeper doesn't make any random sounds when idle, so the only auditory cues to their presence are slow footsteps unaccompanied by any monster groaning or animal sounds, any parrots you have with you making high pitched hissing sounds, or... the hissing of the creeper itself.