Spider
neutralOurs, not the jar's: how a spider behaves. Same on Bedrock v1.26.30.5 for weight, health. Checked 2026-08-08, and how
Health
Damage
XP Drop
Added InOverview
A Spider is a neutral mob: it is not hostile on sight, and its own behaviour decides when that changes: hostile at night or in darkness, neutral in daylight (unless already aggro).
You will normally come across spiders in the Overworld, where they appear in all Overworld biomes.
Its defining trait is simple: hostile at night or in darkness, neutral in daylight (unless already aggro).
Stat-wise it sits at 16 health (8 hearts), dropping 5 experience on death.
Players have been encountering the Spider since the Classic 0.27 SURVIVAL TEST update.
One thing worth knowing: Bane of Arthropods deals extra damage to spiders.
The Spider sits in a useful middle ground, harmless if you respect it, but a real threat if you provoke it, which makes reading the situation important.
Damage by Difficulty
Spawning
In the wild, the Spider is generated in all Overworld biomes.
Because it appears across 52 different biomes, it is one of the easier mobs to track down, and heading to any of them should turn one up before long.
Spawns at light level 0 in the Overworld on solid blocks. Hostile at night, neutral during the day.
Pay attention to lighting: a light level of 0 is required, which is exactly what makes torch placement such an effective way to suppress or encourage these spawns.
Naturally spawned spiders will despawn over time when no player is nearby; naming one with a name tag or leading it away on a lead keeps it permanent.
Whether one leaves you alone is not up to you alone: hostile at night or in darkness, neutral in daylight (unless already aggro).
Where the Spider spawns
Badlands, Beach, Birch Forest and Cherry Grove are where it stands strongest: weight 100 on the monster list and 19.4% of it, arriving 4 at a time. There it shares the list with Creeper at 100, Skeleton at 100, Slime at 100, Zombie at 95 and Enderman at 10 and 2 more, 515 weight together, of which 100 is spider. The other 14 biomes on its list run from 19.3% down to 16.3%.
Drops
Killing a Spider produces the following loot:
Nothing here is guaranteed: a kill can give you 0 to 2 String and 1 Spider Eye.
You also collect 5 experience for every Spider you defeat.
These are well worth keeping. Can spawn as a Spider Jockey (skeleton rider).
With nothing guaranteed, output is swingy: over many kills the averages hold, but any single Spider may give you little, so farm in volume rather than expecting a jackpot each time.
| Item | Count | Chance | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| String | 0 to 2 | not every kill | Looting |
| Spider Eye | 0 to 1 | not every kill | player kill, Looting |
String
Spider EyeIt is not the only source of Spider Eye: the cave spider drops 0 to 1 and the witch 0 to 2.
Spider attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Experience | 5 |
| Movement speed | 0.3 |
| Follow range | 16 blocks |
| Health | 16 points |
Where the Spider lands, it has company: the bogged on the same 16 health.
Spider: 15.15% of its category, rank 5 of 47
On 52 of the 66 biome lists (52 spawn entries in total), and 15.15% of every spawn the jar puts in its monster group is a spider.
A spider averages 1 String a kill in its Java 26.2 loot table, before Looting, which puts a full stack of 64 String at 64 kills. Next down is Spider Eye at 0.5 a kill, which is 128 spider kills to 64. 1 of those 2 rows (Spider Eye) only roll when a player lands the killing blow, so a spider killed by a fall or another mob averages 1 item instead of 1.5.
| Item | Average per kill |
|---|---|
| String | 1 |
1 situational row left out. How this average is worked out
| Weapon | Attack damage | Full swings | Swings per 64 String |
|---|---|---|---|
| golden sword, wooden sword | 4 | 4 | 256 |
| stone sword | 5 | 4 | 256 |
| iron sword | 6 | 3 | 192 |
| diamond sword, golden axe, wooden axe | 7 | 3 | 192 |
| netherite sword | 8 | 2 | 128 |
| diamond axe, iron axe, stone axe | 9 | 2 | 128 |
| netherite axe | 10 | 2 | 128 |
Coming the other way, a spider hit is 10% of a player's 20 health, 10 of them a full bar, all out of the spider's 2 damage on Normal. On Easy the same spider hit is 10%, on Hard 15%, so 10 hits against 7.
Behavior & Combat
Hostile at night or in darkness, neutral in daylight (unless already aggro). Can climb walls. Fits through 1-block gaps. 1% chance to spawn with a status effect.
At 0.3 it is 13th of 62 for speed, level with the ravager at 0.3.
It can hit you for 2 on Easy, 2 on Normal and 3 on Hard, while its own 16 health (8 hearts) determines how many blows it takes to kill.
When fighting back, remember it is weak to Fire and Bane of Arthropods enchantment.
A sword enchanted with Bane of Arthropods shortens the fight considerably against this mob.
The Spider cannot be bred, so the only way to get more is to find them spawning naturally in their home biomes.
As long as you avoid landing the first blow, you can usually go about your business near a Spider without trouble.
Spider: common questions
How much health does a Spider have?
A Spider has 16 health points, which is 8 hearts on its health bar. At 0.3 it is 13th of 62 for speed, level with the ravager at 0.3.
What does a Spider drop?
When killed, a Spider drops 0 to 2 String and 0 to 1 Spider Eye, along with 5 experience.
Where do Spiders spawn in Minecraft?
Spiders spawn in all Overworld biomes. Spawns at light level 0 in the Overworld on solid blocks. Hostile at night, neutral during the day.
How much damage does a Spider deal?
A Spider deals 2 damage on Easy, 2 on Normal and 3 on Hard difficulty.
How much XP does a Spider drop?
A Spider drops 5 experience points when killed.
What biome is the best place to find Spiders?
Spiders are found in all Overworld biomes, so any of those biomes is a good place to start looking.